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