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'86 MJ "Graham Cracker" Long Arm build


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wouldn't the superduty have the metric bolt pattern?  It's not un-overcomable, but still irritating that Ford did that.  

It would. You have to choose which way to go.

 

Specialty hubs or redrilled hubs gets you to 8x6.5", but it means you need custom drilled rotors.

 

If you go the other way and go to the metric pattern, the 14 bolt should be narrower than the front (as mine were), so rear spacer adapters is a pretty decent solution and all of your wear items stay OEM. (You could also stick with the sterling 10.5 to match patterns too. The aftermarket support has gotten a lot better for them lately.)

 

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On 6/18/2020 at 6:20 AM, thecodemonk said:

Cool! What do you think you'll do about the bolt pattern? The Ford axle is the metric pattern (8x170mm) and the chevy is 8x6.5".

 

On 6/18/2020 at 6:56 AM, thecodemonk said:

Specialty hubs or redrilled hubs gets you to 8x6.5", but it means you need custom drilled rotors.

 

This is pretty much the plan, I ended up buying them for a whopping $1200. The front is a Dana 60 out of an '05+ f250 SuperDuty and the rear is a '05+ GM 14 Bolt. Theyre both completely stock so my next plan of action is to plasma cut/grind off all the old ford radius arm mounts and do as much prep work as possible so that after I order the Artec Industries Truss, I can take it to a shop to get welded on. Once that's complete ill probably order chromoly shafts and get the hubs re-drilled. Once THATS completed ill have to look into knuckles and high steer. My plan is to still use the Ruff Stuff 7/8" Heim kit but I'm still trying to decide if I want to use the Artec Crossover Weld on Arms or something like the Reid Racing Heavy Duty JK Knuckles. After all that I still need to get brakes, gears, tires blah blah blah the list goes on. It will be a long (and expensive) road but I'm locked in now and my MJ will have tons hopefully by the end of this year. I'm really taking my time to find the right parts because I want this to be as solid as possible so that I never really have to worry about breaking anything ever again. Here are some pics of the Axles and after loading them into my MJ i need to take an outside pic of how much my truck is sagging. Them suckers heavy! 

Screenshot_20200620-043912_Video_Player[1].jpg

Screenshot_20200620-043931_Video_Player[1].jpg

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Sweet! That's a very similar parts list to what I did on the axles (I stuck with stock shafts until I start breaking them). Artec truss fits well together...got compliments from the shop that welded it up on how easily it went together on the axle.

The artec high steer weld on kit works great for me. Just means there's a minimum about of backspacing required to clear the arms.

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Looking to go through my electrical system a little bit as I recently replaced my alternator and the new one is still only reading about 13v at load, I was thinking This kit would work as I'm sure my issue is poor grounds/corrosion somewhere and this would be a good solid starting point to clean it all up, does anyone have any experience with this kit or maybe another that you know works well? I just chose this one because its the first to come up in google and mentions having a longer negative battery terminal cable to ground on the chassis instead of the fender.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So in light of me finally beginning to build out my truck with 1-tons and 37s, I decided to go out with some other Jeep buds and get fancy photos taken of my truck taken in front of Four Peaks in AZ so that I have a "before" reference. Ill post em side by side after the project but here's what we took (bonus points if you get the references):

DSC_0168.JPG.f6ca5bf846b7ab016de0ac86c734c2a3.JPGDSC_0157.JPG.5c79169780004fc32f7080c578e0428d.JPG20200710_225931.jpg.6f9f5151891c60a2cc2478c048d693aa.jpg20200710_230115.jpg.8c50bcd90e95df5d70f74c82b7630c64.jpg

 

Bonus TJ and XJ

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To add, here's some photos I took when I went out to Bulldog Canyon in AZ with my uncle and the 1969 Nissan Patrol we built together:

20200620_075125.jpg.24752666c0428b25251d73aca2f93e74.jpg20200620_075148.jpg.c45e030abba489f3c6f0cd5227108e19.jpg20200620_075220.jpg.49aaa357f283e88871e360483bc24b89.jpg20200620_080827.jpg.2dd8b03099a08194aeed2343589009d9.jpg

 

After this trip I discovered I had destroyed a wheel hub and to be honest I'm surprised my wheel was still on because you could wiggle around like a loose tooth when it was off the ground.

 

This is the friend with the white XJ demonstrating the amount of play my very destroyed bearing had:

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Alright, so here's the current plan of action, I found a shop (Letzroll offroad) that is going to most of the work i.e. gears, welding on the truss, all the stuff i don't feel comfortable doing. They gave me a pretty reasonable quote so I plan on having them redo all the axle seals, install 5.13 Yukon gears front and rear, install chromoly shafts front and rear, install Lockers front and rear (still deciding what kind), weld the Artec truss on, weld the Artec high steer arms on the knuckles, drill out the front hub/rotor to match the rear 8x6.5 pattern, and install the SYE kit for my t-case. its gonna be a pretty penny but at least itll all be under warranty for a little bit and I won't have to worry too much. Once thats all done its all down hill as the rest is cake. I'm gonna order new rear leafs from general springs, gonna order the front coils, order frame stiffeners, brake lines, shocks, steering and a few other things and once it all arrives its gonna be time to throw it all on. My goal is to finish this escapade by the end of the year and bring my truck to Glamis with a few buddies but we'll see if thats actually possible the further down this path we get. The IRO 3-link kit arrived so in the meantime ill install that! (and yes ill post plenty of pictures after theyre on) 

 

Oh and big thanks to @thecodemonk for helping me with figuring out what parts i need as hes using the same axles i plan on using

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  • 2 months later...
7 hours ago, Swampy said:

Loving the color and the build. By the looks of your interior and the fact you mentioned obdII are you using the 1996 jeep xj stuff? I just did the same swap on my MJ. can't wait to see the finished result.

 

6 hours ago, MiNi Beast said:

:worthless:

 

 

long arms installed yet? :holdwrench:

He just sold his truck a month or so ago. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Yeah, hes got an 04 TJ now that hes enjoying. Me, Coastchief and SoCalmanche give him a hard time for selling it. But to be fair, this poor MJ while brilliantly thrown together and running and driving suffered from poor planning from the PO in terms of electrical and the swap on the interior side. But the electrical to get the engine and lights working was pretty clean and done. 

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