Scarlet the Harlot- A YJ Build

Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly

Professional Amateur
Joined
Apr 6, 2014
Location
Mooresville
Hey everyone, this is the build that will document all the stuff I have done and will be doing to my little red YJ my buddies have dubbed Scarlet. It started out as a nearly stock 95 4banger that my dad bought back in 2010. It had a nasty 2" BL and add a leaf setup and some cheap 32s. We wheeled Potts Mtn many times with her when we still lived in VA. Once we moved to Raleigh it started to develop an oil pressure issue. At 3psi of oil pressure we yanked the 4banger out and rebuilt it over the summer. As you can see the bearings were toast.

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Two days before I started college we had it up and running again. Here is the earliest pic I have on file after we threw on some 33 Duratracs and Bushcrackers. Still rocking the chrome crap from the PO :shaking: It was so clean back then!

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So with the YJ running strong again I drove it pretty much as is for a while. Replaced the D35 with an 8.8, bent the 8.8 housing, threw in another 8.8.

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Threw in a cage, some armor, etc. Long story short I wheeled the shit out of this Jeep in the summer of 2015 with no issues until New Years Day came around. In one day at Rausch Creek I managed to destroy a sidewall, the front d30 disco mechanism, the rear Spartan, and yet another muffler (in one year I have killed 6 mufflers).

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I was able to get a set of 33s and wheels from a friend and limp it home. Made it back, threw in a Yukon Grizzly out back and converted the D30 to 1 piece shafts. That pretty much brings it up to date. Current pic:

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Here is a current list of stuff done:


Modified Trail Gear cage w/ harness bar
suspension seat and 5 pt harness
Barnes rocker guards
Swag body mounts, welded to provide 1" lift
Custom 1" lift motor mounts
8.8, 4.10s, Grizzly
HP30, Spartan, 1 Piece shaft conversion, 4.10s
Metric 33" Fierce MTs and ATX knockoff Hutchinson wheels
Marked Designs front bumper/LOD rear tire carrier
SYE/driveshaft
 
Breaking all the shit at Rausch really got me thinking about my wheeling style and how the Jeep is set up. I recently found out my 30 is bent and the gears are not in the best shape. I am not easy on the throttle and take this thing on trails it really shouldn't be on. I have limit strap on all four corners to keep my shackles from inverting, so suspension travel sucks to say the least. I started talking with my friend who is an engineering student and we came up with these
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There will be sliders on all four corners and it will be keeping the stock front 'shackle-forward' design.

Planning to build a new front axle while I am doing the suspension. It will be a Trail Gear Tacoma housing with 30 spline shafts/birfs and 4.88s. With IFS hubs it will be 64-65" WMS. The 8.8 will get set 20 semi-float ends welded on, 35 spline 6 lug shafts, and a spool for the short term. It will be ~62" WMS so it will match the front pretty well. I am known to change my mind 1000 times on axles, though the Toyota axle really fits my goal of lightweight and strong. Who knows what I'll do though :flipoff2:

I am building this rig around a 35-37" tire and plan to keep it SUA and roughly 2" of lift as well as keep it as light as possible. I want it to perform close to a stocker on the road and hold up to the black and red trails that I like to run. I am hoping to have the suspension and axles done by Christmas time.

Thanks for reading. I'll try to keep the updates coming :driver:
 
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Buddy_Holly said:
Breaking all the shit at Rausch really got me thinking about my wheeling style and how the Jeep is set up. I recently found out my 30 is bent and the gears are not in the best shape. I am not easy on the throttle and take this thing on trails it really shouldn't be on. I have limit strap on all four corners to keep my shackles from inverting, so suspension travel sucks to say the least. I started talking with my friend who is an engineering student and we came up with these View attachment 218219View attachment 218220

There will be sliders on all four corners and it will be keeping the stock front 'shackle-forward' design.

Planning to build a new front axle while I am doing the suspension. It will be a Trail Gear Tacoma housing with 30 spline shafts/birfs and 4.88s. With IFS hubs it will be 64-65" WMS. The 8.8 will get set 20 semi-float ends welded on, 35 spline 6 lug shafts, and a spool for the short term. It will be ~62" WMS so it will match the front pretty well. I am known to change my mind 1000 times on axles, though the Toyota axle really fits my goal of lightweight and strong. Who knows what I'll do though :flipoff2:

I am building this rig around a 35-37" tire and plan to keep it SUA and roughly 2" of lift as well as keep it as light as possible. I want it to perform close to a stocker on the road and hold up to the black and red trails that I like to run. I am hoping to have the suspension and axles done by Christmas time.

Thanks for reading. I'll try to keep the updates coming :driver:
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What 3rd in the front axle are you using? Using longer (than mini-truck) shafts to get the width? I suggest going with Tacoma/Tundra brakes on the front, as they are much better than IFS/SA.

I would also take the opportunity to stretch the wb atleast a few inches during the swap.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
What 3rd in the front axle are you using? Using longer (than mini-truck) shafts to get the width? I suggest going with Tacoma/Tundra brakes on the front, as they are much better than IFS/SA.

I would also take the opportunity to stretch the wb atleast a few inches during the swap.
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The cool thing with the trail gear housing is it comes with inner shafts. So add birfields, knuckles, spindles, etc and go. The extra width comes from the housing and using the ifs hubs. With the solid axle hubs it would be about 62" wide. Most likely going to build a high pinion third for it.

I am planning to move the front out a couple inches but the rear won't get stretched until I have the coin to put a fuel cell in.
 
Have you considered doing a waggy 44 front axle? For the money in the trail gear housing and parts you could buy a waggy axle and RCV shafts. For the price of a high pinion third you could get the jantz kit and put jk dana 44 gears in it. The upside to that is the axle almost bolts in. Plus it has a better steering radius. For the width you could add spacers, practically the same thing as adding ifs hubs to the toyota axle.

If you had your hart sold on toyota, you could go with a rear axle. Ive always wanted to find a tacoma/4runner elocker axle and put it in a yj. Perfect fit and selectable at the same time.
 
NCJeeplover said:
Have you considered doing a waggy 44 front axle? For the money in the trail gear housing and parts you could buy a waggy axle and RCV shafts. For the price of a high pinion third you could get the jantz kit and put jk dana 44 gears in it. The upside to that is the axle almost bolts in. Plus it has a better steering radius. For the width you could add spacers, practically the same thing as adding ifs hubs to the toyota axle.

If you had your hart sold on toyota, you could go with a rear axle. Ive always wanted to find a tacoma/4runner elocker axle and put it in a yj. Perfect fit and selectable at the same time.
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I had a ford hp44 to use but sold it to do the yota axle. I don't have a ton of faith in any 44 shaft after seeing 5 sets of rcvs break in one. I like the toyota because it can be built stronger for about the same money.

I wanted to do a rear 8.4 elocker but a disc brake conversion would be tricky and disc brakesbrakes are high on my list. The 8.8 lets me keep my e brake stuff, rear driveshaft, etc.
 
Buddy_Holly said:
I had a ford hp44 to use but sold it to do the yota axle. I don't have a ton of faith in any 44 shaft after seeing 5 sets of rcvs break in one. I like the toyota because it can be built stronger for about the same money.

I wanted to do a rear 8.4 elocker but a disc brake conversion would be tricky and disc brakesbrakes are high on my list. The 8.8 lets me keep my e brake stuff, rear driveshaft, etc.
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I have thought about this for a similar reason. I am not sure that the Toyota CV bell is as stronger or stronger than the D44. Maybe someone has compared to 2 side by side.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
I have thought about this for a similar reason. I am not sure that the Toyota CV bell is as stronger or stronger than the D44. Maybe someone has compared to 2 side by side.
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I have both laying on the shelf at work so I will get some pics tomorrow if I can remember. From what I have heard in stock form the 44 shafts are stronger but good chromo toyota axles and birfields are stronger than chromo 44 shafts. Probably because of the stock U joint weakness. To really get all the strength out of a 44 shaft you need super joints which sucks to have if you drive your rig daily like me
 
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Buddy_Holly said:
I have both laying on the shelf at work so I will get some pics tomorrow if I can remember. From what I have heard in stock form the 44 shafts are stronger but good chromo toyota axles and birfields are stronger than chromo 44 shafts. Probably because of the stock U joint weakness. To really get all the strength out of a 44 shaft you need super joints which sucks to have if you drive your rig daily like me
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I was referring to the d44 RCV bell size and shaft size vs. Toyota RCV bell and shaft size.

No question that the d44 R&P is stronger (than 8" yota), and one could argue a toss-up on the d44 knuckles/balljoints vs. Toyota knuckles/trunions.
 
Buddy_Holly said:
To really get all the strength out of a 44 shaft you need super joints which sucks to have if you drive your rig daily like me
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I am not arguing a certain axle but wouldn't the lock outs on the dana 44 keep you from any unnecessary wear on high performance u joints from DDing?
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
I was referring to the d44 RCV bell size and shaft size vs. Toyota RCV bell and shaft size.

No question that the d44 R&P is stronger (than 8" yota), and one could argue a toss-up on the d44 knuckles/balljoints vs. Toyota knuckles/trunions.
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I have rcvs here too. Pics coming tonight


NickMaul said:
I am not arguing a certain axle but wouldn't the lock outs on the dana 44 keep you from any unnecessary wear on high performance u joints from DDing?
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Does someone make 30 spline 44 lockouts? I thought there were only drive flanges available. You could do 19 spline I guess
 
Buddy_Holly said:
I have rcvs here too. Pics coming tonight




Does someone make 30 spline 44 lockouts? I thought there were only drive flanges available. You could do 19 spline I guess
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yeah RCV makes them. They are great. I have busted 2 hubs (one took out the wheel hub as well) and no damage to the 30 spline hub thing.
 
BRUISER said:
motobilt 4 link :)
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HAH! Are you buying Ken?

For those talking up the 44 its a great option, but not what I want to do. I am set on the toyota at this point just waiting on parts and a donor axle to pop up.
 
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Engine skid is 95% done. Four bolts need some trickery to clear the exhaust which will get fixed tomorrow.
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Why not weld the nuts to the skid frame so you don't have to use a wrench on the other side when you break them lose? I did that on mine and counter sunk all the bolt holes. Ordered a bunch of 3/8 Allen head bolts and it's smooth as a babies ass on the bottom.


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