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Open mouth, insert Jeep

20K views 103 replies 23 participants last post by  bobracing 
#1 ·
***Follow the link below for a photobucket fix so you can see all pics*****

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f176/...refox-4181513/

Note: added the above patch, works well.

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This Jeep ended up at at a friend because someone needed to store it. The Jeep was thought to have a blown headgasket. Short story, thinking the kid wanted 2500, I kind of jokingly said it was only worth 500. About 2 day later I get a call asking if I was serious about the offer, Ummmm yes.

So this is what I got, 92 YJ, 4.0, auto.

It ran rough but made the 20min drive home and after a cap, rotor, and some sparkplug, it ran decent. A compression test showed all the cylinders were fairly close and not bad for a 220k $500 Jeep.
 

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#3 ·
Drove the Jeep in stock form for a while along with a little wheelin'. Eventually took it stock over the Naches trail. Having a stock YJ resulted in something on the bottom hitting every rock and being called a lowrider by the motorcyclists we encountered.

Project 1, the object:
1. To get more ground clearance by flipping the U-bolts, or just saving them from getting bent up.

2. Adding a little lift by add a leaf and shackles.

Subject: YJ with 30" tires

bent U-bolts

This kit is $200 and isn't going to happen.

Metal and U-bolts.

Most of the spring mounting bolts where rusted in and required a cutoff wheel to remove them and of course bushings are always fun to get out.

springs: stock, new "hybred" pack using a mix of stock and 4" springs, and a 4" main leaf that will come into play later.

Template and rough cut

Clearance: U shape for diff or tracbar mount. Corner cut off is for the shocks.

1/2" round bar to stradle axle tube.

Bottom plate rough cut

don't use 2.5 plate, 1.75-2.00 should work good. Also a mill would have been nice for the "grooving".

Bolted back together

Stance with stock shackles and "add a leaf".

Thoughts:
Front u-bolts still need to be cut off.

Got more lift than I thought but still hasn't driven it and might settle.

Back will get the U-bolt flip and some spacers removed. This will be easier because I'll just flip the existing u-bolt plates, add the rod and bolt them together. The front plate bolt holes aren't even, why new plates where made.

A mill would have been much nicer.
Probably should have drilled holes to round out some corners. All the plates were cut and ground with a hand grinder.

Would I do it again? Not sure, think it looks cleaner under the springs but a lot of work and not sure I gained much.
 

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#4 ·
And onto the back, where I though things would be easier, well, not really.

So, the front is now higher than the back, and this is why, along with a 3deg shim, nice bonus.
These blocks were on top of the main spring and worked as a 1 1/16" lowering block. The centering pin was not removing it's self from the block and a quick trip to NAPA solved the problem.

I wanted to keep the shim and decided another plate was needed to hold the centering pin. A 3/16 plate was fab. and all squished together with the centering bolt.

At this point I decided that trac-bar had to go, it fought all the way requiring one bolt to be cut on both sides to remove it.
When trying to put the axle back on, I discovered the new centering bolts had a bigger head, but a 9/16 bit in the drill took care of that quickly.

Everything went back together fairly well from here. The U-bolt plates were modified with 1/2 round stock welded to them (same as front) and bottom plates were fab. earlier.

The new stance, think the front was lifted about 1.5" and the back 1.5", didn't take measurement.

After

And a shot under, think shock mounts are next.

Driving impression, WOW, what a difference:
The Jeep rides MUCH better, keeping the springs off the bump stops probably helps.
It's smooth, no vibrations, though the lift would have caused a problem but think it's smoother now than before.
Doesn't feel like a go-cart, can't throw it into corners but this isn't a problem for me, did I mention the trac-bars and sway-bar were removed.

I like how clean the underside looks with the U-bolt flip but again not sure it gained me much but something different.

There is about $80 in parts, most of it ($60) in u-bolts.

Ended up making a set of drawing for someone. This drawing is based upon what I hacked together. Use them at your own risk.
 

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#6 ·
After driving it for a while this way, a loud BANG and no front wheel drive during a sand dune run. The death wobble started to become overly annoying too and with bigger plans, a temp fix wasn't going to happen.

Phase 2:
Shackle reversal
SOA
Waggy D44 front
Isuzu Rodeo D44 rear
231/D300

Finally collected enough stuff and want a Jeep that can lead, follow, or get out of the way if needed. The poor Blazer is just plain tired, besides it's doesn't go down tight trails well.

A shackle reversal along with a HD steering box mount.


Pulling parts. Nuts inside the frame, another bad idea, while pulling the steering box, one broke off. Someone got a great idea to fix this without cutting into the frame?




New SR


Pulling the previous "add a leaf" and adding a second main leaf. The second main is out of a 4" pack, should be interesting on the height.
The new goal is to lower the Jeep (unlike before) to more or less stock. Hoping for for ~1/2" of lift over stock.

Cutting off the springs eyes.


One spring, with the extra main.


Finished pack, we'll see how well it works. Do like the way the longer 4" spring wrapped nicely around the stock length springs.


Waggy D44 mostly installed.


Think the 37s will fit nicely (36" Buckshot shown).


As some of you know, a YJ spring spacing is 30.75" center to center. A full width axle including Waggy's is 31.5". This spacing difference leaves 3/4" to suck up someplace. Some just let the bushing take it but I decided to go a little different route, mainly because I really don't like how the springs spread apart looks.
This is a temp. setup using AL spacers and the stock shackles, but same length as the new shackles and spacers.


On the rig:


One of my worries with doing a SR was, how low will the shackle hang, especially compared to the front spring mount. On the uneven driveway, and the rear still stock, it look to be about 4" difference between the front and back. Not to bad, we'll see how it works.


And a driveway crawler shot:
 
#7 ·
The rear actually started out nicely with the brake line, e-brake cables, and U-bolts coming off nicely, actually, a little shockingly easy. Then we moved to the hitch. It's probably the only thing holding the rear together but it's low and won't fit a custom bumper nicely so it has to go. Luckily one of the kids was home and wanted to help.


And to continue on, every bolt had to be cut for the springs to drop out, I'm so surprised.


I've always had a "clicking" noise that I could never find. Always sounded like it came from the rear but never saw anything. Well upon removal of the rear driveshaft, the u-joint had about a 1/16" side to side movement. This many not have been the noise but a good candidate. Not sure if the yoke was worn or the wrong joint???

The rear spring bolts were inserted from the inside out. This orientation requires the fuel tank to be dropped to remove the shackle bolts.


and of course there are always surprises when pulling apart older rigs.
phone cable? not sure what it does? did? whatever?


The springs are a YJ main leaf and second of a 3 pack. The second leaf was already longer than the main, so I left it. The other 4 springs are out of a stock CJ7 rear pack. Again, we'll see how it works. The movement is just a jack under the spring and jacked until it lifted off the jack, about 3".

 
#8 ·
The cheap plasma cutter made quick work of the spring pads.
After some measuring, it looks like the Rodeo 44 is a closer fit to a bolt in SUA than a waggy front 44.


A little grinding and some back paint.


Axle installed. The axle is moved back 1" with the spring pads and plates.


I was hoping the back would be a little lower. Might have to rework the rear springs again. At least it's not sitting on jack stands.


To much stink bug look for me. Says 1deg but the that is with 36" in front, 35" in back, and maybe some driveway slope.
After sitting in the driver's seat making vroom vroom noise it seems this thing is a bit on the tall side.

 
#9 ·
So I decided to remove the stick bug look. Did a little reading about frenching spring mounts and came up with this.

Remove axle and springs.


New spring mounts. Extra holes will allow for more spring choices in the future. Could have just cut the old mounts off and weld on new but nope, I had to do it the hard way.




So now it's time for the mount mods.
Cut to length.


Ends capped.



Fit and weld.





And Paint. Tape shows the mounting holes about 3/4" below the frame.



New and old mount.



This mod raised the spring mounts 2" and made a much less stump graber of a spring mount.

The axle was also moved 1.5" back and the spring pads can move 1" either way. The new mount hole spacing is 1 1/8" which mean a set of 52 could be added later if desired.

New used 4 leaf wrangler springs with an extra 4" main leaf vs the older back for a drop off about 1".





and after all the work.
Figure 1" drop for the spring mount, 1" drop for the springs but not sure on what the springs will settle at ??.

Was it worth it??? Would still like a longer shackles, we'll see how things go.

blew up 3 grinders.
 
#10 ·
Trying to get the frontend done and if I had to do this for a living, I'd probably starve with the lack of speed.

First up, bump stops. Nothing fancy just some plate and box tube.


Next up, shock towers. Someone suggested using the stock towers and I was kind of thinking a different route but after measuring, they were about perfect length. Only issue with the stock tower is the top mount is for a stud not shock eyes.

Some 2" box tube was cut & drilled.


New mount on top of uncut shock tower.


The tower top was cut off and the new mount was added along with some bottom mounts.


And the two new parts somewhat together.
 
#12 ·
Matching tire sizes. Spring mounts hang down much less than stock.
This was just before it when to the Rusty Ranch (friend with a lift) for help with the doubler.


Some wheeling pictures

Don't talk on the phone while playing in the dune.


Dumb decision on the left hand turn, eventually work my way out.


Naches Trail:
Little Naches area history.






Didn't even know this happened, sound never changed.


Naches/Nile area:


 
#13 ·
So the Jeep is back on the rack. We were trying to get the brakes working right and the doubler wouldn't shift back out of low. The doubler was leaking anyways so it had to come back out.
Shinny new wheel spacers, not wild about them but now the track width front and rear is the same.


When we disassembled the doubler we couldn't find any reason for the glittery fluid. After cleaning and reassembling, the input gear had way to much play, don't remember this the first time. I used the wrong input bearing (maybe a 5sp?) but the bearing was swapped, rub marks were found and it was put back together with no extra slop.
Nicely washed box-o-parts




And hopefully some new shift rods, with the doubler extra length, stock mounting will come up under the passenger's seat.
 
#14 ·
A little more work.
My mad fab skill are more mad than skill but it's coming along.

Extended shifter installed, required a little floor modification.






And now to cover up the linkage:








The corner was knocked off so the passenger doesn't have "as sharp" of a point to hit their foot on.
 
#17 ·
Started a winch mount


radiator protector


needed some way to mount the bumper and rad loop, template was made


Wanted a little more support of the rad. loop than just the two M12 bolts and the YJ just happens to have these exiting holes.


welding in an anti-crush tube


New rad. loop and bumper mount.
 
#18 ·
Rusted on fenders are a pain to get off and most bolts are not air tool accessible. Also didn't realize how much is hanging off the fenders and what they are hiding. Going to have a little change in the fender design now.

Fenders off


Line for the 1.5" hood cut. This puts the hood at the same level as the rear fender flares.
 
#19 ·
This Jeep ended up at at a friend because someone needed to store it. The Jeep was thought to have a blown headgasket. Short story, thinking the kid wanted 2500, I kind of jokingly said it was only worth 500. About 2 day later I get a call asking if I was serious about the offer, Ummmm yes.
HAHAHAHA! Awesome !!
Good stuff, subbed
 
#20 ·
Continuing at a snails pace.

Driver's side bracket for rad. protector/fenders. The extra clearances bolt is for the steering bracket, the captive nut broke and I sleeved the frame to fix it.


Don't leave me hanging. OK for some reason the wife mentioned Jeep parts hanging around the other day. I figure bird feeder, wind chimes, jeep parts, it's all good.


Getting there slowwwwwwwwly.


Think the brackets should work OK.
Bending didn't come out as well as I would have liked, oh well, it's only metal.
 
#24 ·
Got to start with a good breakfast.


Then on to some fenders, at least the top part.




Then worked towards the rockers. Have to thank Toby for the rect. to rocker idea. Using a cutoff wheel thru 54" of 3/16 takes forever. Used a plasma cutter on the bottom which is much faster but not near as nice of a cut.


A little trimming around the flare


And a nice point to tie the fenders into.
 
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