#iwannagofast ZJ build

[Johnny Quest]

This apocalypse is taking much longer than I anticipated.

Anyway, not much of an update, but i finally got the front 60 all cleaned up. anyone else who has removed the brackets off of an 05+ super duty axle will know how tedious that process is. The extra 2" that needed to be removed for the Artec truss was probably the worst part; cutting far enough to remove the outer cast, but not so far that you cut into the axle tube. no biggie.

also, the whole process trashes your shop:


Next up is welding up the trusses, and stripping the stock axles and suspension out from under the ZJ.

 

[Bart]

I can relate.

 

[zmotorsports]

I agree. Dealing with the mess is the worst part of that crap. I don't work well in "mess".

Mike

 

[Herzog]

That's roughly the weight of a D44 in dust right there!

 

[UPNO4]

Late to the fuel system party but what about building with a plan for a plan to switch fuel system for Race day. I mean prolly not a 10 minute job but keep the fuel under for Family outings and pop the cell in During Race prep. Wiring extensions for the new pump and prefab mounts for the Cell

Just thinking outloud

 

[Zombie]

I missed RME, so I signed in.,.. and then I came here, and now I miss my old ZJ. I almost miss the smell of burnt band saw, too.

 

[Johnny Quest]

Late to the fuel system party but what about building with a plan for a plan to switch fuel system for Race day. I mean prolly not a 10 minute job but keep the fuel under for Family outings and pop the cell in During Race prep. Wiring extensions for the new pump and prefab mounts for the Cell

Just thinking outloud

thats a possibility. The hard part would be routing the fuel lines. I'll have to figure out if there are any "openings" in the unibody that i can use. The 4600 rulebook is very particular about making new holes.

 

[Johnny Quest]

Well, this happened. Onto the front axle next. Then the stock control arm mounts get removed, and the "frame rails" get prepped for unibody stiffeners. There will probably be some other general disassembly of non-essential stuff as well.

In the meantime, the SD axles are going through final prep for truss welding.

 

[Greg]

Nice progress! Are you going to build the frame stiffeners or is there a kit you can buy that's already pre-fit?

 

[Johnny Quest]

Nice progress! Are you going to build the frame stiffeners or is there a kit you can buy that's already pre-fit?

i went with DBmetalworx; they have a full front to back system with great reviews. I'm not against fabbing up my own stuff, but in some cases, its easier to just click the "buy it now" button, and get it delivered; comes down to time vs money, (not that i have much of either).

DB Metalworx - 66-76 Bronco & Jeep XJ, ZJ, YJ, TJ, WJ Upgrades

Custom Jeep, Bronco, and General 4x4 Products. Locally available to do complete custom work on vehicles and off road buggies.

dbmetalworx.com

 

[bryson]

i went with DBmetalworx; they have a full front to back system with great reviews. I'm not against fabbing up my own stuff, but in some cases, its easier to just click the "buy it now" button, and get it delivered; comes down to time vs money, (not that i have much of either).

DB Metalworx - 66-76 Bronco & Jeep XJ, ZJ, YJ, TJ, WJ Upgrades

Custom Jeep, Bronco, and General 4x4 Products. Locally available to do complete custom work on vehicles and off road buggies.

dbmetalworx.com

For the price listed on your link it's a no-brainer. No way in hell I'd spend hours and hours trying to fab my own when you can buy them for that.

 

[Johnny Quest]

I got the full set on sale a while back for $330 shipped

 

[Johnny Quest]

Hover mode: achieved

Spent an hour or two getting the front end out from under the niner this weekend. It surprisingly went quite smoothly; no broken bolts, no stripped bolts. There’s a power steering leak somewhere, which made everything a bit nasty.

 

[Bart]

Hover mode looks cool.

 

[gertsch]

You still milking this out? Just kidding i'm excited to see it get built, plus a little jealous.

 

[Johnny Quest]

You still milking this out? Just kidding i'm excited to see it get built, plus a little jealous.

lol its actually done; i'm just taking my time releasing pictures. #contentcreator #doitforthegram

i picked up a long arm system for it last night; went with Clayton brackets and Iron Man arms. I thought about desiging my own stuff, and building one from scratch, but that seemed like alot more work than i was ready for. Plus, if somoene else has already figured out the geometry, im not gonna mess with it too much.

So now all the "big" pieces are here; axles, trusses, arms, long arm brackets, and the tcase to swap. granted, the axles arent geared or locked yet, and the stock steering is still in place. Just need to put it all together. Sounds easy, right?

 

[Johnny Quest]

Started cutting stuff off, and figuring out where the frame stiffeners go tonight. Im gonna be welding the long arm brackets to the frame, and then fitting the stiffeners around them; I feel Like this is going to provide the strongest “chassis” moving forward, as the brackets will be fully welded to the frame, and the stiffeners are there for support.

 

[Johnny Quest]

Been a lot of hurry up and wait for me lately. Work has been crazy, kids have been crazy, family life has been crazy. Which leaves almost nothing left for shop time. But I digress.

Got the Clayton subframe and just *had* to mock it up; I’m excited. This stuff is beefy. There will be an upper mount somewhere, as it will be a 3 link instead of a radius arm setup. I also might play with the rear arm lengths, and move the rear mounts up a little bit. Going to skin the belly skid with UHMW or something like that as well.
Once all this is welded in place to the unibody, The DB Metalworks frame stiffeners will be trimmed to fit around this subframe. Should provide for a pretty solid starting point.

Axles are over at my buddies place so we can use his welder to burn the Artec trusses. Then it's just arms, and steering, and gearing and locking the axles, and rocker protection, and cage work, and.....

 

[skippy]

Make sure you brace those rear upper mounts back into the frame and then tie them together with a tube up over the driveshaft, those love to twist off. Seen it a few times with clayton stuff. I did something similar to my WJ but I ran a tube up over the driveshaft that tied the upper mounts together.

 

[Johnny Quest]

Make sure you brace those rear upper mounts back into the frame and then tie them together with a tube up over the driveshaft, those love to twist off. Seen it a few times with clayton stuff. I did something similar to my WJ but I ran a tube up over the driveshaft that tied the upper mounts together.

good tip. They do look like a possible weak point in this. i was thinking about something like this: