Great Lakes 4x4. The largest offroad forum in the Midwest banner

"Dirthead 509" TJ Project

178K views 1K replies 102 participants last post by  Mr. Beefy 
#1 · (Edited)
Build plan:
98TJ
3-link front, double triangulated 4 link rear
Hydro assist
79 Ford D60 front, 5.38's, undecided locker
14 B rear, 5.38's, undecided locker
Flipped D300, possibly 231-D300 doubler....if I can find the right parts:sonicjay:
4 cyl to 4.0L conversion since it was missing the 4 cyl :sonicjay:
Full cage
Highline tube fenders
Non comp cut cut
Fuel cell
I'm sure there's more.......


The story:
I picked this up on the coldest day last year....remember when it was 0 deg for a high with a -20 windchill in Jan 08, yea that day:teehee:

We bolted a front axle under it with wheel bearings and put tires on to roll it onto the trailer. Was a 4 cylinder.....minus the 4 cylinder, front axle, rear ring and pinion, airbags deployed.
Put the hood and stood the grill in place to access the damage once I got it home.

Picked up half doors and uppers this summer, color is fugly but they'll serve the purpose.
Bought a take out 4.0L and AX-15 with computer, wiring ect this summer. S.Hembree, Pwilson22000 and I set that in a couple weeks ago and started it. Tucking that up as far as I can. Folded the pinch seam up and out of the way on the firewall when I pulled the engine back out. Gained about an inch of clearance for wiring and such :thumb:


Then it came back out and S.Hembree and I cut the frame to straighten it back out. This heep was in a front collision, the frame was 1.5" taller on the drivers side, had to cut the frame to twist it back to about where it's supposed to be.

Frame gave right under the 4 cylinder motor mount. Had to cut 3 sides and 1/2 way up the fourth before it would move.

Frame tacked in place, onto front crossmember/bumper. I will be transfering my 8274 from my XJ to this one when done so I've been building the front so that it will accept that winch. Bumpmember mocked up:

Still need to put another 4" section of 1/4 across the front and brace it back. Will have to drill holes after that but I want to have the winch sitting in the bumper before putting holes in.
Relocated steering box up and hopefully out of harms way. 2/3rds done :teehee::


Still need to tap the steering box for hydro assist.
Went to LKQ last weekend and pulled a 99+ intake for $18, put that on saturday and replaced the powersteering fluid tank with one that didn't have the tab broke off the back.

Got my 14 bolt SOLID diff cover that I won at the Sundowners Rodeo this week. Also ordered disc brake brackets and D300 flip/clocking ring early this week but didn't get anything in time for this weekend. Pic of 79 D60 front and 14B rear:

Started on my flat belly kit this afternoon. Doing this one cheap for now. We'll see how it turns out. Ends cut off and sledge hammered flat :teehee:




Comments/criticism welcome, that's where the good idea's come from. Sorry for crappy pics, keep forgetting the camera.
 
See less See more
14
#136 ·
Ended up at work for 14.5 hrs saturday on my dime(love being salaried :blah:) so I was only able to work for about 4 hrs on sunday :(
I tore my work from last sunday back out and touched that up. Then I put the front lowers on the frame, tacked the front upper into position and aligned my tabs at the axle end to get rid of some bolt bind. I mocked my steering back into place and started working on putting my steering box in its final resting place. I have to fill the holes for the frame crossmember still. Drilling and placing the mount for the steering box through the side of the frame hole was sweet:whiz: I cut the steering shaft and mocked that back together for now so I could see my steering shaft angle. I'll have to put that back together a little more formally at a later date. I have to put a trackbar on the front and get material to put my steering together yet. It's coming along.........very.....very....very slowly :sonicjay:
In no particular order:



Shouldn't take long to figure out what cookie cutter jeep is mine if it's ever stolen :teehee:



Going to be another 2 weeks before I can work on it again too :(
 
#137 ·
I cut the material for my front control arms friday night. I notched and welded those together saturday morning. The rest of the day saturday was spent pulling the drivetrain out of my cherokee. Sold the engine and t-case so that had to come out. Sunday I sent the cherokee engine on it's way. Then I painted and assembled my front arms. I pulled my rear arms(that were used to mock the front in) and replaced with the front arms. I had to pull the axle 1" toward the body for the steering to clear the pitman arm. It's at a WB of 103" right now best I can tell. I made my front axle side spring perches sunday as well but I'm not really happy with them. I used 2 pieces of 1/4x3x3 angle iron, welded them together then put a piece of 3/16x1x1 angle iron under the perches across the center of the 2 others to keep the 2 pieces from folding up. Structurally I don't see a problem, cosmeticly, yuck :teehee:. I also cut and tacked up my track bar but I need to get the spring perches in place so I can design/make my axle side track bar bracket. Hoping to make more progress next weekend. I might be on unemployment in a week due to the Chrylser situation so we'll see how things go. Only pic I snapped from this weekend. Not much to show for the amount of work.:(
 
#139 · (Edited)
Square spring perches really bothered me so I went back tonight and borrowed a design from Ballistic fab and reworked them a little. I guess I can't say it's mostly function as this was all cosmetic. I'm not 100% happy with the way they turned out but I like the look now alot more than what I had :teehee:



Ended up having to use the plasma to finish so they aren't as symmetric as I would hope. I bought this thing 3 yrs ago for $12. It's built 2 xj bumpers, xj sliders, 1 TJ bumper, cut all the brackets ect for this build...........I'm happy I got my monies out of it. It decided to let the smoke out tonight. I'm happy with how this one held up for $12 but I won't be buying another like it. I could damn near stop it by hand and it sounded like a vacuum :sonicjay:

RIP :sonicjay:

The closest thing Alro had for a drop for a tie rod was 1.75x.375 wall.........it's beefy overkill but I won't have to worry about hydro assist bending it :teehee: I just hope it clears the aftermarket D60 cover without any "custom" clearance.
 
#144 ·
Yesterday CTB2 stopped by and helped me put a tire on a rim. :thumb: I moved my lower mounts on the frame out 1" to get my links away from the frame and picked up another 1.5" of uptravel :thumb: I also had to remove a little material from my motor mount for the upper to clear. I put the grill/rad in place to see what my clearance looked like for my track bar. I checked for tire issues at that time as well. Seems to lay in nicely. I'm going to have to find a way to drop the grill 1" after the frame unkinking. I also have about 1/4" of interference from my pitman arm to the bottom of the radiator. I'll deal with that when I get there. Pic of it last night:

This morning I made a run to Alro for some steel. Picked up some 2.5" square x .25 wall tube for trackbar brackets. Also got some 16 gauge sheet steel for fenders/floor/gas tank. I picked up an 8' pc of 1/4" x 4" for misc brackets. I also had to get 2' of 1.25 x .25wall DOM for my drag link.......$26 for the drag link :( They didn't have anything I could use in the drop section unfortunately. My tie rod is 4' and 1.75x.38 wall and that was only $40 because it was a drop :teehee: Today's list, welded 14B truss to the axle, cleaned up truss. Moved 14B into place. Pwilson22000 came over and bent up a dead sexy track bar for me. I really like how that turned out :thumb:

At full compression:

I had to clearance my D60 cover for my tie rod during full steering lock. To do that I had to put my diff cover together :sonicjay: DIY D60 front cover from Ruffstuff Specialties. These covers are beef! :thumb:


Once I had it welded up it took me about 2 hours and about 50 times putting the tie rod on and off to get the clearance ground in. I put a tire on to check the steering at full lock, it's about 1/16" from the steering stop and my tire is just starting to touch my lower link. I'm happy that turned out too. Trackbar frame side bracket is tacked on. I need to attach the trackbar to the axle and cycle the suspension. Then I can burn everything on the front axle home. I have a lovely 17 day weekend due to being forced to "purchase" 2 weeks vacation time. I'll keep taking it one day at a time. Feels good to finally start burning stuff home for good :thumb:
 
#145 ·
Last night I finished the trackbar axle side mount and tacked that in place. I'm not 100% happy with it, but 95%. I don't think it's worth the hassle to move it again for that last 1/4" of travel. It's just not easy to leave something on the table after doing that much work to get there.



This morning I put the 4 link arms and 14B back under the vehicle. Then I went to work on the tub to get the tires to clear. One side down, one to go :thumb: My version of a non comp cut, cut :sonicjay:




I'm not sure what I'm going to do for rear springs yet. Not much room at all once compressed. I might have to cut into the frame to mount the spring perches after all. This afternoon's goal is to get the other side cut out, the frame side uppers pulled out and finished welded and get them tacked back in. Hopefully I can get that far yet today.
 
#150 ·
Thanks
Wheel base is 103-104" best I can tell. I'm going to try to have all 4 tires on it today so I can get a decent measurement. CTB2 was nice enough to pick up my 3 other tires and rims last night. He's going to mount them while at work when he gets slow. He's going to attempt to balance them too just to see how out of round they are :teehee:
I don't have access to TRE taps until thursday so I have to wait to put my steering together for good until then :(
 
#155 · (Edited)
Thanks. :thumb:
Yesterday I started burning the rear suspension in. I have the 14B all welded up. I have the crossmember for the lowers welded. I have the uppers all welded up and tacked in place. I was welding the lower crossmember together when I ran out of wire. I bought a 44lb spool in 2004 when I bought the welder and haven't worried about it. I was just at the welding supply place yesterday morning picking up gas too :fish: Now I need to run back there today. I ran out at about 5:30pm yesterday so I didn't quite hit my goal of getting the rear in. CTB2 dropped my tires and rims off last night all mounted up and ready to go. Thanks John :woot: Need to work around the house today so I won't get much done. :(
In no particular order:



 
#156 ·
Got back over to work for about 2 hrs tonight. Got the rear lower crossmember welded up and put back in. Also finished burning the rear uppers to the frame. I put the rear axle back underneath it tonight and put tires on the 4 corners to see how it looked. It's good to see light at the end of the tunnel. Tomorrow I want to get the rear spring perches put on the axle and the frame. I also want to get something worked out for the rear shocks. Pics from tonight.

 
#165 · (Edited)
So 5 hours yesterday and 4 hrs this morning to get my shock location and brackets build and in place. CTB2 came over this afternoon and helped move tires and stuff while I was moveing the axle into different scenarios. Had the hoops on the shocks been 90 deg different it would have been a no brainer.
All that time for this:







Pictures from last night when it was sitting on the stock 4 cylinder TJ front springs. The body ends up 3/4" taller without the gas tank or bumper in the back from where I had it on jack stands.






Also have the drag link tapped and in place now. I put my inserts in my tie rod and tacked that in place. I have to finish welding that up when I get a chance.
 
#171 · (Edited)
:woot:

Id be more impressed if this thing had some coilovers :teehee:
Due in thur, thanks for the tracking number :thumb: Need to find someone on the west side that can bend 180 deg 1 3/4 /120 wall dom so I can make front hoops.
I'm only impressed that he's actually made progress... Definately not impressed with conventional coil springs. :teehee:
Thanks I think :sonicjay:. I have some stock zj springs lined up too. I have to do some reading on spring rate stuff.


Today only had about 2 hrs to work on stuff. I decided to work on my little tire clearance issue.
Before:


After:


Still need to do the other side, then I'm going to work on dropping the fuel cell into the back of the floor. That's going to be interesting :fish:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top