The Mud Pit > Wrenching
Bill's 1 Ton TJ Build
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. ;D
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