One ton 93' 2door XJ

[Chaps]

This is how it all started, Probably looks kind of familiar to you guys

So the plan here is:

D60 rear
4.10's
Rebuilt ford powerlock (extra tight)
Chevy 1/2 ton disk break conversion
F150 leaf springs
Shackle relocation
Longer shackles

D44 HP front
4.10's
Spartin locker
Ford dual piston disk breaks
Rubicon Express 7.5" coils
Youkon chromo outers
Warn premium locking hubs

2" OD 1/2" wall DOM LCA's with 1 1/4" shank
trail gear "jonny joints"
Drivers side will be a "y" link with an 1 1/2" DOM
UCA and 3/4" heims.

Rock sliders
New rear bumper
NP 231 SYE kit
And Probably a few other things along the way.

[Chaps]

Here are some pics of the plating and front suspension mock ups.

[Chaps]

Originally I was going to use these side mount brackets and weld them to the frame rail and floor in front of the trans cross member.
I didn’t like how this was working out so I just made a new cross member with some simple LCA tabs on it.


This is just me trying to figure out what I want to do

[Chaps]

This is what it looked like right after the full width 3/4 ton mod.

I wheeled it like this for a while but I didn’t like the "y" link setup because while breaking or bumping it in 4low I kept getting a little movement out of the
UCA and a loud clunking noise. I think this was due to the use of heims and jonny's everywhere. If I had a bushing on the axle end of the LCA this would
probably not happen. I decided to change it over to a true 3 link which has been working much better.

These pics show how i did the third link. I also added a brace to the track bar mount because I was getting a little flex there too.

There is no weight on the suspension in these pics that’s why it may look like my shits all jacked up like a mud truck.

[Chaps]

I think around that same time is when I built the new rear bumper.

Got some box tube and started cutting.

[Chaps]

I cut the mounting brackets off the trailer hitch that used to be on the jeep and used them for bumper mounts.
Drilled some holes and made some notches in the sheet metal.


I put a weld on either side of this bracket. I think this will end up being a lot stronger than the stock mounts.

Some quick paint.

[Chaps]

Test fit the bumper, looks like its gona work.

Curved to match the back of the jeep.

Three 1/2" grade 8 bolts on each side, Probably hold.

In this pic you can kind of see the sliders I made for it, nothing to crazy.

[Chaps]

I wheeled it like that for a while, it worked pretty well but I kept breaking shafts in the D44
I decided I needed to remedy this problem so I sold my Zodiac boat and motor and bought some new things.
84' F350 D60 front axle. The plan with this is to remove the inner C's and clock them to set good pinion and caster angles.
I also want to shorten the long side by 3" to make my control arm/ spring perch layout work out better, since the diff is so close to the driver side.
should be a piece of cake
I don’t think I have any pics of that stage, my patients was running a little to thin to be taking pictures.

Next I will need to do all the fab work on the truss and other brackets. I got some Ballistic brackets and tabs to help with this.

[Chaps]

Now I just need to build the track bar mount, tie rod, hydro ram mounts. To do that I will need to rebuild the king pins and put the knuckles on.

[Chaps]

Now to set up the gears. I got a new set of 5.38's for the front and rear. The front will get a new Spartin locker and the rear will get a new spool.

[Chaps]

The frame side track bar bracket is as wide as a heim joint and missalignment spacers pluss 5/16". The brace and the track bar share the same 5/8" grade 8 bolt.

Believe it or not but there is about 3/4" of space between the panhard mount and the coil spring, and the coil spring dosen't contact the bracket or bolt durring flex. The pitman arm has about 1/4" clearance between the panhard brace. It's a little tight.

[Chaps]

Some 39.5 x 13.5 Iroks and weld on bead locks.
Here are some pics of the inner rings welded on to the rims and cleaned up.


Now for some paint and probably too much time mounting the tires.

[Chaps]

I out boarded my shocks to allow for more travel and better stability. I plan for this to be usable for my future four link and coil over conversion

I know that tube doesn’t look like it is really tied into anything, and your right. It's there in order to be tied into the cage once I get to that.
For right now its plenty strong for a shock mount.

[Chaps]

This is how the inside came out, careful not to set fire to your interior.


Here is the other side, where you can see the on board air tank. I guess I could tell a little on how I made that system.
The on board air is powered by the stock AC pump. The intake valve of the AC pump is like a gate valve, if adjusted all the way one direction it directs flow through the larger port. I used this for my air intake and tied it into the engine's air intake pipe. If you adjust the gate valve all the way the other direction the flow is diverted through a smaller port which I connected the yellow air hose to. I use this setting for oiling the compressor. Basically every time I go wheelin I just squirt some air tool oil down that hose. In the picture you can see a little black "T" handle, which is used for adjusting the intake from "oiling" to "run". The out let of the pump runs through a one way check valve to the tank in the back then from the air tank back to the engine bay to a regulator/air dryer. The system works great; it will fill a set of four 39.5x13.5's from 5psi to 20psi in about 4min.

[Chaps]

In this picture you can see the little regulator setup.

As for now, I’m in the planning stage of building a cage and modifying the front bumper to tuck a winch up behind it. Here is a driveway pick.

Here is one from the other weekend at Peter's Creek, Or.

Here is a link to some YouTube videos. http://youtu.be/CZspU7LdPrA

[ashmanjeepXJ]

I like the front d60 work. looks good.

[Phat95YJ]

Nice build!

[littlejoe83]

Clean work man

[Chaps]

Thanks guys, Im pretty happy with it except I want to put a 231 box and D300 doubler setup in it. It will also be nice to have a cage.

[XJ_ranger]

Originally Posted by Chaps

Here is one from the other weekend at Peter's Creek, Or.

Where is Peter's Creek? looks like a good time.

[Chaps]

Peter's Creek is out near christmas valley, about one hour east of Bend, Or. A little past Brothers. Its a Privat offroad park with camp sites, bathrooms and a solar shower. Labor day and memorial day are usually the dates for the events. Check out my You Tube, there is a few videos of that place.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ChapsXJ?feature=mhum

[xjh3]

I love the rear bumper mount. Right now my bumper is bolted to the stock 4 holes on each side and is tied into the hitch mount holes with just a piece of flatstock. It's bending upwards from coming down on rocks. That's a great solution.

[Foxx249]

This thing looks awesome! Everything looks perfect dude, I say increase ride height by about 2" and it'll be perfect One of my favorite XJ's for sure. The hood is what did it for me...so sexy.

[beakie]

Originally Posted by Foxx249

This thing looks awesome! Everything looks perfect dude, I say increase ride height by about 2" and it'll be perfect One of my favorite XJ's for sure. The hood is what did it for me...so sexy.

if you meant stay the same or decrease the height by 2" I might agree. 2" higher would just be way too tall, IMO.

nice looking rig and some good work put into it... I am waiting on my cage to be built, are you thinking inner cage, exo, hybrid?

[Chaps]

Thanks for the props. I like the ride height where it is, it works well for what I do. I have about 5" of up travel. My plan is for the cage to be mostly exo accept for an interior "x" behind the front seats, once I get in to it my plans might change......More updates comming soon.