1995 YJ Linked Front w/ 44&60 rebuild #3 engine swap time

[zach119]

Well this is probably the site that originally got me hooked into wheeling. I've still got my Dodge that originally lead me to this site, have bought and sold a couple other toys, and now have a YJ.

When I first got it, it was on bald swampers, had 10" lift shackles, 3" transfer case drop and many other problems, but for $1000 with 90k miles it was a pretty good deal.


All summer i worked on it, making bumpers, sliders, painting it, and fixing the suspension finishing it up just a couple days before it was time to go away for college.


As luck would have it the first day at school i blew up the rear D35, so i swapped an 8.8 in the rear in my apartment parking lot.

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Since then I've been wheeling the local trails with my club, and took the jeep out to Crozet a few weeks ago. Being the type of person that I am, I always have to be working on something even if nothing is worng with it.


Well my constant searching of craigslist paid off and I scored a HP44 front with a detroit, 513s and warn hubs and a rear 60 spooled with disks and 513s for $800 set up to bolt into a ZJ.



I plan on keeping the mounts on the front axle and running a radius arm set up similar to the one on Ramsport's Grand with Ballistic joints and poly bushings at the axle end. I will be running 14" Swayaway air shocks on the front. For the rear I will be going SOA with Waggy leafs for a 2" stretch over stock. Over thanksgiving the jeep will be going home so I can start tearing in to my project.

[2000ramsport]

well no such thing as over-kill! haha

[RamAford]

Looks like its coming along nicely!!!

[zach119]

I haven't gotten much done tech wise, but i did actually get my jeep home from school. I can't block it up in the main shop so i'll be building this in the tractor shed. The good news is a new electric service was just put in so this week i can run a 220 outlet to my bay to power my welder. I was bored after unloading my axles so i decided to take some before poser flex pictures using the bobcat.





I also got the go ahead from my dad to have this trailer to use for our full time jeep/ offroad vehicle hauler. I'll be repainting it and putting more d-rings and a tool box on the front. It will just fit two rigs without the ramps.

[olyelr]

Sounds like a real nice project you have on your hands. Have fun with it!!!!

[zach119]

My airshocks came in today so i can actually start figuring out how everything is going to be mocked up.

[zach119]

Well i'm still in the parts gathering mode until I get out of school for winter break, but I picked up my waggy springs and now it turns out i'll be running 38" SXs on some recentered Hummer beadlocks. I was going to buy a set of hummer wheels/ tires and recenter them myself, but one of my friends is upgrading to some stickies and gave me a good deal on his old tires.

[zach119]

Well I've been pretty busy with work lately but i managed to get a little bit of work done on the rear end this weekend.

Rear Axle Stripped


Rear Axle Mocked


Jeep Blocked


Tires


Rear Traction Bar


I'm hoping to have the rear bolted in this week so i can go ahead and work on my flatbelly/ traction bar/ control arm mount this weekend. I'm still debating whether or not i want to really stretch the front axle or not. I figure I can probably get close to two inches with my stock box, or i can go ahead and replace it with an astro van box for about 7 inches.

[zach119]

Well after working on my truck this weekend i finally had a little bit of time to do some work on the jeep tonight.

Old plenum on the Dodge


New billet plenum


Rear 60 blocked up


Waggy Springs, pretty flat once weight is put on them


Rear Bolted in


Tomorrow night i'm hoping to start working on my flat belly which will also tie into my front crossmember for my link mount and my rear crossmember for my traction bar. I still need to do some major trimming on the rear fenders, and figure out what i want to do for my rear bumper. I know it looks pretty high, but once i finish the tummy tuck and suspension the body lift will be removed.

[zach119]

Tonight I was able to make a little more progress. I did some measuring and figured out my final wheelbase should be around 103\". I was able to get my old transfer case skid taken off and my transmission blocked up.

Wheelbase at 103\"


Old Transmission Mount vs. New


I also started fabbing up my new flatbelly/ traction bar mount. I couldn\'t get my gas powered chop saw to start in the cold so instead of wasting my time messing with it i just cut it out with the torch. It\'s 1/4\" thick and 4\" longer than the stock skid plate so it will cover the 2x4 rear crossmember. Keep in mind this is pretty much just the skid, and i will be welding some more brackets to it for mounting/ supports.