bkahler

I'm guessing a 46 WC probably has a narrower track than a 51 B3B which means you would want to find an axle from a 93 to 97 possibly up to 98. Around 98/99 Jeep went to an axle that is 5" wider than the B3B series axle. My B3B rear had a 62-1/4" axle. The 97 Grand Cherokee axle I bought is 60-1/4" Dana 44 with 5x4.5 hubs. I will be using wheel spacers to make up the difference. Brad

I don't have an answer for you on which ratio to choose, hopefully Jeff Balazs will chime in shortly. He commented to me about a 3.73 might be more appropriate for my 218 powered 1/2 ton. He runs a 230 in his 3/4 ton and has a 3.55 installed. As far as price, I paid $315 for mine shipped from Michigan to Kentucky but it was missing all of the brake parts except for the backing plates. I wasn't aware the brake parts were missing when I bought it so that was a price adder I wasn't expecting. To be fair I would likely have replaced the rotors and calipers anyway just so I could start out with new parts. Brad

Kids and their toys..... Love the sound!

Not old fashioned......smart......

Thanks Pretty much all of the info I've gleaned has been from searches of this site or responses received to my questions. Lots of knowledgeable people here. The Dana 44 is 1" shorter on each side. I was quite surprised at just how similar the Dana 44 is to the original axle. The pinion yoke ends up being in exactly the same place really makes things easier. The tube diameters are different. The original axle is 3" in diameter and the 44 is 2-5/8" in diameter. I was not able to find perches for that diameter but the places that sell the perches say it's not a problem and you're just supposed to fill the gaps with weld. Seems odd but that appears to the way to do it.

Movement is good. As bad as mine was it came out in one piece. Don't be afraid to let it soak more now that you've got it to move a little bit. The tool I made was based on pictures I found on the web and it was just a series of hooks ground into a flat bar with a nut welded on the end to hook to a slide hammer. If I remember correctly the one I bought from VPW was tapered from front to back. The one from DCM appears to be more rectangular. It'll be interesting to see what your's looks like once you get it out.

When I was trying to get my distribution tube out I think I soaked it in Kroil or something similar for several months. After all the soaking the machine shop finally got it removed by using the tool that I made. My engine was in really bad condition because it sat in a salvage yard without a head for x number of years. I also had to have liners installed in three of the bores just to make the block usable.

Steve, I can give you this much. I just bought an axle out of a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It was a 3.73 with no ABS and no traction control. I've been told it is a Dana 44 axle. It has disc brakes and an aluminum center section. As near as I can tell it's going to be a bolt in once I weld the new spring perches to the axle tubes. It is shorter by one inch on each side so I bought wheel spacers to make up the difference. In 1998 Jeep changed the axle width and they are about 2-1/2" wider per side so you need to keep that in mind when searching. In my opinion the 1997 is good for 1/2 ton trucks and the later axle are good for the 3/4 ton trucks. Brad I just saw that Eric already covered this!

My B3B didn't have a screen and I don't think any of them did.

Just going through this now for my 51 B3B. I bought a Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.73 axle with disc brakes. The distance wheel mounting surface (WMS) on my B3B was 62-1/4". The Jeep axle is 60-1/4". I purchased wheel spacers to make up the difference on each side. You will need to grind off all of the mounting hardware on the Jeep axle and install spring perches to match the original axle. After that it bolts into place perfectly. If your B2b has the Cleveland style of u-joint you will need to find a resolution as to how to connect the driveshaft to the rear axle. The Jeep axle uses the more modern Spicer u-joint that uses clips on the outside to hold it in place. If your axle already uses the Spicer style u-joint then it will bolt right up to the Jeep axle. If you don't want rear disc brakes there are earlier Jeep axles that will bolt in just like the 1997 axle does. Hope this helps. Brad

I looked again for the removal tool and still haven't found it. It's not like me to throw anything away so who knows what box it's hiding under. I'll keep looking.....

I'm not really sure the backhoe has a brand name. The model number was listed as a BH770 although I couldn't find a link to it. Here is a link to their BH7600. It's rated just slightly less. It's been installed for over 5 years now and I've had no issues with it as yet.

I'd never heard of the Lobster before! Definitely interesting looking. I wouldn't mind having a dump bed cart like that, would definitely come in handy around my property.

The backhoe I bought was a cheap 3-point mount style import but it seems to work well. It worked well enough to do a neighbors septic system replacement. Instead of mounting it via the 3-point hitch I made a sub frame and hard mounted it with a quick disconnect to make it relatively easy to remove (~30 minutes). What kind of spreader is that?

I shortened and installed the pushrod this afternoon. The results aren't promising for the tall reservoir ? The length of the pushrod allows the pedal to be retracted all the way with minimal play between the pushrod and the MC piston. This is what it looks like with the pedal depressed 1/2 way to the floorboard. This equates to about 5" of pedal travel. This is what happens when the pedal depressed full stroke. At least I think it's full stroke. It hangs up on the side of the MC so it might actually move a little farther down. I adjusted the pushrod so there is less than a 1/16" of play before the piston starts to move. The pedal return spring should keep the pushrod from riding on the piston. I think it might be time to go back to the salvage yard and find one of the sloped reservoir MCs and see if that makes a difference. Looking at various pictures online it looks like some reservoirs might be narrower than others. I can hope! Brad

I wish mine was 4-WD! But it does get the job done. I added a backhoe to it and then sold my old Case 530.

I took advantage of the sunny day to drop the original axle and set it on the back of my Truckster along with the Jeep axle. I use the Truckster bed for a work platform as it provides a nice working height and is mobile. Sometime in the next week or two I hope to have the new spring perches welded in place.

I don't recall any response saying they've used the tall reservoir MC. Most seem to have used the one that slopes.

As near as I can tell it seems the width of the reservoir is the issue, there doesn't seem to be a height issue. I'll get a measurement of the MC width and post it sometime today.

Another good reason why we tend to hang onto left over parts even though we have no use for them

DJ, a remote reservoir is certainly a possibility. I'd prefer not too in that I would then have to find a place to mount it and that wouldn't necessarily play well with my "as stock as possible" goal. Originally I was trying to build a totally stock truck but as time as gone by mostly due to necessity that goal has changed a little. For the time being I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything will play nice together I wouldn't mind having a remove reservoir for my Argosy motorhome and might just look into what options are available for it. Thanks! Brad

That would imply that there should be no contact from the brake pedal arm to the plastic reservoir. It will be nice if it works out that way. Thanks!

I would imagine the odds of finding one of those is probably pretty slim. I do have a spare pushrod that I plan on modifying and will save the restored one with the rest of the parts that I'm swapping out.

I scrounged around in my shop and found a 3/4" thick aluminum plate so I fabricated another adapter out of it. Ignore the shape as it was just a piece of scrap and I used what I could out of it I'm happy to say it appears the template that I made seems to be accurate as all of the holes lineup without problems. The same issue with pedal hitting the top of the reservoir still exists. I need to modify the pushrod so I can find out if the tall reservoir is going to work. The alignment of the MC bore with the pin hole in the brake pedal arm appears to be correct. I believe that's another indication that all of my measurements seem to be accurate. With the 3/4" spacer the pushrod will need to be trimmed about 1-1/2" and little if any will need to come off the threaded shaft. I will say it's a lot harder to bore a 1-7/8" hole in 3/4" aluminum that it is 3/8"! I might have to find a different hole saw if I end up using 3/4" plate which all things considered I do think would be a better approach. I guess the next step is to modify the pushrood...... Brad

I learned a lot this morning. I mounted the MC on the 3/8" plate and installed the brake pedal and stuck the steering column tube in place. You'll see in the attached pictures there might be a problem with the larger reservoir this MC has compared to the sloped model found on other MCs. Can someone tell me how close does the pedal get to the floorboard when you apply the brakes? Say from the top of the pedal to the sheetmetal. Another aspect of a 3/8" adapter plate is the pushrod modifications necessary. Both the plunger and the threaded shaft would need to be trimmed to make things fit. Here's what the clearance looks like with the 3/8" mounting plate. Depending on how far the pedal travels towards the floorboard the pedal arm below the floorboard might collide with the MC reservoir. I do know the MC has a 1.5" piston travel so if I get the pushrod modified that might help sort things out.