Frankenjeep 2.5.3

[Pearce]

Well, it's time to change it up again. The HP D44/9" combo has served me well but I want something more. And I thought I would start the traditional build thread about it

Here is a little history, the short version, it all started because of Anthony’s BB. He lived a little south of me and I wanted a BB on the 1998 ZJ. And that turned into a spring lift which turned into a custom long arm. The deal being I helped Timzjatl install a long arm on his and we then install one on mine. He did most of the design and I did a lot of assisting. Lucky for us he went to GA Tech and worked in the machine shop. I learned a lot during that process. It wasn’t long after several Grand Slam trips including one to Moab before it was time to go bigger and I sure wasn’t about to start cutting up a 98 ZJ at the time. So, I bought a salvaged 94 Wrangler and proceeded to turn it into a coil sprung long armed suspension. Lucky for me I happened to get fired from my job around July 1st of 2004 and I found a new job around August 1st. So, having acquired all the parts for the build on the YJ I proceeded to work daily on it till it was done during the month off. Perfect timing, working on the YJ was my day job during that month. It was great. When it was all done I couldn’t have been happier. To think I did all the work myself was so gratifying. And to top it off I could drive it 70mph to the trails and back home. That lasted a little while before I had to get the Dodge and then the trailer. LOL

This YJ has gone everywhere I wanted it to go. It’s done far more than I ever thought it would. But I’ve always known it was a little too tall and the rear springs were not the right rate. So this past year I started notching the frame and putting in some taller stiffer springs with the intentions of also installing a flat belly skid and lowering the whole thing 2”. Well due to the skid I ordered being on backorder I only got to swapping the springs. But that alone was night and day from what it was. Had an absolute blast out in Moab this year with it. Was my second trip with the YJ out there and so much better with the new setup.

But still I wanted more out of it. I had been watching Cam with his build and I knew I wanted to go that direction as well. I was tired of the Ford radius arms on the front and the steering could be better. So I knew I was going to go the D60 route soon. And sure enough I happened across a 1979 Ford D60 partially built. It was too good a deal to pass up. 5.13 gears, Detroit locker, high steer arms, hydro assist, Warn hubs.

My plans are to get the 14 bolt rear and put a Detroit in, redesign a 4 link front with full hydro, push the front axle forward a little more but maintain a 104” wheelbase, keep it as low as possible and put coilovers on front and rear. And a tire in the 38" to 40" range. Down the road I will be going with the Stak 3 speed case but for now I’ll just stick to the axles and suspension.

Current mods include a cage built around the stock one, fuel cell using the stock fuel pump and installed in the back cargo area, removed rear tailgate and tire carrier in its place, and of course the coil spring long arm suspension with an Aussie locker in the front and detroit in the rear, 4.10 gears and alloy axles, TJ rear sway bar, 37” MTR’s. Also for those of you interested in an Aussie locker, I am extremely happy with it! It has never let me down but at the same time I feel is forgiving and I’ve not broke an alloy shaft, yet.

Oh, and Frankenjeep is what the girls call it. Who am I to complain It's sort of multi colored and a mixture of things.













Let the build begin........

[ATL ZJ]

Sweet, can't wait to see what you come up with.

[Jeeperoni91]

sick yj man, i love it.

the flares on the rear are really cool how you did those too

[Pearce]

OK here is what started version 2.0. I found this 1979 Ford D60 for sale. It’s currently set up with 5.13 gears, a Detroit, high steer arms, Warn Premium hubs, hydro assist steering, diff guard, and converted to Chevy brakes. I plan on getting rid of the hydro assist for full hydro. Next up needs to be a 14 bolt!

[96greenxjjeep]

nice score

[Pearce]

Something else I had been working on was a transmission temperature gauge. I actually only did this because I had an extra one. The one I had in the Dodge started acting up when it got up around 200 degree readings. But unfortunately for me I was out of warranty and had to buy a whole new one. So I put the old one in the Jeep. So far it’s been reading correctly, and if the problem is only intermittent, I don’t mind. The cool thing here is the temp probe location. It turns out the Jeep transmission is the same basic housing design as the Dodge in that there are 3 test ports on the passenger side. You can install the probe in the second port from the rear on the Dodge so I tried the same thing in the Jeep. But since the Jeep tranny is smaller I couldn’t thread the probe in far enough and it leaked. I ended up needing an extender. This extender is also a common thing to use on the Dodge tranny. What I got was part # DM-SNDX from Diesel Manor.com http://www.dieselmanor.com/dm_products/fittings.asp Everything is 1/8” NPT threads on the probe, the tranny and the extender. Same size for both Dodge and Jeep. So now I can watch the tranny heat up while wheeling. It’s only gotten to about 190 so far. But, when I installed the new gauge in the Dodge I also relocated the probe to the tranny hot line out to the cooler. In the hot line it turns out the fluid is about 10 degrees hotter than the test port. The test port also does not read fluid temps while in reverse. This was more important in the Dodge for backing the trailer up driveways and such.
Also, I installed the gauge in the old 4WD indicator light. I just removed the gauge cluster and gutted it where the new one went. This took a lot of careful work with the Dremel, but I think it turned out really good.

[Brad S]

cool

[OverkillZJ]

Sweeeeet.

I love looking at those pictures and knowing what trails you were on, haha.

[Pearce]

Parts are starting to come in. Cragar wheels and Offroad Overstock DIY beadlocks this week. Tires are on order and should be in next week or so.
Went to the pullapart today and picked up a 14 bolt. Was surprised there was not much to choose from. The lot had been real picked over.
Time to start cleaning the axles up and getting them ready.

[Pearce]

Damn this thing was heavy. The best investment for my back I have made was getting an engine hoist. Great for getting axles, motors, air compressors or whatever in and out of the back of the truck.

[Pearce]

Hover Jeeps are cool.
So if there are any of you local guys interested in a D44/9" combo let me know. Alloy shafts, Aussie in the front, detroit in the rear

Didn't make as much progress as I wanted to this weekend but it's a start. What I really wanted was my new Swampers, but Interco seems to be slow in making them. And they will not give a ship date or production date.
And painting in the cold sucks! Garage heat helped a lot but I'd rather be painting outside.

[ATL ZJ]

Sweet. Is that primer or the final color on the beadlock rings? Rusto Industrial? I gave mine 4-5 coats this past time and they are holding up way better than my single coat rings did last time.

[Pearce]

Nope that's the final color, brown. Thought it would look good with the green jeep. If it stays warm this weekend I'm going to put a few more coats of paint.
I would have gotten more into the 14 bolt Sunday but I forgot I needed one of those hub nut sockets with the teeth, and was to late to go to the store. I'm concerned about one hub though. The threads are really worn out on two of the bolt holes that hold the shaft in. Might need a helicoil or something.

BTW, air tools rule! Taking the axles off was the first time I got to use the new stuff.

[Pearce]

Here are my link setups. Comments welcome. The rear is currently limited by what I am using from the previous set up at the frame side. The front is open, but the plan is to triangulate the lowers. Getting as low as i can.
First pic is front, second is rear.

[ATL ZJ]

The front looks pretty good to me. It's interesting how trying to keep a rig low usually results in a downward (forward) sloping roll axis. My roll centers are almost exactly the same heights as yours.

The rear is more important for climbing, so here are a few potential red flags with it. The most obvious is the length of your uppers relative to your lowers. It is my understanding that you want your uppers about 70% the length of your lowers to maintain your pinion angle and keep all your numbers constant through the range of travel. Right now your lowers and uppers are pretty much the same length.

Vertical separation at the axle looks good but you might be able to afford more at the frame side. Most of the "experts" will tell you to run 50-80% of your axle side vertical separation as your vertical separation at the frame. You are on the way low end of that spectrum. If you have your frame side upper mounts located right before where your frame starts to angle upward, raising your upper mounts might also allow you to shorten them. Of course that would reduce your AS, so you might need to lower your axle side mounts for your lowers to raise the AS back up to where you want it.

Another thing that stands out as an area for improvement is the location of your instant center (again talking about the bottom pic/rear suspension here). My research led me to believe that putting the IC out in front of your front axle is ideal. Raising your frame side upper link mounts and lowering your axle side lower mounts, as I mentioned earlier, would push the IC forward... I think.

Overall your numbers look decent for a first shot, so hope I'm not coming off as overly critical. You may want to put a thread up on pirate. There is a wealth of suspension design experience over there that far surpasses my limited knowledge.

[Pearce]

The biggest thing I have been trying to research is the IC. Seems like that ranges in opinion from somewhere to the front half of the vehicle to out in front of it. I actually should have posted the graph with my upper frame mount up one inch. I have another hole to go to. I get a better IC of 79, but my AS goes to 66%. I wanted to be above 75%. What seems to be more of a problem than making the uppers shorter, is that my lowers are so flat. The frame side needs to go up. Anything I do to the uppers seems to require an adjustment to the frame side lower. But they are as high as they are going to get, unless I put them outside the frame.

[ATL ZJ]

The biggest thing I have been trying to research is the IC. Seems like that ranges in opinion from somewhere to the front half of the vehicle to out in front of it. I actually should have posted the graph with my upper frame mount up one inch. I have another hole to go to. I get a better IC of 79, but my AS goes to 66%. I wanted to be above 75%. What seems to be more of a problem than making the uppers shorter, is that my lowers are so flat. The frame side needs to go up. Anything I do to the uppers seems to require an adjustment to the frame side lower. But they are as high as they are going to get, unless I put them outside the frame.

Do you just not want to sacrifice clearance by lowering the axle side mounts for your lowers? Seems like a far simpler solution to maintain proper AS than raising your frame side lower mounts.

[Pearce]

It would be a more simple solution but the numbers don't change enough. It's more efective when I change the frame side. I've been messing with it all day. I'd really like to be in the 70% AS range but every time I do IC gets under 80. I need to see what I can do about relocating my uppers further back and higher on the frame side. Just some more cutting and welding!

[Pearce]

Here are a few updated pics. Got the front bolted in today. The lowers are triangulated made out of 2.5" 1/4 wall. The uppers are 1.75" DOM. Still a few more gussets to put on but I needed to check clearances. And hopfully tomorrow I'll get the axle back together and start working on coilover mounts. Sure is slow going from the last build but space is tight when trying to make it low. I'll end up having to do a two piece drive shaft with pillow block in the front.

[Pearce]

Feels good to get the tires on! 40" LTB's are big, and heavy!

[ATL ZJ]

Looks good. did you end up grinding the windows in the knuckles, or clearancing the ears?

[Pearce]

Used the dremel on the windows a little bit, and fit right in.

[Pearce]

Finally got some work done this weekend. Trussed the 14 bolt with 2x4x1/4 that I sunk down over the axle tubes, then ran a 3/8 plate across the top. I did that to keep the brackets low as possible over top the center. Then added the upper brackets with gussets. Finally bolted it up for some test flexing and measuring. As I figured there is not a lot clearance while keeping things low and fitting 40's. So I've started on re-doing the back half. Really wasn't planning on doing this but it's the right thing to do. As soon as that's done I'll need to fit the coilovers in. One thing I am trying to also do is still keep it looking like a Wrangler, so that's adding to the challenge.

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

Looking good dude!

[Jeeperoni91]

I'm diggin that truss