Hey Jes, you building a front 44?

[BrettM]

I'm gonna make ones that won't bend.

yes, but are you sticking with short-arms or doing something CRASH-esque? how much lift for those 35s?

 

[XJJPR]

Did you read that on the internet somewhere?

I think I LIVED that!


hinkley

 

[Lincoln]

I think Jes just felt left out because everyone was doing it. The OX's are an attempt to be unique.

 

[Beezil]

jes, once you put the 44 on your jeep, you will move to stage 9.

I heard that on the internet.

 

[Lincoln]

jes, once you put the 44 on your jeep, you will move to stage 9.

I heard that on the internet.

I thought the "44" stood for Stage 44, but only if the build involved chromo axles and fancy ugittenit joints?

The internet sucks, I read that in the ARB manual I stole.

 

[Jes]

jes, once you put the 44 on your jeep, you will move to stage 9.

I heard that on the internet.

Cool!

 

[CW]

I thought you could be at stage 10 with a d30 as long as you have a snorkel and 31's.

 

[Jes]

Since so many people were asking, here's an update.

Some stuff to cut off...

...gained 3/8" after some cutoff wheel and Sawzall work...

Added some plate to fill the valley between the two ribs...

...made the bottom nice and flat.

...

 

[Jes]

Reinforcement at the front of the bridge...

Upper link mount...

Track bar mount...

Back of track bar mount with coil bucket, lower link mount, and shock mount...

The coil buckets were made with old D30 pieces with .120 wall sides and a .188 wall front welded to it.

...

 

[Jes]

The completed axle housing...

 

[hjeepxj]

Looks damn nice! :cheers:

 

[Jes]

Next it was time for a crossmember to receive the other end of the links. First thing to do was add some reinforcement and as always some cutting and grinding was required...

...then some 3X3X3/16" was welded in by CRASH...

I then drilled some 1" holes for the sleeves that would join the inner and outer "frame" reinforcements...

The first piece of the crossmember...

...2X4X.25 notched and backfilled for the tranny and t-case.

...

 

[Jes]

All the pieces being test fitted and tacked to gether...

The stock crappy down pipe wouldn't work with the new crossmember so we made a new one with mad flowz...

Here's the crossmember installed...

...the tranny mount was made with the end of a leaf spring, a shackle cut in half, and a piece I cut off the stock tranny mount.
Mocking up the suspension mounts...

...

 

[shimmy]

just curious... how much does a project like this "on average" cost?

this is something i'd like to eventually do, once my rig is not a DD

brandon

 

[Jes]

The crossmember finnish welded and primed...

The links...

...the upper is 1.75X.120 DOM and the lowers are 2X.25 cromoly.

...

 

[Jes]

The ugly and old. 1 degree of caster, bad steering angles, questionable brakes, worn out control arm bushings...

...and the new...

I went with PartsMike hi steer arms, Chevy flat top knuckles. 5.13 gears, OX locker, OX joints and Warn shafts.
Somemore pics of the finnished product...

 

[Jes]

just curious... how much does a project like this "on average" cost?

this is something i'd like to eventually do, once my rig is not a DD

brandon

Don't know what "on average" this would cost.
This is my daily driver, so I didn't skimp on anything.

 

[XJZ]

Jes, that looks awesome, great job! Can't wait to hear the test results.

(What did you do to hinkley's bumper? )

 

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

Couple questions...First, is that crossmember 2x6 or 2x4? It looks more like 2x4 to me, but maybe not. Second, is the top of the upper link mount on the crossmember bolted through the floor to a part of your cage? How about Crashes? Also, Crash used some tubing to build a skid frame/reinforcement assy extending behind the actual crossmember. Are you going to do something like that or is the crossmember you built good enough? I didn't get to it yet, but I am considering doing something similar to mine, but using a hoop over the double cardon joint welded to a 2x6 crossmember mounted similar to yours and then welding the upper control arm mount to the top of the hoop. Similar to the hoop going over the pumpkin. However, I wasn't planning to use a through bolt to any sort of internal cage. There isn't much room for a lot of bracing either, so I don't know if a 1/4" thick hoop would hold up? Mine uses an automatic tranny and I already redid the 4wd shifter to clear an upper arm sitting on top of the double cardan joint of the driveshaft. The only other thing in the way might be the shifter cable and bracket bolted to the bell housing. I haven't mocked it up compressed yet, but at rest it looks like things would clear. As I see it, the questionable part is the hoop over the driveshaft and it's ability to withstand the forces placed on it. Jeff

 

[Capt. Nemo]

I hate to break it to ya man, but those are some looooooong arms.

BUSTED! (I think I hear Goatman coming.)

I appreciate the clear pics of your bracketry. Doesn't look as difficult as I had thought originally. Good work keeping the LCA brackets behind the tube, rather than under. The shock mount was creative also. 35's or 37's?