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Tweaks build thread.

123K views 733 replies 68 participants last post by  Sgt_USMC 
#1 ·
Alright so the fun is just starting! I figured I would post up a build thread since there arent really all that many hardcore build threads on WF, maybe I can motivate some people! This is my first time ever attempting anything like this. I have tons of help here from the club but if anyone has any advice I am more than willing to listen!

I have been running a trussed Dana 30 with 37's for the last 10000 miles, and I just dont feel comfortable with that and there is no way I am going smaller than 37".

a tube buggy guy from the club had a spare unmolested Dana 60 laying around. I figured that would give me some confidence! I paid a little more than I wanted to for it, $1100, but if you read on you will see that it was worth it. It was pulled from a 91 F350 SRW. has everything from wheel to wheel.

we picked it up in the kandy van/tow rig. it barely fit!

Alright, now I have seen used gears before, and assuming the old ford had at least 300,000 miles on it like they usually do, it looks to me like these arent the original gears. they are 4.10's. Not sure how I feel about them.... I know I will have to regear my rear 44 which currently has 3.73's, but the little voice in me says I need to go ahead and pull out these great looking gears. Better in the long run.

when I opened her up not even a quart of oil came out, and it was leaking badly around the pinion. if I had left it pinion down overnight I am sure it would have been empty.

30 spline outers, 35 inners. I know eventually I will be upgrading to 35 spline outers, but since I am only running 37's for now, 30 spline shafts will be fine until I can come up with the cash. Besides, I really want to use these Superwinch locking hubs that came on it. Another thing that caught my eye, that grease looks brand new. It doesnt even look like it had a chance to get slung around. The wheel bearings themselves look great but Ill be replacing them anyways.

Found another goodie when I took the rotors off of the spindle, they were clearly machined recently and I dont think they drove a mile after. Hell even the brake pads are brand new! Pistons look awesome!

These U-Joints still have a few thousand miles on them!


Currently I am stuck trying to get the lower kingpins off of the knuckle. its a pin with a cap that mounts flush to the underside of the knuckle with 4 bolts. It is so flush that I can not pry it out and I really dont want to damage the cast. Ill probably make a tool to allow me to twist it using 2 of the 4 bolt holes. The upper kingpins look great. I wouldnt be surprised if they were new.

And that is where I am on the teardown. My plans are to have dynatrac hook me up with ABS, regear it to 513-538, new joints, fab my own double tri 4 link, ARB locker, hydro assist, tie rod, complete bearing and seal rebuild, King 14" coilovers and maybe Artec's new truss. This will be a long slow build on a tiny budget but it will get done right. Further on down the road I plan on installing a 14b rear, because a 44 back there is just silly!
 
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#4 ·
alright, so it has been about 7 months since I have last posted on this, mostly because progress has been slow over the winter due to lots of wheeling trips taking all my money.

picked up a 14 bolt


Drilling out high steer arms

Brackets are a pain in the butt

same guy I bought the 60 from sold me an ARB with compressor for $500

it was pulled out of the blue one. propane 454





got a box of stuff from Ballistic Fab, good thing the quality was garbage and they sent me the wrong misalignment spacers...


fortunately the brackets are all great.
 
#5 ·
the great thing about working with a 60 is that they are almost identical in axle tube length when compared with the 30 and 44, the width difference is in everything outboard of the forged ends. this allowed me to simply find the center of each axle, measure out to the center of the spring perch, and duplicate that on the 60. unfortunately the 91 kingpin ford axle has a very short drivers side tube (this is because of the wider frames found in trucks of that year) so I will have to modify the drivers side spring bucket to sit flat on the old leaf spring perch with one side, and on the tube itself with the other.





This is about how my lower links will sit. they will be angled up a bit more, just couldnt get my PVC links in there with the midarms still on!

lower links will be 3 foot bolt to bolt, ballistic heims on axle end and bushings at the frame end. single upper coming off of the inside of the passenger frame rail.


one road block I have is the fact that my trackbar bracket has 5/8" holes, while my Rock Krawler trackbar has 9/16". I shot rock krawler an email, all I need are new misalignment spacers, thats about $11 a pair. Awesome!
 
#9 ·
only 500 views? come on guys, there is actual fabrication going on here on WF, that never happens!
the steering isnt done, the tie rod is getting moved down to the OEM location on the knuckles and the drag link is getting moved forward on the high steer arms. of course not until I fill it full of 5.38's and an ARB! should be here next week!

the passenger side was a royal pain in the butt. had to cut some of the cast tube off and chop the pretty Ballistic Fab spring perches to pieces. my MIG went crazy so ill post up some pictures of that when I clean it up a bit.

essentially, this is a Dana 60 that will bolt directly into a bone stock JK minus the upper control arms. spring perches and LCA brackets are in the OEM location. still need to work on finding a shock solution but that shouldnt be hard.


up next! I will be busting out the 14 bolt which should be a hell of a lot easier than this thing
 
#12 ·
You mean you can actually build stuff for a JK? Lol thanks for being one of those built not bought guys. It irritates me how people build them out of a catalog and then still dunno how to drive it. Should turn out pretty good. How much separation at the axle end? And just curious as to why you had to love the tie rod down to the factory spot.
 
#13 ·
You mean you can actually build stuff for a JK? Lol thanks for being one of those built not bought guys. It irritates me how people build them out of a catalog and then still dunno how to drive it. Should turn out pretty good. How much separation at the axle end? And just curious as to why you had to love the tie rod down to the factory spot.
I forget what my separation is, but the brackets are welded up against the C's. separation is identical to OEM location. this 60 is actually not that wide, all the extra length comes from the knuckles and spindle and hub.

I have to move the tie rod down mostly because the high steer arms bring it up so high that it will be contacting the frame. A little worried that I may have to do something with the drag link as well. I should add that this jeep is my daily driver, so I am unable to pull it in the garage and leave it on jackstands for a month while I figure things out. this leaves me with a LOT of measuring, remeasuring, and measuring some more to be sure everything fits right.
 
#18 ·
well great, now I have to build a spare tire carrier.


got a switch solution set up.


so I found this at work. we were throwing away the old arresting gear antifreeze tanks, this little guy has been supporting a 4 pound light for a few years. that's 2" .50 wall DOM. 6 4' sections of it. thinking about threading it and putting my 1.25 heims into it for rear links. saves me a hundred or so.


got my solid diff cover and the rest of my seals, paid $65 for the cover and it even came with a giant tube of RTV that will last me forever. I was just going to run the stock cover but for $65 how could I not. if anyone needs diff covers solid is selling everything, 14 bolt and sterling are $94, everything else is $65.
 
#19 ·
my biggest limiting factor in this build has been the fact that I have only one vehicle and that I was making that one vehicle less and less street worthy. I told myself I needed a beater that I could put a ton of miles on and would tow the JK just fine, so I picked up a 7.3. $3300 with only a bajillion miles on it. very well maintained, I keep finding more and more parts that are obviously not factory. the fuel tank even has shipping material on it still.

as for the build, waiting on the worlds smallest torque wrench.
 
#20 ·
my biggest limiting factor in this build has been the fact that I have only one vehicle and that I was making that one vehicle less and less street worthy. I told myself I needed a beater that I could put a ton of miles on and would tow the JK just fine, so I picked up a 7.3. $3300 with only a bajillion miles on it. very well maintained, I keep finding more and more parts that are obviously not factory. the fuel tank even has shipping material on it still. http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/Trey_McHattie/media/2014-05-28_171448_zps0142ddd3.jpg.html as for the build, waiting on the worlds smallest torque wrench.
That's something I've been thinking about doing next year. Getting a daily driver and sitting the jeep on jack stands to do coil overs or ORI struts next year.
 
#25 ·
I am not as good as I look! having issues getting the gear pattern just right. taking it to my rock bouncer buddy tomorrow to get things sorted out.

in other news, I traded a rifle scope for 2 14" Sway-Away race runner coilovers so I get to hack off those coil buckets that I spent so much time welding on. may just leave them on and use them as bump stop pads.
 
#28 ·
It felt so good to spend an entire day doing nothing but wrenching. no driving around, no spending money.



drilled out the knuckles, got the ARB working and put the cover on (hopefully for the last time), made magic happen with the torque wrench, installed the tie rod, ujoints are done, shafts are in, driver side even has brakes. ran into an issue with the superwinch hubs. I seem to be missing the springs that actually disengage the hub from the shaft. they are super crappy anyways and will probably explode the first time I put the jeep in 4wd so I may just get some drive slugs.
 
#38 ·
got my drive flanges, courtesy of yukon.

dont worry, I wont be running those BFG 35's, ill be running these!

look out everyone! its coilovertowerman! wolverines strange cousin!


I have to buy a MIG now, was borrowing a buddies 110v hobart for the easy stuff and taking it to a real welder for the hard stuff but due to a disagreement I took it all back. found a buyer for my Z400 so Ill have a brand new Hobart 210mvp this weekend.
 
#40 ·
little update. my coilovers are so huge that they require a very tall coilover tower which requires getting rid of some of the plastic crap above the passenger wheel well in the engine bay. IE the battery!

shouldnt be too much of a hassle to move it to the rear of the vehicle.

HOPEFULLY picking up a MIG tomorrow
 
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