Yellow Jeep Rebuild

[Eye4Mud]

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.....

[Eye4Mud]

A few pics on how it got there......

Everything stripped out, old axles, suspension, and ready to get worked on..... oh year it appears to be floating...

Rear of jeep old corners stripped off, ready for sanding and repaint... then fitting of new armor....

New TNT customs fenders held in place.. ready to remove and cut

New TNT fenders in place, cut off old axle bracketry off frame also...

Genright 15.5 Gallon Tank getting ready for test fit....

Rear of jeep complete minus new rear bumper...

New Stazworks 17x8 double beadlocks... with 39.5 Irok Radials in place....

Rear Axle getting mocked up, new brackets getting tacked in place ect...

Coors Light helping counterweight a spring mount....

Steering and front Tracbar being mocked up.

[Eye4Mud]

Front Axle fully mocked up, everything tacked in place....

New Rock Krawler center skidplate mounts welded and painted....

All new control Arms painted and assembled.... Lowers are 2 inch solid stock, uppers are 1.5 solid stock, made by rockkrawler, chose these for 2 reasons #1 RockKrawlers U Break-It we'll replace it warranty, and #2 higher clearance then straight control arms.

Rear Axle Welded and ready to go under jeep...

Front Axle welded, Knuckles in place and prepped to go under jeep....

Near tallest point on bags.... Center Skid 28 Inches from ground..

[Eye4Mud]

Ok, so some more details on buiild....

For steering I used 1.5x.250 DOM for tierod and Draglink with 3/4 Heat and Cryo treated Heims from Ruff Stuff.
Front Trackbar is 1.75x.250 DOM with 7/8 Heat and Cryo treated Heims from Ruff Stuff.
Front and rear spring perches and front upper spring perches all came from Rough Stuff
Control Arm mounts, shock tabs and other misc tabs came from Ballistic Fab.

Gas Tank info.... Had to seperate charcoal cannister in to 3 seperate pieces to fit, the actual cannister is near stock location, turned sideways with a modified bracket, and the sender and evap filter were both mounted to underside of tub directly above gas tank... yes you can fit them there if you have a 1" body lift or more, which I do. Also had to combine the 2 vent hoses off the top of the tank with the vent hose coming from the fuel rail into one input into the cannister. Used a YJ style fuel filler neck as you can see in the above pic. No check engine lights or codes so far.

Exhaust was removed up to the cat, I then pushed the cat back toward the engine and put the muffler a small magnaflow, directly behind it with the exhaust pipe pointing down right behind center skid, but not hanging below it.

Transfercase is still factory Rubicon 4.1 for now. Upgraded to 5.38 gears, which went onto a Detroit in the rear and an ARB in the front. New MOOG ball joints in the knuckles along with a new Heavy Duty Warn front lockout kit. all new seals and bearing throughout front axle. Rear got similar treatement, all new seals and bearings for the full floater.

After all is said and done the total build took about 2 weeks if you dont include the time I spent waiting on parts.... cough BALLISTIC cough...

The new specs are....
80 Inches Wide, 100 Inch WB..... 5.38's, 4.1 T-case, Rockkrawler stretch longarm using Airock Bags with 14 inch shocks in front and 12 inch shocks in rear, sitting on Dana 60 rear and HP Dana 44 front both out of a 78 Ford F-250HD with 39.5x13.5x17 Iroks.

Happy Trails!


now if some of this snow would melt around here so I can go play in the rocks...... guess I'll just have to goto the hammers to test it out... hehe
__________________

[Eye4Mud]

Things still on to-do list....


-Hydraulic Assist steering....

-Install Bump Stops --- DONE!

-Install Limit straps

-Install new rock lights

-Install LED offroad lights in front

Always a work in progres.....

J.E.E.P. = Just Empty Every Pocket!

[miguelitojeep97]

if your running 40s why not just go with a D60 up front? Maybe im wrong, but you might regret that later.

[New2image]

a HP Dana 44 from a F250 is stout enough to handle these 40s and Roberts driving anyways great build.

[aw12345]

if your running 40s why not just go with a D60 up front? Maybe im wrong, but you might regret that later.

I am with ya there, seen more than a few Dana 44 stub shafts bite the dust, my buddy Steve's Green Booger used to eat those things on just about every hammers trip. Another friend with a very nicely built and well performing TJ killed one on Sledge hammer on our last trip out at the hammers. The axle housing and knuckles are plenty strong, the U joints and shafts are not.
Here is a match up of axle shafts out of a stock Dana 30 TJ housing and the shaft out of a High pinion Dana 44.





Other than that very nice Jeep built, how do you like the air ride?

[Eye4Mud]

The Dana 44 HP housing is 3 inch O.D. and 1/2 inch wall... housing is plenty strong, yes the weakness is in the axles, but I have a couple of sets to break, so when they break I will go with RCV's and not worry again.

You can't beat the airride suspension on and offroad.... on the pavement it rides like and old caddy, offroad I can speed through very rough sections at ridiculous speeds that no one in a regular leaf sprung of slinky jeep can keep up with, plus when in off camber situations I can manipulate the suspension to keep the jeep level and COG down

[Eye4Mud]

Ohh and about the Dana 44, the rubicon 44 I had in there, I drove on 37's for 5 years and never broke a front shaft..... has alot to do with your style of wheeling and how you use the skinny pedal regardless of the terrain.

[RAT]

Ohh and about the Dana 44, the rubicon 44 I had in there, I drove on 37's for 5 years and never broke a front shaft..... has alot to do with your style of wheeling and how you use the skinny pedal regardless of the terrain.

Yep, I ran 35s on a D30 for 4 years, now running 37s on a D44 with no problems EXCEPT for a brand new set of RCV axles taking a dump on me in Moab. But I got a new set from them so we'll see. Jeep looks real good. I sent you a PM about the 60 rear.

[aw12345]

To be honest I believe the Rubicon outers are marginally stronger than the Ford or Chevy outers, One buddy on our last run sheared his stub shaft right next to the outer splines on a Chevy stub shaft, those things are pretty skimpy there.

[miguelitojeep97]

The reason I ask is not to have the debate of how much stronger one is from the other, its the simple case of why not... Since you are building from scratch, seems like it would be nearly the same price to buy something that will be twice as strong. Anyway... ON WITH THE BUILD!

[Eye4Mud]

Miguel, actually I searched high and low for a matching Front Dana 60, but since I need one from 1977 1/2 to 1979 the pickings are slim, and those that are out there people want ridiculous money for them. Eventually I will end up with a 60 or a 9 inch in the front when I come across one that meets my needs

[aw12345]

Yup those darn things are hard to come by. I paid 450 for a housing, added Chevy Knuckles, new Chevy rotors and the ride from upstate Newyork and ended up paying close to a 1000 for it. Truthfully that is all I wanted anyway. They seem to be available some places back east. Looking for them here is like a needle in a hay stack at best. Yes the reason for the whole exercise was to be able to wheel without worrying about breaking stuff. I wrench enough during the week, do not care to do so when having fun on the weekend. Bu the way I love Yellow Jeeps and would love that airride on my little Jeep.