JPaul's Alpha build

[JPaul]

Unfortunately there was also damage to the ring gear and tiny nick to the pinion from what I can see.

Looks like a chunk was wedged between the nose of the pinion and the carrier:

A small flake is all I saw on the pinion:

So now I'm trying to determine what exactly to do. I was going to buy a used axle off Ebay and just swap it out, but the seller was being adamant about not doing a warranty since the RPO codes didn't match exactly (only difference was one had a locker, the other didn't) so I backed out of it. I theoretically could just get new spider/axle gears and run it for a while, but I'm not sure if the bearings got eaten at all from the debris, though I didn't drive it very far at all until I cleaned it out, maybe a couple hundred feet, and at only a few MPH.

Otherwise I am going to just pull the front and rear axles and take them to a shop to have them rebuilt with 4.56 gears instead of the 4.10 gears, and probably go with ARB air lockers. I really don't like the way the Eaton E-Locker functions, there is a fair bit of slack that needs to be taken up to fully lock them, and then if you need to roll backwards at all they unlock and then relock, so it's a trick to make sure that you're not in a situation that can cause the locker to slam lock which just breaks stuff. With the ARB you still have some rotation to lock it, but it is a fraction of what the Eaton needs, and once it's locked it stays locked until you unlock it regardless of forward or backward motion. Obviously it's the much more expensive solution, but it's also the stronger and more reliable solution in my opinion.

I spoke with a shop yesterday that was recommended to me and they should be calling me back today with a quote. I talked to another shop and labor for front and rear was going to be approximately $1400, so I'm figuring redoing everything is going to end up running around $4500 or so if I go with front and rear ARB lockers. If I am going to do it I should do it all and do it right. It's still cheaper than a ZR2.

 

[JPaul]

Video of the diff:

[video=youtube;P4tNhuWx3WY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4tNhuWx3WY[/video]

 

[JPaul]

More pictures of the damage. I pulled the axle assembly completely out in preparation for taking it to the shop that will be rebuilding it for me, and tore it the rest of the way down but left the carrier installed in case they wanted to check everything, plus I know you need to keep the caps with their respective sides and orientation.

Back of driver gear. Starting to see the slots rounding off.

Locking pins. All starting to round off a fair bit from the looks of it.

Closer look at the front and back of the passenger gear:

Passenger axle bearing surface and splines:

Driver axle bearing surface and splines:

No apparent damage to the axles themselves and the bearing surfaces seem fine. The passenger axle splines look a bit excessively peened though, so I'm not sure if I am going to want to replace them anyway.

It's just as well that I am having the diff rebuilt, after getting everything pulled out and flushing it some more with brake cleaner I tried rotating the ring/pinion gear, and some little bit has apparently worked its way into either the carrier bearings or the pinion bearings and now it binds really badly. I can only turn the carrier maybe 20 to 30 degrees in either direction before it binds up. But I talked to the shop again and rebuilding the diff with an ARB, 4.56 Nitro gears, and new bearings and whatnot is only going to run around $1800 or so all together. The front will be similar so I'm pretty pleased, especially since I was figuring it would run towards $5k for both axles. They said they should have no problem getting the rear axle done before my trip down to Overland Expo West in May, so I should be OK. Just need to get the axle over to them and find out when the locker is going to come in, sounds like it might not be until the end of next week, but that should be OK.

 

[jakesz28]

I would not be surprised if the pinion is not bent.

 

[SoCalH3]

Ouch, sorry to see you got bit by Metal Masher... I hope to make it out to Moab for Black Sheep week one of these years! Keep up the good work on your build, at least you'll get re-gear and ARB lockers for a decent price out of it!

I have been seriously tossing around the same re-gear and possibly going with ARB front and rear lockers. $3600 would be within reason, not sure if I could find that price out here in SoCal. I'm also getting ready to get new shocks. How do you like your Fox 2.0 shocks, now that you've been off road?

 

[JPaul]

Ouch, sorry to see you got bit by Metal Masher... I hope to make it out to Moab for Black Sheep week one of these years! Keep up the good work on your build, at least you'll get re-gear and ARB lockers for a decent price out of it!

I have been seriously tossing around the same re-gear and possibly going with ARB front and rear lockers. $3600 would be within reason, not sure if I could find that price out here in SoCal. I'm also getting ready to get new shocks. How do you like your Fox 2.0 shocks, now that you've been off road?

The Fox shocks have been great, no complaints with them. Hopefully next year I can get more than 4 trails in.

 

[High Five H2]

Hey it was good to meet you this year. Glad to hear you made it home OK.

 

[speedy]

When you remove the elockers from the system you'll need to wire in a simple resistor.It will keep the computer happy and the dash lights off. This is what the engineers at ARB recommended.

 

[JPaul]

When you remove the elockers from the system you'll need to wire in a simple resistor.It will keep the computer happy and the dash lights off. This is what the engineers at ARB recommended.
View attachment 24813

The elockers were already disconnected from the computer, at least I think they were. The front locker is definitely not an issue since the 2008's didn't come with them, Superbuick added it afterward. I am pretty sure he has the rear separately wired as well, I don't use the dash button for it at least.

I have the front and rear ARB lockers on their way from Summit. The shop I am going through wasn't going to be able to get them until the end of next week which would have left them with only a few days to do my rear axle. Getting a couple of the ARB smallest air compressors free as well thanks to a promo ARB is doing. Not sure what I will do with them since I'll be mounting my ARB twin soon hopefully.

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[JPaul]

Dropped the axle and ARB locker off at the shop, hopefully they can get it done this weekend and I can pick it back up on Monday. I'm going to pull the front axle this weekend and get that all prepped as well. The front ARB locker is taking longer to get to me but that's OK. It'll be great to get this thing back on the road soon, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it performs with the 4.56 gears.

 

[atvspeed4]

Might want to carry a spare axleshaft. You can get micro cracks in it from the shock load it saw and can grenade at the worst times... ask me how I know...ugh damn Cliff Hanger kicked my ass

 

[JPaul]

Might want to carry a spare axleshaft. You can get micro cracks in it from the shock load it saw and can grenade at the worst times... ask me how I know...ugh damn Cliff Hanger kicked my ass

That's a real possibility. I may just replace them with Nitro axle shafts before they grenade and keep the stockers as spares.

 

[SlcHummer]

Might want to carry a spare axleshaft. You can get micro cracks in it from the shock load it saw and can grenade at the worst times... ask me how I know...ugh damn Cliff Hanger kicked my ass

I made the mistake of starting on Cliff Hanger during our first day in Moab last weekend lol. It was actually a lot of fun, definitely the most fun i've had for a few hours moving only what seemed to be a 1/2 mile before reaching the 4th obstacle and saying f**k it and flipping or rigs around. I'll write up a bit more about my weekend on the Moab/Rockies post where it's more relevant but just wanted to share.

 

[atvspeed4]

That's a real possibility. I may just replace them with Nitro axle shafts before they grenade and keep the stockers as spares.

Let me know if you find an off the shelf solution for rear shafts so far everyone I spoke to said it would be custom due to the diameter and length of the bearing surface to accommodate the ABS rings. There is a slight taper to the shafts.

 

[4speedfunk]

https://www.nitro-gear.com/GM-8-6-Nitro-Rear-Axle-Shaft-p/axg40022632.htm

 

[JPaul]

https://www.nitro-gear.com/GM-8-6-Nitro-Rear-Axle-Shaft-p/axg40022632.htm

That's the one I was looking at, but like ring and pinions and whatnot, each manufacturer seems to think something different fits the H3 rear axle. I was looking again last night and Yukon has a 34.25" listed as their replacement for the H3 axle (if you look at places like Summit, their own website has a couple other completely different options), while the Nitro is listed as 33.75" and that half inch makes a huge difference as to whether or not the caliper is going to fit over the rotor when it is all bolted up.

Not sure why it is so hard for the manufacturers to figure this stuff out. And of course I didn't measure the axle shafts while I had them out, I'll have to wait until I get the axle back from the shop to verify the specs, unless someone else has those numbers already.

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[4speedfunk]

I’ll have accurate dims in a couple days...doing a SAS/SOA with a regear. I’ll post up the length when I pull them out.

 

[atvspeed4]

What do they measure from? I think we have a spare shaft somewhere

 

[JPaul]

What do they measure from? I think we have a spare shaft somewhere

Both Yukon and Nitro measure from face of the wheel flange to the tip of the axle.

https://www.nitro-gear.com/category-s/126.htm

https://www.yukongear.com/downloads/productsheets/axle shafts.pdf

 

[JPaul]

Talked to the shop today, rear axle should be ready tomorrow so I'm borrowing my friend's truck again to pick it up. Hopefully I can have it installed tomorrow night and be back on the road again. I spent last night and tonight pulling the front differential and CV axles. Turned out to be a good thing I'm doing it.

Here's that CV that had the boot popped loose:

And then when I was pulling the front drive shaft I started to undo the bolts at the transfer case, pulled my ratchet out and noticed it had grease on it. At first I thought I somehow got grease on it from working on the axle above, so I wiped it off and went back to loosening the rest of the bolts for the driveshaft at the transfer case. Pulled the ratchet back out and there was MORE grease!! Crap.

Turned out to be a nice little line of grease from the CV for the front drive shaft on the crossmember:

Turns out the clamp for the boot somehow got crushed by a rock or something (guessing it pinched a rock between the clamp and the outer portion of the CV) and now it's just loose enough that grease is starting to come out. Brilliant.

It's the original driveshaft from the looks of it, so it's probably just as well that I have to replace it now. The question now is what do I do? I have a few options.

1. Replace the CV with a Cardone unit
2. Replace with a used or new stock driveshaft
3. Upgrade to a aftermarket driveshaft (Tom Woods has one, bit pricey though but supposedly nice and uses a double cardan with Spicer 1310 joints, Outfitter Design has one that costs even more than Tom Woods but is simpler as it doesn't use a double cardan joint.)

Fortunately this issue can wait for a bit, it's probably going to be a while before the front diff s rebuilt. But it's just another issue that has come up. I am really surprised to find so many things broken/breaking after this last Moab trip, I didn't think I was anywhere near this hard on the rig. But when I am done it's going to be practically a brand new truck from the frame down.

 

[JPaul]

Got the axle back today. Unfortunately it took me all evening to replace the u-joints on the rear drive shaft. It didn't help that you need a special tool to press the old u-joints out, which I had to fabricate:

But the driveshaft is ready now, so hopefully tomorrow evening I can get the axle installed and take it out for a test drive.

 

[JPaul]

Finally have the rear axle back in. Took me until 4AM to get it all finished, though that included replacing the front swaybar links. Those ACDelco "professional" links are apparently pieces of garbage. The driver side was completely sheared off the studs, and the passenger side's lower stud just spun in the ball joint (it has flats to use to remove/install the nut, that part kept still while the stud itself spun...)

Had to wait until this morning to run to Lowes and then Home Depot to get new metric bolts for the diff cover since ARB only includes standard threaded bolts with the cover for the GM 10 bolt. Got that all done and lube in it, jacked the rear up and put the transmission in neutral and spun everything by hand to make sure lube was on everything before I took it for a drive. Drove it around the block and everything seems to be OK.

I'm going to drive it until Tuesday and then change the fluid before I leave for Overland Expo on Wednesday. I was just going to leave Thursday morning but KC Hilites is having a shindig Thursday afternoon at their place that is not too far from the Expo, so I am going to go to that and just drive partway down Wednesday and camp overnight somewhere, then head the rest of the way down Thursday morning. It'll make the trip more enjoyable so I am looking forward to it.

I have the front diff with the shop to get matching 4.56 gears and the new front ARB locker installed. Just going to drive in RWD until that is all ready. I'm just glad to have the H3 back on the road again.

 

[JPaul]

Two days of driving so far and I think it's working out well. Pretty sure most of the noise I hear is my Duratracs showing their age, plus I tweaked everything pretty well apparently.

Glove box now barely brushes against the passenger door, there's a creak when stopping and starting as the weight of the nose of the truck shifts up and down, the front bumper is ~1/2" higher on the passenger side than on the driver side (or the body is lower now, one of the two), the upper radiator bracket is now turned at an angle (used to be perpendicular to the radiator and support, so the passenger side of the radiator is probably higher than it used to be or something that is causing it to shift over), rear door looks a bit cockeyed, driver side tail lamp isn't staying snapped into place anymore, etc, etc. Oh well. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I am pretty sure I know exactly when I tweaked the front corner, and yes it was while doing something stupid. The rear on the other hand I'm not so sure about, but it was likely during the same incident. Really I am surprised I didn't actually break more stuff, especially nothing on the front aside from the swaybar links. When I drained the fluid from the front diff to pull it I saw no indication of any issues, so that was good to see. The rest of the issues I'll eventually work through.


Also fixed the AC today with putting in the new condenser. I still need to put another 120 grams of refrigerant in but it's blowing cold air again. I think I have it working better than before even, but by the time I finally got to the point of actually charging it the ambient temps were down below 70 so it's hard to say for sure, I was getting 44 degree air out of the vents. We'll see how it is tomorrow during the day when it's warmer.

Still need to get the truck cleaned out and start getting packed for the trip to Overland Expo, I was hoping to have done that today but it took so long to get the AC done thanks to not having the right seals, needing a wrench to get the fan clutch off so that I could have room to get the new condenser in, the first OReilly's giving me a gauge set and vacuum pump that both had issues so then I had to go back out to return them and drive to another store to get ones that weren't buggered up, blah blah blah.

Oh, and I discovered that Les Schwab did a crap job on my alignment and didn't torque down the upper control arm bolts enough so they started slipping and causing everything to go out of alignment. You could see where the adjustment cams started out because it was relatively clean where they used to be. So I used the clean spots as a guide and put everything back in place and made sure the bolts were properly torqued down. I am going to get it re-aligned after I get the steering rack swapped and the front drivetrain back in, and I will definitely be taking it somewhere else then. May just try doing it myself, it's really not all that hard from what I have researched and I am tired of botched work.

 

[4speedfunk]

Rear axle shafts...measured today. Looks like 33.75” to me. Both are the same.

 

[JPaul]

Rear axle shafts...measured today. Looks like 33.75” to me. Both are the same.

Thanks for that. I got the axle back together and all installed, was standing there admiring my work, when suddenly I remembered I was going to measure the shafts... [emoji31]

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