I found and swapped to a Montero Sport axle with disc brakes and everything went great except the yoke where it goes into the transmission has a good amount of vertical play. So much so that it randomly hits the metal dust cover on deceleration. I have mic'd the yoke and it's perfect and I examined the output shaft bearing and the shaft itself has no play. This clunking happened before I did the swap but I have now put brand new ujoints in and the driveshaft itself is super solid so that rules them out. The new axle housing is about an inch more forward so it puts the ujoints at more of an angle and I guess that's why it's causing even more noise now.

Does anyone know where I can source a bushing without buying the $300+ tail housing that is hard to find in the first place? Someone had mentioned a BMW bushing but I could never find out the specs of what they used or what it was from. I am lifted about 1.5", and my transfer case and axle lines are parallel but should I angle the axle a bit up with shims? My understanding is you want them parallel.

Thanks for any help. I've contacted some machine shops but no luck so far.

Trying this http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/PIO0/755127.oap?pt=05292&ppt=C0073#itemDetailTab_

A44D tail housing bushing. Apparently Toyotas are super similar and this may work. Will pull my old one out and mic. Also going to pull the tail housing from a 1990 v6 MT Montero to see how similar that is.

I'll update for future knowledge and maybe even throw it up on my site, but please still chime in if you all have gone through this. Gotta keep these things alive. I've found posts where people got very frustrated from this.

Thanks

I've run into this problem before on SWB's with lift, I had to swap a used tailhousing on it. If you're looking at putting money into it look into a T case swap for something with a fixed yoke like a JK NP241 which you can get in 2.72 or 4:1. The 2.72 cases are super cheap.

I found threads for the swap for auto transmissions and the V5MT1 swap but not for the KM145 transmission on the 2.6. Have you seen anything for that? I've been wanting a locking transfer case but I'm not wanting to get into machining extension housings and stuff right now. I have like 5 cars that I'm working on.

Took a bunch of measurements of NP231 and NP241 cases at junkyard today. Also pulled a v6 MT tail housing for measurements. I pressed the bushing from it and I will compile and post measurements. I have someone at a driveline shop looking into bushings for me and I will bring this bushing by machine shops to see if people can make similar items.

Oh, I didn't realize you're running a KM145. Didin't think there were any of those left in existence ha ha ha! Hopefully you can find something that works or a good automatic to swap in.

Yeah I feel even more alone haha. I can find things for other Monteros relatively easy. I want to keep a manual transmission in this one. I have an auto in my 99. I wonder if I can get my hands on something a bit more common with a manual transmission or maybe pull the V5MT1 and set it aside for later and either swap in a gen1 3.0 or a montero sport 3.0 since I can find those all day. Do you happen to know if the V5MT1 will bolt to a montero sport 3.0? I think their manuals are a v5mt2 and my understanding is they are similar. I just have never seen a manual montero sport or a gen2 montero.

Ok through research I found that the measurements are exactly the same for the KM132 transmission. Those bushings are still available for about $30. If anyone looks at this in the future just look for KM132 extension housing bushing. The bushing reference # is 362066 and MITSUBISHI-62. It's still super rare but I think I found 2 places with them. Drivetrain.com and Allstategear.com. 1.420" ID X 1.580" OD X 2.297" length or about 36mm ID x 40.1mm OD x 58MM length. The V5MT1 bushing seems to be about 3.8-4mm bigger ID and OD but the same length in case anyone needs that as well.

Energy Suspension has a wide range of products that may answer the need...

http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/category/trucks

They have more stuff than I thought they would but these are for the transmission extension housing. That's what makes it hard to find. It's a steel sleeve bushing with little grooves and a hole for gear oil lubrication of the yoke. Here's a pic. http://imgur.com/a/jEnBs When the car is lifted or you have a bad ujoint it wears this out and you get slop. The MS axle flange is further forward so I'm hoping that is good enough to make the new bushing last. I don't want to get into an involved swap just yet, I have a third kid coming in a few months.