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JK 44s and other Fun Stuff

whitexj98

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Cali
Well I figured I would document some of this for the next person doing a swap... This will be a years with of work.. It will jump around a bit because I'm going to post in my photo order. Picture quality will also increase as I eventually got a new phone...

It all started with a decent built Jeep on 35s..

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Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
So before I get to the axles... I put these in...

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Neat setup... and they caused a lot of headache mostly from me being dumb... When I made the bump pads I articulated the suspension... this was wrong..they should have been set at full bump... you will see what this caused.

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So went to the dunes for the first time... bumps were amazing... for about 1 hour.. then it all went to hell....

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Yeah so I bent the shock towers out and destroyed the bump ends... So parked it, road in my buddies jeep for the weekend then drove it 3.5 hours home.

So got it home and started trying to fix this mess.. Ended up cutting relief cuts in the towers so I could bend them back. Made solid top plates and lots of bracing... Ill let the pictures tell the rest





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Not done but called it good for now, actually picked up the axles the weekend before the dunes.. so I wanted to start on those...
 
Axles were out of a JK Rubicon. Dynatrac front, 4:88s, RCVs, big brake kit front.

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Got them all stripped down

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And parts started coming in.

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Removed and plugged the sensor holes.

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Rear axle went in quick. Just leaf perches, shock mounts, and made e brake mounts. Also upgraded the shocks to 5165s

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Took it out and drove it a bit to make sure it was all good to go before tearing down to paint it.

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I ran all stainless brake lines for the rear... no rust...

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Sexy!!!

Definitely staying tuned in for the rest..

Are the new meats 37s? Or did you stick with 35s?

The sensor removed and plugged on the diff, was that some fancy JK fluid level sensor? Or did you remove the Elocker?
 
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Sexy!!!

Definitely staying tuned in for the rest..

Are the new nests 37s? Or did you stick with 35s?

The sensor removed and plugged on the diff, was that some fancy JK fluid level sensor? Or did you remove the Elocker?

Keeping it on 35s, but more aggressive.

The plugs were for the sensors that tell you the locker in engaged on a Rubicon. I didn't feel the need to keep them and run more wiring. Both axles have the factory E lockers.
 
So with the rear done on to the front...

Good by dana 30..

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I cut everything off except the uppers.

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I took a bunch of measurements off the d30 to get the lowers in the same position.

Artec lowers

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Also got the Artec ultimate coil mounts but didn't like the way they packaged so ended up with ballistic fab buckets. But they were way to tall, so I cut them down.

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Only thing I didn't like was the flat surface for the coil, I could have reused the cast dynatrac coil correction plate but I knew I would later want to weld bump stop extensions on so I got the solid steel ones Artec sells.

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I couldn't find a shock mount I liked so made some.. and turned out pretty good.

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Upgraded the knuckles to Rancho "high steer"

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So at this point I did a lot of measuring and adjusting to try to figure out the best angle to set the buckets at. I also found out that to get my ideal pinion angel my caster was at about 1 degree. I never looked into it but JKs only have 6* of separation, dana30 HP is 9* and this pro rock is an unlimited series so it came with 10* separation... 1 degree gain wasn't going to cut it.. so I decided to turn the Cs.

It was actually much easier then I thought it would be, I ended up adding about 7 degrees for a total of 17 degrees of separation.

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I did 3 passes on each knuckle with my Miller 211 at max.

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Nice build so far. The ballistic coil buckets are likely that length off the axle due to the did they use when bending them. If they cut then out and then bend the axle opening portion would fall into the brake die. They could have use a roller die or cut the axle opening part after bending, but there's cost and such.

Keep it up!
 
Nice build. I like where you are going with it. I have one of those 44 front to put under my XJ but I am moving slow with it.

What are you doing with those steering knuckles you removed? I stay on the look out for some around North Florida. Would you be willing to let them go?
 
Next on the list was track bar bracket, I wanted to get as long as possible. I couldn't find anything I liked so made the whole thing...

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And a brace for it..

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At this point my buddie talked me into doing TNT high clearance inner fenders to maximize tire travel.

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Battery Mounts

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And added a brace for the bumps

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And this gave me a place to mount the coolant overflow.

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With all the vehicle side complete I painted and installed to check it off

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2 of the completed pics for the rear end look like it has a bronze tint or something I can’t find the color for lol... is it just the flash on some Por-15 or did you rattle can it?
 
I dig it too!
 
I think he has been done with the swap for a while... Just slowly putting the build up page together with pics and what not
 
For steering I wanted to keep TREs. Offset GM 1 ton tie rod and drag link is GM 1 ton high angle. Track bar is 5/8" heims on both ends. Wide Open Design 7075 1.5" aluminum.

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Ruffstuff axle side track bar bracket.

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Figured a steering brace would be a good idea as well, so I got the Boostwerks. I wanted to keep my antirock so I also ordered the drop brackets. After mocking it up I didn't like how low the antirock was. So I cut it up and made it much better.

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Much better, arms don't clear but I will fix that later.

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Arms were not going to work, I made a bender setup for my press but the arms were still not long enough after bends so I ordered up longer ones from Currie.

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Cycled the suspension a lot, its a tight fit but clears everything.

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Also matched the rear with new Bilstein 5160s. Listed for a TJ but work all the same. With the correct shocks I was also able to setup the limit straps and build new correctly setup (full bump) stops.

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Made some simple coil retention features.

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And a little baby Bilstein steering stabilizer. This pic is also at full bump checking clearance, I cycled this axle so many times...

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XJ44s lol xj.... man this thing looks fun. Nice welds btw, I hope I can weld that clean one day. ive never seen those knuckles before, but then again ive never followed jk stuff.

looking forward to whats next, let the good times roll!
 
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