New winter beater.....possible new wheeler as well

[DirtyJeep92]

Score!

[toreadorranger]

In preps to start rebuilding the front D60, I needed a stand to throw the axle on.  I had a old engine stand laying around so I modified it to hold the axle.  Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get the axle up on the stand.  Ran out of daylight today.

[Big Chuck]

Brilliant!

[toreadorranger]

I have a choice to make.  I was originally going to regear the front D60 to 4.10 to match my rear sterling.  But I was thinking that I could just swap to a CUCV rear 14bolt with 4.56's and a Detroit, then regear the front to match the 14bolt, benefit would be a better ratio for the 38's and a Detroit.  Sterling is similar in strength and has better ground clearance, but lockers and gears are more expensive than most axles it seems.

[toreadorranger]

Got the front axle up on the stand.  rolls around nice and easy and is pretty sturdy.  In the future I may add a brace or two for some extra reinforcement

[toreadorranger]

All the misc parts all cleaned up. 



Since the Ford knuckles are known to break or crack at the upper kingpins, I bought a set of rydel fab gussets to add to them.

Rydels photos but hopefully mine should come out just as nice.

[toreadorranger]

Had to get the truck towed home from Mass this week.  I was going to pick up a rear axle and the water pump seize up on me then lost the front shaft seal and dumped all my coolant.  New water pump is on its way going to start looking into a set of electric fans for it as well.

[skibum]

1big Flex a Light 180. Those suckers move some air. Or an old Ford Taurus fan.

[toreadorranger]

yea, I was eyeing up the Taurus fans, apparently some mid 90's Volvos had the same fans as the Taurus and are prewired with a relay, making them even easier to swap.

[toreadorranger]

Finally got the truck all back together.  35 Spline stub shafts are in the mail, and I think I found a free set of 4.10 gears for the D60, so once I get those I can start putting it all back together.

[toreadorranger]

Now that the buggy is gone, this has become the main wheeling project.  Id like to actually make it out on the trail next spring. 

I picked up a free set of 4.10 gears for the front 60.  Anyone have a Spartan locker?  Been looking at those for the front axle. 

I've lost the brakes a couple times now due to bad lines, so I'm in the process of all new brakes.  Fronts are done, all copper nickel lines so shouldn't have any more problems.  By sheer dumb luck, the calipers on my D44HD TBB are the same that my kingpin D60 uses so I won't have to redo the brakes at all when I swap the axle in.  Plan is to drive the truck in current condition through the winter then swap the front D60 in and build an internal cage in the spring. 

[toreadorranger]

Not much to update.  I'm looking for a little bit more reliable winter beater at the moment as the truck is really not a fan of the cold weather.  Its fine plugged in at the house but after sitting all day when I go to leave work, it takes a bit to start enough that the other day I only got two glow plug cycles out of it and I had to get the jump pack out.  On the plus side getting a different DD allows me to not have to worry about the road manners on the truck as much. 

That being said I got all new brakes including lines on the front end of the truck, another upside is the D44HD TTB in the front of the truck uses the same exact calipers as my replacement D60 so those will swap right over when that goes in.  I also found a really good deal on a set of SolidAxle D60 Knuckles, to replace the stock set that have been known to crack. 

[toreadorranger]

coming back to this as the weather is improving. 

It has been having issues starting I would get one maybe two shots at turning over before the batteries were dead so I'm in the process of new batteries and all new battery cables, was not happy about the $250 for 2 batteries but they should last a while now so I should be good.  Picked up a master install kit for my D60, so hopefully in the next couple weeks I can get it over to my friends shop and they are going to give me a crash course on gear setup.  Need a few more parts still before it can really come together but its getting closer.  Still need new wheel centers for my H1 beadlocks and a steering kit for the front end.  In the mean time I'm going to start designing bumpers and sliders and looking into relocating the fuel tank.

[toreadorranger]

I was able to find a company that made factory replacement Positive cables for cheaper than I could make them, but no one makes negatives, so I made my own today.  1/0 Wire, Crimped and soldered lugs with adhesive heat shrink over the top and military terminals.

[DirtyJeep92]

How soon before this 5 hung hits the trail?