Project: Rusty Nail

[stumpXJ]

i dont know why you arent a fan of those tires... they are probably some of the most underrated tires out there. they are actually damn good tires

Because they suck balls. I agree with the OP. I cant wait until mine wear out. Just my opinion though. There are WAY better tires out there for the same money. Chunk way too easily, dont balance for crap, pack up to easy in the mud, and they wear out too fast (like said, the last point is good for me...)

I have the same size TruXus, 33x12.50 15's.

Cooper STT FTW.

 

[Justpunchit]

KM2's all day. But like I said I'm gonna give them a shot.

 

[Justpunchit]

Have some small updates, since it's a little to cold to make any progress on the body I decided to get some work done inside my garage. So I picked up a 99 29 spline 8.25 from a fellow member today.

Picked it up cheap with with the saved money I'm going to put some love into it.
I decided I'm going to rebuild the axle since I have it all the way out depending on how it goes I'll probably put gears and an Aussie locker in it as well.


here she is mid tear down

Also Moving the OEM shock mounts so those had to go as well.

I also planned to shave it a bit to give me some always welcomed ground clearence. I'll cut just a bit higher than the line.

and another angle.

While it's down to bare steel I decided to burn in the tubes to the housing. a little post and pre heating there burnt in.. not my best welds but it will hold.

Also the FedEx man dropped some goodies off to me today as well, I've used the TNT frame stiffeners as well and I'm going to have to say I like the HD offroad ones better, rosette holes already welded in and there a tad longer which I like.

 

[89XJPioneer]

good to see someone bringing back a rusty XJ! nice progress so far too!

 

[great-white]

see u didnt waste any time stripping that axle.
when it comes to the thickniss how much thicker is the tnt stiffners thasn the hd ones?

 

[Justpunchit]

haha yea it's actually already painted and ready to go again, just waiting on my gears and install kit to come in. The Tnt are a little thicker maybe by a 1/16th or so it's minimal, I'd go with the HD's, there just a better prepped product.

 

[great-white]

damn u work fast, if u ever run out of things to work on, an u wana help a fellow jeeper out let me know hahaha

an sweet build so far, give u credit for not just scrapping a low mi jeep an reserrecting it to its prime again

 

[Justpunchit]

When you go to tons give me a call and I'll always help lol but thanks I think I have a jeep hoarding problem, I just couldn't scrap it to me this is all worth it but I guess we'll see in the end.

 

[Justpunchit]

Nothing new really today, finshed the shave and cleaning the housing now it looks good as new. Just have to throw on my shock mounts.

 

[MoparManiac]

Noting the lack of paint...are you planning on moving both shock mounts behind the axle...?

 

[Justpunchit]

Yea I hate the stupid bar pins up top plus the old mounts were pretty well rotted so I'm just throwing them behind the axle.

 

[Justpunchit]

Due to wonderful 11 degree nights progress is slow... but, I did start on Setting up my small rear truss. I've never built one so any advice is always welcome.

made from 6x3x1/8 stock I had laying around...

My rough cutout. I still have to cut out small pieces out of the bottom for drainage, trim the diff side so it fits snug, some dimple die action, and then repeating the process on the other side.


I know it's hard to see here but I'll be taking my hole saw and knocking out 4 holes on the top and most likely using dimple dies to add some strength.

Just a top view...

Should I make a center section that goes over the top of the diff that will tie the two sides together as well?

 

[Justpunchit]

so this is what I got done tonight... :-\ not nearly as much as I hoped... turned out to be really hard and time consuming.....

Please excuse the velcro strap I didn't feel like tacking it down tonight... and I know sh***y cell phone pics were fail.

and the other thing I finished up...
I finished up my rear floor plate.

 

[Justpunchit]

More updates... sorry I didn't take pics of anything with the regear install it's not really all that interesting.. haha

Close up of the amount I shaved off the bottom O' diff...

A better overall shot of what I got done.

Weld details... back side.

Weld details on the diff side. this was preheated, welded, then post heated.

Front detail of welds and such...

I HATE DRUMS! but I must admit it's really nice with all new parts

Small problem... I started using POR 15 and the shit goes on like crap.... like really thick and doesn't cover worth anything... what am I doing wrong...

another view of it...

Also picked this up for free....

Is it worth anything or should I just buy something more up to date?

 

[RenoXJ]

Lookin nice man!

 

[whitexj98]

looks out of date!, send it to me, mine just broke!

 

[foxwar71]

Looks like is coming along nicely. Keep it up!!

Also picked this up for free....

Is it worth anything or should I just buy something more up to date?

nope, you should just give it to me i got that exact deck when they were new back in like 05. it was in my blue xj, then my black xj, then my red truck that it was sold with. (hell, it even looks like the same one cause i wore the seek lables off) always worked good, i now only buy alpines because of it.

 

[Blue 97 XJ]

great unit but if you don't want it ill take it off you hands:wave:

 

[chedisme]

Looks good. you going to bring this new one to nacfest10? or the big red beast?

 

[Justpunchit]

Red one is going under the knife at the moment as well.. :-\ so looks like I'm taking the green one with me this year hopefully she survives haha