Dennis_MN

Fathers Days is the Annual Truck Show at Ellingsons Car Museum in Rogers, MN Hours are from 9:00am Till 4:00pm, Unless you want to join me in showing your Pilothouses, then show up between 7 and 8:30 for a free spot. I took a a couple of pictures of a friends new Big Dog pickup along side of the Old Dog pickup.

The poll didn't give enough choices. I call mine a driver, stock to look at but disk brakes, radial tires, to improve the stop and go. But 4 speed, non syncro, double clutch, no power steering, reminds me that this is a truck.

You know, it's all in whats it worth to you. Five years ago my survivor truck with 46,000 on it was at auction with a reserve of $12,000 and he wouldn't budge with a bid of $11,500. It didn't sell and I came along in Oct and made an offer of $8,500 which he took. I've done a lot of work on it every spring and I doubt I'll ever get all my money back out of it. I've. Probably stuck around $500 each year that I've had it. The jeep rear end, disk brakes, and drive shaft ran close to $1,500 this spring but I'm having fun with it.

What speedo gear do you have in your transmission? I'm using my gps but I'd like to use my speedometer

My 49 had 4 straps and 4bolts for each cup. I wish that grabbed those knuled u-joints but they got left at the shop. The new ones have clips like the picture.

My 49 had a one piece tail piece that went into the trannie and now I have the two piece unit like the one pictured. Amazing what little details were changed with the model year

Merle, Maybe you have a short circuit somewhere. The switch you gave me has been working just fine for two years now.

To remove the drive shaft from either end, you need to remove the retaining bars, then you need to move the u-joint caps to one side. I had to remove the caps to wiggle the joint out of the round retainer. The transmission side has a 1 5/16 nut to remove after the u-joints are removed.

For a story of the Axle Update, go over to the truck side and read the thread on the Axle Update for a tail of woe about the drive shaft modification. If only my NAPA guy found a conversion U-joint I would have been in luck, but as it turned out, I had to replace both ends of my drive shaft.

The axle is back together again, wasn't as hard as I figured and the brake caliper bolt cleared without dropping the axle. New seal is in and now the fingers are crossed to hope it doesn't leak again. The end of the axle looks all pitted and ugly so hopefully it will seal, otherwise I will need to get a new axle to install. It is quite a process to get the c-clip removed but that is all described in one of the Jeep forums. The rock climbers are breaking axles all of the time and they can replace a axle in the field. Of course they have to if they want to get home.

I believe that my tail light is original but it has been relocated to accomodate the Ford Ranger Bumper. It has been moved up and the license plate holder has been removed. I'd like to replace it with the one that has the Dodge Script but the entire tail gate says Dodge so I figure that is enough. Dennis

Here are the photos of the measurements of the brake Drums and backing plates. As you can see, the 1/2 ton used 10inch brakes. These are available if you want them. These are the parts left over after I converted the fronts to disk brakes. Dennis Sullivan Monticello, MN

After the first drive, I noticed the left rear seal leaking so today I need to get back under the truck and take the rear cover of the punkin off so that I can remove the c-clip that holds the axle in place. Then before the axle comes out the brakes have to come off. It looks like the bolt holding the caliper will have the overload spring to interfer with it. I may have to drop the axle out of the holders to get the brake caliper off. All I know is that a 72 year old man gets awlfully wore out crawling under this 62 year old truck. By the way, Jeep never had a interference problem with their bolts because they used coil springs in front of the axle.

Three weeks have gone by, and for the want of a conversion U-joint for this particular model. So I brought the drive shaft in for balancing and they wanted all of the parts from the transmission back. Then they said that the slip portion was too worn to be balanced so they needed to replace it and then find a adapter to take a new U-joint. This was a two piece unit and was a tad larger where it fit into the brake drum so the E-brake drum had to be enlarged and re-drilled. I picked it up on Wednesday and installed it yesterday along with a new transmission seal. I runs perfectly now and for only $485 more, it should. That entire drive shaft with each end replaced cost a total of $591. The first picture is the original back of the transmission and the next are the progression of adding the new parts and drive shaft

Ed, I did get to take mine for a couple of drives with the 3.73 and I did used to have a 4.11. I did not notice the difference, but due to the vibration, I didn't go over 50. In my opinion, 3.73 is not a problem, but I have a 4 speed and the low gear is a grannie. I have no idea what your 5 speed gearing is.

In order to get a axle with disk brakes and the 3.73 ratio that I wanted, I had to look for a Grand Cheorkee. I found a 1997 on Craigs list for $100 which is basically a junk yard core charge. The pinion bearning was shot so I spent another $275 to get new bearings and seals. I wouldn't worry about the mileage other than to look or feel if there is any wear on the internal yoke and pin. I do have pictures posted on this project on the Truck side. The next phase of this project is the drive shaft which I have at a drive shaft shop right now. They are replacing both ends of the drive shaft to use modern U-Joints and a new slip yoke. I will have additional posts on that project when I finally get it back, all balanced and set to go. The "too late" advice to me was to have all the new mounts welded on before you re-build the axle with bearings and seals. I didn't and on my initial drive, I noticed a seal leak on the left rear so after I get the driveshaft back, I'll need to pull the brake and open up the back of it to remove the c-clip so I can pull the axle to replace the seal. Big job coming up

If your front drums are too thin, I have a set of brake parts after I converted to disks on the front. Let me know because I'm just up in Monticello. You can have the whole bucket except for the left and right hand studs.

As I read this I thought you perhaps should have tied it around her toe. Then I thought of the song "Why doesn't a tow truck haul toes?"

http://www.bit-man.com/pictures/album/Cars/index.html Here is a better link to the index with a slide viewer. Also if you go up a level he has an interesting collection of aircraft.

Well, I crawled under and removed the four bolts and nothing moved so I figured that I was stuck. Sure enough that large center bolt actually, 1 5/16 had to come off. I borrowed some big tools and pushed it with my leg and got that sucker off, along with the e-brake hub. I brought the transmission yoke and the e-brake hub down to the shop and they are going to get a new yoke piece to go into the transmission, drill the e-brake hub to fit and then add a new spline section to my drive shaft. I'll end up with modern u-joints on each end and the worn spline section will be new. More work than I imagined in my wildest dreams but then I'm not done yet.

While the rear end is in, I now have a vibration problem with my drive shaft. The U-joint shop changed the rear yoke to a Jeep yoke so that I can use the standard Jeep U-joint. When I installed it I got a terrible vibration so I re-read all of the posts and discovered "phasing" which I then tried and still no progress. So I took it in to the shop with the other end from the transmission so that I had u-joint to u-joint to balance with. The shop noted that the splined section only went in about 1 inch and they thought the drive shaft was too short so they had me measure the distance from center to center from the yoke on the transmission to the yoke on the rear end. Their opinion was that the spline portion of the shaft was too worn for them to get in a good balance. They asked if I could take off the yoke on the transmission and replace it with something different. So my question is how easy does that yoke come off of the transmission? It looks like four bolts and it seems that they are accessable from the e-brake disk. Except for the large bolt in the center. I don't know if that is involved or not. Anyone know?

I've finally completed my project and now am ready to report the details http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=26779 This above is a thread that I showed progress I selected a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 3.73 ratio and disk brakes. I purchased a "core" from a guy on craigs list for $100 and then spent $275 on new seals and a pinion bearing and torch work to cut off all of the jeep brackets. It cost another $600 to get the brakes and other misc stuff. I've never had a rear end swap that I didn't need to modify the drive shaft and this was no different. I couldn't find a conversion U-joint part number so I had a drive shaft shop cut the end of my drive shaft and add a jeep yoke on it so now I have a Jeep U-joint on the back. The spring perches from Northern Tool worked perfectly. I used a center junction block and hose from Jeep, Part number napa 380-889 and I secured it to the axle with a breather bolt from Old Mopar on E-bay. That part was hard to find, keep the one from your old axle. My motivation was to finish with the brake improvement that I started by adding front disks from Old Daddies Kit. Then I had a delimina in that I had one wheel on the truck with left hand threads. I could have solved that by getting a drum from a right side donor truck but then I'd need a wheel puller. So problem solved, disk brakes on all four corners and all wheels have right hand threads. Now if someone has a part number for a conversion U-joint please post it. Or if some knows the napa part number for a 49 Dodge rear U-joint, I'd like to know that as well.

Amazing day today, I've never changed a rear end in a car that I didn't have to have the drive shaft changed. Still true! Napa couldn't come up with a convesion u-joint so they sent me to a shop that should be able to figure it out. They couldn't come up with the Dodge side so they recommended a new yoke on the end of the drive shaft so I said ok, lets do Jeep to Jeep so there will be no future conversion. Cost was $106 and it went right in, the brakes got bled and it was off to the races. But I have a bit of driveshaft vibration so I need to take off all of the u-joints and the modifyed shaft and bring it back down to the Cities to have it balanced. Stops great, and I used the existing master cylinder without any proporting valves. seems to work just great with disk on the front and on the back. My motivation for doing this project was that I made that improvement on the front with disks and I was left with one wheel that had left hand thread bolts. Now everything is right hand thread, I have no need for a special wheel puller, nor do I need a brake adjuster. That really is the most stupid brake system I've ever seen, pull the drums to adjust the dang brakes. Now I have disks on all wheels and a lower gear as well, (3.73)

I spent the day in the garage today slipping the old axle out and adding the new one in its place. That part went fairly well, bolted right up and centered on the spring bolts. The tough job was getting the brake line apart so I ended up cutting it and re-flairing a new 1/4 adapter in its place. I reversed the old bracket and added a piece to bolt on my new hose from the Jeep world. The biggey that no one ever mentioned or I missed it, was that the U-Joints attachment was not the same on the Jeep yoke as the Dodge yoke. That happened right at lunch time so off to the computer to search old threads. there it was, Napa sells a Conversion U-joint, get a Jeep on one side and a dodge on the other. My first attempt was not quite right on the dodge side so I had them order another which is supposed to be closer. My first one was a 372 and the Dodge side was too long for the brackets. So I learn something new every day. Hopefully the brakes can be bled and the drive shaft can be installed tomorrow. I've got pictures of the bumper jack, the U-joint problem, and a picture of the wheel installed showing the brake clearance and finally a picture of the attachment of the Jeep center hose to the Dodge bracket. I turned the old bracket around and added a L-piece to hold it in place. Any one want a 4.11 rear end with great brakes?