93 XJ build

[NickMaul]

After some coats of paint I take a sigh of relief when I slide the bumper on and bolt everything back together back to readiness condition. The winch and bumper is pretty hefty. Mind that I have not wound it back up with cable yet. Before cable I believe it is around 110#-125#. Just light enough for me to man handle and get it onto the body.

Really wish I had a tube bender by now. I don’t mind wheeling without some protection under the head lights but one bad kiss from a tree and I will be hunting in the junkyard for some new body parts

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[NickMaul]

Ahhh Time to sit back and relax a little....

I completed all of my crap before a trip to Potts Mountain for a nice afternoon of testing my skills behind the wheel and not behind the computer keyboard

New ordinance style battery lugs


How I wired the new #2awg welding cable from alternator to PDC box.


Solenoid box relocation was a must. The engine bay is tight and I wanted a good mount so sorry washer bottle but you're out of here.


Just enough room to get the plug into the box under the AC lines.

Now take your #1awg welding cable and connect the dots. Took about 24' from the front fender to the firewall. Still need to get some of that plastic protective cover and run it all the way back to keep any oil off of the lines.








My old trac bar brace was getting smacked by the trac bar on up travel so the old one got scrapped and the new one was made inspired by IronMan4x4Fab and their trac bar brace. This actually works very well in the tight space I have. More Barnes4wd gusset brackets.

I think I need a variety of these shapes and sizes at all times. So useful.




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[Jason W.]

Xj Performed very well at Potts, done a good job!

 

[NickMaul]

Xj Performed very well at Potts, done a good job!

Jason, thanks for the recognition. Getting excited for a trail ride keeps me wrenching on the jeep usually in late hours of the day. Every time I tell myself I will finish all mods to the jeep atleast 48 hours before any sort of wheeling trip. What actually ends up happening is I finish the night before and my shake down is the trip on the interstate on the way to the trail then actually on the trail itself

Scott and I said no wheeler should ever admit completing an obstacle smoothly was luck and not skill, but this XJ has helped make up for any shortage of skill for sure

Time to hit some harder trails as I am about out of mods to do for the jeep until an axle swap falls in my lap

 

[BigClay]

I am about out of mods to do for the jeep until an axle swap falls in my lap

Come do my mods for me! haha I have a laundry list but I cant find the time to get them done.

 

[NickMaul]

Come do my mods for me! haha I have a laundry list but I cant find the time to get them done.

Should I go into the jeep buildin business??

 

[NickMaul]

Pulled the trigger on a dana 300 for cheap. It is from an 83 so it is the long version that will accept my speed sensor. Long term plan is to buy a gasket kit and redo all of the seals on it. Will be looking for a clocking ring to flip it over to passenger side.

Not sure if I want to keep the shifters on the bottom where is could leak or move the shifting rails up top with a kit or give my hand at making one myself since I have plenty of time. When the time and money is right some 4:1 lomax gears will come into the picture and rebuild it completely. Future tire size will be 37s on different axles but I don't see why the stock outputs can't live with a stock 4.0HO and 37s.



The PO accidentally left the T-176 tailhousing/adapter on it.



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[NickMaul]

After another round of Harlan I tackled some bigger trails and paid the price with some body damage. Got really hung up on killin time and got stuck between two rocks front and rear. Banged up my rear hatch pretty badly but it absorbed the impact and didn't crack thankfully.

On lower rock garden I charge on up the trail and got in another tight situation and found my front driver's side fender and turning lights getting mangled on a large rock about half way up the garden. Really need to get some tube bent and welded on up there.



Got home and decided I should begin tearing down the Dana 300. I want to do a simple rebuild of all of the gaskets. I will pull it all apart shortly then order the flip ring for it. The gears all look to be in great shape and there was only a tiny bit of metal shavings on the magnet of the plug.


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[Buddy Holly]

Interested to see what you do with the shifters. I have a 300 waiting to go in mine. Need to order the nwf black box for it

 

[NickMaul]

Interested to see what you do with the shifters. I have a 300 waiting to go in mine. Need to order the nwf black box for it

Yeah shifters I want to have operate clean with no slop. I have seen people utilize midwest control for the cables they sell and fab the shifters themselves. That being said the first time I saw the dana 300 shifters NWF sells I was impressed. Out of convenience I plan on going that route. Hopefully I will able to run the reverse style shifters.

dana 300 reverse cable shifter kit

 

[NickMaul]

The stock reverse lights are a major buzz kill. I took one of the 6" light bars that used to live on my old front bumper and mounted it behind my rear bumper/tire carrier. Did a relay setup for extra insurance and will only turn on when I shift into reverse. It was a nice little project that required little money







Save some money and start feeding this with some tube First up, front clip modification with tube for protection.

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[BigClay]

So when do i get to place my order for you bending me some tube! Haha

 

[XJsavage]

That'll pay for itself very quickly! Order a few hundred feet of cheap hrew tube to use as practice.

 

[NickMaul]

That'll pay for itself very quickly! Order a few hundred feet of cheap hrew tube to use as practice.

Yeah a couple sticks of that and I want to make template pieces of bent tube at certain angles to I don't have to do the math every single time I want to put a few bends in one stick of tubing.

I may start my bumper additions with HREW. But the cage will be DOM for sure

 

[NickMaul]

Took some early vacation before christmas and decided to knock out the tube bender setup that I have been visioning. I my current living situation is not permanent so I did not want to start bolting stuff into the garage floor or building a small slab of concrete outdoors. I was debating getting a air/hydro/ setup for bending but the costs were just too much since I do not have an air compressor here then the price of the brackets and the pump.

Instead I decided to build a platform that will mount the bender and allow me to stand on it. With my fat azz standing on it there will be no problem. Later this platform will probably be a welding table but for now I will stand on it

I have collected some railroad artifacts over some time now so the mount for the bender will be on an old railroad track plate. I am always excited to test my stick welding skills and it is fun using some old/recycled metal :us:











I use a combination of 6013 and 7018 1/8" electrodes. Once I find the right setting it lays down a clean weld. If I stored my electrodes properly I probably wouldn't get the porosity that shows up every now and then.

Had to add a little extra of a railroad touch to hang stuff







After Christmas time I will install some shackle relocation boxes from HD Offroad. Been wanting to buy some for a while now to get a little better shackle angle and get the shackle away from the rear body/crossmember thingy behind the leaf spring box.​

 

[NickMaul]

Well today I felt proactive and eager to put on the shackle re-locators from HD Offroad. Went on problem free I have chevy 1500 shackles so they lifted the rear of the jeep about two inches total when it was all said in done. I need a 2* shim now to get the pinion in the proper spot again. Before these my 35s rubbed just a hair at full flex. Should not have that problem anymore.





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[dlcrawler12]

I know it's kinda late but how did you run your winch controls from the engine bay to inside the Jeep? I'm thinking of doing the same thing with a 2000 but not sure how to do it, thanks!

 

[NickMaul]

I know it's kinda late but how did you run your winch controls from the engine bay to inside the Jeep? I'm thinking of doing the same thing with a 2000 but not sure how to do it, thanks!

At the moment I just plug the controller in and route the chord out of hood at the back corner then through the passenger side window. It is actually not terrible. Obviously I want to get the 12voltguy switch that taps into the solenoid box but I have other priorities at the moment.

 

[dlcrawler12]

I understand, thanks for the info!

 

[XJsavage]

Coming along very nicely!

 

[NickMaul]

Coming along very nicely!

I want to do super duty axles badly. They aren't popping up on craigslist as frequently as I thought for a fair price....

In the mean time I need to knock out the dana 300 and hybrid cage.

 

[XJsavage]

I want to do super duty axles badly. They aren't popping up on craigslist as frequently as I thought for a fair price....

In the mean time I need to knock out the dana 300 and hybrid cage.

Check the FS section. A friend of mine, Andy has a few things of interest.

 

[NickMaul]

I got some real shocks to replace some no name shocks that have been getting me by. Also had to replace the half ass shock mount I had on the axle with some official hardware from barnes4wd. Went ahead and used rough country rear shock thread replacement while I was doing this. One of the rear shock bolts in the body popped out.

Tried getting the Lincoln 110v mig to weld on the mounts. No doubt it would have worked doing normal horizontal welding but I didn't want to disconnect the axle all the way so I decided to weld it stick 7018 out of position. It was a bitch.

Getting ready to hit Harlan this weekend!







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[NickMaul]

Third Harlan trip was a general success. I worried that my shocks were going to be too long for the mounts I had welded to the axle tubes. I bump stopped the rear but that limited too much articulation that I want back.

So the plan is to outboard the shocks right next to the wheel well and come up through the floor. Still doing a lot of scheming on that. All I know is that the shocks in the stock position are somewhat useless at certain parts of axle articulation. Once I get them out on the axle in a vertical position I should get my articulation back and get better shock damping through the entire cycle.

After of constantly having a small quarter sized drip of oil on the driveway everywhere I go I have surrendered. Most likely every jeep owners most hated work. I sprung for the rubber/metal valve cover gasket after always having a terrible time getting a cork gasket to seal well. I am also tired of oil getting into the bellhousing and possibly trashing the clutch/flywheel

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[adamk]

I see an oil pan gasket...does this mean you're doing the rear main as well?