Rear Axle - Jag Rear Overhaul - Part 9

The next step is to start assembling the driveline that goes between the diff head to the wheels. This consists of the axles which I covered in an earlier post (click here to view) and the bottom arms. The bottom arms are something I have never really liked about the Jag rear.....they are okay and once chromed look quite good, but they are a big fat tube that to me is kind of ugly and they are something that lets everyone know that you have a Jag rear in your hot rod. Here's what the jag rear looks like. Either side of the diff head you can see the axles on top and the fat tube bottom arms running from the diff head out to the bottom of the hubs.

I have always been a bit keener on something like these "Heidts" brand rear ends with a 'ladder' type bottom arm. See the difference, just looks a bit more clean and "hot rod like" in my opinion.

While my chassis was being built in Wellington at Juniors Kustom Rides, I asked them to give me a price for building arms something like the Heidts ones but to be fitted to my Jag rear instead of the fat tube bottom arms i.e.swap out the fat tubes and insert the ladder type set up. 

Juniors actually went one step further than that and went ahead and made some out of stainless. They looked spectacular and I would have loved to buy them, but I couldn't afford them though at the time and last I heard they were selling them to another guy that had an F100 truck with a Jag rear in it. I was kind of gutted as they looked very good and were really well made, but alas I just didn't have that kind of cash. Not to worry....so I went ahead and had my original Jag ones chromed. 

Now some months later Juniors Kustom Rides unfortunately ran into issues and closed down. All their workshop equipment was being sold off on Trademe at $1 reserve. I was interested in what sort of hot rod related tools they might have so I took a look....shrinkers, stretchers, grinders, welders, lathes and bottom arms for a Jag rear......whoah hang on a minute what was that????? Yep thats right stainless steel custom made arms for a Jag rear...$1 reserve auction! I was beside myself and kept a very close eye on the auction. It eventually closed with me winning the arms for $330. YES!!!! 

This is what they look like compared to the Jag one at the bottom. 

 And here you can see how they made the new custom arms with the exact same geometry as the original Jag one. Laid one over the top of the other you can see all the mount points are identical. Nice! Ignore the smeary marks on everything. I am keeping everything smothered in a film of oil as we live close to the sea and I want to keep everything protected through the build process.

Now having the geometry on the new arms identical to the originals means everything bolts up just the same as original. The inner ends pivot on the brackets that are bolted to the side of the diff head (they are the ones I put the safety wires on in my last post). The arms pivot up and down with suspension travel and as such have bearings so they don't wear out. Here you can see I have the two new bearings fresh out of their boxes and the sleeve that runs inside them. 

All of this needs to be put inside the hole in the bottom arm that is at the top of the photo. Here is a close up of the bearing. It is what is known as a needle roller bearing. The little needle like pieces inside the bearing are hardened steel and so long as they are clean and well lubricated with grease they will last for a very long time. Excuse the grubby fingers....thats what you get when installing bearings with a lashing of new grease. Lovin' it! 

 The bearings have what is referred to as an interference fit....in other words the hole they go into is slightly smaller than the bearing. We are talking 0.1mm here so only a tiny fraction but it means they are very tight in the housing. If you had a hydraulic press you'd use that now, but I don't so we have to improvise. By lining the bearings up and threading a bolt through the centre with big diameter washers pressing against the sides of the bearings....its just a case of carefully tightening up the bolt and letting the big washers slowly press the bearings into place. Here you can see it all set up ready to go. 

 And here is one all finished and pressed into place.

Thats another job ticked off in the reassembly process. Keep watching for more!