Destination XJ

Awesome build so far! What's your plans for paint in the future?

sandaddik2

the bumpers, and all the new stuff will get painted black, as for the body well its going to stay that way because as rocks get in the way its gonna get dented and gouged. this isnt a dd just a wheeling rig. were going to a decent little secret trail a few miles from my house tomorrow so hopefully i can get some pics

Destination XJ

Yeah I figured paint wasn't important, I am searching for an xj now and if needs it I think I'll get an Earl shibe(sp?) 200$ spray, or I'll shoot it. Like you said not gonna be a dd and the rocks/trees will be taring it up!

What type of welder do you use? I did some welding in my persision machining class back in highschool and I might pic it back up so when the time comes for custom bumpers I can have at it!

sandaddik2

iv got a miller 185 mig welder with .035 wire and argon/co2 gas, it welds anything ive had to weld so far and to have a mig is irreplaceable because i can fill the gaps in something that i cut too short. i had a 2 inch gap in my bumper that i was able to fill then grind down then re do the weld so it looks like a nice looking weld

Destination XJ

Nice, never used a mig or tig. We were taught with acetalyin and oxygen and we heldthe welding rod, sixths circular motion and what not. I was told that's not as strong as a weld from mig/tig. Do you know if thats true?

sandaddik2

im not sure if it is or not, we have a stick welder too but we dont use it its actually for sale. the welds iv made with it hold and thats all that matters to me. iv welded a box scraper for a tractor with one so if you want to talk about stress on welds...

Destination XJ

Haha I figured I was informed wrong but I don't have experience to argued it. 8) I guess I can look it up, I think I know where two large tanks are for dirt cheap! (if not free) but sorry for clogging up your build thread man!! Looking good tho!

sandaddik2

well today i actually got to take it out for the first time
we just went down to the spill-way by my house that is a river is from water running out of silver wood lake and lake arrowhead. the river bottom was dry in the wide sections so heading to and from a swimming hole we were hanging out at made a good chance to test out how it handles in high speed sections, the front did great and the rear, well leafs that short can only do so much, its time for coils. as for the flex, well it does great and with the front and rear detroits it does awesome i cant complain at all and the rear doesnt lock up as much as people say they do.

the only bad thing that happened today was that my dad got his yota stuck, our friend got his bronco stuck after breaking 2 u-joints in the front of his d44 at the same time so i ended up pulling both of them out.

i also have a torque converter seal that is bad so i was puking atf all day long but its a toy and if one thing is fixed something else is going to break lol

just cell pics, i dont need water in the camera.

sandaddik2

So yesterday i met up with cheapcherokee and picked up a ford 8.8 rear end from him since my jy hasnt had one for the past 6 months.
then today i go to the jy and i counted 11 of the effin things in there and i noticed a decline in cherokees

owell at least i helped cheapcherokee make a few bucks and got an axle at the same time


the transmission bell housing bolts came loose not long ago and i drove it not knowing they were loose causing the transmission pump to wear out
itll be fixed monday then planning will continue for the rear 4 link new axle and roll cage to go in it


i also got my hid lights set up today. ill post pics of that soon

sandaddik2

I got it out to calico this weekend and ran it with only minor problems,
the trac bar came loose

we ran odessa canyon with the wrecked4x4 guys, cool group of guys that are local to so cal.

within 10 mins into the run a guy broke a dana 35 axle shaft and didnt help my confidence as i was running 35 inch tires on a d35 for now but i had no problems with it.
revolver shackles arent as bad as people say too, i havnt had them unload yet

jbetit

looks good man. i have an 89 xj also. running 35s on the d35 also. you will be just fine with it if you don't have a heavy foot. i have had NO problems with mine, and i wheel all the time. I don't care what others say, but we have the non c-clip, and that DOES make it stronger than a stock d35.

sandaddik2

thats what iv heard,

the next plan is after turkey day to tear it down and put the 8.8 i just picked up and 4 link it at the same time. it was either that or buy disc brakes for the d35 and link the 35 which i wasnt about to do. im going to sell my dana 35 with the detroit and gears to buy an aussie for the 8.8 and link it then drive the wheels off of it
i want to put a d44 in the front but i think im getting in over my head with that idea so im going to leave the front alone for a while, maybe add johnny joints to the frame end of the arms when the bushings wear out then just leave it

I really havnt tested it to see how much flex it really does have, i just know it has enough to run some decent trails

jbetit

nice

as long as you have lockers, which you do, then you really don't need much flex. my jeep doesn't flex all that well. but with the lockers, i can still do everything just fine, so what if you are on 3 tires when doing so. lol

sandaddik2

the lockers are the most valuable things i have gotten for my jeep so far imo.
im not worried about the flex alot cuz my jeep will go more places than i dare to take it, it flexes plenty, i cant flex much more because the tires still hit the fender wells with them trimmed up to the seams

this week on the to do list is to hook up my lights, make new tail lights, my old ones dont work, and make a drag link and make it align with the trac bar to get rid of the bump steer. then its off to bull frog in johnson valley on the 14th

1ABrian

Sweet build man. Very nice custom work!!