stang65

have you checked the front axle ujoints?

Blue87XJ

yea checked them and I still thought it was in the axle until tonight. after work I greased the front u-joint in the front drive line and I havent heard a peep since so im assuming I need to replace that u-joint but id like to get a few drives in and make sure thats what it was.

Blue87XJ

well turns out the problem was in the axle. the vacuum system was not fully disengaging the 2 piece system so I opened up the CAD and removed a C-clip and slid the fork over to lock the 2-piece. Solved the problem up until yesterday when I was out doing some double black diamond trails climbing some rock and bent my transmission mount crossmember and stripped out the collar for the 2 piece axle. Im hoping I can find enough plate to rebuild my crossmember and design some under armor!
Ill try and get some pics up when I get a chance to get it built.

Heres a few pics of some of the stuff we been doing the last couple weekends here in central oregon.







and heres what I did to my tie rod...
yea its up over the trac bar!

Blue87XJ

also bent the steering damper. had to make a JY trip and pulled 2 so I could carry a spare.




the night before the trip I stripped out over 75lbs in weight.
removed the back seat, tore out ALL the carpet that was fairly wet. and I cut down my center console.

Blue87XJ

Heres a few more from the last wheeling trip.

Blue87XJ

Didnt realize I did so much damage on my last trip till just the other day...

First thing that caught my eye was nothing major. I thought it was actually kinda cool that I had a rock touch as high as it did without any major damage.

then the next thing that caught my eye was a little rocker panel damage that also was not to big of a deal since I have been planning to cut them out and lay in some 2x4 or 2x6 3/16" rect. tube for rock rails.


then as I worked my way around I noticed my exhaust was hanging a little low and found this beauty...

I collapsed a small section of my unibody
and I also limited my exhaust flow considerably... its worse than the pics make it look.

Blue87XJ

Got my self a new front down pipe for 40$ today and I pulled the front diff to make a rock cover just to find my spider gears DESTROYED!
Ill post up some pics soon

Blue87XJ

Also another side question I have been pondering over is whether or not my trans crossmember needs to be spaced out at all? is it possible for the trans to be up too high or down too low? the only benifit I can see a spacer will do is decrease the angle of the driveshaft. But Im assuming that as long as im not burning thru U-joints and as long as my slip yoke is staying in then it should all be good, correct?...
speaking of slip yokes, I am badly wanting to swap to a SYE but I am un sure what the best/cheapest route would be.
I want to do It right but my biggest concern is that if I have to buy a new drive shaft, I want to make sure its something that will be readily available whether new or from a JY just in case I slam it on a rock and need a new one before work the next day...
(what I really need is a daily driver car so I can make the jeep a TOY! haha)
So any one who can shed some light on the Transmission mounting height and SYE ideas PLEASE DO SO and help me out!

Blue87XJ

so heres the pics I took when I removed the front cover...






And here is my diff cover I made in a few hours and for free! theres nothing like free haha



I have it all painted and hopefully ill get it installed it today!
Just all depends on how much time I have after swapping spider gears with my buddy so that Ill have good gears again and he wants a welded front end for his so Im gunna weld them up!

Blue87XJ

got my D30 cover installed




Got some 1/4" angle to use for unibody frame stiffeners cut down to size (it was thicker than I wanted to use but its all I could get) I cut a bunch of wholes to try loosing some of the weight, as you can see in the second picture, and to have more welding surface. And the last photo is stiffeners installed and rockers cut out for some rock rails.

Blue87XJ

Bush League 96 XJ

Those rocker panels look great I've been wanting to do something like that for a while. A lot more high clearance. As for a slip yoke eliminator. I would get a Rugid Ridge one off of Ebay and run a stock front drive shaft in the rear. That is what i have and have had 0 issues. Then you can carry just 1 stock front drive shaft and it will be good for both the back and front. I have an np231 and only paid 180 for an sye. but if you have the 242 your gona have to do a hackntap

Blue87XJ

Yea Im really pleased with how they came out. I spent all day saturday bashing them on rocks and they held up perfectly.
I have the 231 t-case and i like the price and that the front driveline works front and back!
thanks for the input!

Blue87XJ

I finally found a great deal and jumped on it. a buddy is hooking me up with nearly new 35" tires on wheels and a rear D35 locker and some 2" pucks for $950 (I am normally not for getting lift from pucks or shackles but Im doing this on a budget)
I made a set of bastard packs using $50 s10 springs and factory cherokee springs from my parts jeep.
picked up a brake line kit for 8" lifts for $85
and 2" puck for the front (just for now) FREE! (with deal on tires and locker)

so about 2-4" in the rear and 2" in the front for a grand total of 135$ I dont think you can beat a deal like that unless it was all free haha



I am trying to get away with keeping my stock shocks so I cut off the axle shock mounts and moved them up about 4" giving me alot more axle to ground clearance. they came out really nice but I was not paying attention while I was doing the work so i noticed while I was reinstalling the shocks that they are nearly fully compressed. so im hoping that the lift will help fix that when it gets installed and im debating on relocating the top of the shocks closer together so that I get a little more flex out of them. I am aware that the more you angle the shocks the less effective they become but I am not concerned with road ride quality.
If anyone has any suggestions or ideas please do share!

also just got my brake lines installed tonight.
hopefully this weekend I can get my lift on and start making my long arm 3 link. but I need to find a good deal on some heim joints before I can begin

Blue87XJ

Helping a friend move his old D30 we grabbed it by the knuckle and it twisted smashing my finger and tearing off the nail.



So workin on the ol' jeep has slowed since i lost my pinky nail, but that still wont stop me haha

I got a little over zealous jumping into this lift.
I got the pucks on which made the front slightly higher than the back then I put the bastard packs in lifting the rear end a little higher than the front.



On the plus side I gained 2" up front and about 3" in the rear
On the bad side I found out what all I was over looking.

Didn't think about how short my stock parts were till after the lift was installed.
Turns out I need an entire list of new items to make the lift work.
my drive shaft wouldn't stay in
e-brake cable was tight as a guitar string
front axle was off to one side TOO much so id need a pitman arm and an adjustable track arm
also my control arms were too short

so I decided to loose the rear blocks so that my drive shaft will still reach and work. and for now I am going to stick with the hight I'm at and focus on getting a sye, some end joints to build my long arms and some rings and pinions for my axles so I can eventually run my new 35" tires.
I actually tried the 35s on today but I need to do a little more trimming on the front fenders to clear when turning.

Heres before with the 33" dura-tracs


And Heres with the 35" tires