Build Thread! Project : Don't know yet.

[WrenchMonkey]

I think you read into my statement too much. I was being genuine.

Oh no, that's exactly how I took it. I just thought it was funny that as soon as you complimented his realistic goals, he went on to describe his custom-from-the-ground-up front axle concept...

A lot of us start safe and sane, and gradually work our way off the deep end.

This guy went from 0 to WTF in about six posts...

Robert

 

[XJRocket]

Oh no, that's exactly how I took it. I just thought it was funny that as soon as you complimented his realistic goals, he went on to describe his custom-from-the-ground-up front axle concept...

A lot of us start safe and sane, and gradually work our way off the deep end.

This guy went from 0 to WTF in about six posts...

Robert

Not really. This ain't my first XJ. Or 4x4. Or custom front axle. And it isn't that custom.

 

[XJRocket]

So update:

Longarms installed.
Temp Front axle installed
9" housing cleaned up and new perches welded on
Hack and tap arrived
Synergy front wheel adapters arrived
Currie rear brake line kit arrived
4.11 LS rear chunk purchased
JK rubicon wheels and shot 33s stolen off craigslist. (for mock up, measurement, and transport)

Heading down in a day or two to get this beeotch moving under it's own power. (It was crashed 200 miles away and I have been getting it going there as my dad has a big shop there...)

Been working away trying to figure out a front axle... I think I got it. How does a HP44 from an f250 sound? I found a 4.10 unit for cheap.

 

[iluv83vettes]

That f250 axle would have to be really old to not be the TTB Dana 50. I can't remember exactly what year they started the TTB.

 

[XJRocket]

That f250 axle would have to be really old to not be the TTB Dana 50. I can't remember exactly what year they started the TTB.

Its a 78 D44HD HP.

 

[XJRocket]

That f250 axle would have to be really old to not be the TTB Dana 50. I can't remember exactly what year they started the TTB.

The TTB showed up for 1980, and was ushered out of the 150 in 97. The 250 gave it the axe in 99. I have personally torched several of these awful things out and put much better things in their place. My buddy and I are just in the planning stages of building him a daily driver 96 f150 that will have a twin turbo 351 and axles from a 05-current 350...

 

[XJRocket]

So I had a productive weekend. Got the 9" installed, the hack and tap done, the front axle outers swapped (found a bent unit bearing), brake lines hooked up in the front, ZJ proportioning valve swapped in, smashed downpipe and O2 sensor replaced, rear hardlines made and installed, explorer soft lines and vent installed on the 9", brakes bled, 4.11 chunk swapped, pinion yoke swapped, and xj front driveline installed in the rear.

Couple of hangups... Broke my pitman arm puller, the JK wheels don't have a big enough hub bore for the 9", and I now have no oil fill plug in the 9". Apparently some 3rds have the filler and some housings have the filler. If you mix and match wrong, you get no filler at all.

So about the frontend... I think I have it all decided. I think I am gonna use a F250 Dana 44 high pinion cut down with Dynatrac JK inner Cs, Reid racing knuckles, cut and resplined JK Rubi shafts, and if I can find them, J8 brakes, JK unit bearings, and Ballistic mounting brackets. The Reid knuckles are already set up for one ton Chevy TREs.

 

[Tacedaddy]

how far off is the hub bore the the 9"?

i ran ranger wheels on my 35 for a while before i swapped it out and i just had to do a little grinding on the rims to make them fit

 

[Vanimal]

why are you using jk shafts? they have some oddball ujoint IIRC. i could be wrong, but that's what i heard when i was looking for shafts. maybe go with tj rubi shafts and unit bearings? maybe i missed it, but how'd you get a 5x5 bolt pattern on your 9"? thought they were either 5x4.5 or 5x5.5 or something, depending on the application

 

[XJRocket]

how far off is the hub bore the the 9"?

i ran ranger wheels on my 35 for a while before i swapped it out and i just had to do a little grinding on the rims to make them fit

Pretty far, my guess is that the bore on the ford hub is at least 1/4 inch bigger.

why are you using jk shafts? they have some oddball ujoint IIRC. i could be wrong, but that's what i heard when i was looking for shafts. maybe go with tj rubi shafts and unit bearings? maybe i missed it, but how'd you get a 5x5 bolt pattern on your 9"? thought they were either 5x4.5 or 5x5.5 or something, depending on the application

I snagged a 9 out of a 78 Lincoln Mark. It is 63" wide and has a 5x5 pattern with 11.5" disc brakes. Interchange says that similar cars (Marquis, thunderbird) are the same. Rears are cheap as hell because no one wants them due to width and bolt pattern. I only paid $150 for mine and it had 23,000 original miles on it. The pads and rotors seriously look brand new. I didn't even change them. They are perfect for Jeeps, though!!! Seem like an ideal swap for a WJ... Ford cars in the 60s/70s used a 1310 yoke that matches the stock jeep driveline.

The JK Rubi axleshafts have a 1350 joint, which is bigger. (I believe 1350 is what most D60s use...)

E: The joint is bigger to the extent that it won't fit in a XJ/YJ/TJ/ZJ/WJ inner C without getting into the ball joints, hence why a JK has a different yoke spacing than all the other Jeeps.

 

[Vanimal]

gotcha. good deal on the axle, that'd be a perfect width for me since i have a jk width front ford dana hp d44. right now i'm using a rear xj d44 with 1.5" hubcentric spacers. getting sick of stuff breaking in it though.

 

[XJRocket]

Oh yeah, the JK unit bearings are also 32 spline.

 

[XJRocket]

Update:
I got her on the road and brought her home!!!

Where the disc brake nine lives now.

As you can see, the Lincoln axle combined with jk rims is a perfect fit...

It drives so much better than my old short arm lift.

Things next up on the list:
Flares
Front axle build
31 spline shafts in the 9 with a true trac
Stereo. ASAP. I have learned that the SE model is seriously lacking in the tunes department.

 

[XJRocket]

Another update...

Got my flares on, and found a set of 35s on the cheap, so I jumped on them. How she looks now...

9" is still happy under here...

I extended the wheelbase 1" to help with clearance on those 35s... Now they fit rub-free.

63.5" WMS-WMS, 17x9, 4.5 BS and 35x12.5 tires with the bushwacker cutouts look just right to me.

Since I have a Sh!t Edition, I wanted to get a cluster with full gauges. The one I got is faded, as are all of them I have seen... I wanted to rehash it, so I practiced on my current one until I was happy with the results. It involves pulling the needles to do it right. Painting the top always looked like I, well, painted the top of the needles. I just didn't like it. I pulled the needles, disassembled them, soaked them in thinner to remove the faded factory paint, repainted them with testor's enamel, and reassembled. It took a bit of screwing around to get the needles right, but if you pay attention to before and after locations of the needles, not too bad. The result looks factory. I also installed some white leds in the cluster and scraped the green coating off while I was in there.

Remember this is the test cluster... I ordered a set of white faces for the real cluster, as well as all LED replacement lamps.

I am on the hunt for a 44hd out of a F250, as well as a donor JK 30. Any idea where to get one? They are going for $1500 around here in the boneyards...(ludicrous)?

 

[XJRocket]

I like the white.