Another XJ on Superduty axles

[Chino the filipino]

I got my xj a few years back. When I bought it it had a 3" lift, 32" KM2s, SYE and ARBs front and rear. Best of all, I got it for $1900! It was a fun jeep. I added some lights and built a roof rack.

Well I soon found out that 32s just weren't big enough for the terrain I was wheeling so I ordered up some 5.5 springs, drop brackets and traded my 32s for a set of 35s. Wheeled it like that for a while until again, the holes and rocks I was playing on were just too big lol I sold my roof rack (made my xj pretty too heavy) and picked up a set of 38 TSL SXs. Awesome tire but as I'm sure you all know, my axles and u joint weren't happy. I found a D60 and a Sterling 10.5 for $500 and jumped on it. Sadly, my pretty much brand new 38x12.50R15 would fit on these axles because of rim size. Sold my tires, lift and stock axles (with arbs) to a buddy to help fund my axle swap.

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[Chino the filipino]

And the uniframe plating begins..

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[Chino the filipino]

Next was the crossmember..

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[Chino the filipino]

Next I hacked off some of the cast center section and fitted up some Ballistic coil/shock/link mounts

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[Chino the filipino]

Slid the 60 under the jeep and started mocking up links with some schedule 80 PVC pipe. Looking for about 4-5 inches of stretch and that warranted moving my steering box forward about 2 or 3 inches..

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[Chino the filipino]

Started plating and had to fab up a new track bar mount. The one I originally bought didn't have enough drop and wasn't offset enough to get my drag link and track bar close in length and parallel so this I what I came up with..

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[POSJ]

Very nice, can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

[smokeyyank]

Swweeettt! You doing a 3 link in the front.

 

[Chino the filipino]

Yessir! Just waiting on a YJ pitman arm to finalize my steering and I'll have her back on the ground

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[smokeyyank]

Nice! Your fab skills are awesome those welds are fn clean. Out of curiostiy why did you go passenger side for the upper? I eventually want to go 3 link on my rig and have heard different points on why peple go driver vs passenger and vis versa.

 

[Chino the filipino]

Thanks man! I went with upper on the passenger side for a few reasons. One there is just more room over there. It's a lot easier to reroute the exhaust a little bit then deal with moving/clocking the transfer case. Also, my crossmember is 2x5 rectangle. If you look at the ends of it in the pics above, I notches them so it would fit higher up into the "framerails". And since I won't be trussing this axle, I wanted the upper arm to land on the axle tube. I just felt better about welding to that rather than the cast steel center lol so ya simply put, it came down to what fit where

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[Ghost]

Looking good. Is that cross member one you built?

 

[Chino the filipino]

Ya I built it myself. I ended up cutting one side of the upper arm bracket off and integrating it into the flange that bolts to the center section.

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[smokeyyank]

Thanks man! I went with upper on the passenger side for a few reasons. One there is just more room over there. It's a lot easier to reroute the exhaust a little bit then deal with moving/clocking the transfer case. Also, my crossmember is 2x5 rectangle. If you look at the ends of it in the pics above, I notches them so it would fit higher up into the "framerails". And since I won't be trussing this axle, I wanted the upper arm to land on the axle tube. I just felt better about welding to that rather than the cast steel center lol so ya simply put, it came down to what fit where

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I've read through a bunch of stuff on here and pirate trying to figure it out. Personally, I think passenger side works better but had some people say driver side because you control pinon angle during droop which didn't make sense because the mount is still on top of the axle.

How much are you stretching the WB?

 

[Chino the filipino]

I really don't think it matters (driver or passenger) as far as pinion adjustment cause technically I would think they would do the same thing regardless of what side the upper is on.. But pirate is pirate.. lol another reason I went passenger is because I'm using 1.25 heim on both ends of the upper with 2 5/8 mounting width misalignment spacers so I physically just didn't want to use up all the space for all that on the drivers side. But I have seen it done!

I'm trying to get 4-5 stretch in the front and I am running full Chevy S-10 leaf springs in the the rear that gave me about 4 inches as well out back. With my stock rear end it just barely cleared the gas tank.. With the Sterling, I'm gonna have to figure something out cause it overlaps the gas tank by about 2 inches now.. I really don't want the gas tank inside the cab so we'll see what I can move to make it work lol

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[Ghost]

MJ leaf springs are supposed to stretch 3" but I've never tested it. Ford F150 2WD leafs, I have a bastard pack with the F150 main leaf and alcan 6" lift springs, give 3" of stretch and clear my D60 rear.

 

[Chino the filipino]

MJ leaf springs are supposed to stretch 3" but I've never tested it. Ford F150 2WD leafs, I have a bastard pack with the F150 main leaf and alcan 6" lift springs, give 3" of stretch and clear my D60 rear.

Good to know. What size tire are you running? With my 38s and the S10 springs, I did have much clearance at the front of the wheel well

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[Ghost]

Good to know. What size tire are you running? With my 38s and the S10 springs, I did have much clearance at the front of the wheel well

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42'S SXII

 

[Chino the filipino]

Nice! Clear everything pretty good back there? Any pics?

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[Chino the filipino]

Welded up my links and burned in the crossmember

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