Okay well i have wanted to start a build thread for a while now and i figured now that i am going to one tons it would be the perfect time,so here goes...AND THERE WILL BE LOTS OF PICS- i will start off with my first zj and just skim through
so here is my first zj i got when i was 14
93, V8, bone stock, 120K, 2nd owner, owned by a really old guy who took real good care of it.

Of course i lifted it within several months, and thats when it all began...
3.5" Rough country lift-

Then it got some 31's with black cragers, the one on the right is mine

built some sliders for it,this is my favorite picture

I beat the **** out of this and scratched/dented it up pretty bad so i built a roof rack installed some hellas, and painted it....

Beat on it even more after that and found out my 31's didnt keep up with buddys 35's and ended up sinking it in a mudhole and destroying the transmission. So i tore the t-case, axles, windows, suspension, tires, and alot more off the jeep and it ended up in the JY.
So i turned around and picked up this zj for 1000$
93, 235K, limited, V8- the day i got her i stuffed some 31's under her

Well it looked like that for about...a week. then i put the RC lift on and the roof rack

After that i decided to throw my black rims on with some hellas and take a poser shot, with my girl ha

Old jeep next to new

After that it got some 33x12.5x15 super swampers

made a rear tire carrier for it

Shortly after the tranny went out on this on as well on my first trip out to little moab. Went to the junkyard and pulled one for 300$ with a 30 day warranty, put it in and it worked great.
Short arms sucked (would never go back) but here is some barrier flexing

Well needless to say i loved this jeep but getting 12mpg all the time driving to and from work was not the ideal and i needed something different. Bought a Honda and later on sold this.

SO, here is what my current jeep looks like as of right now. 7" Rock Krawler lift, dana 30 front, 8.8 rear, ARB up front, welded rear, tube bumpers, and some 35's. Will be torn down for the one tons in the upcoming weeks.





-

 

How about some wheeling pics? and flex pics?



ATR offroad






Decided to swap out the FF dana 35 for a Ford 8.8
Out with the old


Ripped this out at the junkyard, Ford 8.8, disc brakes, 31 spline, 4.10 gears, LSD

cleaned it up and stripped it of brackets

Welded the tubes
Decided to swap out the dana 30 as well because the current one had bent tubes bad, swapped over the ARB and gears, changed axle seals, ball joints and hubs.



Picked up 8.8 flange adapter at the junkyard and bought 1310-1330 u-joint


Built a truss for the 8.8, its also to mount to my rear wishbone setup. Started out with 2x2 sq tubing, ended up reinforcing it with 1/4" plate


Notice how the truss is offset?? because the pumpkin on the 8.8 is offset to the passenger side by about 3"

New brake hardware


For some reason i have no individual pics of the CA brackets themselves, but i have some of the whole axle assembly as a whole after i welded them on. I made my own brackets, coil buckets, truss, bumpstops,and upper shock mount rail. ill have to take some pics and post them up. Oh and I lincoln locked it
Brackets tacked together

After the swap was done i went and bought some brand new 35" BFG KM2's, 1100$ from discount tire with the full no questions asked warranty




Waynes world, did it twice- not to mention i basically walked it



Corys XJ, Really cool guy, I bought the axles from him






Next to a stocker

Okay i know i have left out ALOT of mods on my jeep (rock sliders, On board air, tire carriers, roof rack, lockers, gears, E-fan, tranny coolers, HD rock krawler steering, making steering, track bar, etc.) i will try to get to all those things soon, this is trying to cram like 4 years of jeeping and wrenching into a build thread to fill you in on whats going on, if anyone has any questions on any mods just ask and i will address it.

NOW, the whole reason i started the thread- Going to one tons!

I picked these axles up 2 days ago from my buddy cory, he hooked me UP!
I got a Full Float sterling 10.25 complete, Front dana 60 complete with a broken pinion (re-gearing anyways), 4 black 8 lug rims, 2 stock rims with tires to roll the axles around with, 2 driveshafts, and even a really nice ratchet strap for 200$!!
Notice the dana 30 sitting below the dana 60, wow its just itty bitty

1.5" 35 spline shafts, 10.25" ring gear, Full floating sterling

Dana 60 out of 98 cummins


Tomorrow i will be cutting brackets off and cleanin the axles up. After i buy a car this weekend i will be ordering gears, some ballistic fab brackets for the front, one piece shaft for the 60 and maybe an ARB. for the rear i will be building the brackets and building a truss, rear will be converted from 3-link wishbone style setup to a triangulated 4-link and pushed back about 4-6". Gas tank will be relocated inside of jeep. Front will stay 3-link and be pushed forward about 2", i am gonna make a truss for it as well. Hydro assist will be in the future as well

 

holy **** that is one epic zj

 

nice build man. Looks good too.

 

Thanks man its a work in progress

Well i got the sterling brackets cutoff and ground down, ran out of cutting wheels so i didnt get to the 60. Tomorrow ill go get some more and get her finished up then start tearing the gears out. if i didnt have to work tonight i could get it done, oh well more pics tomorrow

 

Nice looking ZJ's cant wait to see where this blue one goes

 

Wish i had more time to work on it, i have been workin 12 hour graveyards 6 days a week and have almost no time to do anything. But next week i plan on orderin most of the parts and getting to work

 

Very beast zj man. Good work too. I used to have one but traded it in for a truck. Even with short arms and no lift zj's flex pretty good. Ripped the stupid plastic bumper off on a rock though.

 

Dude that is sweeet....the pictures say it all man .. Good work

 

Ya coils front and rear make it flex pretty well when the sway bars are unhooked, eh the plastic bumpers are overrated anyways

 

Okay so i got my torch bottles refilled today and got a little done. Mostly i tore down the sterling 10.25, only had about 45 min to work on it. Here is some pics

Carrier pulled out



Sterling open carrier, ford 8.8 LSD carrier, Dana 35 LSD carrier



Sterling 35 spline 1.5" shaft, Ford 8.8 31 spline 1.31" shaft, Dana 35 27 spline 1.16" shaft


Thats it for today, tomorrow i will tear the hubs off on the sterling and clean her up. Sunday i will have a couple hours to get stuff done and i will bust ***.

 

good work man!

 

im speechless

 

Good hell thats a huge shaft!!! That carrier and ring gear too, must have been a PIA to get that carrier out.

 

ZJ is coming along great! just so you know that is not an 8.8 tho. that is a 7.5

they look near identical but there are differences like the center section casting and a few other odds and ends



plus obviously the ring gear size




7.5


8.8