wheelsaz08

well a few things happened recently.

in typical bro fashion, the seatbelts had been removed to make room for more important things. like the roll cage. cause we all know if you have a roll cage, your perfectly safe and need no other safety restraints RIGHT???

haha jk but the b pillar of the cage comes down right where the upper seat belt mount is. so since there is no way of putting in stock belts, i got some crow harnesses. they are only 4 points and i know, i know, 4 points arent the safest but i do plan to put in a sub belt when i get new seats. and also add a better harness bar to the cage since the shoulder straps mount pretty low





also cut the fenders more







tried flexing it out with the forklift at work but the security guard started throwing a fit so i only snapped a couple pics lol doesnt flex to well... shocks are to short so rear tire started lifting here





picked up some rubicon 5.5" coils (next to crustys 8.5-9s)



before they settled. header panel was off cause i was going to install some hood pins i had lying around but they were to short.



also started installed the hi steer arms. would have the drag link and tie rod done but i measured once instead of twice and cut them to short. spendy mistake...



kingpin bushing were shot. the pass side was in 4 pieces...



ballistic hi steer arms on, only got pics of the driver side



all the steering box bolts were stripped and one broke so i cut out a piece of 1/4" steel to place on the outside of the "frame" and made a spacer for the inner side. retapped all the box bolts for 7/16" and threw some grade 8's in. not the best fix but should get me by till i pick up another box to tap for hyrdo assist. you can kinda see the outer plate here. springs settled a bit



since the guard threw a hissy fit about the fork lift thing, i pulled into the shop at work and used a big floor jack to flex it out with the new springs. did better but still needs longer shocks



still had a good 3-4 inches till bump. gonne need to address that



















the RE cross member had its share of brorrendousness. the radius arm mount bolts the go through the skid plate were missing and the driver side mount was begging to tear itself apart to the point i was almsot scared t odrive the jeep, two rear bolts were missing and someone tried to weld the skid plate to the arm mounts but they didnt penetrate either of the two lol ill get pics of it later

so i got real ballsie and ordered a clayton cross member thinking i could just swap the two out on a slow night shift at work and eventually build my own skid plate off of it. boy was wrong. i expected some stretch, but long story short, even with the RE arms adjusted as short as they can be, the axle is pushed WAAAAY to far forward for how this axle is set up.




obviusly thats without the arms attactched but thats how it sits when they are as well. the really F***ED part is, it took me up until quittin time so i had to drive it home like this with the springs at like a 70* angle lol

so now the brainstorming continues. im thinking of one or a combo of the following based on funds

1. build new arms that fit, either 3 link or radius
2. keep the RE arms, move the clayton cross member back 4'ish inches, then add some 2x4x.250 and bracing to the front to support the trans/tcase along with a skid plate
3. pull the axle, cut off everything and start from scratch with either ballistic or ruff stuff mounts to get the springs over the center of the axle or slightly behind
4. say F it and fix the RE stuff the best i can and put it back on and sell the clayton cross member

gonna have to think about that for a while. also still need to hit the junkyard for some 52" chevy leafs and pull the gas tank to start relocating it for the rear stretch...

JPXJMOAB

Looks good! You should stretch that beast

wheelsaz08

thanks! thats the plan only not so much front stretch. maybe about half that and a good 4-5 inches out back

man i botched that last post. it was late into night shift lol

heres a better pic of how the springs are angled. had to take the front drive shaft out since it was to short. also note the trac bar is mounted on the front of the bracket just to get it home lol i still dont exactly understand why it pushed so far. the arms are 37" bolt hole to bolt hole, the axle end bracket is right up against the tube, and claytons arms are adjustable from 35 9/16" to 36 1/2"... just doesnt add up to me how i got a good 4-5 inch push




i figured since the pinion angle already kinda sucked, and ballistic and ruff stuff both have sales right now, i would go ahead and get some new brackets. start from scratch on the axle end

i got ballistic's coil/shock/link mounts. they have a 15% off deal going on

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/...bo_p_1461.html

i like the packaging of these brackets and they are somewhat similar to the factory configuration so im hoping itll be pretty simple to set up. i havent done much axle work outside of just swapping axles so it should be a good learning experience

ruff stuff has a 20% off deal so i ordered their trac bar brackets, both frame and axle end, and a 3/4" heim kit with 9/16" miss. spacers to build a new trac bar with the tubing i have left from the drag link/tie rod screw up

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/PANCEN.html

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/...g/PAN-OUT.html

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/...uct_Code=34SET


gonna pull the axle out this week and get to cuttin!

wheelsaz08

oh and i have a plug on some 2" .250 wall square tube... may end up 3 linking the front while im at it!

wheelsaz08

got the axle out. one heavy SOB. i got it up on the jack stands on the lift to make it easier to work on just didnt get a pic






also got the axle end brackets



working quite a bit the next couple weeks so ill cut, grind, adn weld when i find the time

wheelsaz08

Haven't updated this in a while simply cause there isn't much to update on. Been working alot more than I expected lately and my daughter turns 1 in a couple weeks and has been sick.

Sold the Rubicon long arms, cross member and Rusty's springs so now I have funds for link parts. Think I'm going to use ruff stuff 1.25 rod ends all around

Also, I'm considering transferring the entire drive train over to my comanche and keeping this body for a future build with/for my brother. I don't plan on putting a back seat in the xj and I'd much rather have the functionality of a pickup that I can wheel, camp, and hunt with.

I did start cutting up the axle and got some front frame stiffeners though

wheelsaz08

Little more progress on the axle today. Also ran the BOM and it's an 89 Ford d60 not a 79. Should have known since it has the short driver side tube. I'm going to grind down the that end of the housing and shape the ballistic bracket to fit.

Ordered my ruffstuff 1.25 rod ends today too. 6 of em and a passenger side link bracket along with link tabs to add to the Clayton cross memeber

wheelsaz08

got some more beef! picking up some square tube tomorrow

Lickwid46_zj

Sub'd

wheelsaz08

its donating the drive train and suspension to my comanche. ill keep the body for a future build. maybe something v8 powered

SatiricalHen

thread on the mj?

wheelsaz08

http://comancheclub.com/topic/48876-wheels-89-manche/

ill start a new one here soon