93 XJ build

[77GreenMachine]

That's awesome your making it out to Harlan. One of my favorite places to wheel!
Probably gonna have to let go of the factory fender flares with the 35s unless you make some good bump stops. But for max travel on an XJ they usually have to be retired.
When you go back to Harlan again consider hitting Mason Jar, my favorite trail there! I did it on 36s in my TJ but confident i could do it on 33s, probably gonna do it on 31s next time I go since I went backwards in rigs for now. I have an XJ on 31s now, locked f/r. Always had a soft spot for XJs.

 

[NickMaul]

That's awesome your making it out to Harlan. One of my favorite places to wheel!
Probably gonna have to let go of the factory fender flares with the 35s unless you make some good bump stops. But for max travel on an XJ they usually have to be retired.
When you go back to Harlan again consider hitting Mason Jar, my favorite trail there! I did it on 36s in my TJ but confident i could do it on 33s, probably gonna do it on 31s next time I go since I went backwards in rigs for now. I have an XJ on 31s now, locked f/r. Always had a soft spot for XJs.

Thanks! Harlan is a blast. I will need a winch before I go back to hit some harder trails because I am mostly concerned with getting high centered on the rocks there with low ground clearance. But I picked up some hockey pucks for extended bump stops on the front axle so that should keep the tires out of the fenders.

 

[NickMaul]

I thought I would start on the artec industries trac bar relocation bracket as any sort of search on google I could never find an installed picture of it on a real rig.

A little disclaimer I bought this as part of my OTK steering modification. Also I already have a artec industries dana 30 truss welded on. Lastly I am not a full time welder and this is by far not my first time welding but it will be my first time fabricating with my stick welder as my MIG is only a 110v machine.

It comes in two pieces to be welded to the front of the axle tube right next to the passenger coil spring and slides nicely into place of the artec truss. I have already noticed that it sticks out forward of the axle a little bit shorter than the stock trimmed coil spring mounts. I may grind it down a little with a flap disk if the tie rod hits it at full lock.

I will fire up the welder tomorrow to burn it in.

 

[NickMaul]

Some updates. I have finally completed the steering and trac bar. I have lost my trac bar bracket brace because of the bend in the trac bar. So I will have to look at that again so I don't sacrifice any strength in the bracket mounting. The only other thing is I wish I had access to a bender for the tubing. I have lost a small bit of my turning clearance because of the OTK steering and imagine I could gain some of it back if I could put a small bend at the ends of the tie rod to offset the tube. Oh well. It's a jeep.

Besides that I need to find a way to attach my sway bars again then buy some 35s and pray for no breakage











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[NickMaul]

Jeep Mobile Again

Finally took the jeep for a test ride with the new steering and wheels+wheel adapters. I am happy with how it is riding around 45mph. Going to have to recheck all of the steering one more time before I get on the highway. I am beginning to think a steering stabilizer would be beneficial as the steering is super responsive when hitting bumps and cracks in the road. I don't want to wear anything out to prematurely.

Next update should have 35s mounted!





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[BigClay]

Looks nice. You been working on it in Va Beach or in Greensboro?

 

[NickMaul]

Looks nice. You been working on it in Va Beach or in Greensboro?

VA beach. Also FYI I don't see myself attending a ride until March at the earliest. Let me know when you decide to go out on a ride clay. It's been too long.

 

[BigClay]

Let me know when you can go. I am planning on going to Harlan August 13 with CTB

 

[NickMaul]

Let me know when you can go. I am planning on going to Harlan August 13 with CTB

Will do clay!

Well I am battling some pretty brutal death wobble and I believe it is because I had not put my trac bar bracket brace back on yet so I quickly got to modifying it since the OTA trac bar mount pushed it up higher.



While I had time I mocked up a little flex ramp out of concrete pads to see if there was going to be any contact with the trac bar or trac bar mount. I added two hockey pucks to each side planning ahead for the 35s and it looks like they will be adequate. However there will be fender trimming that is for sure.

 

[NickMaul]

I picked up some fairly new 315/70/r17 duratracs for my Moabs. They are no 35's but they are bigger than my BFG AT 33's and I got them for dirt cheap so I am happy.

I have also decided to put a heim joint on the end of my trac bar because I have a small degree of misalignment that I can already see the poly bushing getting torn up from. Maybe the most hacked up RE trac bar to date.

Lastly, after having 3 events of terrible death wobble at highway speeds that make me want to buy a tow rig and trailer, I have gone into OCD mode and am trying to find any culprit of movement on the front axle. It has all come down to the front upper control arms and decided to build some of my own adjustable to help dial in a good pinion angle and castor. Any day now I should be getting a package from Metalworx with the materials.

It stinks watching a OTK steering project turn into a 4 month operation but after this I will be so ready for some trail riding.



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[NickMaul]

Finished up some of my tasks before I have to drive back to NC to get my jeep inspected. The upper control arms came out great with only an angle grinder and a welder. I got some 1.5" DOM I had left over from my steering reamed open to accept my tube adapters. Still very beefy and solid. Don't see any issues coming out of these. We will see how long the QA1 ends last with combined trail and highway miles.

Dialed my castor to about 5.5-6 degrees. For the first time I put the duratracs on and they looks good. They are metric so the measure just at 34" with good tire pressure. I am so stoked to be back behind the wheel.

 

[NickMaul]

All finished with the modifications now it is at the shop awaiting a proper front end alignment. ZJ pitman arm is installed and now I believe the trac bar and drag link are perfectly parallel. Just ordered some timken hub assemblies off of amazon to top everything off and have the front end extra snug.

 

[BigClay]

That looks beef! Nice job.

 

[NickMaul]

There is something nice about fresh paint!
Ordered a Steering spacer because I could hear the stock one crunching every time I turned the wheels. Also ordered some leaf spring plates with an extension for the bump stop to hit. Lastly I went to 4WP here in Va Beach and ordered a warn vr8000 winch before the deadline for the mail in rebate. I will be cutting out my front cross member under the radiator and stick the winch in its place. I will build off of my current bumper and try to add some more bolt locations on the frame





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[NickMaul]

Been pushing pretty hard to get this baby ready for the spring/summer. I wanted to upgrade my axle ujoints so I ordered some 5-760 joints off of amazon. Pull my shafts and realize mine were the small u joint axles. (Barf). Had to go to pick n pull and grab four newer axle shafts with the larger u joints. Pulled them apart and am busy grinding away material for the full circle clips.



The dremel with a cut off wheel actually goes through the metal pretty fast. If I had a vice with me here in VA Beach then I would probably just use a hack saw like many others but this has been successful so far.



Lastly, I picked up my winch from 4wheelparts and am starting to look ahead at the electrical upgrades I need to do. I don't think the battery I have is big enough, enough cold cranking amps. I also want to mount this under the radiator so I need to mount the solenoid box under the hood. I want in cab winch control so I will order a winch control toggle from 12voltguy. Also I need new battery cables as well! Gosh the list grows quickly.

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[NickMaul]

Maiden Voyage

The XJ took its first offroad trip since steering mods and larger tires. I ventured out to the Cove for a ride with the Big Dogs. I got a good feel for some item that need to be addressed after a weekend on the trails.





GF had to get one poser shot in


My trac bar and my trac bar brace have been making contact. I am not sure I want to ditch the trac bar brace so I may have to add a puck to the bump stop mounts up front. I may just need a new trac bar made. This will have to be custom since I do not have a tubing bender.

Rear wheel wells need to be trimmed a tad behind the doors. The bumpstop pads in the back worked great.

Tire carrier needs to be reinforced. It bounces off of the rear hatch on really bumpy roads.

The jeep handled a 5 hour trip on the highway and in the hills just great. Still averaging decent gas mileage. I want to say at least 15 mpg with a speedometer that is just a few mph off correct. 4.56 gears seem to be a happy medium with the 35s that are on there now.

Driveshafts are worn out big time. Slop in the slip joints. Will need a replacement for the front soon as they are old driveshafts from the trans swap.

Right before the trip I found some bilstein 5100s on craigslists for a deal. They came off of a dodge truck and were less than a year old. I am not quite sure how the valving is compared to ones sold for a jeep but they are acceptable. Way better than the JK shocks I had on the front.

Now it is time to prepare a winch bumper. This will be a recessed winch bumper with the winch under the radiator. I already have a 2x6 piece of steel, IRO bumper brackets, and a steel hawse for the winch. I will be building it to match the look of ORS stubby winch bumper.

 

[NickMaul]

A lot of progress with the stubby winch bumper. For those who care to do this in the future I am using IRO bumper brackets, a 36" long 2"x6"x0.25" rectangle, and various bumper fab parts from barnes4wd. The 2"x6" is just tall enough to accommodate the bolt pattern of the winch. If there is such thing as a 2"x8" that would be the way to go.

Cut a lot of the front crossmember and the bottom of the fan shroud of the mechanical fan if you have one. I was surprised exactly how close the mechanical fan is to the winch and the harmonic balancer. The wire cables of the winch will have to be tucked away clean. Re-used the stock steering box spacer for the passenger side bumper plate.

I did clock the winch gear drum to get the engage/disengage lever away from the steering box. So far it has been a very tedious process making sure the winch is in a position where it won't interfere with other parts of the front end.

I plan to either order or make my own cables so that I can mount the electrical/solenoid box under the hood somewhere it can fit.



















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[NickMaul]

The bumper build is coming to a finish besides a few cuts, welding, and paint. I am very pleased with how well the IRO brackets fit plus the thickness of them (0.25 inch). The bumper is so tight that I can slide the bumper on and it will stay there with no bolts attached. I am eager to find someone with a tubing bender that may want to rent it to me so I can add some more protection for the rest of the grill/radiator.

Next, it is time to relocate the solenoid box under the hood and buy or build new battery cables to help get that connected so far away from the winch.





















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[XJsavage]

Awesome! Waiting to see some sexy stick welds!

And good call on the Warn VR. That's an excellent winch.

 

[NickMaul]

Awesome! Waiting to see some sexy stick welds!

And good call on the Warn VR. That's an excellent winch.

Warn has had a lot of mail in rebate deals that I had been watching and pulled the trigger on it after I got my tax refund haha.

Stick welding I am still getting used to. I have watched a ton of videos on youtube on technique which has helped but I need to sit down for an afternoon and figure out the settings on my machine. My main problem is when the weld puddle gets too hot it starts to burn through too much so I have to speed it up a bit but then the weld bead gets skinny. I really need to dial in the amps just right and record them on a notepad.

I am using a POWCON 200 SM which is a beast to use but the amp knob is labeled funny. For example the label "30" on the dial is really 100amps according to the manual. I don't understand that part but I have welding leads that are over 20 feet long so I love using it. I did a 6013 root weld then a 7018 pass over top of that. However, dummy me bought 1/8" 6013 rods and 3/32" 7018 rods so my final passes were a little tricky.

 

[XJsavage]

Hell yeah. A 3/32 7018 is my go-to rod for just about everything. On any tube joints or on plate my heat range is as follows: Thickness between .120-.125 I weld on about 85 amps. 95-100 for .188-3/16 and for 1/4" or above I'll swap to a 1/8" rod.

 

[NickMaul]

For 1/4" or above I'll swap to a 1/8" rod.

Everything on this bumper was 1/4" or thicker. Need to get me some 7018 rod in the 1/8" type. It would probably help if I kept the rods in an air tight can too haha.

 

[XJsavage]

Everything on this bumper was 1/4" or thicker. Need to get me some 7018 rod in the 1/8" type. It would probably help if I kept the rods in an air tight can too haha.

Lincoln Excaliburs!

 

[NickMaul]

Finally have the mods done to the bumper that will allow me to drive it again. No winch mounted until I get this bumper painted. Then the welding cable to relocate the solenoid box. Was looking real good in my head until I realized that I still needed to mount my homebrew antirock sway bar. Kind of through off the lines of the bumper but oh well. If it really bothers me I will ditch it.

Really happy again with the approach angle. It would be nice to find a tube bender to use for a weekend to bend out a little protection for the lights and the radiator. That will have to wait a little.















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[NickMaul]

I have put the final welds on the winch bumper, amen. My last wish was to put some protection for the winch in case I laid the front bumper on some rocks or such. I used some more of the gussets that I got from Barnes to keep it nice and rigid.

Notched out an area where the winch engagement lever is and I was good to go. Adjusted the welding amps a little bit with these 7018 rods and the welds came out very smooth for me.

A bit of slag droppings, but that’s what I get for still not buying 1/8” and using 3/32” at the top of their amp range.


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