Project - 'Take up all my buddies shop space'

[DJ-5_Nate]

Building my first crawler after a buddy talked me into it. Starting out with a 76 DJ5 and plan on building a pretty sick street legal crawler.
My Plans: spring over, Ford 9" rear, Dana HP44 front, Ox lockers front/rear, 5.38 gears, sagina box with hyd. assist, Dakota springs front/rear, comp cut, body armor, full cage, 5.3l Chevy, R150F tranny, dual mini truck cases, 39.5 Iroks, winches front/rear and I'm sure the list will grow....

I started the build in my buddies garage, only working on the weekends, so it's gonna be a slow build. Let me know what cha think, and any tips or suggestions would be great.

Here's a few pics the first day I had it.

[TSwiss]

Neat looking rig, should be a fun project.

I don't think OX makes a locker for the 9". ARB, or detriot do though.

[DJ-5_Nate]

I guess I'll have to change them to ARB's, I like to keep things the same.

[DJ-5_Nate]

Heres a few pics of whats been done so far.




I got my front bumper welded up and just need to clean it up.



Rear bumper done.

[VB CJ 5.7]

Lookin good man... shit makes me miss my old 5...

[TSwiss]

Did you make the rear bumper? It looks amazing, I like the angles.

[RusowRacing]

Looking Good Lil Buddy!

[DJ-5_Nate]

Originally Posted by TSwiss

Did you make the rear bumper? It looks amazing, I like the angles.

Thanks! Ya, I made the bumpers. I wanted something that looked good and also had some purpose to it. I'm hoping the angles will help me slide off rocks a little easer. Ill post a couple different angles of the rear bumper for ya.

[DJ-5_Nate]

Originally Posted by VB CJ 5.7

Lookin good man... shit makes me miss my old 5...

Thanks, I can't wait to get it done. I had a TJ I did a bunch of work to, but I like these old ones a lot better.

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

Subscribed. I like the rear bumper design, Nate. It's nice to see something a little different.

Craig

[DJ-5_Nate]

Here's a couple more of the rear bumper.

[DJ-5_Nate]

I picked up a few parts this weekend. I might have it sitting on the new springs in the next couple of weeks. I got a little side-tracked this weekend. I had to rebuild the motor in my quad...

[TSwiss]

Thanks for the extra pics of the bumper, it looks great.

Are the tube pieces on it for bushings and a drop down tire carrier?

[DJ-5_Nate]

Originally Posted by TSwiss

Thanks for the extra pics of the bumper, it looks great.

Are the tube pieces on it for bushings and a drop down tire carrier?

No, that's where the springs will mount when I put the Dakotas on there.

[DJ-5_Nate]

Got a little bit of work done this week. I got the bumper mounted and the Dakota springs mounted and back sitting on the axle. Maybe one of these days Ill get the 9" put together and under it.





My buddy whipped these up....

[DJ-5_Nate]

Got a little bit more done this weekend. I got the front spring perches frenched in the bumper and the rear spring pads and perches welded up.








I got the motor and tranny pulled and all the frame cleaned up.





Here is the " pad " for the rear spring perch.











I had to cut a couple holes in the floor so the shackles will clear. I am going to use smaller boomerang shackles when its all done.

[DJ-5_Nate]

Here's how it's looking now.

[DJ-5_Nate]

here's a few pics with some better angles.

[mk2rocco]

Absolutely love the design and placement of the hangers, super clean, simple, and looks great.

[RockTactics]

Looking Good!

[IndyFab]

Lookin good one of these days I'll call you about your fenders posted on CL, need a pair for my dads cj5.

[scramblerj]

The old school build is awesome! I'll be following it.

How is the clearance looking for your tires? Hows your pinion angle looking in the front? What's your new wheelbase? Rear pinion angle going to be ok with the longer drivetrain?

[scramblerj]

Your buddy builds some nice looking brackets and stuff. Cant wait to get mine installed.

[Slowerthanu]

Ok, you two have convinced me to scavenge some Dakota rears for my FJ40 to replace the worn 55 springs.

[DJ-5_Nate]

Originally Posted by scramblerj

The old school build is awesome! I'll be following it.

How is the clearance looking for your tires? Hows your pinion angle looking in the front? What's your new wheelbase? Rear pinion angle going to be ok with the longer drivetrain?

Those are just the factory axles on it now. I have a full width 9" for the rear and a full width 44 for the front. I will set up the pinion angles when I do our brackets on there. We are also re-tubing the 44, so we'll set the caster angle when we get it all set up. We stretched the wheel base to 104" and might go another 2" with the offset spring perches.