DJCJ3A Trail Rig

Looks good, its coming along quite nicely.

what are you prepping the Dana 30 for?

 

I mainly wanted to check the condition of everything. I also need to install longer knuckle studs for the R&P Disc Brake kit. Luckily, everything looks good. I will be cleaning everything up good, replacing axle u-joints, and running it. I'd like to eventually install a locker of some sort in the front, but I've spent enough money for now! Amazing how these projects add up.

 

I hear you on the money, it adds up too fast when you are having fun.

When you get to installing the disk brake kit, I would love a chance to see what quality products R&P are putting out.

 

Got the correct shocks for my new mounts in the mail yesterday. I ended up gaining about 4" of travel with the Ford Towers, and Cheap Skyjacker H7023 Shocks. Just about 10" of travel total. I know the slight angle in isn't ideal for shock placement, but It gave me the correct tire clearance. I'd eventually like some better shocks, but money for this project is getting tighter, and these are something I can easily change out later, so I don't mind skimping. At $35ea shipped, they should definitely get me by for a while.


Also ordered a complete set of seals for the Dana 30, as well as U-joints from Napa today. The completion of the shock mounts means I can now pull the tub and drive-train, and finish weld all of my frame work. Then time for paint and reassembly. Lot of work left to go.

 

DJ, .....................Nice Build,

Just looking at your front end and your shackle reversal...........and from the pictures it looks like you could have a potential problem there......and I say potential from the standpoint of the photo's and of course angles and prospective can be deceiving while looking through a computer screen...........but what I'm seeing is your pinion angle looks like it's pointing down......I know you mentioned that you already set the castor by changing the spring mounts.........but sometimes that has to be set by cutting off the large C's especially when your front springs after the reversal are now on an angle pointing down towards the rear........most that do a reversal like to change the front spring hanger to a taller version (to lower the front mount) and take the rear and move it up even to the point that you bore a hole in the frame so that the spring is now working in a more level position like it should ......that in itself would have probably made your pinion angle look closer.......but again my view here is challenged. Also keep in mind that axle will now swing to the rear probably at least 3/4"-1" so having those shocks tucked up inside those Ford mounts may be close under compression.

With weight in it things can change allot so just a heads for you to be aware of and check it out........

 

Tarry,
Thanks again for your help. I'll take all I can get as this is my first time going this far with any vehicle build. On the pinion angle, the front of the jeep is quite a bit higher than the rear, which I believe gives the illusion of the pinion pointing down. The pinion is actually tilted slightly upward, with a final caster measurement of ~6*. Though the pinion angle is not ideal, I believe a standard driveshaft should work. The pinion angle is about the same as this 3a was on the original frame before with a spring over, and I never ran into any drive-shaft problems. It also had 6* of caster and ran straight down the road with ross steering (as fast as an L-Head would take it! Lol) . PS - I hated the spring-over, hence the new, lower build.

Some pics to put it in perspective (Excuse my mess, I don't have a lot of room to work with):




As far as The Ford shock towers, the weight of the 302/sm420/D20 are resting on the springs in these pics. The Jackstand under the front bumper is for safety only, and isn't supporting any weight. I'm hoping I won't have any interference issues, but I sure wish I could find a way to compress the front springs to be sure. I'm wondering if I could maybe pull it down with a come-along to check. I would hate to have everything finished and then run into clearance problems. Luckily, I will be painting the frame with rustoleum, so any future corrections will be easily touched up via rattle can.

Thanks again for the advice, It is truly appreciated. I would much rather do something over now, than to do it again after final assembly.

 

Also Tarry,
My name is Jake. I now realize that my screen name is kind of confusing. This is a DJ3A with CJ parts, hence DJCJ3A

I will be updating my signature

 

Jake,

No problem .............rather have you take a look at it now and at least be aware that there could be some issue's in the future and then again it may be just fine.......Front end geometry come's in many different forms.......the angles all need to be within a given window to work correctly.

Take your jack stands and put them under the axle and then load 300-400 lbs on the front frame rails.............and even a few hundred inside the Jeep.........I like to use sand bags , I keep about 800 lbs in the shop to load suspension when I'm setting it up...........you just want to add whatever the sprung weight ( includes people, tools, winch, spare , fuel ETC ) may be to your Jeep in a static since to cycle the suspension..........that will at least give you an Idea how it all will react..........you can add more to the front if you want to get it on the bump stops. That would also be a good time to measure your front drive-shaft.

 

Great Idea,
I'll look into the sand bags tomorrow.

Thanks again

 

Got my tire carrier finished yesterday. Stole an idea I saw on Boyinks page, and added a 2" receiver in the center of the tire mount for a future cooler carrier. Having no tailgate simplifies things with no need for a swing-out. All of this is welded to a used YJ bumper I found on Craigslist and adapted to the 3a:

 

Haven't gotten to much the last couple of weeks. I've been super busy at work, and it has been HOT! Being I work on my jeep on a slab outside my work-shed, motivation has been low.

I did get one thing done, and that was to adapt a fuel sender out of an 80's CJ7 to fit my DJ's rear tank. Reason for this is I will be using a new reproduction CJ7 Gauge cluster on this build, and I wanted to be sure it would all work together. This Jeep's original cluster never worked, so this is my chance to hopefully make it right. My original sender was held down with 6 screws. I took a hole saw to it, and used the remaining flange to hold down the CJ7 sender with some permatex gasoline resistant sealant. I also cleaned up and coated the tank with some of rustoleum's rattle can truck bed coating. I'm very happy with how it turned out:

 

Just finished harvest (Grapes) so back to work on the build. Over the weekend I had a chance to finish my winch bumper then prime and paint the frame. I wire wheeled the frame, then coated with OSPHO (rust convertor) and let sit for a day. I then came back with a red scotch brite pad and went over the entire frame. After that, a coat of Rustoleum rusty metal primer, followed by two coats of Rustoleum Semi Gloss Black. My reasoning for using Rustoleum is that touch ups will be easy in the future with just a rattle can. Also got a chance to pick up my personalized plates from the DMV, so I threw one on just to see how it looks. All i have left is to clean up and service the axles, then it's reassembly time.

It amazes me how something I thought would be a short job turned into a loooong project. So far, I am happy with the direction things are going, and I can't wait to drive this thing.

 

Nice.......

 

Jake, it looks good.

amazing how quickly a person can strip a jeep down to just a frame.

 

Looks good.

 

Rear Bumper/Tire Carrier Finished, Coated with Bedliner, and Installed. Thanks to Boyinks idea on his page for the 2" receiver on the tire mount that I will eventually be building a cooler rack to fit :

 

Went through my Dana 30 over the weekend, cleaned up and painted, replaced the axle u-joints, new outer seals and greased the bearings. Also go my R&P 1/4 ton disc brake kit installed. I'm very happy with the fit/finish, and assembly was a breeze. All I'm missing now is a 1310 yoke and it is finished for now. (a locker is in it's future at some point)

Next up is the rear axle, then I can finally finish the rolling chassis, and start focusing on the body.

Some pics:

 

purdy

 

Made some major progress this weekend, she's a roller again!

Over the week I went through the rear Dana 44 and replaced the seals and bearings, cleaned up the axle and backing plates, and reassembled the 11" brakes. I grabbed the new drums I got from rock auto about 6 months ago, and soon realized they were 10" not 11". It's been too long to return them, so I will be posting them for sale. I ordered the correct set from my local NAPA.

Pic of rebuilt Brakes:


Now that both axles were rebuilt, I could start re-assembling the rolling chassis. I re-used the heavy duty shackles that came on my parts jeep, but went with new 2.5" lift pro comp springs front and rear. I also used new 1/2" pro comp u-bolts for reassembly (had to drill the spring plates to 1/2"). Got my saginaw steering box installed, as well as the new tie-rod and drag link. Front shocks are in, but have to order rears as the ones from my first build are too short.

Rolling pics:






Next up is to install the engine and trans/xfer case. After that, finish and paint the tub. This project has taken much longer than I expected, but these milestones feel great, and keep me driving forward.

 

Looking good jake,

Did you replace the pinion and carrier bearings too?