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WJ West Coast Style

51K views 147 replies 35 participants last post by  Grewe02 
#1 ·

That is Our 2004 WJ the day we rolled it. Quick history, it was my brothers DD and gift for making Eagle Scout. He rolled it on some local trails due to having the front swaybar dissconnected. The vehicle was totaled by insurance and repurchased by my brother. We started building in October of 08. After getting the jeep running again. He had cage as well as the necessary safety equipment installed.

When he rolled it the lift was a Teraflex 4in long arm kit with with bilstein 5100 shocks. We ran that lift and shock combo for a season and in Oct of 09 installed fox 2.0 Twin tube bypasses in the rear. In Oct 2010 we added more tube work in the rear and 4in Fox bump stops

along with a hid light bar

We ran it like that for a long time untill I destroyed the front end in June 2012, (the story is below). I attached photos of after we gutted the jeep, Some early cage work and when we replaced the front clip and window

Now the Jeep has a TTB from a bronco in the front riding on 2.5x14 bilstein 9100 bumped and strapped with 15 inches of travel.
Front End Swap
Custom Swing Steering
The rear frame has cut just in front of the stock coil buckets to make room for 14in coilover shocks and the bypasses from before. Along with the new shocks I added an 8.8 from a bronco with 4.56 gears, a truss and custom upper 3 link mounts. It is strapped at 12in of travel for now.
Rear Build
The interior has full cage with two race seats and 5 point harness. I added a 5 speaker stereo and CB. Race Radio, Custom Dash with GPS and Intercom are still to build.
 

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#61 ·
This was a last minute idea on the final day. It gets better at 30 seconds. Plan on making better version in march but for now this works.



In other news, After 4 washes I finally had 90% of the mud cleaned off. Taking the jeep for a drying drive and the hood came up. Bend the hinges and hood and cracked the windshield. I was able to bend the hood back and will use pins to hold it down. I wanted to remove the window anyway to build dash and repaint so now I can do that and put in a new window.
 
#64 ·
Yea your gonna want a windshield. 2.5 hours just to get to the starting point lol. I'll start on the jeep and see how it goes. Def doing Death Valley to Vegas first or second weekend in april
 
#66 ·
im in the same boat. 4.56s 3 speed auto... loud as hell.. half doors... lol any access to towing it out? i leave my truck and trailer at slash X then drive the jeep a few miles. for death valley i need to figure it out still
 
#70 ·
Looks good man! I have been thinking about Ibeams for a while now but not set on it yet..I get alot of dust in my ZJ with the rear hatch removed too, it acts like a suction and everything comes in; I dont use it as a DD but it gets a little annoying on those long dusty trails out at superstition.
 
#72 ·
Started into my rear end tonight. Got the housing stripped down. Tomorrow ill cut everything off and begin to prep it for a truss. Here is the housing now.

Tire Wheel Automotive tire Vehicle Tread


In other news, the only damage from the front end swap came when I got home. I was washing all the mud off and took off to dry everything off. That's where the problem started. But first a little background. Years ago when I put the front clip on I didn't see a reason for the safety catch on the hood. That way I could just pull the latch and the hood would open. Well if when closing your hood the latch doesn't catch, you hood will fly up. Ask me how I know. So there I was driving up the road and bam. Hood flys up, cracks the window and scares the s... Out of me. Below is the damage.

Hood Motor vehicle Light Automotive design Automotive mirror


The hood didn't bend too bad, the hinges were toast. I hit the hood with a hammer and welded in some all thread for hood pins problem solved. Haha. Now my hood is bolted down. I'll post more pics of the 8.8 as I build it. Hoping to have it and my drive shafts done for tierra del sol in march.
 
#74 ·
8.8 is cast steel, not cast iron. the best way to weld something like that is with an arc welder and high nickel rod. however, MIG with pre and Post Heat should be good enough.

this is how mine sits, I plan on welding it with MIG.



and really, the truss doesn't need to be tied into the center section that well, you are trying to prevent the tubes from bending, that can be done without tying into the center if you must.
 
#75 ·
A true truss goes hub to hub. Everything else I would consider a bridge. The goal is to disperse the stress as much as possible Incorperating the center section. A prerunner axle sees a ton of different stress then a rock crawler. Best route is a 9" since the center section is not cast.
My last truss front axle we built.
 

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#76 ·
I'm aware of that. this truss will go all the way to the flange. but I havent mounted the spring perches yet. the perches will go on, then the truss will be built around them all the way to the flange.

also I sleeved the tube with .120 chromo flange to flange

and as far as the forces a pre-runner or rockcrawler sees... we have to run through the desert too :D.. and we don't have the luxury of running truss under the tube, since we play in the rocks too.
 
#77 ·
Right on! Please don't ever take my posts the wrong way. I'm not into showing people up and being a jerk just given out info I've learned from hands on experience. Post up pics as you build that axle. I'd love to keep staring at it. I've done a lot of crawling in years past and have been doing a lot of high speed dirt the last few years. I've never seen more carnage with hd parts when pushing vehicles at speed. It's a blast goin slow and haulin buns
 
#78 ·
thanks. no offense taken... I'm a bigger dick on the intardnet than most. it takes a thick skin to deal with me :D

I'm working on getting it built... counter sunk the ruffstuff cover today. I'm gonna be working and out of town the next couple of weekends, but when I get back I'll swap it in, get the perches and shock mounts on, then finish out the truss.

and I don't feel like this is a thread hijack since I bought it from the OP :D
 
#83 ·
WJDesertRacer said:
How would you build a truss, not bridge with coil spring seats? Also, I was planning on just building my truss/bridge to the coils. Should I look into extending it past the coil springs.

I wish I was going with coilovers in the rear, would be so much simpler, just run a tube end to end, then mount the coils to that.
Build them into the truss. You could make the truss really low profile, and make it flat where the coil buckets Will be and put them on the truss. You'll just have to trim or get different coils.

Or do a truss underneath if you aren't worried about ground clearance.

A sleeve will help you too.
 
#84 ·
Build them into the truss. You could make the truss really low profile, and make it flat where the coil buckets Will be and put them on the truss. You'll just have to trim or get different coils.

Or do a truss underneath if you aren't worried about ground clearance.

A sleeve will help you too.
I'd like to believe I'm building a hammers rig (it will never see the JV). A good go fast crawler. My 8.8 is out of a bronco. You thought the axle I sold you was heavy, this one is worse. If the funding can come through I'm still not against coilovers so we will see. How did you cut your plate out, and what thickness did you use.
 
#85 ·
WJDesertRacer said:
I'd like to believe I'm building a hammers rig (it will never see the JV). A good go fast crawler. My 8.8 is out of a bronco. You thought the axle I sold you was heavy, this one is worse. If the funding can come through I'm still not against coilovers so we will see. How did you cut your plate out, and what thickness did you use.
3/16". I made cardboard templates, traced them and used a plasma cutter. They came out pretty good, did it freehand, so they aren't perfect, but nothing I'm worried about.

I thought that axle was heavy before I added an extra 40lbs... Now I can barely carry it unloaded by myself.
 
#86 ·
Weight is another reason I like using tube instead of plate. I wonder what the differince would be With a tube with .120 plate to box it in vs a .188 or .25 all plate truss would be. And yes weight does matter. Unsprung weight is harder to control.
 
#87 ·
TJdualsport said:
Weight is another reason I like using tube instead of plate. I wonder what the differince would be With a tube with .120 plate to box it in vs a .188 or .25 all plate truss would be. And yes weight does matter. Unsprung weight is harder to control.
I totally agree, I would've done a tube truss, but I can't bend tube...

Yet.
 
#89 ·
The square tube will make it easier to mount your coils and such and be plenty strong. The more design and time you can put into it the better off you will be. You can even cut circles and dimple dye material to save weight and keep strength. Both of you guys have a good handle on fab either which way you go you will be fine.
 
#90 ·
With TDS approaching I decided it would be a good time to finish up some loose ends on the jeep. When I parted out the bronco I kept the fuel tank and rear axle. Now it was time to get those in the jeep. I tackled the tank first.
Here is the jeep before



I started playing around with fuel lines and found that I could just switch the lines on the jeep tank to the bronco tank. I had to change which line was return and supply but after that the jeep fired right up and ran with the bigger tank and ford sending unit. After some careful plasma cutting I took out the floor and fit the tank. I decided it was easier to run tubes under tank for support rather than make ford skid plate fit.

The tubes run under the tank to protect from large objects and the tank is steel so any small rocks will just decrease the 32 gallon capacity. I move the filter/regulator up to be more at tank level and hooked up the wiring.


I spent the majority of the weekend built the axle truss, regearing axle and fitting it into jeep. I replaced the weak upper Y-link with a new tube piece and heims. I want it to be longer but given the time constraints I had to keep it short. I figure it will just be the jeep geometry but work better.

Finially with the floor cut and tank raised I figured for safety Id put some steel between me and the fuel. I firewall is crude but it should keep most of the dust out and keep the driver compartment from the outside.


Still to do are coilover mounts, driveshafts, brakes, final axle assembly and prep. Should have it all done in 10 days. Gonna be a lot of late nights.
 
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