Sneak peak at my new expo rig :)

[black95]

The wife's retired grocery/ kid hauler has been under the knife for a while now, a lot has changed. The old three inch short arm lift is off and sold to another guy who will hopefully give it a long- repurposed life. We've yanked out the transmission and replaced the transmission pump seal, yanked the transfer case and rebuilt it with a slip yoke eliminator, and I'm having a machine shop build me a custom driveline spacer so I can use stock length front shafts. Makes carrying a spare easy, same front to rear.

The rear axle is a ford 8.8 from a '96 explorer. welded the tubes up to eliminated the weak point, and regeared it to 4.56. It's still holding the stock clutch type limited slip until I can afford an eaton elocker. Every other tooth is ground off the ford tone ring so the ABS still works in the Cherokee. As a bonus, you get disk brakes with the axle, the parking brake cables mate up to the Cherokee, and the bolt pattern and lug thread are an exact match. Just had to bend custom brake lines... Something I'm getting very good at...

The front axle was plucked from a '96 Cherokee, it was a chore finding a high pinion with ABS front end, and of course, it was under the greasiest rig I the whole yard. The high pinion 30 is much stronger than the low pinion because the pinion is on the drive side of the ring gear, instead of the coast side. The knuckles have been trussed, the tubes welded, and soon the tube on the passenger side will be trussed. It's nice to be able to use tough axles from a junkyard that cost me less than 150 bucks total. The ford 8.8 is reputed to be between a Dana 44 and 60 in strength. I believe the Dana 30 will hold up to 35's just fine if I upgrade.

The lift is the icing on the cake, an Iron rock 5.5 critical path long arm kit. Rear 56" multilayered leaf pack with extra clamps to keep it from fanning out. front three link radius style long arms that house stock lower joints for noise dampening, and Johnny joints at the frame for ridiculous flex. 12" shocks at all corners. The arms are also bent to allow up to 37's on stock wheels with no rubbing. I've always hated the wide tire look, mine will use factory rubicon wheels tucked in the wells, I'll cut until the tires fit Hoping to end up with bushwacker flat style flares.

Not going to be done in time for the tree cutting event, but hopefully soon...

 

[black95]

Pictures

 

[CO_Hunter]

Looking good. That's a lot of work Luke and sounds like a lot of research and thought went into it. I have to admit though, I'm conflicted seeing you build up a non-Toyota

 

[black95]

Well? An SUV with 2 solid axles, link suspension, torquey inline six, Aisin transmission... It's really a poor mans land cruiser, except it's lighter and gets much better gas mileage

Sadly, I could build a complete, semi-hardcore Cherokee with everything except lockers, for cheaper than I could buy a high mileage FJ80 stock. This vehicle fits my lifestyle better because parts are far more readily available. Honestly, it's just simple economics. I almost went with a rear automatic locker, but I would have had to change the carrier, and it just wasn't worth the money. Holding out for the eaton elockers because they're cheaper than ARB's, and hopefully more reliable. I've never witnesses an ARB that seems to work like it should

 

[karas]

Awesome!! I can't wait to see it. Are you going to put on an exo on it? I know a GC who has one on 35's and has done every buggy trail in colorado and Utah and said the only reason he would get 37's is it would look cooler. Very capable rig and parts are easy to come buy I bet.

 

[black95]

No Exo cage. I'm going to try not to get hardcore with it. Sticking to 285/75's. Talked myself out of the 255/85's I was going to do, just not enough tire choices. Going with cooper s/t maxx tires. Right combination of all terrain and mud terrain, with three ply sidewalls, which is surprisingly hard to find in a tire nowadays.

The nice thing is, the lift crossmember makes the belly pretty flat on the Jeep, so even with smaller tires, I don't have the 4runner's gas tank and crossmember hanging into the weeds to get hung up on. Also pretty excited to be able to drive long distances without parts falling off

 

[CO_Hunter]

Well? An SUV with 2 solid axles, link suspension, torquey inline six, Aisin transmission... It's really a poor mans land cruiser, except it's lighter and gets much better gas mileage ....

I know, we've talked, but somebody had to bust your chops a bit on this forum.

. Also pretty excited to be able to drive long distances without parts falling off...

Now that has happened with the red truck, well before the bed replacement. I'll never forget following you up on Rampart somewhere when you went around a corner and a chunk of the rusted rear fender came off.

By the way if the Jeep is not ready for the Christmas Tree patrol you can borrow the 4Runner.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Hey Luke,

I'm planning on slapping on some 285/75/16's on the 100 next week and was going to go with the Goodyear Duratrac's (I've heard alot of good things about them). I see that you mention the same tire size for your Jeep, but Coopers. How heavily did the sidewall play into that decision?

The Goodyears are 2 ply. Should I have any concerns?

Sorry for hijacking the thread. The Jeep's looking good.

Thanks,
-Travis

 

[black95]

Tires are about the most subjective thing you can shop for. Reviews are all over, but people do different things with different rigs on their tires. I think a lot of people that really love their duratracks use them primarily on the road. I hear they are fantastic in the ice and snow and I do love the tread design. If it were a three ply sidewall tire, it would absolutely be my first choice. Here in colorado, it's rocky, and those rocks are very sharp. Couple that with airing down in a heavy rig and those sidewalls are in danger. I have chunks in the sides of my BFG's that will hold a dime and they still hold air. I went to the tire shop and felt the sidewalls of the duratrack and it talked me out of that tire quickly. I really contemplated the Kelly TSR as well, come to find out Goodyear makes Kelly tires and its the same carcass as the duratrack.

I've always been a huge fan of the BFG all terrain, I've been running them for years and never had so much as a flat. I'm choosing not to run them on the Cherokee because they're a little wide and squared off, and I think that will cause me clearance problems.

Bottom line is, I really like the look of the cooper, and reading about the extra cords in the sidewalls of the s/t maxx has me sold. I am also adamant about having a rim guard. Lots of people don't like them, I've never had trouble with them. It seems to help keep trash out of the bead. I'm pretty hard on anything I drive so that fits my style. In the end, do lots of research and make a decision that fits your style and budget

 

[black95]

New rear main seal and oil pan gasket are in! There's just about nothing thats more of a PITA than an oil pan gasket. I was very happy to see the condition of my rear main bearing. 167K miles of nothing but valvoline conventional has paid off. I've switched to synthetics this year only because I'm getting quite lazy in my old age, and those 10K oil changes are awesome. The oils pan was leaking badly because the exhaust had melted a section of it, years of my spouse flogging it up the mountain. No more leaks!!!

Check out those looooong arms, and huge springs! Yeay! Getting close

 

[CO_Hunter]

Looking good!!

Also, looks like your rock lights are way brighter than Chucks

 

[black95]

The 4wheeling gods have shined on me again.

I always wanted to get a selectable locker for the rear of the cherokee, but didn't have the money until the 4runner sold. Well, the 4runner sold and I was looking at buying an eaton Elocker, but the price was just too high for my blood, and since I'm going to try to go back to school next year, I just couldn't justify it. Plus I just put this rear end together and didn't want to rip it apart.

Enter Tuesday of last week, when someone on craigslist posted a powertrax no-slip up for sale for my exact rear axle. The no-slip is a lunchbox type locker that has a complicated bunch of spring assemblies that supposedly clean up its road manners completely. Hard to find stuff for the limited slip 8.8, and this was brand new in the box, guy just decided to go another route. Picked up this $550 locker for $350! To top it off, I didn't have to pull the rear end back down, buy new bearings (since my new bearings are on the old carrier and my bearing splitter can't get under them), or re-set up the gears. Locker dropped right in even with the overly thick 4.88 gear set... And I didn't even lose any springs putting it in. (Take that Kyle)

Score, big time.

Turns out my ford 8.8's limited slip clutches were toasted right down to not having any friction material on them anyway. I suspected as much, but it was a "don't ask don't tell" situation because I didn't have any money to do anything about it, so I never took it apart to check

 

[PWCO70crusier]

Yeah...well I wouldn't have lost any springs if the pins had gone in all the way. But its in, overall very easy job. Now I just need to get the FJ40 done and on the trails!

 

[Man Jerk]

The guys at Iron Rock are good peeps. They were just starting their shop in MN when I left the state.

Cool rig Luke.

 

[black95]

There customer service has been top notch. There were a couple of hiccups In my parts order and they were fixed immediately. All of my email tech questions have been answered promptly with good suggestions, great bunch indeed.

Go my rear 8.8 riddler diff cover all painted up to match the rig and bolted on, this is one solid cast steel chunk of serious diff protection!

I chose to make my own front cover due to the fact that most aftermarket covers will stick out far enough to impede with the steering linkage. I have also discovered that along with numerous other differences, the Dana 30 high pinion has a different diff cover with a higher fill hole to keep more oil, I assume so the far pinion bearing doesn't run dry. I noticed none of the aftermarket diff cover companies are offering a high pinion and low pinion option, so I just cut up a low pinion cover and super-imposed it over my stock high pinion cover. The bottom of the "V" on the right is actually the bottom of the fill plug on a low pinion cover. Pretty significant difference. Anyway, super pleased with the results!

Waiting on more parts, I had to order a bunch of special bearings to install my front eaton Elocker. It's been a steep learning curve, but I'll get it done eventually.

 

[black95]

Was picking up some stuff at 4wheelparts yesterday and happened to walk by a goodyear duratrac tire in the 285/75 size. Stopped to look at it, and as it turns out, that size is available with a 3 ply sidewall when in load range E That just bumped the cooper S/T Maxx to second place. Too bad, I really liked that tire, wish I could afford both Probably going to get a set mounted next week. Anyone know a place that can beat discount tire's price on them? Can't wait!

 

[Fitzgerald]

I got my duratracs at Big O. A few buck more than Discount, but they threw in an alignment.

BTW, I'm running 285/75/16's Load E and they are just two ply....

I guess I should have requested the three ply???

 

[black95]

Two ply tread or two ply sidewall? Not sure if they offer both, but the one I saw on the floor at 4WP was for sure 3ply sidewall. I will be asking at discount, and double checking. I've torn too many sidewalls in my day.

 

[Fitzgerald]

I went out and checked.

The tire read as follows:

PLIES: Tread 2 Polyester : 2 Steel : 2 Nylon / Sidewall 2 Polyester / Load Range E

???

I did a lot of checking before I bought and found a lot of miss information on a lot of sites. Couldn't even find the info on Goodyear's site.

Good Luck.... I went out and played in the snow and was amazed at how sticky they were.

They look pretty cool too (at least until the sidewall rips ).


Just a thought: Maybe the ones you saw are super new. About the only complaint I've read about them was that they are 2 ply sidewall. Maybe Goodyear listened and just changed them ????

 

[black95]

Hmmm, bummer. You'll be alright on the 2 plies, I'm just the weird guy that insists on 3. Agreed on the snow traction. I rode with a buddy of mine down 322 to Palmer reservoir last weekend in his immaculate full size blazer on 33" duratracs last weekend. I was extremely nervous around some of the dropoffs and washouts with that wide and heavy unlocked rig, but it never slipped a tire. I was impressed.