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Writer's pictureKea Runyan

What does an axle wear? Attire!

One thing you need to know about my brother JD is that he is really pushy. He is an amazing mechanic (for a 16 year old) but he is REALLY pushy. And when he gets an idea in his head, there is no getting him over it. This week he was bound and determined to replace the axles on my jeep, so we did. He said, “It will only take an hour!” I don’t think so.


We had gone over to Steinjager the week before to order a few parts and a couple of them had arrived when we got home from school one day. That’s all it took for JD.


When I bought the jeep the front axle was gutted and it had no internal axles or differential. In the fall we found used front and rear axles in Iowa which I bought. Now it was time to put them in. We had to order u joints, pinion seals, and a cable engagement kit for the 4 wheel drive. The rear axle pinion oil seal and the Axle Differential Cable Lock Kit I was able to get from my friends at Steinjager. The first thing JD and I did was drop the rear axle and replace it with the new one. That took about 2 and a half hours. Mmm Hmm. Not an hour.


A couple days later we decided to do the front axle. This one was a lot harder. The tie rods and steering arm were stuck hard from all the years of sitting. My Dad helped us and we used ball joint pullers and a ¾ inch air impact to finally get them undone. JD said, “It will either come undone or break!” It came undone. The front took 5 hours total to switch out the axles. JD said, “I said it would take 1 hour for the rear and 3 for the front. See, I wasn’t that far off!”


Yeah.


Current Jeep Cost Total: $3840.87


Working together on the rear axle.



The two "new" axles


The old rear axle


Rear axle off


New rear axle going on





Attaching leaf springs and shocks.




Unbolting the front axle with Dad and JD


Front axle removed


New axle going in


New axle installed!



The new Axle Differential Cable Lock Kit in place of old vacuum disconnect.


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