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The Black Pearl

You know what they say...once you go brown you'll never turn around! :laugh:

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yeah buy once cry once LOL. Thank you all for the kind words, shes coming together slowly but surely!
 
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Third member clear coated, skid painted, fresh grade 8 hardware, and torqued.

To do for the rear:
-install bearings and seals on shafts
-cut shafts to length
-weld on caliper brackets
-leaf spring perches
-truss
Pretty much a wrap for the 9”

On to the 44...


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More mail came today! This was paid for at the same time as the RCVs since EGCS had a 10% sale on ARBs and an overall 15% moving sale

BUT

the lockers went on backorder before their site could be updated. Anyways, I still figured the wait was worth the discount.

D30 ring gear for scale, giggity
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nice man. Thats gonna be a sweet build dude
 
love that 9 inch skid, gives me some new ideas.
 
Oh man an update has been long overdue. Been super swamped at work and catching up on other projects. Mainly getting this impulse purchase back on the road.
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Drove her to work yesterday after replacing the cam, lifters, push rods, redoing ball joints, hubs and and everything in between on the front axle. 8mpg which isn’t bad for a carbureted 7.4 in front of a TH400. Oh and rusty mufflers so she’s loud but nobody seems to mind.
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Anyways, I got shafts in and brakes on the 9”
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And the truss I ordered back in August showed up. It sounds like TNT has been short handed since Covid. I called them to check in on my order a few times and they were responsive, even threw a shirt in my package when they shipped. It’s all good, I probably wouldn’t have gotten my truck running had they not shipped the truss 2 months after I ordered.

Oh yeah I got a set of Reids too and did a little wheeling at slickrock with 87matchief and jeep450r. Now that boating season is coming to a close I think I’ll be working on the Jeep much more. Enjoy

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pretty crazy, You are building the exact axle combo I did about 10 years ago. I upgraded to the RCV's about two years ago and love them, super strong and very smooth when turning no u joint bind at full lock. I would definitely do Hydro assist with the 37's makes a huge difference. Great build thread keep it up you will be very happy with the final results!!
 
Some nice axles dude !
 
Christmas update. I have a hover Jeep lol

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Got started on rigging up the jack stands around 9:30 this morning and by 2 I had the axle and radius arms out. Had to prop a wheel/tire up against the Jeep for a visual. 37” mickey Thompson Baja boss and Walker Evans. Got the wheels at a discount since they were leftovers from a dealer that went out of business. The set Walker sent were JK bolt pattern so they drilled me a brand new set and honored the discounted price and overnighted them to me.

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Going to ditch the Clayton Radius arms and build my own 3 link. I pieced together a set up with 1.25” Johnny joints at both ends for the lowers and a 7/8” heim for the crossmember side for the upper control arm. I’ll have to make a clevis. Also putting the upper on the passenger side. More photos to come, I’m pushing to get the Jeep on its own weight this weekend.

Merry Christmas you guys.


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Looking good !
 
Got the lower links cut to length and made, I think I’m about an inch away from where the original axle was, looks like I should have good clearance between frame track bar mount and the new axle. The axle is within about a half inch of being centered under the Jeep so making the track bar should be pretty straight forward.
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The upper will be a bit trickier as I think I’ll have to bend the tube to clear exhaust. I’m going to fab up a clevis tomorrow and mock a piece of PVC tube up and bend that how I think the DOM link will need to be bent. Otherwise it’s been going pretty smooth.

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Is there anyone in the southbay with a tube bender? Upper will be 1.5” OD DOM. I’ll trade you a 24 pack lol


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I think Twinhauler or Lou have one or knows someoneone with one.
 
Spent most of the day fabbing a clevis for the upper link and getting the upper link mount on the frame side situated. I painted some things to help it seem like I’m getting more done than it seems lol.

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Instead of welding the bracket to the crossmember (tight on access and dirty) I welded the bracket to a plate that will get welded to the crossmember. The plate between the bracket and crossmember also helps get me more vertical separation. I’m at about 6” on the frame side which isn’t great but better than some three link kits I’ve seen. The heim clears the floor pretty well despite the photos. I also drilled some holes in the bracket to rosette weld onto the crossmember.


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Now that the frame side upper link bracket is set, I used 1” ID PVC to mock up my upper control arm. It’ll have about a 7 degree bend in it to clear the exhaust.

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From the clevis I fabbed looking back to the crossmember. It’s not quite a straight shot.

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This week I’ll get the truss on the 9” pending good weather. I’ll see about getting my DOM bent to that pcv template. Almost ready to get tires and springs on the front


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Doc the wheels are 3.75 backspace and they do not rub on the 2” DOM lowers. With wheels mounted to the axle there’s room to use box end wrenches to tighten up the steering hardware, socket with a long extension may work as well. I’m using a combination of 4” and 4.5” 3/4” grade 8 bolts for steering. Not stoked on the fitment on the histeer arm so I may drill it out bigger and get a sleeve made to neck back down to 3/4”.


Trussed the rear and painted it up

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Got a stick of 1.5” .25” wall DOM bent for the upper control arm. About 8 degrees
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Unfortunately didn’t get any pics of the upper tube welded to the clevis. I added a gusset because I had extra material and room on the clevis. You can sort of see it below.

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Used a plum laser to make an alignment square. My reference line is the line which both crossmember lower control arm bolts line up. There weren’t many factory lines to go off of that I trust, this Jeep has been in accidents and I’ve done quite a bit of cutting over the years.
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Not too far off initially for just throwing the axle under the Jeep. On a side note, there looks to be plenty of room for an 8” ram

I’m pretty comfortable with this alignment although I want to recheck my toe adjustment.
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Still on 4.5 front springs.

Did a quick and dirty wheelbase measurement and got 103.25” but I’ll get a more accurate measurement once the rear is in. The frame side track bar bracket will crash into the housing when the driver side travels up. When I get front stiffeners I’ll scoot the bracket forward enough to clear.

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I like how it still looks and feels low.
Also ordered some Warn 30 spline hubs that’ll fit the RCV outers.

I believe I have everything I need for the rear swap so I’ll get started on that this week if work slows down. Haven’t decided on my plan for the D30/8.25 yet. I am looking to get rid of the old Clayton radius arms so if anyone wants them or has a lead on someone who wants to upgrade to long arms I’ll let them go.


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I still want to be first in line for that D30. lol
 
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