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[Frankenchevy]

Cool?

Lol… it’s not too far for me to the eastern staging area. Still a whole lot I need to explore around here but we mange to make one trip a year through Rubicon. I’d bet we’ll not make it this year though, I can’t believe the winter we’ve had. By the time the snow melts off it will be fall again.

Getting snow yesterday was interesting.

All my buddies have Jeeps, mostly new(er) Rubicon Unlimiteds.

I’m building my square to be more capable. Current project is front and rear ARBs. I’m not sure how far I’ll take it. I’m hoping I’ll find a smaller wheeler that peaks my interest before I completely hack up and modify my square.

 

[CalSgt]

Getting snow yesterday was interesting.

All my buddies have Jeeps, mostly new(er) Rubicon Unlimiteds.

I’m building my square to be more capable. Current project is front and rear ARBs. I’m not sure how far I’ll take it. I’m hoping I’ll find a smaller wheeler that peaks my interest before I completely hack up and modify my square.

I was prepared to build a Toyota when all of my toyota buddy's convinced me to go all out on a Jeep instead. I drive home on the freeway while they all trailer their stuff, pretty hard to beat a rock crawler that does 75 mph with decent gas milage.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I was prepared to build a Toyota when all of my toyota buddy's convinced me to go all out on a Jeep instead. I drive home on the freeway while they all trailer their stuff, pretty hard to beat a rock crawler that does 75 mph with decent gas milage.

I’d love to find a cj6, but they’re hard to find. The 5 is too small for me (though I could modify the inner fender and move the seat back) and the 7 isn’t smog exempt.

 

[Grit dog]

I’d love to find a cj6, but they’re hard to find. The 5 is too small for me (though I could modify the inner fender and move the seat back) and the 7 isn’t smog exempt.

Ouch, never thought about how in Cali you can’t just build any old rock buggy if you intend to license it.
Otherwise I’d recommend a XJ Cherokee. Vehicles and parts are plentiful, they made zillions of them. Nice ones fetch good money but for everyone of those there’s 20 cheap beaters that still run, for cheap.

Buddy built one years ago. Bought a cage and 5pt harnesses. Everything else is just fabbed out of junk/scrap. Small flexy lift with 34” tires. Lincoln locker rear, may have a locker in front I forget.
But they’re a great platform for an economical wheeler. And feasible to smog as well.
The best feature imo is the big long hard top. He welded a split piece of gas pipe over each rain gutter front to back and that is very handy. Here anyways where there’s a lot of trees. Can lay that thing against a tree and ride/rub/pivot it right around a tree without tipping over.

 

[scrap--metal]

And someone at sometime broke the head off the bolt / pin for the spider gears. It is possible with enough force to bang out the spider pin and deal with whatever is left in the carrier on the bench.

There's no need to use brute force to remove that pin with the broken bolt. I ran into the same issue when trying to replace axle tube seals a few years ago, and my buddy brought over a kit like shown in the link below.

It worked well and he got the busted bolt out relatively easily. It's a pretty ingenious design. The best part is that there was no collateral damage to the carrier or anything else.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ZS4I3U/

 

[CalSgt]

I’d love to find a cj6, but they’re hard to find. The 5 is too small for me (though I could modify the inner fender and move the seat back) and the 7 isn’t smog exempt.

I'm fortunate to be in a less restrictive county, we only have to smog on transfer of ownership. So you just need to be able to put it back how it was or go sell it in Reno.

Ouch, never thought about how in Cali you can’t just build any old rock buggy if you intend to license it.
Otherwise I’d recommend a XJ Cherokee. Vehicles and parts are plentiful, they made zillions of them. Nice ones fetch good money but for everyone of those there’s 20 cheap beaters that still run, for cheap.

Buddy built one years ago. Bought a cage and 5pt harnesses. Everything else is just fabbed out of junk/scrap. Small flexy lift with 34” tires. Lincoln locker rear, may have a locker in front I forget.
But they’re a great platform for an economical wheeler. And feasible to smog as well.
The best feature imo is the big long hard top. He welded a split piece of gas pipe over each rain gutter front to back and that is very handy. Here anyways where there’s a lot of trees. Can lay that thing against a tree and ride/rub/pivot it right around a tree without tipping over.

LOL... Those XJ's are fantastic for budget builds, there's so many clapped out XJ's around here. Most of them look like a raisin with 35" tires.

 

[SirRobyn0]

There's no need to use brute force to remove that pin with the broken bolt. I ran into the same issue when trying to replace axle tube seals a few years ago, and my buddy brought over a kit like shown in the link below.

It worked well and he got the busted bolt out relatively easily. It's a pretty ingenious design. The best part is that there was no collateral damage to the carrier or anything else.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ZS4I3U/

That's a game changer in my mind, at least a little bit. One of my concerns in changing the gears myself was the possibility of damaging the carrier banging the pin out. If I decide to do the gears myself I'll order one of those extractors. I've put one in my cart so I don't forget it. Would you mind elaborating on how it is used? I'm guessing the drilling part is done by hand? Did it take very long? Thanks.

 

[scrap--metal]

Would you mind elaborating on how it is used? I'm guessing the drilling part is done by hand? Did it take very long? Thanks.

Sorry in advance for the novel. I hope my description can paint you a good mental picture...

The kit comes with a hollow guide bolt that the long drill bit fits in. That guide bolt gets threaded into the carrier above the broken bolt (the shaft locking bolts usually don't break off flush at the head, they generally break down a couple threads into the carrier because of how/where they are stressed).

With the hollow guide bolt installed in the carrier as far as possible, the carrier needs to be rotated so that the threaded hole is sticking out past the differential cover surface of the housing. Then drill out the center of the broke bolt. The long bit that comes with the kit is necessary to get the appropriate reach past the differential cover surface of the housing (the hole is drilled with the bit running parallel to the axle tubes).

The drilling was done with an electric drill. This was simple because the hollow guide bolt puts the hole exactly where it needs to be. This drilling operation could never be done freehand IMO (it'd walk off center and/or ruin the threads in the carrier). My only caution would be to pay attention to the hole depth relative to how much bolt you have left in your carrier.

Then comes the easy out that's included with the kit. This part was done by hand, by my buddy, and is certainly the more challenging part of the process. He's got an appropriate touch with a hammer to get the easy out to bite, and then the screw was removed by hand (or maybe with a small plyers or ratchet).

With his help, rolling around on my garage floor, we had the broke bolt out in less than half an hour. The truck was already on jack stands with the differential cover off. If everything goes perfect, the process should take minutes. Then, he showed me how to use the axles to pop the rear tube seals out. He's a great friend to have.

The same friend removed a different broken carrier pin bolt out of my Monte Carlo's carrier about a decade earlier. He was able to get that one out with a pick set though as it wasn't stuck, just broken.

I hope this helps you, Rob. It's certainly the "right" way of going about this repair.

 

[CalSgt]

The same friend removed a different broken carrier pin bolt out of my Monte Carlo's carrier about a decade earlier. He was able to get that one out with a pick set though as it wasn't stuck, just broken.

This is how my dad explained to me most of them are, I've been fortunate that none of mine have been busted so I have yet to try.

 

[CorvairGeek]

I am updating my list, I made the #4 post in the thread. I've had this for quite some time now, but don't drive it often. It is a 2019 and I have only 17K miles on it. The 6.2L in it makes me view the first gen SBC like a flat head Ford now.
Speaking of which, I really need to sell the Caprice. Hope I don't cry...

 

[SirRobyn0]

Thanks @scrap--metal that was really great and much appreciated. The only method I've been told about is using a large punch to whale a hammer into the spider gear shaft, until the bolt breaks, or to do it with an air hammer. I've never seen that done, but have been very much afraid of the carnage that might occur. I very much like the idea of using the removal kit. Thanks again for that. I gotta go look at gear sets again and then maybe I'll reignite one of my old gear change threads.

 

[Frankenchevy]

Let’s get this back on track and give everyone something to flame me about. Here’s my commuter and my wife’s commuter:

Mine—2021 M3Dlr

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My wife’s—2021 Venza Limited

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[idahovette]

Look WASHED.........................rain?.............been awhile

 

[Frankenchevy]

Look WASHED.........................rain?.............been awhile

Next weekend I may do just that. It’s been at least 6 months since I washed any vehicle.

 

[82sbshortbed]

They sure do! I've only halfway romped on it merging a couple times and it's impressive, I've been playing the fuel mileage game more than anything lol.

You should take it for a run on the drag Racer app in Google play store. It's a really fun app.

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