Do I have to grind d300 rails for twin stick

Clubbs

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Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Location
Blounts Creek
Got the Dana 300 out now. Considering twin sticking for front digs. Seems to be some banter on the web about grinding shift rails and changing springs, and some other stuff. Can't I just put two independent lever on it and go for it or will it pop out of gear and not allow for fully independent axle control?
 
You can twin stick without grinding rails. You just won’t be able to do front only high range.

I think the popping out of gear has more to do with 4:1s not stock ratio.

I just keep my hands on shifters when decel or going down hill in low range.

It never pops out under forward torque only when the torque reverses like downhill or hard decel.
 
You have to grind the rail in order to do front digs. I did it with my dremel if I remember correctly.
you can shim the spring for firmer hold so it won’t pop out of gear as bad.
 
So front only low range is possible then?
 
I did one years ago and had everything with no grinding. I could go into 4lo then put the rear in neutral for fwd-lo
 
If you leave the pills in, you have to grind. They prevent you from putting one in low and the other in high, or from doing front only. If you leave them out, you can do whatever, but the risk is a bonehead move and grenading the case. Which honestly is not easy to do.
 
You don’t have to grind rails to do a front dig.

It’s just right order of shifting that allows it with twin sticks.

With twin stick, one stick controls the front output and one controls the rear output.

If you are in NN, you can’t put the front only in Low.

Put the rear in L, then the front in L, then pull the rear back to N.

Or if you are ready in LL ( the typical arrangement when crawling when you would need a front dig) just pull the rear into N,

Front dig, then push the rear back into L. Back to crawling.

IIRC the pills set the shifting order, grinding the rails change the effect.

In the next explanation the first letter is for front and second letter is for rear.

Meaning if you are in NN, and you want high 4wd, you have to do rear H, then front H.

If you are in HH, and want to go to LL,
Shift the front to N, then rear to N, then rear to L, then front to L.

Then in LL if you want front dig, pull the rear to N. Back to LL, push the rear back to Low.

Shifting from LL to HH, pull either front or rear to N, then the other to N, then rear to H, then front to H.

The pills just prevent any combination of LH or HL and HN.
 
R Q said:
So what twin stick kits are y'all using for this?
Click to expand...
Via @rockcity 's burn victim... running these

northwestfab.com

Dana 300 Reverse Cable Shifter Kit

**This Product is out of Stock Until Oct 2023 when 48" Cables will be available again** In some applications our standard Dana 300 Cable Shifter kit just won't fit. This can be the case a when using large manual transmission mated to your D300 or especially in a 'flipped' drivers side drop...
northwestfab.com northwestfab.com
 
Is there a fix for it popping out when in rear only low range on deceleration? I can hold the shifter and it stays in without issue.
 
BIGWOODY said:
Is there a fix for it popping out when in rear only low range on deceleration? I can hold the shifter and it stays in without issue.
Click to expand...
Seems to be an issue in most cases when twin stick. My 300 flip kit made the detent springs adjustable from outside. So I can tighten them up to prevent it. But obviously makes shifting a little harder.
 
Took the stock shifter parts off last night and I can definitely get 4lo only with the right sequence as mentioned above. Other internet searching suggest that twin stick d300's are prone to popping out of gear on deceleration unless detent springs are shimmed to get more pressure. So I'm begrudgingly going to take this thing apart and shim the springs before I put it back in... Otherwise this would be a 30 minute job.
 
Yup...
IMG_20231210_174029228.jpg
 
And... I lost my marbles. Er one of the detent balls went into orbit somewhere in my garage. Just ordered 4 more... You know just in case...
 
Got my marbles together. Rear shift rail ridges had some wear and dents that made it hard to shift, so some light grinding and it was good.

I put two number 6 washers in the shallow hole and a smaller ball bearing in the deep hole. Deep hole is the rear and is stiffer but than the front but I'm good with it so long as it doesn't pop out of gear.

Will post pics later when I get it all together
 
I'll just piggyback here to ask a couple questions.
Is torque spec on yokes 120 ft lbs?
And it looks like I'll have to take outputs off to get yoke seals out for replacement, correct?
 
R Q said:
I'll just piggyback here to ask a couple questions.
Is torque spec on yokes 120 ft lbs?
And it looks like I'll have to take outputs off to get yoke seals out for replacement, correct?
Click to expand...
Not sure on torque specs bc IIRC there are shims to set preload on bearings and end play,

And I seem to remember yes to pull the yoke to replace seals.

I always use 3.5 ugga dugga putting the yokes back on
 
Mac5005 said:
Not sure on torque specs bc IIRC there are shims to set preload on bearings and end play,

And I seem to remember yes to pull the yoke to replace seals.

I always use 3.5 ugga dugga putting the yokes back on
Click to expand...
Yes def will pull the yokes but was wondering if I needed to pull the entire output. I sometimes work harder trying not to remove things thinking it will make the job easier when in fact if I just pulled them it would hav even easier.
 
R Q said:
Yes def will pull the yokes but was wondering if I needed to pull the entire output. I sometimes work harder trying not to remove things thinking it will make the job easier when in fact if I just pulled them it would hav even easier.
Click to expand...
From my memory, just pull yokes and not the output, then small pry bar to get seal out, then new seal in and yokes back on.

Last time i did it was 10+ years ago and the case was on the bench
 
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