Non Disco to Disco Axles

O.K I've searched, Called DTD , and read the posts, Here we go , at the risk of being flamed. I will be putting non disco axles into a disco housing,don't want to change gears, will I have to machine the axles for the seal to locate on ? Is there a difference in the housings that a seal will not fit into the housing next to the carrier? DTD wants to sell me the alloy axle kit,no way, I just need a seal or seal number . I know this has been done, I am just getting my ducks in a row for this winter project.

Thanks,
Bill

Yes there is a seal so the disco axle housing will accept non-disco shafts. No machine work required. I don't have the part number for the seal. Someone will chime in with it.

I did that swap before I swapped in a non-disco axle with factory 4:11's. DTD sells a seal that fits where the vacuum shift motor resided, it's just added protection in my opinion. I replaced the inner seals (next to the bearings in the pumpkin), the one previously mentioned, and added the greasable seals that fit into the ends of the axle tubes,(another layer of added protection). You will need to fab a cover for the absent vacuum shift motor, made mine from aluminum diamond plate. I used TJ shafts because they had the new '760' u-joints but I'm sure factory XJ one piece shafts would require the same seals. Oh ya, you will need to polish the longside shaft where the middle seals rides.

forgiven said:

I did that swap before I swapped in a non-disco axle with factory 4:11's. DTD sells a seal that fits where the vacuum shift motor resided, it's just added protection in my opinion. I replaced the inner seals (next to the bearings in the pumpkin), the one previously mentioned, and added the greasable seals that fit into the ends of the axle tubes,(another layer of added protection). You will need to fab a cover for the absent vacuum shift motor, made mine from aluminum diamond plate. I used TJ shafts because they had the new '760' u-joints but I'm sure factory XJ one piece shafts would require the same seals. Oh ya, you will need to polish the longside shaft where the middle seals rides.

Click to expand...

260 and 297/760 shafts use different seals. The seals for a 297/760 will not work with a 260 shaft, and vise-versa.

Seals

Thanks,
I will be pulling the disco axle apart today , I have not had the Non Disco axle apart at all. I was wondering if when the housings were made if they machined for seals on the inside ends of the tubes,both the same disco to non disco. Or did the engineers change the way these 2 axles seal . If it is only a diff in the I.D. size of the inner seals this will not be a problem. When I called DTD, and talked to a "tech" he said "I can't sell you just a seal I can sell you the Warn alloy axle kit that includes the seal you need" .NICE . Thats why I am posting on the board.

I converted my disco 2 piece to non-disco 1 piece several years ago. You gotta remember, the non disco long side (and the short side) seal just outboard of the diff housing/bearings.

The disco axle seals outboard of the disco motor, And the disco 2 piece outer shaft is quite a bit larger diameter than the non disco 1 piece shaft.

The non disco 1 piece shaft's machined seal surface is NOT the same dia as Warn's alloy shaft seal surface (or at least that's what the Tech at Warn told me when I called)

So go to your favorite parts house and get TWO seals for a 95 XJ (abs or not doesn't matter) the drivers side is a simple replacement, but the passenger side you have to grind about 3mm out of the axle tube, allowing enough depth to get the bearing race back in there. Set the other new seal in there and smear some RTV around it. I left the disco motor housing on mine, but you could remove it and install a plate as others do.

"260 and 297/760 shafts use different seals. The seals for a 297/760 will not work with a 260 shaft, and vise-versa."

I dunno where this came from...maybe this is about the different UJ sizes/seal diameters in YJ shafts??? YJ's had both sizes in disco axles, XJs only came with 260 discos. Bill was NOT swapping disco shafts around, he was getting rid of the things and swapping in a less trouble-prone 1 piece shaft.

HTH

Static-XJ said:

Yes there is a seal so the disco axle housing will accept non-disco shafts. No machine work required. I don't have the part number for the seal. Someone will chime in with it.

Click to expand...

Where is the machined seal surface on ANY 1 piece XJ/TJ axle??? Right next to the splines!

There may be a seal that has the OD that matches the ID of the RHS axle tube of the disco axle, and has the ID that matches the machined seal surface dia of the 1 piece axle. The 'million dollar question' is what is the part #...

Don't matter to me, mine's converted and my other 4 D30s are non-disco.

"Oh ya, you will need to polish the longside shaft where the middle seals rides."

Best I can tell, the 1 pc shaft seal surface is 1.200" and the 'raw' shaft is 1.218"...so there is 'room' to polish another machined surface

Again, finding that other magic seal # (the one that would be 1.2" ID and ??? OD to fit the outboard disco housing)is key. Maybe DTD does have one?

Seals

Thanks Woody,
Thats what I like about this , people sharing their ideas and also their procedures. What you describe is exactly how I had envisioned it . After searching and reading and searching some more it has come to this.
I have been a machinist for a num. of years and will probably just turn and polish the axle shaft so it has a good seal. The seal in the axle tube is a bit different, but locally there is a great parts store where I can look thru any parts book I need to and can have parts overnite. When I get the part nums ,if there are any that match, and if someone does not have them already, I will be sure to post them here.
Again, Thanks for the help, and keep it coming. I will be sure to post any and all info. I get.

Bill

Rusty's has the seal for the passenger side of the differential. I had to remove the bearing on the drivers side of the disco, because it was spent, and was scoring the new long-side axle shaft.

He also has the cover plate so you can remove the disco vacuum thingy. That's a technical term

part #

Here is a part #, National #471763. If I'm not mistaken this is the one that fits where the shift motor resided. Remember I used this with TJ shafts so it may be of no help to you. Hope this helps.