Old School Hardcore - YJ SOA HP44 Build

[95yjjeep]

Hey guys. SO this is my first build thread on NC4x4. I had this build on Pirate4x4 but I thought I'd share with the local guys since I see a lot of similar builds going on in this forum.

Background: I've had my jeep since 2003 and have made quite a few changes since then. It was bone stock. The early pictures below show my jeep with 5" bds SUA springs, 1.25" life shackles, 1" body lift. It also had 4.88 yukons with a stock dana 30 and exploder 8.8 rear. 15x8" american racing baja wheels with 37x12.50 irok radials. This is a weekend wheeler and is driven occasionally so I need it to be street drivable.

For the Build: I will be replacing the wheels with m/t classic IIs in 15x10 with 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern.

The build consists of a HP44 front axle from a '74 F-100 with shortened housing (narrowed longside axle tube by 3"), yukon grizzly locker, high steer and complete rebuild with ford inner shafts and chevy outers. i'll be using '75 chevy flattop knuckles with parts mike high steer arms, same model chevy spindles, '84 k10 chevy calipers, '84 chevy caliper brackets and '85 ford hub, rotors and wheel bearings.

Steering:
Parts Mike High Steer arms using NAPA premo chevy 1ton tie rod ends and custom width DOM tubing for the steering links from ECGS.

The back is the 8.8 I was already running but i will be going SOA and adding a 1.25" wheel spacer/adapter to convert to 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern so the wider front axle will match the rear more closely.

The springs are BDS 2" springs SOA w/ no lift daystar greasable shackles. The spring were taller than i wanted but i wanted to run BDS springs. I've have good service out of their products and since I'm not running an antiwrap bar, I needed the heavier duty springs.

i'll be doing 95% of the work myself at a family members shop (Carpenter's Auto). All of the welding is done by Charles Carpenter from Carpenter's Auto in Charlotte, NC. I pasted their website below. They are great people to work with and have tons of experience. Not to mention Charles has been TIG and MIG welding since before I was born.

http://www.carpentersautoservice.com/

This build is now complete but I will try to post pics and descriptions in order of how they happened. if you have questions or comments feel free to post up or PM me.

let the pictures begin...

 

[95yjjeep]

jeep pics at Charles' Shop before I started the build. 5"SUA BDS springs, 37s, 1.25"lift shackles.

 

[95yjjeep]

parts loaded in the DD. I know I need a truck!

HP44 the day I got it.

Again. Notice the weld on wedges. This is what most people mix up. You can cut those off and you have bare smooth axle tubes.

chevy small bearing spindles. i hit them in the sandblaster to clean them up after these pics were taken.

'84 1/2 ton Chevy Calipers.

Chevy Caliper Brackets. I think they were off of a '82 Blazer.

 

[95yjjeep]

okay. so time to get to work. rear started first since it was the easier of the two.

leaf springs are SOOO easy to work with. The rear was out in less than an hour.

then i had to cut the old perches and shock mounts off. i cut the shock mounts off because i wanted to move them up higher to get them out of harms way from trail obstacles (pics coming later).

old 5" springs and shocks. TIP: never use the shock boots. they rust the hell out of your shocks.

got the rear back in with the new, no lift shackles and BDS 2" YJ springs.

the springs have a lot of droop but they flatten out nicely.

 

[95yjjeep]

okay. more pics. yes...i know this thread is picture heavy.

more pics of the rear mocked up. i had a tough time getting the pinion angle set in the rear. since i didn't stretch the wheelbase their is quite a bit of angle on the driveshaft.

got the wheel spacers on.

 

[95yjjeep]

now to the front axle. gota get the old dirty 30 out.

i sold the complete front axle to a local guy on nc4x4.

looks a little funny.

new 2" YJ BDS springs and daystar no lift greaseable shackles hung.

got the new yukon 4.88 gears and yukon grizzley locker in.

front axle after its first of many cleanings and spraybombs.

i got the front axle mocked in place so i could measure how much i wanted to cut off from the longside axle tube.

i figured out how much i wanted to cut by getting the drivers side ubolts and spring perches pushed as close to the center housing as possible. i did not want to cut any of the housing so my longside cut ended up being 3". I did not cut the drivers side at all. my overall width is 64" WMS-WMS.

 

[95yjjeep]

we got the axle cut down. what a PITA! used a chopsaw for the initial cut to keep the tube as square as possible. then we had to get the inner c tube pressed out. a lot of torch and pressing to get it to finally come out.

another of the axle pre-cut. you can say the 3" we're going to cut off.

We got the axle cut down and the C pressed back on and final welded. I also set the front caster angles before we final welded the spring perches. i put the axle under the jeep and let it sit with the full weight on jackstands so i could get an idea of what the jeep caster would be at ride height. i measured and used 5.5-6 degrees of positive caster at ride height and full vehicle weight on axle and springs. camber was set at 0 degrees. then the axle came out after being tacked up and the final burn in was done.

longside cut down tube with spring perches welded on. Charles welded the inner portion of the C's too so there would be no issues with strength.

upclose of MIG welds that Charles laid down. He's damn good.

the other side. the C on this side is the one that got cut down.

 

[95yjjeep]

once the axle was in with the perches on. i sandblasted and put the new spicer ujoints in. the long shaft had 2 7/8" cut off of it. The stub shafts are chevy 19 spline pieces.

 

[95yjjeep]

sandblasted, painted and ujoint installed shafts. painting them was overkill but it made them look so much better than rusty 35yr old axles with shiny new joints.

i had the longside shaft sent to moser to be cut and resplined. they did an excellent job. their work was better than factory.

 

[95yjjeep]

i finally got my rear pinion angle set and charles welded up the rear perches and shock mounts.

check out the go fast welding helmet.

MIG welding is done with a Millermatic 35. TIG welding (to come) is done with Charles' Millermatic Econotig.

rear shock mounts.

another.

once done, cooled and painted, i re-installed the rear for the last time.

 

[95yjjeep]

i'll post up more later. lunch break is over. bummer.

 

[smokey92pu]

I may have missed it but are you leaving the rear open?

 

[95yjjeep]

I may have missed it but are you leaving the rear open?

rear is a factory 8.8 limited slip. i'll post up more pics later.

 

[95yjjeep]

so i'll continue...
ECGS sent some parts. Man those guys are quick.

i got my steering box relocation bracket in from M.O.R.E.

i copied a cool trick that tarheel 4x4 does to flattop knuckles. i cut the old ear off and added a brace on 3 sides that attaches at the old ear using a drilled and tapped header bolt on each side.

charles TIG welded this part.

up close.

another.

passenger side.

drivers side.

 

[95yjjeep]

you can see here where i cut the old swaybar link mounts from my old spring plates and charles re-welded them to the new plates so i can run my swaybar. the teraflex disconnects will get cut down shorter since they're WAY too long.

dickin' around. not coilover flex but it seems to work well.

 

[95yjjeep]

 

[95yjjeep]

got the outers in

assenger:

 

[95yjjeep]

also got the lockouts in + brakes.

i got the steering box bracket in.

with yj pitman arm.

i also started messing with the steering.

 

[95yjjeep]

calipers on.

i got my steering measured and charles welded them up for me.

another.

more welding porn.

 

[95yjjeep]

steering painted and reinstalled.

 

[95yjjeep]

i'm using a yj drop pitman arm that is reamed out to fit the bigger chevy rod ends.

 

[95yjjeep]

when i added the steering box bracket i had to modify my steering rod. i cut the steering rod, added a cromoly round tube and had charles plug weld and fully weld the round tube.

 

[95yjjeep]

got my new wheels mounted.

wheels finally mounted.

 

[95yjjeep]

i got my tire carrier re-drilled and tapped for the 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern. i had to flip the pattern and put 1 stud on top and 2 on the bottom.

 

[95yjjeep]

i got my brakes bled and all the vacuum bs ripped out. we did a final alignment and once over on all the nuts and bolts and i finally got to drive it home.

i got it home and added some big daddy offroad rocksliders on that i picked up from tarheel 4wd. the powdercoat is a little rough but they were 2nds so they were a smokin' deal.

i got me some LED taillights from Genright Offroad.

rocksliders on.