The full-floater conversion will require custom axleshafts. A stock axleshaft has splines on the inner end and is tapered on the outer ends Unfortunately, the full-floater will require slightly longer axleshafts, and they will have to be splined on both ends. Also be aware that the splined section for the locking hubs is slightly smaller in diameter than the inboard end, even though they both have ten splines.
As a big fan of that famous frugal Scottish poet Ewan McTeagle, I'm having a hard time coughing up the money to have new shafts made. Several shops could do the machine work, but the choice of raw material or how much additional hardening to use was a big question. I was only able to find one local shop willing to make completely new axleshafts from scratch. This shop makes custom axles for just about any application you could imagine. They specialize in dragsters and race cars, not 60 horsepower vintage Jeeps. They could easily make the axleshafts needed, but were going to charge me approximately $550 for the pair. Ouch! Click on the two links below to see how I made them myself.
The stock seal at the outer end of the axlehousing will not work with the full-floater axleshaft. The new shafts have a smaller diameter in that area. The stock seal is an oddball size. With that seal's 2.282" outside diameter, no other SAE sized seals were available with a smaller bore. Luckily, a metric sized Chicago Rawhide seal #11655 would work. It has an outside diameter tolerance which will work in the axlehousing. The inner bore is made for a 29-31mm range. That was perfect for the new 1.220" diameter shaft.
Here is the old seal being pulled with a slide hammer. A hook-type seal puller will not reach in there. Note the inner tip of the zerk, which will be replaced with a plug. The grease vent on top of the axle, not visible in this image, will be sealed with epoxy. Click here to see the plug at a page from the brake section:
Here is a side by side comparison of the seals, showing the different sized bores:
Here is a staged shot showing how the new seal is installed. If you look closely at the zerk, you'll see this is the long side of the axlehousing. On my Vern-O-Lock, the seal on the long side will have to be installed after the axleshaft because of the shift collars. That seal will be installed using a piece of pipe to clear the protruding axleshaft:
