A few years ago my dad picked up this jeepster with the intention of restoring it. Between a move and change in position at work, he lost interest/time and decided to sell it. I "purchased" it from him at the family discount and brought it to Texas from Utah. I've been working on it off and on for about a year and a half so I'll just run through where I am at this point and how I got there.
Here's a picture from when Dad first brought it home.
Originally, I intended to restore to stock. I thought it would be a fun build and when complete, a nice way to relax and drive around town. I'm not a big mud guy and that's the predominant off-road activity in South East Texas. However, the draw to build more was just too much so I immediately began plans to build an off-road worthy machine.
When I took over the project, it was fully torn down so I figured it would be a simply assembly. Hindsight being what it is, I was mistaken. I started by getting the drive train rebuilt and ready to go onto the stock frame.
I'm using a freshly rebuilt Chevy 4.3l vortec. I rebuilt a chevy 350 a few years ago and my plan was to rebuild this motor as well. However, when I started pricing out parts and machining it would only save about $200. I ended up getting the rebuilt motor from City Motors in San Antonio.
I have done very little work with Automatic Transmissions so that was also farmed out. I used a local shop to have my 4L60E rebuilt.
For the T-case, I'm using a Dana 300. I installed a TeraFlex Low300 4:1 kit. That was a very simple job with very good tutorials provided by TeraFlex.
Once everything was gathered, I assembled the drive train and set it to the side in preparation for installation onto the frame.
As I started working over the stock frame, I began to find a lot of issues. Cracks at mount points, thin walls, etc. I had originally planned to box in the stock frame but after finding so many issues and having just invested as much as I did in the driver train, I didn't want to land it on a weak frame.
After doing some research, I decided to invest in a Throttle Down Kustoms frame. I also bought their skid plate strictly out of convenience. I asked for a few modifications to the frame during construction. Specifically, setting it up for wrangler length springs front and rear with center frame mounted spring perches. I also requested the 4 bolt saginaw steering box mount instead of the stock 3 bolt. I am very happy with the quality of work as all welds are clean, the frame is square, and everything appears to be aligning perfectly.
While I was assembling the drivetrain, I began to work through my axle options. I started by tearing down the stock Dana 30 front and Dana 44 rear. It turned out the rear was a 2 piece Dana 44 and wasn't going to be good option for the upgraded build. If I had stuck with the original plan, I probably would have kept these axles...
So, the search began for a new set of axles. I found a set on KSL.com that included a wide track Dana 30 front and Dana 44 rear 4.88 gears, Aussie Locker in front and a Detroit locker in rear. I began to cut off all the bracketing on the axles in preparation for the install on the new frame. However, I came across a small problem. The rear axle housing is in rough shape. I appears to have a very slight bend.
As I was researching options for repairing it, a friend in Salt Lake let me know about a set of axles he was pulling from a project he was helping his neighbor with. Turns out he had a a set of axles from CJ5. Dana 44 front from a Wagoneer narrowed to wide track and a Currie built Dana 60 rear, 5.13 gears, ARB's front and rear, and set up for high steering with the tie rod and drag link included. I went ahead and purchased these to install instead.
1st two pictures are of the 2nd Dana 30 and Dana 44. Only pictures I have is of the Dana 44/60 combo are on the frame. I'll cover that in more detail later.
With most of the parts gathered, the drivetrain assembled, and the axles ready for install, I had to make a choice relative to the spring type, height, etc. I am intending to run 35X12.50's. My research indicates I'll need 4+ inches of lift. I narrowed my choices to YJ RE 4.5 in Extreme Duty springs or YJ BDS 5.5 in springs. Settled on the BDS springs. Obviously haven't run them yet but I'll give my feedback on them in a year or so.
For shackles, I had TDK build the frame to be shackle reversed. I am using M.O.R.E. boomerang shackles front and rear. I decided to go with boomerangs in front strictly for consistency with the back. Certainly not necessary but looks the same.
I'm going spring under where these axles were set up for spring over. I had to cut off the spring perches and shock mounts on the rear axle to clear the U-Bolts. Upfront, everything lined up so I left it all in place. I purchased new perches from Ruff Stuff and was able to get the axles under the frame and ready to hang the engine.
Great project. I nearly bought a '71 commando as my first car - but I went with a '71 CJ5 instead. I've always thought the commandos were cool. I'm looking forward to following your build.
I'm now caught up in the build process to my current state. This stage has been a fun puzzle of sorts as I'm trying to decide on the optimum positioning for the drive train.
To start, I decided to place the tub on the body so could understand what spacing I have to work with. I got a little crazy and went ahead and assembled the fenders, grill, windshield and rollcage. Here's a picture of it with a 35x12.50 for visualization. Note I'm going with 15" rims instead of the 20's this tire would mount on.
This was actually a really good exercise for me as it helped me to visualize my final project and generated some seeds of thought in how I want to approach some futures steps.
So with the tub in place, my first step was to get the drive train dropped into place. This was a bit more challenging than it should have been. I was getting hung up between the firewall and the and the front cross member. I eventually decided to remove the fan and no intend to go fully electric fans.
Once I got the engine in place, I hung the skid plate, the thinking started. With the skid plate in place and the Dana 300 clocked as high as possible, I'm having some clearance issues with the front drive shaft. Initially, I was going to hit the front of the skid plate but I repostioned the plate and that won't be an issue. Where I'm still working through this is the transmission oil pan. Specifically, I am able to clear the oil pan at base height but if I compress the passenger side front spring, it appears I'm going to have clearance issues between the shaft and the transmission oil pan.
I've been experimenting with raising the engine, pulling it forward, raising the transmission mount, etc. Not yet sure how to resolve this. I'll try to get some pictures once I do.
Anyone have any thoughts on how they dealt with this. As a reminder the drive train is a 4.3l Vortec, 4L60E, and Dana 300.
I was able to spend the bulk of the New Year's weekend working on the jeep. My dad flew in (cajack) and we went to work. The plan was to install the engine mounts, transmission mounts, and spring mounts this weekend.
The first thing we did was to verify the placement of the engine. To do this, we set the body (removed previously) back on the frame and made sure it was perfectly aligned with the mounting holes. It was a good thing we did this because I was planning to place the engine 6 inches too far forward. I wouldn't have caught this issue if we hadn't reset the body so I'm glad we did. Originally I had the engine further back but compromised the positioning to address clearance with the drive shaft and the transmission oil pan. The 4.3l to 4L60E to Dana 300 setup leaves very little room between the front driveshaft and the oil pan so I was trying to be creative in how to address it. As we looked at it again and discussed the trade-offs, it makes a lot more sense to deal with the clearance than it does to position the whole drivetrain incorrectly.
Once we had the position correction, we installed a set of advanced adapter engine mounts. The engine is shifted 1-2 inches to the driverside to allow for the driveline clearance and then slightly angled back towards the passenger side. This resolved most of the concern with the Auto Transmission oil pan.
I bolted the mounts in to hold them in place while welding then got them installed. Decided to keep the bolt up as a 2nd mounting system for added strength and security. I'm an OKAY welder, not great as you'll see in the pictures. Once the mounts were in I had to re-position the skid plate/transmission mounts to match with the new engine location. I also had to modify the AA transmission mount as it was too wide for my skid plate. I simply cutout a 2 inch section in the middle of the mount plate and welded it back together.
Once the drivetrain was in place, we turned our attention to the axles. This was a fairly simple exercise as I had previously centered the spring perches and prepped them for install. The main thing we had to do was set the proper angles for the drive shafts. I decided to go with a standard 2 u-joint shaft for the front. The main reason for this was the clearance need away from the oil pan. In the rear I am going to use a CV joint drive shaft. The angle is a little tight and the shaft a little short to use a standard u-joint shaft.
Once we had the angle right, I tacked the perches in place then pulled the axles out and flipped them to make welding easier. Got all the welding done and re-installed the axles. Angles held and everything looked good.
Just for the record, axles are as follows:
Front
Wagoneer 44 narrowed to wide track CJ width
Flat top outer knuckles drilled and tapped for high steering arms
ARB, 5.13 gearset
Disc brakes and 5 on 5.5 CJ lug pattern
Rear
Currie Enterprises
Ford F350 Front 60
Cut out the tubes and pressed in rear Dana 44 length tubes so it ended up at CJ wide-track width
ARB, 5.13 gearset
Drum Brakes and 5 on 5.5 CJ lub pattern
The next set of issues will be routing exhaust and determining how to route the steering shaft. Any thoughts on how to line up the steering shaft? I'm thinking I'll cut back the mount arm and set it above the the frame side of the mount.
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