Jeep XJ Update.....3 years Later

[Music] hey guys how's it going my last post was probably 3 years ago from the looks of it I just watched that video uh just to kind of catch myself up where it left off and now I think I want to try posting again possibly posting just the things I'm working on and just kind of day-to-day things and I'm going to start off kind of where I left off uh with the Jeep so not much has gotten done for 3 years I've done a decent amount of things to it but I didn't really have the tooling and the knowledge and the skills to do what I want to do so I've been kind of building up all those things and working on all kinds of projects and getting more tools and get better at working with my hands so I'm finally going to show where I've been so I'll take you around this thing thing okay so this is basically where she sits right now I'm going to forget almost all the names of the parts and things that I've done but I will try to remember as we go and just comment if you guys have any questions so starting up here at the front I ended up going with a a curry 44 Axle just I'm trying to keep everything kind of light and I'm not planning to have a bunch of power on this like a you know big blown LS or really anything with that much power I want to try to stick with the 4 L uh however you know things change so my goal is to build a basically the strongest uh Curry 44 that I can here that can take some uh air time and not Bend and just kind of take a bunch of abuse and then the outside it has a Teraflex knuckles with the Teraflex eight Lug and hub kit on it and the Teraflex High modulus brakes just giant rotors and calipers and everything so I mean they're they're pretty big I mean looking compared to my hand so hopefully that'll help her stop and everything and I mean I'm changing everything as I go so right here I have kind of the three-link kit kind of mocked up and this is going to get pulled off actually and I mean it's all kind of bolted in there and everything but uh I'm going to pull it off long story short and it is going to go on this Jeep that I end ended up buying so and I'll talk about that in a little bit so uh yeah that'll get pulled off I'm going to build um basically a four link for the front not triangulated but some type of four-link almost like uh the original design that can take a little bit more travel and uh hopefully is going to be pretty strong I I kind of want to build it like a like all round use vehicle so I want it to be able to do everything but yeah that's basically the the front end right there and I've cut out the fenders to kind of see where the shocks will Mount stuff but I'm going to build the the front shock mounts and cage and all those parts here pretty soon and that will kind of determine where the axle lands cuz I don't have much room let me open up the hood here real quick quick I'll show you stick right there so I don't have much room with how the shocks need to lay back in here with like the brake booster and all of the stock stuff so basically I'm going to go to uh mechanical brakes and that will keep everything close up and this axle will probably be moved forward I don't know maybe 4 in or so uh which will involve moving the steering box and a lot of work it'll just be all custom stuff so yeah but uh that's kind of the route I'm going so that's going to happen after I get all this stuff pulled out and I'll have to start getting all the stuff to start um building those links and setting everything up but I did get my shocks it's kind of dark over here I've been cleaning my shop and there stuff everywhere still so I got some 3 sh uh Fox bypasses I got them custom built they got 1-in tubes trophy Tu truck tubes on them they're 14in and I have some coilovers back there some bumps somewhere there's all kinds of parts in here I got um yeah so basically that's for the front end and then I mean I'll kind of walk around here over here I'll start and you can see I ended up doing all the um unibody stiffeners everything's TIG welded all the way down this thing and that was the first thing I've ever take welded cuz I I don't know how to take W and that was a harsh learning experience and 3 years later I've done a lot of TIG welding and I've learned a lot and it's something that you kind of like wish you could redo but it turned out you know pretty good I mean better than a lot of people's uh Meg welded stuff I mean my whole goal with this project is to learn so and create something cool that I can use so it's welded all the way down this thing all the way under everything's welded so and then I also did the 2x6 uh kind of rock slider tie-in thing this is the first side I did this one about a year ago and uh well maybe a year and a half I was struggling welding the seam between the body and here and since then I have learned how to mitigate the problems I was having so the other side turned out a lot better um I I need to come in cover past this cuz I just think it looks terrible um like I did the other side so I'll show you the other side here it turned out way better um as you can see here I'll walk you down it I mean that seam with the body it's just a lot cleaner I mean this is all been wire wheeled right now cuz everything will need painted and I just don't like leaving uh any type of things on them I'd rather protect them cuz you know this thing could sit for another 3 years knowing my uh my timelines and I just want to prevent any kind of rust or anything just surface rust happening so I just kind of wirewheel it and then just coat it with something like WD40 or something easy to take off but yeah so that's done over there I just got this side done maybe last week and I got a rear uh um Ford 9 in a rough stuff 9in housing with I think these are Wide Open Designs unit bearing cups that I mean they're all TIG welded on there Preston fit TIG welded on the inside and Ford um unit bearings that are redrilled to I think 8 on 6 and A2 but yeah I got those on both sides I built these uh trailing arms they come in a kit that's like a I think a 2x4 that's laser cut um or it might be plasma cut I can't remember I think it's laser cut that you can kind of pull it together I forget who makes I think it's Moto belt Moto belt or somebody you can kind of see the tig WS in there maybe oh yeah it's lien up so it's all TIG wed on the inside on the outside and all the fits are perfect they are machined to that housing so yeah and then they all have dry flanges so this will actually take uh I think you could go 45 spline if you wanted but I'm not going to have that much power so uh I also got in here the transfer case uh rebuilt and pulled out did the syy and I built like kind of a micro polishing setup out of a tumbler over here a Harbor Freight tumbler it's got all ceramic beads in it let's see sitting over there with all my other stuff and I micro polished all those gears in there and they came out like a mirror and I cleaned them and that thing meshes so nice shifts so nice and that's the MP H I'm going to mess it up 242 I think so it's got the it's got four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive and it does the all-wheel drive instead of like uh friction all-wheel drive it does it using um like a differential style um like Center diff which is kind of cool I don't know I might blow it apart who knows we'll see but yeah so that's all been redone and it has all cable shifted uh stuff in there the trans J trans I've pulled apart uh the uh pan off and I've I redid All of the yeah yeah I redid All the valve body stuff in there and did whatever shift kits and drilled out certain things and just kind of followed some tips on some random forms I don't know and we'll see how that does I don't even know the shape of that transmission too much I didn't drive it that much but yeah it's been redone and everything so that stuff is in pretty good shape but as you can see I have a lot of work to do but um I am also doing uh just a typical I think it's a winter shifter design to control the aw4 it'll be controlled with a some person's I think ra designs type like controller that lets you build uh I have all the parts in here um let you build a controller that you can have a full automatic transmission a full manual type valve body uh full manual with uh transmission controller controll lockup or with the lockup turned off full manual lockup like it's Endless Options so I'm going to have to figure out that and so there's all kinds of micro switches that go inside this winter shifter it's built for it cuz for this transmission shift it has to have a selected location on on the cable and electronic signal selecting location for something to happen so it's got to have both so the cams have to be set up right in the side Winder so I'm going to build a center console for all that stuff I'm going to keep the air uh let's see blowing in the back I'm trying to think here and then I mean as you can see I'm this is kind of where this axle is planning to sit lots of trimming uh I think the wheelbase ends up being somewhere about 118 maybe but I I did also finish the other trailing arm it's sitting over here on the other piles of Parts but yeah so that's all been finished and welded up it's weld it all the way down and yeah so that's ready to go and start mocking up the rear I need to make the upper links and see where they need to land I'm going to build a custom fuel tank that's kind of built in braced with the rear bumper to get the capacity I need and wraps kind of around the axle I'm trying to figure out if I need to like how much I need to trust this for as light as this thing is going to be it's not going to be some heavy trophy truck so um I'm going to have to figure that out but uh that could interfere with my tank and my tank T Dimensions so I'll have to figure that out yeah back here I have the third member it's going to it has all uh 48 88 gears in it so yeah I think that's what I have so the front's just a 30 spline it's does have uh air lockers both things a ARB air lockers on both axles trying to think what else we got here um it's basically all that I have done right now but I got to build the cage that's the next thing and to make the cage happen I want to build it around the tie-in points of the shocks first and then go from there so I need to finish taking the front three link out the Iron Rock off-road one and start building my own three link with straight links and that will determine where my axle lands which will then determine where my shocks need to land for their angles and clearances and then once that's done I got to do that on the rear for the upper links and kind of build in my as you see this is just kind of sitting here right now uh I don't really know where it's going to land yet I've been doing some numbers but I don't know what I'm doing so I don't know where it's going to land yet we'll see in the end but I got to build those upper links and I might have to cut out the whole back of this thing uh I'm just kind of going as I go and whatever happens happens so we'll see I've never built something like this I'm trying to think what else here the other thing I can kind of go over some more of these parts is so I do have PRP seats for it I have the front um I think they're like indoro extreme or I think it says it up there well I guess I have this ladder here so might as well go up or they're just uros PP and I got these colors there's another one and then there's actually a racing bucket seat uh where is it at oh it's actually sitting behind the other two front seat seats so yeah those will go in there then I forgot to show the wheels so I got these these I'm going to start out with 35s but I'm building everything on the blue Jeep to take 37s and clear I will build around the 37s and make them clear so I originally got these 35s just to kind of get everything set and um will be like my testings just some I think these are what are these uh the uh cam 3s yeah the cam 3s and then I forget what camc beadlocks these are I have no idea um it probably says somewhere I don't know I think they're like the grenades or something like that but yeah I I got those so they look pretty good on this thing cuz track width of this thing well wheel Mount surface I think ends up being at almost 70 or 69 68 I can't remember have it written down but uh changing up with the front um hub conversion stuff that kind of makes the track width a little bit different and I match the rear for that too when I built that axle so that should hopefully be you know like a normal width of a a JL or all the other things out there so it's not not going to be uh crazy wide just kind of a full width build and I had to get these wheels offset a little bit as you can tell uh to be able to clear those brakes they are very close clearing clearing those brakes so they're some big Brakes in the rear I actually have I don't know all the stuff's just piled in here but you can kind of see maybe back there they're going to be willwoods and have all kinds of stuff in here but yeah so there's some stuff back there oh here I'll grab one out right now so you guys can see it they have aluminum hats but yeah they're actually vented vented uh rotors so yeah I don't know hopefully they'll they'll go I got to figure out don't know what I'm really doing I just have a bunch of parts and going to have to figure out brake bias and setting up the the pedal with dual Master cylinders and all that stuff that I don't know anything about so yeah that's going to be another thing oh the other thing is this front sway bar I don't know if this will stay or if I'll have to make a a certain type of one or I don't know yet because all this is going to have to be cut out basically it's FR front cross member cuz that steering box has to be moved up which is right there maybe I'll look into a different steering box that can handle maybe some more abuse I need to do the research on those those things but I plan on I want to build a just a either a stroker or I yeah stroker or a boosted I really don't know I want to build a higher horsepower for oil for this just I really like this motor and it's just kind of what I'm going for like I I want that being the limiting factor and I don't just want to have 600 horse because I I think it tear this thing apart so we'll see what happens um I guess I'll go on to my white Jeep explanation here so this white Jeep I bought from my father-in-law I think in this summer basically yeah this summer and it had a blown up engine in it and was basically Stu it had it might had it had a little bit of a ready lift I think some blocks actually some blocks in the back and some easy ride control arms which it still has right now I think yeah those easy ride control arms lower control arms but I since have put a long block a new motor in it um put new steering track bar Springs ball joints brakes rotors um rear leaf springs I'm trying to think what else rear rela springs um maybe that's all I mean I I basically had to rebuild the front end I did everything but the joints for the control arms and oh it's got a new steering box I mean everything motorwise all components are new there power steering pump uh but it it's just a daily driver it'll never be on on bigger tires than 31s my wife wanted this thing and since I took the blue Jeep from her and take forever to do anything I put the work in and got this thing and kind of did it all up it's actually a very clean I mean not right now it isn't very clean but it's a it's a very clean Jeep it's got I think 250,000 Mi on it but I mean interior Wise It's very clean other than all the stuff we have in it that makes it dirty but I need to fix how it drives it drives terribly it will everything's very tight but it just it's fighting itself and I think the control arm upper control arm bushings are out and uh the unibot bodies kind of flexing at the steering box and all different types of things so I'm going to take the old axle from the blue Jeep which is the same axle as this with the same gears um I've brought it in today it's sitting right there just a little Dana 30 and I am going to cut basically the lower control arm mounts off of it and the front track bar pan hard bar mounts off of it and I'm trying to think what else I think that's the main thing but I'm going to basically rebuild this axle and change those mounts out I'll do new um ball joints and everything and go through I'm going to put new bearings in it I'm just going to do the whole rebu kit and then I'm taking that three link kit from the blue Jeep and going to install it on the white Jeep it's more of its caliber of of lift for what it's doing you know so I mean guys will probably run that on some crazy setups but for I'm doing it'll ride real nice on the road we obviously take this off-road but we aren't just beating on it but I want to be able to take a beating and still hold up so um kind of be like a little Chase rig or like something we can flat toe behind the truck and the camper you know just an allaround rig so I want it to drive real nice so I'm going to do that I'm going to build a high uh let's see the O over the axle track bar mount for it using this JK one I have sitting over here so this Mount right here I am going to put somewhere in here so that's the start and then I got some other parts I think I might put a truss on it so it doesn't Bend but yeah we'll see what happens but that's a start for this thing and hopefully those parts will show up in the next week I can get that thing taken care of and and then uh I'm going to build a front bumper for it a front tube bumper to kind of tie the frame together and hopefully that helps it steer a little better also that's other thing I finally just got a tube bender so that's a big thing I've been waiting on for the blue Jeep project and I just got a rogue Fab bender and a tube notcher I just walled it together uh maybe a month ago or so but yeah I've used it on a one project so far and I had a lot of fun and hopefull I can use it a lot more here well it looks like I I'm going to have to so I want to build a front bumper to kind of um help me think of what I want to do for the blue Jeeps front bumper and hopefully that can help tie in the front then after the front bumper and the three link and all those bracket updates I will probably drive it for a while and I have the old axle out of the blue Jeep which is a um Chrysler 8 and a qu that I already have the mounts kind of TIG welded on there just kind of tacked I mean they need a second pass uh everything's kind of tacked together cuz I was just using it to mock it up I'm actually going to install the four link cuz I have all this stuff originally from the blue Jeep and the blue Jeep just got way out of hand and it's going to be a lot different than what I originally thought I'm going to use all that stuff and put it on the white Jeep so it won't all go to waste and you know these are the exact same year this is a 2001 blue Jeep's a 2001 I actually have the block from this Jeep still so then I can build a spare motor for this the blue Jeep because this motor still runs in this thing it was running when we pulled it in here I think it's got 990,000 Mi on it or I can't remember yeah oh yeah 198 when it was sold so probably 19. 199 maybe if that when I pulled it apart but um not too not too many miles I mean these things run forever so that I'll use this motor is my mockup motor I I want to get this thing done in who knows how long but I can then kind of figure everything out and then have a a race motor built for it ready to put in and that's probably what I'm going to do so that old block from this thing that I think it basically had a really bad blown head gasket and got super hot and and I think you know the heads were definitely bad but the block looked great so I have that identical year block for that that thing that will match that I can rebuild so that will be nice but that's just kind of a overview of my projects that I got going on this is just here I want to start kind of going around and showing uh people what I do at work too I farm and ranch and I'm going to try to do some videos of that and get better at kind of posting some things and see if people even want to watch anything like this so yeah I'll set you guys over here okay guys thanks for watching um hopefully I can get some consistent videos posted and some good content that some people actually want to watch I'll catch you next time

Channel: GrippLife

Views: 5,034

Keywords: jeep, xj, 3 link, 4 link, trailing arms, fox, bypass, coilover, bump stop, king, off road, OTA, bfg, km3, 35, aw4, 4.0, tig, rocker, replacement, 2x6, custom, rock, sliders

Id: svzvLORD7pY

Length: 29min 3sec (1743 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 05 2024