78 Scout II Selective Edition Build

Pitman arm update. I ran a Waggoneer Pitman Arm with a 1in drop for almost 3 years. The shorter arm gave 7in of steering travel side to side in conjunction with the stock knuckles. Yes it reduced the turning radius but with 35s it stops an 1in before the tires rub on the springs. I always read that the skyjacker pitman arm reduces the turing radius and I totally overlooked the fact that I already was using a shorter arm. Turns out they are the same length eye to eye. So I bought the SJ drop pitman arm as I have been running into bump steer ever since I swapped to the waggy arm. Here are the side by side comparisons between the two arms.


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Well after 1.8 years of service and -20°F my Odyssey battery decided to quit. Even when hooked up to an Odyssey brand maintainer overnight. I initially thought my starter finally let the smoke out since when i would try and jump start the scout it still wouldnt turn over, even when jumping the posts on the starter. Voltage still read 13v on the battery so i was for sure thinking starter. For shits n' giggles I went and pulled my cheap napa battery i had and threw it in. To my amaze, it started right up. So now I wait and see what Odyssey says about the warranty claim

Edit: just got the email and they are accepting the warranty claim

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Upon further inspection. Looks like all of the hex "cap" bolts have walked out. Missing one entirely. Seems it got munched up along with all the teeth. Sent ARB an email and hoping that their warranty will cover it. If not, this got way more expensive
 
Good thing we got our Christmas tree before I realized the ring gear was broken. Little wet and a tiny tree but it will work. Little does Hardy know that he is going to spend hours in this thing


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Upon further inspection. Looks like all of the hex "cap" bolts have walked out. Missing one entirely. Seems it got munched up along with all the teeth. Sent ARB an email and hoping that their warranty will cover it. If not, this got way more expensive
The missing bolt will most likely be discovered lodged in between the pinion bearings along with a bunch of those missing teeth.
 
Got the axle removed, torn apart, and cleaned. Got the ARB on the bench to investigate. Turns out these things only have 3 hex bolts holding in the cross pins (even though there are 4 holes with threads) I completely disassembled the ARB to find it in overall great condition still. Cleaned it up and started removing the bearings. 1st one needed the press, 2nd one basically just slipped off. It seems that the bearing was rotating on its press fit surface. It wore a nice grove into the top flange of the ARB. I'm guessing with the groove, it opened up the backlash and then started to eat away at some teeth.
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This thing is killing me. Went from .028 to .053 Pinion depth. Best pattern i can achieve is this which is .040. Should I keep trying or send it.
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You did make it easier taking it out of the rig at least. I always leave it under the rig. My front 60 has to come apart to replace the Quad seals on the ARB and the axle shafts need to be swapped for new chromo's.
 
You did make it easier taking it out of the rig at least. I always leave it under the rig. My front 60 has to come apart to replace the Quad seals on the ARB and the axle shafts need to be swapped for new chromo's.
Yeah I wasn't going to attempt doing gears outside in the snow. Also a good time to replace some spring bushings
 
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