Ever find the ride height?
What did you do to the rear wheel tubs?
Pictures of shiny things underneath?

 

I found a detailed example on how to properly measure lift height on a heavy modified rig (ie: no fenders, no coils in stock location, ect).

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=912893

I used what ED said as an example toward the end of his post. 6" from top of Dana 44 axle tube to bottom of frame rail by the bump stop. I measure 10 inches. So I am actually only sitting on 4" of lift.

Didn't have time to take pics of underneath. That will have to wait. Haven't cut and moved the rear tubs yet.

 

Not much, but here is a picture of this thing with the front clip on.

 

i wish i had the axle to go that big..LOL too much in my 30 to swap.. I need some 35's!! my firestones have 70,000+ on them and just WILL NOT DIE... 33's are looking small

 

Pictures don't do justice to how well this rig is put together. Look great Kris!

 

This is so cool man.

 

Alright guys, so as some of you may know my wife and I moved to Lynden, WA. I decided that it would be much easier to move the Jeep if it was at least rolling. We temporarily tacked the control arm and crossmember frame mounts on cause I am still waiting on my frame stiffeners. Got the front axle narrowed to waggy width, trusses and link mounts welded on to both axles, then threw them under the Jeep and bolted up the links. After that we got the tires on and stuffed a couple 2x6 blocks between the frame and the axles so that we could roll this thing around.

Then I decided that I didnt feel like moving the Engine, transmission, and t case seperately and I wanted to drop those in. As mentioned earlier, the engine that came with the rig had been seized and halfway torn apart. Luckily I had the drivetrain sitting around from my 91XJ part out. There a few differences between the 91 and 98 and I had a couple concerns but I was able to figure it all out. I could use the 91 engine no problem but had to use the crank position sensor from the 98 as well as the flywheel. I also had to use the 98 transmission as it has 2 internal speed sensors so the TCM knows the trans is operating in the gear it is supposed to be in. I was able to use the 98 t case but while it was out I installed the SYE kit I had laying around as well as the 6 gear planetary and wide chain and gears from a 231c case. I didnt bother bolting up the doubler as I still need Ritchie to machine my mid shaft. After all this I decided to slip the whole drivetrain in at once... By myself. Not too bad if you have done it a few times before and know some tricks.

I started to hook up all the electrical and plumbing when I stumbled upon some problems. The fuel rail needed to be switched out since the 98 has a fuel regulator in the tank and not on the fuel rail. The throttle body needed swapped out because the TPS sensor runs on an opposite scale and the plug doesnt match. The distributor needed swapped out and indexed as well as the coil packs. Then other little stuff like the oil pressure sending unit and the temp sensor. After all that and a little jump start for the dead battery, to my surprise it started right up and sounded great! Nothing like a running engine to get a little motivation going.

Alright, I know half of you guys didnt read that so on to the fun part that includes some pictures for illistration.

This is the height that the Jeep is going to sit at. 70" to gutter rail, 21" to belly.
Approximately 4-4.5" of lift according to a thread I found with stock measurements from center of axle to frame rail. Plan about 6" of bump in the rear and whatever I can squeeze out of the front without cutting up the inner fenders too much.
105" wheel base, 74.5" track width on the rear and 75.5" on the front.




This is what everything looks like under the front end except the draglink. It used to be all nice and new and it rusted pretty quick after it sat out in the Lynden rain for a few days until I had time to unload it.




You can see that there is not much room in there while running the highsteer at this lift height and trying to fit the drag link, track bar, tie rod, and truss. ALMOST makes me wanna go to full hydro but I want to keep this road legal.






Im contemplating moving the front axle back about 3/4" so I dont have to cut much of the inner fender up front. This will also help add some room between the track bar and axke truss.


Front link setup. Ofcourse it will be painted nice FST orange before its done.




Rear link setup. Not much room between the upper links and the floor. It will be close, it might need some self clearancing. lol




Rear axle truss


I am a little worried about this. I need to fit some coilovers between the inside of the tire and frame. I know that the inner fender well will need to be cut out but I think I will have to notch the frame a little too. Right now there is only about 5" of clearance in there. Maybe add some 1" wheel spacers??

 

Getting there.

 

Bout time you posted something. Lol looks good bud

 

aweeeesome, getting close

 

I need to work on my jeep(and the sti for that matter)... Im so effin sick of 20-30* weather

 

Cut out the back half of the inner wheel well so that I can see how far I need to stretch it back.

Double checked the measurements from the front mount coilover mounts on the axle tube to the top of the fender well. A 14" coilover will fit perfect with a compressed length of 20.3" and about 6" of up travel at ride height. You can see about where the mount will be at 26.5".



Im going to be designing something up like this but the sides will come down to meet the inner fender well so I can keep the cab sealed.

http://www.ruffstuff...g/STOWER12.html

I dropped the passenger side down to where the coilover would be fully extended at 34" then started to jack up the drivers side.



You can see that I am running into a problem here. I really dont feel like making complete inner fenders from scratch.
So I am thinking of running 1" wheel spacers since I couldnt find a 16.5"x8" wheel with less than 4" of backspace.



I know that either way I will have to notch about 3/4" out of the side of the frame to fit the coilovers in there. I still have about another inch to go up on the drivers side before I max out my 6" of up travel.



The uppers I made were a tad too short to lift the pinion up enough and even then I cant move the axle back any further without risk of hitting the gas tank.
The lowers are completely bottomed out so I will be cutting about 1" off of them. This will allow me to fix my pinion angle and bring the axle about 3/4" further forward.

 

Didnt have a whole bunch of time but Got both the front and rear axles all welded up then prepped and painted the rear axle.

 

Keep it up, excited to see the final product!

 

Love the Jeep build my man. Likes sick and will wheel awesome I'm sure of it. So hey when u get around to hitting up walker valley for the first time or a trip soon u should let me know. I'd love to see ur products and this bad boy in person and at work. Plus I can help show you around walker and tack u down every trails there.