Well, I began my swap two days ago. Thus far I have the old axle out and the SR's loosely bolted back in. In the process, I have come up with a few comments and questions...

Comments:
1) Dropping rehanging were easier than I anticipated. Did all myself thus far.
2) While I got the full axle (arms, brakes, sway bar) for a mere $100, I'm frustrated by the fact that the guy cut the e-brake cables rather than disconnecting from the lever. this means that I have to go all the way into the brakes to connect up my cables. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" />
3) The exterior of the SR axle is not as spiffy as my SC bred LS. Hopefully the insides are okay.
4) The SR companion flange is different than the LS. I did some poking in CAPS and found they have the same oil seals, so I thought I'd just swap flanges. Wrong! The SR has 27 splines to the LS's 25. Funny that the pinion shaft itself would have the same OD where it goes through the seal, but that the flanges sould be splined differently.

Questions:
1) So I need the SR drive shaft for the axle. Does anyone know if the yoke end will fit my t-case? CAPS shows the two cases as having different output shafts. That makes me nervous. Guess I'll know tomorrow, hopefully. If they are different, hopfully the u-joints will swap so I can mix-and-match. And if that doesn pan out, then hopefully the tubes are the same so shop will be able to readily splice them.
2) I remember from when I had my first Monty, a 95 SR, that the rear rotors are different from an LS. In looking at the two, they are dimensionally the same. But the SR does ahve a few little difference like a whole where the LS doesn't. Could the differences be ABS related?
3) What about the calipers? CAPS doesn't show me any disk brake parts for the rear, only the e-brake drum parts.
4) Just noticed for the first time the fuel filter. What's up with that location? I can't believe none of the more radical wheelers out there haven't torn one off!

Oooh boy, dual bouncies and now a locker on the 95. Soon maybe I'll get to change my sig line from "basically stock"....

I can't really help you out with CAPS since my home computer took a <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" />... But you might try seeing if the universal joints are the same between the two. Perhaps you might be lucky... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I just don't want to buy the SR shaft if I can't make it work. In the end though, my gut tells me that even if there is an unexpected amount of DS work needed, I'll still need parts off the SR shaft. I just need to to get the local yard to come down from the $100 they want.

This was posted by Monte90 on his Gen II to Gen I axle swap -



Sounds like he took the end flange off the Gen II and swapped it to his existing drive shaft. Looks like the same U-joint is used on both the 3.0 & 3.5 Gen II's, so this should work for you. Wonder if you can buy that flange at a drive shaft shop.

Did you see PNs somewhere that brought you to the U-joint conclusion? I cannot find them in CAPS... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Thats strange. My 4 cylinder diffs pinion flange swapped onto my sport diffs pinion. Same splines, and size. fit on there perfect. I'd have thought the coil sprung dffs were alike as well.

Especially strange given that the pinion shaft itself seems to be the same based on the same oil seals. And the gearing itself is the same as well.

Your MS donor was not 3.5L if it was leaf sprung, I believe. They must have decided to beef up the splines for the added power of the 3.5L...???

I got the guy down to $75. It will cost me $50 + shipping for the cheapest I found on the web, plus the delayed time to get it. Guess I'll pony up the $75 and have it back on the road this weekend. At least I'll get two [assumedly] OEM U-joints in the process.

The montero sport, and the montero were different platforms.

The sport is based off of the Strada....Overseas mitsu pickup. The strada is based off of the Gen 1... Thats why my springs matched up. I have absolutly NO idea what this diff is. hahah

Right. And the MS went to coils with the 3.5L )in the later 90s). Wonder what the rear is in a coil MS. Not that I really care at this point. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />