Home_brewd
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 21, 2020
- Member Number
- 1034
- Messages
- 113
This is a build I have been wanting to do and planning for a while now. We decided we needed a pre smog 4 door truck to fit my whole family on our rock crawling camping trips. Willys were easy to find in Northern Ca and reasonably priced so we bought a wagon in 2020 and a truck in 2022 with the plans to turn them into a 4 door truck.
We picked up a running 2002 GMC 2500 with LQ4 and 4L80e for a decent price. I had hoped I could use the frame but it’s way too big IMO so I will have to build my own.
The running gear will come from our previous family wheeler.
Front axle : 92-97 Ford Dana 60, 5:13 gears, ARB, Yukon Hubs chromoly shafts but will probably upgrade to RCVs and BJ eliminators for this build.
Rear axle: 14bolt, older style, 5.13, disk brakes and Grizzly locker but plan to upgrade to the 14 bolt from the 02 with factory disk brakes and e-brake, and go with an ARB in the rear.
I have 4– 14” ORIs that I will probably rebuild and reuse. And I currently have a NWF/205 doubler that I will sell and either go with an Atlas II or maybe ORD magnabox. I plan to run hydro assist steering so the front suspension will be either 3-link or parallel 4-link and triangulated 4-link in the rear, maybe use trailing arms for this build??
The plan is to keep it as low as reasonably possible and try to keep the wheelbase under 140”. I’m still not sure on tire size or gear ratio I guess. But I will set it up with the 42s I have on my Grand Cherokee to start and probably go to 42-45 range in the future, depending on what is available. I know plans will change as it goes.
I finally started cutting into this thing a few months ago so I will play catch up to where I am now.
Here are the donor vehicles.
We picked up a running 2002 GMC 2500 with LQ4 and 4L80e for a decent price. I had hoped I could use the frame but it’s way too big IMO so I will have to build my own.
The running gear will come from our previous family wheeler.
Front axle : 92-97 Ford Dana 60, 5:13 gears, ARB, Yukon Hubs chromoly shafts but will probably upgrade to RCVs and BJ eliminators for this build.
Rear axle: 14bolt, older style, 5.13, disk brakes and Grizzly locker but plan to upgrade to the 14 bolt from the 02 with factory disk brakes and e-brake, and go with an ARB in the rear.
I have 4– 14” ORIs that I will probably rebuild and reuse. And I currently have a NWF/205 doubler that I will sell and either go with an Atlas II or maybe ORD magnabox. I plan to run hydro assist steering so the front suspension will be either 3-link or parallel 4-link and triangulated 4-link in the rear, maybe use trailing arms for this build??
The plan is to keep it as low as reasonably possible and try to keep the wheelbase under 140”. I’m still not sure on tire size or gear ratio I guess. But I will set it up with the 42s I have on my Grand Cherokee to start and probably go to 42-45 range in the future, depending on what is available. I know plans will change as it goes.
I finally started cutting into this thing a few months ago so I will play catch up to where I am now.
Here are the donor vehicles.