Project Reset

[jeepinmatt]

After spending the last 11 years making my jeep bigger, heavier, and more complicated, I came to a point where everything was pretty much how I wanted it. It rode great, drove great, flexed great, and never saw any offroad use.

The right opportunity came along, and I traded my built Dana 60's, Dana 300, and 38.5" Maxxis Creepy Crawlers for built Dana 30/35, NP231, and 36" SX's.

Specs of the jeep pre-trade:
00 TJ
~5300 pounds in daily driver trim
95"ish wheelbase
4.5" RE springs, 2" Bodylift, Teraflex longarms, OME Shocks
D60HP front, Detroit, 4.56, Sky Hi-steer, Hydro Assist, 1ton Steering
D60FF rear, ARB, 4.56, Shaved, Disc Conversion
38.5" Maxxis Creepy Crawlers on Procomp 8128's
4.6 Stroker
NV4500HD
Dana300, 4:1, Flipped, Twin Sticked, HD output
Stock Front Bumper with Warn 8274 and 150' of steel cable
Rear Swingout Bumper/Carrier
Heavy Fabbed Steel Rocker Protections

Short Term Plan
00 TJ
~4500 pounds in daily driver trim
95"ish wheelbase
2.5" OME Lift/Shocks, 2" Bodylift, Teraflex longarms
D30LP front, Yukon Zip Locker, 4.88, 30 Spline Chromoly Shafts, HD Steering
D35 rear, Yukon Zip Locker, 4.88, 30 Spline Chromoly Shafts, Custom Truss
36" TSL SX's on 16x8 Soft 8's
4.6 Stroker
NV4500HD
NP231 w/SYE
Stock Front Bumper with Warn 8274 and 100+ft of Synthetic Line
Spare tire mounted on rear door
Aluminum Rear bumper
Aluminum Rocker Protection


Stage 1 is to get the axles and t-case back in the jeep. Its hanging out on jackstands right now. The D35 I received in the trade had the upper CA's cut off and a claytons 4-link truss welded on. I am going to be running the stock jeep 5 link, so I swapped the internals into another D35 housing I had laying around.

Stage 2 will be to get the 2.5" springs under it, get or build the aluminum parts, and and do a DIY highline like I did to this red TJ:
www.nc4x4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121651


Here's the sad day of years of hard work leaving (and lightweight parts and cash staying!):

 

[jeepinmatt]

Here's the lonely neglected TJ. Hopefully it won't be like this for too long.

 

[jeepinmatt]

And here's the sweet 1/4 tons that will be going in place.

 

[userbmx1315]

low pinion 30? dana 35?
are you going to be rotating the knuckles?

 

[RHSCTJ]

I would imagine it's going to be pretty darn quick when it finishes its diet.

 

[jeepinmatt]

low pinion 30? dana 35?
are you going to be rotating the knuckles?

Yeah, LP D30 and D35. Why would I rotate the knuckles?

 

[jeepinmatt]

I would imagine it's going to be pretty darn quick when it finishes its diet.

I sure hope so. In the front alone I will be loosing somewhere in the neighborhood of 500lbs. Also, going from 4.56 to 4.88s, and from 38.5's to 36's will make it pretty sporty. I remember it being a lot of fun on 36" Iroks, but going up to 38"+ tires seems to take alot more power at highway speeds.

 

[336wheeler]

Any reason why you didn't try to do a hp30/d44?

 

[jeepinmatt]

Any reason why you didn't try to do a hp30/d44?

Yep, nobody with that setup wanted to trade with me and give me a wad of cash, haha. I'm fine with the LP front because most of the time when the front has a ton of traction is when you are backing up, which is when the LP front is stronger. The long term plans include a Ford 9" rear of some sort, but a trussed D35 with 30 spline Chromo's will be ok for now.

 

[cgm147]

interesting build i hope you got a big big wad of cash in trade!

 

[R Q]

Interesting ... I'm lowering, widening, stiffening, and lightening my Jeepster this winter.
It's tall, fun, and cool but it's top heavy and scary off road anymore. I've had to learn to save it from flipping on a regular basis.
I had a LOT more fun with the 4" lift, and 34" LTB's.
While I'm at it, I'm going to remove and rebuild all of the heavy metal I've put on it over the years.
I'll be doing a "UNbuild" thread when I get started.
Good luck with yours Matt.

 

[userbmx1315]

i was askin about rotating the knuckles that way the drive shaft angle and the castor/camber would be perfect.
i have a 9" housing shafts, 3rd member minus a side spider. if you 'd like, ill let it go rele cheap.
pretty much whole except brakes and side spider.

 

[jeepinmatt]

interesting build i hope you got a big big wad of cash in trade!

:Rockon:

Interesting ... I'm lowering, widening, stiffening, and lightening my Jeepster this winter.
It's tall, fun, and cool but it's top heavy and scary off road anymore. I've had to learn to save it from flipping on a regular basis.
I had a LOT more fun with the 4" lift, and 34" LTB's.
While I'm at it, I'm going to remove and rebuild all of the heavy metal I've put on it over the years.
I'll be doing a "UNbuild" thread when I get started.
Good luck with yours Matt.

One of the biggest things with mine is that I needed more wheelbase to match the tires. And I didn't want to cut the jeep up and deal with the fabrication, so I decided to lower it instead of lengthen!
I'd also have to agree that my jeep was more fun when it was simpler. I'll never forget going to Uwharrie on 2" spacer, 32's, and a lockrite in the rear, and running nearly everything and just plain having a blast, then driving home the next day.

i was askin about rotating the knuckles that way the drive shaft angle and the castor/camber would be perfect.
i have a 9" housing shafts, 3rd member minus a side spider. if you 'd like, ill let it go rele cheap.
pretty much whole except brakes and side spider.

Haven't really thought about rotating the knuckles. Never really had any problems with the stock axles on 3-4.5" lift. Hopefully when everything is lowered down to 0-2", the geometry will all work right. Might be interested in the 9", though I'm in no hurry. I want to play with this setup a while instead of plunging back into tons of work and mods.

 

[cburgin]

Awesome build man...I wish I would have done the same thing. It has taken me forever to build my rig and I am still not done. I seriously wish mine was on d44s and 36s. I could drive it and wheel it without the worry of replacing expensive ass 42" tires among other things.

 

[skinnypedal95]

i thought about doing the same thing to put some fun back in wheeling.

 

[sqrl$$]

Every once in a while I miss having something on 31's that you had to actually work to get it through some places vs. having something built that will walk through it.

Interesting build Matt but I think I would go ahead and be looking for a 9" or 8.8 for the rear because even a built D35 is STILL just a D35.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Every once in a while I miss having something on 31's that you had to actually work to get it through some places vs. having something built that will walk through it.
Interesting build Matt but I think I would go ahead and be looking for a 9" or 8.8 for the rear because even a built D35 is STILL just a D35.

Yeah. Im sure I'll quickly remember why I replaced the D35 to begin with. My jeep has been 8 lugged since 2001 or so.

i thought about doing the same thing to put some fun back in wheeling.

That (and $$$) is exactly why I'm doing it. Its neat to be able to grab my front axle and carry it across the shop to the jeep.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Got the front in. Still looks like a jeep. I had cut off the stock trackbar mount flush with the frame about a year ago. Turns out I haven't emptied the scrap bin in over a year because it was still in there and I was able to weld that puppy right back on there!

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

is that with the 2" springs? If so, I think stockers and Hi-line are in order...

and everybody knows, the way to save a d35 is to take driving lessons from Justin...

 

[jeepinmatt]

Thats with 4.5" springs.

 

[sqrl$$]

Any updates? You wheeled it/broke it yet?

 

[jeepinmatt]

Well, not much to update. We finished "building" our house in December and got moved in, and then realized all the things we hadn't done yet. Ya know, stuff like hanger rods in the closets, and shelves in the bathroom and kitchen cabinets, and a water filtration system, the list goes on. We're having the housewarming party this weekend, so thats kinda a line in the sand to ease up on house stuff and get back to stuff with motors!

I pulled the gears/locker out of the 3 link setup D35 and moved them over to a stock bracketed D35 that I had sitting around. Started that in about November, and finally got back to it on Tuesday of this week. Hopefully the momentum will carry on and I'll get some things knocked out in the next couple of weeks. Still trying to decide whether to swap the input on the NP231 (i've already got the 29 spline input), or buy tknopp's D300 and put my old D300 input on it. The D300 input is much easier, but then I'd have to do cable shifters.

 

[willness33]

Hey Matt, belated congrats on getting moved into the house. When the jeep gets done, bring it over for a little shakedown run if you want.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Thanks Will! I'll definitely do that.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Made a little progress last night.
Got the rear axle under the jeep and connected to the control arms. Resting on the springs now, tires installed. Looks like a jeep again!

Also got the NP231 pulled apart to swap the input from 23spline to 29spline. It was surprising easy in spite of complications I made for myself. Whoever put the SYE in there must have used 2 or 3 tubes of RTV, so I had fun scraping that off. There are 2 different length inputs for these t-cases, and apparently I had the short one and ordered the long one. I put everything in place, took some measurements, and needed about 0.300" of spacers. I didn't want to make anything, so I started digging in my boxes of axle shims. Dana 35 shims are available in thicknesses around 0.150", the ID was just right and the OD was close enough, so I took the first two I found and test fit them between the bearing and snapring. They were a little thick and the snap ring wouldn't quite seat. I measured, it was 0.305", so I dug around some more and came up with 0.295", put em in, snapring seated and everything was happy. Switch the pilot bearing from the old input to the new one and it was ready to go.

So then I reassembled the front half of the case, stood it up, dumped the pan with 2 quarts of fresh fluid back in, and walked to the other side of the shop to get something. I come back about 30 seconds later, and AT LEAST 1 of those 2 quarts had distributed itself onto the workbench via the breather. Doh! After that everything went together well, but that wasted probably 30 minutes by the time everything was cleaned up and put up.