Building a Universal Modified

oldtime wrote: ....Weak or partly broken poppet springs could provide inadequate control concerning  shift fork position.

Last time, I switch out the entire top shifter assembly. I'll try and inspect it this week and see how its doing. I have made so many changes that it is hard for me to remember which change may have caused this to happen. For 2 years, I never had this problem but I was blowing out front seals all the time. Now the seal problem is gone but I am wearing out shifter forks. I'm certain it is an assembly issue. These trannys are rock solid for everyone else and I can't find anyone on the internet machine who has the same problem(s).

I have also taken a couple of my old worn out shifter forks and brazed them on 3 sides to see if they would hold up better than the teflon. Ultimately, I just need a professional to rebuild it.

More changes.

A new set of front springs to replace the ones I broke last month:



... these are 2" shorter than the last ones so 46" OAL, pin is 20" from shackle side. The reason my other ones broke was because they had an extra hole drilled in them that was 2" from the axle foot. I know they say not to do that but I wanted to find out for myself as opposed to reading about it.... so if anybody wants to know how long a set of leaf springs will last that have an extra hole in them, you can do a week of EJS, Cliffhanger, Duke's Off-road Ranch, Hal John's, The Rubicon, Hell's Revenge, Blackbear/Imogene, Potawatomi (2X), Pritchett Canyon, .... and that's about it. After that, if you do Poughkeepsie, or Chinaman Gulch, you are on your own.

Next, convert my D20 Rockeater to D18 and go with Offset D44 rear:



in order to use the D18 shfters, some grinding is necessary to mate the TC to the SM465:

Tranny:


TC:




Now I am able to go back to a standard yoke drive shaft with softer angles:



... parallel to these changes, I also got rid of my fuel sump and went with an aluminum tank with the pump in the tank:





The tank was made by Sam at Wingard's Sales in Shipshewana, IN. Same guy that made Nick_'s tank. I added the filler neck and made the bracket for the fuel pump and lines. This tank is almost 14 gallons.







... so, this is like the 4th time I've redone the exhaust system:





... yes, the welding is bad. I am a bad welder and worse when I'm upside down but it is high and tight and I was able to put my Flowmaster 40 back in so now BAM BAM sounds like Blueberry:



... so, once again... the final edits to BAM BAM have been made. The project is complete and no further changes from here on out ... Thanks for reading.

Edited by jpet - 16 Oct. 2018 at 2:55pm

jpet wrote: .... The project is complete and no further changes from here on out ...

.....uh huh

Some of the best off roading I ever did was in the mud and snow. Don't give up.

smfulle wrote: Does the new tank solve the fuel-in-your-pants issue when you are upside down?...

It better. That is another reason for the conversion. No doubt you will be there when I perform the test.

chasendeer wrote: Love the look of a stock MB!! Jay

... mostly stock anyway .....

Some finishing touches:



I made some changes to the tranny hump to allow me to get the tank farther away from the outside wall. This puts the filler neck off center some but still is functional:



I also had to move the hole for the TC shifters. Since this is a D18 now, I went with the original shifters. I hope they don't pop out of gear:





Everything seems to work well. I've been driving BAM BAM to work every day for a couple weeks except for yesterday when I had to get my wife and take her to work after hitting here second deer in a month:



... she is ok. The deer didn't stick around for an interview.

The TC noise is more annoying than ever but a set of molded in-ear buds solves that problem. I've ordered some Dynamat to see if I can insulate the tranny tunnel some. I'll do some off-road testing this weekend.

chasendeer wrote: ...Is the TC and in high? Mine is only bad in low.

Hi range 2WD 50+ mph.

I am used to my old D20 config where the rear drive doesn't run through the intermediate and lower output gears. It's only annoying when the top is on.

I go through this every time I change something. I hear new noises and it takes me a while to get used to them. I knew the Dana 18 config would be noiser... Compromises ... right Bob

Edited by jpet - 24 Oct. 2018 at 3:25pm

Yes indeed... 

jpet wrote:  Compromises ... right Bob