No pictures today, but last night we pretty much finished regearing the front HP44 with the 5.38 gears and Yukon Grizzly locker. Tonight will hopefully be the completion or near completion of the rear 9" 5.43 gears and spool locker. This will keep us on track to get the axles set up under the jeep this weekend.

Also, by the end of the week we should hopefully have our Yukon chromoly shafts and superjoints here So, it shouldnt be long before the axles are all buttoned up!

This weekend we started mocking the front axle up. We are pretty close to having it the way we want. Just need to modify a couple of brackets due to contact issues when cycling the axle. Overall, fitment wasn't too bad. We did run into quite a bit of modifying on the driver side. Since this axle came out of a leaf sprung ford, it had a cast perch near the diff where the leaf spring mounts. Thankfully everything lined up to where we "modified" (i.e. cut up the coil spring perch) to make the coil spring perch part of this cast perch. Doesn't make much sense I know...so I will try to get a picture of what I am talking about later. In the mean time...here is what we have so far.
Tacking the brackets on out in the driveway.


Playing around with it while it's under the jeep


This is the best picture I have of the driver side spring perch. I circled what I was talking about in red. We basically cut the mount we had to fit around the perch that was there...essentially making the factory perch park of our coil perch. The heights were identical so it really couldnt have worked any better.

Part of our latest order came in last night...the rest of it should be in this afternoon.
Yukon Superjoints!

Great start to what looks to be an awesome build up! Sub'd!

Thanks TN12valve!

More goodies came in yesterday from Rockridge4WD! Yukon Chromoly Shafts...front inners not pictured

Looking great guys! Keep it up. I know its alot of work but it will be worth it in the end!



Jeff
sales@rockridge4wd.com

Thanks Jeff! The plan is to have it sitting on it's own weight by the end of this weekend!

Are those new shirts in yet ???? Easy way for us to donate some money to the cause. In my younger days, I preran Baja/Parker for J&W Redwood
and Jackman wheels in my 1972 Stroppe Bronco.
NOTE: if anyone gets a chance in the next few weeks --- go up to Petersens museum in the Hollywood area of LA and check out their BAJA exhibit !!! They have a replica of the original Big OLY Parnelli Jones (Bronco) .... That exhibit is only for a few more weeks.
Parnelli also had a Super Blazer after he had the Bronco -- it changed the
offroad racing world and rules for trucks.

Randy from Oceanside

Thanks for the support Randy!

We haven't put a new order in for shirts yet. We are waiting until we are registered and have a number...that way we can get the number put on the new shirts along with our sponsors!

However we DO have ONE medium shirt and ONE large shirt left of the older batch! So if either of these will fit any of you guys, they are still up for grabs. Paypal and shipping is easy

So no new pics yet...but over the weekend we got the rear axle mocked up and sitting on it's own weight. The front is about an hour away from sitting on it's own weight as well. All we need to do to the front is actually assemble the axles. From there, we will be able to fine tune some stuff, take driveshaft measurements, and then start messing with the steering and trackbar. Stay tuned, as I will post some pics up once we have it up on all 4. She is going to be wide, and tall!

any updates on how the build is going?

Between life and some off information, we are still in about the same position.

During our research, we read that everything from an 8 lug HP44 over to a 5 lug HP44 would directly swap. We assumed that the knuckles were the same, so we didn't swap knuckles. Unfortunately, they are not the same...this means that the brake calipers won't fit correctly, which means the front end can't be fully assembled yet. Now we have to source out correct knuckles. The worst part...is we had some

yea... knuckles out is different. ball joints are the same.

what are your plans for suspension? i didnt see that anywhere, and that will make or break you in the desert

Awesome build so far sub'd