more of a "rebuild"

strange1

strange1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2005
Location
Elkin
Lets call it "whiskey bent and hellbound"
i bought it as a stock jeep that ran, but didn't drive, approximatly 9 years ago. i will have to dig to find any pics older than '06.
Here are a couple from april 06 at Whipporwill.
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At this point it had a spring over with full width 10-bolts, 35" tires, and i had put rear springs up front, and '86 chevy springs in the rear for a 93" wheelbase. I think i had the sm420 installed here, but not sure.
 
Mtn. City TN, Aug '06. pretty much the last time i did any real wheeling. Same setup, but had just swapped the manual steering box for a J-10 power setup.
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mtncity1.jpg

BTW, that's not the correct line.
 
Nov. 06. waiting for the front 30 spline detroit and 4.88 gears to be installed
100_1456.jpg.
 
It's good to see something comming from this.....I'm sure the jeep was getting tired of sitting in Shawn's back yard
 
May 07. 1" body lift, M.O.R.E. shock hoop, 16" bilsteins up front, fuel cell, finished up the new cage (2nd one), and got some 38" tsl's.
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What are your plans for it now? Is the rear axle shaft fixed?
 
It sat at Shawns for 6 months due to a divorce, and this...
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Don't try to power brake with a 10-bolt rear and 38's. It has been fixed and is back on the road.
Current setup:
258, sm420, dana 300 w/twin sticks
30 spline 10-bolt front, detroit, 4.88
28 spline 10-bolt rear, tru-trac, 4.88
restacked the springs to drop it about 2 inches, switched out the 16" bilsteins for 14".
38" bias ply TSL's
 
SWEET! I met Strange1 at work the other day.Good luck with the build.........:beer:
 
got my e-bay racing harnesses to Duane (Big Jake's Fab) today. hopefully the newest cage (number 3) will be done, painted, and reinstalled within a week. i don't have any pics of the cage yet, so here i am doing a little "shop wheeling"
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Hopefully, i can advance to mall-crawling soon.:lol::lol::flipoff2:
 
awesome, get it done, we need to get this thing to mtn city!
 
Tired of not seeing any progress, so i went and played with the plasma cutter and welder a little.
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new cage

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more cage

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now for the steering

Looks like i need a Astro steering box...
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...then maybe i can put the tie rod above the springs, where it belongs.
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I also need to get my TSL's balanced good enough to get rid of the stabilizers.
 
Well, this thing hasn't moved more that 150 feet since June, so i decided to hack it apart and start over. Going back to a SUA with narrow track axles. Planning to run 34" LTB's with only a 1" body lift, and add-a-leaves (i really hope that works, since i have a new set of tires waiting). Putting a M.O.R.E. shackle reversal up front so it will flex a little better, and hopefully ride a little better. Leaving the chevy springs in the rear, so my wheelbase should end up at about 88-89 inches.

I don't have any pics of the Jeep in its current state, but here is a link to the wheels i am hoping to run. If I dont f*** them up to bad.

http://www.nc4x4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76403
 
out with the old...

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Just curious why you decided to go back to the smaller axles and tires?
 
MetalMangler said:
I bet I could kick that thing over and give Duanes jeep its first dent!:flipoff2: lol
Click to expand...
and my second???
drkelly said:
Just curious why you decided to go back to the smaller axles and tires?
Click to expand...
First, it just didn't suit my wheeling style. I enjoy a good trail ride more than i do beating on every obstacle i come across. And with full width axles and 38"s, it just wasn't that much fun anymore.
Second, I want it to be more streetable. I want to drive it to Harlan in the spring, wheel a little, and drive it back home. If not Harlan, at least visit the waterfall in Mtn City again.
Third, I never got eveything in the front suspension set up properly. I pushed the wheelbase to far forward when i moved the springs outboard. That caused my tie rod to hit the pitman arm when it was placed above the springs (see previous pics). I decided that if i was going to cut everything apart to fix it, i may as well make it noticable
 
in with the new

step one...
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step two (i still need to weld these in place)...
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(sort of) finished...
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I decided to go with the M.O.R.E. system because it does not lift the jeep, it does not change caster or pinion angle at ride height, and it moves the axle forward one inch (to help keep the tires out of the fenders during compression. And having purchased from them before (long travel shock hoop), i was impressed with the quality, the fit, the clear instructions, and the customer service.

The springs are CJ rears with BDS add-a-leaves and poly bushings. How much am i going to have to cut to clear 34"s????
 
I hate being bored

I pretty much have the front end wrapped up, i just cant make it home before dark to take any pictures. Hopefully i will be able to get a couple of tires mounted and put on saturday, and actually put the front back on the ground. That will just leave a driveshaft and brake lines.

but anyway, on to the rear. I had a NT axle heading to the scrapyard, so i decided to play around a bit. The gears are in horrible shape, but the bearings are good, so i may just end up keeping it.
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I don't think its too bad for a first attempt with no real planning. I cut ~1-1/4" off, and will plating it back 1/4", so i think the gain in ground clearance will definately be worth the small amount of time it took to do it. So far i only have about 1.5 hours in it, but i have to finish the welding and figure out how to fix the cover. But since i don't know how to weld, that shouldn't take long at all.
 
After 2 years of just sitting, it is time to show it some love.

The amc 20 went to the scrapyard to make room for an isuzu 12-bolt. Its hard to argue against factory disc-brakes and 4.56 gears for under $100 bucks. In order to match the width of the rear, I narrowed a dana 44 to run up front. I started with a widetrack j-10 axle and removed 4" from the long side tube to get my spring pads to CJ width. By using this housing, I am able to keep it spring-under, run a factory narrow-trac j-10 tie rod, and use an off the shelf inner axle shaft for the long side. I'm not sure what it fits, but I had to trim about 1/4" off the splines to make it fit. Chase at ECGS assured me that this would not affect the warranty, so I took it. This setup leaves the front about the same width as the rear, both of which are slightly wider than wide-track CJ.

I still have some new spring pads to weld on the rear to give me a couple more inches of wheelbase (it should be around 90" when it is all done), and I am thinking I may need to lower it a bit to get the stance that I am wanting. It's hard to tell from this photo, but with 34" ltbs mounted, the rear is only slightly higher than a stock(ish) CJ with 31's....

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I also picked up another 258 from an AMC wagon with only 2x,xxx miles. Complete with all accessories, including a york a/c compressor. Is it worth doing the work to set-up onboard air? What all do I need besides a tank?
 
where did you source the Isuzu 12bolt? Im also going to run one, hoping you've got a stash of $100 axles :driver: Got any pics of it for easier identification?
 
strange1 said:
Is it worth doing the work to set-up onboard air? What all do I need besides a tank?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is worth it. I wish I had it on my Samurai. All you really need is the compressor, a pressure switch, a tank, and some air hose. A pressure gauge on the tank is nice too.
 
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