Build: "full body" tons and 40s

[DrivnXJ]

Thanks to all on the forum. Thanks to all that post builds, I can appreciate the time and effort it takes. Had an XJ years ago with alot of bolt on stuff including serious offroad long arm 4.5 lift etc. When kids started happening I sold it. Didnt want to, but I told myself that one day I would build something more serious. Couple years ago the wife needed a good winter beater got an XJ and fixed it up for her....started to get the fever again :shhh:

Fast forward to now a $600 rust bucket but good mileage and the dang ac works! Anyway, I am a noob.. just a guy having fun in a garage...Im open to criticism but just know im a noob with both limited knowledge and limited budget. "Unfortunately" it is just a basic coil spring, shock and rear leaf setup. Nothing too fancy that you haven't seen before. Alot of this steel I accumulated over the years and literally pulled from my yard.

Just wanted to preface a bit. I am more than open to advice or suggestion...I really appreciate it and am willing to learn.....but brace yourself for plenty of noob questions. Now the fun!

Basic goals for this general purpose machine include:
"Low cog" on tons, mini boatside, 40" tires. Whatever stretch I can get away with. "budget" hydro assist setup.
DIY 3 link front, DIY removable crossmember, hi steer
Rear is leafs, rear shock towers
5.38 gears front rear lockers
SYE and clocked tcase





This is what im going with. 99-04 F250 Axles. HP Dana 60 and Sterling 10.5 rear.

Ruff stuff steering, track bar and 3 link. 3/8 mounts all beef.


Ive been working on it already and here is where im at.


Frame plated all the way inside and out with 5/16. The front cradle is 1/8.
Goes all the way out and ties to bumper

Got all the rocker cut out and welded in the 2x6 1/4. I went up into the door but I wanted to keep the oem door seals.




Mini boat side with 3/8 plate that wont hit the floor pans.




Fixed the rusted wheel well and integrated 1/8 plate into rockers.

Front


Rear (the inside of the fender is rough, but ill skin it when I tub the rear.


Front bumper with beef 3/8 steering plate



Got the artec swap truss put on.


Here is the crossmember I made, doesnt have mounts yet. I did already clock the tcase and installed sye.


Id call that a pretty flat belly




Next steps are to get the axle under the front and figure out where its gonna fit. Get the leaf springs in the rear so I can figure out shock towers. In the front Id like to get as much stretch as I can with factory steering plate holes. I read somewhere that a 2wd astro box will do it. Hope you guys are into it, id be greatful for help with my noob questions haha. Ill post more pics asap.:thumbup:

 

[Da XJ nut]

Nice project build, I like the almost full frame integrated in to the unibody and it should stiffen up the chassis to hold those monster sized axles. I still daily mine but it's little.
I have a pieced together 4 inch lift on 31x10.50's with 15x8 4.5" b.s. steel rock crawler wheels. I'm not brave enough to put my baby down for the years it would take me to do anything close to what your doing. My budget is way smaller than yours is...lol I think mine owes me money now. Keep up the great work so far

 

[maxbraketorque]

Impressive levels of unibody base reinforcement. So you're going to stick with leaves at the rear rather than go with a 4-link setup?

 

[DrivnXJ]

Thanks for the replies guys! Im gonna skin the "boatside" with 1/8 plate, should look pretty good and hopefully work well. Just waiting until I put the floor pans in encase I need under for any reason The axles are Dana 60 front and sterling 10.5 rear. I couldn't figure out how to edit the original post.



Unfortunately at this time I am just going to do leaf springs in the rear. Maybe one day ill go big with coils and rear links. Ill post some mock up pics of the leafs soon and see what you guys think. Im guessing ill just mount them as far back as possible.



Here is a couple poser pics to help motivate me haha!




I did get the high steer arms welded up and rattle canned the other day.





Got the TNT inner fenders slapped in, ill finish welding them soon.

Probably not super necessary but there was a rust hole from a leaky battery and they saved me some time.

 

[Da XJ nut]

You can edit posts if you become a paying user like all the RED lettered members...Just FYI::

 

[XJlimitedx99]

Oh ya, I'll be following this one. Lookin great. Going to move the fuel tank into the rear hatch area? Plans for a cage?

 

[Evan03]

Im not sure that is true if you pay.

Builds like this bring customers to naxj I dong think you should have to pay for shit.

Sweeeet build I love it all. But please dont skin boat sides with 1/8" they will get all dented up.

I do really like how the Mini boat sides turned out.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

[Da XJ nut]

Im not sure that is true if you pay.

Builds like this bring customers to naxj I dong think you should have to pay for shit.

Sweeeet build I love it all. But please dont skin boat sides with 1/8" they will get all dented up.

I do really like how the Mini boat sides turned out.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

I just know that I can edit posts after I became a paid member.

 

[Anak]

Paid = Red Letter = ability to edit posts.

It was a decision made by the BOD a few years back. It used to be that no one could edit posts after 45 minutes or some such thing. It was decided to let red letter members have access to edit regardless of the 45 minute window.

 

[DrivnXJ]

Oh ya, I'll be following this one. Lookin great. Going to move the fuel tank into the rear hatch area? Plans for a cage?

Thx!

Yes I have a generic aluminum fuel cell, fuel pump that will go in the back. Also the battery will go back there. Im going to wait until I can figure out where the rear shock towers are going and cross brace installed. Whole back will be tubbed big time. Exo cage for sure, but that is "stage 2" for me at this time.

Im not sure that is true if you pay.

Builds like this bring customers to naxj I dong think you should have to pay for shit.

Sweeeet build I love it all. But please dont skin boat sides with 1/8" they will get all dented up.

I do really like how the Mini boat sides turned out.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

Thx!

I was wondering about the 1/8 denting up.

Would it be stupid to put up 2 layers?

 

[DrivnXJ]

Today nothing exciting, but necessary. Got the inner fenders welded up and finished putting all the motor back together with basic new maintenance and mods such as:
Plugs wires/cap/rotor
Water pump with neck mod
Exhaust manifold and cleaned up the intake and throttle body

WJ steering pump that hopefully pairs well with the budget assisted steering ram
Ebay air intake - I bought 2 ill likely come up with a cowl intake later.

I recently changed the oil pan, tranny pan/filter, valve cover and rear main seals.



Im gonna get the shop swept up, get the steering knuckles on the axle and start figuring out link lengths. Get the cross member link mounts up. Figure out where rear leafs go.



Noob questions of the day!
What are these bumps on the sterling 10.5 axle? One on both tubes.




Also, as far as ride height goes....I understand you can put it anywhere you want. Ive heard 7" between top of axle and bottom of "frame"...does that apply to this as well as a general rule?

Im assuming this would also tell me what size coil springs I need? I do understand you can set up travel wherever you want with bumpstops. Im willing to cut whatever, but likely limited by basic shock selection.



Ill have more to show soon. Thanks guys!

 

[DrivnXJ]

Not much time in today. I did get the crossmember fully welded in, additional support gussets and tied both the inside and outside stiffeners all together with it.

(I did fill in the sides of the gussets after) Not the prettiest, but im using what I have.




Floor pain rail stitched in on one side and a mock up of the upper link mount (3/8 thick) it will go up into the floor.




Unfortunately im way too stupid to understand the link calculator :looser:so im going by general standards ive read on builds here and there.

Mocked up on the table it looks like ill be at approx 4.75" link separation at the frame. Im trying to keep the lower mounts flat to the frame and not hang down. The axle side can easily be 8-10" separation (I think it should be 10" for 40s) Does this seem okay?


As far as my ride height and coil spring questions yesterday: Looks like artec updated the site with alot more info on the truss....they state I need at least 4" lift and 5"+ recommended...but doesn't say anything about trimming. My rear is 3.5 leafs, + 1" shackle and the u bolt eliminators are 1.5"...but im likely to mount mine about 1" higher than the oem rear shackle box hole....so I should be at 5"?? Hope this all makes sense :roll: Thanks for any help or advice!

 

[DrivnXJ]

Uh oh my noob questions are stacking up!

Slowing moving forward.



Got the lower link mounts tacked to the crossmember. I see why most put them below, as its tight in there! I was able to keep the mounts flat to the crossmember.





Am I OK with the top link mount directly over the top? Cant move it much side to side anyway...but I could move it forward or back to adjust top link mount. I can go as high as possible for link separation if you guys dont think 4.75" is enough. It does look like if I go to high I could run into clearance with the starter. (Floor wont matter ill cut it anyway needed)


Any of you vets care to school me on the last few questions please?

 

[Evan03]

The link calculator for the most part is useless. On a build like yours your tied to where it physicaly fits..

My upper link is directly over lower like yours. Seperation at frame end isnt super critical 0-4" of Seperation here works.

Seperation at axle end is huge 6" Seperation will dive under breaking and wheelie under throttle. At 6" youl be ridding bump stops comming up to stops signs.

The Golden rule is 30% of tire diameter needs to be what axle end Seperation should be. To me this is the only rule that needs to followed.

My axle end Seperation is 9.7is not quite 10" I am adjustable down 2" from 9.7 drives rock solid with 9.7" on the street and even freeway without sway bars. Though my coilovers are valved for my jeeps weight and tire size.

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[Evan03]

Looking good by the way.

Since your floor is cut out id do frame side seperation adjustable from 4-6" maybe 7" if holes in bracket ate 1.5" apart.

Whats your upper link length compared to lower. Not that it really matters if its alittle shorter upper to alittle longer. Just stink a link in there and run it.

I think alittle shorter castor angle doesnt change much through suspension cycle but ive found in the real world it doesnt appear to realy matter.

If your a tall lift with not the greatest pinion angle id set up upper arm to keep best pinion angle through suspension cycle and only worry about castor at ride height rolling down the rd.

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[Evan03]

Looking good by the way.

Since your floor is cut out id do frame side seperation adjustable from 4-6" maybe 7" if holes in bracket ate 1.5" apart.

Whats your upper link length compared to lower. Not that it really matters if its alittle shorter upper to alittle longer. Just stink a link in there and run it.

I think alittle shorter castor angle doesnt change much through suspension cycle but ive found in the real world it doesnt appear to realy matter.

If your a tall lift with not the greatest pinion angle id set up upper arm to keep best pinion angle through suspension cycle and only worry about castor at ride height rolling down the rd.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

[Evan03]

Looking good by the way.

Since your floor is cut out id do frame side seperation adjustable from 4-6" maybe 7" if holes in bracket ate 1.5" apart.

Whats your upper link length compared to lower. Not that it really matters if its alittle shorter upper to alittle longer. Just stink a link in there and run it.

I think alittle shorter castor angle doesnt change much through suspension cycle but ive found in the real world it doesnt appear to realy matter.

If your a tall lift with not the greatest pinion angle id set up upper arm to keep best pinion angle through suspension cycle and only worry about castor at ride height rolling down the rd

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

[Evan03]

Ive noticed naxj goes to hell at midnight posting before

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[DrivnXJ]

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately the upper link mount only has 1 hole so ill likely wait until I get the axle under to see what the best height is. Im going to have to get the steering pump and stuff in first because I have no idea where or how to locate the axle. I assume the pitman arm is going to kind of decide? Im open to any advice.



I was going to try and start getting the axle under today and post how excited I was haha. Of course hit another snag with the hi steer hitting pretty much everywhere. Hopefully this is a good alternative.





I added another bracket to locate the tie rod under. Maybe defeats the purpose of the cool hi steer kit somewhat, but im committed now lol.

 

[DrivnXJ]

Steering gear, not pump sorry guys.



I appreciate the help.