knever3 Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Sweet!!! My '99 XJ the wife calls Bucky because of the headlights crossed made her think of it as buck toothed. Like Mater on Cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 The plan at this point was to lift the red truck and drop in the ax-15 and a stroked HO motor. leaving bucky as she was a 2 wheel drive DD. The more I looked at the fresh paint on the 87 and the growing pile of parts, I got to the point where I was not certain how far I wanted to go with making it a trail rig the body was just really too nice to do that with it. So that's when a killer deal offered itself up on a rear dana 44 (out of a metric ton MJ so the spring perches were there and correct) and a non disco dana 30 for the front. how can you say no? (Thanks Troy!!!!)..........this really complicated where both trucks were going. In the end I decided to convert bucky to 4X4 with the newly acquired axles, and that if one of them was to hit the trails it should be the one not already wearing a fresh coat of paint. I should also say that the 87 had not a hint of rust anywhere, nor any evidence it ever had any. It is a chief model so it has factory buckets. the entire interior is about as nice as I have ever seen (If you can handle red). Ok I am fairly handy with a wrench but know my limitations...in other words not about to try re-gearing the axles myself. I had them stripped down, bead blasted and painted then over to four wheel parts where they were re-geared from stock to 4.56's and a detroit limited slip locker in the rear. a set of G-2 aluminum diff covers were added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 When I saw what kind of rake I wound up with using the 4.50" hell creek rear leafs and the 4.50" rubicon front coils, I added a set of 1.75" coil spacers. It still has a bit of a rake but way less radical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Had to have drive shafts built, Then put them in and installed the big brake kit from AEV (Replaced rear wheel cylinders drums shoes) and heavy duty steering set up from currie enterprises. Then figured "in for a penny in for a pound"...the AX-15 went in along with the NP231 and cable shifter. The diffence was to say the least, drastic... to go from 3.08 gears 2 wheel drive with the peugeot 5 speed to 4.56 gears 4X4 AX-15 essentilly 6.0" lift. A couple of days of test driving proved that the factory brake system was not up to the larger front brakes...so the new brake booster and master cylinder (99 grand cherokee stuff) went in next. I can't say thank you enough to the folks here that posted the DIY upgrade info on this brake mod!!!! The truck drives fantastic (after a few hours to get used to how differently it shifts) pulls grreat in all gears, runs strong drives straight and stops on a dime. It did not take long to realize that the factory flares had to go.....the 87 gave up the factory roll bar, and the bed liner was jettisoned..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 I had been bothered by the visual width differnce between the front and rear wheels since the lift, so I put in a set of spidetrax 1.50" wheel spacers in the rear." /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Noticed while underneath pulling all the details together on the lift,axles brakes etc.....that the exhaust would need tending to pretty soon as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Damn it I want a garage.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 This brings us up to (I think) about Mid April 2012. I went with Bushwacker flat top fender flares.... got em mounted and headed up to Jarods shop (fessybuilt). Wanted the flares on before I had him make the custom side bars/sliders to get the lines right.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 The side bars are made fron2.0" X 3.0" rectangular tube X 3/16" wall layed on the flat side. Jarod designed and built them to bolt on rather than weld as I knew that I would want the flexibility of getting them back off. I have photos of them off the truck and of the mounting details... but not handy at the moment. I will post em this evening. The front bumper is one of fessybuilt standard items (he has several including a hell for stout winch bumper) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 I had seen a build thread here some time back (silver & black?? maybe?) where the dude had a crackerjack idea of steel plate "bed rail top pieces" don't know what else to call em. Jarod and I got together on this and he came up with these.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 An obvious problem with full size (oversize) spare tire/wheel is always where to put them. Jarod and I came up with this, using the factory short bed roll bar from the red 87'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Here are a few other gratuitus shots cause, well cause, well just cause.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kernel Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 good looking rig... but how come i fear the end of the story is going to end in tragedy. :ack: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 The obvious next move was to come up with a design and plan for a custom rear bumper for an MJ. I really liked Jarods option of the "wrap around ends" on the bumper we put on Nathan's XJ, but did not want it to stick out as far. also the tail gate needing to open presented him with something he had not yet done ( jeep rear bumper wise anyway) We opted to use the mount plates for the factory one (that went back to Troy...before the question gets asked), and then add more for strength. Again I have other photos of the rear off the truck that better shows the mounting arrangement...will post some later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 good looking rig... but how come i fear the end of the story is going to end in tragedy. :ack: gosh I hope not.... well look at it this way, If the world don't end tomorrow as planned I should have it back from the painter next week. :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 This tailgate I actually pulled off my trailer...yes trailer...more on that later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT31 Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 i think i waved at you one day, we were coming at each other, I'm almost 100% sure it was you haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 On 64th Ave East of Sheridan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejndssn Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 nice job one the bumpers what about the cancer in the corner starting to develop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 All the bumpers,side rails fender flares etc etc were removed again for the body work phase of the project. All body issues were dealt with correctly (new sheet metal welded in). I will start posting pics of the body work phase shortly.. The body work spanned most of the summer and fall of this year...check back in on this thread in a couple of days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knever3 Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Great build love the progress!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalob Posted December 22, 2012 Author Share Posted December 22, 2012 At this point (Probably early summer) I decided to fix a few cancer areas before they got any worse. As with most directions the bucky project has taken once I had a DA in my hand again after many many years, I was not surprized that I had comitted to having her sanded down and in primer.(she has a way of talking me into these things you see). Not proud of it ...just happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now