Dana 44/ARB: Drain modifications w/pics

Ok... I posted this question on a few boards and got little feedback. A couple people told me it was easy and gave me some tips, but no pictures. Basically I needed to know how to modify the housing when using an "new style" ARB in a D44. I was getting diff. fluid from the vent tube and narrowed it down to the drainage problem that the ARB creates. If you are installing an ARB... DO THIS BEFORE THE INSTALL BEGINS! It will save you the headache I had last night pulling the axle shafts and carrier to re-do it. You will see where the poor drainage comes from if you hold one of the thick master shims from the ARB in place. I took pics last night... unfortunetly I forgot to take pics of my modifications before I installed the carrier.. oops. Wasnt about to pull it back out just for pics. So I did the best I could. Hope this helps someone out...

Here is the top drain hole. This is how I made the lower part look. Just mirrored it basically.


Here is the problem area. You can see how if you put a full circle shim against the side, it really cant drain out of the bottom of the tube. It will...I think it just takes awhile. Like sitting overnight. But it cant keep up with the amount going in while driving. This is the driver's side.


Same thing but pass. side. I modified both sides.


The red shows the material to be removed. I used a die-grinder with a long thin cone shaped stone. It ate it away pretty fast and left it fairly clean...aka no burrs.


Here is the best shot I got of the part I ground down. I tried to enhance the pic as best I could so you could see better. The pic is from below the carrier looking up. So that hole is the new lower drain. I just got rid of as much material that it took to make it look like the top slot.



And of course...clean like crazy. I put towels and pieces of plastic bag inside to help cut down on the dust and metal shavings getting everywhere. I drove her last night and today and everything seems good so far. Hope this helps...sorry if this is really obvious to some of you. Ive seen a few posts on this problem and I hope that ARB makes it alittle more clear what you have to do. Some people, like me, are alittle nervous about cutting into their housing like that without being sure.

Justin

Sorry if this is obvious, my brain is kinda baked today...

The half moon shaped hole I have circled in yellow is the resultant drainage passage?

Yup... you got it. Its basically a mirror image of the upper "slot"...or whatever you want to call it. I can take a medium sized phillips screw driver and stick it into that passage and move it around a ton... should be adequate for fuild in the tube to drain back into the center section.

Justin

Yes, everyone installing an 8.8 ARB ought to do the same thing.

Does it matter if it is high pinion or low pinion? When I was installing my ARB in my High Pinion I didn't see what they were talking about in the instructions.

Not sure if HP or LP matters...I would imagine this mod would be required on both. Its really not easy to picture it, unless you have the carrier out and can get a good look. I thought I had to drill some sort of hole until I held the ARB master shim up to the side of the housing. Then it was really obvious what had to be done. With the "air ring" for the locker up against the side of the tube like that, it pretty much seals the fluid off from coming back in on the bottom. I dont think its quite as bad on the pass side, because there is no sealed air ring on there. The fluid can come back easier. I really wish ARB would add some more instruction to this procedure. Going back to do it after you spew fluid and having to pull the axle apart again is just a pain.

Justin

Oh and CRASH is right. Should do it on the 8.8 as well. Whatever axle it is...fluid flow should be checked before installing the locker.

I will have a closer look at mine tonight. Thankfully it is not under my rig yet and is still in the garage waiting to have it's new diff cover put on.

Thats the best time to do it then! I was laying on the garage floor...not very friendly place. Make sure you cover the pinion up with some plastic or towels really good. I stuck some plastic bag around it since it still had some oil on it. Made it stick.

Justin

isnt' this stated in the instructions on installing the locker. huh funny somone finaly read them:kissyou:

bj-666 said:

isnt' this stated in the instructions on installing the locker. huh funny somone finaly read them:kissyou:

Click to expand...

my "professional" installer skipped right over them. pissed me off kinds fierce. i could tell he looked at the instructions cause they were covered in grease prints. it's an entire page with bold letters. but it's fixed none the less

CRASH said:

Yes, everyone installing an 8.8 ARB ought to do the same thing.

Click to expand...

So maybe that explains why theres sometimes gear oil puking out my breather tube on my F8.8. :wierd: Next time I go inside the diff, I know what to do to fix it.

Thanks,

AARON

ZPD said:

Does it matter if it is high pinion or low pinion? When I was installing my ARB in my High Pinion I didn't see what they were talking about in the instructions.

Click to expand...

It shouldnt matter in a front axle since oil doesnt or shouldnt flow down the tubes.

AARON

bj-666: Yes...it is stated in the instructions. I read them over...and over...and over and I just didnt get what they were talking about once I was inside the housing. Their illustration is kind of sketchy. It doesnt look anything like my rear anyway... Probably just because it was my first time working with a rear, and I was so nervous about everything else I was doing.

MrShoeBoy: Good point. Didnt really think that one through...haha. Front axle should have inner seals and there is no reason for the fluid to go down the tubes... Glad you got some use out of this. Post some pics of your 8.8 when you do it for those with the 8.8 axle. Couldnt hurt.

Justin

ghettocruiser said:

bj-666: Yes...it is stated in the instructions. I read them over...and over...and over and I just didnt get what they were talking about once I was inside the housing. Their illustration is kind of sketchy. It doesnt look anything like my rear anyway... Probably just because it was my first time working with a rear, and I was so nervous about everything else I was doing.

Click to expand...

FWIW, the last (only) ARB I ever set up had no mention of this in the instructions (IIRC). This was in ~1997 so it may be selective memory or the "old style" ARB.

Well.. did some highway driving and some around the town driving, and as far as I can tell all is well. Doesnt seem like any more fluid is coming from the vent tube. I still need to clean off the old stuff to confirm this. I checked pretty good today and didnt see any wet areas. Good stuff!!

Justin

lol. i still haven't given mine a good cleaning yet. but i guess the good thing is that i don't have to worry about rust on the back part of the xj for a while

I just drilled some holes in my housing, btwn the bearing cap and the housing. I don't have pics from that part of the install online yet though. The housing on our TJ had the needed "slot" on the passenger side, and it had an upper slot to clear the air tube on the driver's side, so I somehow missed that there wasn't an adequate drainage slot at the bottom of the driver's side... puked a whole lot of fluid before I figured out what was going on...