neXtJeep Build Thread

Shreddinlettuce said:
Why not 8.8 for the 31 spline shafts and disk brakes? Way less cutting involved
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Reasonable question, which I considered many times. But if doing that, I could also just regear and put a locker in the D30/8.25 and kind of end up at the same result with less work.

There’s one single stupid factor which drove me to the Rubi axles: rear is a limited slip when unlocked. Cost wise I can spin it a zillion different ways and find a way to justify the result I want, but they’re all in the same ballpark. $3k for gears and lockers and a junkyard 8.8, $3k- for gears and lockers in the current axles, $4k for Rubi axles, but I can also sell the HPD30 and C8.25. But only one of those options ends up with a limited slip for normal driving and wheeling which really wanted. Plus it’s bolt in on the front, heavier duty steering, factory setup 4.10 gears, selectable lockers front and rear, same driveshaft connections, disc brakes in the rear now, etc.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Reasonable question, which I considered many times. But if doing that, I could also just regear and put a locker in the D30/8.25 and kind of end up at the same result with less work.

There’s one single stupid factor which drove me to the Rubi axles: rear is a limited slip when unlocked. Cost wise I can spin it a zillion different ways and find a way to justify the result I want, but they’re all in the same ballpark. $3k for gears and lockers and a junkyard 8.8, $3k- for gears and lockers in the current axles, $4k for Rubi axles, but I can also sell the HPD30 and C8.25. But only one of those options ends up with a limited slip for normal driving and wheeling which really wanted. Plus it’s bolt in on the front, heavier duty steering, factory setup 4.10 gears, selectable lockers front and rear, same driveshaft connections, disc brakes in the rear now, etc.
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This makes to much sense, I vote stupid duties and 43's.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Reasonable question, which I considered many times. But if doing that, I could also just regear and put a locker in the D30/8.25 and kind of end up at the same result with less work.

There’s one single stupid factor which drove me to the Rubi axles: rear is a limited slip when unlocked. Cost wise I can spin it a zillion different ways and find a way to justify the result I want, but they’re all in the same ballpark. $3k for gears and lockers and a junkyard 8.8, $3k- for gears and lockers in the current axles, $4k for Rubi axles, but I can also sell the HPD30 and C8.25. But only one of those options ends up with a limited slip for normal driving and wheeling which really wanted. Plus it’s bolt in on the front, heavier duty steering, factory setup 4.10 gears, selectable lockers front and rear, same driveshaft connections, disc brakes in the rear now, etc.
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You also keep the possibility of wj knuckle swap for bigger brakes
 
jeepinmatt said:
G2G is getting close. Need to find some time to finish up a few things on this puppy. I picked up some sliders a couple months ago, so I need to get those cleaned up and painted and mounted. I also have a left front caliper that is dragging, so I should probably go ahead and swap in the Rubicon axles in the next 2 weeks and make it completely unfinished and out of commission before the event! :laughing:

With that in mind, whats needed for converting a TJ axle to XJ? Cut the TJ bracketry off, then weld on spring perches and shock mounts? What about brake lines, e-brake cables, and driveshaft? Anybody done an XJ swap in the past couple years and have suggestions on parts? @Scott86MJ @Jody Treadway And since I'm cheap... @Pless does Barnes wanna sponsor a writeup by sending me some parts? :D
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I've got some anti wrap d44 spring perches and Ubolts if you need them.
 

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Got home from the beach late this evening, finally got the kids in bed, and decided to go work on the XJ “for a few minutes”…:laughing:
Went down to the shop around 10:30pm, decided I’d start taking the brackets off the TJ Rubi D44. Moved it from the bench to the jackstands, took the brake stuff off, drug the plasma out, and took this picture at 10:46pm before I started cutting.
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Having a plasma for cutting brackets off was a whole new experience. First one was the hardest because there’s no turning back!
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By 11:11 the last one hit the ground!
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Then I spent some time dressing down the remaining welds with the plasma, and then went to town with the grinder. It took a Milwaukee 8.0, 5.0, and 4.0 battery, but by 11:58 I had it all dressed up and ready for the next step! :D
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At that point, I figured I’m as rested as I’m gonna be all week, so might as well get my moneys worth while I have momentum and went ahead and pulled the 8.25.
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And of course once that was out of the way, I couldn’t NOT sling the D44 under there!
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Took that last pic at 1:20am and decided to call it a night.

Tomorrow I’ll get the perches burned in, order some shock mounts, and start working through all the piddly stuff that I’m not aware of yet. Looks like the driveshaft is gonna work length wise, but need a bastard joint because the yoke looks like a 1330. Brakes looks fine on the hydraulic side, but I need to figure out the right parking brake cables. I’m guessing the TJ ones aren’t long enough.

@Keith1138 @Jody Treadway @xjay Anything wrong with these shock mounts?

XJ Rear Shock Mounts - Pair

ECGS Rear Axle Shock Mounts for XJ applications for 3-1/4" Tubes (F8.8 and D60) - Sold as a pair/set
eastcoastgearsupply.com
Price is right and they’ll be here by Tuesday.

All in all, not bad progress for 3.5-4hrs. I’m stoked! :D
 
jeepinmatt said:
Got home from the beach late this evening, finally got the kids in bed, and decided to go work on the XJ “for a few minutes”…:laughing:
Went down to the shop around 10:30pm, decided I’d start taking the brackets off the TJ Rubi D44. Moved it from the bench to the jackstands, took the brake stuff off, drug the plasma out, and took this picture at 10:46pm before I started cutting.
View attachment 446988View attachment 446989

Having a plasma for cutting brackets off was a whole new experience. First one was the hardest because there’s no turning back!
View attachment 446990

By 11:11 the last one hit the ground!
View attachment 446991

Then I spent some time dressing down the remaining welds with the plasma, and then went to town with the grinder. It took a Milwaukee 8.0, 5.0, and 4.0 battery, but by 11:58 I had it all dressed up and ready for the next step! :D
View attachment 446993

At that point, I figured I’m as rested as I’m gonna be all week, so might as well get my moneys worth while I have momentum and went ahead and pulled the 8.25.
View attachment 446994

And of course once that was out of the way, I couldn’t NOT sling the D44 under there!
View attachment 446995View attachment 446996

Took that last pic at 1:20am and decided to call it a night.

Tomorrow I’ll get the perches burned in, order some shock mounts, and start working through all the piddly stuff that I’m not aware of yet. Looks like the driveshaft is gonna work length wise, but need a bastard joint because the yoke looks like a 1330. Brakes looks fine on the hydraulic side, but I need to figure out the right parking brake cables. I’m guessing the TJ ones aren’t long enough.

@Keith1138 @Jody Treadway @xjay Anything wrong with these shock mounts?

XJ Rear Shock Mounts - Pair

ECGS Rear Axle Shock Mounts for XJ applications for 3-1/4" Tubes (F8.8 and D60) - Sold as a pair/set
eastcoastgearsupply.com
Price is right and they’ll be here by Tuesday.

All in all, not bad progress for 3.5-4hrs. I’m stoked! :D
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If you get the style that used a regular bolt it wont be as picky with vertical alignment. I had an issue with that style not allowing the shock to clear the housing without a lot of bind in the bushing on a 4 inch Xj lift and had to go with the below style

barnes4wd.com

Jeep TJ, LJ Rear Axle Shock Mounts (Dana 60 and Ford 8.8)

Our Jeep TJ, LJ rear shock mounts are designed to go in place of your factory brackets and are a great option when swapping a DANA 60 or Ford 8.8 into your Jeep TJ or LJ. Fabricated from 1/4" steel making them the most durable aftermarket brackets on the market. These brackets will weld in the...
barnes4wd.com barnes4wd.com
 
No noteworthy progress the past couple days, but I did spend a couple hours in the shop last night doing all the tedious stuff of installing the rear axle. Got everything lined up, then decided to move the rear axle back an inch. Of course that required drilling out the plates and taking everything loose and resetting pinion angle and all that fun stuff.
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Then I realized that it was going to have the driveshaft too far out on the slip yoke at the t-case and mess up the rear swaybar link alignment and shock angles, so then I undid everything and went back to where it was originally. :rolleyes: :laughing:

Next I got rid of the tcase drop, which was pretty simple, and then required resetting the pinion angle. Again.
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I have a Barnes skid on the way that’ll be here tomorrow, so this was probably redundant work too. :shaking:

But I got everything dialed in and lined up like I wanted and burned the perches in and got it painted up. Still need to add the shock mounts that I ordered from ECGS on Monday, which don’t seem to have shipped yet, so I may be looking for another solution on that to make it work for this weekend.

I stopped by and visited @xjay on my way home from work this evening and got a less pitted XJ rear shaft and 1310 yoke, so hopefully tonight I can get the rear in and powered and take it for a test drive to make sure the rear is good. If all is well in the rear, then I’ll throw the front Rubi 44 under it and see what happens and hopefully have 4.10 gears and disc brakes and unpowered air lockers. :D

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paradisePWoffrd said:
some nylon lines, Nitro bottle, and rocker switches could make for a cheap locker setup haha
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Paintball co2 bottles with a paintball regulator, like $2 to refill at James O2

ox-usa.com

OX CO2 Air System Regulator - OX Offroad

Another keep it simple product from OX Adjustable pressure setting from 0-160. Mounts to your Paintball CO2 tank available in many sizes and can be filled at your local sporting goods store. Up to 1200 shifts from a 12 oz tank (12 oz tank shown)
ox-usa.com ox-usa.com

Or do like bleepin heel in the forward cab and use the pumps from a manual blood pressure cuff to pressurize the lines

 
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One of these looks better than the other :laughing:
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Also got the 1330 yoke swapped out for a 1310, and got to use 3 tools that I’ve acquired in the past couple of years that are hard to justify until you need them, and then they are the only tool that will work.
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Once that was buttoned up I went about installing the brakes and discovered both rear calipers were locked up. $83/each!!! at Napa/Advance/Oreilly, $47/ea at Autozone, yeah that’ll work. Picking them up today. Pulled the rotors off to wire brush and clean them up, and was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the brakes/shaft/seals and both sides.
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Still have white grease at the seals.
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Since I discovered the caliper issue at about midnight, and I finally got tracking which showed my shock mounts are arriving today, I did what any logical person would do. I set my tools down, walked away, took a shower, and went to bed.













Ha! Yeah right! I pulled the front axle and completely disabled the rig!
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Everything in the Rubi front looks pretty good, brakes are good, etc. So hopefully I can get it in this evening without issue. Nothing like a full axle swap in the rig 2 nights before a run! :D
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
some nylon lines, Nitro bottle, and rocker switches could make for a cheap locker setup haha
Click to expand...
Shreddinlettuce said:
Paintball co2 bottles with a paintball regulator, like $2 to refill at James O2
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Agreed, but these operate at like 5 psi, so too much pressure will blow them up. I was actually thinking a bicycle hand pump would do it just sitting on the console haha.
 
gslander said:
I hope you aren't referring to the big ass crescent wrench as hard to justify, I use mine constantly lol.
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I used to use a pipe wrench, but they have too much slop, and the 15" Crescent wasn't big enough. Bought the 24" Williams cheap at an auction. I'm not sure if the pic above does it justice because the torque wrench is so big too. But it's a monster! :D
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