A different cage

[RockControlXJ]

Looks great, gotta love the low trucks. How high are you at the belly now with the 3" lift??

 

[Zebaru]

Looks great, gotta love the low trucks. How high are you at the belly now with the 3" lift??

Not real sure, but somewhere around 15-16" seems about right. I tried to keep everything flush with the frame rails, but the t-case skid actually dips down a bit, partly due to bad positioning when I welded it, and partly because it is right where the frame kicks up. So as the frame kicks up, the skid stays straight, and hangs maybe 1/2"-3/4" lower at the back

I can tell you that what I hit most often is my body side LCA mounts, and my front leaf mounts. I anticipated that in the build (from dragging my Xj on 31's all over the place), so both of those mounts were plated with 3/16" - they should hold up despite the abuse. I rarely drag the t-case skid or x-member, but do occasionally. And even with the re-routed and raised exhaust that sits no lower than the frame rails at any point, I hit it now and then as well.

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Sorry, no pics, and I have no idea about an ax-15, but on the AW4, it was really easy. So easy in fact that I did it without reading about it first or anything. Just looking at the back of the tranny convinvced me it would work.

The adapter on the back of the AW4 is easily removable, and there is about an inch of clean flat space clockwise of all the bolt holes (like it was designed for multiple clocking angles).

I simply took that adapter off, scribed some new hole markings, center punched them, and drilled them out on the drill press... I am not sure I would have tried it with the tranny on the rig, but I am sure it could be done.

The t-case shifter fit fine, but doesn't shift as smoothly as before. Perhaps with some adjustment, that would be fixed. As it is, it works, so I have not taken any time to do anything about it.

Also, with as far as I rotated the case, I had to really hack into the floor for clearance, both for the case itself, and the driveshaft. More lift might resolve the driveshaft issue, but raising the case an inch is just like lifting an inch, so you will end up with driveshaft bind sooner...

I also did a t-case clock on my AW4/231 combo. I was the first person to have done it that I knew of. In any case, I didn't want to rotate it quite as far as Zebaru did, so I needed to fill the original holes first and then redrill the pattern on the drill press with the new holes offset on the original holes. I filled them with aluminum rod that was turned to be a fairly tight fit and then used JB weld when pressing in the plugs. I used a grinder to clean up the plugs and JB weld overflow then marked the new hole positions and drilled away. Worked well and raised the front output from the t-case just enough to clear my flat 2x6 crossmember. I also took a piece of 1.75" tube, bent it in a U shape and welding that to the back of the crossmember. I added tabs and bolted a flat plate to the bottom of the U using counter sunk bolts. This extends back from the bottom of the crossmember and covers the bottom of the t-case. As viewed from the side, it also looks like it drops lower than the frame where the frame kicks up just like Zebaru mentioned although it is flush with the bottom of the front portion of the uni-frame. If you search around on this site, you should find a thread where I posted links to pictures of this work. Jeff

 

[adamusmc2002]

really nice man, great job.

 

[NXJ]

So, what's the verdict? Did the dimensions work out for you? More pics?

 

[Zebaru]

So, I had a few things left to take care of with this rig, and I finally got around to doing them.

I converted the AC compressor to OBA - nothing out of line with what everyone else has done...

I added a winch under the passenger seat.

I finished off most the tube and body work.

And I put in a 231 with SYE from my other rig. The case shifts alot better now, so I think it just needed adjusting before...

A few more details in the following posts.

 

[Zebaru]

First, the winch…

Nothing special, just a Summit (T-Max) winch. I mounted it right below and in front of the passenger seat. There is a fairlead on the floor, and the line runs out just above the starter and below the motor mounts. I built a simple UHMW lined fairlead on my existing bumper. For line, I am running 7/16” Yale Crystalyne, which is a double braid Polyester over Vectran.

I have not had any hard pulls with it yet, so I have no idea how well it will work…

Worst case scenario I have to build a more traditional bumper mount.

 

[Zebaru]

The new c-hoop/taillight protector and C-hoop down bars…

The new c-hoop bar basically runs from the rear leaf spring mount up and around the lights, over the fenders, and up and over the roof. It sits just behind the c-pillar, and should offer protection to the sides and lights as well as extra protection for the c-pillar itself.

I also added a couple of straight down bars to put some beef in the c-hoop. The original c-pillars actually tied into the rear fender, and I just wasn’t convinced that they were strong enough.

 

[Zebaru]

The roof halo…

I have decent overhead protection with the internal roof bars, but I wanted some extra roof and windshield protection if I go turtle. So I ran a simple hoop around the top, overhanging the front a bit, and terminating at my new c-pillar. The hoop is tied into the A and B overhead bars, and I made some rings that I welded in to more or less seal up the roof.

You can see it in a few of the other pictures, and I dont really have a good shot of just the halo bars, but here is how it attaches in the back…

 

[Zebaru]

Stinger/Radiator hoop…

I didn’t want to have to worry about my engine/radiator if I went over, so I added a little hoop to protect the front. It just attaches to the bumper. I added supports that go back under the fenders to the tube I have running down the front of the coil bucket. I am not super impressed with how it turned out, but it should do the trick. Of course, now the tubes will have to be cut to take the bumper off or the header panel out, but I will deal with that later if I have to. (Hope that winch works out...)

 

[Zebaru]

So, a few more gussets here and there, and a little more paint, and I will finally be done with this beast to the point I had originally intended, a mere two years after I started…

In all I have used:

180' of 2" tube
18' of 2"x 4" tube
20' of 3"x3" angle
most of 2 4x8 sheets of 16 gauge sheet

And the total build cost was around $5k - and that was starting with a free rig.

 

[JeepinCoastie]

good luck if that winch line snaps....

like it but i wouldnt do it ...

 

[Zebaru]

good luck if that winch line snaps....

like it but i wouldnt do it ...

I wont be doing any winching with a passenger in the seat, and I feel pretty okay with sitting a couple feet to the side.

There shouldn't be alot of stored energy in that line. I have seen several synthetic winch lines snap under load, and in each case, they simply fell to the ground...

Even so, this may turn out to be a bad idea - but I rarely have a passenger, and I didnt want a winch hanging off the front, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

 

[XJ_ranger]

any thoughts on heat protection? perhaps look into www.winchline.com 'fireline' which has a much higher melting temp than other winch line...
That would be my main concern with the winch there...

awesome ideas, great exicution.

 

[Zebaru]

any thoughts on heat protection? perhaps look into www.winchline.com 'fireline' which has a much higher melting temp than other winch line...
That would be my main concern with the winch there...

awesome ideas, great exicution.

I had not thought heat would be a big problem. Being on the opposite side as the exhaust, and running below the motor mounts (about at the oil pan flange level) how much heat do you really think it would see?

Then again, on the one run I went on with this installed, I just kept all the line in the cab because I didn't want to deal with it getting wet and dirty. I just ran a short sacrificial leader out to the front so I didnt have to crawl under the rig to run the line if I needed it. As long as that seems to work when I acutally need to use it, that is what I am going to continue to do, and that will take care of alot of the potential problems...

And, the core of the Crystalyne is Vectran, which is an LCP, and more or less what Warn uses for the first part of their synth line, so hopefully it will be up to the task.

 

[JeepinCoastie]

I wont be doing any winching with a passenger in the seat, and I feel pretty okay with sitting a couple feet to the side.

There shouldn't be alot of stored energy in that line. I have seen several synthetic winch lines snap under load, and in each case, they simply fell to the ground...

Even so, this may turn out to be a bad idea - but I rarely have a passenger, and I didnt want a winch hanging off the front, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

dont get me wrong nice rig and good idea ... and your right @ least its not hanging off the front ...

but IDK ... ive seen what just simple tow straps and lines do when they snap back ... but who knows i could be wrong ...

good luck and like i said NICE RIG