YJ Progress

[DirtyJeep92]

I belive Sean literally cut the bracket in half and bolted some angle iron in place till I welded them togethe

[calvynandhobbs]

Tonight I came to the realization that I'm a desk jockey and have never fabricated anything before. All I've done is repair things. Didn't think my plan through all the way before cutting metal and tacked a few things real quick to check for fitment. Nothing fit right. I need to rethink this thing.

[calvynandhobbs]

Rethought my seat bracket, cut some steel and test fit. My welding is ugly as I learn, but the new bracket put my seat exactly where I want it. In primer tonight for painting and mounting over the weekend.

[spgill2000]

Pics or it didn't happen! Lol

[calvynandhobbs]

Pics or it didn't happen! Lol

Took a few pics as I installed the seat last night.

The brackets after paint.


Height difference when installed.

[DirtyJeep92]

Thats a big difference!

[Mr Rock]

looks good!

[calvynandhobbs]

Ran into trouble tonight. Ed had been over and said I needed to shim the front axle and tip the axle forward to make sure the front driveshaft doesn't bind. Started it late tonight and put the shim in, but now the tie rid is against the top of the spring and the end won't seat. Unless I change my steering I think I'm going to have to not shim the front axle for now.

[toreadorranger]

Ran into trouble tonight. Ed had been over and said I needed to shim the front axle and tip the axle forward to make sure the front driveshaft doesn't bind. Started it late tonight and put the shim in, but now the tie rid is against the top of the spring and the end won't seat. Unless I change my steering I think I'm going to have to not shim the front axle for now.

What steering setup do you have now?  Also what is your caster set at?  Pictures don't load at work so I can't look back and see if any are posted of the setup.

[calvynandhobbs]

It's the RuffStuff 1 ton GM Y link steering with tie rod ends. I don't think I've taken a picture of the steering so I'll have to do that. I have home-made flat tops from the previous owner on the front D44 so it is OTK steering with a flat waggy steering arm. I had less than half an inch between top of the springs and the tie rod prior to trying to put a shim in it.

I bought the axles as a set from a guy that already had them set up for SOA so I thought the perch angles would be correct, but what I don't know is if he was running a tummy tuck or stock/sagged springs since my angles are a little off with the tummy tuck and new RE SOA springs.

[calvynandhobbs]

Here are a couple pics before I put the driver's side back together last night.

[toreadorranger]

I would measure your castor angle and make sure its in spec.  Its a more important number than driveshaft angle.  Bad castor and the jeep is going to be twitchy, wander all over the road and have poor return to center on the steering.  From there I would determine if you need to change your steering setup, not ideal but they make highsteer arm spacers, if you decided to go that route.  another option would be to swap to crossover and move the tie rod back down to the knuckles.  But I would start with castor first and determine if and how much the axle needs to be rotated to be inspec. 

Cut and turn of the inner C's is another option.

For example
http://www.ih8mud.com/tech/soa/5.html

[calvynandhobbs]

Mounted my winch last night and spooled the rope onto it this afternoon just before the rain started. I did use a wheel chock to make sure my Jeep didn't roll backward down the driveway. 

[Mr Rock]

Lmao!

[kirksjeep]

Roger- its been a while since I have logged on...Progress is looking good!  This might sound like a lot of work, but you could cut the spring perches off, rotate the axle to the right angle for the driveshaft and then weld the spring perches back on.  This is how I did the angle for my 8.8 swap and it worked well.