OK, here we go. I pulled the Jeep axle and slid it into the Isuzu housing and it fit except of course for the length and I thought all would be fine, but found when I put the rotor on the axle flange it stuck out 3/8" further and would not line up with the caliper. I would have to turn the bearing shoulder and seal area back the 3/8" to allow the axle to move in further thus locating properly with the caliper. Now before I did this I had to mark my axle tube where it would be cut off so as not to disturb my 56" track. I cobbled up this simple fixture to hold a felt tip pen to mark the housing, that way holding the relationship of the axle flange (track) to the housing. Both sides are marked in this manner by clamping the fixture onto the axle flange and rotating the marker around the housing tube. Then I modified the axle shafts on a lathe where I work. At the same time I cut the diameter of the axle flange down so that the Isuzu rotors would seat properly. In fact, Jeffrey met me there by getting off school early and made an educational field trip out of it. Hey, he has to learn some how, right? After that was done the axles were slid into the Isuzu housing, clamped on the fixture and marked the Isuzu housing in the same manner.
I made a holding fixture from 3/4" plywood to support the housings while I sawed them on my band saw, the other end was supported with a steady rest. Now that I had the end pieces from the Isuzu, they just had to be spliced on to the Jeep housing in the same manner that my axle shop spliced the one side when they narrowed it.


I turned up some tubes to fit into the housing to bridge the weld joint again on a lathe. Now it turns out that the Isuzu housing tube is thicker than the Jeep (same outside diameter but smaller inside diameter) so I had to step the diameter on these tubes that I made. They were made to a slight press fit.

I should mention at this time, that before the ends were cut off the Isuzu housing, I took a degree gauge and mounted it to a place on the ends and recorded the degrees. This was accomplished first by removing the diff. cover (oh that's right somebody already took that) and placing the gasket surface onto a level flat horizontal surface and took the reading, then did the same to the Jeep housing to locate the new Isuzu ends so that the calipers would be in the same orientation.


After the ends were pressed on, the housing was positioned on my workbench which I know is level and flat, with the gasket surface on parallels and the ends were squared off the table, then flipped the housing 90 degrees and squared again. This was done several times to assure accuracy. I then tack welded the joints, checked it again then mounted the backing plates, axles, rotors and calipers to make sure everything lined up. Then final welded, jumping back and forth from each side to eliminate warping, then left it air cool.

The final very important thing that was done was to drill out the stud hole to 35/64" to press fit the 12mm. x 1.5 studs which is crucial to center the rotors, because Jeep uses a smaller 7/16" x 20 stud. I then found lug nuts on a trip to Carlisle http://www.carsatcarlisle.com/spring/index.asp from a vendor calling himself The Lugnut King http://lugnutking.com/ with the same 3/4" hex size with 12mm. and 7/16" threads. Very knowledgeable guy and great prices and nobody will be the wiser. Just don't mix up the front and rear lug nuts. This way you only have to carry one lug wrench. So there you have it, $45.00 killer disc brakes with easily obtainable parts that you can get at your local parts store. And here is the best part, I just sold the Isuzu gear set on Ebay for $50.00 Hell I just got paid $5.00 for putting them on. Now maybe if we don't find any new good ideas to put on this thing we can get it tore down, finish the welding and get it sand blasted and painted. Damn you JP, stop writing those informative articles.

Well we were all ready to tear down for final welding to the frame when I stumbled upon an article in JP Magazine http://www.jpmagazine.com/ on Dana 44's in Isuzu Rodeos and Honda Passports with rear disc brakes. "Hold the horses, this needs some attention". Turns out these things come with 12" rotors with internal e-brakes, 6 lug bolt pattern the same as our Dana 44 Wagoneer axles and a finned aluminum diff. cover. Had to check this one out, considering I was going to buy a conversion kit off Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rear-Disc-Brakes-Jeep-Cherokee-Wagoneer-w-park-brakes_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42605QQihZ013QQitemZ230109416674 for $499.00 that used Cadillac calipers but was holding off on doing so. This was a really nice set-up but hey, I'm cheap. So with tape measure in hand, or in this case if anybody knows me, on my belt, off to E-Z Pull we went. http://www.joesusedautoparts.com/EZPull.html We only found one but that was all we needed, a 1994 Isuzu Rodeo with complete rear end (except for the finned aluminum diff. cover, somebody already scarfed that one up). $35.00 if we took it off or $45.00 if they burned it off for us. Needless to say we left them burn it off. Rotor to rotor complete. Took some rough measurements and the axle tubes are the same dia. as a Wagoneer, so for $45.00 I figured I would gamble. Now this will be the 3rd axle housing that Jeffrey and I have CARRIED out of this place and was hoping it was the last. These thing just keep getting heavier or I just am getting older. Got it home and tore into it and found some amazing things. These axles use the same wheel bearings and seals as Jeep, have a very simple caliper set-up and an internal e-brake that would put some small compacts to shame. (Minor note of interest, I have tried to buy these bearings at my local Auto Zone for a Wagoneer and am told they are not available anymore, so I asked for bearings for a 1994 Isuzu and low and behold they put them on the counter in front of me. Hmmm!!) Now the article in JP was an installation of the whole axle housing into a Jeep by changing mounting brackets, but since we already had our housing narrowed with the offset differential for the Quadra Trac we had different ideas. Next post I'll show you how we modified what we had and got rear disc brakes for $45.00