XJ Front Midarm 3 Link Build

98xjjeep

98xjjeep

Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Location
Greensboro, NC
So I decided to upgrade my crappy rustys short arm kit that i purchased a few years ago. I wanted something that won't bind, gives me good down travel, a better more solid ride and something that isn't the typical radius arm all the cherokee guys run.

I bought 7/8" hiems for the single upper from Ruffstuff and will be using 1.5" .120 wall DOM. The upper will be sleeved at the ends with 1.75" .120 tubing to help with strenth.

For the lowers I have bought ballastic 2.63" flex joints for the axle end. I am using stock rubber bushings for the frameside to keep the ride good and they flex more then poly. I will be making the lowers out of 1/4" plate and the design is kind of confusing so you just have to wait till I build them and take pics. :flipoff2:

All the brackets are 1/4" and can run either 7.5, 8.5, or 9.5 inches of seperation. The new lower brackets will give me about an inch of extra clearance under the axle.

So far I have taken the axle off along with the control arms, steering, shocks, ect. I have the axle on the table ready to cut the old stuff off and weld the new stuff on. I still have to work on bracket for the frame side. Hopefull i will be done by Wednsday but we will see.

I will post pictures in a second....
 
On with the pics....

Some brackets i have cut
ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4462.jpg


With the joints
ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4465.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4467.jpg


Upper axle side mount
ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4466.jpg


7/8" hiem compared to a 3/4"
ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4471.jpg


Old and new parts
ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4477.jpg


Axle dropped
ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4473.jpg


Axle off
ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4478.jpg


Dana 30 sitting on the table
ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4476.jpg
 
Update...

Got the upper and lower control arm brackets off the axle. I still have to clean up the lowers. I cleaned up the where the passengerside upper mount was and mocked up the new bracket. I also made a template for the truss so i can cut it out when i get home from work. Do you guys think the seals will be ok welding the truss and driverside lower control arm bracket on?

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4482.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4483.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4484.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4485.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4486.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4487.jpg
 
On with another update....

Got the Lower control arm mounts tacked on the axle along with the upper and truss. Bringing the axle to my buddies house tonight so he can weld it with his 220 instead of me welding it with my 110. Also got the passangerside lower control arm mount cleaned up last night.

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_P1011504.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_P1011505.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_P1011508.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_P1011509.jpg


Even with the LCA mounts below the center line i still have good clearance.

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_P1011510.jpg


What a B*tch to remove!

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_P1011511.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_P1011512.jpg
 
Nice build man. Looks like you are taking your time and doing it right. You can use a flapper disc instead of that grinding wheel and I think you will like the finished surface alot better for painting and fitment.
 
farmboy said:
Nice build man. Looks like you are taking your time and doing it right. You can use a flapper disc instead of that grinding wheel and I think you will like the finished surface alot better for painting and fitment.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yeah all of that will be plated so a grinding wheel works a little faster getting the underbody coating off.
 
Gotcha! forgot you were plating it. Keep it coming man.
 
Sorry for the lack of updates. I got tired of posting up pictures right away but do have some to post up when I put them on my computer. So far I have now all I have to do is get some metal for the lower control arms today and weld them up. I have been going back a forth on what material I want to use for the lowers. I would really like to use 1.75" .25 DOM but can't find any locally without paying for 20 feet. I only need 4 feet. So if anyone has some in greensboro that I could buy from them hit me up today 336-772-5457. I may just buy some square 2" .25 wall tubing becuase I can get that at any lenth.
 
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/mat/1469752262.html
craigslist post from Raleigh. He responded to me with 1 3/4" x .120 wall DOM and 2" x .120 wall DOM for $4.75 and $6.50 per LF in short stock <6LF per piece. Stock is in fayetteville, he is in southern wake county (Holly Springs).

I don't know hi, but I am going to get some DOM from him, planing tube fenders but haven't worked much with welding and fitment of tube, I need the short stock to practice.
 
ok so heres a few pics of progress last week. Sorry no recent ones. I have run into a problem though. I screwed up one of the Flex joints and im thinking just buying heims for the lowers. That way i will get some adjustablity and i can't F them up. I think 7/8" heims will be fine. I do wheel on rocks but I don't bash it to hard. I know the ride will be a little rougher but I dont mind as long as it wont rip the brackets off using all hard joints. Please let me know what yall think.

Scott welding the brackets on.

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4491.jpg


Passenger side frame bracket

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4495.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4496.jpg


ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4497.jpg


Upper control arm. This is the color of the springs and control arms. a little darker then in the picture. Looks really nice.

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4498.jpg
 
I need 2 feet of 1.5 .120 wall DOM and 4 feet of 1.75 .120 wall DOM

OR

4 feet of 1.75" .25 wall DOM

Please let me know if you have some pieces laying around I can buy.
Kevin 336-772-5457 Leave a messege if i dont answer.
 
Update.
I got more heims in today and went to Olivers Custom Drive Shaft to get some tubing. 1.75 .25" wall DOM is hard to come by so I used 1.5 .120 wall and sleeved it with 1.75 .120 wall. Very happy with how the links turned out. Tomorrow I just need to make new shock mounts and reinforce a couple areas and I will be good to go.

LCA Heims

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4504.jpg


Tubing

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4505.jpg


Tubing bungs welded on to inner tubing

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4506.jpg


1.75 .120 DOM slid over

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4507.jpg


All welded up and painted

ai380.photobucket.com_albums_oo248_98xjjeep_SSPX4510.jpg
 
At ride height the UCA sits parallel with the ground and the caster is at 5 degrees. Also at ride height the axle is about a inch more forward i think. And those grey spacers you see in the pics of the mounts are because the hiems mounting width is a half of an inch shorter then the original bushings and flex joints.
 
CherokeeChieftan said:
That looks sick man, nice work. What size springs are those? And what did it run you to do all that?
Click to expand...

The springs are 4.5" and i have 1 inch spacers to make up for the winch and bumpers. It cost me a little over $275. which 70 bucks was wasted on the flex joints i screwed up. I had most of the metal so that didn't cost anything.
 
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