Stage II - bigger, heavier, slower.

[paulkeith]

yeah, don't like the 1/16 spacer idea with ~1/2 of the C engaged on the tube.

[SirFuego]

Nice! Those are the exact tires I'm looking at upgrading to in the future. Looking forward to see how they work out for you. I've head nothing but good about them.

[Arsonist_Bob]

if you can afford to, get these http://www.reidracing.biz/innerC.php
the idea of sleeving a c does not apeal to me. all given you have the funds. maybe sell the ones you have now?

[chadjans]

Last inner c's I welded we had to remove .005. How much gap is there with a tube and C?

[rstrucks]

There was no gap at all. The 3.5" .250 wall DOM fit very snugly over my exsisting 3" axle tube. The Ford C's were an interference fit over the 3.5" tube as well. I had to drive them onto the tube with a fair amount of force. All I did to prep was to take a wire brush to the stock Ford C's to clean them up and then a very slight sanding of the axle tube. I still have to weld them up as I don't have a 220v welder at the house.

[rstrucks]

Update:


Here is a pic of the trim job on the crossmember to recess the winch in towards the grill.



I also added a couple of additional mounting points for the front bumper now that it's supporting a winch. I had previously added a peice of angle iron to the bottom of the crossmember and that is what I welded the tabs to. I now have 12 bolts holding the front bumper on from a variety of angles.



My old Rusty's skid plate hung a little low and was larger and heavier than I thought it needed to be. It also didn't fit since I made my crossmember removeable. So I chopped it up and made it about half the size and weight and it now fits much closer to the T-case giving me about two more inches of belly clearance.

[rstrucks]

Here is my sleeves and inner C's welded in place. I have faith that these will not fail me. It may not be the prettiest solution but it will work. I also think that once everything is installed and painted it will hardly be noticeable.................I hope.







For now, since I'm spending all my cash on my front axle, I picked up these cool blue SpiderTrax wheel adapters to go from 5 on 4.5 to 5 on 5.5 - not the ideal long term solution, but it will hold me over.

[Derek33]

Nice work, Ryan. Very Impressive. I agree the axle tube sleeving will disappear after being painted and bolted back under the jeep.

[Jeeptech01]

I agree. It will hardly be noticeable once painted. Also its not that butch of a solution to begin with. Good work.

[rstrucks]

I have finished up my front axle and already tested it at GSSE-W. However, I did not have time to post updates as I was way short on time so I will add bits and pieces in order of assembly for the sake of it.

I got all my new parts and machined parts back from EMS Offroad. Here are the knukles that were machined, drilled and tapped for high steer arms, my SD unit bearings that were turned down, bored out and redrilled to 5 on 5.5".





The high steer arms installed, new axle shafts. I ended up springing for 35 spline chromo inner and outers. Yukon outers and short side inner (stock replacement SD axle) and a custom Moser inner on the long side. I did stay with Spicer joints as the "build fund" was quickly drying up and CTM's aren't exactly cheap.



I also installed 4 new Moog ball joints. I briefly considered the cheapo China crap for a moment as they were about half the price of the American made Moog parts but decided to fork over the extra cash. After all, this axle will more than likely see hydro assist steering in the near future and I would rather not have a failure due to inferior parts.

[paulkeith]

woah, is that a casting imperfection on that one stud hole in the machined/tapped knuckle?

[rstrucks]

Here is where I planned to trim the front bumper to clear my 37" Pit Bulls. Turns out real world testing finds I didn't trim enough!



I also opened up the wheel wells a good bit. I hammered it open more than shown and welded it back up. It ended up being just enough as my tires on rubbed the paint of but didn't move metal around.



Steering finished. I would have mounted the tie rod higher but it would have interfered with the coils. The drag link I attached to the pass. side steering arm by welding on a heavy duty "tab". The hole for the drag link is about 6.25" from the BJ center which is about the same distance for the pitman arm center to center measurement. It works and steers well.





The brakes consist of stock SD twin piston calipers and '02 Dodge Ram 1500 rotors. The rotors are over 13" but the center bore did need to be opened up a bit to work with my turned down unit bearings. A local machine shop handled it no problem.

[it usually runs fine]

Cool idea with the C's, pics of the new rusty skid?

[slim616]

Cool idea with the C's

x2 that really should help strengthen things up.

[OverkillZJ]

Seeing this thing in person made me drool - it looks awesome and performs even better. It was one of 2 rigs to make it up mud covered rock ledges out of ten, Ryan isn't afraid of the gas!

[rstrucks]

woah, is that a casting imperfection on that one stud hole in the machined/tapped knuckle?

Nah, that is a factory hole for the vacuum activated hubs. I thought the same thing when I first glanced at them.

pics of the new rusty skid?

The pic a couple of posts up is the modified skid. It used to be about twice the size it is now.

[rstrucks]

Seeing this thing in person made me drool - it looks awesome and performs even better. It was one of 2 rigs to make it up mud covered rock ledges out of ten, Ryan isn't afraid of the gas!

Haha, thanks Matt. I think it was trail 15 though and it cost me a rear lower control arm and a chewed up fender! I taco'd it pretty bad. (pics soon) I must have hit it on that last ledge as it is straight in all the other pics. Oh well, I have a press that should be able to straighten it out, then I'll gusset it to make mo stronga. It was probably a good thing I called it a day when I did.

[OverkillZJ]

You put on a heck of a show, I'm just sad it was too dark for video, and too fast for pictures! You know how to fix that control arm: replace with bigger
I managed to bend all 4 of my lower claytons arms slightly, I just call them high clearance arms now. I'm going to move them to fhe 5.9 and keep running them.

[paulkeith]

Nah, that is a factory hole for the vacuum activated hubs. I thought the same thing when I first glanced at them.

ahhh ok cool.

how did your brakes perform? what booster/master did you end up going with?


any production plans for those super bling custom rear lower spring pads I saw in there on saturday?

[rstrucks]

I managed to bend all 4 of my lower claytons arms slightly, I just call them high clearance arms now. I'm going to move them to fhe 5.9 and keep running them.

I had the same thought. I may just bend the other side to match and make 'em "high clearance". Good idea.

Soooooo, you going to build the 5.9 soon? Inquiring minds want to know.

how did your brakes perform? what booster/master did you end up going with?

My brakes did ok, as in they stopped me when I needed them to. I didn't bleed them till Friday a.m. and there may still be some air in the system - the pedal is a tad soft. I'll find out soon. I went with a '99-? Durango MC. It was a direct bolt in to my ZJ booster. I did notice that my brake lights would stay on sometimes so I may have to fine tune a bit to make it 100%.

any production plans for those super bling custom rear lower spring pads I saw in there on saturday?

LMAO! How many do you want?

I put those in at my brother house in Phoenix last year. It was after my wheeling trip to Moab when we drove down to his place to visit and do some desert wheeling. With my brother in the back and a bunch of gear the RR shock would bottom out. It was all he had in his non-carguy garage. I'll throw a pic of my super awesome mod up soon so everyone else can see it.

[OverkillZJ]

Soooooo, you going to build the 5.9 soon? Inquiring minds want to know.

Mildly, I'll never wheel it hard - that's what the samurai and eventually new buggy will be for! I would like to be able to take it to GSW and run some trails like Poison Spyder though. I'd like to put it up 4.5", 32's (don't want to trip my 5.9, I'm a hypocrite there) and move my claytons LA's over there since I already have them, that'll be my spring project! I might do cut out rockers on it, but keep them a stock looking as possible - they're rusted out with 190,000 miles in the rust belt.

This weekend definitely lit a fire under my butt to start wheeling constantly again, I forgot that I started working so much was to pay for wheeling more in the first place.

[Cue-Ball]

looking good Ryan!!!!!!!!

[UTChavok]

You put on a heck of a show, I'm just sad it was too dark for video, and too fast for pictures! You know how to fix that control arm: replace with bigger

I wish I would of watched some of yall, was to busy hauling ass up and down the mountain on the four wheeler . Only time I saw your rig was at captain toms on friday night. Definitely bigger since last time at Harlan.

[ATL ZJ]

captain toms.

mmmmmm drool

man was I tired when we walked into that place though.

[UTChavok]

mmmmmm drool

man was I tired when we walked into that place though.

Yeah we ate there again saturday night ha. Put a nice clemson offroad sticker on the roof.