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The Family Build

CarolinaCrawler

NAXJA Forum User
Location
North Carolina
I've had a cherokee with a chopped top for a few years now and have had a lot of fun with it all over nc an tn.

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About a year ago I had twins. We've always been a wheeling family, and I finely talked my wife into letting me take the twins riding when they turn 14 months old. That was the age I took our 4yr old wheeling for the first time. So after a little discussion with the better half, it was decided we needed a better ride for the family. One with windows, heat, air, and doors.

Enter the new project.
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I bought this jeep about 2yrs ago off govdeals for 450$. It needed a fuel tank and pump. The only downside was it was 2wd. I didn't know that when I bought it but hey, it a cherokee. It was my primary parts runner and dd. I was changing the axles and transfer case so it kinda made sense (the major thing was I already had it).
My first stop was at RIDES of conover. I picked up some currie johnny joints with bungs and 2" .250 wall DOM. I also got a set of brandon's boatsides. I really like them because they are made of .250 plate, require no cutting, and double as a frame plate since they tie the "frame rails" with the body. They come with holes to nutsert or screw them on, but I welded them on.
I'm running a ford cast wedge d44 with 8 lug outers. I sleeved the factory ford radius arms with 2" .250 wall tubing. I cut the top and bottom of the tubing off and slid it on. Then I burned it in. Then I topped it all off with a bung and 1.25" currie johnny joint. I've never used these before, I've always used heims. Brandon at rides talked me into it since I'm going to drive it on the road a good little bit.
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I welded link pockets to the boatsides. I had to weld tabs on the pockets because the whole in the pockets were 3/4" and I needed 9/16". It would have been better to get link pockets but the tabs only cost me 1.50$. All my brackets come from Mudpro Metalworks. Scotts a great guy to deal with. Then bolted it all together.

The front going in
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Front done, starting on the back
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The boatsides
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The link pockets
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The joints in the pockets
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This is the semi finished product
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The front axle was moved forward 3". I'm going to install 52" chevy leaf springs to stretch the rear 4". With that comes cutting the rear wheel tubs and fenders.

It has a hp d44 with a d60 rear. 4.5 to 5" lift. 38.5" sx tires. It has a 231 with a teralow 4.1 and tom woods hd sye. I have two tom woods driveshafts to go in it when the rear stretch goes in. Both axles are "miller" locked with 3.50 gears. Thank god for teralows! The next thing on the list is hydro assist and gears.
 
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Here it is on its first trip out. We went to the jambree at uwharrie. It did great. I locked in one hub twice, once at poser rock and once at kodak rock. Never even locked both hubs in. All five of us rode and had a great time. For some odd reason they love to sleep when we wheel.

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my kids dont sleep when we wheel, they tend to shout "oh no dad theres big rocks!!!" refering to some rock piles i poser pic on lol


good to see a family friendly wheeler
 
Any flex pictures with that radium arm setup? We got 2 cast wedge 44's here & 2 dodge ram d44's that are discos.
I'm trying to decide which I want to go with lol.
 
To me, there's no question on which one to use. The ram axle has unit bearings, disco, and weaker tubes. I think there is a huge advantage to the old school tapered bearing hubs. I've had all kinds of cherokee's over the years and this one is completely different on the road. I'm not even running a front or rear swaybar. It is a huge difference from the guys I went wheeling with last weekend. There still running dana 30's. They contentiously fight wobble, they always stop to disconnect sway bar links and fight to get them back on at the end of the day. This is the first jeep I've put together that I didn't have to chase down death wobble from the beginning. Even with unbalanced 38.5's I don't have death wobble. I don't have any flex picks right off hand, but I'll try to get some. I love this front axle. It was super easy to set up and the track bar bolt is even a 3/4" bolt. I had a few axle shaft and u joint problems at the beginning, but I'm pushing the limits of a dana 44 and stepped up to good shafts and joints and the problems went away. I really recommend stepping up to a dana 60 if your even thinking of hardcore wheeling. I could have bought and upgraded one with 35 spline outers for what I have in the dana 44. The only reason I stuck with it was I had too much invested to ditch it now!
 
This is a really great way to be able to use what you have and combine it with a platform you can use for the whole family.

My son was about 1 year, 8 months old when we went to Harlan this year. He fell asleep on the entrance trail going up the mountain on the Putney side. He was rocked to sleep! Your pic brings back cool memories.
 
This is a really great way to be able to use what you have and combine it with a platform you can use for the whole family.

My son was about 1 year, 8 months old when we went to Harlan this year. He fell asleep on the entrance trail going up the mountain on the Putney side. He was rocked to sleep! Your pic brings back cool memories.

ive never taken kids wheeling who didnt get rocked to sleep.....and when you stop they wonder what happened.....
 
Good to see you post on here Doug. I've been a lurker for years and been following your builds on here and pirate since I thought leaf springs were cool with bumblebee! Matter of fact, these wheels and tires come from Matt.
 
Good to see you post on here Doug. I've been a lurker for years and been following your builds on here and pirate since I thought leaf springs were cool with bumblebee! Matter of fact, these wheels and tires come from Matt.


sweet! Naxja is home turf for me....just havent re-upped my membership due to the college semester economic statuss
 
Very nice! Did you stay at Arrowhead(or roll through it)? I remember seeing your Jeep that weekend but don't remember where.
 
Your build reminds me of Hadfields old '90 2 door. His radius arms looked exactly like yours and his XJ flexed great. He ran a Bronco 44/9 set-up
 
We stayed at arrowhead fri, sat, and sunday. I really enjoy camping there. I met you at the spring jamboree. We were going to visit yall at the tent but you were busy when we came through and I forgot to stop back by on my way out.
Is there a build thread on the jeep yall are talking about? I wouldn't mind to see it. Thanks!
 
We stayed at arrowhead fri, sat, and sunday. I really enjoy camping there. I met you at the spring jamboree. We were going to visit yall at the tent but you were busy when we came through and I forgot to stop back by on my way out.
Is there a build thread on the jeep yall are talking about? I wouldn't mind to see it. Thanks!


Ok yeah I do remember meeting you in the spring, mentioned you mostly lurked. I did see your new Jeep this fall at the campground. We were staying right at the entrance. There was verbal approval around camp when you drove by.
 
I wonder if we were bussy with my headlights..... LOL! Glad to see you post up keep an eye out we try and get out there a few times a year. I have twins too but they are 14. :scared: Might have an MJ project getting started soon.
 
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