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Cherokee-rig

TubeToy

TubeToy

TubeToy
Location
west jordan
Ok i want to make a cherokee rig and beat the hell out of it and have it hold up.
And yes they have a down fall with the flex-j una body crap, but there cheap and can find prats every where.And me and my buddys can make the whole rig for about $2000.oo and thats not bad at all.
I want to make it an OHV so it does not matter to much on what parts we use for it.
I just want to put on full widths ansd some 35 tires and weld up the spiders and put on a cage and wench and call it done.

so what axles should i use that are full width and cheap.
I was thinking of a dana 60 rear and a ford dana 44 front but what are the best years for theys axles and why...

Thanks
 
B

blazinzuk

Registered User
Location
Idaho Falls Id.
putting some 5.13s and lockers in a guys cherokee right now it has the D44 and D60 combo from an older Ford, he runs 38x11 boggers it works really well. Its using a long arm kit he bought used. Pretty sweet rig and cheap too
 
TubeToy

TubeToy

TubeToy
Location
west jordan
so what year of ford axle shold i go with i was thinking the dana 60 rear dont matter but on the 44 i want to use an 77-79 ford 3/4 tone 8 lug dana 44 is that a good year or a bad one and what shold i look for in a good axle
 
Badger

Badger

I am the Brute squad
Location
South Salt Lake
blazinzuk said:
putting some 5.13s and lockers in a guys cherokee right now it has the D44 and D60 combo from an older Ford, he runs 38x11 boggers it works really well. Its using a long arm kit he bought used. Pretty sweet rig and cheap too
Click to expand...

i doubt it.that combo makes for 4 low only wheeling.4 high is utter useless.i had the same combo with 36's and i know i couldn't use 4 high for going over a curb.and this was with a 2 year old Jasper rebuild.

if it is truly going to be a trail only rig i would put 513's or possible 5.38's with a true 36 or 37 with about 7~8" of lift well cut out fenders and it will look just like this

pic whore time:greg:

when it had coil over rear 4 link.which i still happen to have for sale.full bolt on system


when it had leafs



it work well and i liked it but not having a frame hurt it in the long run.if you want it to last you better plate the frame .even then the body will take an utter beating and it a ***** to replace any of the body panels.i would suggest armor plating the body as well

article in NAXJA on building body armor and tube fenders .sweet combo and would make it even more street legal.with 5" back spacing on the rims you are close as it is so with some nice tube fenders they are easy to cover.
 
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Badger

Badger

I am the Brute squad
Location
South Salt Lake
the year you want is 78~79 F250 combo that will give you the HD 44 HP and rear 60 .you will have to bore the rear spindles to get 35 spline shafts in it.

gallery of my axle build

you have to cut some of the drivers side spring perch off to get the sping bucket to line up correctly.

REbrackets4.sized.jpg

cut that amount off will leave you with what a standard 44 has.so you are not losing strength .i did weld the tube in after doing though

other then that you have plenty of room to weld on any bracket
 
TubeToy

TubeToy

TubeToy
Location
west jordan
that is a way nice flex-j what front end long arms do you have in there, and what did your 60 come out of or does it make a diff/chevy/ford/dodge/
 
Badger

Badger

I am the Brute squad
Location
South Salt Lake
i had a Rustys kit on it when i had leafs.when i redid the back with 4 link and coilovers i had new arms made for the front with a modified Rustys cross member.

the gallery of the suspension rebuild


it shouldn't matter what the 60 comes out of for the rear could even go 14b or dana 70.

the front has to be 78~79 HP F350 unless you want to go Atlas or Dana 300.
 
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RockMonkey

RockMonkey

Suddenly Enthusiastic
How ironic... This is what I'm about to build. I have axles, gears, lockers, new 35s, beadlocks, a slip-yoke eliminator, suspension joints, springs, and a new Dana 30 locker (I was going to just run the 30 until I ran across a good deal on a 44). I'm into is $2069.21. I'm going to sell off some parts I have laying around and some parts that come off the Cherokee and I should be able to raise enough to pay for the entire project. Free crawler. :greg:
I'll start a build thread soon.
Oh yeah, I'm using a 44 front and a 9" rear. Basically because that's what I found for cheap.
 
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Kiel

Kiel

Formerly WJ ZUK
timpanogos said:
Badger, what ever happened to that rig anyway? Why did you tear it down?
Click to expand...

I thought he suffered some unibody disgrace;) Then took out the drivetrain/axles and was planning on swapping most of it to his tj buildup. Now meat has it:-\ He ditched the body if I remember right
 
Badger

Badger

I am the Brute squad
Location
South Salt Lake
yep since i never plated the frame it twisted the unibody in unimaginable ways.cracking it it in several places.the big reason was when i leaned it over bashing the "A" pillar .


that was going on on both sides


the rear pinch welds on both sides were failing.


 
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TubeToy

TubeToy

TubeToy
Location
west jordan
ok i have been looking at all the cherkees out there for sale most the cheap ones are the older ones which is fine....but they all have the np 242 in them and not the np 231 so what would you do for a sye that is not the getto hack and tap job.....can a you just pull the 242 off and bolt up a newer 231 ?
 
Badger

Badger

I am the Brute squad
Location
South Salt Lake
really i would look for a mid 90's cherokee.you will not regret it on the long run.you can still pick them up for $600~1000 in good shape.they are using a better fuel injection and computer.its still OBDI so its easy to modify the motor to a stroker or something in the future.they did body strengthening to it as well so they tend to last longer.its going to have the 231 with the higher spline count (if you stay above 93) through shaft.i would get an Advanced Adapters SYE kit.its more then the others but they were the first to make it and have it down .i have never heard anybody complain about having one.i would tend to stay away from doing any modding to the case.the money could be spent else were like an Atlas down the road.as long as you do a good rebuild when you do the SYE it will hold up far a good bit and for some hard use.
 
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TubeToy

TubeToy

TubeToy
Location
west jordan
well i have been looking at a tone of diff... xj rigs and i kind of like the way some of them are set up with leaf spings all around but waht kind do thay use and how well do thay work...?
 
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