Solid Axle Swap!!!

[dilmah]

Been doing a few small jobs over the weekend. Finished the cutting work to the chassis and have prepped that for painting. I managed to pick up an old third member from a mate for free so I cut that in half to use as my drilling template



I just need to drill and tap the new studs this week and put the third member in and seal it up. Studs are M10 x 1.25 so Im going to use a 10mm bit to start and centre the hole, an 11/32 to drill the hole and then a M10 x 1.25 tap. I need to weld up a few of the old stud holes to seal the centre to the bolting face. Im hoping to get 8/9 out of 11 studs in My build will come to a stand still until I receive my stuff from Calmini. Sorta sucks I'm getting over riding my bike to work when its pissing with rain. Maybe its time to get a daily.......

 

[dilmah]

Had a day off work so I spent it in the shed, made a fair bit of progress today. Firstly I grinded down all of the filler welds to tidy up the bolting face. I then put the studs in and tried to test fit the housing. Surprise surprise the studs didn't match up to the third member holes! I initially drilled out the third member holes to 11mm, this sort of worked so then I drilled them out to 12mm. It then dropped straight in.





I still had 3 unusable holes on the 3rd member so I welded some 10mm bolts in to plug up the holes and seal the housing. I reassembled everything and test fitted the cv's. Everything lined up. I now have a working axle! Finally I cleaned up the diff hat and prepped the housing for welding. Ill burn that back on tomoz and put the diff guard on. Still havnt got a tracking number from Calmini. Ill ring them again tonight......

 

[dilmah]

Spent another day in the shed, got the diff hat and diff guard burnt in. Cleaned all of the rust off the housing and gave it a few coats of rattle can black. Only problem was sealing the diff hat., every time I filled it with water it would leak! Had to weld the inside of the housing as well to seal it. I don't think I had the welder hot enough as it was beading started at 16V but ended turning it up to 20V.

I still need to weld on one knuckle brace and the top brace but I cannot do this until I have received the radius arm brackets.

 

[dilmah]

Got the email from Calmini today saying that my stuff has been shipped. Expecting a 2 - 3 week delivery date. Get excited peeps its happening!!!

 

[navaranewb]

Woohooo

 

[camo.b]

Great news mate!!

 

[dilmah]

Im expecting a week to fit everything, privided I dont hit any major problems. I will still need to custom make a draglink and possible the panhard rod but this shouldnt be an issue. I already have the tubing and hiems.

 

[DeanosD22]

Awesome news mate! Can't wait to see it finished

 

[Navmania]

Hi Dilmah. Is the wheel stud pattern different for the patrol diffs to the navara. Are you changing the rear to a patrol diff also if the pattern is different. diff ratios would match to then I suppose also. Looking at this conversion myself in the future and would like to change both to keep ratios, stud patterns, the same. Also four wheel disks and bigger brakes would be nice. Also what hight lift do you expect to get from the front coil overs. I would still be happy with 3 inches so I can keep my rear leafs as I tow all the time and don't know if the coil overs are up to that type of work. Watching with interest mate. I put that wiring diagram up for your winch also. Let me know if that's what you were after.
Cheers, Brad.

 

[dilmah]

Stud pattern is the same although the hole in the middle where the free wheeling hubs go through is bigger. Stock rims won't clear the free wheeling hubs (I could be wrong I only sort of tried once).
Rear diff will stay as a c200 for now I may but a H233 under the rear when I decide what I'm going to do with it..... My rear diff was already converted to a 4.9 last year so the front is a 4.88. The Navara brakes are actually better than the Patrol ones. The patrol callipers are only single piston. Im lead to believe that the 4.5 and 4.8 petrols came out with double piston callipers and bigger disks. I can always upgrade down the track if its an issue

Unsure on the total height atm. I was 840mm from the bottom of the rim to the top of the guard before I pulled everything apart. I want to keep it under 900mm if I can otherwise it will look stupid. The coil overs are adjustable, I'm going to wind them down as much as possible to keep it low and stable. I can possible run softer coils as I ordered the sway bar kit as well.

The shipping is currently in Singapore. They recon it will be on my door by Wednesday. As soon as its here I will be posting pics. Ill check out that wiring diagram now, thanks

Dylan

 

[Navmania]

Thanks mate. Good to know the patterns are the same. I want to change my rims and didn't want to do it twice. I might just see if I can get a patrol one on now and be done with it. The GU has twin pot calipers even on the diesels. My 4.2 had twin pots on it anyway. Can't wait to see yours come together.
Cheers.

 

[dilmah]

Navara and Patrol brakes are not interchangeable, the callipers have different bolting patterns. A Partol is about 130mm between bolts, the Navara is a lot wider, 170 - 180mm from memory. When I had them both apart there was nothing that was interchangeable, similar but always a little different. The disks are almost Identical in diameter but the patrol disk has a different offset when bolted to the hub assembly

 

[scottybobcat]

The GU Patrol calipers in the 4.8 are a 4 spot caliper I think. You will need to go -22 offset on your rims. GU came out with 0 offset but the diffs are 100mm wider. You need to go -22 to allow for the flex you'll have now or the tyres will hit the chassis and inner gaurs on flex

 

[dilmah]

Yeah I've heard the 4.8's have bigger brakes. I plan on running 37" treps on 17" x 9" -30 offset so clearing bigger brakes shouldnt be an issue

 

[dilmah]

So it looks like Wednesday is D Day, got a call today from customs to say everything has cleared and I paid the $500 import tax. Lucky I have the day off as I need to sign for the delivery otherwise I have to pick it up from a warehouse at the airport, expect a bombardment of pics and updates in the next few days!

 

[Navmania]

So it looks like Wednesday is D Day, got a call today from customs to say everything has cleared and I paid the $500 import tax. Lucky I have the day off as I need to sign for the delivery otherwise I have to pick it up from a warehouse at the airport, expect a bombardment of pics and updates in the next few days!

Bring it on!!

 

[Navmania]

Question mate. Do you shorten the patrol diff or just put it in as is. As Scotty bobcat said they are 100mm wider.

 

[dilmah]

Nah GQ vms is 62.5", rear of the nav is 59" atm, Im looking at my options atm but Ill probs run the C200 until I break it then ill put a gg/gu rear under it. its about $3000 to put a locker and do a ratio change for a rear axle otherwise id do it straight away

Rear will be getting the 4 link single triangulation treatment in the new year, already ordered the 2" DOM tubing and 1 1/2" heims. I have worked out what brackets and shock towers ill need and will be getting them from ruff stuff in the next few week. all thats left after that is shocks which ill be getting from down south motorsport but I'm gonna wait and see how long a shock i can get. the plan is for 12 - 14" of travel

 

[joshy]

I would be bracing/sleeving your links if that's what the 2" Dom is for. Uppers probably be ok but lowers won't last.

 

[dilmah]

2"OD with a .25" wall not enough? what did you have Joshy before you pulled it apart?