I have started a YJ build page www.smokymountaingillies.com/yjbuild.html

I am turning my '94 Wrangler 4.0L (168k miles on the clock) into a true offroader. Obtained a Dana44 front/AMC 20 set of axles from an '86 Waggy.

Here is what we plan to do:

Spring over Axle Lift
4.88 r&p w/ Aussie Lockers
Slip-yoke Eliminator
Putting x-joints in front axle
Add rear Disc Brakes
35" Mud Terrains
Warn Hubs
Adding appropriate body armor and tubular bumpers.

I still plan on using it as a part-time daily driver. I have other vehicles so it doesn't need to be my errand runner.

I welcome all comments, encouragements, and instructive advice.

Happy 'roading all

Looks good... now help support the great resource this site is and buy a red star...:flipoff2:

Any reason u went with a 20 instead of a D44?? Specially being a rear 20.....unless it was free i guess.

Looks good... now help support the great resource this site is and buy a red star...:flipoff2:

Any reason u went with a 20 instead of a D44?? Specially being a rear 20.....unless it was free i guess.

I got both axles for $275 total. The only junkyard waggy we could find nearby had a &*#%'ed up front, so we pulled the rear axle shafts for spares, along with the tie-rod and pitmann arm.

As for the red star... I plan on it eventually. My wife is one step away from beating me to death with a tire iron for what this is costing. I still need to join the Southern 4wd Association so I can be a member of my local club.
I will get to it once I am done sleeping on the couch.

Aussie Lockers, Ring and pinions, and warn hubs have arrived. Still waiting on u joints.

Still have to obtain brake parts (combo of junkyard and new), a tie rod end (see my other thread, wheels and tires to be ready for my swap.

I know in the near future I am going to need new body bolts and I want to swap to urethane bushings when I do. Should I lift it 1" (the prices for 1" lifts are really not much higher in price than for stock height ones"). And for that matter what kits do people recommend.

You should have bought my axles. Same axles only with a detroit front and a spool rear. Could have saved you some money.

That sounds like a nice build. Thats exactly what I've done to my rig. SOA with Waggy springs and axles (44/AMC20) on 35". I'm running Aussie lockers front and rear as well. You'll definitely want to get/make a anti-wrap bar, on my first run out I broke the u-joint on rear drive shaft. Some other little things I found helpfull:

Brake lines that are longer and fit the banjo bolt and hard lines - Raybestos
BH 38622 & BH 38623. I don't remember what truck these are from (dodge something) but get the rear rubber line and it will bolt up to the rear lines.

New bump stops

My master cylinder didn't do a good job at stopping the larger brakes, so I'm using an E350 M/C. Works great.

Keep the D44 slugs in case one of your warn lockouts break.

For tie rods and drag links, use and cut the drag links from a mid 80's blazer. Then just cut to fit, if you leave the odd left hand thread you'll have an easier time finding the proper right hand tap. These are very beefy rods.

Use the heavier 3/4 - 1 Ton ends with some cross over steering arm.

Your pitman arm from the YJ will not be long enough to get a full turning radius. You can use the Waggy arm, but if you keep the sway bar it may interfere.

I don't know what you plan on using for springs but I suggest mixing your YJ and Waggy springs. This will give you a nice flexy rig, give it about a 1-2" lift, and you can orient(?) the Waggy springs to stretch the rears back about 2"s.


Oh yeah, weld the AMC 20 pumpkin to the axle tubes. This will help to prevent them from spinning.

Thanks nstg8tr...My buddies have a lot of experience, but they are bronco guys. Obviously each rig poses unique challenges. If you have a chance, send me a picture of you rig. I need inspiration.

Touching on a bunch of your points:
Anti-wrap bar: is that the same as traction/ladder bar mentioned in a prior post?

Brake lines and MC: Thanks for the advice. That one should be easy

D44 Slugs: Keeping 1 and giving one to the buddy who is helping me with the build so he has a spare as well.

Tie Rod: your suggestion went a bit over my head, but I am sure someone on this end can help me decipher it.

Pitman Arm: We swiped the one from the waggy when we grabbed (most) of the tie rod. Hopefully it fits without any trouble (yeah right)

Springs: We hadn't thought to grab them out of the waggy. Maybe next PullaPart trip. There are a couple of axleless Waggies with springs just hanging there.

Welding Pumpkin: Sounds easy enough

Again... thanks everyone for your advice. I know I sound like a dumb newbie (if it walks like a duck...). I know I can just ask one of the guys that is helping me with my build, but I want to try to figure this stuff out without bothering them 8+ times a day at work.

This board has been very helpful, and yes I _AM_ going to buy a red star once I am done ordering parts for the build.

Something else to consider and cheap. Use the front drive shaft from the waggy, it's a double cardon design - perfect for your SYE. Have it cut down and balanced after you put in your axles. Another option is to use the front drive shaft from an XJ.

As for the steering stuff - In my post I said to get the drag link from a 80's blazer, I meant to say tie rod. This tie rod will need to be cut down to fit between the steering arms of the waggy D44. When you cut the tube you want to cut the length off from the right hand thread. This way you keep the left hand thread - its really difficult finding a tap thats left hand thread in the correct size. Usually a machine shop will have the right hand tap and only the really really good ones (or 4x4 shops) will have the left.

You'll want to get 2 tie rods from blazers, this way you can make your own tie rod and drag link.

You can use the existing waggy steering linkage, but when I was rebuilding mine I had to replace all the warn out/old stuff anyways so I thought I'd beef it up some. In the end it worked out cheaper using the blazer stuff.

The anit-wrap bar is the same thing as a traction/ladder bar. This is one I built using tractor links. Easy to do and real cheap.

If you haven't noticed so far my budget is real small for 4X4 fun so no shiny bling - just good stuff that works!

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o315/91YJRenegade/YJChangesTractionBar.jpg

You can see the tie rod and drag links in this pic

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o315/91YJRenegade/image004.jpg

Some other random thoughts...
Go and remove the shock mounts and move them so they don't hang below the axle.

Get some ford F250 shock mounts for the front. You'll get rid of the dorky factory pin mounts and also increase your shock length. The rear frame shock mount should be fine but I'd recommend you look into getting extensions (make or buy, I chose to make mine - let me know if you're interested and I'll snap some pics)

You'll need to do something for the front drive shaft. I use square trailer hitch tubing - lots of slip travel and bullet proof. It does vibrate at higher speeds but I rarely drive that fast in 4x4.

This is your build up thread, so I'll let you steer it :jeep:

wow you guys make me REALLY happy that i live in Aridzona. My axle had surface rust but nothing liek that! NUTS! and no mud either :P just rock and traction.

I have a lot of the same info you just got but with pics in my build thread.

I used a suburban lower front drive shaft yoke and xj lower front drive shaft yoke to make a square driveshaft. That combo of yokes slip right into, with minimal grinding, the square shafts. I live at the junk yard so i find all sort of cool shit and info. Goooo scavengers!!!!!

Thanks for all the info guys. I am helping Mountaingillie with the build. After building early broncos it should be interesting with heep.
nstg8tr could you post a pic of your skid plate with the shackle so we can have a clue. I thought the tubes on the waggy 20 were already welded? We will look into the tie rod thing. Two questions did you have to re-reem the knuckle for the ends you used? 2. Did you have to do the high steer (who's arm) or will the drag link fit with the SOA?

Thanks for the answers, we will have more I am sure.
GWBronco

I can't take credit for the traction bar setup. There's lots of ways to build or buy one. Below is a website that I fora general design.

http://home.comcast.net/~t.molnar/

I did make some changes but they were minor - you'll see that Tibor (the guys handle in the site above) bolted the traction bar cross member to the top of the YJ cross member. I didn't, instead I bolted it through the frame sides. Here's a drawing that I made for someone else but it describes what I did. The red vertical lines are welded to the traction cross member, then I bolted it through the frame. (the drawing shows the vert. pieces being on one side and then the other of the frame. this was an example, I put mine on the inside)

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o315/91YJRenegade/CMtabs.jpg

For the bottom pivot/shackle point of the traction bar (cross member side) I used the old trac bar from the D35. I just cut the track bar and kept the bushing mount so I could weld it to the cross member.

The tubes on the '20 are spot/plug welded. I chose to weld the tubes to the pumpkin. Due this in 1 inch beads and let it cool to the touch before continuing further.

For cross over steering you'll need to find a flat top knuckle from a chev D44 (I think a 10 bolt knuckle will have them too - someone else might chime in here). Have a look at Mr N's great steering article on sources of knuckles.

http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/flatop_knucles.html

Once you have the knuckle and its been machined flat you can get the hi steer arm. I used an Over The Top arm (OTT - they're local), I doubt you could go wrong with Parts Mike though. When you get the Hi steer arm just tell them how you intend to use it and he/she/it will machine the right size hole. Here's Parts Mike's site - lots of good info

http://www.partsmike.com/tie_rodid.html

nstg8tr I understand the machining of the knuckle, but was wondering if you or anyone knows can you use the normal steering set up with a SOA or does it have to have the high steer. From the picture I can not tell if drag link will connect to the tie rod with the leaf spring there.
Thanks for any clarification.
GWBronco

I wasn't able to use the stock drag link with my setup. It was at to much of an angle and would've caused bump steer. At the time I didn't have drop pitman arm that would've made up the difference.

search ebay for having the knukle machined its cheap and fast. The guy is also a pirate member. Partsmike has tons of info and helped me alot with everything

you dont need hysteer right a way, go with cross over steering so you need only one hysteer arm and flat top knuckle. Waggy came with flat top knuckles in 76,77

I have seen that on ebay. We will have to look into that. We may go heim steering instead of tierod ends, who knows. Thanks for the info on the knuckles. I guess one more question, Is the Heep knuckle the same as the Chevy. I know the spindle bolt pattern is the same, any other differences.
nstg8tr any chance of a close up of the drivers side spring mount. From everything we have read you cut and gring the webbing on top to weld the spring pad, and cut and grind a groove in the underside for a u-bolt. Any pointers you feel like giving?

MountGillie just called to say that the x-joints came today. So it looks like we will be gearing and locking the axles next weekend.

knuckles the same but spindle taper size is different from chevy and therefore the hub also. You can take the spindle off either a 10 bolt front or 44 along with all the brakes hubs and backing plates. I keep my search to pre 86 chevy's, blazers mostly at pick n pull. Im pretty sure the build thread in my sig will answer a lot of questions

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shims.shtml

good link

nstg8tr how/ what did you use to weld the center section to the axle tubes on the '20? Any special type of welding rod/ wire? Any other pointers? What else could I do to make this axle stronger? Please be detailed and speak slowly as this is my first build. Thanks

After long consideration of everyones helpful posts, and discussions with GWBronco and members of ET4wd (our local club) I am leaning towards going spring under. While I know that it is a larger investment up front, I believe that there will be less monkeyrigging with the steering, possible need for new/modified knuckles, possible spindle conflicts, among other problems both forseen and unforseen.

Or as retardatwork describes it in his build thread:
" Anyone who says they want to do a springover because its cheap is either rich,has tons of time and is a damn good fabricator which i know there are plenty on this board, or they are doing it the wrong way"

So the plan now is to go with a 4" Rough Country Lift, and 1-2" of body lift.
I need to replace all of my body bolts and bushings anyhow, so I might as well lift it. I am wondering if 4" suspension/1" body is enough to 35" tires, or if I should go with 2" now and just get it over with. Will 2" make much of a difference for on road use?

Oh yeah, we are building the axles Friday. I'll post pics on my build page over the weekend.

It would not be monkey rigging if you follow the advice everyone gave you. Your drag link angle is going to be worse going spring under, causing some pretty good bumpsteer. You only need one knukle and one hysteer arm. I had a four inch skyjacker kit before my SOA and it rode like crap. My valving on the shocks were less and it was still way too stiff and I had the soft ride springs. If you weld or have friends willing to weld for you this is a huge step backwards.

To each their own good luck:smokin:

BTW stay with a 1 inch BL and figure out your bumpstops before you hit the trail. Trust me on that one. I rubbed reall bad and snapped my axle first time out with the 35's. I was running 4" springs SUA 1 inch body lift

What about Quadratec waggy springs all the way around SUA. They are long and soft and have an offset. Take advantage of those welding friends while they are willing to help.

Ugh... every time I think I have it figured out, it gets more complicated. I will keep chewing on this and let you know. I have a couple of weeks to make up my mind. Getting the diffs regeared is the immediate concern.

I guess it goes back to the addage about opinions and buttholes... but everyone last night said that SUA rides better on-road than SOA, but now I am hearing the reverse.

As for Body Lift... I am only going 1".

Thanks again everyone.

Maybe we should back up some and ask the questions, what type of terrain and wheeling do you want to do? What do you envision your jeep to look like after you’re finished with it? How much is the end goal worth to you?

You need to consider these questions carefully, and truthfully so that when you’ve spent your time, money, effort and friends you end up with something that you want to drive in daily ;-)

I’ll go first seeing as I’ve been down this road. I’ve never documented my thoughts this way and there seems to be something cathartic in doing so - hopefully its not too long. Maybe it will help others thinking of doing the same, who knows.

When I first thought of what my jeep should be I started with the tires for the environment I was going to wheel in, and what I thought looked best. After staring at a lot of jeeps on this and other boards, asking questions I ended up at 35”s. It was big enough and I thought it looked proportional. Also I learned afterward that it seems to be the sweet spot in terms of size. Not big enough to be breaking axles every month, and super common in the 4x4 community – meaning deals could be had.

Next was what axles could be found to run the tires. It turns out that the D44 seemed to be the best choice. Again common, easy to find parts and the right width for the wheeling I do (real tight trails). All that was left after this was how to fit the tires to the rig.

I looked at the choices available to me. For SUA I was leaning towards Rubicon Express’ 4.5” Extreme Duty kit – cost around $1100 (Canadian). Real nice kit, seemed to include everything I needed and everyone using it liked the ride and flex. On the other hand I saw what a SOA yj could do, it looked like they could really flex and ride well – it also gave me a great platform for doing further mods. After coming up with some equipment lists for the SOA project it looked like it would be just a little more expensive than the Rubicon kit. It did require more engineering and I needed to invest a lot more time studying up, but it was I project I thought would be a lot of fun. This is key! If it’s not fun there’s no point…

It took a couple of months getting all the parts and pieces together, then another month working weekends to get it finished. In the end even my wife was impressed with the jeep. For me it wasn’t just the destination, it was the path getting there and doing the work myself that made me choose SOA. For me there is no one type of lift is better than the other, they both can perform well. Its what you’re willing to do.

If your club thinks that running a good SUA kit is good for the trails they run, then take their advice. If they’re willing to help you do a SOA and you want to learn a bunch, then supply lots of food and drink!

I’m not sure on how to reply about how a SOA rides, when I bought my jeep it had stock suspension on 31” tires. The thing rode like a tank but could solemn in traffic great - I never thought it felt like a true 4x4. After the makeover it feels like it should, I don’t do corners at 80Kph anymore but what do you expect. I removed the track bars and sway bars and the ride is pretty damn smooth. Much nicer than when I was driving on 31”s.
If you’re concerned about stability with a SOA design leave the sway bar on, it will firm up the ride and you can always get/make disconnects for it.

In answer to your questions...

My club (East TN 4wd www.et4wd.org - click on Members to see the specifics on everyone's rigs) is a pretty diverse group. There are some guys who are more extreme than others, with some pretty serious rigs. We ride Tellico, Windrock, Harlan KY, and other places in the Southeast. There is a mix of SUA and SOA Jeeps of all years, Broncos, Toyotas, a crazy looking Samurai, and Joe's Scouts.

I am new to 4 wheeling, at least in the recreational sense(I drove Land Rovers all over Kenya a decade ago). My YJ, while it won't be my only daily driver, needs to be pretty street-worthy (I prefer not to run errands in my '02 Dakota 5.9L V8 with gas prices how they are)

While I am mentioning the Dakota, it has a tow rating of 6500#. I am not going to be able to get a full trailer capable of hauling my rig behind my truck. For shorter trips, I will be driving it to the trail, and down the road I am seriously considering getting one of those 2-wheel dollies to tow the Jeep behind my truck on longer trips (and for the peace of mind of being able to get it home when I break). It is extremely unlikely that in the next 5 years anyway that my YJ will be a dedicated off roader.

I am a realist in the sense that I know I am never going to have the most hard-core rig out there. I know that there are obstacles at Tellico among other places that I will probably never get over on 35" tires no matter which way I mount the axle.

I am learning a sh*t-ton about the mechanical aspects of my jeep, and I am definately having fun with it...so I don't feel that I can go wrong either way in that regard.


I guess the bottom line is this...
I have made a couple of good friends who are into wheeling in pretty major way (both run early 70's broncos, built from scratch, and do little if any road driving with their rigs). I happend to have a 94 YJ that was at a crossroads. Either I needed to get rid of it, or fix it in some way (it has some rust issues having lived in NE Ohio for the majority of its life). We were planning on paying to have it fixed and prettied up before I met the above mentioned friends. As it turns out, for a modest amount more $ I could take care of the body issues myself/with their help, and I could get into the off roadding thing at the same time. So that is the path I chose (with approval from the boss of course).

In the end (and yes I am enjoying the process along the way), I want a rig that is good on the road, and reasonably capable on the trails. I won't be making every club ride, especially in the summer because I am a fly-fishing guide and my Saturdays are usually booked. So I am looking at probably no more that once or twice a month at most taking it off-road.

I will be investing in a good winch, and I do not want to be a burden to others. Regardless of which way I decide to go axle-mounting wise, 35" tires, f&r lockers, and 4.88 gears are not going to leave me in a position where people are going to be cursing me behind my back.

So as Fozzy Bear once said, "when you come to a fork in the road, take it". I just need to get the fence post out of my butt and make a decision.

If you go SOA it is so much easier if you dont do the shackle reversal and since you have the YJ it has a wider frame than the CJ so you probably wont have to out board you spring hangers. That was about 50-60 percent of my work those two things.

Cool project. Next pull apart trip, aslo look for a waggy passenger side front axle shaft that is one piece; I am pretty sure that your D44 is teh two piece shaft front since you had a AMC 20 end. Much stronger and no vacuum crap to deal with.

As far as the body mounts go with polyurethane 1 inch lift, I have had mine for year's and they work excellent, and will geve a bit of space for future mods like moving t case up, gas tank up, etc.

Alos, get the waggy front springs and use them for your soa, it will also net you a couple inches of extra easy wheelbase :D

Here are some pics that some of you've been asking for. This is the shackle for the anti-wrap/traction bar

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o315/91YJRenegade/axle005.jpg

This is the front of the diff where I ground a slot for the u-bolt to go.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o315/91YJRenegade/axle003.jpg

MG I had a look at your clubs site and from what I can tell you've got all the right people to help you do a proper spring over. Funny that gerberhard picked up on this thread, cause I read his posts and gleaned what I could from it - one of the reasons why I went SOA.

86 was a cross over year for both the front and rear axles (I'm pretty sure). They could've come with the vacuum disconnect or not, the rear may have gotten the AMC 20 or the D44. I got an 86 with the non disconnect front and AMC 20 rear.

i am new on this board but i have been reading your thread and i thought you might like an opinion from someone with a spring under set-up. I have a 91 yj that has the RE extreme duty 4.5 lift and a 1 inch body lift. I am running a HP dana 30 in the front with an ARB and i am running a HP superior dana 44 in the rear with a detroit. Both diffs are running superior 4.56 gears. I run 35" baja claws and we play in the sand and on the slick rock and run the trails in silverton CO. My wife drives the jeep on her days off to run errands so driveability was a big concern of mine. The rear track bar is gone but i did install a jks telescoping track bar on the front and it has sway bar disconnects. I get all the flex we need off road and the jeep still has pretty good driving characteristics. Another plus is that i did not have to worry about a 5th link because axle rap is basically non existant. Hope this helps with your decision. If you have any questions feel free to ask....

Yeah but how much was your rubicon express kit? That is a good setup but it sounds like money is a factor in this build. Let me see if I can find some pics of one flexing

I get right at 30" of flex with a fork lift on the rear. I could get more but i am not interested in cutting the jeep up. I have lots of bump stop. by the way everybody thinks that the spring over is a lot cheaper but i did the math and there is not much difference in price. in fact with the way i was going to do the sring over it was going to be more expensive and a lit more time consuming with 10x the fab work. A couple of inches more on the ramp didnt mean that much to me so i went with the sping under and i am really happy with it.

I would post a pic but i dont know how. time for some research.

Bullet I'm glad you chimed in. It's always good to have a balanced discussion. Like I said earlier, there's no one perfect lift. The RE looks like a great kit and sounds like it works well. For me the draw to SOA was the fabing involved.

Post an image on photobucket or something similar of your rig so we can see it.

I appreciate the info 85SB. It is good to know that I have options. Right now I am leaning back towards the SOA. I know that I have friends with the necessary experience and willingness to do it properly. Even if I will be spending 90% of my time on road, if the steering is done correctly I should be fine. I just had visions of a SOA riding on-road bouncing like an Amish Buggy.

With that in mind, we will probably be adding and extra leaf to my springs to stiffen them up a bit. Coupled with new shocks, I shouldn't be too-too soft I would guess.

This weekend when we build the axles we are going to play around with some broomsticks to measure the steering geometry before making a final decision. I am going to look for a flat topped knuckle Saturday as well. I plan on using the guy mentioned on Ebay to machine the knuckle... who makes the best value in a hy-steer arm?

Along those lines, yes money is a factor, not in the "my family is going to starve" sort of way, but in the sense that I already have a bunch of spendy hobbies, and I have a wife whose sense of understanding is eroding as receipts start rolling in and all I have to show for it is a box of shiny gears and such and a couple of rusty (getting better) axles out in the shop. Couple that with the fact that my business is seasonal (I own my own fly-fishing guide service) and this obviously is not my peak season income wise, my wife's patience is understandably running a little thin.

My wife understands safety, and will be fine with spending money on that (ie properly assembled steering), but is less so with things like why I needed 35" tires when 33" are cheaper and don't require new axles and gears to run them.

At any rate, I will stop rambling. Thanks all.

MY SOA is perfect on the freeway and I have no bumpsteer even without the steering damper. The problems I ran into were caused by user error, without doing a shackle reversal it will be night and day and way less welding.

4.5 rubicon express

:smokin:

Is that what they call flexing? :grinpimp:

knuckles the same but spindle taper size is different from chevy and therefore the hub also. You can take the spindle off either a 10 bolt front or 44 along with all the brakes hubs and backing plates. I keep my search to pre 86 chevy's, blazers mostly at pick n pull. Im pretty sure the build thread in my sig will answer a lot of questions

So, do we need just the knuckle or do we need to snag from the ball joint out (knuckle, backing plate, spindle, hub, and outer axle) ? from what I have read the caliper and the backing plate/caliper stand are the same as well as the rotor(please correct me if I am wrong).

The 44 we got is the non-diconnect, so it is the one piece axle. I made sure of that.

I would rather see MG go SOA for the off roadability, but understand the driving it on the road. I had a SUA wrangler and thought it to be stiff. So I sold it and got the bronco, because it already had a V-8, dana 44 and 9 inch. I think he will be happier with the SOA, but we will build what ever he wants, that is what it is all about. Also, we are not doing a shackle reversal. I want to keep it more simply for the first build.

nstg8tr thanks for the close up of the drivers side spring perch, that is what I needed to see. Did you make your own u-bolt plates or use the wranglers, or are they from something else.

Thanks to everyone!!

in san jose the pick n pulls are loaded with chevy 44's and ten bolts. look for 44's and ten bolts from 74 - 86. The caliper and backing plate will work but not the rotor because of the bearing in the rotor has to fit the large chevy spindle. I also used the stock warn locking hubs from the same blazer, basically everything from the spindle out. Really easy swap.

Flat top knuckle articles from Mr. N
http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/flatop_knucles.html

I did some checking, and the waggy already came with the larger spindle (we checked the bearings against the AutoZone price list and they were the same part #'s so we are reasonably sure that they are the same). Plus from the picture, the spindle is definately the larger of the two.

So am I correct in assuming that we can take the pass side Knuckle, both rotors, calipers, and backing plates from the Chevy and be fine?

if its the same spindle you only need the one knuckle.:smokin:
But the other chevy shit will fit also if you found something in better shape at the yard

The existing brake rotors, calipers, etc were in pretty sad shape. In fact we have been trying to separate the hubs from the rotors (by putting lug nuts on and beating on them with a sledge). No luck yet, so we are going to try using my buddies hydraulic press tomorrow.

We also need to get stuff for the rear brakes since the waggy's were drum, and we want to go disc.

Never a dull moment...

In fact we have been trying to separate the hubs from the rotors (by putting lug nuts on and beating on them with a sledge)

After 2 more hours of tenacious banging, I got the motherf^ckers apart!!!

A very minor accomplishment to be sure, but its done.

I used the chevy knuckle with the waggy spindles and brakes. I did use the chevy knuckles for both sides, this way if I decide to do true hi-steer its a simple thing.

I don't remember which u-bolt plates I used (yj or waggy), but I do know that I moved them to the opposite sides (so passenger to driver). I can still use the sway bar if I choose too. for the rear plates I grabbed some from the wrecking yard off a ford.

Let us know what you plan on using for disk brakes. I'm running the stock drums and they work great, stop 35"s quick.

direkt, sorry missed you question about welding rod type. It's been a while so I don't remember the rod number but it had a high nickel content. Now that I think on it, it might have been stainless rod. I use a 220V AC stick welder. If you do this remember you want to go in small stitch's 1-2" at a time. So start at 12:00 on driver side, then move to passenger at 6:00. Let them cool to the touch then do the driver side at 6:00. Repeat this until you've gone all the way around. Some say that the only way to properly weld these is by heating first, but I've had no problems with this method. Probably in theory it should be done by heating but whatever.

Thanks for the replies. I thought that all we needed was the knuckles. Good point on getting both since we could use them. We will see what MG wants to do.

For rear brakes we will be using the chevy calipers and rotors with weld on brackets. We will have to see if we will need to take the lugs out and put the rotor behind the axle flange or if we can grind the flange down a little and slip it over. We will keep everyone informed.

your gonna need the corvette MC and a residual pressure valve after the proportioning valve

MY SOA is perfect on the freeway and I have no bumpsteer even without the steering damper. The problems I ran into were caused by user error, without doing a shackle reversal it will be night and day and way less welding.

4.5 rubicon express

Hey I know the owner of this red YJ! :D It's a very good machine and the photos are from the early age of the rig. I think now is more evolved.

They are the makers of the "spyder": http://mda4x4.com/8250.htm
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2068/2192669183_59d76e0ccc.jpg?v=0http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2104/2191944239_49b63b1a1d.jpg?v=0

Well actually it is a couple...

First, we went junkyard diving today, trying to find a Passenger Side Flat Top knuckle. All of the 4wd trucks we found either had already lost their entire front axle, or had flat-top on the driver side only.

I did come across one pass side from an individual seller being sold for $50. Is this WAAAYYY too much or is it a reasonable price? Or should I keep looking?

Second, with regards to the high steer arm itself... is the tie rod hole in the arm drilled straight, or is it tapered to accomodate a TRE? We were thinking of going with heim joints for the steering instead of tie rod ends, and would prefer a straight hole.

In other news, we were up late last night, but we finished the gear conversion to 4.88's. Big-time thanks to GWBronco and Johniac for all of their help. The D44 was no problem, but the M20 was a massive PITA. But we got it done. I will post pictures this evening and drop a line here when they are up (since pictures of someone operating a bearing-puller and hydraulic press are soooo exciting). I changed my first U-joints (I know this is a very minor accomplishment, but as I said, I am new at this).

Thanks again to everyone for all of the help and advice.

they are tapperd and angled

I know I said I would have the pics up a couple of days ago, but I have been busy. They are up now at www.smokymountaingillies.com/yjbuild3.html . As I mentioned before, nothing exciting, but I am trying to document everything.

We have been looking for a flat-top knuckle for a week now. We found a full-width Dana 44 from a 70-something Chevy, and are going to buy the axle, steal the brakes, knuckles, and ball-joints. We are going to replace them with mine, and try and resell the axle.

Tomorrow, we are going to throw Sally up on a lift and see just how much work it is going to take to clean up the chassis. She has a lot of rust (she lived in Ohio with all of the road salt for a good many years), and we need to reinforce/patch the frame in a few places. I will be sure to take pics. They are sure to be scary.

Have a great weekend everyone. Any recommendations for where I should get the high-steer arm?

Thanks

So the verdict is in. We examined the chassis a little more carefully today, and found two more spots that were totally shot. So it looks like another direction change is in the works. There is no point on trying to build on a rotted frame.

So now I am going to start looking for a southern YJ that is in good shape. The boss and I have to sit down and figure out what kind of budget we are looking at now. Strangely, it helps that my current YJ turns out to be in such bad shape that it needs to be replaced anyway, regardless of plans to convert it for trail use or not. So if I can talk my wife out of (another) 3500-$4000 to find a running YJ that has a solid foundation, I am back in business.

Ahh... the bottomless pit of a build.

Now I need to decide whether to part my YJ out, or try and craigs-list her for $1200 or so. She still runs fine as a street driver, but there is no way that the fram is going to stand up to trail stress.

Looking good

Let us know what happend with the new YJ when you get one.

So here is the latest... I sold Sally for $2000 and bought a '92 YJ 4.0L with an absoulutely pristine chassis and tub for $3200. The new YJ is a "Renegade" and had all of the horrible plastic fender crap that I ripped off the evening I brought it home. go to www.smokymountaingillies.com/yjbuild2.html to see the new project vehicle.

In other news, which is unrelated to the build itself, but impacts it in a major way...

My wife and I are now expecting our first child in October. Needless to say, this changes the timeline and budget for the build.

The goal is to now build a capable offroad rig/mostly daily driver in a short period of time and with a more serious eye on budget.

I appreciate all of the advice about the crossover steering and SOA. Eventually, I do plan on going SOA, but not immediately. One of my friends gave me a set of 32" MTR tires. Since going SOA would require a major overhaul of the steering and $800plus in tires, I am going to put it off for the time being.

I have managed to locate a full width D44 with two flat-topped knuckles and excellent Bal Joints. I am buying it, taking the knuckles and joints, reinstalling my current ones on the full width, painting it and selling it. In the end I will have the flat tops when I decide to take the plunge and go SOA, and 4 new Bal Joints to boot.

I am going to put a 4" lift in, my waggy axles D44/AMC20, add a slip-yoke eliminator (I don't want to have to drop the t-case and lose the ground clearance, especially with the smaller tires).

I know that I will only have a basic rig, but it will be available for wheeling and daily-driving by the beginning of June. I can finish for less than $2000. When I eventually put 35's on it, I can either cut the fenders, add an inch of body lift, or both. But I want to hit the trails while I still can.

I have a bunch of questions, but I will write these in a separate post.

Thanks again for all the help.