When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Its a 73 J2000, 1-tons and LS swap. Need i say more
So this is it, the start to my next "long term" project. A moderately rust free full size jeep pickup. Bought basically as a roller No engine, has original trans/tcase, some less than awesome custom suspension brackets for the not soo original leaf springs and 10 bolt axles currently underneath it. It came all the way from Gillette Wyoming, How? lets just say i have some awesome friends!
As for my plans, Well I want the ability to tow my toy MJ with this so its gonna need a good drive train and some strong axles to handle the towing and any other abuse i may decide to throw at it.
My current towing vehicle is a 2000 Silverado 2500 and it really does the job well. So i feel a similar drivetrain will suffice. A 5.3 or 6.0 motor with a little work (heads, cam, tuner) A 4l80e trans. Superduty 60 front axle (re-drilling for 8x6.5 bp) and a 14b ff out back. Tire size is not decided yet and most of this project will be an "as it comes along" decision process.
Last edited by That Jeep Guy XJMJ; 03-26-2017 at 05:45 PM.
A small bit of an unexpected score just the other day. I happened to pickup a complete Ford Superduty Dana 60 w/ 4.10 gears @ ZERO $!
How does this happen!? WELL..... The pair of 10 bolt axles currently under the jeep and also a worn out John Deere turbo that just soo happened to be in the bed of the truck when i got it caught the attention of a friend of mine. Low and behold he had just scored the axle for cheap and decided to hook me up
I will say the original plan w/ this truck was to get it home and let sit for a little while till later this summer and start getting into it But Damn its hard to resist tearing into the front suspension when you have your build axle on the floor.
Soo thanks to another good source i now have my 14 bolt rear axle. This axle was fully rebuilt with brand new everything many years back (4.10 gears, bearings, seals and from the looks of it a lsd as well. Though the elements have had some fun with the axle (scale rust inside the axle) it still spins over smooth. Can't really complain for the whopping price of only $50.
First things first... Ditch the boat anchors that are drum brakes on this axle. I swear when pulling these heavy bastards off you pretty much cut the overall weight in half!
Shot of the scale rust. brushed some of it up and it is no big deal. tossed some mineral spirits and trans fluid in there to break it up some. Letting it sit for just a little bit and i'll drain it and should be good to go.
Waiting on a bargain set of jack stands so i can rid the truck of the 10 bolts and begin the axle swap.
Its been a little while and i've gotten a little progress.
Removed the previously installed 1/2 ton chevy axles
While the plan was to setup the front with coils and long arms.... I mocked the SD D60 up and it turns out the spring mounts are awfully close to fitting factory leafs. Actually a little too close to ignore so as of now that's gonna be the plan. Setting the thing on leafs up front.
Also changed plans for the rear end. Originally was going to drill out the hubs and rotors up front from the Metric 8-lug to the standard 8x6.5 but now i've just decided to run a ford 10.5 rear end and keep the metric pattern. Simplicity is key! Its also a factory lsd and 4.10 to match with disc brakes. No need to bother buying custom brackets for the 14b or brakes.
That is a really cool project.
If you could not tell I am a bit of an FSJ fanatic?
So what are the rest of the plans for the J Truck?
If you need parts let me know, as I kinda am a FSJ horder.
So with my little boy (7 months old now) time is fairly limited between multiple projects other hobbies and him off course. I finally dragged the donor into the driveway and stared at it for a few days... Well by days i mean almost a month. BTW my donor just so happens to be my old toy tower 2000 Silverado 2500. Over the last 2 weekends, Solo working saturdays i have everything i'm wanting off the donor truck. Engine, trans,complete wire harness, rear leaf springs, gas tank, fuel lines, radiator, All A/C components (that's right, we're gonna treat this truck to A/C).
Its been hard to keep sharp on the progress for this truck. Some things get done here and there but just never get around to re-addressing how this thing is going. so plz bare with me.
Currently trying to figure out motor mounts, Novak has them but most the people i come across with them installed wished they went another route. I guess Novaks mounts don't center the engine they offset to the one side depending on how you mount them. Not leaving much room either between the valve covers and air box or brake booster. Lots of mentionings with making custom mounts but not much for details or pictures.
May take a breather from motor mount woes and try to tackle installing the rear leaf springs and getting atleast the rear end sitting on its own weight.
So i have decided on changing the front axle to run with a coil sprung front suspension. Already found the new replacement and it is still a SD dana 60 but just the 05+ version thats already setup for coils. Will still need to figure out if my hopes for running factory ford brackets and coils is a possibility. Just need to figure out frame widths BUT regardless this truck will be on coils even if the factory location of the coil mounts wont work.
I had also found one morning before work while searching for parts that im needing - a company that used to sell bolt in engine mounts (other than Novak) had re-listed their product for sale! Excited with my discovery i had immediately contacted them to confirm its availability and was rewarded with a receipt! Now at a price of $200 it may seem pretty steep to some people but for me... I already have enough work ahead of me. With custom suspension looming in my future, this is a very easy solutionc- bolt it in and its done. Will just need to make myself a new crossmember.
So in case you didn't know... The older FSJ's have post style leaf spring mounts, which for my build are no longer needed and in a way - they are in the way. Removing these things are a real PITA! I have 3/4 corners removed (2 posts per leaf spring) and i'm only about 20-25 cutt-off discs into it. Don't mind the previous owners attempt at leaf spring mounts... They are long gone now!
Would ya looky there, A 6.0L fits in there pretty nicely. These Flop Shop motor mounts are pretty nice, they installed simple and look really good.
Soo here we go, Its front suspension time!
I bought the RuffstuffSpecialties radius arm kit for this axle - even got it at 20% off. There were some small headaches with this deal (shipping lost my tubing, wrong parts in the kit) BUT in the end Ruffstuff did me right. Which is why i keep going back to them
!
So we started out with centering the axle under the front end of the jeep (side to side) and then figured placement in the wheel-well. Assembling the arms was a little tricky as the brackets for the axle side use the factory mounts on the axle and the brackets being of 2-piece design. They didn't have any alignment marks and tabs. We just kinda snugged the tabs onto the tubing and tacked them in. They are setup to be square with the arms - not pitched at any angle. The frame mounts for the actual "long arms" we mounted on a slight angle compared to the frame - this is so the heim joint stays straight and square to the front axle.
The upper/radius link was a much simpler to setup. The main concern was placement of the weld on bracket for the link itself and making sure it will clear the frame with the suspension compressed. This makes for a fairly short upper link in my situation. It comes out looking pretty cute.
This is my buddy "Reister" putting that white board to good use doodling to explain something to me. Don't mind the list of to-do's across multiple projects. Gotta keep track of the things i wanna get done!
A couple more tacks and its all together!
And so the next 2 photos is moving onto my next challenge - coil springs and mounts. Now originally i wanted to just run factory 05+ ford SD coil mounts. I figured i'd just run to one of the local you-wrench yards and knock them off the frame However! Its proven to be far too difficult to find them in decent shape and not rusted/rusting out. Brand new mounts are rather pricey as well so I ditched that idea. I did stumble upon a set of adjustable weld on frame mounts from Ballistic Fabrication ($150) and also at Chassis Unlimited ($100). http://www.chassisunlimited.com/prod...il-towers.html
Will have to check about some measurements as they aren't very well described in C.U's page but between my frame's width and also the axles factory coil spring mounts its 12 1/4" difference. So the coil spring will need to mount 6 1/8" (that's frame mounting surface to center of coil spring) off the frame. Ballistic Fab's page displays them at just over 5" from mount surface to center which isn't gonna work. So here's to hoping C.U has a little more offset.
My last little bit for tonight is coil spring choices. I have seen a build done with a FSJ Cherokee and the builder used WJ coils up front for a coil spring conversion which got me thinking! After some research it seems generally the WJ coils have a 240# rate and comparably the XJ's range from 185# - 240#. The XJ's coils are more ideal for my application because they have a smaller seat diameter on one end and full diameter seat at the other just like the ford SD had vs the WJ coils being full diameter on both ends. The builder claimed the FSJ Cherokee actually rode pretty nice with the coils so i'm gonna give it a shot. Im sure you're prolly thinking "those are gonna be way too soft with that V8 engine in there". Well I did some more research and found that the factory 360 V8 weighed in at about 540#. The LS 6.0 also weighs in at about 540# (iron block btw). So for comparison with those XJ coils a 4.0 I6 weighs in at about 520#.So 20-ish lbs more weight - im willing to give them a shot.
Thanks DustyWagoneer.
Nothing against those pages but i like posting my builds here. Seem to catch a lot of flak on other pages for not restoring the vehicles i build.
BUT onto some more progress!
So here we go - coil spring mounts. After exhausting my patience with ChassisUnlimited and their failure to return any of my emails or phone calls regarding the lack of dimensions on their website - I moved on! BUT not to ballistic fab. No Way! My first experience with them was a terrible one however, fortunately for me a friend of mine has had much better luck with them and just so happened to have a set of those coil spring mounts sitting on the shelf. So i borrowed them and modified the design slightly to fit my needs. Instead of B-F's 5" to center of coil mount i went with 6 1/8" to center of coil mount and also added a little more meat and support to the design.
I can't take all the credit for this as my Fab buddy made things super easy for me and took care of all the cad work.
tacked together
Now im just trying to figure out where these coil mounts should sit on the frame.
03-15-2017, 09:42 PM
Its a 73 J2000, 1-tons and LS swap. Need i say more
... Well by days i mean almost a month. BTW my donor just so happens to be my old toy tower 2000 Silverado 2500. Over the last 2 weekends, Solo working saturdays i have everything i'm wanting off the donor truck. Engine, trans,complete wire harness, rear leaf springs, gas tank, fuel lines, radiator, All A/C components (that's right, we're gonna treat this truck to A/C). 
