Betsy's Build

I removed the driver front fender tonight. This will make it much easier to cut off the stock coil/shock mount from the frame. It will also allow me to place the new axle/tire where it needs to go. I will make the fender work around the new setup.

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I put the tires up against the jeep to get an idea of what it will look like. These tires are big. It is going to be interesting getting everything to work.
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I removed the rock rails and rear fender flares.
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I removed the front stock shock tower/coil buckets over the past few nights. Thanks to Ken's plasma cutter for making this much easier to get the bulk of them removed. Then, it took a while with the grinder to get them cleaned up.

Driver During
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Driver After
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Passenger During
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Passenger After
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Next is to remove the stock trac bar mount on the frame and the front upper control arm mounts on the frame.
 
With John's help a lot was accomplished today. We did the following:
Removed the rear axle
Removed the leaf springs
Cut off the rear bump stops
Cut off the leaf spring hangers
Cut off the stock upper control arm mounts
Removed the Gas Tank
Figured out the ride height of the axles on the tires
Put the front axle at close to full bump- need to cut to go one more inch.
Put the rear axle at full bump- should fit fine.

At the end of the day
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Looking down the side
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Need to cut out part of the frame to allow the axle to go up one more inch- so I can run 6" of bump. Driveshaft looked fine. Upper control arm looked fine as well. Just need to decide if it will attach to side of frame or on top of frame.
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Here is where the tire contacts when turning in and full bump. Going to need to remove and plate this area.
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I have been cutting, grinding and air hammering for three nights...not fun. Plasma cutter makes part of it much easier. I have removed all of the stock brackets on the rear of the frame. I still have a couple in the front. I also notched the frame in the front to allow the front axle to compress 6".

Notch in the front frame (I put a paper towel behind it so it is easier to see.)
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Rear portion of frame with all stock brackets removed.
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Next will be finishing the last couple brackets on the frame up front (passenger upper link mount). Then, put axle in position and tack on link mounts.
 
Worked on the jeep some this weekend. I can't tell you how many times I lifted the axle into position and took it out.

I notched out the axle truss to allow the axle to go up to full bump without hitting the oil pan. I will box it back in later. Once, I am sure I have cut enough.
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I got the lower link mounts tacked onto the front axle.
Driver Side-
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Passenger Side-
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I drilled out the knucles so that the tie rod could be installed on top of the knuckle instead of from the bottom.
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Insert tacked in place-
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Next, I will get the passenger upper link mount tacked on (already did the driver side- forgot to get a pic) and figure out where the track bar will go. Here is the axle at full bump-
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Tonight I cut the .25" wall tube to make my tie rod and tacked on the thread inserts. This allowed me to install my tires and turn them back and forth without worrying about the steering coming apart. (My PVC tie rod was just held on with duct tape.) With the tires installed the max width is 78". My trailer is 83" between the fenders, so that is good.

Here is the tire installed at full compression.
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I turned the tires back and forth to see what they would hit. Here are some pics with the axle in the original intended position.
Turning Drive the tire contacts the frame in the back- not an easy fix (unless I install wheel spacers).
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Tire gets into the frame/steering box mount- not too hard to fix.
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Steering stop is not bottomed out- axle should be able to turn more.
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I moved the axle forward 2" to see if it would make things better or worse.

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As you can see, the steering stop is nearly bottomed out. So the axle is able to turn all the way driver and passenger with it 2" forward. So it looks like this position is better. I will have to move the steering box forward- which shouldn't be too bad. It will just take time. My only concern with the axle in this position is how much the tire will get into the back side of the grill when the opposite tire drops. I don't care about cutting up the back/sides of the grill but I hope it does not get into the headlight bezel area. At worst, I could install some 1" or 2" wheel spacers.

I did find out that I need to move my lower link mounts on the axle in a couple of inches. The lower links will interfer with the tires- so I need to move the mounts in. So this will be the third time I move the lower links. I guess this is why you tack weld everything so you can easily remove it...
 
Shouldn't need to move the box forward. My axle is 8" forward from stock and my steering box is still in the stock location.
 
The last few days I have been able to work on the jeep an hour here, an hour there. I completed the following.

Moved the lower link brackets in a couple inches- so the tires would not hit the lower links when turning full lock. I also moved the brackets down a couple inches so the link would not hit the frame when the axle was at full compression.
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I cut and plated the differential cover so the tie rod would not hit it.
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I took a link bushing and cut it from 2.63" down to 2" so I could use it on the frame side of the track bar.
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Probably bend up the trac bar next. It needs to go up over the differential cover and below the harmonic balancer of the engine.
 
John came over one night last week and helped me figure out the best location for the upper link brackets on the axle. We moved the driver side bracket that I had tacked on previously.
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I cut the tube for the upper links and John welded them to the bushing collars. They are offset to get the tube as low as possible- so the links will not hit the engine mounts at full compression.
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I welded on the threaded inserts and painted up the arms. I used the thread-in johnny joint ends from my Clayton Kit. Here they are complete.
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The next part is to install the frame side brackets for the upper arms. Then, I will get back to the trackbar.
 
Got some work accomplished the last few days. I mainly worked on getting the front upper links installed.

Built some upper frame brackets with multiple holes for adjustability.
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Here is a shot from underneath the frame looking straight up. I will brace this some additional gussets.
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Here is the axle at ride height with the upper links tacked in place.
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Passenger side.
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Here it is at full compression. Pinion angle changes from 6 degrees (at ride height) to 9 degrees (at full compression).
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Here is the drive upper arm. It is tight but I think it is going to work.
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The past couple nights, John has come over and given me a lot of help. We got the track bar bent up. We made it out of .120 wall tubing for mock-up. Now that we know exactly what is needed we will bend some .25 wall tubing later.
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We also installed the new dodge master cylinder to make certain there was room for it before the hoops for the shocks are installed.
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At full flex and close to full lock the tires were hitting the grill way too soon. So I borrowed some 1.5" wheel spacers (thanks 6BankBronk) to see if that would help out with the issue. It made it a lot better.
Here are some shots-

Full lock to driver side
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Almost full lock to passenger side
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To make it work as is I would have to clearance the back of the grill by about 1.5" - not bad. 2" wheel spacers would be better. I am not sure if I would want to go with 1.5 or 2" spacers...
 
Tonight I removed the steering box. Since I am going to move the box forward and up- I also cut off the bracket that is below the frame that the steering box bolts to.

Before
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Here is the bracket- i cut out the sleeves so I can use them later.
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After
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