The Black Pearl

It seems like you are having fun modifying this vehicle. Hopefully, it will turn out well. I am excited to see the outcome.

Paid a visit to my local driveline shop last week and got a 1350 CV shaft made for the rear after swapping to a 1350 tcase yoke. Advanced adapters yoke and a larger seal from the auto parts store. Here’s a comparison. I can list part numbers if anyone’s curious.





The color is ...“Diamond Dust”. Shaft length the @ ride height was exactly 35”





Ordered some bilsteins for the front after lots measuring and drawing and remeasuring and drawing. Took the Jeep out looking for loading docks but everything around me has rails right up against the concrete ramps.





Also discovered that my steering had 1.5 turns driver and 1 turn passenger when measuring for a hydro assist ram (wasn’t hitting external steering stops on knuckles). I centered the box (1.5 turns D, 1.5 turns P) and then removed the drag link from the pitman arm and unbolted the box from the frame and brace before removing the telescoping steering shaft and rotating that shaft 180 degrees. Reassembled and adjusted drag link to center steering wheel and it’s all back to normal.

I was driving around with the hubs locked to try and get some wear the front gears and I noted by brakes were dragging enough to begin to smell. Unlocking the hubs helped the Jeep roll a bit easier but the brakes still drag. I did some reading and found a new Durango MC (1.125” bore) and reman thunder bird front calipers which have a few mm larger diameter pistons. We’ll see how that affects the soft pedal feel and dragging brakes since these larger brakes may need more fluid movement from the MC. These current calipers are probably 40 years old and my be why the brakes drag. I’ll update once I get the new brakes bled and on the Jeep.

Got a random fedex padded envelope in the mail. Quadratec sent 4 twenty dollar gift cards after I bought leaf springs, and then they emailed back saying they’re back ordered and delayed. I canceled that order and got the springs somewhere else with better shipping.

I’ve purchased so many items off their site that said “in stock ready to ship” only to get an email the next day or two later saying they’re back ordered and parts won’t be arriving for an extra week or two. Unless there’s a smokin deal on something you’re not in a hurry to get, don’t waste your time with quadratec. Anyways, I used the cards today and got some rock lights. This may be my first positive transaction with quadratec but I don’t want to jinx it.





Oh and removed the windshield washer bottle on the driver side inner fender in preparation of some more fender trimming.


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That thing looks awesome man!


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Thanks Doc.

Still waiting on more parts to show up but I was able to bench bleed the Durango MC and fit the Thunderbird front calipers to the 44. They have a slightly larger diameter piston and should help stop the Jeep after swapping the larger Durango MC. MC was bolt on and needed no modifications to the booster.




Thunderbird calipers needed some casting clean up to clear the Reids and to fit the caliper brackets.









Ran into a issue when swapping the bigger calipers as they use a larger diameter banjo fitting than the Dana30 and f150 Dana 44 calipers. I spent almost all Saturday running around town to several Napa, Winchester auto, and orileys before saying **** it and went to pick and pull with a pocket of wrenches and looking for the right banjo off full size trucks. Did some research and it seems that they use a 7/16-24 which is a step finer thread than the typical 7/16-20 banjo fittings that most auto parts stores carry. Bough them on summit so when they come in I’ll see if the larger MC made a difference.

Got the rock lights installed on the front and wired into the cab to a rocker switch. I put two lights in each front fender and all four lights to share + and - leads into the cabin to the switch. Each light is rated at 3W so all four lights would pull 2A max which the switch could definitely handle without needing to use relays.










I’ve got two KC cyclones that I may install in the rear fenders but we’ll see. I kinda like these cheap little lights.

Spent today, Sunday, getting the power steering system drained and hydro assist installed. Went with a 1.75” body 3/4” rod 6.75” stroke PSC unit with their cooler and lines/fittings. Got it all set up, just need to mount and plumb the cooler. Haven’t gotten to drive on it but I wouldn’t expect it to be 1 finger steering so I’m curious to see how it’ll work in the rocks.





PSC says to keep the heims in the same plane unlike how I have mine clocked 90 degrees from each other. I can’t see any binding issues when cycling the steering so I’ll leave it. I’ll have to throw on an external stop on the ram since I wasn’t sure how accurate the advertised stroke length was versus what they actually stroke. They’re accurate for anyone not sure.

Waiting on banjos for the front calipers and front shocks.


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Sweet rig man, I like the progression of the build. Will you street drive it frequently once it’s done? I’m sure I’d see you around if you did, I’m in Winchester most few days as well. Not sure I love the redo they recently did

Thanks Mayhem. Yeah I’m putting this together to still be streetable, maybe not long distance though.


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Those lights look super nice. Hope the new MC solves your problem.


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Are you using the stock 96+ booster?

correct

Quick update since it’s been a minute. I got rid of the JCR diy bumper I’ve been slowly modifying over the years for a fancy tube bumper with a tire swing out. Took a while to get here and was more than I wanted to spend but it’s got a much more robust interface with the jeeps unibody and looks a 1000x better than what I had before.



Painted it up the next day and threw it on after work. Needed to widen the holes that the nut strips slide into and ended up having to plasma cutting concentric holes in my shackle boxes and gas tank skid and frame for the bumper to mount correctly. I still need to fix one more hole and have 5/6 mounting bolts in right now. Feels pretty sturdy actually.







Ran to Home Depot for some hardware and used some scrap to fab up a quick hi lift mount. Used delrin and 3/8 bolts welded to 3/16” thick tabs to space the lift off the bumper. Held on with wing nuts that I tightened the shit out of with a wrench. I will still store the jack inside when it’s parked at the house.



We’ll see how long this holds...









Still waiting on front shocks to show up, haven’t really put any thought into how I want to mount rear shocks with the truss in the way. I have a feeling that I lost clearance for shocks between the axle and the gas tank skid when I stretched the rear a bit.

The bulk of my time on the weekends lately have been spent on the K20. I bought an aftermarket relay/fuse box and wanted to wire the lights and accessories the correct way while using waterproof quick connectors and good thick stranded copper wire all wrapped in lume. Previous owner(s) did very sketchy shade tree wiring. Sometimes I daydream about selling this truck for something modern and fuel injected but it’s so damn fun to drive. One thing I haven’t done yet is put some rubber 11s down on pavement. I should do that someday...





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Spent most of the day working on the Jeep. Got the power steering cooler mounted. I didn’t get good photos of how I mounted the cooler but i found a spot where it’s tucked away and gets decent air flow from the fans.



I welded the provided grade 8 bolts to the top of the steering box brace to basically make studs. Then used the provided washers and nylocks to lock it in place. Spliced the cooler into the factory return line and re-bled the system.


Also got a 1350 cv yoke for the front output of the tcase, uses the same seal as the stoke yoke. Front shaft is right around 30” 5/8” while the rear was 36”. Gonna make a phone call to my favorite local driveline shop and hopefully be the one of Steve’s last customers before he retires.







clears the tcase shift linkage.

Ordered a set of M7100 bilstein piggy backs at the end of January, still no word on them. Anyone else having issues or heard of other people having issues with procuring bilsteins? I’m inclined to cancel my order and look for other options pretty soon but I may try to get a hold of someone at Bilstein at the distribution level. Annoyed.


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Just get some universal 5100 or 5125s that fit and call it done

blondejoncherokee said:

Just get some universal 5100 or 5125s that fit and call it done

Click to expand...

I know, I'm regretting selling the 5100s from my clayton lift now.

Made some calls earlier this week and spoke with the west coast Bilstein hq. I’m not sure if it was a case of good timing or just what but they had 5 units of the part number I ordered come into inventory from Germany this week. Had the shop I ordered through reach out to Bilstein and they secured two for me.





The billet clamps were from Amazon and I got the shock stem conversion from teraflex. They’re about an inch and a half long which was accounted for when I was doing the math to determine size. These are 10” body 12” shaft with 1/2” heim joints at both eyes.






Ordered front frame stiffeners earlier this week as well. They’re a bit nicer than most options out there as they wrap under the unibody along the whole wheel well...not just the steering box area or not just between the track bar and the original LCA bracket.

Also got the front driveline made, I’ll throw that on soon


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Been on the paper chase at work lately but I’m working towards a deadline. Some RK buddies want to make a rubicon trip in June. After I got the shocks on, I was confident enough to take this thing in the freeway and man it felt like it didn’t have enough positive caster. Super touchy steering feel, wanted to dart all over the road, wheel resisted returning to center while moving. My UCA is bottomed out so I lengthened my LCAs. That gave me more positive caster and flattened my coils out. Helped quite a bit but it could use more positive caster adjustment. No front driveline vibes felt yet. I was thinking it may be bump steer but going over larger and more gradual speed bumps doesn’t make the Jeep dart/wheel jerk one way or the other.

I need to find a big rock or forklift to iron out limit straps. Bump stops should be easy to make just gotta sit down and get the jack stands out.















Something in the rear sounds kind of clunky, could be from no shocks and/or non balanced wheels/tires. I double checked torque specs on leaf spring perch bolts, 100ft/lbs. shackles and shackle boxes are tight so I’ll keep chasing down the noise. Every now and then I’ll get on a good smooth patch of asphalt and the Jeep rides real smooth.

Got rock lights in the rear and wired tonight. Tried to keep it as clean as possible. Lights are hidden under interior trim inside the cargo area. I’d like to put some lights on the tire swing out and lift gate for cooking or dicking around at night on the trail.









As far as rear shocks, I’m leaning towards outboard shock towers since the boostwerks towers have been out of stock and the dude doesn’t reply to emails. That way I can run a bit longer shock and maximize down travel. Been looking at Artec as opposed to bending tube and making hoops. Might even let the towers protrude into the cargo area just a bit and tie the towers into a cage. Still brainstorming.

My work is selling the ‘95 YJ I used to drive. Stock little soft top/half door, 4cly 5 speed. Runs like a champ, no thermostat, passes smog. Part of me wants a built yj but I have enough toys as it is and have other things to save money for. Can’t save all the jeeps


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Looking good! 35 inch tires?

Anything you would do differently on front axle? About to truss and 3 link mine

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Thanks denver. they're 37s. I'd do it again, maybe just spend more time on laying the axle out before burning in brackets and links. Measure 5 times weld once haha

Are you running an NP231? I have been researching a 1350 front yoke so if that’s a 26 spline and fits the stock transfer case a part number would be great.

Nates2000XJ said:

Thanks denver. they're 37s. I'd do it again, maybe just spend more time on laying the axle out before burning in brackets and links. Measure 5 times weld once haha

Click to expand...

Seeing as I am doing a similar swap, what would you do different about your links and brackets?


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89mock, search “Adams Driveshaft Forged Front 26 Spline 1350 Half Round CV Transfer Case Yoke for a 231, 231J, NP231 fit's TJ, XJ, YJ, LJ”. This was the only CV 1350 yoke I could find for the 231. Seal was the same as the stock yoke. Rear yoke needs a bigger seal.

Doc, I would make a more accurate alignment square to get the axles as close to centered and square under the Jeep. Measure the width of the axle and mark the center line, get an accurate centerline on the chassis and line the axle up beneath the chassis. My upper control arm heim is all the way bottomed out at the cross member so I’m adjusting caster with the lowers. Kinda ghetto since the upper should be where you adjust caster/pinion angle. Lowers should set wheelbase.

I am glad, however, with my choice of putting the upper on the passenger side. Leaves lots of room for a larger driveline.


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