Midnight Metal Works T Case.

['84 Bronco II]

Bummer to hear about the price increase, but that seems to be the story everywhere these days

I am definitely interested in one of the complete Dana 300s for my buggy project to save 30-40 Lbs (Assuming 72.6Lb weight on the site is accurate ) and space over an Atlas, but at over $1,000+shipping more than the Atlas I just bought for my 4600 build, I don't think I'll be able to justify it. It is cool to have another option out there though.

I just wish some one would make low gear sets for Dana 20s since Teralow is out of the game (shitty gears anyway), and Jack O'Brien is a piece of work to deal with and wants 90% of what an Atlas costs for his gears Also, a 32 spline front output would be nice. The Dana 20 is a decent case and there are a lot of classic Bronco guys swapping to Atlas cases (which don't fit that great) since there aren't any economical/available low gear sets for the Dana 20. Seems like a bigger market than billet replacement cases...

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Bummer to hear about the price increase, but that seems to be the story everywhere these days

I am definitely interested in one of the complete Dana 300s for my buggy project to save 30-40 Lbs (Assuming 72.6Lb weight on the site is accurate ) and space over an Atlas, but at over $1,000+shipping more than the Atlas I just bought for my 4600 build, I don't think I'll be able to justify it. It is cool to have another option out there though.

I just wish some one would make low gear sets for Dana 20s since Teralow is out of the game (shitty gears anyway), and Jack O'Brien is a piece of work to deal with and wants 90% of what an Atlas costs for his gears Also, a 32 spline front output would be nice. The Dana 20 is a decent case and there are a lot of classic Bronco guys swapping to Atlas cases (which don't fit that great) since there aren't any economical/available low gear sets for the Dana 20. Seems like a bigger market than billet replacement cases...

I'd kinda be interested in a driver drop D20 in 2:1, that possible?

 

['84 Bronco II]

I'd kinda be interested in a driver drop D20 in 2:1, that possible?

I don't know. Jeep guys used to swap T-shift Bronco Dana 20 gears (2.46:1) into their cases to get the lower gears, so it would seem possible to do the reverse if someone really wanted to. But is the 2.00:1 Jeep Ratio really different enough from the 2.34:1 Bronco J-shift low range to be worthwhile?

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I don't know. Jeep guys used to swap T-shift Bronco Dana 20 gears (2.46:1) into their cases to get the lower gears, so it would seem possible to do the reverse if someone really wanted to. But is the 2.00:1 Jeep Ratio really different enough from the 2.34:1 Bronco J-shift low range to be worthwhile?

I don't know. I'm 2.57 now and it's too slow with 4.30s, although the stock computer won't let it shift into OD which I'm not sure I would want to with a planetary anyways. I just ordered 5.29s, which puts my high range right where I want it but low range first snow is going to be even slower honestly a 1.5-1.7 might actually be about perfect with the 2.57 crawl box.

But I think 2:1 with the ability to run in OD might work fine.

 

[Rangerrod]

Figured this is a good place to put this. I have a midnight metal works Dana 300 replace-a-case. I bought this originally to solve the popping out issue the factory Dana 300’s have and allow me to swap to drivers drop down the road.

Ran this for few years. It’s popped out a little. But rubicon it popped out a ton going down hill. Felt like I wasn’t fully engaging in to low range in either the front or rear.

I got home was cruising through the gram and SteerAndStuff on his page happened to post he was having similar issue. He Redrilled the place for the shift fork on the shift rail to help with his issue.

On his post Jesse Haines chimed in he had seen these issues and had to machine new shift rails to solve this.

I messaged Jesse direct for more of an explanation and what he stated I’m seeing. Essentially the detent holes are too close together. On the factory Dana 300 neutral to low is ~.450 MMW it’s .400. The total throw of MMW detents ends up being .075 shorter than factory Dana 300.

If I space back the MMW detent housing I can get solidly in to low. But will pop out in high. So at the very least I see punching another hole for detent in low another ~.100 further.

Anyone else had this problem? Pictures kind of showing sure detent holes not aligning with the housing when I shift from high to low.

Any thoughts? Part of me is thinking weld it up and carbide end mill new detent hole for low. But the threaded portion on the front of the shift rail on the front goes past the shift rail seal to full engage low range. This in my case should solve it. Jesse mentioned he does 3/8 ball instead of 5/16” that MMW. Did.

 

[Opiebennett]

woody had some thoughts on his rockcrawler.com page in his build thread I think. Changed springs too.

 

[Rangerrod]

woody had some thoughts on his rockcrawler.com page in his build thread I think. Changed springs too.

I saw that even ordered the springs. But when I pulled of detent housing it was obvious nothing was lining up. So I pulled it.

Would appreciate any insight.

 

[woody]

I messaged Jesse direct for more of an explanation and what he stated I’m seeing. Essentially the detent holes are too close together. On the factory Dana 300 neutral to low is ~.450 MMW it’s .400. The total throw of MMW detents ends up being .075 shorter than factory Dana 300.

The H-N-L detents on a factory D300 shift rail are not equal. MMW knew about this (because I told them early on). They claimed that having "enough" engagement was fine, and a universal shift rail allowed front or back universal install.

Additionally, the detent ball rides on the tip of the ball/bottom of the hole, not on the edge of the rail holes. Better engagement would occur if the holes were slightly deeper.

I cut a 16ga flat spacer for mine (between the case and the block) and it definitely helped on engagement.

Steve from Sand Hollow Offroad has reworked a few, and might have a product available.

Also, don't forget, there was little consistency in machining these cases between batches (and likely within a batch) so there could be multiple issues at play.

 

[Rangerrod]

The H-N-L detents on a factory D300 shift rail are not equal. MMW knew about this (because I told them early on). They claimed that having "enough" engagement was fine, and a universal shift rail allowed front or back universal install.

Additionally, the detent ball rides on the tip of the ball/bottom of the hole, not on the edge of the rail holes. Better engagement would occur if the holes were slightly deeper.

I cut a 16ga flat spacer for mine (between the case and the block) and it definitely helped on engagement.

Steve from Sand Hollow Offroad has reworked a few, and might have a product available.

Also, don't forget, there was little consistency in machining these cases between batches (and likely within a batch) so there could be multiple issues at play.

I talked with Jesse Haines on Instagram about this back and forth and what you stated is essentially what he’s stated. The cases are different and that causes some issues with detents lining up. Mine on has .050 of engagement in low. Spacing back the detent housing would help but would it then cause a problem in high. Because as you stated the detents are closer together by ~.050 compared to factory Dana 300.

I’m tempted to sell it off but don’t want to pass off my problem to someone else.

I’ll reach out to sand hollow off-road and see if they have a fix. I can rework this myself and get it fixed but don’t want to proceed until I have a solid plan in place.

Thanks for the reply woody!

 

[rockota]

Dirt Lifestyle brought this up on a video this weekend... apparently, having the same issue??

 

[woody]

Dirt Lifestyle brought this up on a video this weekend... apparently, having the same issue??

EVERY MMW case made has the issue. ALL of them. Mine was one of the very first (and was supposed to be used for feedback prior to production...feedback was given, but was largely ignored). The issues are worse with the later production cases.

 

[Rangerrod]

Dirt Lifestyle brought this up on a video this weekend... apparently, having the same issue??

He’s missing the detent housing altogether. He’s real fucked. I reached out to him but he hasn’t replied to me.

EVERY MMW case made has the issue. ALL of them. Mine was one of the very first (and was supposed to be used for feedback prior to production...feedback was given, but was largely ignored). The issues are worse with the later production cases.

Mine is real late case July of 2022. It’s resolvable the more I look at it.

 

[Rangerrod]

So here my fix. Pretty sure it will be better than it was. My high range and neutral lines up pretty well with existing detents. So I don’t want to shim detent housing back like woody did in my case. I wanted to move the detent hole for low range further up the shift rail.

So I ground .220 off the shift rails to get them to travel further in to low range. But this still left enough meat that the ball can’t fall behind the shift rail in high range. The detent housing pocket isn’t deep enough to accommodate the travel that’s needed with the shift rails the length they came.

Tried using jb weld to plug up the old hole. Then drill another hole just adjacent to it. I used the detent housing as a drill jig. I got a .406 OD drill bushing and ground it down to .390 then drilled a .250 hole for new detent.

The detent ball crested too much force and the jb weld flaked right off.

So I welded it up ground it down and redrilled with cobalt drill. Worked great.

So I have .220 more engagement in low. I could only go another .030 or so.

I had to add sleeves on the front as the threaded portion now travels past the lip seal. So I got a .500 busing drilled and tapped it to 7/16-20 cut it in half and screwed it on the threaded portion.

So this is about as good as it gets. Thanks for everyone’s feed back. I’ll report back if this works.

 

[SteerAndStuff]

That's a good idea with the drill bushing in the detent block. Thank you for sharing.

I couldnt shim or grind down my rail since it was at the end of the seal already when in low so I redrilled that shift fork back more. I'm going to revisit my detents and see if redrilling will help as well now.

 

[Rangerrod]

Update on my “fix”. I live in a neighborhood with a really steep hill to my house. To the point in the rain my front wheel drive car can’t make the hill. So I put the jeep in rear wheel drive low and it popped out a few times when I would blip the throttle pretty aggressively (neighbors loved it btw). I think with an auto it would be better with drivetrain slack from the nv4500 I don’t think it helps. Put front and rear in low and I had to really try to get it to pop out. Definitely huge improvement.

I have an atlas going in this time next year so this is as fixed as I’ll get this case. I’m tempted to keep fucking with this though after I take it out. I will post up if I do but will be a year or so if I do.

 

[SteerAndStuff]

Maybe we should hit up Jesse if he has a pattern for working shift rails to see if enough of us would buy sets to justify him making a run on them

 

[Rangerrod]

Maybe we should hit up Jesse if he has a pattern for working shift rails to see if enough of us would buy sets to justify him making a run on them

He said they’re all different. James Tracey also reached out to me said that the real problem is the output housing sits further back because the case is thicker (Jesse said same thing). So him and Jesse have both machined output housing to push the gear further in so it meshes correctly with corresponding gear. This will cause the extra travel on the shift rail you and I are experiencing to go away. Jesse said he considered offering a “fix it kit” but every case was unique as far as he could tell. And the later ones are worse than the first ones.

I was a machinist years ago but don’t have access to the tools anymore otherwise this would already be fixed. I’m in a weird spot as I’m putting a 4 speed atlas in sometime. But this case I can’t honestly sell to anyone. And if I did “fix it” I don’t really have a way to verify it afterwards. But it’s driving me nuts it’s not perfect lol!

 

[blay127]

Yeah the last time i had mine apart i found the problem with the rear housing like you described. instead of machining the housing itself, i machined a spacer to go between the big gear and the inner bearing on the rear housing, effectively accomplishing the same thing. In fact i had to make custom spacers for the front as well to get all the gears to mesh correctly and provide proper bearing preload. When you do this, it messes with the shifter locations and its necessary to determine new shift fork position/detent position. So I can see why it's nearly impossible to offer a "fix" for these cases. They're all going to be different.