Bill's 1 Ton TJ Build

[Swagger]

Sounds like the build is going great man. i wish you the best of luck with the rest of it. go tear some shit up!!!!   

[Bill3753]

Front suspension is complete.  Well, I still need to weld the track bar bracket solid to the frame, but thats it.  Track bar is built, shocks are installed, long arms in... all ready for paint.

The track bar actually came out perfect.  I was very happy how well it came out.  I built it out of 1.5" 1/4" wall DOM tube with a rubber bushing on one end and a hemi joint on the other.  After getting it built and installed, I cycled the suspension again with great results.

Next up is to build upper shock mounts in the rear and shave the 14 bolt.  Then, I'll install the lockers and gear both axles.  Then I just have to paint everything, put the hubs and brakes on, and do the final install.  Not much more for the suspension.

Here are some updated pictures.

[gearhead1985B]

one of these time i click on this link i hope to see this thing on its own wheels and not jack stands lol

looks good now go shave the pig

[Bill3753]

Update...

So, the shave on the 14 bolt is now complete.  I also assembled the carrier with the detoit locker.  Truthfully, I feel like I am behind now.  I guess part of that is because I have worked in the garage for about 10 hours a day in the last two days and this is really all I have to show for it.  The shave, mainly the welding part, took a lot of time.  Then today, I had a lot of trouble trying to assemble the pinion carrier of the 14 bolt.  All that being said, the work that is getting done looks really good.

Here are the pictures...

















14 bolt carrier split in half with the Detroit Locker inside.



Other half of the carrier.




Carrier fully assembled with the ring gear torqued on.  Take note of the turned down diameter of the ring gear.




Clearance left between the bottom of the case after the shave and the turned ring gear.  Just for referance, I can't fit my finger between the gap.  Also, the plate on the bottom is 1/2" thick.  It can also be used as refernce to realize how close it is.







Anyways, tomorrow is another day.  Hopfully I can finish the rear off and then move on to the front.

[Bill3753]

So, after getting the pinion set up with proper bearing preload today, I moved to setting backlash and establishing a contact pattern.  I then fine tuned my pattern a bit while keeping backlash within spec.  Its not perfect yet, but here is where I am.







Next adjustment will be to increase the pinion depth a bit and to slightly decrease the backlash.  For those in tune of what I am saying here, I understand that a change in either of these values will also effect the other.  I'm talking small adjustments until I have the contact pattern that is a little more centered and away from the top/heal pattern I'm currently at.  Like I said, everything is in spec.  Just needs fine tuning until its just right.

[Bill3753]

More pictures of tonight's progress.

This is what the contact pattern should look like...  Notice the nice diffused edges with no sharp corners.  Then notice its all centered now.  These are perfect.  To get it here I took 0.003" of pinion shim out and adjusted backlash from 0.006" to 0.004".  I'm very happy with these results.



So here is the housing all assembled.







Here is a picture of the 14 bolt's straddle bearing.  It adds a third support bearing to the pinion shaft.



Next up was to weld together the modified and fabricated cover for the shave.  My 14 bolt is now officially a 13 bolt.



I really like the way this cover turned out.  I'm seriously thinking about just clear coating it vice painting it black.

So, these pictures were meant to be the final pictures before paint and installation.  What sucks is I ran out of 0.035" wire and couldn't finish welding the shock mounts solid or weld the fill plug into the cover.  I'll finish it first thing tomorrow, but it was just annoying I guess.  Still took some pictures of everything together anyways though.







So, this is all the good news for the night... Now for the bad.  I finally got a tracking number for the wheels today and they will not be here until Thursday or Friday.  They were suppose to be here by the end of last week, but didn't even ship until today.  That means I can't even start the rear high-line work until at least Thursday night or Friday night.  Next up is the Dana 60 front cover.  I ordered a Solid Axle Industries Cast front cover as part of an order I was already placing with Poly Performance, but they sent me a 14 bolt cover instead.  I then worked it out with them to send the wrong one back and get a Dana 60 one on its way to me.  They emailed me a prepaid shipping label for UPS and I sent it out next day.  That was over a week ago, closer to two weeks ago.  Anyways, they originally told me that as soon as the tracking number posted for the label as on its way to them they would ship the Dana 60 cover.  I called them again today to find out whats going on and found out they have not even shipped the right cover yet.  In their defense, they did say they would ship it with a 3 Day Air type service.  Just sucks it worked out that way.  Whats this all mean?  Basically, the club trail ride at the end of the month is out for me.  I'll probably have it finished a few days after.  I'll still be there as a passenger though taking pictures all the way for the trail report.

[BlacXJeep]

That is some really clean work Bill, motivates me to do an actual build when i get home and scrap the XJ. See you Saturday

[Bill3753]

Just thought I'd take a quick minute to update this thread.  I don't have new pictures because most everything I'm doing right now is small projects with little fabrication work involved.  Last few days I have painted the entire rear section of the frame and underbody, painted the rear axle, mock installed the belly up skid, modified and installed the new transmission mount (that is still giving me a little bit of a pain), and I'm just about done with the new poly motor mounts with a 1" motor mount lift.

I'm hoping that by installing the motor mount lift, the transmission mount will line up better.  If not, then I'll have some more cutting and welding to do on the skid.  I needed the MML to allow for clearance of the track bar when the passenger side tire is at full bump, so I already needed it anyways.

Next I’ll build the exhaust, remove the transfer case, install the SYE kit, and paint everything from basically the front fender mounts back to where I already painted under the jeep.  After that, I'll do final install on the skid, transfer case, transmission mount, and exhaust.

Items still to compete include final install of the rear axle, installing the rear brakes, installing the fuel cell and running all the lines, relocating the EVAP, front axle assembly (suspension is done, need to install locker and gears, knuckles, hubs, and king pins.  Basically everything else), and then painting everything under the front end to include the front axle.  Once that all is done, I can move to bolting the wheels on it and starting the body work. 

For the rear body work, I'm considering buying a set of corner guard blanks from Genright.  Originally, I was just going to simply bolt on a set of YJ short corners to move the gas filler to the back of the tub and fill in the rest like full corners with 1/8" plate.  Then, I'd weld the two pieces together to essentially make my own corner armor out of 1/8" plate.  Now, I'm second guessing it and considering the full corner guard blanks for the better protection a full 3/16" corner would offer.  The blanks have no wheel well cut, so I'd be able to set it up perfectly to match my stretch (I can do this as well by making my own with the short corners).  Additionally, I'd be able to cut the fuel filler and tail light locations as and where needed since they come blanked out.  The only thing they have in fact is bolt holes drilled and counter-sunk for mounting.  Everything else is blank.

For the front body work, I am going to highline the body as outlined in the link below:

http://www.higherground4x4.com/2/diy-high-line-hood-mod-for-cheap

Anyways, that’s about it for now.  I'm open to comments, questions, and recommendations on the rear corners, and really just about everything I've done or will be doing here in the near future.

[Bill3753]

Ok, so its been a while since I updated this thread.  I'll have some new pictures to post soon.  Progress came to a stand still in the month of May, but I've started back up on it so hopefully soon my swap will be complete.

As an update though, the transmission mount and belly up skid is now complete and the motor mount lift is installed.  Sunday I pulled the transfer case and today Nate and I did the SYE kit install.  I used the mega short kit and it came out great.  We ended up tearing the entire case apart to clean and inspect everything.  Everything looked good and its now ready to go.

To keep everyone on track, this is what I still have left to do:

Paint Belly section of the under-body and belly skid.
Modify Engine Skid Plate for new Belly Skid + paint.
Install Transfer Case and adjust shift linkage.
Install 14 Bolt Rear.
Install 14 bolt hubs and brakes.
Build final rear bump stops to correct length.
Order rear CV Drive Shaft.
Install Fuel Cell and run fuel lines.
Install corner armor, cut to clearance and paint.
Install new tire carrier / bumper combo + paint.
Install new king pins in Dana 60.
Install Dana 60 Locker and gears.
Install New U-Joints in front axle shafts and reassemble the front axle + paint.
Fully weld front track bar bracket.
Grind and Finish weld front control arm brackets on the frame side.
Paint all front axle mounting locations.
Install Dana 60 Front.
Build crossover steering.
Build final front bump stops to correct length.
High-line Front Body and paint front frame rails while the fenders are off.
Modify air intake into the cowl area.
Run brake lines and bleed brakes.
Mount the wheels and tires.
4 wheel alignment.
Drink a Beer.

I know there are probably other little stuff here and there I left out, but that is basically all that's left.

I'll make sure to keep updating the thread with more pictures and get some new ones up soon.

[Bill3753]

Nate and I were talking tonight about how much the shave on my 14 bolt saved me, so I decided to start looking around for numbers to compair to.

These are all taken from the axle tube centerline to the bottom of the differental:

Dana 30 = 4 5/8"
Dana 44 = 5 1/2"
Ford 8.8 = 5 5/8"
Dana 60 = 5 7/8"
14 Bolt   = 7 1/4" to 8" Depending on what write up I found (Stock Numbers)

14 Bolt after my Shave = 5 5/8" to 5 3/4"

So, slightly better then a Dana 60 and just a little more then a Dana 44.  Maybe just about even with an 8.8.  Talk about big savings in ground clearance.  It was a TON of work to do it, but I am now very happy that I did. 

[Mr Rock]

That's pretty good! With the beef of the "13" bolt you'll crush rocks better than my 8.8 does now!

[Bill3753]

I'd post pictures up now, but its 2:30 in the morning so they'll have to wait for another time.

Just happy with my progress over the last few days and thought I'd share.

Anyways, the rig is now painted from the fire wall back including the frame rails, the belly skid is installed and painted, transmission mount is installed and painted, transfer case is installed, the shift linkage issues are now gone (took the drop links out and put back to stock, then adjusted as needed), and the 14 bolt is installed with the 4 link set up sitting at ride height.

To finish up the rear I need to paint the rear springs, paint the diff cover and truss support, build rear bump cans, install the shocks, and put the hubs on and it'll be ready to bolt on a set of wheels.  Should be able to get to this point tomorrow.  I'm also going to try to paint some other odds and ends then start gearing the front axle.  If I can get that much done, Wendsday the front axle should get installed.

[Bill3753]

So anyways, like I said the rear is done.  Its been a while since I posted anything new pictures wise, so here ya go.  As a side note, they axle IS NOT at ride hieght in these.  I have the axle being supported by jack stands and additional jack stands on the frame.  I did have the suspension supporting the total weight of the rear though and it set level.  I just feel more comfortable crawling around under it with the stands on the frame and addition support to the axle.  Once I get the front in I'll feel better.  Is just a little scary climbing under it with nothing to catch the front if it were to fall of the stands, so I am being safe about it with extra stands.

















So thats about it for now.  I had some problems getting the rear disc brake conversion to line up and also in converting the axle to a SRW set up, but other then that it went together very well.  Everything cycles perfect and the bump stops are right where they need to be.  Also, I ordered the rear drive shaft and it should be here Friday.

Anyways, the last two days have been spent on the front.  I am working on the gearing and locker install and its giving me a heck of a time.  I'm thinking I'm going to have to order a clam shell bearing puller and start focusing my efforts else where until it gets here.  Theres enough left to do it shouldn't hold me up, but it still sucks.  All I need to do to install the front is finish the gears and paint the axle.

I'll probably work on installing the fuel cell and corners today.  Maybe run a few brake lines and finish welding the front track bar bracket.  If I can get that done over the next few days I'll start the front high line.  That will just leave the front end install and steering set up left to finish it all up.

[Bill3753]

More pictures from today's work.

Pulled the old bumper, painted the rear frame cross member, and installed the new rear bumper:



Its actually really nice how it works.  It wraps around the original cross member with 3/16" plate, ties into the body mounts and then sandwiches the same cross member with an additional piece of 3/16" plate.  Then, it all ties into the frame with a two additional brackets to gusset everything to another area of the frame.

Best part is when its done its nearly flush to the rear of the tub.



It also makes the lower mounting location for the flip down tie carrier I am using.

After getting that all together, I started on the fuel cell.  It is really nice.







Here is one with the sending unit and fuel lines fully installed and ready to go.  I actually got all the lines hooked up as well and plugged in the sending unit, but I didn't get it fully bolted in and installed.  I'll finish it up tomorrow after which I'll start mounting up the corner armor.

[Bill3753]

Corner armor is on with the help of James, Fuel tank is just about done (need to drill two holes for final mounting), and I got the bearing puller today which works like a charm.  Now that I have it, I am working on gearing the 60 again.  Just need to finalize the shims for bearing preload on the carrier and I'll be ready to start checking pinion depth and backlash along with getting an initial contact pattern.

If everything goes right, tomorrow the gears and locker will be done.  I should also be able to paint the front axle, knuckles, spindles and other associated brackets to install the front.  Making good progress toward completion.