I had both rear wheels chocked with 4x4s. Breaking the nuts and bolts free while on the ground wouldn't really have mattered much either. This was my first time doing a lift on my own and I was having issues getting the axel side LCA bolt holes to line up and tried using a ratchet strap from the axel to our other car to pull the axel forward and get it to line up. Turns out I just needed to put the tire back on, take it off the jack stands and let it sit on its own weight. once I did that it lined up perfectly

 

i tried that too, broke my good strap, had to break out the come-a-long

 

Did some minor stuff today. New oil+filter after about 8k on the current change. Along with seafoam for the 3rd time since August.

then I put in a belt tensioner since the one in it was shot, discovered my idler pulley bearings were dry so I took that off and repacked the bearings. Its quite as a mouse now.

Then I put on new lift gate shocks in the rear.

In other news: I've begun pre-fab of my front bumper using leftover cardboard from work. Can't wait to finish up the design and borrow my buddy's welder to build it.

Oh and, I have horrible timing chain slap, a leaking passenger side front axle seal, a transmission input bearing that needs to be replaced, and an almost-blown-up D35 in the rear. There's more stuff that it needs that I don't care to think about right now. And I'm pretty sure my unibody is FUBAR in the rear cause my leaf springs aren't sitting right and haven't been since they've been on. I blame the gay 10" shackles the PO had on it. because of that I'll either transfer everything to my 4dr parts Jeep or make a truggy from this one..I may try to salvage it and figure out something to fix the problem

 

BTW, **** YOU. I know you thought it was hilarious that I started the build on the street in front of my mom's house and decided to pick at me for it. Guess what douchebag: I now live in a 4 bedroom house, with a two car garage and work a minimum of 40 hours a week, and the Jeep is beginning to make tons of progress as I get better at welding. Oh, did I mention I'm a full-time college student and finishing up EMS school? Somehow I highly doubt you could've said the same when you were 18 years old.

To everyone else following this thread: Now that I have a garage, access to a welder and a steady job the build should pick up significantly over the summer. She'll sit in a garage most of the winter(except when it snows) so I can get a bunch of stuff done before next summer.

 

hey wait now you have two jeeps and still only have 3000 posts..WTF it didn't work at all, just playin man don't let the haters bring you down..im on here just about everyday, my wife gets pissed..lol jeep is lookin good man makes me wish i wouldn't have found out i had a cracked block today, but its ok ill be back with and 86 with 4" of lift and 31's soon hopefully.

 

Dayum! You've been scootin' along quite fast. Nice work Zach, keep it up.

 

Haha, na man I don't. If anything in inspires me to work harder just to prove them wrong. I'm the type of guy whose like "Don't tell me it can't be done while I'm in the middle of doing it." So many people tell me that I CAN'T run 37s on a 44/44 or 44/9" Combo and 4" of lift. I promise I'm going to do it. Yes I'm going to have to truss and sleeve the axles to be able to run 37s hard but hey, they'll be BEEF. . Eventually I'll run Chromo shafts and some type of selectable locker(ARB/OX/E-locker)

Lol. I'm on my way to hit overtime 4 weeks running. I clocked 27 hours at work in two days to give you an idea of what I've been up to.

Its nice to have my own place AND a garage thats hardlined for compressed air, has a 230V circuit and a bench vice. sometime soon I'll be picking up a decent drill press and I'm going to see about Financing on a 210amp Hobart MIG welder. Next week after I get paid I'm going to go pick up the plate steel for my front bumper along with some box tube for my rocker panels. Now I just need a camera to track all of my progress

 

Eventually I'm gonna be running 37s on a D44HD/D60 combo. I already have the axles purchased, gotta pick them up. I believe you can run what your wanting to.

HOLY CRAP! You work a lot! Your house sounds bad ***! Good luck with everything Zach!

 

Lol, thats what everyone tells me. "You need a D60 to run 37s, otherwise you'll end up ****ed!" Screw that, I'll probably go with a Ford 9"(since I'd gain .5" of ring gear diameter over a D44 and the things are a dime a dozen with disk brakes) It'll be trussed, sleeved and running chromos with a full selectable. And yes, the house is pretty dope, I just gotta get my tools here, organized and get my roommate to get his car out of my half of the garage. I've been working my *** off since school got out. In 3 work days I've clocked 39 hours at work. means more money for the Heep.

 

The 9" sounds good. Ohh So that's why you're never on 24 hour post ***** anymore....I see how it is. lol

Can't wait to see this baby get built up!

 

Bumper build well under way: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f58/bu...56/#post593250

Its also a fab thread for jank I'm doing over the summer. Thus why its not all posted in here.

 

Can't wait to see the pics!

 

A built Ford 9 is stronger than a D60, you can run 37's no problem if you truss it, biggest problem with them is the center section is made from stamped sheetmetal so its none too stiff.

They have pinion support so they are much stronger than anything else with a 9" ring gear.

Keep it up and good luck.

 

I guess ford 9" it is. the plan has always been that if I were to build anything non-ton as far as axles go it would get sleeved and trussed right off the bat to be able to deal with running 37s. the one thing I don't like about the 9" is the pinion offset, but I'll have to just suck it up and deal.

 

okay. time for some updates. Didn't realize how long its been since I've posted one.

since my last update. I have pretty much built a front bumper, it needs a few more pieces burned on, some holes drilled and paint, then its done.

I've swapped both my front and rear axle.

Got a Chrysler 8.25 w/3.55 gears from a 99(I think) in the rear.

Then I got a HPD30 w/3.55 gears from a 99 for the front; no more puuny *** u-joints, no more POS vacuum disconnect. Oh, yeah I swapped that one in my driveway by myself for 4 hours on a blazing hot sunday afternoon....that was funnnnn

I rebuilt my whole front DS.

Installed hood vents.

Next week I'm buying a JKS trackbar for 4-6" of lift and some 15x10s

I need the 15x10s so I have something I can put my 32x11.50 MTR and Dunlop mud rover's on.

There's probably other stuff I've done since then, I just don't remember what.

I've started sanding it down in prep for paint cause I'm sick of it being 4 different colors.

I'm debating removing all the interior trim pieces so its not half there and half gone.

Gonna Rhino-Line(or something similar) the entire floor sometime soon.