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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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#30 ·
sweet tube work ! after seeing your front bumper I will have to talk to my tube bender guy friday when I get my zj back after the roll bar build
 
#31 ·
Well guys, you can officially call me crazy :nuts: Polishing a turdy - or in this case the D44a - is one of those things one really shouldn't do :laugh:

Anyways, pinion and carrier bearings are toast and pinion seal is leaking slightly on my D44a. So it's time for a re-build. Due to local laws I can't delete the ABS from my ZJ. Hence I can't swap in a Ford 8.8 - especially so 'cause they cost a lot here. So the easiest option is to upgrade the D44a.

I happened to come across a free D44a axle housing that had it's guts removed. Axle is dead-straight, bearings caps are there, and none of the bearings have spun inside the housing. So it's a good starting point.

Things I'm doing:

1. Fab a truss to reduce housing/ axle tube flex
2. Incorporate some kind of system to protect the underside of the aluminum housing. It gets rock rash pretty damn easily :D
3. Add an aftermarket diff. cover to reduce housing flex
4. Fab new UCA + panhard mounts, beef up/ modify the LCA + shock mounts
5. Install 4.56 gears; if I can find a cheap (free) open carrier I'll add a lunchbox locker. If not, I'll get the LSD rebuild kit.

After that, it should be strong enough to handle what I use it for. A lot of work? Maybe, but I don't care. At least I get some time spent in the garage instead of working outside on the rain building my house :D


I have a spare HP D30 in the garage, so I'll do something similar to it: fab a basic truss, add a heavy duty diff. cover, 4.56 gears + Eaton e- locker. I've also had WJ- knuckles and brake parts sitting in my garage for about two years, so they'll be swapped in as well.
 
#33 ·
Yeap.. at the moment it's around 7.50-7,70$/ gallon (1.50-1.55€/ litre) :nuts: ..and people wonder why I do some of my commuting by bus and metro :D
 
#38 ·
Well, how could I stick a standard grill in there, wouldn't look like a niner then :D

My reasoning was, since I recessed the winch so deep in there and did all the mods in the front I'm not needing the grill as it came from factory. Yeah, hurt a bit doing so, but I tried doing this so the niner looks as good as possible ;)
 
#42 ·
Love the tube work.

Just an FYI but its fairly easy to get abs working with an 8.8 (mallcrawlin has a writeup), but if they're too hard to find there then thats cool. Nice to see someone give some love to the aluminum (is it alum-inum, or alu-minium? :p )
 
#43 ·
We went snow wheeling yeasterday, it was a lot of fun. Then again, wheeling in winter makes things that little bit harder and way more different, and all sorts of things can happen on the slippery trails.

Whoops :shhh: :D







Which results in this :D The damn 31" BFG AT (didn't have my own spare tire with me :nuts: ) made things a lot more difficult, without a front locker I really wasn't moving anywhere after this. Difference in grip was huge between a 32" BFG MT and the AT..

It was left rear that punctured, but I had to swap the smaller AT to the front and my left front to rear, so when I got out of the trail I removed the front DS and drive back home in RWD.. In this case, I wish I had a 242 or 231.. This is the biggest downside of an AWD transfer case.

 
#44 ·
awesome skillz
 
#46 ·
Seems like my build thread was moved to general discussion.. I guess it's where it should've been from the beginning.



Yeap, I do.. mostly good 'ol rock 'n roll, and all sorts of metal from "mainstream" to really weird stuff - and occasionally some classical music too :D Why? :D ..btw., it's not me on the highlift lever, although my beard isn't much shorter than that :laugh:

Back to business, I wonder what's this gonna be:





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Not finished yet, but should give you an idea. I need to notch & reinforce the center for tranny bushing clearance. Holes are already drilled on the underside for countersunk 10mm class 12.9 hex bolts. I got tired of ripping the standard bolt heads when sliding over rocks.

I'll add some sort of protection for the TC and tranny oil pan (probably 1.5" OD DOM hoops skinned with 1/4" plate). Need to figure out a smart and easy way to add supports on the uniframe rails for them - with the four stock 10mm class 10.9 bolts the whole thing would rip right through the frame rails when the first rock hits the hoops..

 
#47 ·
..few more pics from the wheeling trip on Sat..



That's the trail covered in snow :)



..first Jeep opening the path:



A little deep at times (33s on the TJ):



There's only one position on the skinny pedal in winter :D





 
#49 ·
wheres the video from the contour camcorder on the hood?
looks like fun! Did a run in the Sierras and only had 6" of snow.
 
#51 ·
Trying to gather a bit more material.. I've got a way too small memory card, and I never remember to buy a larger one :D I'm also still kinda learning for the best locations for the camera to actually record some good action. I sure will post a video once I get something done :thumbsup:

One thing that is bugging me with the ContourHD is the sound quality - actually the lack of it. I never seem to get any of the engine noises recorded, it's mostly a slight hum on the backround even @ WOT...or maybe the 5.9 just isn't making enough noise? :D
 
#54 ·
Snow wheeling looks like a lot of fun. Also, nice work on the crossmember. I assume you're planning on making the skids removeable so that you don't have to drop the crossmember every time you want to do a TC fluid change/remove a driveshaft/etc?
 
#55 ·
Tubes are probably gonna be welded, but I add the skidplates so that I can unbolt them. ..or drill large enough holes. TC skid doesn't need to be that long anyway, only to reach the bottom back hump of it were the drain plug is. Gotta figure out what's the best way, not 100% decided on that yet :D
 
#60 ·
Thanks for the compliments guys.. this is still a work in progress. ..and I really bought this to be my daily driver/ tow rig and keep it stock :D But it's been taking way too long to finish the XJ project so I've had to do some mods to make this a trail- worthy Jeep :)

Back to business, I did some more work on the tranny crossmember today. I'ts now almost finished as far as supporting the tranny goes. Still gotta figure out a good way to add the tranny/ TC skids to this.

It's a little boxy, but keep in mind the bottom of crossmember is about 1½" higher than stock :thumbsup:



This ended up looking a little crappy, but who cares - it goes UNDER the Jeep, and I'm not planning on flipping this :D


Made the passenger side end to have some sideways adjustability:


I don't think I will have problems with smashed bolt heads anymore :thumbsup:
 
#61 ·
great photos!
what the heck is this thing?
 
#62 ·
#63 ·
I cut off both coil buckets and sway bar mounts from the rear axle, had to get some room for working on the axle. I will also move the coil buckets slightly forward from their original locations, now that the axle is moved back 1.5" the coils keep making stupid noises all the time. Gotta do something about it. I might add some height (no more than 1") on the coil buckets for added lift height - or not. Haven't decided on that just yet :D

I'll also modify the shock mounts, I want to move them higher up so they don't catch every rock and tree stump. Should be a roughly 15 minute job per side :thumbsup:

Added gussets (1/4" plate) at the back of both LCA mounts, plenty of clearance for beefy flex joints (that's a Trail Gear 2.63" creeper joint in the pic):



Fairly certain these welds hold up to some trail abuse :welder:

 
#64 ·
This is propably a good reason why the LSD on the rear wasn't exactly working too well.. All the discs were pretty worn out, and the other one of the two tabs on the outermost (closest to side gear) disc that holds it in the recess on the carrier was snapped on both sides.



Both carrier bearings and the races were toast as I suspected, didn't have a chance to look at pinion bearings yet. I'm pretty sure they will look the same. Rollers had similar marks on most of them too.. This axle only has around 110k miles on it, so it does show the weakness of the D44a :mad:

 
#67 ·
Does anyone have any good ideas how to remove the pinion bearing races from the D44a? No suprise they are stuck since it's aluminum/ steel and they tend to stick together like superglue :mad: I tried heating the race/ pumpkin and then pound them out, but the races wouldn't move. After two hours I gave up. Front HPD30 races came out in about 5 seconds each.

I was wondering if I could ie. heat up the races by welding a bead onto the races, then trying again? I just can't remember the thermal expansion rates of steel and aluminum, if steel expands more then there's probably no point in doing that. I hate that aluminum housing! :brickwall:

After getting fed up with the rear axle I moved on to the front axle.

Started out by boxing in the pass. side UCA mount with 1/4" plate. The bushing heated up so much I was actually able to press it out using a 2- jaw puller and a thick washer that happened to be just the correct size. Even the steel surrounding came out! :thumbsup:



Because of the 1.5" WB stretch in the front, my coils weren't in the ideal location, especially so @ full bump. I also hate the sound they make now. So I cut off the stock coil buckets, cleaned them up a little, cut two 7" long pieces of 4" x 2" (.188" wall), notched them, burned in the coil buckets, and then burned them to the axle.

Coils are now @ stock location and axle is 1.5" forward, should have no problems anymore. I also added ~½" lift to the buckets. Shock mounts will be done tomorrow or next week.





The donor Jeep (1999 XJ with only 40k miles!) I bought the front HPD30 from was rolled over at relatively slow speed. However, knowing the crappy stock LCA mounts they were bent. I first tried straightening them - unsuccesfully. They ended up being diamond- shaped :D :rolleyes: I decided not to try anymore, instead cut them off and fabbed new, much beefier LCA mounts from 1/4" plate and burned them in. These are not finished, they will get a plate welded in between the two halves and the axletube (sort of miniskids looking from the front):



 
#71 ·
Does anyone have any good ideas how to remove the pinion bearing races from the D44a? ... I was wondering if I could ie. heat up the races by welding a bead onto the races...
Quoting myself, the above method worked great :thumbsup:

I laid a bead of weld around the tapered side of the race, then a couple hits with a punch and deadblow hammer and the race was out. Then the same thing on the other pinion bearing race.

This way it only took around 5 minutes total, compared to the 2+ hours yesterday that resulted in nothing but wasted time :D
 
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