and i decided sure it looks bad to the bone but didnt like the ride...i picked up this lil jewel for cheep
so here goes...lots of pics for now most should be pretty self explanatory but i will do a little narration
donor parts
bye- bye drive train
bye-bye suspension
haha drag jeep...lol
cancer removal/door opening modifications
modded door opening and suspension mock just for giggles
just a pic of the xj and mail jeep kisssin
so now on to real work
11gauge inch and 1/2 square tube subframe for tub/body
grill moved up to bumper
axle housings cleaned and painted
frame mostly finished
still have to make permanent rear upper spring buckets since i wont know exactly where the need to be untill i have drivetrain and body back on...
so heres the list of parts getting thrown at it...
winches: xrc10 front
m8000 rear
gears: 4.56:1 front and rear...rear spooled....lockrs would be nice but have 3 girls and a grandbaby on the way
drive train: ford 400/c6/205(soon to be twin sticked)
axles: hp d44 front/d60 rear
tires: 11.2x24 r-1s for now new 38.5x15 boggers to come round tax time...lol
ok thats about it for now will post more pics tomorrow mostly regarding suspension...would really love some feed back on this one...have a thread on nc4x4 but no one seems to care they are all ecours or nuthin...im a po-boy if i
want to go fast i have other rides for that...lol
No the mock up was right at 120" i have a final wheel base of 110"...suspension minus shocks and front knuckles is finished...body is still sitting on my 72 1ton ford flat bed...im cosidering sending my front housing off to that guy in michigan for the d44-50 hybrid conversion...supposed to strong as a 60 but keeping the ground clearance
And the xj will soon revert back to a rolling chassis as its drivetrain and recovery gear are getting pulled for the mail jeep...would consider tradeing it for a stock beater 4wd xj 92-95..dents acceptable...i need one for hunting even the interior could be trashy..it will just get nasty n bloody anyway
the front joints are currie "johnny joints" at frame and procomp polly at axle...where as the rears are all "johnny joints"
I fabbed th rear suspension about 3 years ago and had it under a 93xj till i basicly destroyed the truck...lol...and i know how extreme it flexes but i am unsure of my front hard to tell with no weight on frame...well thats all for now check back in a day or two for more exciting lack of progress...lmao
ok well a thunderstorm came thru and cut my work time short...but i managed to get all four balljoints replaced and knuckles all painted and bolted up...what a P.I.A....lol...oh yeah and fabbed up the tie bar and bolted up some spare spindles and rotors so i could roll it around...
ok so finally got the body off of the back of my flatbed...and on the trailer and moved around to where the "outdoor shadetree fabshop" is lol...started hacking away at some stuff the PO had scabbed in there to i guess hold it togethr...lol what a mess...tomorrow i go to get some steel and will finish up fabbing the subframe...as well as im going to start relieving the XJ of its drivetrain front shafts/lockouts and recovery gear....hopefully i will have the motor and trans combo grafted in by friday and ready to start getting body back on...will have more pics tomorrow as well
That suspension and those control arms are very interesting. Have you done a jeep like that with the frame mounts all the way to the center of the frame?
Yes but it was on a xj and i didnt strengthen the unibody enough first..it lived for about a year before i ripped it in half...lol...but it flexed like u wouldnt believe the whole time...
I plan on doing an endo/exo cage so basicaly a buggy with a jeep body fused in the middle
^^^ continued from above...i also am building the body a full subframe that will be welded in...it will consist of outer 2x2x3/16 rocker tubes connected by 1-1/2x1-1/2x1/8 crosstubes and will have a tubular trans tunnel...also am relocating and adding body mounts to accomodate subframee and fullsise poly body bushings and will be held in place by 5/8x4 grade 8 hardware...well i just got back from the steel house time to go burn some wire...... pics to come soon
thanks i need all the support/criticism i can get...in the past i had a team of beer drinkin offroad buddies to well to put it bluntly...stand around and say that'll never work all the while not offering any other options or helping hand for that matter..but none the less they were there...so now im new to my area and no beer drinkin buddies yet i got to get to the orv park and holler "hey yall watch this " first...you know how it is...lol...no really im srious i live in the deep south you can ride all day without a hitch and some folks might say hi...but you have oh ummm say a planned break in the first 5min or so and everyone stops to help..and friends are made...i preffer the broken rear u-joint method my self takes about 5 min to fix but the friends you make last a lifetime...lmao
Ok so like internet is down in our area so no pucs this moment but....loads of progress have been made...subframe in finsl stages....four out of eight body mount tabs in...floors gone bye-bye....ummmyea thats about it..hoping to set body on frame sometime after 5:30pm....maybe...lol
ok so here is what really happened over the last 2 days...there was a lot of hacking...a bunch of measuring some clamping more measuring...here a tack there a tack everywhere a tack tack...measured some more...ooops those clamps slipped...cut it free rmeasure and clamp again..blah blah blah...ok so on to the pics...
top half of subframe
"A" pillar tubes
floor cut out and pan supports in
subframe riser to rear floor level
rear floor tubes
first four of eight body mount tabs(1/4" thick plate w/ 5/8" holes
So is anyone as impressed with this as I am? I like my shop, but sometimes feel that it is in inadequate. Now I feel like a whiny little b@#$% after seeing what you have accomplished in your backyard! I'm curious about the fixed length long arms. They are fixed length right? How will you change the tilt of the axle for castor adjustment? Or are you not worried about it since this appears to be an off road only rig? I have always wanted to stretch the wheelbase and body of a DJ into a DJ-6. Great work so far.
Thanks man...i appreciate the moral support...lol...i wish more people would comment but im not sure how many people know what a dj is..lol...and not having a dry level place to work really does make it challenging...sometimes i wonder why i even started but it has only been since june of this year...so i guess im making ok headway
1. decide on drivetrain...go all jeep or throw the 400ci ford in it...
2. get body back on and finish bodymounts
3. more sheet metal work....bottom of door openings..move front of fenderwell/boxes rearwards 2" to allow for seats to adjust(making it easier to get in)...patch stupid hole in rear floor...lol
4. finish coverting all rust and paint underside and roof...possibly inside roof as well seems like it would just be easier to paint there while body is end-up..
5. paint hood and grill...
6. last but not least drink as much beer as possible while doing all of the above...lol
You're talking a 400M, right? From a Bronco or F-150? I've never been a fan of the M, but I like the AMC stuff even less (I know, heresy). Go Ford if you've got it laying around. You've clearly got the skills to make this happen.
Yea the good ol 400m....the "M's"...were givin/have a bad rep due to the fact that there main design from the factory was to meet emmision standards..all the way down to the cam design and all...so even after a few hundred dollars on carb and intake you still had to be a skilled mechanic to get anything extra out of them...oh yeah and the fact that for some reason if you have anything iffy with your exhaust they will burn all the exhaust valves...but if you look at the fact that it cost me 250$ for a rebuild on the 400m and 23$ and a couple free junkyard hardparts to rebuild the c-6(and i did this in less time than a 12oz beer took to drink) you cant really go wrong...and i can say that it took two years of being in 4-6ft water almost daily to kill the trans..well that and 44" tractor tires with no gears...lol
Thanks everbody...it kinda lets me know my hard work is starting to pay off...lol
Well got the body flipped back onto frame today..came out..."Awesome"..decided to move whole body forward 4-3/4" instead of doing my crazy dragster cowl stretch...lol...anyways just so no one gets the idea that im building a show rig here...this is a rattle can beauty...now granted its mostly expensive rustoleum rattle can but rattle can none-the-less...after eliminating rust either by grinding, brushing, sanding or just outright new metal i give it a healthy coat of the rust reformer...then top coat that with the rusty metal primer...then color of choice...seems simple enough right....overall goal when done is a great looking "15 footer" that will be inexpensive to touch up as i slowly undo all the work i did to make it pretty...lol
Oh yeah did i mention...ummmm its definitly not "lcog"....i tried to build it low but oh well...i can fix that later on with some air/nitro shocks or coilovers but getting it all together is the main thing...lol
so heres the body going back on...notice all the extra folks around to help with this...lol...ha i did it in about 10min with 3 peices of pipe and 2 ratchet straps...
and "POOF" its a jeep...lol....front clip held on with like 3 bolts just for s**ts and giggles
forward body mount and their relation to link tabs..oh yeah not welded yet...lol
subframe and lower door sill bracing
some shots of interior sheetmetal and under dash/cowl..got a little surface rust here but nothing i cant fix...lol
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