Well the kit is here. UPS did a 8 day turnaround. Pretty happy with the service, Calmini on the other hand need to get their shit together. It all seems very simple, most of it is bolt up. You could do 80% of it without instructions its that simple. I should get most of is done tomoz. Will post some pics in a few hours
Solid Axle Swap!!!
- Thread starter dilmah
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joshy
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Its borderline... but lower links are important, once they are kinked ive had mates rip the diff out half way up a climb.
weld a bit of angle to it and it should be right. My links were all 2" solid alloy.
edit: for the weight youll be at, the 2" will prob do on its own.
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Alright time for a decent update, got stuck into it this morning. The kit is very easy to install, the parts are self explanatory in how they bolt up. I firstly did the radius arm cross member, the old torsion bar cross member had already been removed when I pulled the IFS out so all I had to do was bolt it up. It is very strongly built and would weigh about 15 - 20kgs
Next was the swap bar cross member. It bolts up to where the old front diff cross member bolted to, again the diff was already out so it was just the two bolts. I had to slightly jack up the transmission to make enough clearance to get the bolts in.
Next on the cards was the replacement gearbox cross member. Again I put the jack under the transfer case to take the weight off the old member which was still in place. Other one bolted up fine but didn't bolt to the transmission. Upon further research I found that newer D22's have a different cross member to other. This kit was designed for American Frontiers which were produced between 1997 - 2004. The D22 was replaced with the D40 but still called a Frontier. I can get an older gearbox mount off ebay for about $50 or just use the old one for now. The only reason I can see for replacing this cross member is front driveshaft clearance but I cannot see this being a problem with my current one. I guess we will see when I get the front shaft made up.....
Tomorrow I will put the other shock tower in, bolt the radius arms up and sit the axle under it to see how everything is looking. I am going to get my mate who is a boily to do the welding on the axle,he isn't back from site for a few more days so the finished product is still a few weeks off. Once the axle is under I still need to put the knuckles and brakes on, make a panhard rod and sort out the steering.
04SilverSTR
Member
oh come on already!Looks good all bolt on you can go back standard if need be
Bryan
Yeah it does come with a panhard rod, it should be ok if I can space the radius arm brackets at the same width as they would be one a D44 but I think I'm going to have to go a little wider as the third member offset on the H233 is very wide, the D44 seems to be more centred. Ill see how it goes today, I may even get them tacked in place.
Carnt go back to standard if you read my earlier posts you will see have cut the lower control arm mounts off. This is a no turning back conversion
Carnt go back to standard if you read my earlier posts you will see have cut the lower control arm mounts off. This is a no turning back conversion
DeanosD22
Member
Looking the goods so far mate, bet your stoked it's all finally happening
04SilverSTR
Member
Yes I do remember this now, cant wait to see the finished product!!
Nice work mate, glad to see all your bits arrived and you are back into it.
Im really liking watching the entire build come together, i bet your stoked to have it all back in motion and frothing to get it out on some tracks?
will keep an eye out for the next instalment.
Im really liking watching the entire build come together, i bet your stoked to have it all back in motion and frothing to get it out on some tracks?
will keep an eye out for the next instalment.
Did a bit more on the swap today, started with the passenger side shock tower. Had to grind off all 4 lips like the other side. There is a pic which shows the lip below. Also had to remove some more of the chassis to fit the arms in. This side took a lot longer that the drivers side.
I then put the tower brace in, had to drill out one of the hole a couple of mm as they didn't quiet line up.
I then put the tower brace in, had to drill out one of the hole a couple of mm as they didn't quiet line up.
Next I swung the radius arms under and bolted them up, they are about 115cm long and they are very well built. Axle end was rubber bushes and the crossmember end had 1 1/4" hems. These things are as big as a coke can!
Finally I put the axle mounts on to see how things were sitting. This is where the problems started.... A D44 axle has a 3" or 77mm axle width. A H233 axle is 3.5" or 90mm. I thought, "not to worry I'll just cut a larger hole". When I got them bolted up I can see that these brackets are not going to be suitable as the lower truss on the radius arms would foul on the axle. I then decided I'll make my own brackets based on the Calmini ones, get them laser cut and weld them on and brace them up.
Its going to be a bit of a stuff around and take a little longer but Im confident I can make it work. Custom brackets will also allow better clearance for the radius arms.
Its going to be a bit of a stuff around and take a little longer but Im confident I can make it work. Custom brackets will also allow better clearance for the radius arms.
Wont be engineered, carnt be bothered spending $$$. Ill either buy a daily and keep the nav for the weekend or just drive it till it gets stickered then buy a daily. Im liking option 1 cos I can still drive it to tracks.
