The MC arms look like toothpicks now.

yah they do.
the new Ca's now run in the 28" ballpark. i'm hoping length vs diameter should make them a bitch to bend.

winters here, it's been cold and the 1st storm already dumped 4" on us.
i got the front axle inside, down in the basemant (bitch is gettin heavy), pretty much ready to get into it.
found a sweet deal on a clam shell bearing puller and snagged it. it'll do pinion and carrier bearings for all Dana's (except the 80) and most fords. got it for under 200........real HD piece of tooling, set weighs like 40#.

got my bead lock kit today, i'm gonna program my big robot at work to run um.

started messing around with the fuel cell idea, the Alien tank looks good but for 1k. not.
the Genright also looks like a decent cell but at 600, and the fact that i really don't need a 20gl cell, drops it from the list.
10-12gl is my range.......anymore is wasted space and weight.
now this still leaves a bunch of others cells so i'll drop some reasons.
Motobuilt 19gl not bad price for what they offer, but tank needs internal slosh control...i could do it but have already ruled out the need for that capacity.
RCI the alum cells are called 1/8 (.125) but are really .100, and as with Moto would require internal baffles. but i really don't care for the thin material, prob why i read of splitting seams (due to no slosh control and thin walls).

i can build a steel tank at work for free, and have some 14ga. components already cut and cleaned (no mill scale inside). 2 aluminum interior baffle walls (.100) and will be incorporating a large 12"L x 2"D sump area. gonna do the bottom out of 11ga. this will be a very solid box. of course the inside will need coated to finish. if it comes out nice (passes pressure test) i'll coat it and snag a Motobuilt pump ring. 28Lx12Wx9H w/2"sump channel. the weight of a small steel tank is a moot point compared to loss of 9gl of fuel weight/GTS and OE tank.

but i do have a back-up plan too. the Jaz 892-010-01, 24x9x12 poly, 10gl. it's nice and small and has 2 360* strap indents which would be perfect for aligning some baffle walls. 74$ at Summit. to this i'd spend for the Genright ring to run the TJ pump. for this i'd make a steel (14ga) can to mount it in.

plenty more i'm not mentioning a far as parts and lines and rollover valve but i'll spent time typing that when it's worked out, it'll be the same for either set up really.

well i finally got into tinkering with the front diff.
1st, the JK RnP torque spec is like 90#. Revo says 55#, it's Revo's chunk, so that's what i did, w/red lock-tight.

then the OX locker moves the carrier shim position to outside the bearings, a lot better than pulling those bearings multiple times. so i seated those bearings to the locker.

next the pinion depth shims are located behind the head in front of the inner bearing cone. i have nothing to start against for a shim pack, Revo's list says try .042. i could produce an .043 with the shims, so this the start point.
i honed an inner set-up bearing.
a baffle goes inside and i seated the new inner race in the housing.
then seated the outer race, and honed a tight fit outer set-up bearing.
placed the thrust washer and yoke and used an old pinion nut to snug it all down to get some pre-load to the pinion bearings.........kinda stalled here...........1/4", inch pound torque wrench and no adapter for 1/4>3/8. i'll snag 1 when i get out tomrw.

so until i can verify that i moved onto the carrier shims.
now the pinion does have some pre-load so i was using it to check ballpark backlash.

i got the carrier pinned nice and tight, set and finger snugged the straps and got a BL of 13. Revo's spec is 6-10. pulled my thinnest shim and flopped it to the other side and have the BL at 6.
i pulled the carrier and will be sure the pinion is snugged sufficiently b4 proceeding.

now when i reassemble this next time i'm adding = shim to both sides for carrier bearing pre-load. it was already fairly tight i couldn't pull it out without a lever.
Billavista suggests an additional .015 to the total split 50/50 each side of course. we'll see if that works.

p.s. sometime back i posted pics of the pinion shims from Revo's kit vs a Yukon kit, and could not believe how sloppy the Yukon's fit the pinion. now it's dawned on me that those shims in that kit are actually for under the inner bearing race, inside the housing, not behind the pinion head like the Revo shims, just an alternative shimming position. and would require shaving the race O.D. for set-up instead of the bearing cone I.D. like i did. either would work.

i've been slow with the diff, i cannot F this up. so i been reading and watching installs.
i should have time tomrw to try and get something accomplished.

ordered a front end anti-rock.

and i've been considering what a hand throttle could offer me. since i saw tworly's, it seems it's primary use is to hold some throttle into a manual trans to help out with the fancy footwork and 3 pedals.
but Jerry said something the other day that peeked my interest again. he says he uses his in combination with an auto trans to help with what i could only relate as foot wobble or non-constant pressure on the gas pedal (twerking the drive line) when your ass is bouncin up and down and side to side in the seat.
and yesterday i ran across the Teraflex kit for 32$, so i ordered 1.

the anti-rock was here the day after ordering it.

and i was able to get my cell all welded up, and have it pressure tested.
it held 4PSI for 8 hrs and i left it charged for the wkend, we'll c what it's still holding come Mon. but i think it's ok and should be ready for an internal anti-corrosion coating soon.

the volume calculation says it's just over 12gl.

been a little bit since i updated this.

i got that cell painted but it's gonna sit until i can pull the tank, and get to the pump.
not been much else to do at the moment, weathers been all over the spectrum here 55 and rain 1 day 30 and snow the next.

i did pick up some rims and a DIY bead lock kit.

i programmed my robotic welder at work to run them, 1st 1 came out pretty good.
hopefully i can get the rest done in short order.

well i finally got around to doing the front diff.
i made set up bearings for the pinion, got all that put together with RGA's starting spec. it hit good. i did try and go a tad deeper to be sure but, ended up reversing that back.
and it took a few attempts to get a good backlash.
swapped out the set ups and assembled it 1 more time, it looked good.
it went relatively smooth, final #'s end up with pinion pre-load at 33-34 in/lb
backlash at .008

i did end up changing shims. RGA gives 1 thick shim and several thinner shims in the master kit.
i had scored some Yukon mini kits off FB awhile back, it gave 2 shims that ='d what the larger RGA shim was. (instead of having to deal with a fat .010 it had 2 .005's).

it all had to do with the amount of bearing that protrudes the cup had to be jumped or passed to fit the shims..........the OX pushes the shims outside the bearings.
the total on both ends is like .013 +/-. so the .003 was not enough to cover this protrusion and allow the fat .010 to slide in easily. by switching to the .005's i was able to stack .008 and slip the last .005 in without issue.

it's all nice and tight...........it'll be awhile b4 it gets outside under the jeep, so i'll keep it wet until then. but it won't get fully assembled in the basement, i'll never get it out.

Nice to have a robot at your disposal huh!! Very cool.

i forgot to order a lube locker gasket for the front end, so i did that yest.
as well as order a few items for the fuel cell too, a couple roll over vents and a 45* filler neck.

i got that axle out of the basement, it's getting to heavy now, so i'll finish building it out in the garage.