'69 Javelin SST on Budget

I pulled the carrier out of the CJ model 20 this evening. This carrier worries me. The cross shaft bores in the carrier are noticeably out of round. It looks like it's been pushed pretty hard and with the posi, that force goes straight to the cross shaft and drive edge of the bores. Assuming both sides are out of round evenly which they should be, it can probably be run for a while longer before it starts completely destroying spider gear teeth. I'd imagine putting it in reverse and accelerating quickly from a stop could cause spider to side gear issues as the wear increases. New carriers are just so expensive... My open carrier is probably what I should go back in with.

When looking for a replacement twin grip get a two piece, they are not only period correct but are better than the one piece you have.

They go for about $200 on up time to time.

There's an open carrier with a Lock-Rite locker in it on EBay for $175. Mechanical lockers can defInitely be an adventure to drive if you're not accustomed to them. I could never afford a Detroit or selectable locker all of my full size Jeep years so Lock-Rites and Grizzly lockers and welded diffs were what I drove everyday. A good one is completely predictable and would be fun in a lightweight car I think.

304-homie, I'd love to find a gently used period correct Twin Grip unit one day!

Red20 wrote: 304-homie, I'd love to find a gently used period correct Twin Grip unit one day!

There was a few late last year or early this year. They pop up time to time. The rebuild kits are about $50.00 from Mopar.

Shipping may be around $30 or so. Unless the seller is unable to tell some history. My 304 and automatic had one, and the car was stock from the original owner. You never know what will be parted out here. Early 72 to 68 is to keep sights on. Though if you want the lunch box locker, for cost effective fun, then I can't argue.

Couple of tech tips for you guys.

If you've ever tried pulling the parking brake cable out of your backing plate you've probably done the dance of trying to push in all of the tangs around the circumference of the collar at once to pull it out only to have one or two pop back into place preventing you from pulling it out. Try wrapping a zip tie around the tangs and pulling it tight to hold them all in then pulling. You probably will only need to push in the one tang under the zip tie slide and it'll slide right out.

If you're trying to pull axles out of a housing and don't have a slide hammer available, try flipping your brake drum backwards and installing it with 2 or 3 lug nuts threaded on only a few turns. Then jerk on the brake drum a few times using it like a slide hammer. Works like a charm.

Lastly, if you don't have a press or a vise big enough to press out a u joint, try beating all around the outer edge of the yoke surrounding a u joint cap. You'll be beating for a good while, but watch in amazement as the cap eventually starts walking right out of the yoke like magic. If you beat on it long enough, it'll literally walk itself completely out and fall to the bench without you even touching it. Before I had my 95# vise or my press, I did many this way and it never failed me. Just wore my arms out.