Misc. One piece upgrade

[Scout1067]

Well,started my one piece axle upgrade today. Drivers side came apart easy except for the brake line, which was rusted into the fitting and broke. Tomorrow I start in the passenger side. Driver side was more important to me because that's where the leak was

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[CJ]

If have done this and is exactly what you need to do. An axle on the Dana 20 means you drive to work with front hubs locked... (been there)

Keep the updates!

 

[Scout1067]

Passenger side also came right apart. A friend had a press and got the bearings pressed onto the new axles. Now just waiting for my my new brake lines to get here and I will be rolling again.

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[Scout1067]

Did, I ever mention how much I hate drum brakes? I have it back together now and I am just waiting on the new brake lines to get here, hopefully Friday.
I have however decided that a disc brake conversion on the rear axle is in my future. I purely despise doing drum brakes.

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[Belizean]

We fully understand

 

[cglax6]

I hear ya...Did my swap a while back and I don't regret a thing. Front brakes came from Horsepower LLC, and rear brakes came from TSM Manufacturing, but that was for a Dana 44.

 

[RiverandSand]

Good job, looks much better. Once I got the all the right parts in and adjusted correctly my rear drum brakes work pretty well for non power assist. I even got the parking brake to work well and will even hold on a down hill.

 

[Scout1067]

I will wait for the life of these before doing the conversion but research and acquiring parts will probably start soon

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[Scout1067]

Well, I am finally finished with my one-piece upgrade after ruining a bearing and pulling my hair out. What the install sheet from Moser doesn't say is that in early AMC20's the thrust block in the diff has to come out. I got the new bearing and press rings in the mail, got them on the axle and damn near ruined another bearing before deciding to call Moser. I described what was happening and the first thing he asked is if I had removed the thrust block. I said no because I was following the install sheet and it doesn't mention it.

Luckily, the thrust block came out easily and with my son's help I got the axle in and brakes bled. 5 weeks after I started CPT Underpants is back on the road. It took long enough thst I bought a scooter to get to work and HH6 is thrilled that she gets her garage back.

I am now at the point in my rolling rebuild where all the mechanical problems are taken care of. All that is left is a new coat of paint and fiddling around. Paint will happen in the spring as this is my daily. I am debating whether to pull the tub for painting, I probably will.

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[Patrick]

Scout, may I ask how or why the bearings got ruined?

 

[Scout1067]

Because I was tightening the axle down without removing the thrust block first. This caused the outside end of the bearing to bind against the brake backing plate and provide uneven torque ruining the bearing. It took some serious head scratching, googling, and a call to the Moser tech line to figure out what was going on.

This is my understanding of the theory. Apparently on only some versions of the AMC20 the 2-piece axles have a funky taper and some play in the layeral travel of the axke shaft during operation thus the thrust block in the diff to maintain axle separation during operation. There is no play in one piece axles and the thrust block needs to come out. At least that is how I understood it from the tech.

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[RiverandSand]

That's interesting, my 20 had the block, it was a stock open 3.54:1. When I put the G2 axles in the instructions had a warning about the block. Is yours a wide track?

 

[Patrick]

Ok, I can see why the thrust block needs to get deleted. Carefully grinding down and shortening the new axle shaft on the splined end would have saved the labor of popping open the pumkin to remove the thrust block, without any adverse effects. Thrust on the new shafts, however, still needs to get adjusted and minimized by shimming the bearing against the backing plate. Hopefully the new shaft tolerances negate any thrust adjustment.

I did this upgrade on my AMC20 more than 10 years ago, but I don’t remember having a thrust block, or removing one. It was a narrow track with 3.54 gears.

 

[Scout1067]

That's interesting, my 20 had the block, it was a stock open 3.54:1. When I put the G2 axles in the instructions had a warning about the block. Is yours a wide track?

I have the stock ratios as well. The instruction sheet from Moser said zip about potential thrust block issues. Luckily after ruining the first bearing I did a bunch of research and ran across some references to a thrust block on another Jeep forum. The Moser tech acknowledged that their instruction sheet that comes with the new axle kit could be improved and they actually cut me a deal on replacement press rings (they sent me two for the price of one).

What irritated me the most is it cost me 3 1/2 weeks of the CJ up on jack stands waiting for parts to get to me in the mail. Sometimes it seriously blows being stationed overseas.

 

[Patrick]

Moser is in part at fault for this mishap. This is a kit, not a “custom order” set of shafts. Therefore, full instructions should be included. I have bought custom made shafts from Moser in the past, and of course, I did not expect included instructions. Glad this is all over with no catastrophies and a win-win end result.

 

[Scout1067]

Luckily it's done now. Absent something breaking the next major project on the Jeep will be body work and a new paint job in the spring. I will be pulling the tub for that.

I think I have all the major mechanical problems and PO goofs fixed at this point. Now it's just playing and going for the mods I want.

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[jzak]

Thanks Scout1067 for sharing this, and for making me realize I should never attempt to do a single axle conversion on my AMC20. My amateur skills will lead me down a rabbit hole of pain and suffering. I'll leave it to the experts.

 

[Scout1067]

Thanks Scout1067 for sharing this, and for making me realize I should never attempt to do a single axle conversion on my AMC20. My amateur skills will lead me down a rabbit hole of pain and suffering. I'll leave it to the experts.

It's not that bad of a job. The job itself is actually pretty straightforward and if everything goes the way it should, can be done in an afternoon. What took so long for me was the lack of any mention of possibly having to remove the thrust block from the diff in the sheet from Moser and that the old brake lines fell apart during disassembly. So I had to order three things I had not initially identified, 1. a new bearing, 2. new press rings for the one-piece, and 3. new brake lines.
If that had been in there I would not have ruined the first bearing. It was waiting for the new bearing and press rings that took forever. Once I got the second bearing installed on the one-piece driveshaft I had it put back together in about 2 hours.
1/2 of the fun of having a CJ is working on it. I say that with mine being my daily driver.