Soooo..... after breaking plenty of parts and wheeling the toughest terrain the west coast has to offer..... it was time to rebuild, as metal fatigue had set in on most of the parts after wheelin for 5+ years on 37's with stock Dana 44 housings.
The Plan....
-Upgrade Both Axles to axles out of a 78 F-250. So I came up with an HD 60 regular pinon for the rear and a HD HP Dana 44 for the front, both from the same year vehicle.
-Upgrade steering to 1.5 x .250 DOM tubing and to true Hi-Steer using the flat-top knuckles that are found stock on 77 1/2 through 79 F-250 axles.
-Upgrade to 3 Link Front and triangulated 4 link rear, while also replacing center skidplate, using at least 2" DOM for the links.
-Stretch rear axle back by 5 inches, push front forward by an inch.
-Replace factory gas tank with Gen-Right Crawler tank to allow for 5 inch stretch in rear.
-Upgrade to 17 inch wheels with 40 or 42 inch tires.
-Re-gear to 5.38 gears, using a Detroit locker in the rear and an ARB locker in the front.
So a little background on this project..... Bought jeep new in Aug 2004 fully loaded dual tops, smokers package, premium sound ect.....
Initial jeep build in Jan 2005 put the jeep on 37's with 4.88 gears using factory housings, but with chromoly shafts front and rear, OffRoadOnly's Airock suspension 6" using the Rubicon Express 5.5 LA control arms and skidplate setup. Also had an OffroadOnly U-Turn steering system and Swayloc all newer top of the line products then. Along the way the jeep got some other stuff, full armor from front to back, some Misc Nth Degree parts, and other aftermarket accessories. It was a very capable vehicle.... drove it to and from the trails and everywhere in between. About a year ago I managed to bend both tubes on the rear housing, which in turn blew up 3 sets of spider gears in the factory rubicon lockers... upgraded to ARB, but I knew I would need to upgrade axle sooner then later. Later last summer, broke the Sway-loc and rear swaybar 2 times, bent both rear chromoly shafts and the rubicon express skidplate was badly bent and bowed in the middle! So... needless to say... time to upgrade.
So now here we are.... the jeep is complete minus a rear driveshaft (wich i should have from HAD this week) and some brake parts... will post pics of the shakedown run in a couple weeks. :smokin:
So to the pics.....
This is how it started in late 2004 not long after purchase.....
Just after original build Jan 2005.....
Just before start of teardown
How it looks right now, April 2011
to be continued.....
The Plan....
-Upgrade Both Axles to axles out of a 78 F-250. So I came up with an HD 60 regular pinon for the rear and a HD HP Dana 44 for the front, both from the same year vehicle.
-Upgrade steering to 1.5 x .250 DOM tubing and to true Hi-Steer using the flat-top knuckles that are found stock on 77 1/2 through 79 F-250 axles.
-Upgrade to 3 Link Front and triangulated 4 link rear, while also replacing center skidplate, using at least 2" DOM for the links.
-Stretch rear axle back by 5 inches, push front forward by an inch.
-Replace factory gas tank with Gen-Right Crawler tank to allow for 5 inch stretch in rear.
-Upgrade to 17 inch wheels with 40 or 42 inch tires.
-Re-gear to 5.38 gears, using a Detroit locker in the rear and an ARB locker in the front.
So a little background on this project..... Bought jeep new in Aug 2004 fully loaded dual tops, smokers package, premium sound ect.....
Initial jeep build in Jan 2005 put the jeep on 37's with 4.88 gears using factory housings, but with chromoly shafts front and rear, OffRoadOnly's Airock suspension 6" using the Rubicon Express 5.5 LA control arms and skidplate setup. Also had an OffroadOnly U-Turn steering system and Swayloc all newer top of the line products then. Along the way the jeep got some other stuff, full armor from front to back, some Misc Nth Degree parts, and other aftermarket accessories. It was a very capable vehicle.... drove it to and from the trails and everywhere in between. About a year ago I managed to bend both tubes on the rear housing, which in turn blew up 3 sets of spider gears in the factory rubicon lockers... upgraded to ARB, but I knew I would need to upgrade axle sooner then later. Later last summer, broke the Sway-loc and rear swaybar 2 times, bent both rear chromoly shafts and the rubicon express skidplate was badly bent and bowed in the middle! So... needless to say... time to upgrade.
So now here we are.... the jeep is complete minus a rear driveshaft (wich i should have from HAD this week) and some brake parts... will post pics of the shakedown run in a couple weeks. :smokin:
So to the pics.....
This is how it started in late 2004 not long after purchase.....
Just after original build Jan 2005.....
Just before start of teardown
How it looks right now, April 2011
to be continued.....
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