XJ Buildup III

[Gravesdiggerxj]

^ He just wheels it now. Somehow he doesn't have the itch to keep building until it isn't street legal like the rest of us... Lol

 

[XJEEPER]

VERY nice build man!

I love the front bumper design as well. At first, I was looking to a beefy, heavy steel setup, but the prerunner style is definitely growing on me. I didn't notice, but what's your front recovery?

I have two horizontally mounted tow hooks that mount up high under the main tube.

How do you like the T&T truss setup? Yes, it's a great pre-fabbed setup, arguably not as strong as a below housing truss, but a decent compromise.

That looks like a JKS track bar mount also, true? Yes
I was thinking of fabbing a truss for my D30, but it looks like the T&T is a proven design, just gotta swallow the price. Time is money.......

Definitely enjoyed reading through your build thread, can't wait for another update!

EDIT:

One more thing I wanted to ask, how did you bend the tubing for the front bumper? Do you have a bender or did you take measurements and had a local shop do it?
I have a couple of buddys with benders. I have the drawings to build my own, just haven't got around to it yet.

 

[99xjScott]

Im so jealous at how clean everything is kept Awesome Build

 

[XJEEPER]

It's been a while since I've updated this thread, thanks to all for the compliments. Bottom line, the rig works well but as previously stated, it's a work-in-progress.

One of my recent mods is to make the jump to WJ brakes and custom steering. The Vanco brakes work well, but I really wanted the benefits of strong, precise steering too. My modified OTK Currie setup worked well, but still had the limitations and negative characteristics of any Inverted Y setup.

Here's the summary of my WJ brake swap:

In addition to these components, I puchased new WJ rotors at $31.00ea and also purchased Moog WJ balljoints (Moog PN K3134T $55.31ea and K3185 $97.97ea......yup, not cheap) to ensure that I wouldn't experience the issue of wallowed-out knuckles, as many have who used XJ balljoints with the WJ knuckle swap.

I'm guessing that the price of the WJ BJ's is the main reason that folks attempt to reuse their XJ BJ's....at the expense of trashing their WJ knuckles when the holes wallow out. Weigh the cost of this, factoring in having to source new knuckles and weld on new JKS spacers, plus labor. Just use WJ ball joints......... you'll be money and time ahead.

Wanting to run the steering over the knuckle, I installed Goferit weld-in tapered TRE inserts. The stock TRE taper needs to be drilled out to 3/4" to accept the insert.

I then welded the TRE inserts to the knuckles, as well as the JKS hub spacer...sorry, no pix of the JKS spacers welded on.

Not wanting to mess with rotor to caliper spacing issues that some have experienced when using Explorer Sporttrac rotors with the WJ brake swap, I decided to redrill new WJ rotors to the XJ 5 x 4.5" bolt pattern.

I used a rotor with the 5 x 4.5" pattern as a template to transfer the pattern to the WJ knuckles, then circle-scribed and center-punched each hole and drilled new holes using my drill press. I drilled smaller pilot holes for each first to prevent "bit walk" and maintain hole spacing accuracy.

Not wanting deal with the rotors seizing onto the hubs/studs in the future (I live in Utah + salted roads in winter = rust) I drilled the 1/2" wheel stud holes to 17/32" to minimize this issue. The rotors are hub-centric and not stud-centric, fwiw. This entire process took less than 1 hour to complete both WJ rotors.

With the WJ ball joints installed, the rotors drilled and everything painted, I bolted everything up and checked clearances. On a side note and since the question has been raised in the past, I'm running TJ unit bearings with XJ unit bearing bolts with plenty of threads using the JKS spacers.

Custom steering to follow......

 

[Brad M.]

Absolutely beautiful work as usual Jeff. You are a master. I think I'm gonna have to stop by one of these days and oogle up close... if'n ya don't mind.

 

[XJEEPER]

Instead of using WJ steering linkage, I selected 1.50" OD .250" wall DOM tube with weld inserts and Tera offset TRE's. The Tera units are 7/8" thread x 18 tpi.
The offset TRE's provide the tierod and draglink clearance needed to clear the diff, trackbar bracket and coil buckets. The pitman arm TRE is not offset.

I've been very happy with this steering setup. Steering is precise and I love the absence of bumpsteer. I've not seen the need to run a steering stablizer. The WJ brake/steering combo is one the best mods I'd done to enhance overall drivability, it's they way the XJ should have been equipped from the factory.

 

[QuillsXJ]

Hey what brand of trackbar and trackbar frame mount did you install? Where did you get the heim joint to swap in? Thanks!

Here's the front axle installed. I swapped out the poly bushing on the axle end of the trackbar for a heim, as there seemed to be too much play in it. Solved the problem. Everything works well together.

With 3 days left before Fall Fling, I started my front bumper. I planned on fabbing it to accept a winch that ideally would be recessed below the bumper and recessed into the front crossmember, which I will rework/strengthen. Time didn't allow for this, so I wound up with this.

Main tube is 1.75" DOM, hoop is 1.50" DOM and the side braces are 1" EW. I already had the 1.5 hoop from another bumper project and decided to use it, even though it was smaller than the main. Turned out OK.

Lower braces installed

I was on a dead run on this and didn't get as many shots as I wanted....I finished de-slagging the welds and quickly threw on 2 coats of Krylon on Thursday afternoon. I finished packing the Jeep while the paint dried and bolted in on before we hit the road to Moab so I never even took time to snap any installed shots, so this one will have to do.

Since I didn't get my Viair compressor installed, my ARB's were open for this run. Hells Gate was unusually slippery from a morning storm and sand tracked up from below, so I wound up taking a tug after sliding off the wallI, which allowed me to test the bumper brace as a tow point......yah, I meant to do that :laugh3:

The rig worked well, but as with any newly built rig, needs some fine tuning. I still need to install bump inserts in the coils, add a center strap to tune the droop because with 12.5" travel shocks, there is articulation o' plenty. Gotta get the ARB's plumbed and then work on sliders and rear bumper armor.........you know, a rig is never really "done".

Stay tuned................

 

[QuillsXJ]

Hey what brand of trackbar and trackbar frame mount did you install here? Where did you get the heim joint to swap in? Thanks!

Here's the front axle installed. I swapped out the poly bushing on the axle end of the trackbar for a heim, as there seemed to be too much play in it. Solved the problem. Everything works well together.

...

 

[XJEEPER]

Hey what brand of trackbar and trackbar frame mount did you install here? Where did you get the heim joint to swap in? Thanks!

The trackbar is "XJEEPER" brand.....fabbed out of DOM tube, small RE joint on the frame end and 3/4" X 16 heim on the axle end. I purchased the heim and tube weld insert locally from Ben Hanks Racing. http://www.benhanksracing.com/index.php?p=shop

The trackbar frame bracket is a modified stock bracket. I fabbed this piece also, but JKS sells the lower piece to modify your own bracket.

 

[EMD-Jeepin]

Did you do anything special to weld the spacers to the knuckles? I'm not an expert but I thought the knuckles are just cast steel. Not cast iron. I was watching "Trucks" when they did this on a Grand Cherokee. Looks like they pre-heated and used a mig welder. Did you mig or stick it? Did you use any different rod or wire? Did you weld all the way around?

 

[XJEEPER]

Did you do anything special to weld the spacers to the knuckles?
No, I had them soda blasted prior to welding so they were nice and clean.
I'm not an expert but I thought the knuckles are just cast steel. Not cast iron.

I was watching "Trucks" when they did this on a Grand Cherokee. Looks like they pre-heated and used a mig welder. Did you mig or stick it? Did you use any different rod or wire? Did you weld all the way around?
WJ knuckles are not cast steel, but nodular iron.

I bolted the unit bearings to the WJ knuckle with the JKS spacer in place and then tacked the JKS spacer to the WJ knuckle in several spots, using my Miller 175 and .035 wire. I then removed the unit bearing assembly and welded the spacers on solid using a manual pulsed method.

No mumbo-jumbo voodoo, pre/post heat concerns here......however I did throw the knuckles in 5gal buckets of dry sand and let them cool down slowly, just for fun.

 

[Goatman]

Jeff, I want to be like you when I grow up.


Since I'm building another XJ, on 33's, for a driver it's nice to look back over your build and get some ideas. Maybe I'll bring it to Moab one of these times and we can play follow the leader.

 

[XJEEPER]

Jeff, I want to be like you when I grow up.


Since I'm building another XJ, on 33's, for a driver it's nice to look back over your build and get some ideas. Maybe I'll bring it to Moab one of these times and we can play follow the leader.

Hehe, growing up is over-rated!
I've gleaned plenty of tech from your builds over the years, hope you can benefit from some of mine. Looking forward to seeing your new rig and getting out on the trail with you........btw, I have a condo in St George......I'm still exploring the desert down there for new challenges. We should plan a weekend....

 

[MG2000XJ]

This is one of my top 5 XJs of all time. I will be using it (a lot of it) as inspiration in my next build. Keep on coming with those cleanly done, well thought out modifications so I can keep drooling all over my keyboard.

 

[Char-Broil]

What size lift and tires are you running? I am doing a similar setup with my 2000, Rubicon Rims, 3.5" RE leaf pack (as you may know, got about 5" lift from them) 3" front springs with ACOS... Looking to keep it super clean and not fender trim like yours, saw it on the front page of and had to know what you are running. Love it man!

 

[XJEEPER]

What size lift and tires are you running? I am doing a similar setup with my 2000, Rubicon Rims, 3.5" RE leaf pack (as you may know, got about 5" lift from them) 3" front springs with ACOS... Looking to keep it super clean and not fender trim like yours, saw it on the front page of and had to know what you are running. Love it man!

Thanks, Char-Broil.

I'm running RE 5.5" coils with a 1" poly spacer. 3.5" RE leaf pack with 2" perch and 1" shackle lift. It all shakes out to a 6" lift.

Tires are 285/75/16's on Jeep Moab 16x8 wheels with 5" backspacing, bolted to 1.25" billet wheel adapters to net a 3.75" BS.

 

[FearNoFish]

Hey Jeff!

I taking my parts in tomorrow to have soda blasted. You sold me. I working up a 6" lift with 4" Alcans, 1" perch and 2" shackle ( should net 1") - 4-1/2" coils with ACOS up front.

I am trying to determine a close pinion angle so I can do a quick swap and not have my daily driver down longer than absolutely necessary. One things got me puzzled though. On one of your photo captions you call out your pinion angle as being -1 degree. It seems that if you are running a SYE that you would have a much higher angle.

I know that typically once you determine the correct angle it is common to back that off by 1 degree.

Did I miss something?

FNF

 

[XJEEPER]

Running the pinion -1* at static allows the pinion to operate at the proper angle when under power.

 

[XJEEPER]

Just realized that I have a seperate thread that addresses my D30 Knuckle Rotation process.

Here's the link- http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=935127&highlight=knuckle+rotation

**********************************************************************************************************************
May 2008

Been a pretty busy week, so I'm finally getting around to the knuckle rotation project update.

First, assess the tools that you'll need to complete this project. I made sure that I had plenty of 3" and 4" cut-off wheels and grinding wheels, plus some 18 tooth blades for my Sawzall. Not show are: face shield, ear plugs, 10 lb sledge hammer and patience.

I unbolted everything from the inner axle C's out and took some pre-rotation measurements. My static measurements were 3.9 on each side. My goal was to rotate the knuckle back 4 degrees, so my new target was 7.9 degrees.
I decided to leave the D30 housing installed, as the suspension would act as a support stand that would keep the housing from flopping around when I started beating on the knuckles to rotate them. Don't forget to plug the axle tubes to keep the junk out.

Also checked camber too, just so I had a reference point. Note that this isn't true camber, as my housing was not sitting perfectly level on the jackstands.

I had to remove my lower C gussets, which I will replace with new ones. I just torched them off, then got to grinding......and grinding.......and you guessed it, more grinding.

Another shot, from above. Cutting through the weld on the top of the knuckle was a little tricky, so I used my Sawzall to handle a short section that was hard to get at with the grinders.

The placement of my lower shock mounts impaired my ability to run the cutoff wheel on my 4" grinder all the way around the knuckle, so I used a 3" wheel on my air grinder to handle this section. I probably should have just cut them off and reinstalled them afterwards.

You'll wind up with lots of this to clean up.

Note, some key points in this process:

• You'll want to cut into the knuckle approx. 1/16" with your cutoff wheel. If you just cut through the weld where it mates the knuckle to the axle, you'll not cut through the area where the stock weld penetrated the knuckle.
• When cutting through the welded area, you will be able to see a fine, circular line appear in your cut, on the knuckle side.This is the exposed metal of the knuckle/axle joint. When you see this, you will know when you have cut enough on the outer side of the stock weld.
• Be aware of the depth of your cut, if you cut too deep, you could cut through the axle tube.
• Too narrow of a cut will not allow you to penetrate the void with a good weld after you've rotated the knuckle.

I have no shots of me smacking the knuckle with my hammer to rotate it, sorry. I was surprised at how easily it rotated, without the need to heat up the knuckle. Just a few solid smacks and I had the knuckle rotated back 4 additional degrees. I decided to set both sides at 8 degrees, so technically I rotated them back 4.1 degrees. Based on the pre-measurements of my pinion angle and caster, my goal was to be able to run with 5-6 degrees of caster, instead of 2.8.

Once I had both sides set, I verified that my camber was unchanged and then tack welded the knuckles to the tubes at 4 points, alternating top to bottom, front to back, and then rechecked the caster and camber measurements. Nothing moved, so I welded them up solid, using a pulse method and alternating from side to side, allowing cooling between passes. I actually made two passes around the knuckle, overlapping the welds to be good coverege and penetration. May have been overkill, but it made me feel better.

I also fabbed a couple of new lower C gussets ( glad I made a pattern the first time ) and welded them up.

With both sides welded up, I installed new balljoints. The old ones were less than a year old, but I decided just replace them while I was here.
As luck would have it, the local Six States only had one Spicer BJ kit, so I snagged a Crown BJ kit for the other side from Carl at TeraPlus. This way I can compare the durability of the Crown parts VS Spicer, for future reference.
Crown kit pictured on top, Spicer kit below.

Since we've had a long and snowy winter, the road salt had taken it's toll on the paint on my axle, so I gave it a fresh coat of Rustoleum while I had it torn down. Then on to reassembly.

Note that I chopped off my swaybar mounts at the beginning of this process, as I have a Currie's Antirock Univeral setup on order and will rework the mounts with that install. (Stay tuned.....)

I also took this time to relocate my steering stablizer, as I didn't like the way the bushing was binding by mounting it on top of the trackbar axle bracket and draglink. I snagged another bolt-on shock mount and drilled a hole in the lower trackbar bracket and moved the stabilizer down to the tierod.

I dialed in my pinion angle to match my driveline to take care of the vibes, and wound up with a net caster of just over 5 degrees. It handles very well on the freeway and I can relax with a couple of fingers on the wheel, even in a cross-wind.
Rotating the knuckles is not difficult, with the proper tools. It's a time-consuming process, but well worth the effort.

(My coils are slightly bowed forward, but due to the bracketry rework and gusseting that I did on my LCA mounts/coil pads previously, I decided not to mess with rotating them back, as others have suggested. I have another idea to resolve this issue, which I will address when I decide if I'm going to add airbumps or not.)

 

[Israel]

Running the pinion -1* at static allows the pinion to operate at the proper angle when under power.

By -1*, don't you mean 1* less than what the angle would be if the pinion was pointed directly at the transfer case? I think FnF is asking what your actual pinion angle is when the Jeep is sitting on a level surface.

By the way, where did you get that nifty magnetic broom thingie?