Team NAXJA/Petty Cash Racing stock class KOH XJ build

[cal]

It can be hard sometimes to find time to update a build thread.

Its too easy to toss some blingy photos up and not really update the tech. We're trying, honest.



One of the problems you run into on a Cherokee is front bumpstop posts bending when you hit hard.

(image stolen from a google search).

Jeepspeed guys have worked out a few very good fixes for this, but our class rules don't permit us to cut the inner fender, which rules those fixes out - but we did our best to emulate them.

I didn't get a good pic of the XJ bumpstop post with the rubber and coating removed, but basically its a sheetmetal tower stitched to flat plate (the fender well). It bends and folds in on itself, causing the failure seen above.

We welded plate in above the bumpstop tower on the inside of the fender, and then tied that into the cage.

Below, we cleaned the tower up, cut up an old steel coil spacer to fit snug against the bumpstop tower and the fender.

Welded that in upside down, to tower and the fender, braced against the plate above. Now in order for the bumpstop to bend, it has to take the entire inner fender along with it.

I'm sure there are better ways to address this, but we're limited by not being able to cut the fender at all. I'm pretty sure this will hold up just fine. I hope it will, as we won't be able to get it off again...

 

[cal]

James and I wanted to bolt up the front axle preparing to roll the car out of the garage, but Richard was still working under it in the rear.

Let me tell you, that Full Traction kit has some wicked droop. I was *really* surprised when James rolled the old d30 under the car and bolted it up - while the car was still lifted and Richard was still welding..

I wonder how much droop it will retain once we get a trackbar on. We'll be running 13" Bilstien 9100's up front, and thanks to the Full Traction guys will have no problem using every little bit of it.

 

[cal]

The obvious tire for this class is the Goodyear MT/R with Kevlar. Goodyear was kind enough to give us a half dozen of them. They wouldnt bolt up to our old Champion 16" beadlocks - so we set Matt to making calls. He brought Raceline on board with a killer deal on some sexy sexy wheels.

We went 9.5x17 with 4" backspacing. Truth be told, the wheels are a little wide for our tires, which may hurt us just a little on the rocks.. but it will help our footprint some which may be a big help at Glen Helen next year. We could have gone with an 8" wide wheel, but at 4.75" backspacing - a little too tight on an already tightly packaged front end.

At the end of the day, I don't think we can have a better wheel and tire package - I'm very excited to see how these do! If they work half as good as they look.....

 

[cal]

Our rear end is an XJ D44 with an ARB and 35 spline Ten Factory axles. We really don't need to do much to it, but felt a light truss wouldnt hurt for some of the harder hits.

Eric got it started and looking good, but he had family obligations and to leave.

I plated it in and left it for Richard to weld. As you can see my skills are in a data center and not with a plasma cutter.. =) Not the prettiest thing in the world, but it should get the job done and is not too heavy.

 

[cal]

Solid gave us one of their high quality Dana 44 third members. I had Currie tube it up for us with some TJ inner C's. Yukon gave us a Grizzly locker to drop in, and we'll run it with my old Super 30 inner axles. On the outers we'll do WJ knuckles with a Warn 5x5.5 hub kit, with custom brakes done by Mr.Blaine at Black Magic Brakes. It should be very light (well, relative) and very strong.

Not many pictures to show here yet, but I'll drop a little for you.

[

 

[Fore Wheeler]

This is a very clean build ('cept for the rear truss plates ).

Very anxious to see the rest.

Again, very nice work.

Dan

 

[David_Bricker]

Looking very nice. I like the idea of 44s instead of much heavier 60s. gives you a bit better clearance, and certainly less weight. With the reinforcement and the lighter weight they should hold up fine.

Keep the updates coming, like to see the progress.

David Bricker / SYR

 

[cal]

Awesome cage! How's the shifter mounted?

I had remembered seeing this question, so made a point of taking pictures of the shifter mounts. Then forgot about this question, and until today kept asking myself "wtf did i take pics of the shifter for?"...

 

[s14unimog]

right on! I'll be following along on this build. Nice tube work.

 

[cal]

Getting back to this. If you've ever seen Goatman drive, you know that you have to reinforce every inch of the car. Its not going to be enough mind you, but you do what you can..

The engine side of our motor mounts are being covered by Brown Dog, but we were worried about the frame side. Since the engine came out for a stroker swap, it was a good time to address it..

A little cleanup.

Getting lots of practice with the plasma cutter..

Couple of tacks and checking clearance..

Burn baby burn. Amazingly, we've only set the car on fire twice in this project.

And there we go.

 

[cal]

Richard decided we needed to brace the upper shock mounts too.

First, a brace from the mount to the tube supporting the bumpstop tower.

Then go back and box them in..

Possibly overkill.. but really, anything worth doing is worth over doing.

 

[cal]

As we learned from our jeepspeed buddies.. weld every seem.

 

[cal]

Front 44 is starting to come together.

Blaine at Black Magic Brakes is redoing our knuckle/brake/hub setup. I'll pick that up tonight and can start putting this bitch together.

 

[cal]

James has been working on reinforcing the body a bit and building some armor. I really like the way he tied the rear quarters into the existing rear bumper.

And a little bracing at the B pillar.

Thats necessary to tie the rear firewall into the body, and seperate the occupants from the fuel cell.. which you'll get pictures of next week. =)

 

[Missiletech]

Teamwork and sponsorship FTW! Outstanding project gents!

 

[cal]

Merry Christmas!

 

[GSequoia]

Did Satan Claws bring you any wrench monkeys?

 

[Goatman]

James is here right now, and for the rest of the week. Some guy from the southern desert region is supposed to be here Thurs and Fri.

We hope to get a lot of stuff done between now and Sun, and the car is going to Cal's in Fullerton on Sun.

We got our custom front brakes done and the knuckles and everything are here, so the front end will be going together. We're going to have REALLY good brakes.

 

[cal]

Try not to drink all of the beer before I get there..

 

[IXNAYXJ]

We got our custom front brakes done and the knuckles and everything are here, so the front end will be going together. We're going to have REALLY good brakes.

Black Magic Brakes FTW!