The Dana 35 will work for now but I won't keep it. I know everyone will chime in "I've been wheeling my Turdy-Five with no Problem" but it just doesn't measure up to the Chrysler 8.25, Dana44 or the Ford 8.8. That is why I bought my 8.8 to get rid of the 35. I really don't want to be that guy in the group that ruins the day with a broken axle. (I remember a group with at Wheeler Lake re-pairing theirs as we passed them by)
I know what you mean by the 8.8 is to narrow for your Grand. It barely will clear the leaf spring on the one side 'cause of the off set pumpkin. let alone coil springs.
I hope everything works out well. Good Luck with the swap.

 

I just visited bucks 4x4 a few weeks ago and I got to see the red jk and the green jk and if I am not mistaken I seen this at the side of the building

Awesome place

 

Thanks! And to you as well.

Usually parked either directly east or west of the building. Use to park on the rocks until i lost the front pinion.

If it was there than so was i. Glad you liked the place!

 

Alright, got the donor 3.55 ring and pinion with carrier installed this morning. Everything is good to go, except for the fact that I don't have my front drive shaft anymore. I traded the old one that was in originally to a co-worker considering I had the donor out of the quadra-drive Jeep. I ran to the junk yard this morning, but didn't have the time to pull one all the way out before I had to go into work. So, today I'll be heading back and pulling it the rest of the way, then throwing it in to complete the Jeep. Tomorrow I'm going on a run to grab some updated pictures of it for my new business cards at work, and also just due to the fact "who doesn't love a photo shoot?" Got a couple Jeeps going out with me, I'll update tomorrow and post the pictures.

 

Alright, so the trip Sunday failed hard for the pictures.

First off, Saturday the front driveshaft I got from the junkyard snapped. I installed it, took it around the block and had a nasty vibration. I went back to the shop and put it back on the rack, the whole thing is now moving. So I have too much lift for the rezeppa shafts, so at this point before I can do anything I either need to install the shaft I got for the quadra-drive, or upgrade to the IRO double cardan. Either way, I'm 2 wheel drive again.

Sunday morning I was heading out to run lost trail, wound up getting another hard vibration. Got off the interstate, as I pulled off I heard a familiar clanking sound. Broken driver's axle shaft. Ran back to the shop and swapped it out for the one out of the donor axle. At that point the ship had sailed for making it to lost trail to run with the guys, so the wife and I went on a Sunday drive up to Idaho City.

We made our rounds through Grimes Creek, Clear Creek, Idaho City, some trails further north, then on the return trip back pulled into Gray Gulch and played on some trails back there. On our way back out of Gray Gulch, the upper radiator split and blew off. Wrapped it in a roll of duct tape, topped off with water, and made our way back to Idaho City. Of course, it's Sunday, so nothing was open. Got lucky with a gas station that used to be the towns parts store, so they had some flex hose in the back. Got it installed, got water in it, and tried to make our way back to Boise. Had an air bubble in the system, wound up overheating about 20 minutes outside of Idaho City. Used my coolant jugs to fill with water from the creek, got it all topped off. While working on the side of the road, a group of bikers pulled over to help out. They entertained my wife and daughters, also set up a group ahead of us and behind us slowing traffic. From there, once we got the Jeep back on the road, 4 in front of us and 6 behind us made sure we made it back to Boise safe. They definitely gave us hope for humanity, considering my wife was having a break down, my younger daughter was throwing up, my oldest was throwing a fit, and the bikers were extremely kind and helpful.

But, good news. Got some pictures.

 

Alright, got the dual fans installed between last night and this morning. No more overheating. Hottest it got was 206, that was at multiple dead stops on the freeway.

 

Well, all good streaks must come to an end sooner or later. I spent the weekend talking with the wife about the Jeep, and we came to an agreement. At this point, the Jeep is not reliable enough for a daily driver. I've sourced and upgraded a ton of parts on it to make it drive better, but in the end it still wanders, it's still unstable at higher freeway speeds, and it still has death wobble. Although the dual fans have cured the overheating, it has still stranded us multiple times and it's not something I want to risk with having a 1 and a 2 year old in the back seat.

So...I'm parking the Jeep. Yesterday was our anniversary, and tomorrow is my birthday. We've decided to purchase a 4th vehicle for me to daily drive. My wife has her 2008 Escape and our 88 Bronco that has a blown head gasket and needs a ton of work. I'll have my Jeep and my truck. We came across a Dodge at a smaller dealership my work has done some work with in the past. It's an 05 Ram 1500 quad cab short bed 4x4. Has 150k on it, the previous owner had the transmission go out. He sunk about 2k into having the trans rebuilt, and then less than a month later it blew the head gaskets and cracked a head. He traded it in at the dealership, who then turned around and dropped about 4k into the motor with new reman heads, and all new cams, timing chain, gaskets, everything. He has the receipts from the motor rebuild and warranty, along with the original receipt from the trans rebuilt that still under warranty with a reputable shop here in town for another 2 years or so. It’s nothing special, automatic with the 4.7 instead of the hemi. Surprisingly pretty gutless, but for a daily driver it’ll work great and should do <i>decent</i> on gas. Might be under powered, but in a pickle it’ll be capable of towing the Jeep or Bronco if need to be. They wanted 10k for the truck, got it down to 9k and they’re detailing it today and doing a few things to it before I pick it up.

I plan to leave it pretty basic. My “incognito” vehicle. Maybe a leveling kit, wheels and tires, and that’s about it.

As for the Jeep, now I can actually get some real work done on it. I'm going to hold off on the axle swap, and pursue a long arm kit. Also, going to order in the IRO front driveshaft conversion, and also get working on the 231 transfer case I have lying around with an SYE and rear drive shaft. I'm going to trace wires under the hood and make sure that everything is hooked up properly, along with do a full tune up (keeps popping the check engine light and has about 10 different codes). I'll also be able to build my bumpers, sliders, and roof rack now that I don't have to drive the Jeep daily anymore. However, it does come with a price. With financing the truck, now I've lost almost $250 a month of play money for the Jeep, which means that slower build times for it. No more spur of the moment purchases, but, no more needed repairs on what seems like a weekly basis.


EDIT:

So the Dodge didn't pan out. I got a phone call from the finance company stating that after reviewing the loan for a second time, they're going to need an additional 1000 down. I called the dealership, who were unaware of what happened, and I've been given the run around all morning. So, when I'm off work today I'm going to return the Dodge, and instead pick up a GMC they have that I'm approved for with the amount already put down. It came down originally to the GMC or the Dodge, and I went with the Ram due to the rebuild on the motor and transmission. The GMC is still a beautiful truck, lower mileage than the Dodge, and $3500 cheaper (why you ask? Because they have 3 more of them on the lot). Basic model, with a few options such as power seat, auto dimming mirror, compass/temp, full length center console, keyless entry, etc. I'll update later with pictures. It's actually in the shot of the 3rd picture down of the Dodge.

 

I would love to get a new truck for my daily driver. But I will have to wait until my biz truck needs replacing. I hope that I can save enough money to buy something as nice as that Dodge just before I retire and sell my Biz. I'd like to have a truck that can pull a nice trailer. Congrats on you new truck, hope it serves you well.

It is to bad you Cherokee is having issues. I had a lot of troubles with mine but finally trust it on the highways and byways. But mine is rarely driven other than our mountain excursions. I am glad I don't have to depend on it to get to work and back, but it would be kind of nice knowing that it can it get me deep into the woods and back if I was being used everyday.

 

The Jeep will get to the point of being reliable soon. I just can't manage Working 6 days a week, 2 kids, a wife, and trying to do a build on the same vehicle i have to drive home hours later.

The dodge was nice, but i have to give it to gm, my Sierra is comfortable as Hell. More power with the 5.3 and an extremely smooth ride. I'm happy with it for a DD. We put about 100 miles on it tonight, barely a quarter tank of gas.

Here it is.

 

I would just like a nice f-250 4x4 as my DD. but for now my f-150 2x4 suffices. I hear you on building a rig that you have to drive. I have a hard enough time just to get to work on mine, I would never get things done if I couldn't come back to it when ever I have a spare moment and pick up where I left off.

 

I originally wanted a 3/4 ton Ford, Chevy, or Dodge. But my price range had to be cheap considering this makes 4 vehicles for us. All the 3/4 ton trucks under 10k are hammered or high mileage around here...or both. That left half ton trucks.

I'm happy with the GMC. The 5.3 has more than enough power to pull anything I personally need to pull. I can always throw air bags in the back to support anything bigger if I start hauling more with it.

 

I currently have a 2002 Ford F-150 2x4 super-cab (65K on the clock, bought it new) that I use for my lawn biz, I am planning on installing air-bags soon for the few heavier loads I have to do. But I hope to get a F-250 4x4 when the time is right. But as much money that goes into the XJ it may never happen.

 

That can't possibly be a real GM truck.... There is no crack across the bottom of the windshield and the trim around the tailgate handle is still there...

 

Haha well the windshield is brand new, and although the trim around the tailgate handle is there, the actual tailgate trim across the top IS falling off as you can see. It also has the infamous fuel gauge chatter, and I've also already replaced my first of the next thousand DRL bulbs on it last night.

 

Extremely frustrated this morning. I returned the GMC and got my down payment back. It popped a check engine light, but a scanner at my shop wouldn't read it. I ran it to another shop, who had the same results. Again, I ran it to a GM dealership, who then confirmed the ECU is bad. I called the dealership who offered 50% parts and labor, to which I demanded my money back. We then ran to another dealership in town, looked at an 04 Silverado that was almost identical, but the bank wouldn't approve it due to too many miles on the truck. So...we test drove a Dodge. Has 150k on it, it's a white 2000 quad cab short bed, 3" spring lift, custom wheels with decent tires, flares, headlights, ugly tail lights (which will be addressed quickly), and a custom stereo. The only problem it had was the oil pressure dropped at idle, come to find out it has a leak from the oil pan and no oil on the dipstick. Loan approved on the truck, dealership is currently replacing the oil pan seal before I pick it up tonight after work.

So..this morning I had to drive the Jeep. I drove it yesterday morning to drop the kids off and took it to work, on my lunch break went home and swapped for the GMC. During the time I drove it, no problems (outside of the steering). Well...this morning, battery was dead. Had to dig out my portable jump starter, got it started and took off. Dropped the kids off, then on my return trip back to work IT dropped oil pressure. I pulled into a parking lot, checked the oil. Full. Started tracing wires everywhere, jiggled some connections. Everything seemed tight. I called my insurance, come to find out after putting the GMC on I forgot I switched the Jeep to liability. No towing. I decided to try starting it again, boom, oil pressure jumped up to normal. I took off, made it 2 blocks from work, and the pressure dropped, again. I pulled into another parking lot, checked everything again, and nothing seems abnormal. All connections are good and tight, I waited 5 minutes and turned the key, oil pressure was back up to normal again...made it to work.

So...tonight I'm going to drive it to my shop, drop it off, then get a ride to the dealership to pickup the Dodge. Later this week (maybe this weekend) I'll check everything out on the Jeep and find out what's going on.

Here's the truck at least. I'm actually a lot happier with it than the GMC. Solid axles front and rear, cheaper to lift (for the future on going higher), all around a lot better looking truck. Looks more like my style of vehicles. I am going to swap headlights and tail lights. Headlights I'm going to get the factory style with black diamond inside, tail lights probably back to stock or a smoked style. Currently has 1.5" wheel spacers and 18's, I'll run for a while until the tires wear out. At that point, I'll get some deep dish wide offset 17's and some 35's Terra Grappler G2's for it, eliminating the spacers. This truck will see light off road, pretty much just camping, hunting and fishing. No need for mud terrains.