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Daily Driver 5.9 build thread - bumpers, tube rockers, etc..

157K views 399 replies 65 participants last post by  Rotheeno 
#1 ·
Daily Driver 5.9 build thread - lot's of DIY fabbing. Engine build going on..

As some may notice from my signature, I'm building an XJ that has Unimog 404 portal axles, 42" Pitbull Rockers, full cage, etc.. My ZJ is the tow rig and my daily driver so I don't want it to be overly built.

Being a Jeep guy, I can't resist taking my ZJ out on the easier trails sometimes. So it needs to be built so that it can take some rock rash without trashing the body panels. Finally had the time to start building it to better suit my needs for a "sunday wheeler".

I bought the ZJ last July, in absolutely mint condition. Zero rust, ~90k miles, all original. I couldn't keep it like that for too long, so I added 2" budget boost, longer shocks, some fender trimming and 32 x 11.50 BFG KM2s.



I drove it like that for the winter, and wheeled it occasionally..





 
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#190 ·
Ok I've gotta ask since I've been trying to figure out what voice/accent to read this in... Are you a native of Finland or are you from the other side of the pond? Because your grammar and spelling are impeccable. I guess Finland and Sweden have better English classes than here in the US even, but it still blows me away.

Great build thread, by the way. I actually had the same EXACT idea for the flares connecting to the rockers and bumpers. They're currently in my school's shop getting designed and built right now. I ran into the same problem with the rear doors. Dunno what I'm gonna do about that yet...
 
#191 ·
Native from Finland, but I did go to an international school in Singapore for a year when I was 15. It sure improved my grammar and English skills quite a bit, studied with ~700 students from almost 60 different countries :D Most teachers were from UK, Australia and USA so I did catch a weirdish accent :laugh: Can't say my english teachers in Finland were bad either :thumbsup:

As for the build, I'm still wondering what to do about the rear door area. I may cut the doors a bit and extend the tubes all the way down to make it look and function right. It's a lot of work, but I've had a few close calls with the rear doors already so it probably would be a good idea to protect them as well.

If I were to fab tube fenders again, I'd change the rear design slightly so that the wheel openings were a little larger. I could run 33 x 12.50 tires with what I've got now, but 35s would need a bit more lift and/ or bigger wheel openings. If I'm gonna run 35s, I need to do something about the rear fenders - maybe next summer :D :thumbsup:
 
#192 ·
Its not gonna seal too well if you have to cut into the door, which was my problem as well. If its your daily, you may not want to do that (my ZJ is my daily as well :D and I didn't want to deal with my rear doors not sealing like they should). So when-- not if, you'll figure it out :thumbsup: -- you get it all squared away, I'll be keeping an eye on the thread :cool: And if I figure out a good way of doing it, I'll PM you.

Again, great build! :cheers2:
 
#193 ·
Steering is starting to show some signs of wear - steering box is leaking a bit, and it also has some play in it. It feels like the needle bearings on the sector shaft are bad (it's got side-to-side play on it), and some of the o- rings and/ or seals must've gone south..

Also, my draglink is contacting the tierod at full bump - it's not much, but enough to be annoying. We're talking of about 3/8" - 1/2" here. In other words, a pitman arm from an XJ will cure it since they have ~1" less drop compared to ZJ arm. Doing this I also get the draglink and trackbar spot-on parallel :thumbsup:

I've got a spare steering box from my XJ project, and also a spare OEM XJ pitman arm. I got the pitman arm pulled off at a shop, I couldn't make it budge no matter what I tried. It's from a 1990 XJ and has never been removed, no wonder it was a little stubborn :rolleyes: :D

The box from my XJ didn't have any play when I unbolted it from the Jeep, so I figured I rather rebuild that instead of the one I have in my ZJ at the moment. At the time, the XJ box was leaking a bit of fluid though, and also the sector shaft lower seal got completely trashed when I tried removing the pitman arm using quite a bit of heat. It was very rusty and crappy looking on the outside and over 20 years old so it was time for a rebuild anyway. I also thought of adding hydro steer capabilities now that I rebuild it, much easier and safer to do when the steering box is empty :thumbsup:

I got this far today, teared down the box - didn't loose any of the balls, yay! :D I was suprised how many parts it has, even though I did browse through a rebuild thread that had pictures of the internals. Now I've got to find a place that sells full rebuild kits and ships int'l...



I may have gone a little overboard with the polishing - I know, there's a rust spot on the right, it'll get polished too - guess the paint will stick pretty well :D I'm a little (?) perfectionist, at least about some things :laugh: I even polished the aluminum end- and top caps :D



 
#194 ·
First coat of paint on the steering box, also drilled & tapped for hydro assist if I ever will need it :thumbsup:





..and a random shot I took at the Helsnki Int'l Airport today (573 second exposure) :D Two planes that took off, three landed during that time period.

 
#195 ·
Box looks good, I had mine out over the past summer to replace the seal right above where the pitman arm mounts, and decided to drill/tap for hydro then, not too difficult.

I do have a tad bit of play in it though, I wouldn't mind picking a junkyard box up and rebuilding it. I remember when I looked to do my last one there wasn't much out there for rebuild kits, or guides/layouts for rebuilding the box. If you found any of that online and sure many others along with myself would appreciate where you found it ;)

Looks a bit too nice for a steering box, not that thats a bad thing though haha
 
#196 ·
Got my steering box rebuild going on again, now that I finally received the seal & bearing kit. A bunch of stuff to figure out where they go..:



..This is how the box came out (you can't see the hydro assist ports, but they're there):



..and this how things looked after two minutes when I started filling the power steering pump and bleeding the system :D



It wasn't too hard to find from where the PS fluid poured out; sector shaft seals had been pushed out for some reason - but I don't understand why. All the seals where there, in right order and right way round, both washers where there, snap ring was installed and I also double-checked the sector shaft endplay.. weird.

 
#198 ·
Yeap, still daily driving - although I've lately been going to work a bit more using metro and bus... 1.65-1.75€/ liter (~8$ a gallon) gas prices are a bit on the high side to daily drive a vehicle that only gets ~13-15mpg during winter :nuts:

Snap ring had failed, but I don't really know the primary reason for this happening. I double checked what I had done, and everything was exactly the way they're supposed to be. Second try now, if it blows up again then I really don't know what the heck is going on..
 
#199 ·
2nd try with the box and now everything held together, at least all the way from garage to my home (~10 miles). This was a MAJOR improvement in steering power, and also all loose feeling is now gone. I don't know where the old box had lost it's power since I'm running the exact same pump and & pulley with this one.. With the XJ pitman arm the steering angles are now spot-on, and draglink isn't hitting the tierod no more.

I do have to adjust the steering "tightness" a little, at the moment it's one finger steering with close to no feel at all.. Good thing cops didn't see me driving home, they probably would've thought I'm wasted :laugh: :rofl:

Apart from that, this was a big improvement over the old worn steering box.
 
#202 ·
I believe I got the seal & bearing kit from Rockauto (Gates version), it was a friend of mine who actually ordered the kit though. I've got to check the number on the box though, since the pic on Rockauto for the Gates kit only shows it has seals but no bearings, and the one I got had new bearings as well.

Used these as a guide for the rebuild:
* http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/how-dissassemble-your-saginaw-zj-steering-gear-1287129/
* http://www.fourwheeler.com/techarti...801_saginaw_steering_box_rebuild/viewall.html

...and this for drilling & tapping the hydro assist ports:
* http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/gene...saginaw-ps-boxes-hydro-assist-pic-thread.html
 
#203 ·
My Easter Jeep Safari was like this :D In other words, with the 4- days off from work I've got some good time to work on the TC issues I have. I'm mating the 242 from my '90 XJ to the 249 from my ZJ.

249 has been making a grinding noise for quite some time now, I've been suspecting bearing failure. I changed the TC fluid about 4k miles ago, now that I drained it it was fairly red, but all metal-flaky. Weird thing is I didn't find anything obviously wrong with the 249 when I dismantled it. Chain was a bit stretched and "wiggly", but it hadn't made contact with the case and all the bearings etc. seemed to be fine.

I will use these from the 249:
* Front case half with the stationary planetary gear
* Input shaft + plantery gears for the 4wd
* Electronic speed sensor
* Mode switch
* Random other parts that are in better shape than with the 242

From the 242:
* Rear case half + tailhousing + main shaft
* Planetary gears for the 4 full time
* Chain sprockets; I'll be buying a new chain.

I will buy new input and output bearings; all other bearings were in very good condition so I'm not gonna start replacing them now.

My idea was to use the wider 1.25" chain & sprockets from the 249 to replace the narrower (7/8" or 1" whatever the chain is) ones on the 242. Problem is - even though the splines match on the main shafts - the wider sprocket cannot be used on the 242 because the lockring groove is covered by the thicker sprocket. Shame, since the wider chain would've been a lot more sturdy compared to the narrow chain on the 242.

249 unbolted from the ZJ:



242 (it's got a hack 'n tap SYE) with the 249 behind:



242 with the case split open, and some of the internal parts:





..this shows how big a difference there is between the sprockets on the 249 vs. 242:

 
#204 ·
I needed to adjust the front & rear bands on the tranny, my 1-2 shifts have lately been really slippy. I also need to replace the tranny speed sensor and governor pressure solenoid (I will replace all the solenoids actually), but that's a different story.

I don't have the 5/16" square head socket that is needed for the adjustment, nor could I find it anywhere in here. So I had to do some DIY fabbing to get the tool required :D

I used a 1/2" -> 3/8" adapter and a 7mm open- end wrench that I enlarged and "squared" the bottom edges to 5/16" (7.5mm). I then welded the wrench to the adapter, then cut off the handle, and rewelded part of it to make my DIY socket a box- end 5/16". I now have a tool that fits to the front band adjuster without the special tool normally needed for the job :D :thumbsup:



I had the transfer case halves glass bead blasted (only cost me a dime really, 30€ which is under 40$). I must say they came out really good, I know have a perfectly clean and rough enough surface for a primer to grip even on aluminum.





..primer applied, tomorrow I'll paint the first coat of silver aluminum- look paint on it, second coat on Friday. Should end up looking nice and stay cleaner a bit longer than unfinishied aluminum :) I should get the drive chain from Rockauto on Friday afternoon (FedEx again provided me with a really fast international shipping, three days :thumbsup: ), so I should be able to assemble the case during weekend to test how it works.



I noticed Tom Wood's is coming out with a true 242 HD 32-spline rear output SYE within two months (or that's what they say :rolleyes: ), I may be upgrading to that when it's available. I really don't trust the 27-spline hack 'n tap SYE with only about 1.5" of spline engagement on the rear output and a 1" wide chain. Too bad used 242 HDs cost a fortune over here, I would've loved to adapt a WJ 242HD onto the ZJ..
 
#205 ·
Looks pretty good after two coats of Hammerite silver hammer effect paint. Maybe a bit too show- truck like? :D Oh well.. :rolleyes: I'll let the TC dry overnight and I'll assemble it tomorrow. If all goes well, I will also install it tomorrow.

Bearings and front output seal look like crap becauseI hammered the old ones back in for the glass bead blasting to protect the machined bores.





I added a drain plug to the tranny oil pan, it sucks not having one in there. Almost managed to keep the pan from twisting out-of-shape when I welded the plug in there. It's only ~1/32" off so I'm sure it will not leak after the bolts are torqued to spec. I'm using reinforced rubber gasket which should help keep things clean.

I also pounded the pan back into shape with a piece of 4 x 4 lumber and a 15lbs hammer. I smashed the pan into a big tree trunk about 1½ years ago, it made a nice 1/2" dent to it :D I rattle- canned it satin black so it looks like new again :thumbsup:



 
#207 ·
From the pictures above, I cant tell if your undercarriage is coated in salt or its just the photo effect.
It is mostly due to the effect of the HDR technique, but road salt is used quite extensively here so the vehicles are greyish-brownish all winter when it's even slightly wet. Good thing there is a good amount of rubbery undercoating on my Jeep, it won't get rusty that easily :thumbsup:
 
#208 ·
I continued with the TC rebuild on Saturday.. got it back together by ~9:30PM only to find out there was well over 1/2" of end-to-end play on the mainshaft. That of course is no good thing, modes won't work properly and the TC wouldn't really take that beating too long. Got tired of popping the case open again, so instead I popped a couple of beers and went home. I spent most of Sunday cutting aerated concrete blocks at our house construction site so I didn't really have time to work on the TC. Yeasterday I starting looking for the reason of the problem, I was suspecting a missing lockrink or snapring. Thank god it was exactly that, and it was the rearmost one that I forgot so it was only about a 30min. job getting the TC to function prorly - including scraping off the RTV and reapplying it :)

Next thing was shortening the rear output yoke, I'm switching to a fixed yoke with the slip joint in the rear DS. I drilled a 10mm hole through the endplate on the yoke, used a 10mm bolt & nut and secured it on my drill press so I could cut a straight line with the angle grinder. DIY lathe? :D



TC rebuilt & yoke installed; this package is roughly 5.5" shorter from TC mounting face to u-joint center compared to the 249 with the slip yoke in middle of the travel. Quite a big difference!





I'm still missing the yoke bolt, I accidentally used 9.5mm drillbit, and the 3/8" fine thread bolt won't fit through. Gotta enlarge the hole to 10mm.. ..and I know, my DIY output yoke is not exactly ideal since I need to press in the u-joint when under the vehicle and install the snaprings. It surely sucks, especially if I brake a joint or shaft when wheeling. The reason for temporary using this is I simply cannot find a 27-spline/ 1330- series fixed yoke with strap or u-bolt style mount anywhere. There are 26- and 32- spline versions, and there are 27-spline 1310- series fixed yokes. I do not want to run a 1310-1330 conversion joint on the rear DS, especially now that I've got RWD and all the torque goes to rear.

Spicer 2-2-949 is a suitable flange yoke that I could use with the existing rear output flange I have from the RE hack 'n tap kit. Spicer 2-2-949 is a 1330- series yoke flange and it has the smaller 4 x 3.5" BCD and all the other measuremnts match to the flange. The only problem is that it costs a whopping 80-90$ + international shipping + local import taxes + VAT = too expensive IMO. I make do with this until Tom Wood's comes out with the true 242HD SYE kit ina couple month that uses a 32-spline main shaft etc... it's gonna be fairly expensive though, so I don't know if it would be a better idea to try find a used WJ 242HD instead - it would at least have a 1.25" chain instead of the weaker 1" chain the XJ and ZJ 242s use.
 
#209 ·
Gotta watch this, amazing looking jeep.
 
#211 ·
Thanks! And fear not, my ideas are free to be used. Preferrably with a little personal twist though :D IMO that's how we make things evolve on our hobby, look at other people's ideas and make something better out of it using our own :thumbsup:
 
#212 ·
I broke the HP D30 - again. That piece of crap just obviously isn't up to the task withe 5.9, 4.56s and 32s... Eaton e-locker took a dump, r&p is ruined, carrier bearing caps are gone, housing has deep gouges, pass. side bearing cap mounting bolt hole threads are damaged and the end is crushed.

The cromo- shafts I installed past winter are ok, but the long side shaft is severly stuck inside the case, I need to cut the case into pieces so I can use a bottle jack to press out the shaft. Housing is ruined anyways, so I don't really give a crap of causing more damage to it. Time to build a HP D44/ D30 hybrid. Can't install a non- abs D44 or a wide track axle like a JK D44 to my Jeep due to local laws.

I'll post some pics of the carnage later..
 
#213 ·
Typical D30 gear deflection right there? :D



..suprise, ended up in a tooth fairy paying a visit:



I'd say that ring gear doesn't look right, does it? :rolleyes: :D



This was right about the exact moment when the front said boom. I really don't get it - on 4lo, front locker engaged, not jumping, engine turning @1500rpm. What the hell, a full case locker broke right there!? :nuts:

 
#215 ·
Yeap, most likely HPD44/ 30 hybrid. In other words, DIY TJ rubi front axle. It's gonna take some time though..
 
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