decisions decisions

[janderson4010]

so i picked up a 92 exploder as a parts rig for my BII. im pulling the m5od to replace my fmwhatever that's going the way of the dodo. question is this, should i upgrade to the bw 1354 right now or wait until i put the 8.8 and d30 sas in? pros are stronger case but cons are i gotta change the yokes(i think?). feel free to chime in all you bII'ers

 

[FutureX]

doesnt matter when u do the BW1354 swap, since tranny is already pulled just do it now

you will have to change your front output shaft for sure if u run a D30(i wouldnt use a D30 , anything pass 33"s will snap it alot, id use that D35 TTB), and the back i dont think u'll have to change it out as the 8.8 was standard all the way through



........... or u going to keep your stock Shackles and coils off your BII ? if not wanna part ways with them?

 

[janderson4010]

i wasnt even sure if i was going to swap the 1354 in at all. that was the question, but it would be dumb to have an upgrade tcase laying around and not just put it in.

nah you can run 35s on a d30 w/out to much trouble, thats coming from experience in the jeep world, as long as its not locked. i know a dude running 37 pitbull rockers on his d30, im not saying he is a genius (actually he is a tard) but they are still rollin. i just have a bad taste in my mouth about ttb, poor life decision for ford imo. besides the 35 is promised to my cousin.

the coils are def going, but that will be awhile, im swapping trannies right now so i can drive the thing, rear shackles im not really sure right now, i think im gonna run down to my buddies offroad shop and mix and match springs until i come up with a good flexy spring pack with the appropriate ride height. your welcome to the coils and the shackles when i make all these swaps but who knows how long that will be. thanks for the input man

 

[4x4junkie]

Yeah, I'd certainly throw that 1354 in if you got it (well... unless your existing 1350 is a manual case, and the 1354 electric, then keep the 1350).

On a BII you should be able to get away fairly easy with 35s on a D30, but the story can be much different for a Ranger or Explorer, they have a much heavier frontend weight than a BII (or a Jeep).
FutureX is correct in that the D35 is the stronger axle.

 

[janderson4010]

yeah i know the 35 is stronger, thats a no brainer, but it promised to my cousin for one and the other thing is it will take a lot more to get it to flex like the suspension we are gonna build for the d30. im sure its going to have to be upgraded eventually.

so how much of a strenght diff is there between the 1350 and the 1354? yeah they are both manual tcases

 

[4x4junkie]

That's not necessarily true (unless you're using leaf springs on it)... But since you said you promised the axle to your cousin, I guess no point in elaborating.

The 1350 has an internal u-joint inside the case, whereas the 1354 does not. Some have said that internal joint is a weak spot, though I don't think but once I've ever seen anyone say they've busted it. Later 1354s ('93-'97) also have a 6-planet lowrange gearset together with a wider Hi-Lo engagement collar, though again I've heard of very few issues with the older 4-planet setup.
I think it mostly comes down to just having that conventional fixed yoke on the front. You have a few more driveshaft options available that way.

 

[janderson4010]

thats one of my biggest concerns, i want this back on the road asap, i don't want to fight with my front driveshaft. they look pretty close to the same length between the explorer front and the bII. if i put in the 1354 will i be able to use the ex drive shaft as is?

i guess my other thing was i was thinking about selling the 1354 to make the money back on the explorer, i only paid 300 bucks for it, and the kid has hooked up the solenoid wrong lol, so it does actually run, the body is in horrible shape though. decisions decisions lol

 

[janderson4010]

o coincidentally i think im going to go d35 until i get a wagoneer d44 rounded up, haha, change of plans.

 

[4x4junkie]

'86 should have the FM145 trans, which is 2" shorter than what came in the Explorer. With the M5OD from the Explorer swapped in, your original front shaft will now be too short, so you'll probably have to go with the 1354 and front shaft from the Explorer.

o coincidentally i think im going to go d35 until i get a wagoneer d44 rounded up, haha, change of plans.

Yeah that sounds like a better plan than messing around with little axles like the D30.
At least that way you can get a taste of what the D35 has to offer, and if you decide you don't like it for whatever reason, at least you won't be going backwards afterward by having the D44.

 

[janderson4010]

o Ive wheeled quite a bit with explorers and jeeps with a d30, i know whats goin down with both. the 30 is a really light duty axle but it can handle 35's and like i said with the rcv performance cv shafts in them it will handle 37s. i may honestly go straight to the d44. My good friend owns an offroad fab shop so i don't think coming across a waggy 44 will be to difficult. i just didn't know the diff between the 2 tcases. on a little bit different note we got the m5od out, im really not looking forward to swapping it into the bII

 

[4x4junkie]

The problem with the 30 isn't so much the shafts, it's the ring & pinion gears (and the light-duty housing). Putting upgraded shafts in one basically guarantees that if it breaks, it'll be the gears. Personally I'd rather replace a shaft on the trail should it break lol.
I've witnessed a number of broken D30s myself. It's about 70%/30% shafts/gears on that axle from what I've seen. The HP D35 on the other hand (same goes for a HP D44 front as well), I don't think I've ever seen a failed gearset on, it's always been the shafts (or occasionally hubs), which are easy to replace (though I've seen the shock from broken shafts subsequently take out Detroit Lockers too... I always recommend an ARB if you're gonna lock a front axle).

As for the M5OD swap, just keep the parts Explorer handy. Should you need a crossmember or linkage or some other part from it, you got everything right there. Shouldn't be an issue. The only thing is you'll need a new rear driveline for your BII afterward (good time to get rid of that POS dual-CV thing for a real double-cardan u-jointed shaft)

Anyway, good luck with your project. Sounds like it'll be a mean machine no matter which way you go with it.

 

[janderson4010]

haha thats ironic bk when that dude put those rcv shafts in we were all like "ok Rick well have fun with a shorn ring and pinion". We did a run like 2 days later and my buddy and i followed him all day long, everytime he stopped we were like, well there goes that ring and pinion lol. yeah i think i have a bead on a d44, looks like the cousin is getting the d35 and the d30 is going to be parted out and sold on ebay haha.

Yeah i ran into the driveshaft conundrum today, i need a shaft measuring about 32" long, i have a full size bronco sitting around that i had just put a new rear shaft in, im going to pull it and see bk it is sitting at 30" on the vehicle, i just need to figure out how much slip yoke i actually have there, prob not quite enough dang it. thanks for the input man

 

[4x4junkie]

No problem... Good luck.

 

[janderson4010]

yeah cheers man