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reson46

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Everything posted by reson46

  1. reson46
    Thanks. It's been years, but I think I paid somewhere around $175 or $200 for the 8.8. Yes, I've spent way too much money there lately. Our monthly PNW4WDA's region delegates meeting is there. Each of the last three months I've left the meeting with a stack of parts. Willy
  2. reson46
    Yesterday's delivery. Picked something up at 4 Wheel Parts last night. Willy
  3. reson46
    Since the TNT coil mounts don't come with spring retainers, I added my own. Willy
  4. reson46
    Finished welding the truss and added the lower control arm mounts. Since I had come this far I figured it was probably a good idea to add gussets to the bottom of the inner Cs. Cleaned up the hub assemblies and painted them. One had quite a bit of rust scale around the wheel mounting surface but everything looked great inside. The other looked really good outside but had obviously been intruded by water and not cleaned up. The old bearings had a lot of play, the grease was a lovely rusty brown, and the internal splines took a lot of brushing as well as an electrolysis bath to clean up. Willy
  5. reson46
    Started the day by welding on the inner Cs. Then I trimmed the ends off the truss and went through a lot of test fitting until I was happy with its fit. Getting ready to tack it in place. Spent most of the day slooooooowly welding on the truss. I've still got a couple sections to finish up tomorrow. While taking breaks from welding to let everything cool off I cleaned up some parts and started painting. Willy
  6. reson46
    Thanks. I was pretty sure it would add some height, but I didn't expect 1.5". No big deal. It currently has 1 3/4" spacers. I've also got a stack of the stock isolators and I think I've even got a 3/4" spacer somewhere that I can play around with to get where I need to be. Willy
  7. reson46
    I beat the inner Cs back on. I started by making sure the axle was level. Set the pinion angle. My research had led to a recommendation of about 13 degrees for 6" of lift. I'd say 12.7 degrees is close enough for me. Set the caster angle for each side. Next I'll recheck all my angles and start welding. Willy
  8. reson46
    I think this is what I remember as the entrance to Upper Helldorado. Willy
  9. reson46
    Willy, I'm guessing what your asking is my line through each of the difficult spots in the trail?? I assume you don't mean the way to the trail head. If you do we head towards BFE but before getting there hit the riverbed by going under the little bridge. We wanted to see Britney Spears so we took the long way.. Holy $#!&...Brittney Spears is about a 100 Yard loop that is just nasty. I can't imagine anything but a buggy in there or a REALLY beat to crap rig. I was last there in 2004, so my memories aren't the clearest. I only saw the entrance to Upper Helldorado as we were doing Strike Ravine. I remember that we were following a dry creek bed, passed by where Lower Helldorado used to be on the left, then came to the Upper Helldorado entrance. As Strike Ravine took a left Upper Helldorado continued in the creek bed. There was a huge triangular shaped boulder in the middle of the creek. You could go either left or right. Neither looked at all friendly to a full bodied rig. The middle boulder tipped you into the rocks on either line. Willy
  10. reson46
    I'd like to know which line, with pictures, you took to get in to Upper Helldorado. :thumbsup: Willy
  11. reson46
    I picked up the gears on Saturday. Now came the time to chop it up...and this was the plan that I came up with. Narrow it to use stock length TJ Rubicon D44 inner shafts. To come up with the amount I shortened each side I subtracted the length of the TJ inner shafts from the length of the F100 inner shafts. This is what it gives me: Long side - 33.90625" (F100 long shaft length) - 31.85" (TJ long shaft length) = 2.05625" Short side - 18.90625" (F100 short shaft length) - 16.93" (TJ short shaft length) = 2.07625" (I just did the math again and it looks like I made a typo on the calculator. This should be 1.97625. After hours of calculations I was still able to screw it up. I don't think 1/10" will be that big of a deal. We'll see when I put everything together.) According to those calculations I need to cut 2.05625" from the long side and 2.07625" from the short side. I ended up just going with 2.05625" from each side in order to make sure everything is centered with the TNT truss. All of this should give me a track width within 1" of a stock Wagoneer D44, allow me to shorten each side equally, and allow me to use stock length inner shafts. After lots of measuring and leveling I was finally happy with the position of everything and was ready to chop off the short side. First cut. Repeat for the long side. Second cut. Souvenirs. A freshly narrowed D44. Getting some idea of how much I'll need to trim from the truss. Next up is putting the inner Cs back on, setting up the pinion and caster angles, and welding them on. Willy
  12. reson46
    Progress on the D44 was slightly delayed by a wheeling trip to Montana. I ended up borrowing a friend's TJ Rubicon (who may have also found me another MJ) and having a great time. There are no MJ pics, but the scenery, mining history, and wheeling were incredibly. Those pics can be found here. On the way to Montana I caught a ride for our monthly club run to the Cle Elum Valley. Much like Montana this area has great scenery, mining, and wheeling. Again, no MJ pics, but pics of the trip can be found here. I did get some more work done on the D44 before the trip. I picked up a set of the elusive '73 to '76 Chevy flat top knuckles, spindles, and caliper brackets. I was able to clean up one of the knuckles and prepare it for paint just as my grinder decided to die. :wall: Painted the beadlocks. Picked up some Spidertrax 5x4.5" to 5x5.5" wheel spacers for the 8.8. D44 master install kit. Gears are on their way. Cleaned up the caliper brackets now that I picked up another grinder. Not D44 related, but I also picked up three sets of fire extinguisher quick releases. Willy
  13. reson46
    How did you figure out how much to use per wheel? Thanks, Willy
  14. reson46
    Did you get rid of the MTRs? Willy
  15. reson46
    Around 6". Willy
  16. reson46
    Yes, coil spring and shock mounts. As well as the upper control arm and high steer track bar brackets. Willy
  17. reson46
    The TNT truss arrived yesterday. Willy
  18. reson46
    I found mention of Napa part #82699 banjo bolts in another D44 build, so I picked up a couple. Looks like they'll work great without the need to drill out the brake lines. After hours and hours of grinding I was finally able to break through the weld on the inner Cs. Success! The passenger side C with the removal device. The driver side C on its way off. No more Cs. After removing 40 years of crud. Willy
  19. reson46
    Ballistic Fabrication's high steer arm. Willy
  20. reson46
    Beadlocks welded on. Willy
  21. reson46
    Monday I dropped the wheels off at Longfield's to have the beadlocks welded on. While I was there I picked up a set of D44 u-joints with the gift certificate Deb won last month. :D Got rid of all the Ford brackets. Now I've got this pile of stuff building. Anybody need any of this? Willy
  22. reson46
    Over the weekend I picked up a Wagoneer pitman arm... ...and prepped the wheels for the beadlocks. Willy
  23. reson46
    Thanks. :thumbsup: Willy
  24. reson46
    The 35s have plenty of tread left. :P The wheeling really isn't even that difficult around here to need to go to 37s. Willy
  25. reson46
    That looks way too familiar. :( Willy
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