Dana 18 Gear Set Questions

Does herm sell parts i know you can get reman cases from him if i recall.

 

I had good luck posting a wtb ad here for the gear I was looking for. For the intermediate shaft, if you're going through it I'd do the work to put in tapered roller bearings (Advance adaptors kit).

 

I just bought all the gears NOS stock from him... at least I submitted my order. Says all of it is at least made in USA stuff if not genuine Dana. its not going to be cheap, but the prices were similar or less than omix stuff. It seems that from 55-71 all the D18 transfer case gears are the same aside from the bull gear for the t-14s. He also has NOS main shafts which apparently are all the same. Got one of those too.

Even though the D18 has its issues, I will be sticking with it. I like the idea of 1930s technology mixed with modern Fuel injection. I also like the added feature of the kooky aftermarket bolt on overdrive... and I don't need a new rear axle or another adapter to buy.

Maybe I will finally fab up a disk brake transfer case mounted parking brake...

 

[QUOTE="timgr, post: The Novak Guide to Dana 18 & 20 Gears Interchange 1941-1979
That may help you find the parts you need. No idea about the Omix gears.[/QUOTE]
I use this guide when I needed gears. I replace all the gears in my extra transfer case, that I'm using now. The Omix gears. They seem to be working good so far.

I did at one time have a set of 29 tooth gears. Tried both. I found I like the 26 tooth set better it seems to work better with my gearing.

 

Huh ? Not meaning to knock your post but that makes no sense.
26 tooth input D18 is 2.43 ratio.
29 tooth input D18 is 2.46 ratio.
That minute difference is virtually undetectable.
IMHO anything less than a 5% change is negligible.

 

As long as you are getting the 1 1/4" (shaft) intermediate gear, most all the small or big hole D18's share the rest of the internals. Be sure to get a high quality intermediate shaft if you don't go for a taper roller conversion. These have been notorious in recent years. Be glad you didn't get the Omix parts.
The big hole case is a great foundation for a D18 build.
-Donny

 

I have a good Novak shaft with about 3k miles on it. I'm probably going to reuse it. I thought about the taper roller conversion. I have a criterion boring head for my mill.....

 

I would highly recommend the tapered bearing intermediate shaft setup. I had mcruff machine my intermediate gear and I just installed it. It was a noticeable difference in noise, and I had a Novak intermediate shaft and bearings before that. I eventually went to a Dana 20 for other reasons but the 18 still lives on in my Son's jeep.

 

Both works, I just like the 26 better.

 

I've kicked around the disc parking brake thing for years. Anvil has a thread going on that subject on 2A Page right now (complete with links to threads here). I think I'm going to try a caliper from an 80's Subaru that have a mechanical actuator on the regular brake caliper, are cheap, and for which replaceable pads are readily available.

I'm still a big proponent of D18's. It was without doubt the best piece to come out of the development of the Jeep and was way over-designed for it's application. It's a lot easier piloting an D18 through the rock than 20's, 300's, 231's, 241's----- That low output also can't be beat when running a short driveshaft. I do wish someone made beefier output shafts but in almost 50 years running them behind sbc's, nothing has failed. How it takes a 441 sbc is yet to be determined. That test should be conducted this summer.

 

I also would highly recommend the taper bearing upgrade, just got mine together and I love it!

I believe Herm sells his Tera Low equipped Dana 18's for a very fair price, it would probably be cheaper than buying the Teraflex gears and the remaining required parts to rebuild it...

Just saw that you bought the gears already. Have fun with the rebuild!

 

waiting for diy tapered roller thread to start .

Who does a diy full float and skips the diy intermediate bearings?

 

See how this goes. I do have an extra intermediate gear set to figure out how to make this happen....

 

I'd highly recommend it! Mcruff machined mine out for me. I'm looking forward to the increased longevity. Now that my transfer case is quieter I can hear my transmission whining and my KM2's whirring on the pavement better

 

Wilwood make cable actuated brake calipers that would work: Wilwood Disc Brakes - MC4 Mechanical Calipers

 

I was rereading the post and for some reason I said "just installed it " I installed it a long time ago, and used it for a while. Not sure why I inserted the word just.

 

Aside from Mcruff, anyone bore their intermediate gear? Seems relatively straightforward.

From the AA directions, "Counter bore each side of gear to 1.9800 - 1.9795" diameter to a depth of .480/.490", and make sure stock bore runs concentric before boring each side. Due to the extreme hardness of the gear, several cuts will need to be made in order to obtain the correct measurements."

Are the gears so bad that the bore and gear teeth may not be concentric? Really?

I have bored stuff on my lathe, but I also have a criterion boring head for my mill. I have never used it and my mill is pretty wore out, but I bet I can indicate it in, lock it down and make my cuts.. Seems like a lot of effort to make those giant soft jaws for my lathe like in the recently posted video.

 

I believe that the problem is the hardness of the gear. When I did my roller bearing conversion, no local machine shop would touch it...I even tried places that do prototype and aerospace work.

 

I'll see if I can get a carbide insert to cut it. Im sure I will have very blue and possibly on fire chips. It also depends on how deep the hardening goes. I have a junk intermediate gear, so I can't wreck it worse to see if i can do a setup to bore. See how this all works.

 

That is the same reaction I got locally a couple years ago (sent to Mcruff). When I put the first kit in back whenever AA started marketing those decades back, I had no problems getting a local machine shop to do that work.