Late night score of the century.

Well, you'll never believe this. I found a D300 locally on Craigslist for cheap. The guy needed it gone fast. I literally emptied my bank account, but I wound up with D300 within a few hours of finding the listing. I got a hell of a deal either way. It was one of those rare deals that your friend of a friend has heard of maybe once. Any way, its late and I have to get up early. So onto... well... the picture...

The 435 has arrived!

Today Nick showed up with my NP435. I want to throw a big thank you out to him for picking it up for me. Hes cool as hell and I definitely enjoyed kicking it, sharing wheeling stories, and having a beer with him. Things seem to spin well in the trans. I'm going to clean it up, paint it, and then rebuild it. I need to find the factory Dodge NP435 to NP205 case adapter. I know that you can make D300 bolt up with that adapter, which tells me a 231 will bolt up with a little work. I also need to find a bell housing, clutch, pressure plate, ect. to make it bolt up to my 5.9L Magnum. I'm getting there slowly but surely.

Small update... Good and Bad News.

I've got a small update with some good and bad news. First the bad news. The kid that had the D300 that I wanted to buy didn't know what he really had. Please people, if you're selling something, know what you have and save every body involved time, money, and headaches. It took me 10 minutes to look up how to identify every t-case that ever came in a CJ as well as the history behind them. Its interesting stuff and stuff you should know if you plan on buying a D300, D20, or D18. The T-case was really a D18 and not a D300. Very easy to distinguish the two of them from one another. Right away I knew what it was and I was pretty disappointed. Back on the hunt for a D300 I guess.....

Now for the good news. My NP435 is on its way home. I found a guy on a local ish forum that makes the drive back and forth periodically. We met up and he was cool as hell. He went and picked the trans up for me and brought it back. Its not in my hands yet because of my schedule, but it will be by the end of this week. I definitely owe him some beer. I'm very excited about this transmission. Pictures will get posted soon.

More changes.

It appears that winter weather is upon us here, or its at least starting to get noticeably more cold. I've been thinking about what would make a good winter project. I realized that I already basically had one. My dad and I have been working on his shop. We're in the process of finishing up hanging the ceiling and insulating the walls. I managed to score my dad a 5 year old Lennox 80% gas furnace that we're going to use to keep the temperatures at least bearable. We just need it to keep it above freezing and keep the machinery at a reasonable operating temperature to help prevent things from rusting. I have no doubt that the furnace would keep the shop at a decent temperature though as its a big furnace. We still need to finish the insulation in the walls, put up OSB (not using sheet rock) on the walls, wrap up the ceiling, hang the furnace, reroute the gas piping, run the electrical for the furnace, convert the furnace to propane, hang the furnace, vent the furnace, take care of the duct work, blow insulation into the attic, and make a little shelving. It sounds like a ton of work and it really is, but it shouldn't take as long as it sounds.

That's one of my winter projects. Help my dad finish out his shop. It will be far too cold to do any major work on the Jeep very shortly. There's no room for my Jeep in the shop as my dad's 1955 T-bird is in the shop. Thus I must work on the majority of the Jeep stuff outside. I got to thinking about my recent decision to change up the drive train and a light bulb clicked on. I can make a little room to work on the drive train. I can rebuild my trans, t-cases, get all my adapters in order, rebuild my 5.9L, and try to get my drive train bolted together and in working shape. I could also work on the axles too if I can manage to get around to it and/or afford it. What does this leave me with? A running Jeep for the winter. That means with a bit of maintenance and a little extra work I can hit some snow this winter while I work on my drive train.

I still want to try to at least pick up a set of corner guards so that I can do the body work ASAP once it starts to warm up again or if conditions become favorable due to freak weather. If I can swing the fuel cell and what not as well, then that would be an added bonus, but from what I've read, the drive train will probably nickle and dime me to death for the winter any way. I've also got a go kart engine to rebuild, but I've already got all the stuff to do it. So if I hit a snag on the big stuff, then I may switch over to that to hold me over.

Any way, this is how I hope my winter goes. I really hope that its productive and I get in some really good snow wheeling this year.

I couldn't help myself.

A little update. I know I said I had a plan I was sticking to, but with much deliberation and some inspiration from GTXRacer, I've decided that the AX-15 might just be too much of a weak link with a 5.9L for me to keep around. I could probably sell the AX-15 and break even once its out of the Jeep, so its not much of a big deal to me. You might wonder what I plan swapping in the AX-15's place. Well, my plan is to drop in an NP435. It should laugh at what the 5.9L has to throw at it. That also means I can make a bit more power. I have a lead on a Dodge 435 for a good price and with any luck it will be mine soon

Now, I also have a lead on a D300 for cheap as well. The 300 is more up in the air. I need to go take a look at it and make sure there's nothing horribly wrong with it or that its not really a D20. I don't mind a case that needs a rebuild though. This all subtracts from my corner guard money, but who could turn all this down for $200 total? If this all works out for me, only one thing comes to mind.... WINNING!

More Parts.

Just a little update. More parts rolled in. I've now got my boat side rockers from Dave's Customs  Unlimited. While they aren't installed yet, I can say that Dave kept me up to date on my order and was great to deal with. The rockers were packaged well, too well in fact. I spent so much time unwrapping them that I hardly got to admire them. That's a good thing though. My over all first impression was that they are certainly quality pieces. They came with everything needed to install them and I cant wait to do just that, install them. A big thanks goes out to Dave.

These pics don't really do them justice. They are nice pieces for sure. Certainly stout, they weighed in at just under 60 lbs. I just want to give you an idea of what they look like and the amount of clearance gained from using them. One thing is for sure, lots of cutting is in my future.

Planning, Stages, and More Planning

After talking to a friend and much deliberation, I've decided restructure some of my planning. My friend gave me some good advice. Just get the Jeep up and running and then work on the nice things to have after the Jeep has a few runs on it. Its a bit more minimalistic to start and yes, I'll probably break stuff if I get crazy. Either way, doing things in such a manner should get the Jeep up and wheelable even if its not 100% the way I want it.

So I'll do it in stages like I planned, but it will be stages within phases. I haven't got all of the planning done. In fact, I have 3 full pages of planning and I'm only about half way there. At least half of it is on paper right now.

Phase one, get it going. Part one of this phase is getting the Jeep ready for suspension and axles. This means high line fenders, body armor, gas tank delete, fuel cell, ect. Part two is getting the suspension and axles under the Jeep. That's the big part. Part 3 is getting the axles ready. This will be gearing, lockers, brakes of the cutting variety, and some other minor things. Nothing crazy, no 4340 or 300M. Phase one will be all about cutting costs and getting it rolling so I can wheel it and see what bugs/demons will need to be worked out.

Phase two. This will be exercising those demons and working things in the direction of completion. Now, you may remember I have a 5.9L V8 and I neglected to mention that in stage one. I'm still using it, but imagine slapping that in the Jeep without adding the necessary parts to keep everything else from exploding. It would just open up a whole other can of worms at this point that I don't need. So this phase will be used to get things ready for the V8 and to polish other aspects of the vehicle that need polish.

Phase three will be the V8. Not in the way you think though. We're talking rebuilding it and making it make a little more power. Not much more, but just a little. We're talking easy power, not crazy expensive work or trying to squeeze out ever last horse power the engine has. I don't wheel on the east coast after all. I don't need 600 horse power and I don't want it. I'd have taken the build in a totally different direction if that were the case. So essentially this phase is a rebuild, minor power increase, and to finish up getting the stuff to drop it in. I still need a couple things like the wiring harness and radiator.

Phase four will be to install said V8 and finish anything else that's left over.

A lot more planning than just those phases has happened. I just don't have time to transfer pages of hand written gibberish to my blog right now. I have parts lists, a clear order of operations within those lists and phases, and much more. The hand written stuff is only half done. It is time consuming. In fact, it has consumed two full nights. Its should help me come up with a more followable plan and aid in completing this Jeep, so its well worth the time I've put into it.

On a side note. I've ordered boat side rockers. Unfortunately they're on back order, but they'll get here eventually. I'm not worried. I sold off some old computer parts and I'm also well on my way to a set of one off rear corner guards. The only two major parts left of phase one part one that I have yet to get are the corners and fuel cell. After those things roll in, then the fun really begins.

A little change in plans.

It happens. I'm changing up my plans a bit. I believe that the last time I posted I had mentioned that I had lost my job. Obviously this slows things down tremendously. I'm still working on getting things together though. It also calls for a change in plans. Mainly because I want to see some progress and have it look like I actually did something. I have many parts just sitting in a pile and most of them will continue to sit for a while longer. My changes are more in the order I'm planning to do things rather than using different parts or going another route with something.

Any way, I got to thinking. It would be nice to get my suspension and axles under my jeep asap and that was the plan. That is also probably the second most expensive part of this whole build. It dawned on me that something else needed to happen first. What is that you might as, but probably not. The high fenders, rear corners, and gas tank relocation. It is all needed to make room for the axles and suspension in the first place. So why not tackle the body armor first? With any luck I'll be ordering some boat side rockers next week. Yes, boat side rockers. As in I will physically remove my rockers with a sawzall. This leaves me with just corners guard to buy to finish up the body armor on the Jeep. That will probably come a couple weeks after the rockers if all goes well.

After that the next thing will be the gas tank or lack there of. I plan on doing a fuel cell. If my wife makes me keep the ability to have a bench seat in the back of the Jeep, then it will be an RCI 2161AD. I sourced it out and found an awesome price on one already. If I don't have to keep the seat I'll be getting an RCI fuel cell in a 19 gallon capacity and putting more centrally located. Either way, when I get to the cage, I'll be running a filler tube over to it desert racer style. I'd love to be able to modify a tonneau cover and run that to protect what ever is in the back of the Jeep eventually as well.

These mods will make room for bigger tires on significantly less lift. They will also allow me to stretch my suspension out enough to gain a respectable amount of wheel base without being too long for where I 4 wheel and while letting me keeping full corners. Hopefully it will take the edge off some of the more steep stuff. Its all going to happen slowly due to my employment situation. I still have to pay bills, keep a roof over my families heads, and put food on the table. It is going to get done though, so be patient and keep an eye out. Progress is coming....

A little set back.

I've had a bit of a set back as far as my build is concerned that has come in the form of losing my job. Its not the end of the world, but parts buying is on hold. I'm hoping to get a little work done still, but it will only be the stuff that I can finish. I'll still make a few sets of knuckle gussets if I can find a place to cut the gussets for a reasonable price. I haven't had any time to really start on the set for my axle yet any way. Cutting them should be easier as I now have access to a plasma cutter. Either way, I'll update the blog again once I start rolling on a few things.

Knuckles...

I have high expectations for my front D44. Yes it is high pinion and yes it is the beefy 3/4 ton variety, but its still a D44. I also have big plans for it. Its probably going to be more expensive than any D44 should be. Even though it'll have some high dollar parts in it, some times the little things help out tremendously as well. I know what you're thinking. What little thing am I going to do that could possibly make a decent difference? Knuckle gussets.

Those inner C's are semi beefy as is, but it would make me feel better if they had some 1/4" plate gussets behind them. I plan on making boxed out gussets, similar to the Ballistic ones, but they've got my own twist on them. I started making a template for them, but got pulled off before I could finish. They will be beefy. There is the possibility that I could have some one to make a cad file for these. What does this mean? It means I need to find out how much my work will charge me for table time on their plasma table. If enough people want them to cover the cost of material and table time, then why not make a bunch of them? I don't know if I want to go through the hassle, but if it helps fund my build then I may consider it.

Its an option. Either way my D44 will get these gussets. If I have a day off during the week (which has been happening a lot and is a huge cause of my lack of money for my Jeep), then I'll try and at least finish my templates for the gussets and make as much progress on them as I can. Its a cheap and easy project that I can do right now with my work related lack of funding. I've got a few other ideas as far as cheap way to beef up the D44, but they're just ideas at this point. I need to do more research before I start talking about what else is in my head.

Very soon!

I have some promising news. While my hours at work have brought the suck hardcore and prevented me from picking up more much needed parts to finish my Jeep, I will more than likely start building very soon. The Mazda in front of my dad's shop is now gone, so there is room for my Jeep. There are a couple daily driver issues to work out, which shouldn't be a big deal, and some consumables to acquire. First on the list of parts to install is my Rokmen Hiline fenders. This will tell me how much room I will have to extend my shock towers up. I should be able to fit 14" travel shocks fairly easily. I have a couple things left to get before I can start and finish my front suspension. I need shocks, springs, TnT front stretch kit, ford shock towers, and a little DOM. The TnT stretch kit is the big expensive item. Everything else is manageable. Either way, I'm going to start on that first after the tube fenders. Then I'll move to the rear suspension. I'll get it rolling on new suspension and axles and then I'll pull the axles out and finish those up. Its going to be a long process, but it'll all get done in time.

Props to Gen-Right

I just wanted to express my happiness with Gen-Right Offroad. I ordered their new D60 truss and not only was the quality excellent, but they shipped it here extremely fast. I wasn't even expecting it to be here until next week. I ordered it Wednesday and got it Friday. It seems to be typical of how fast they get stuff out. The last time I ordered from them they got my stuff out equally fast. So if you need suspension parts fast, then I highly recommend them. I will be using them again for more of my rear suspension and misc suspension stuff.

Very minor update.

Its been a long while since I last posted. I'm still daily driving the Jeep. There's another project taking up space in front of my dad's shop, so I haven't been able to drop the Jeep off as there is no room. I'm in no hurry. On top of that it just seems like work is a bit touch and go. Its there and I am working, but the work load some times is a bit light for some days. Not to mention the last 4 weeks I missed one day every week for various reasons. So I haven't been able to get too far ahead to order as many parts as I would have liked to.

Now the good news. I did order Gen-Right's new rear 60 truss about 5 minutes ago. Its a good looking unit. I'll post pics when it gets here.

Here is a link to the truss:
http://www.genright.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=RSM4060

More bling...

I've got the majority of my front suspension parts now, so I figured it was time to post an update and show off a little bling.

I've got 3 weldable 2.63" ballistic fab joints, 3 forged chromolly 2.63" ballistic fab joints, jam nuts (yay!), ballistic fab xj/tj combo brackets, ballistic fab link tower, and gen-right 3 link frame brackets.

Maybe if I have nothing better to do some time in the near future I'll bust out all my bling parts in my parts pile and tease you guys some more.

New bling...

Just a small update. Some of the parts I ordered came in. I got my Gen-Right 3-link brackets. They got here super fast and the quality of the brackets is awesome. Mad props to Gen Right for their insanely fast service and hight quality.

I'm still waiting on my Ballistic Fab backets and joints, but I just ordered them the other day. I cant wait to get them as well. I've always been impressed with Ballistic's service and quality. I need to get a hold of TnT Custsoms to find out about their front stretch kit. I will more than likely be ording that as well provided it does what I want.

Update...

I've got a bit of an update. I've ordered the majority of my front suspension parts. I have Ballistic spring pad/shock mount/LCA combo brackets ordered, Ballistic link tower, 3 Ballistic weld in flex joints, 3 regular Ballistic Flex joints, jamb nuts, and Gen-Right 3 link frame brackets ordered. I'm up in the air as far as link material. So I need to figure that out before I order tubing adapters. I have awhile until the Jeep will even go down to be worked on, so its not a big deal. Oh yeah, I also need to call TnT Customs about their front stretch kit. That will basically allow me to stretch my front end 3". If I remember correctly it will relocate my steering box, coil spring perches, shock mounts, and all that good stuff. Essentially taking out all the guess work for me. If the price is right and its everything I remember it being before they took it off their online store, then I'll be ordering that very shortly.

If I can swing it, I want to push my front axle forward 3" and push my rear back 5". That would give me a 101" wheel base, which is the same as an XJ. It should be a heck of a lot more nice in the steep crazy stuff compared to 93.4". If the turning radius does bug me, well, I think I still may do cutting brakes for the rear even though I have a HPD44 instead of the HPD60 I planned on. I'll just have to go easy on sharp turning.

Any way, that is my update. When the parts come in, I'll post up some pictures.

More planning.

I know. I know. Every one likes progress and there isn't any at the moment. My plans have changed. Shocker. This time it is not because I cant make up my mind, but actually something totally out of my control. My wife decided that she wanted to take most of the tax return money set aside for the RCV shafts and drive flanges and buy a king size bed. Oh well. I still have enough money to start on suspension, so that's where my plan changes.

I've decide that I'm more than likely going to run a combination of brackets. I'll start with the front suspension. I'm considering running the Poly Performance 3 link brackets on the frame end, the Ballistic Fab TJ combo brackets on the axles, and the to save money running my upper on the passengers side with either a Gen-Right or a Poly link tower. The reason for flipping sides with my upper is simply because the link tower costs less than a truss and a link bracket and my HP D44 obviously has no CA mount cast into the diff. I can see why I would want the upper on the side with my diff though. To combat the urge to break, I'll run the same side rod ends that I'm going to run for the lowers (as big as I can afford more than likely 1.25") and I'll run 2x2x1/4" square tube for the link. The only reason why I decide against the Ballistic link tower is that I wanted to be able to adjust the height of the link. I have yet to measure and see what tower I'll need, 6" or 8".

This setup will let me keep my coils and cut down on a lot of work. I'd love to do something a little more crazy, like a 4 link and full hydro, but that's just not in the forecast for now. I will however modify the shock towers to run the longest travel shocks possible in the space I have. The lower frame side brackets are angled 10 degrees out and are in-boarded to the inside of the frame rails. I plan on pushing the brackets back as far as possible to give me as long of a link as possible before I start having problems with the links contacting the frame. I plan on running 2x2x1/4" square tube for control arms as it is extremely cheap here and its beefy. I'm still up in the are as to what I want to run for rod ends. I want to stick with a set of 2" coils, but I need to first do some research. My coils and shocks have to compliment each other. I want this suspension well dialed in and stable in the off camber stuff.

I think with this plan I will have an amazingly flexy front suspension. It should be awesome. With any luck I'll be buying brackets soon. I'm going to hopefully get onto cleaning up my 3/4 ton axles very soon as well.

Planning... whats that?

Plans are always good... right? Of course they are. Its just that some times its hard to stick to them for one reason or another. I am one of the most horrible people in the world when it comes to making a plan and sticking to it. I always come up with a plan and shortly after change my mind for one reason or another. Usually I have an idea that I want to incorporate or change because I think I've found something better.

I have a 5.9L V8 that I plan on using. I do have a HPD44 and a D60 as well. High line fenders are also in the plans and yes, I do have a set of Rokmen hi-lines. So what does this equate to? Something low, that has decent power, and a decent amount of beef. Perhaps some bigger tires are in order, but only as long as I get no taller than I already am.

Now here is where I'm stuck. How do I want to put my axles under my Jeep? Rokmen has some awesome Jeeps on short arms and very minimal amount of lift. They're Freak Jeep is awesome to say the least. So is that the way to go? Short arms and beefy stock style brackets? Perhaps. It certainly isn't cheap if I buy prebuilt short arms. Same with a long arm kit. They're way too expensive and honestly there aren't many that really impress me. Do I buy a bunch of Ballistic Fab brackets and build a long arm suspension? That is perhaps the best bang for the buck, but is it really for me?

I'm really stuck as far as figuring out what I should do. I may have a daily driver soon and if that is the case, then perhaps building might be a good option. Either way there is a lot to consider.

More parts for the pile....

As I hinted at in my last post, I have collected some more parts for my pile of parts. As some people might know, I've searched the vast interweb for years looking for an affordable 78-79 Ford HP D60 for a long time. I've found some and every time I've had the deals fall through or some one would beat me to it. Frustration set in and I decided to compromise. I told myself that if I could find a 78-79 Ford HP D44, then I'd go that route as well and just settle for being 3/4 ton instead of 1 ton. To my dismay, those axles are also hard to come by and go quickly. They are quite a bit more cheap though. I hit craigslist and found a F250 that was being parted out. Not just any F250, but a 79. I immediately called the guy and told him that I would take the front and rear axles (even though I already had a read 60 in the pile). I got them for a pretty reasonable price and with some help, I got them home to the pile.

I can now scratch off axles from my parts list. How ever relieving this may sound, I can now add more stuff to my list. I plan on ordering a TnT Customs truss and brackets for the front axle to get it bolted into the Jeep. Any old TJ brackets will work for the rear for the time being. Locker are a must. I don't think that I can go back to open diffs after being locked front and rear. I've toyed around with the idea of throwing a set of Spartan lockers in the axles to hold me over until I can afford some selectable lockers. It wouldn't be any worse that the two Lock Rights that I have right now. I have disc brake brackets for the rear to weld on so that I can run rear discs. I'd love cutting brakes while I was at it. I couldn't really use them right now as I don't have the ability to twin stick my t-case, but why not get them out of the way while I have to redo my brakes? Better to do it once than twice, I think... I need to regear them as well. I'm up in the air about the ratio right now. All I know is that I lack the tools and know how to do a proper install. I need to find some one to educate and help me with that one. I think I am set on a Jana 54 kit. Yup, 50 R&P in a D44. Why? Because I'd hate for the R&P to be the weak point after I decide to splurge a my next tax return on a set of RCV shafts. Well, that's if my wife lets me.

Any way, I'm really excited that at least two more things are crossed off my big list. This is going to be a really slow build, but at least its moving. One step closer to one of my major life goals. Build a decent Jeep and wheel it on the Rubicon... It feels good.

And so it begins....

I have never had a build thread for my Jeep on any forum... period. My TJ has never been anything special to any one, but me of course. It's fairly cookie cutter as she sits. She started life stock, went from 30's to 33's and then finally to 35's. Shes now locked front and rear as well. For what my rig is, it does fairly good. I cant complain one bit really. I've been a little out of the game lately and I've always had some big plans. It hasn't been until lately that I've been able to really collect parts for my big plan. Honestly, the plan is always headed in a certain direction, but how I get there and what I plan on using always seems like its up in the air. The plans are big either way. I'm accumulating parts slowly and the pile is building up. The pile has some nice parts in it as is, but it just keeps getting better and better.

Its late, work comes early, and tomorrow I pick up more parts.... You'll just have to wait and see what they are.