New build: Tealie

[GoSlowGetStuck]

We can talk about after your cage/ or at redbird.

Sounds great, I will bring Jäger

 

[shortxjdoug]

I know that in my ideal build, I would have a mid- or long-arm 3-link. In all honesty if I bought the Clayton crossmember, bought some DOM, inserts, and joints, would that be a decent way to go?

Thats what we did for hers and if i had to do it all over again i would have bought the claytons crossmember and not fabbed my own....


It is hands down the best suspension ive ever owned/run...well worth the extra effort

 

[GoSlowGetStuck]

Previously on Tealie:

I started welding frame stiffeners, but I work slow, and real life got in the way. I am expecting some new flooring to get installed this month, but I had a bathroom and laundry room where I needed to install ceramic tile. Fortunately Hobag was having a surgeon play around with his insides, so that bought me some time. So the Jeep went out to the driveway so I could cut tile and whatnot in the garage. Finally! Tile is done!

Bathroom:

Laundry room:

In the midst of all that, K5Matt brought his XJ down (which is clearly the brother from another mother of Chzman's old Jeep), and we installed some genuine HD Offroad shackle relocation brackets:

Great, so now moving on to the perilously-behind-schedule Jeep (mine). I got the stiffeners welded on, kind of half-assed, but considering the sheer number of welds on them and the time I spent, I'm sure they will be fine. Afterwards I ground down the necessary sections, and drilled and tapped 3/8" coarse threads for the rock slider supports:

It is at this point that I fully realized that I can't measure, mark, or drill holes for shit. Seriously. I mark holes, then I check them. Then I center punch the marks. Then I pilot drill. Then I drill them out fully. And sure enough I have to floor jack and hammer the thing into place just to get two of the bolts in. So it is no small miracle that I was able to get *most* of the rock slider bolts into place! Edit: Yes I know the marks and the holes are obviously not even close on the above picture. Oh that little guy? I wouldn't worry about that little guy.

I will most likely grind away the paint along the edges and bottoms of the rock slider supports, and weld them to the frame stiffeners. I figure there is no resale value in them anyway, so I might as well make them a permanent part of the vehicle.

So after all of the work and posting I've done so far, all I really have to show for it is a stock XJ with rock sliders:

But yet I am feeling pretty good about it, the frame stiffeners were way out of my usual wrenching comfort zone, and now I feel like I could do a pretty decent job welding stuff on a bench standing up. My goal is to install the lift and tires yet this week, and then I'll be heading down Friday to get the cage installed!

As for the lift, I am going to throw short arms on it for now to get done by Redbird, and get the garage cleaned up and sell off some of the extra parts I don't need. Then I will address the 3-link.

 

[XJosh95]

Glad to see this progress. It may be minimal visually, but you're knocking out difficult stuff first. I dig it.

On a side note, how much of that thing do I currently own? I see my name on it at least once...

 

[GoSlowGetStuck]

Glad to see this progress. It may be minimal visually, but you're knocking out difficult stuff first. I dig it.

On a side note, how much of that thing do I currently own? I see my name on it at least once...

Right on, I figure it's all downhill from here. Installing the lift should be no big thing.

And your distant relatives make some quality rubber. Really though, considering the price difference I think would take them over a set of KOs, at least for winter/street use.

 

[Jeepguy91]

Its actually not that hard to make the long arm mount like what Clayton's sells. I actually made the one that i had on my old zj and it worked just fine and had way less money into it than buying it from clayton's. Let me know and i can dig up some pics of it for you. Should be pretty similar to the one for the xj's.

 

[darksidemj]

Great question!

The main reason: lack of an affordable off-the-shelf 3-link kit. Clayton's is the only kit I even know of, at $890(!) for the crossmember and links. Just the crossmember is $349, so maybe with $200 in tube, inserts, and joints I could have a nice setup. I don't have enough confidence in my skills to fab the crossmember.

With the money you could probably get from the kit you have and the money you would spend on drop brackets and all new arms, the clayton's kit should not be much more. Also you could also always go square .250" wall tubing on your lowers and save some money on tubing over DOM. I used square for my arms on my old MJ when I built it. bashed them off of rocks and beat on the rig and never had an issue with the arms.

 

[IllianaXJ]

Brad I will try to take pics of the LAs my green XJ had on it. They were homemade, and worked really well. If I didn't already have a buyer lined up I would see if you wanted them.

They are square tubing, and I used them as 'sliders' a couple times in Harlan in the rock garden.

 

[GoSlowGetStuck]

Its actually not that hard to make the long arm mount like what Clayton's sells. I actually made the one that i had on my old zj and it worked just fine and had way less money into it than buying it from clayton's. Let me know and i can dig up some pics of it for you. Should be pretty similar to the one for the xj's.

I will think it over, $350 for a crossmember does sound high. But including materials, however many hours it would take me to plan and cut and weld it, and the risk of screwing it up, compared to how much this ridiculous hobby costs in general... it might not be too bad

And by "old zj" do you mean a purple one... because I know someone that would be pretty excited her ZJ got 3-linked!

With the money you could probably get from the kit you have and the money you would spend on drop brackets and all new arms, the clayton's kit should not be much more. Also you could also always go square .250" wall tubing on your lowers and save some money on tubing over DOM. I used square for my arms on my old MJ when I built it. bashed them off of rocks and beat on the rig and never had an issue with the arms.

Yea, you're right, even with round links instead of square. Even to buy the Clayton's kit outright with the links wouldn't be that bad in the end, I could get decent money for the TnT kit. I got the short arms used for $100 I think, so at this point the most pressing thing is needing it done for Redbird and I know I can throw it together with that.

Brad I will try to take pics of the LAs my green XJ had on it. They were homemade, and worked really well. If I didn't already have a buyer lined up I would see if you wanted them.

They are square tubing, and I used them as 'sliders' a couple times in Harlan in the rock garden.

I still have the TnT long arms, there's just a few issues that turned me off... the unloading on hill climbs being one, and that I couldn't run both uppers because my upper and lower bracket separation on my front axle is not the same as a stock D30. I guess that doesn't really matter though, since I drilled the single upper out to 1/2", and Iron Rock gets away with the stock 10mm bolt. Maybe I should just keep those. I will have to see how things ride after I get it all put together.


Not a lot of visible progress today. I realized the e-brake cable bracket was still dangling, so I drilled and tapped a couple M10 threads in the frame stiffeners so I could bolt that back on. I also started on rear lift:

One of my biggest concerns was that the upper shackle bolts were seized to the bushing. I managed to back them out half a turn or so, and then I heated up the bolt head with a propane torch. I could hear something creaking, so I figured that was helping. I worked slowly between loosening and tightening the bolts, and got them out without messing anything up. So now I can just throw the bumper-holder-and-nut-strip-brackets in the frame rail, and put the shackle relocation brackets on, and the rest will be done pretty easy.

 

[Jeepguy91]

Actually Brad it wasn't really that hard to make the mounts for the long arms. All i used was some 2x4 box tubing, 1/4" flate plate, and part of the the stock crossmember. Will see what pics i have and post them up here for you if you want. Would give you some ideas. Heck i think i only had about $300 in my front long arms on the zj and that included building the crossmember and arms with johnny joints.

 

[Molly Ann]

I would like to see those pics Ben!

 

[v8eater]

Me too .

I would like to see those pics Ben!

 

[Jeepguy91]

Well I thought I had saved more photos of the long arms but guess I didn't. Here is what I do have tho. I copied this off of Clayton's long arms so that I could still remove the tranny if I ever needed to. The mounts were made with 2x4x1/4"box tubing and 1/4"plate. I cut the factory crossmember down to fit in between the mounts. I used Johnny joints at the frame and factory
Clevite bushings at the axle

I don't think it flexed bad for being homemade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFrXdGMTNU8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[XJosh95]

That vid is full of win! Too bad Trixie had horrible cam skills

 

[darksidemj]

You could always either make the arm the correct length or make and adjustable upper to cure your problem.

 

[GoSlowGetStuck]

I am beat... I was hoping to have the lift all wrapped up last night, but everything takes longer than I think. Got the rear put together with the shackle relocation brackets though, and it sits a little higher now

I figured the front lift is always easier than the rear lift, so I got all the bolts loosened last night and left it to swap today. One pain in the ass after another! The LCA bolts were seized to the bushings, I tried to use a ball joint press to try and push the bolt out of the frame bracket, but no luck. Finally I broke out the angle grinder, until the disc bound up and I caught some cut-off shrapnel to the face. No injuries though!

Something I've never seen before; I managed to destroy a C-clamp. This was tightening it by hand too!

After all the various setbacks, I finally wrangled the axle into place and got tires on it. Now it's looking like a Jeep!

I still have to take care of a few things tomorrow such as bolting in the track bar and steering, torquing all of the fasteners, and making an attempt to bleed the brakes. Then it's on the trailer to go get a cage!

 

[shortxjdoug]

I like it

Screw living up north....I don't even own air tools

 

[FlexdXJ]

Tealie all growed up!

 

[BRIANHO13]

I can't wait to put my tube in your

























Jeep.

 

[Molly Ann]

It's donut-proof now - thanks Hobag!