Highlander's Bronco Upgrades

[highlander]

Just got back from Bald Mountain and once again the Katastrophe trip left some wounds on my bronco. While bumping up a big ledge with a little to much skinny peddle I twisted the splines on my WH HD rear driveshaft so bad that the slip joint is stuck so tight a winch couldn't pull it apart. With the splines frozen the U-joint broke. So with only front wheel drive I managed to brake one front hub and with only one front wheel pulling I made it almost all the way back to the road when that hub let go leaving me without power to any wheels. So once again I trailered home my bronco along with a Willy's jeep that ripped off a spring hanger.
It rained on and off most of the weekend with some snow and a little bit of hale so no trail pics. I'll try to get some pics of teh carnage after I get some sleep.

[earlybronco72]

Man, that is brutal. I've been down to one wheel drive before (broken front axle and output shaft) but never down to zero wheel drive. Sounds like Bald Mnt. is becoming your broncos nemisis.

[highlander]

Man, that is brutal. I've been down to one wheel drive before (broken front axle and output shaft) but never down to zero wheel drive. Sounds like Bald Mnt. is becoming your broncos nemisis.

It's funny I go to Bald more than any other trail and rarely have any issues except for this annual trip the last two years. I still can't believe I twisted the splines on that shaft, there around an 1.5" thick, seems like there is a lot of other things that should have let go first.

[TBS-POPS]

Did it twist the splines on the shaft or in the yoke??? I found out that My yoke was twisted when I had my shafts cut to length after the lift to 5.5... rear yoke was out so far at 3.5 lift it twisted the yoke and would not slide in.. A new yoke was put on when work was done.. poops

[crawlin68]

Holy Crap Steve! You da man when it comes to breaking parts on Bald Mt. What where you trying to climb when you twisted the driveshaft.

[highlander]

Did it twist the splines on the shaft or in the yoke??? I found out that My yoke was twisted when I had my shafts cut to length after the lift to 5.5... rear yoke was out so far at 3.5 lift it twisted the yoke and would not slide in.. A new yoke was put on when work was done.. poops

The splines are definitely twisted you can see it outside the yoke, we can't get the yoke off so I don't know if twisted or not. This is new shaft built to length when I installed the doubler. My original shaft had a twisted yoke and splines much like yours, but it still slid in out out with a ton of slop. The slip shaft on the WH shaft is longer and almost twice as thick ~1.38".

[highlander]

Holy Crap Steve! You da man when it comes to breaking parts on Bald Mt. What where you trying to climb when you twisted the driveshaft.

I was going up the lower shelf on the left side of V-rock. It was wet and all the stacked rock were pushed out from the three rigs that attempted it in front of me unsuccessfully. I was almost up on it the first try without bumping, determined to get over it, I tried bumping it. The back tires bounced right up but when the weight came back down it hooked up, lunged forward a bit and didn't rise back up, when a went to crawl up to the second ledge the u-joint snapped.

[highlander]

Here are some pics of the damage.

[crawlin68]

Yikes! That is some carnage. It's amazing how much more stress that doubler puts on your drivetrain. Where you in low-low? That is one added benefit to my mog/9 rear axle. The portal boxes take roughly half of the reduction stress off of the rest of the rear drivetrain.

So........now are you ready for a D60 front end?

[highlander]

Yikes! That is some carnage. It's amazing how much more stress that doubler puts on your drivetrain. Where you in low-low? That is one added benefit to my mog/9 rear axle. The portal boxes take roughly half of the reduction stress off of the rest of the rear drivetrain.

So........now are you ready for a D60 front end?

The portals take the stress of your rear axles and differnetial, but the drive shaft will still see the same loads.
Yes, I was in my lowest gears.
No dana 60 for me yet, I am actually kind of releaved thet it was just the hubs and not the axle shaft(s) again.
Not sure if I should do something diffrent with the drive shaft or not. I am thinking about building a 1350 or maybe a 1410 shaft.

[crawlin68]

Yeah it's the R&P and axle shafts that it helps. Wouldn't have made a difference for the driveline. I guess you would need to go to a bigger diameter spline shaft in whatever you build. I can't beleive that the splines twisted before the 1310 u-joints broke. I would have thought that the u-joints or even the yoke would go long before the splines would twist.

[CityHick]

Yikes... That's a lot of carnage for a day.
On a brighter note, your cage looks great...

[highlander]

Yikes... That's a lot of carnage for a day.
On a brighter note, your cage looks great...

With all the carnage I kind of forgot about the cage additions for a while. Here is a couple pictures of it with the front seats mounted up I used modified driver side bronco seat sliders for both driver and passneger seat. The seat sliders bolt down to threaded holes in the straps much like the stock seats and they are only about 1/2" higher than before. I did move the mounts back about 3" from where the factory mounting holes sit for some more leg room. Sorry about the picture quality I can't easily move out for some better shots . It was hard enough getting it off the trailer and in the garage out of the rain by myself.
This was probaly the wrong weekend to try out the new screen full length bikini top, it doesn't do a very good job keeping the rain off.

[Daddy4zack]

1410 shafts sound like they are in order.. What are the diameter differences in the 1310/1410??

I have a 1410 yoke from my WH output shaft sitting on my bench if you need it..

Aaron

[highlander]

1410 shafts sound like they are in order.. What are the diameter differences in the 1310/1410??

I have a 1410 yoke from my WH output shaft sitting on my bench if you need it..

Aaron

If I go the 1410 route I will definitely take you up on the yoke, I already have the WH 32 spline output shaft.
I'm not sure about the 1410 sizes, but I hope to find out before I make a decision. I am also interested what there operating angles are like. there seems to be a lot of info on 1310 and 1350 but not as much on 1410.