93 XJ build

Welp the dana 300 fought me pretty hard. I paid the price on a few things by rushing. Definitely learned a lesson when assembling stuff like that but fortunately was able to correct them.

The only thing I am still unsure of if the detent spring pressure on the rear output shift rail. I purchased the JB Conversions detent spring and ball kit and followed the instruction. The force to push and pull the shift rails definitely isn't even but I am willing to try running in and if it doesn't work well I will have to go back to the drawing board. Everything else feels really good.





So the ax15 came from a YJ. Wrangler AX15s are clocked higher than cherokee AX15s. With the clocking ring on its lowest position the dana 300 is about an inch or two above the bottom of the frame rails. I took a razor to the rust prevention plan supplied by 4.0 valve cover/rear main seal oil leak and exposed my sheet metal like a surgeon. Then the hammer came to play. I definitely need to smooth the sheet but it gained me the clearance that I need.





Driveshaft clearance is going to be interesting. May have to get some hammer treatment on the floor board also :D



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Got the rear "stretch" basically all prepped and finalized. I will need to adjust pinion angle. I have 2.5* shims but am thinking all I really need is a 1* shim now that the driveline is way shorter and the axle got a slight shove.

The EZ inch leaf spring adapters that push the axle back do provide 1" of lift in block form. I removed the over load leaf from the bottom that was pretty much a block spacer anyways. The risk of axle wrap seems a little more likely but I will keep an eye on it now before I start throwing solutions at it. The springs from the dodge van are very stiff and the leafs are staggered well so I want to think they will not wrap badly.

Might have to do a small shave of the back of the wheel well. I am going to have to flex the back a bit to get an idea if that will be necessary.





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Chris_Keziah said:
Prob Tory, he's got the deeper first gear.

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If he has his axles geared deeper than 4.56 then he would probably be slower. My tires are a bit smaller than his though so it could be close :D


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NickMaul said:
If he has his axles geared deeper than 4.56 then he would probably be slower. My tires are a. It smaller than his though so it could be close :D


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Troy still has those 33s I think, so tire size won't matter if he has those on there.

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CasterTroy said:
All that work....for THAT?!?!
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Basically the stretch is to center the tire in the wheel well. For 35s now it is pretty trivial to stretch the rear axle but in a time far away hopefully a 40" tire will be in there. The wheel well will still need some fab but the main reason is I have 14" bilstein shocks that need to go through the floor.

I only want to weld the shock hoops once so I need the rear axle in the correct spot for future jeep plans.


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adamk said:
Axle wrap under acceleration will be minimal. It will be during heavy braking that you will see the most wrap. I'm stretched is a similar fashion and I was binding the cv joint of the driveshaft under heavy braking. Now, this is when at speed. When crawling you won't notice much unless you have to use a lot of throttle in reverse.
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Damn. I am trying to remember if I brought my entire old leaf pack from my parents house. I am contemplating throwing in the stock overload leaf to help stiffen the leafs right at the spring plate.


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BigClay said:
And hopefully 1 ton axles before then haha
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Yes. Sadly I have to begin my phase to becoming a responsible adult so I need to divert jeep funds to a house fund. The dana 30 and 8.25 will have to keep me afloat for a few years.

After that I will resume with some super duty axles and 4Ds :flipoff2:


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NickMaul said:
Yes. Sadly I have to begin my phase to becoming a responsible adult so I need to divert jeep funds to a house fund. The dana 30 and 8.25 will have to keep me afloat for a few years.

After that I will resume with some super duty axles and 4Ds :flipoff2:


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Isnt a ring in the works before a house hahaha?
 
Keepin the thread nice and hot this week :cool:

Took the weekend off from working on the jeep. Driveshafts are being figured out as of today. I took a WJ front driveshaft to a local shop to be shortened. It definitely looked and felt tight. The slip on the WJ shaft was also way bigger than any XJ front slip I had seen so I considered it worthy of the front. For the rear I am on the list at oliver's and when ready it will be shipped to the house.

I am looking to cut holes in the floor this week so I took everything out of the back. The rear of my jeep raised almost what felt like an entire inch with no weight in the back :eek:. I noticed there isn't as much room around the wheel wells like I thought. The back seat really intrudes in the area for a hoop. Also with 14" shocks almost 12" of the shock body has to stick up through the floor which I wasn'te expecting.

While I was digging around in the back of the jeep, brown santa dropped this beauty off!






These feel silky smooth. Definitely going to enhance the twin stick experience and worth the extra dough. However I had no idea just how big they were. I am also glad I went with 48" cables. 36" cables definitely would have been pushing it. In the pic below you can see just how tight things are starting to get inside. The rear of the shifters are also long and in the stock shifter position the rear would hit the dana 300.

I can't push them to far forward or else the shifters will hit the bottom of the interior dash panel. I will try to sink them into the trans tunnel but can't go too far until I hit the trans. Definitely going to have to get creative here.

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adamk said:
Well good news is that Barnes has an anti wrap kit for just over $100 but doesn't include the DOM. That's what I used and it has worked well but I have learned a lot from it as far as some things to consider. I'll be building a new one once I finish the new rear axle in a couple weeks.
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what have you learned, and what are you considering?
 
ckruzer said:
what have you learned, and what are you considering?
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I'll be going with the Barnes kit again because of price and the fact that they are local. Biggest thing I learned was to make it as long as possible and as flat as possible at the shackle. The one I have now is only about 2.5' long and is at about a 30* angle when it mates to the shackle. This has caused a lot of vertical force into the frame. Couple this with the fact that it's on the driver's side and the torque twist is much greater than I expected and ever wanted. The next one will be on the passenger side if I can make room for it. it will also go from the axle all the way to the trans cross member making it almost a foot longer than the one I have now.
 
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