The shortened Rubicon trip showed me some minor weak points & problems so I chipped away at a few of the issues and took it out again today.

We did Deer Valley trail, very near where Jeff, Mike and I camped on the Rubi trip. It was a pretty wild trail, maybe not Rubicon wild, but close.

My rig is performing better than I could have expected. I'm very happy to say I'm easily keeping up and even out performing some well built modern Jeeps. I really didn't think I'd use the 11.2:1 low/low all that often, but it's just awesome and gives amazing control. I find I'm in low/low a lot. The truck is well balanced, the rear Tahoe leaf springs are flexing better than I thought.

Hopefully this works, let me know if you can see the video. I know my FB friends will, but if you aren't on FB, post up if you can or can't see it. I'll post up more pics and videos as we get them off the phone and the other's post them up.

https://www.facebook.com/10000101885559 ... 812427921/

A different view of the same section of trail
https://www.facebook.com/1130766230/vid ... 060788843/
https://youtu.be/hihrGyDpBvo

Looking great Chad!

All that hard work paying off!

Looks and sounds good, it makes me miss crawling. And I can see it via the link without being signed into FB.

Awesome report! I was told many times I wouldn't use low/low either and like you, I find that I use it a LOT! You'll find that running the planetary set in low is quieter than the gearbox in low.

I can see the first video, but not the second. Looking forward to more pics!!

I don't believe that I have run 5th in low/low. Once I got my case good and hot it shifted so much easier so sliding in and out of low wasn't as hard. If the trail is difficult, I will run with the 3.8 box in low and then push the 2.7 in when needed. For more moderate stuff I'll run the 2.7 in L.

I would have to look to confirm, but I do not recall draining the planetary gearbox separately. I do know that once it went back in, it's stayed in! But since I have many 2-3000 miles on it since, it's been a non-issue. I would like to hear what AA says and I will see if you posted any pictures of yours that I might confirm or deny it's the same as mine.

I just spoke with AA. They said drain the doubler, there won't be much in there, but it will get the junk out.

My guess is the early version you wouldn't drain the doubler because you'd have to take it out and stand it on the front of the case to refill it. I don't know when they changed, but mine will feed oil to the doubler, the old ones did not. I have a drain plug on the main case and doubler (blue hex head). I'll look for a pic.

Here you can see the drain plug in the doubler.

I can't be certain that I have drained it or not. I do have a blue plug there, and it looks like a plug, so hopefully I did.

Same trail as last weekend, with some different people and tried different lines.

I didn't quite make this one, had to back out. I took a few more stabs at it after the video stopped rolling.

Let me know if you can see this

https://fb.watch/7oWnyQqHDC/

A front locker is next. I'm thinking about dropping in a Lock-Rite I have for short term. There are a couple runs coming up in the next couple weeks/months I want to be ready for but don't want to go through a full re-gear. I do need to pick a new gear ratio for better highway driving. I'm WAY off with my 3.50 gears on the road. At 40 mph, up hill, I am in no-mans-land either at 3500 rpm in 2nd, or 1800 rpm in 3rd. I can run up to about 60 in 3rd, and cruise in 4th. 5th hasn't been touched. LOL

I'm going to try a 9" drop out I have with 4.56 gears. My math says that will cruise on the highway nice in 4th gear. And put me in a good spot at 40 mph in 3rd gear. Not ideal as I'd have to be running 75+ to use 5th, and I'm not 100% sure that's a realistic safe speed. 4.88s and 5.13s have their advantages, but also weird dead zones around 40 mph. I'm sure it could be worked around, it would be interesting to drive each and see, but that is probably not going to happen.

This would be a much easier choice with a 351.

I've been talking with several members of the local club and think I'm leaning towards the Eaton E-locker for the front at this time. I was thinking ARB or Ox. There are several well built rigs with a lot of tough trails behind them on a D44 E-locker. The newer designs are stronger than the early 2 pinion design. Routing the wires is easier than routing air lines or cables, and a trail fix is usually easier as you can splice wires or jump it to any 12v source.

Part of me just wants to pull the trigger and buy gears and an e-locker and get it over with.

Another video. I was dumping power steering fluid from the hydro-boost fitting. Fortunately it was an easy fix, just re-tightened it and refilled.

https://www.facebook.com/SierraStompers ... 5291863370

I keep finding stuff working itself loose (top of steering box, horn/steering wheel studs, rear leaf u-bolts) after each run. I'm pretty sure every bolt except those on the motor were removed and replaced during the "Decade of Progress". So I'm not entirely surprised.

I've blown up one Lock-rite and the next one is complaining, so it's not long for this world. I think I'd much prefer an E-locker as well. ARB's are nice until you have trouble, which seems to be all too frequent. I wanted an Aussie, but at the time, they were out of stock everywhere! Luckily, with hubs you can put whatever you want in and not notice it until your hubs are locked in. But obviously, the lunchbox style aren't going to be as strong as the full carriers.

To gearing, I'd target as close to stock speeds/rpms, favoring a lower numerical set if you are between two. My 4.10's are great with 35's, but I may want 4.56's if/when I get to 37's.

Some great videos! Soon the growing pains will be less frequent and you'll be building confidence in your rig. Especially if you wheel every few weeks!

Craigslist score. Brand new in the box $160. Couldn't believe they were still available after being listed for 19 days.

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Dang! That's got to me about half price!

I don't know. Of course it will depend on how I drive it.

I actually worry about adding these hubs to the equation. I was planning to keep my old Superwinch hubs. I wonder if I'd rather use the weaker hub to make sure I don't blow up a ring and pinion.

Right now I have these hubs, and a set of chromo axles with CTM u joints. Planning on a good set of gears, probably Yukon, and an Eaton e-locker.

I know it won't be "Atlas Proof".

I am also planning to upgrade to chromo axles in the back. Currently trying decide if I should drop the 35 spline bomb or not. It's a big jump with a new center section and locker required. But with 35 spline I probably wouldn't have to upgrade for a LONG time.

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Yeah, I recall you saying you want the weak link to be at the hubs, which is a good idea. I don't know the strength of the Yukon hubs compared to others, but FWIW, I haven't had any trouble with my Warn Premiums. I'm running Chromoly shafts, but I don't recall what u-joints. It was a package deal when I bought them.

Do you have a Nodular rear center section? Unless you plan to get up into the 40" range on tires, I'm not sure you need 35 spline axles. Maybe it's one of those "upgrade if it breaks" type situations. With a light foot and quality components, the 31 spline setup can work well.

Just a stock 79 center. That's why the upgrade starts getting expensive.

The price of chromo 31 spline axles is about the same as 35 spline. Plus I know my Lock Rite isn't super strong. So my mind wanders. I'm real good at going down Bronco rabbit holes in my mind.

Have you had any front axle failures at all?

Are you running chromo rear axles?

Crawler said he had good luck with his Warns when he was running a D44 too. I think my current Superwinch hubs are on par with the Warns. I did have minor damage when I blew up an axle ujoint in my old stock axles. But it was still working fine. Superwinch replaced the hub no questions asked.

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I haven't has any front axle issues (that weren't there already) since I put in Chromoly. My diff leaks from the housing and out the axle tubes. I think it's slightly bent maybe because I have put new seals in and tried welding up the tubes to the housing. But it's been great otherwise!

My rear axles came with the bronco. They are Tom's Kick A$$ 31 spline shafts. I've blown up a mini-spool and these shafts are still going strong. Appears they are made from 1541 Alloy steel, but I don't think that is Chromly.
https://tomsdifferentials.com/

The Yukon hubs are top notch and I love mine.

I had warn premium and MM premiums on the Bronco and F150 and they always feel sloppy when trying to engage / disengage them.

Thanks for the info.

I was reading about 1541 vs chromo axles. The 1541 seems to be the go-to material for rears. The induction hardening process for 1541 leaves more flex available than chromolly axles. This is important for rear axles because the axle hangs out past it's support and needs to flex. The chromolly hardened axles are needed for front axles because the ujoint flanges need to be hardened. Science.

That's the long way of saying I meant 1541, not chromolly. Lol.

I just saw your link is not to Toms Bronco Parts. I'll take a closer look at their stuff. Thanks


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I've been out 3 times in the last 3 weekends on 'shake down' runs.

I've had some bolts loosen, most notably the 4x4x2 steering box top bolts. Lots of others too. I do my best to put a wrench on every bolt I touch and there are loose ones more often than I expect. I figure almost every bolt, except those on the motor, was out of this truck during the project.

Drained my PS fluid down my fire wall (inside and outside) due to a fitting leaking at the H-booster.

Front poly bump stops are already showing signs of failure. Air bumps may be in my future.

Today I had some major breakage due to some half-assed fab work. Justin's shock mounts held up well, but I welded them directly to the frame. I should have plated the frame, and gusseted the shock mounts too. I can't say I'm shocked (pun intended). I finished the run and it really drove better than expected without rear shocks. There were a few high(er) speed whoops where things got a little out of control. I did catch the problem before the shocks were damaged. The left side was completely ripped off, the right side wasn't far behind.

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