LiLNickT's 3/4 Ton XJ Build

[LiLNickT]

Well, thanks everyone for the kind comments. This build spanned about a year and a few months. It is actually a lot more streetable than i thought it would be. It has near zero bumpsteer, less than my last setup; I ran it down some backroads up to about 45mph and it ran pretty well. Tires only had about 5lbs of air though so it was wandering pretty bad with the road. I have been really impressed with it just bouncing around the ruts in the yard and it seems to be very stable. i ran it through some bumps at about 30mph today and it handled them really well. The suspension feels nice and soft, but very stable. i did some drove sideways on a couple hills down by the pond and it had very little body lean.

Today i got my winch working as well as trimmed the fenders and front bumper a bit more for clearence. My buddy cory cut out some hood vents that look pretty sick. i'll try and get a picture up tomorrow and i'll explain further what i will be doing with them.

 

[CumminsJeep]

damn that looks awesome dude! I like it a lot

 

[LiLNickT]

Well we went out to Flat Nasty this weekend, here are the results.

Friday night about 2 hours into wheeling, i spit a short side u joint cap, it clipped the ball joint and bound up which then broke the shaft. Since i couldnt afford a set of spares yet i thought i wasnt going to really get to wheel much the rest of the weekend, but after a couple of beers and some talking about it, i decided to pull the shaft to see how bad it was... Well much to my suprise it broke of at 90* Cleanest looking break i've ever seen. so i beveled the edges and welded it back together. The next day i put a tac weld on all the caps to help keep them inplace and tried to wheel saturday. Well it was still spitting caps so i just took it easy and when we got back to camp i fully welded the caps in it and then took on mama bear first thing sunday. i got up on mama bear and bound up the left front and..... Pow! front shaft again... I'll get some pics up once i get them from everyone, here are a few just before we loaded up on the trailer and left.


There was a ton of carnage this weekend, 5 broken short side shafts,
mine 2X and 3 dana 30 safts - one of which exploded at the splines and cracked where the carrier bearing is pressed onto the carrier.
one bent upper control arm mount
one aussie locker in a rear dana44
one radiator
2 bent tubs
1 grill
1 hood
1 windshielf frame.. No one rolled btw...
1 driveshaft which we used a highlift jack handle to sleeve and then wheeled 2 more days on... actually it didnt break again and he managed to kill a dana 30 shaft while running the hobbled together driveshaft...

Here u can see the hood vents that look kinda like the transformer logo lol

]

Pulling up on mama bear, this was with a broken short side shaft.

As soon as i get more pics, i'll get them uploaded

 

[rweaver138]

]

HA! Love the spare tire!

 

[LiLNickT]

Here is a video of me breaking the shaft on mama bear, its towards the end. This is also what convinced me to ditch the front bumper as it looks nice but is just in the way. Also here are a couple pics of the shaft i broke. Its pretty ductile metal as it broke at exactly 90*.

Splines

Shaft


Break occures at 2:01

 

[woody431]

Sweet build. Noticed you're in StL. I live up by Springfield IL, bout an 1.5 hours up I-55 from StL. Im building a 1 ton XJ on leaves and a buddy of mine is doing a 44/9 and 37s. We will have to do some wheeling sometime

 

[LiLNickT]

Sounds great! just shoot me a PM and i'll try and work something out.

 

[LiLNickT]

Ok well here is the full damage report from this weekend...

Broke 7 axleshafts....
3 dana 30 shortside shafts
1 Dana 44 front short side shaft 2x
1 Dana 44 Rear Alloy USA Shaft
1 Dana 44 Rear Alloy USA Shaft twisted the splines
1 Dana 44 Rear Carrier
1 Driveshaft that we used a highlift jack handle as a sleave and broke a dana 30 shaft on....
1 UCA Mount
1 Radiator
1 Hood, Grille and Tub
1 Whole side of an XJ...

Anyway onto the Pics

Not all of the shafts, but the 44 carrier, both alloy usa shafts, a dana 30 shaft and my dana 44 front shaft.

Dana 44 Carrier

Here is the carrier in the axle, notice how FUBAR the bearing is...

Dana 44 Rear Alloy USA Shaft

Same, notice the twist in the splines

The Damage to the 44 Rear end and the body damage was result of trying to lead foot it up the entrance to proving grounds at Flat Nasty, He caught a ledge and got airborne and landed with his foot still in it, hence all the broken shiat in the rear end. He also managed to catch a tree in the process which probably saved him from rolling all the way back down. I'll post up the video when i have it. BTW he was only running 35" Dunlop Mud Rovers....

Same

Fell off a ledge and caught the tube which then caused all the other damage

Didnt get any pics of the highlift sleeve or any other breakage though.

 

[NorIdaWheeler]

awesome build man! if you dont mind me asking, what did you do with all of your steel fuel and brake lines on the inside of the frame rail?

 

[LiLNickT]

Well i actually utilized the stock lines and just put some 3/8" rubber fuel line around them in the areas that may rub a little bit.