...sorry...another build thread...

the plan is to get it good enough (probably wont have ARB hooked up) to wheel some easy trails with my uncles new waggy this weekend, then do some more weeknights after work the following week (dial in steering some more, brakes, pitman arm issue, arb wiring, etc) and hopefully try to hit up all the runs I was supposed to do from late may to early July that I missed already....
 
been blowing through consumables. made a nice order from lehigh abrasives.
ordered 10 - 40 grit screw on 7/8" and about 30 cut off discs. sick of the crappy home depot ones ripping apart when the lehigh ones lasted a very long time.
 
thanks. I picked up a 10lb spool and 25 tips from barnes the other day too. man it adds up fast.
 
the 1/4" plate from the mini truss to the uca mount is fully welded on the backside.

 
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The tab on the mini truss, suck down winch? The mount in front of that on the axle, ram assist? Steering stabilizer? Looking great, if only I could get motivated to work on my pos.
 
zachandandy said:
The tab on the mini truss, suck down winch? The mount in front of that on the axle, ram assist? Steering stabilizer? Looking great, if only I could get motivated to work on my pos.
Click to expand...


suck down winch (eventually...) but for now a centered limit strap is my plan.
the tab on the front is going to be for a stabilizer for now, but soon enough hydro assist.
i would do it all now if I could, I am trying to finish it all tonight so i can do more welding at joshs tomorrow and slap the tbird calipers on the thing and new brake lines.
I worked on it all 10+ hours on 4th. it was 120* plus in the one car garage with the welding. I was wearing sweater, gloves, etc. same for sat and sun but it was cooler out.

still need to wire up ARB but its drivable without the ARB.
 
just ordered a waggy pitman arm from partsmike. they are in newcastle. should be here pretty fast. having them drill out to 3/4". I am sick of drilling out 3/4" holes and going through multiple (maybe 4-5) 3/4" bits on the drill press for all of the suspension holes and the 3 pitman arms I drilled out.
 
blondejoncherokee said:
been blowing through consumables. made a nice order from lehigh abrasives.
ordered 10 - 40 grit screw on 7/8" and about 30 cut off discs. sick of the crappy home depot ones ripping apart when the lehigh ones lasted a very long time.
Click to expand...

I wen't to barnes last week and got a 2lb spool for 11bucks, x5 thats 55. still cheaper than there 75bucks for the lincoln. its the blue stuff. Worked great on the few things i've had to weld so far, last week in 110degree garage weather as well.


Looking forward to seeing this finished, i can come out in help in a week or so after i've put in some serious time at my new job and get settled.
 
i paid 42$ for the 10lb spool, 18$ for 25 tips, bought some goggles and wire brushes, came out to 72$. not too bad all things considered. the 42$ is good for a 10lb spool.

thanks for the offer mike, depending on what I get done this week Im sure ill need to do some tweaking. already had to deal with some unforeseen brake issues.
 
left to right:
stock XJ caliper 2.48"
stock d44 caliper 2.87"
thunderbird calipers 3.1"
 
hit a snag tonight . the little screw that retains the sliders for the ford calipers was broken off in the caliper mount on the knuckle. on both kuckles. I had no idea about that. PO was a dick for that one. So i drilled new holes and tapped them to 5/16-18 for the bolts. thank god for the snap on tap and die set. that added some time.
the thunderbird calipers are supposed to be like running 1 ton calipers but they are practically bolt on (need custom brake lines to be made since they are 7/16-24 and didnt have banjo bolts stock)

welded double shear shock mounts to the back of the coil buckets. almost perfect for the shocks since the axle is moved forward.
 
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tomorrow night :
make tie rod after I figure out toe in
RTV and gear oil into diff.
install pass side t bird caliper(had to grind mounting surface to make room for banjo bolt on driver side)
pick up custom brake lines and install them on the new calipers
slap air filter on
test drive
bolt pitman arm tight and 3/4" bolt on it.


tonight:
bolted exhaust back up.
tightened all arms and steering down.
bolted up DS
drilled and tapped knuckles for new caliper retainer bolts
cut off a gusset to the trackbar mount that was in the way of the driver side coil
bolted up trackbar cross brace.
 
slapped tires on real quick so I can set toe in tomorrow:
 
if the waggy arm comes in and I slap it on it will mean to go back to the drawing board with the frame side trackbar mount. oh well.
 
crappy pic but the upper is flat at ride height:



and the pinion basically stays in the same angle through travel even with crazy droop. with the shorter upper it keeps more caster and should bite harder when climbing when drooped. I dont see an issue versus having a longer up to keep pinion. I know when I ran leaf sprung scouts it was a huge deal. coil sprung XJs not so much I guess.
 
this is more drooped than itll ever get while wheeling.
 
shock mounts


its about 78-79" wide, which is nice. I was worried about it being too wide up front. my garage is only 83.5" wide. so Its not too much wider than it was before.

2 things that helped:
went from 3.75 BS to 4" BS. gained 1/4" there.
went from beadlocks to just regular steelies . not stretching the bead over the outer lip of the beadlock, so I think I gained about 1/4" from that too.
the 44 is supposed to be 65" wide , which is about 4.5" wider than stock with 3.75" BS which would have been around 2.25" wider per side, so with the less wide rims due to no beadlocks and the 4" BS it was only like 1.75" wider per side , roughly. not so bad.


DS and arms
 
one thing I love, is that I can easily access the tranny pan, whereas before I has to pull front links and belly to get to it. same for front DS, I used to not be able to pull the front DS for the same reason, not I can get right to it, and the tcase skid bolts right off.


trackbar mount barely clears. kinda sucks. sure it will hit while compressing then unloading.

 
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