While changing the diff oil, I noticed that the front diff had taken a couple of big hits. And I mean BIG HITS…not only was it dented, someone had taken a welder to her to fix up a crack. It is not leaking, so I am assuming they did a reasonable job, but I set out to look for a new housing.
Have you seen how much a new one costs? Well…on to plan B; get one out of the Disco One that the transfer case came out from at the local pick and pull yard. Unfortunately, that one was in real BAD shape too.
NEWBIE (<-ME) HINT: Row52.com Sign up and you can setup alerts to let you know a local yard has new inventory you might be interested in.
A 98 Disco had just arrived, and I went to check it out. I needed the shifter for the new automatic going into the D110, and while there I noticed the front axle was in great shape cosmetically. The first problem: The car was sitting on the radius arms instead of the frame. The second problem: I had no idea what the hell I was doing. Third problem: Snow and Rain for the next 5 days.
Problem One: Asked the yard manager if they could reposition the Disco. He said no problem and would have it done in the morning.
Problem Two: Watched a ton of videos on the old YT and studied diagrams. Also begged my neighbor to come and help.
Problem Three: Had to wait for the weather to clear and pray some other person didn’t have the need for the axle nor the fortitude for the cold.
Day One: I figured the best way to begin was to start with unbolting the things that I didn’t need. So stripped the steering, pan-hard bar, and the anti-roll bar off. Next, loosened the radius arms nuts and took off the brake calipers. One caliper was missing a nut, and apparently the last guy to work on the calipers didn’t have a 13mm 12point, so they welded a 14mm bolt head to the 13mm 12 point. I am not kidding. I spent the rest of day one trying to figure out how to SAFELY take that axle out.
You see, they will not allow me to bring a jack to the yard. And the staff did a pretty good job of removing all the jacks from ALL the vehicles that were there. So now the axle is in its full extended state, with no way for me to jack it up to “unbind” everything. Went home, deflated and started on the Gin and Tonics.
Day Two: The yard doesn’t care if I bring in ratchet straps…If I can’t jack up the axle, maybe I can hoist it up. I have a plan at least. Jo, the yard manager, stopped me on my way in to let me know there was some guy picking parts off the Disco, and to inquire about my plan. He very kindly offered the use of one of the engine hoists once he heard the plan. I just needed to promise not to lift the actual car with it. This is a problem at the yard, who would have thunk it.
The guy under the Disco was a buddy that needed some parts for a Disco build he was working on. Luckily for me he was there at the right time. And while the ratchet straps idea didn’t work, we did have the engine hoist. We raised one side of the axle, beat the radius arm out, and then did the same thing for the other side. So for $220 and 6 hours of rolling around in wet gravel, I have a new used front axle. While I only needed the housing, maybe some of the other parts will come in handy.
