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My Better Late Than Never Build....

11K views 81 replies 9 participants last post by  dvn4life1972 
#1 ·
Hey everyone. Been on here for a bit, just haven't posted much. Thought I'd share my build. Nothing much to report over those years anyway...hence the thread title on this thread lol. :laugh:

2014 Jeep JKU (Anvil)...

Right after I bought it in Jan 2014...



Put some personalization touches on it...





Then...built a bumper for it...





And finally, the lift...




:2thumbsup:
 
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#2 ·
Rather than make a different thread for my current build, I'll recycle this one. The JKU was sold a couple of years ago now. Just didn't really care for it, didn't feel like a Jeep should.

Shortly before selling it, I picked up a 87 YJ with factory drivetrain (4.2, BA10/5, D35 rear and D30 front). It had factory SUA and springs, 31's and a 2" body lift.

I drove it a while all over Texas after fixing a couple of oil leaks and doing the nutter bypass. Ran very smooth and well. I've wanted a YJ for a lot of years. I've had a jeep of one form or another continuously since I was 17, and this is my 1st YJ.

My original plan was to grab a 4BT from a buddy that's been holding for me. I sold off the drivetrain in preparation. Another 'friend' had a 2003 Silverado that he learned had a crack in the block. I found a 5.3 vortec pullout that came with a slightly chopped harness and pcm for $400 with 165k miles on it. Long story short, he stuck me with the engine, so rather than stare at it or try to get my $ back selling it, figured I'd save the 4BT for a Jeep truck project and use the vortec for the YJ.

I ran across a free front D44 out of a 76 f250. LP (flame if ya want, idc), but I remembered a few folks posting about using GM iterations in their builds on another well-known forum and figured I'll just use it on mine. Those guys used the Jana kit to put newer style JK 44 rear gears and carrier into their front LP D44. They've been running them successfully for some time now, and it's relatively different.

I also picked up a D60 rear with it, also free and was 'required' in order to get the free front D44. It had a cracked carrier, some broken teeth on the ring and pinion, and unknown to anybody at the time stripped spindle threads on one side. Sold that to someone in the next town over for $75, and got a 14 bolt from a 2004 2500 for $175 delivered to my driveway complete from rotor to rotor, even including the parking brake cables. One rotor has seperated, so most likely that caliper needs replacing...just gonna do em both and be done with it.

Got some H2 wheels from someone in Austin for $250 (4 wheels) in pristine condition, not that I really cared too much, and I recouped $75 on fleabay by selling the center caps that were in perfect condition.

I picked up a 4l60e complete good core out of a 2000 Silverado, and a Np231c-HD from a s10. Haven't opened it up yet for rebuild and SYE to check the planetary, but even if it's a 4 pinion I have the jeeps original TC still and can scavenge 2 more from it's planetary and make the gm version a 6. Also picked up the gm adapter for $25 to my door.

Also picked up some leaf spring sliders for it. I've never ran them or been in a jeep with them.

Here's some pre-surgery pics. Btw I love driving it, kinda conflicted about getting rid of the 4.2 for nostalgia sake...but it's way too late now lol.
 

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#4 ·
At this stage, it's been a pretty typical LS swap routine. Cut brackets, yada yada. I'm using the advance adapters mounts for mine, as it allows for use of stock style truck manifolds. I'm not interested in trying to make it a performance engine, just want reliability. I've begun a mild tear-down of it in order to inspect and to put fresh gaskets and whanot on/in it. Will donthe harness myself and send the pcm off to be reprogrammed. Not much to say on the LS swap, everything imaginable has already been said many times over since it's so commonplace.

Front axle placement is planned at about 5" forward. I'm shooting for approx a 107" wheelbase, so that would mean the rear needs to go back 9"(ish). That's gonna push the slider boxes fore and aft of the frame as it sits, so I'm not exactly decided if I'm gonna extend the frame or just make a bumper that they attach to. The LII slider boxes are really long.

First thing first, began teardown of the front axle as well. It had been sitting outside quite a while and the thing was overall a real PITA to get apart (siezed spindle, etc etc) but got it done. I'm definitely gonna do a cut-and-turn on it. I'll need to address the cast perch on the driver side, so I'm thinking I can weld on a custom made 1/4" perch and make another for the other side that will keep the new perch height even between both sides. The cut and turn will not cost me anything, as I have plenty of steel laying around and whatnot. Just some time.

Pic of one of the slider boxes with a tire iron for reference.
 

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#5 ·
There's so many different things to work on that I'm kinda bouncing around right now from one to the next.

Today I'm finally taking measurements on the front D44 to see where that axle stands in terms of degree separation for caster and pinion angle.

Perches are exactly 0° with pinion at 0°, and caster angle relative to that is negative 2°. Sucks the big green one. I'll be running 40's on the jeep, so I'd like to know what any of you are running for caster angle on 40's. I'm guesstimating I'll need to be somewhere around 3.5 to 4.0 positive for good return to center driveability, but it would be great for confirmation or correction for those running 40's on their jeep.

I grabbed a cheap, otherwise useless oem 'jack' to fine-tune the pinion angle and take measurements. This is a pinion angle of 8°, which I really like. Gonna need a ton of perch angle correction to get back to 0° perch (keeping in mind I'm gonna cut and turn the C's).

Motor vehicle Wood Engineering Gas Auto part
 

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#7 ·
Although I run a link suspension, with the 40's I've always had to run a higher caster angle to get good tracking and return to center. I'm in the 7-8 degree range. I've tried to run in the 3-5 range, but I got a good bit of wondering with that setup.

Nice build. Looking forward to following along.

Jeff
 
#11 ·
Haven't been able to do much til today. Did a little work fabricating some spring hangers. Idea now is to place the springs (5" forward, 1" up on rear hanger hole locations). I roughly figured that the leaf spring sliders position the axle vertically 1" or so higher than stock shackles.

After I got this spring placed as pictured, it pushes the sliders forward of the frame about 6.75". I figured I'd need to extend the frame anyway. I'll do that and then build a custom bumper that protects the front of the sliders as well.

The pictured spring is a stock YJ 5 leaf pack. I made some bastard packs I'm gonna use with an extra main and 2nd, so settled at ride height I believe it'll sit really close to this as it is now. With a 40in tire on the axle, that's gonna really limit up travel even with custom highline fenders...but I'm fine with that. Wanted it to be LCG all along.

General plan for the front now is...

Tack the spring hangers and sliders in place.
Place the powertrain and tack the engine mounts in place.
Build and place crossmember.
With powertrain in place, temporarily bolt front axle to springs to get driveline angles nailed down.

Once I like all that I'll weld all the mounting points up, then I'll also have the needed info to cut and turn the C's on the axle and know what angles to correct it to.






 
#12 ·
Welded out the new leaf spring hanger (ramped the back of it) yesterday. Took some measurements off the main spring for flat length and looks like 45.5". That puts the leaf spring slider only about 4" forward of the frame rail with a 1/2" cushion, not tea bag. Gotta run out of town for the afternoon, when I get back I'll clamp it all back on the jeep and confirm. If it's about 4" stickout I'm not gonna bother extending out the frame rails. I'll just use the custom front bumper to protect it.

I *might* just go ahead and outboard the hangers and sliders up front 1/2" each to get the pin alignment dead-on the axle while I have to weld new stuff on anyway.
 
#13 ·
Nothing really new to share. My dad went into the ER in early November so going out of town a lot consumed my time. He's doing a lot better and recently was released.

I have a buddy up near Pittsburgh that found me a 79 F250 D60 for $1850 refurbished (not that I really care about that) and delivered to Houston, only about 100 miles from the house. I'm probably gonna jump on that. The brakes and everything are all brand new and I can sell off the carrier and gears (will be putting a spool and different gears in it) for a little bit of money back. Wasn't really planning on doing one of those in this Jeep, but why not with that deal.

Gonna be working on it this weekend though. Been building the rest of my bastard spring packs off and on, and making new spring clips with some .25"x1" flat bar and some grade 8 hardware.

Looking at which route I'm gonna take for fuel tank relocation. Originally I had wanted to grab a boat tank and repurpose it (with more fuel capacity too) to my Jeep, but I'm thinking now that I'll just reuse the factory tank and pick up a 4.0 fuel pump/sender since those work with the 5.3l vortec just fine.

The Jeep had a 1" body lift on it when I got it, and I'll be retaining that. I don't think I can shift the tank upward enough to clear the 14b after the stretch, so I'll probably cut the floor in the tub and come up that way...only enough for clearance, then enclose the protruding tank with some 3/16" plate so it has some good structure to have stuff on top of it. I'm still keeping an eye out for a suitable boat tank though. Ran across one on CL for $25, aluminum 30 gallon, but the dimensions were way too long. If I can't find one of those that will work completely underneath and with higher capacity, I'll just proceed with reusing my old tank which is in good condition.

Also been plucking away a bit at my list of to-do stuff for the 5.3l in order to get it ready to drop in. I might place it this weekend since the weather looks good and weld in my motor mounts so that's done. The engine won't be close to ready to permanently install, but at least the mounts will be in and waiting for it. May also pluck away at a transmission support and rear crossmember as well over the next few weeks.

Starting a large project all over Texas that should only have me working about 3ish days a week, so I theoretically will have some spare time and funds to get working on it fairly regularly. Goal is to have it ready for a shake-down trip to Hidden Falls around mid-April, and if that goes well maybe a trip to Moab.
 
#14 ·
Been pretty busy with work. Managed to commandeer the dining room table Sunday and work on the 5.3l harness. The guy I bought the engine/harness/pcm from hacked off the o2 sensor plugs and the transmission connector, had ordered the transmission repair connector some months ago and soldered it in. Need the range connector and a vss connector, will get those at the junkyard. Also, my .07 (read alcoholic) stepbrother saw fit to snark the pcm. I went to get it, and when he said he couldn't find it I took the one out of his pickup. Then he came marching out with mine, so now I have two!

One of the dogs was supervising my harness progress.
 

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#15 ·
Well, just waiting on some parts for the motor. Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Need to rebuild transmission, TC, and the axles (as well as bracketry and a cut & turn). So I grabbed some steel and made this. It's only 2x4, but this one car garage won't fit a full sized one well. I also picked up what's on the bottom shelf, there's a CNC table build coming up soon.

Electrical wiring Gas Wood Machine Electricity
 
#18 ·
Some of the engine parts came in. Trimmed up my AA engine mounts to fit the C6 exhaust manifolds. I had forgotten about the broken off bolt in the head...so got that bastard out.

Wood Rim Gas Automotive tire Circle


Drill bit to make pilot hole broke in the broken bolt...added an hour and several beers to the job. I like the C6 manifolds, will be pretty easy to make a crossover that'll run forward of the oil pan drop.

Hood Automotive lighting Motor vehicle Automotive tire Bumper


Automotive tire Gear Motor vehicle Auto part Gas
 
#19 ·
Got some doin's done today. Finally got the placement of the powertrain done, frame side of engine mounts are stoutly tacked, and have angle set with a stand on the transfer case end.

Gas Motor vehicle Engineering Machine Metal


Transfer case is almost even with the frame. Good nuff for me on the gm 4wd transmission adapter. I'll be using a gm vss off the JB Conversions SYE, so no need for one of those expensive ones.

Wood Electrical wiring Automotive exterior Gas Event


C6 manifolds are nice and tight.

Motor vehicle Automotive fuel system Automotive exterior Automotive tire Auto part


So now I'll resume tomorrow and address a custom crossover. Want to integrate some bolting points for some armor later on.

Motor vehicle Automotive tire Automotive exterior Vehicle Gas


Still need to tear down the transmission and t/c, but now I can see what my angles will need to be for the cut and turn, etc. Finally feels like I'm getting some stuff done and making some progress.
 
#20 ·
I don't know why my pics post oriented wrong...even when I edit them...

Just checking clearances before moving down the line. Put accessory bracket and power steering pump, and steering box to check steering shaft clearance. One of the hard lines hits but I can tweak the line a bit and it's good.

Motor vehicle Automotive tire Bumper Gas Rim


Then put the grill back on and lowered the hood and latched it. Under hood clearance is 1" minimum. About 9" clearance from crank pulley to radiator mount surface. So next time I remove the powertrain I'll fully weld the mounts.

Vehicle Automotive tire Wheel Motor vehicle Hood


Motor vehicle Gas Vehicle Automotive exterior Machine


Motor vehicle Automotive exterior Electrical wiring Gas Machine


I have a jack stand under the transmission and it's in position, so I think I'll mock up a transmission crossover next...that why I keep the #'s I'm liking right now. Then leaf spring placement and then front axle.

If I need a break from it I can also start building front tube fender flares. Square tube, it's a YJ after all!

Looks like a jeep a little bit again, been a while.

Automotive parking light Land vehicle Wheel Tire Vehicle
 
#24 ·
Just tried adding 3/4" height to the rear at the t/c. Took off 1 deg(ish) of angle, raised the t/c to within about 1/4" of being flush with the frame bottom, and gave me what looks to be plenty of room under hood. Also gave me about another inch of oil pan clearance from ground.

Automotive tire Gas Composite material Automotive exterior Bumper

Hood Automotive tire Motor vehicle Vehicle Bumper
 
#22 ·
I think it'll be ok. I measured 1in from highest point on the manifold to lowest ridge above it on the hood. Still gonna raise the transmission maybe an inch or so which will help whatever is mounted to the front of the intake. Also will leave only about 1in transfer case below the frame rails. Geeze that truck oil pan sticks wayyyy down lol
 
#27 ·
I hate rebuilding leaf spring packs. I did one for mockup and have left the other 3 til needed, which is now. While I have the powertrain sitting in place, I'm placing the front suspension stuff so I can get the axle onto the springs and get measurements for the cut and turn, etc.

The slider boxes are nice BUT...gotta say the craftsmanship is utter garbage. All of the welds have lots of porosity showing, all over. On all of them that I bought. If I had ever welded any crap like that I woulda been canned. Also can't see what that seam in the top is all about...



Got it tacked on. Need to drill the holes for the leaf springs.



Need to get some ubolts so I can secure the axle for mockup.
 
#28 ·
In true Jeep build fashion, hit a snag. Been working on the passenger side first. Got the hanger and slider box tacked in position, and spring pack (don't flame me about the spring, just need to make clamps and replace pads). This is 4" forward of stock front...





Then I go to the driver side to get it all 'samed' up. Oh, look what my dumba$$ didn't notice before...




After taking measurements, it's exactly 2" too far forward compared to the passenger side. Wasn't gonna go so far but screw it, make that 6" forward stretch instead of 4". I went ahead and placed the axle at the 4...




And some serious angles to clear up...



 
#29 ·
Well, cut the hanger and slider box off and repositioned them exactly 2 further forward. I didn't want them that far off the front of the frame, but no biggie. This is at 6" front stretch...astro van here I go.



The extra couple of inches got me almost as many degrees back on the caster. Liking that better.





Bear in mind there is no vehicle weight on that spring. I expect the angles to improve when I get a measurement proper. I stuck the measuring tape out about 19.75" and the 40's will almost reach the front most part of the boxes. I'll build a tight bumper around it.

I had a astro van steering box lined up before someone talked me out of it...need another trip to the junkyard anyway, and the weather is pretty nice for February.
 
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