The Yeti Project

Sorry you have gone through so much! Hope you do get to get away to enjoy Telluriade and at least soften the troubles for a while.

I am looking forward to this summer. With my new job having May 25 through August 8 off will lend to some pretty great trips. Wife and I have so much planned. I hope to fit in as much overlanding/trail runs as I can.

I'm going to try and finish putting my front suspension together this weekend. If I do I will try and get my rear leaf springs swapped out the next weekend. And see what my ride sits like. (Hoping it's level or a little rake). It would be nice if it is road worthy enough with out having to swap out the t-case just yet. I'm jonzen for some time up in the mountains before I get into the next phase of mods.

Moving back to Telluride soon? Do you have work lined up there? And a place to hang your hat? I think that would be a great place to live. It is getting so exspensive to live here in Denver (pretty much Colorado in general) my two younger kids are working hard to get out of debt so they can relize the dream (sort-a-speak) it is so hard for your generation.

Hope you get things turned around and maybe some day we can bump into each other down there in the most beautiful place on earth in my oppinion (Apline loop area). Cheers, David

Well this is what I have going on. Both axles I bought are already loaded with the ring and pinion. The Dana 44 out of a International Scout, turned out to be bent to crap housing/axle shaft. So we have a guy up in Grant that has a lot of Scout parts and sold me a housing for $125 and sourced axle shafts off Ebay. Also bought a complete rebuild kit. If I pull the guts and go ahead and just swap it in (as long as the bearing and races are looking good) and check all the tolerances. If it does check out I'd would it be good to go? I Have a similar situation with the Dana 30, bought the rebuild kit for it as well. I have bought most everything I need to break it all down and rebuild them completely. Once we get into it we will probably just go ahead and use all the new parts but just curious if since the carrier and gears where already broke in together would it be ok?

Yeah the right tools should prove to be valuable. I have a heavy duty shop press (I had to purchase a new hydraulic jack for so 30 ton from harbor freight) I went ahead and bought a clam shell bearing puller, actually almost every tool I think I'll need. But still need a couple things. The axles have arb lockers so I don't think the bearings have a lot of mileage on them. I would be worried about whether the carrier on the bent axle was damaged but arb's are supposed to be one of the strongest on the market, when the time comes to actually put things together I'm going to try and enlist some experienced help. I will probably go ahead and truss the dana 44 since it's out.

I had some trouble dialing the front and rear suspension (complete overhaul during the fall) now that it is near perfect for me. The gearing is the next step.
I wheeled with a guy that is running the same gearing with the 5 spd like mine, I asked him if it was to steep. He said it was perfect. Top speed 80 mph. He also tows a teardrop trailer no problems.

Thanks for your input I might be tracking down some set-up bearings if I can't use the old ones. Good advice!