Bolt on ZJ

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Current Pic:


And how it all started
I picked up this late 90's station wagon a couple years ago.

Parts to be used:
Front d44 with arb
Rear ford 9" with arb
5.38 gears.
Blistein shocks
RE springs
37" tires
And thats about all that was worth keeping.
Here are some shots of the link set-up/fab on the parts rig.



Thats got to be good on the bushings!

Kinda seemed that it was put together real fast to get it out on the trail.
Pulled the goodies off and moved the trailer with parts rig to the back of the property...



I was hoping to re use alot of the suspension parts but decided to just scrap it all, bite the bullet and buy a Clayton long arm kit. The new kit is here just waiting...

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more pics of what came off the donor


Found out it had the cast wedges....those won't work with the clayton's.
got both axles pretty cleaned up.

The new parts pile is getting big

Rock Track 241 OR

The subject: I bought this Jeep in 2000 with 60K miles on it. Its been a good family vehicle. It has recently been retired so now the time comes to make a capable wheeling rig

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Got the axle I'm not using completely stripped down




Even got my son Jack to pitch in a little




Then picked up a D44 axle housing yesterday, and started cleaning it up. It has the wedges but they can be cut off.



definitely more room to work without those cast wedges in the way

Splurged a little on some GM Knuckles with high steer from the guy I picked up the housing from
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I was able to get some more work done on the Jeep. Moved it into the garage and got both axles off. Also sold them pretty quick. With the funds I went ahead and dropped the front Dana 44 off to get the gears installed.






Then went to work on getting the transfer case out. It was easier than I expected.


Here's a comparison. Looks like it should swap pretty easy. 249 on the right and rocktrac 241 on the left.

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241 installed. Went right in. Then got the new cross member, front links, stiffeners, and rear axle tacked in.

Hears a pic of the 241 and new cross member


The stiffeners


Woot!
Got the bracket kit for the rear from Clayton's. Went with the triangulated shock mounts

And rear axle



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So I went to Home depot and loaded up on lumber/brackets/screws to build a shop bench. To this point I've been working out of the tailgate of the jeep as my work bench. I was getting ready to start building when my father in law offered me a work bench out of his shop that he ran of room for and was going to get rid of. It was already loaded on a trailer so I took it with out even measuring. It fits perfectly in my garage and now I have room to work on multiple projects. Better yet I don't have to build one and can focus on the jeep. I'll use the extra lumber to make a nice big shelf over the work bench with lights mounted.



the GM knuckles i picked up were already tapped with hi-steer. In order to run them with my 5 lug ford rotors I had to swap the outer stub with a chevy outer stub, knuckle, caliper plate, and spindle. I finally picked up some chevy outer stubs and mated them with the Ford inner stub.

I finally got to work on it this weekend and finished the swap. It all went smooth for my first time assembling a hub. Changing the spindle bearings was a bitch until I found the right tool.


New ball joints

Chevy outer stub

The extra length on the stub was necessary to get the snap ring on and finish the job.

parts pile
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Steering box stabilizer from Kevin's offroad.

Other parts that came with the donor

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Didn't get any pictures of the front bracket kit...its the Clayton's hi clearance bracket kit with adjustable track bar mount.
Also got a beefy diff cover from Dan at Ruff Stuff yesterday.
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Got the pig on it's own weight

Front stance on this will catch a lot of looks at the mall




More parts and protection came in yesterday Track bar, steering, skid, and pinion guard. .

Had to take the knuckle off to reem the high steer arm for the 1 ton TRE's. And fought the pitman arm last night and I won. I have to reem that too.

[Mtn WJ]

Nice Project,

Side Note: I dig the Forney Welder. My dad has had one since the early 60s. He has had other welders come and go, but he cant part with the Forney.

[BigDaveZJ]

Nice build you've got going there!

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Thats how it sits right now....I'm waiting to get the Hi Steer arm and pitman arm back, then the to do list includes:

Steering and track bar set up
and drive lines.

I finished the linkage on the 241 and a lot of misc stuff last night. I used the Novak shifter. just had to slightly modify one of the mounting plates. works like a dream!

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Nice Project,

Side Note: I dig the Forney Welder. My dad has had one since the early 60s. He has had other welders come and go, but he cant part with the Forney.

Thanks, That's at my brother's house. He has acreage out near Portola and let me store the pile out there. that's also his YJ on 404's and 42's with rear steer

Nice build you've got going there!

Thanks. lot of work. previous experience was a budget boost. When I picked up the donor jeep i thought I would get it done in a couple weekends. Its been almost 2 years!

[CrawlerReady]

Looking good! So how long do you plan on running 37's on that D44 for? Just curious based on personal experience

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I don't plan on going any bigger but we'll see. A lot people say that but I know a guy running D44 with 39.5s and he's had no problems for years. I'll just have to take it easy. I'm already eying a set of superior axle shafts for replacements.

[1ABrian]

nice build man. cant wait to see this thing stretch its legs

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nice build man. cant wait to see this thing stretch its legs

thanks

[96RedZJ]

Looking good! So how long do you plan on running 37's on that D44 for? Just curious based on personal experience

Not many people wheel like you do.


Looks good. Killer work!

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[Snotbubbles]

Not many people wheel like you do.


Looks good. Killer work!

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You know...I was thinking the same thing. I seen videos of the way he wheels.....

Thanks!

[CrawlerReady]

I don't plan on going any bigger but we'll see. A lot people say that but I know a guy running D44 with 39.5s and he's had no problems for years. I'll just have to take it easy. I'm already eying a set of superior axle shafts for replacements.

Now that I think back, I only broke one shaft while on 37" MTR's and that was a rear 44. It wasn't until I went to 37" stickies that I was breaking front outer chromoly shafts. I will tell you this, make sure to either run full-circle clips OR tack weld your u-joint caps in. I don't care how hard you wheel, those semi-circle clips will pop out very quickly on the 37's and then your caps work their way out until they meet your knuckle.

Not many people wheel like you do.

[ZJ4.Slow]

What an awesome build! Wish I had that much garage space lol

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Now that I think back, I only broke one shaft while on 37" MTR's and that was a rear 44. It wasn't until I went to 37" stickies that I was breaking front outer chromoly shafts. I will tell you this, make sure to either run full-circle clips OR tack weld your u-joint caps in. I don't care how hard you wheel, those semi-circle clips will pop out very quickly on the 37's and then your caps work their way out until they meet your knuckle.

Good to know thanks, I'll be hitting you up for some of those poly motor mounts soon.

[Snotbubbles]

What an awesome build! Wish I had that much garage space lol

My brother has an awesome shop. That's where we will be building the cage, sliders, and bumpers. Only problem is its about an hour away. Don't know how long if I take the dirt roads. My shop is getting there. When I started this build I had only basic tools. Now I'm running out of space. Once I get the jeep running and drivable it will go back out there.

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Here's a pic of the t-case linkage.

and just cut off the top tab on the mounting plate that came with the kit and straightend the others out to fit the ZJ and mounted it up



And went and put these together at Absolute Hose and Fitting. They walked me through all the steps in how the brake lines are made and tested. Kinda felt like an episode of Mr. Rogers neighborhood

[Jeepn1371]

Looking good. I will eventually be where you are!


Sent from my microwave using a teleportation device.

[Snotbubbles]

Looking good. I will eventually be where you are!


Sent from my microwave using a teleportation device.

In Reno?