mdash

I wanted to post up a quick thread about the Core 44 front axle housing. I just went through the swap on my 2009 2dr Rubicon and I am very happy with the swap. I know a lot of people talk about the Dynatrac or Teraflex housing so I wanted to share some info on this housing just so people have input for another option. I am very happy with the final product. The only negative at all of the whole install is their raised track bar mount. It only raises the trackbar 2" where to run a high steer knuckle you need/should raise the track bar 3". I understand they are coming out with an updated bracket to purchase separately, so that should take care of my only complaint. Onto the good. The C's are big and beefy, the center section is big and beefy, the housing comes with ball joints, front cover and hardware. The housing is nicely painted. The inner axle seals are D60 seals and they have two sizes depending on what size axles you are running. I like the 3" axle tubes, I questioned them about running 5/16 wall tubes vs 1/2 like other companies and they feel the 5/16 tube is plenty think. They said they design the housing to allow the tubes "some flex" where 1/2 wall tubes do not flex and will transfer that stress to the pumpkin which puts more stress on it instead. He swears that this housing was tested and designed to handle a 4dr on 40's. So I took his word that my 2dr on 37's will be ok.

I removed my stock housing. I had run this housing as is for over 3 years. It had a PureJeep truss and c-gusset kit, stock knuckles, Napa Premium ball joints, etc. The part where he mentioned they want the axle tubes to flex made sense to me since my truss kit cracked at the weld to the pumpkin. Definitely means there is some action happening that I don't see.




Comparison shot of the stock trussed housing next to the new G2 Core44. I also installed a set of Rancho High steer knuckles.


The biggest selling factor for me on this housing is the use of side adjusters for the carrier bearings vs shims. I absolutely hate shimming the carrier bearings, especially when they don't use a captured shim like the Dana 44. If you've ever setup a ring and pinion then you know how frustrating it is trying to tap in a wafer thin shim. I get angry just thinking about it. Anyway, here a few shots with the cover removed. The main caps have provisions in them if you are running an ARB locker to run the air line through the cap. A nice touch.


The side adjuster is a two piece design. The actual adjuster is inside a billet housing for lack of better words and that housing is pinned to the main cap. It's not like a ford 9" where the main cap itself is threaded. This made making adjustments extremely easy. You didn't have to worry about deflection in the cap when adjusting.


Fir the first setup I didn't know exactly where to start with the pinion shim so I started with what I had in the stock housing, adjusted the backlash and came up way deep.


I had the pinion out numerous times as I remembered which way to move the pinion, first I took .013 out of the shim, which made it even worse, so I put that .013 back in and another .012 before finally adding an additonal .004 to the pinion shim. Set the backlash and ended up here. I'm good with that for an already run gearset.


Pulled it all apart one last time, replaced the pinion bearings, crush washer and torqued her up, reassembled and torque up. Ready for cover and to finally get it back under the jeep.


Reinstalled my Ten Factory axle shafts, installed some new Dana hub assemblies and she's ready to slide back under the Jeep.


The reinstall was uneventful. She bolted right up, had to adjust my upper control arms to take some pinion angle back out of it. Even though my jeep only has a 2.5" lift I ordered the housing for a 4" lift so I could get the added caster. Makes it so I can have the correct pinion angle and have good caster.


All finished up and ready to roll.

ronin2120

Awesome write up! I think I'll be in the market for a new axle in the next year or so. I'll certainly be pinging you for info when I get closer, thanks!!!

63expert

Great write up!!

Rancho

Very nice setup!!!

mdash

Thanks guys.

Rancho, you'll get a kick out of this. I put the whole thing together and went for the first test drive to make sure the draglink/trackbar/steering wheel was all straight. I blast down the road and it seemed fine so I went to flip a u-turn in the middle of the intersection and just about jumped the curb on the opposite side of the intersection, I didn't pay attention when putting it together, but I lost a ton of steering. With the added steering stops on the knuckle and the added steering stop on the axle itself I lost over a full turn of steering. Who reads instructions these days.

chitown35

Wait what exactly did you do to correct your steering on this axle? I thought the same thing after getting mine but everyone convinced me I was crazy!

mdash

All of the aftermarket steering knuckle manufactures cast the steering stop into the knuckle rather then using an adjustable bolt like the factory knuckle. Also, because the C on the new axle housing is wider, the steering stops on the C are larger which also limits lock to lock and effects turn radius. Both these together reduced the actual turning from stop to stop by one full turn. So to correct it, I started by turning the wheel full lock one direction, measured the distance (air gap) of the rear steering stop before it would come into contact with the housing. It measured about 3/16" of air gap on both directions. So I marked 3/16 on the front stop and ground it down to that point. Once i did that to both sides, I gained about 1/2-3/4 of my turn radius back. To fine tune it I ground very small amounts on the front and back of the knuckle steering stops until I gained all my turn radius back.

I drew an arrow on the below picture of the steering stop that is cast into the Rancho knuckle. This is the same as the Reid knuckles and I assume the Teraflex knuckles as well all though I've not seen theirs in person. So this is where I started by grinding 3/16" off then there are smaller nubs on the back side that I had to grind as well as the front to really dial it in.

christensent

On that truss that broke off your OEM housing, what type of rod did you use when welding to the cast housing, and what welding process did you use?

Also, I'm curious, do you actually notice an issue with having the track bar lifted only 2" instead of 3"? Theoretically it'd introduce bump steer, but I'm curious if it's enough magnitude to even notice a difference.

chitown35

[QUOTE=mdash;4293347]All of the aftermarket steering knuckle manufactures cast the steering stop into the knuckle rather then using an adjustable bolt like the factory knuckle. Also, because the C on the new axle housing is wider, the steering stops on the C are larger which also limits lock to lock and effects turn radius. Both these together reduced the actual turning from stop to stop by one full turn. So to correct it, I started by turning the wheel full lock one direction, measured the distance (air gap) of the rear steering stop before it would come into contact with the housing. It measured about 3/16" of air gap on both directions. So I marked 3/16 on the front stop and ground it down to that point. Once i did that to both sides, I gained about 1/2

Haha thanks for the illustrated pic! I actually re-used the stock knuckles but I agree and think the thicker Cs have a decent effect. Ill have to re-do the stop bolt while checking for u-joint binding now that I have confirmation I'm not crazy!

DJ1

Good looking axle. Made in the USA. Do you know where those knuckles are made?





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