POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Pete requested I put together a build thread. Bought it from a guy in Oregon as a build rig already. 1991 SWB, D30/D44 ARB in the front, spool in the rear and some extra parts. Tires were worn out so I got some MT/R Kevlars to replace them. Road tripped it from my parents house in the SF Bay Area to Minot, ND. Made it there with only a small oil leak from the distributor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 I drove it around for a year or so and didn't like that I hadn't put my own hands on the build at all. Bought a house with a detached shop for my man cave, so I started doing some basic stuff and got a little creative with the spare tire mount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 Things started to escalate in my mind pretty quickly. Bought a couple Dana 60s, sold my axles and suspension to a buddy of mine, and started cutting(I know, why cut a comanche blah blah). Bought an E-350 rear out of a 98', chose this because it is a smooth bottom and larger spindles to go up to 35 spline shafts. Got an unknown year Superduty 60(I didn't know much about them at the time), wound up getting lucky and picked an 05+ out of the pile. But it was damaged so I got the pair for $600 and hoped for the best. So the front ended up biting me in the @$$: the cross pin broke and let the spider gears roam wildly around the case beating the hell out of it and then got wedged between the carrier and the case. Apparently it was enough force to damage the ring/pinion, poke a hole in the center section and break the yoke...I can't imagine how it felt while they were driving. So I thought I was screwed and bought a piece of junk, but Ashman told me about the Ballistic shave kit. Also, the unit bearing were seized and there were no brake parts at all...this axles ended up costing me a bunch of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 I'm a self taught welder and fabricator, so I know a lot of this could be done better or in a proper order, but I just kinda do what I feel like and make it work. So next I got froggy and decided to raise the rockers and replace them with some rectangular tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 Then I plated the front of the unibody with some HDOffroad stiffeners and built a front crossmember for better clearance for the winch and such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 But I ended up scrapping that idea and went for more clearance instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 My wife bought me some 42/15-17 TSL SXII's for my birthday, so that was pretty awesome. Now that the front was all tied together and ready for suspension I got started on that, using a barnes4wd 3 link kit. I just took advice of people and used frame separation that the majority of people agreed on, no calculator or anything intelligent helping me. Here is the crossmember, just kind of designed it in my head and put it together. 5" of separation at the frame is what most people agreed was good...so I did that. After I got everything mocked up and cycled the suspension and axle I cut 1/2" out of each side to make it so that the center section could drop out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Love everything in your build thread so far except that Auburn banner hanging in the garage. ROLL TIDE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 15 minutes ago, HOrnbrod said: Love everything in your build thread so far except that Auburn banner hanging in the garage. ROLL TIDE! WAR DAMN EAGLE!!! lol, thanks man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 Here is the coiler mounts being built, I'm getting lazy and not providing much info, if you have questions I'll try to answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 Rear axle build, started mocking up the ruffstuff +2" perches and the threads that were cut were garbage, the ruffstuff 77'+ bolt on disk brake kit didn't fit. Over-all I think ruffstuff sucks and their customer service department is crap too...Barnes4wd and Ballisticfab(I know) had better customer service for me, hands down. Cut down the 35 spline shafts to fit, welded the bolt on brackets since they didn't fit, put the gears and Detroit in, painted it hammered grey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POSJ Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 And as it sits right now, looks pretty...but it can't move under it's own power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 that ground clearance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanLemons Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 Very nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnkyboy Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 It's come a long ways over the years. 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