smartmike

Kind of a strange swap if everything is the same. the brakes will make it easier for moor swaps.

KevinC506

The only major differences are the mounting brackets and accessories. People say stay away because you would have to make your own brackets. Now that we offer them at ironman4x4 its easy. The accessories are just simple work arounds that anyone with half a brain can figure out.

smartmike

I was trying to say brackets but for some reason it came out brakes LOL. I like your steering cross over. I don't need one yet but soon.

KevinC506

I don't have cross over steering? Just regular draglink with a beefy tie rod. However I am about to swap in a 44 with WJ knuckles. Expect a video on how all that went down and the steering setup. Already made one on Enlisted Budget Videos, but there was room for improvement.

smartmike

I was talking about the steering box bracing.

KevinC506

Oh okay. Yeah that thing gave me immediate results. When i first moved to work for Ironman, we threw that on when I got here and I was blown away by the difference. My box was only 5 months old. No steering play anymore, I can actually drive like a race car now...sorta. word.

KevinC506

I haven't been doing much Jeep wise lately. Went wheeling beginning of January and finally finished the highlight video for Ironman4x4fab.

Pretty fun weekend. First legitimate snow wheeling trip I've been on.


Other than that we just finished a pretty sweet steering setup for our shop WJ project. No lift required for what you see here. All 7075 T6 Aluminum links!








Dana 44 with WJ Steering gets put in finally within the next month. 7075 has been ordered! I'll be making a video on the WJ Swap (again) so stay tuned for lots of pics and a video.

KevinC506

My name is Kevin *** and I'm about to something rash..

I some how have found myself going to a buggy class race at The Flats Offroad Park in Marion, NC May 18th. Its a time trial race with two heats. Fastest lap wins. The good news is, I'm partipating with the objective to finish not place that high. We're going for two reasons..Marketing for Ironman4x4 to all the crazy rednecks out there (wow look a that cherokee do things with big unlimited class buggies) and to help encourage others too step up to the plate in future races for the park.



So prep time begins now.

Already ripped out my axle in prep for my Dana 44 I've been sitting on forever.





Things to do:
1) Put in 44
2) Measure my steering links and track bar length (Everything will be 1 Ton OTK with WJ knuckles made out of 7075 Aluminum)
3) Spool 8.8 (already ordered spool)
4) Put in OBA for front ARB (already ordered ARB compressor)
5) Strip everything non essential from inside the jeep
6) Rebuild front long arms (aka limit strap tabs, rebuild joints, and fresh paint)
7) Do Ball Joints
8) Finally most importantly, practice practice practice driving.. Not that I can't wheel, but I need to understand the dynamics of driving my cherokee with the pedal to the floor and left footed braking. Thankfully I have a place to play privately.

Let the games begin..

Tonight I cleaned up my old upper arms and reshot them with blue. Ditching the old poly bushing and going to press in some clevite rubber





Long arms have their new limiting strap tabs on now its time to build johny joints, maybe switch to our Enduros. Then powder coat blue.


(I'm not a welder but I get by..)

That''s where I'm at in life..

KevinC506

Another good day of progress.

Long arms rebuilt and painted.

Shocks torn down and inspected. Seals are still good. Fresh oil, Old oil came out grey..ewwy





Turns out I've devised a plan to run Air Bumps in the front using our new WJ front air bump design we have been working on. Cool beans. Stay tuned for that.

KevinC506

Got some more stuff in. ARB air compressor, Rear 8.8 Spool..and a front air bump solution??? We'll entertain that thought a little later. Just a tease for now.







In other news, Axle is in and bolted up. Ball joints are in, hubs and chromoly shafts are in. Tie rod, draglink, and track bar lengths have been taken.

The material I'm going to make the tie rod, draglink, annnnd Track Bar might rhyme with 7075 T6 Aluminum....idk. Stay tuned.

KevinC506

Some progress has been made. Made my own wiring harness to run to my compressor switch. The provided ARB compressor harness is actually pretty well put together, just not long enough for my application.





Also got my TJ diff lock switch installed. Nice and clean and easily accessible for a racing situation. I don't like having to put my hand about my head to activate a locker in an intense environment.



And of course sometimes you just gotta go to a mountain chill out in these trying times.



Also got these bad larrys in the mail this week. Front air bumps in the coils is a go.



This weekend will render productive.

KevinC506

Front Air Bump system coming together nicely. Need to make some reinforcement brackets to weld in to brace everything.





Also go an ARB and accessories for the 8.8.

Movin forward!



And what race jeep is complete without race numbers? Traditional ironman4x4 race numbers and the 3rd in the line up.

KevinC506

Haven't updated in awhile. Race postponed for awhile. We're sponsoring the NAXJA Crawl for the Southeast Chapter June 7th-9th, so new goal is to get ready for that.

New harness, but turns out its a 99 without coil packs, so have to order a new one. fml.





Rear axle is finished. Geared by Jody Treadway at Carolina Axle & 4x4. Stand up guy. Best at what he does. Of course I had to check out his Danger Ranger.







Going to put in front Track bar, draglink, and tie rod tomorrow. Shiny 7075 Aluminum stuff. Pics to follow.

KevinC506

Got the steering in for the most part. Need to clean up the threads on the draglink. I get a jam in there somewhere and can't get my Left had rod in all the way end where I need it. Toe is set with not much thread showing, which is what I want. Track bar needs an axle side joint that we should hopefully be able to make this week. After that steering is finished.

Next major thing is the Air Bumps. Then we can put tires on!

As you can see it started to rain which ruined the motivation for the day. Still need to get that blasted OBA Compressor to work.

KevinC506

Steering is in and adjusted, just not zipped in yet. Got the caster adjusted too. Next is to finish the Air Bump project and tap a new airline fitting for the locker.

I will say the tight clearances on this thing are sooooo awesome. You seriously cant gain another 1/16th of an inch anywhere. From axle to full compression to steering locked left and right. She's tight. Track Bar bracket could of gone an inch higher at the axle, oh well, maybe later.