Honky Cherokee Build

Honky Lips

Honky Lips

Welcome to the **** show.
Joined
May 21, 2020
Member Number
876
Messages
430
Loc
Omaha, Ne “ish”
First off. I should've built a buggy. Because well. i have all the good parts in a heavy cherokar with an underpowered engine.

Also, about 6 months after building this, steering 14 bolts and 05+ superduty axles became mainstream. shoulda built a 14 bolt with all the cash i dumped in the 60. FML

Built this xj to have fun with. got tired of breaking axles real fast. had about 2000 invested. parted it out for about 3500. Been kicking around the idea of going full ****** for a few years now. decided its time to pull the trigger and get this build out of the way so i can concentrate future finances on other stuff. we dont have any wheeling closer than 2.5 hours from me. so my goal is to build something hard to break so i dont drive 3 or more hours and break in a few hours. I promised myself this build would have excellent steering. because my last two have had **** steering. homebrew hydraulic on my k5, stock on the xj. both sucked and made wheeling a bummer. and the brakes are going to be good, for the same reasons as the steering.

plans for build are as follows.
3 link front 4 link rear
d60/14ff
atlas 4 speed xfer case
4.0 auto transmission
psc steering
aluminum beadlocks


bought this. 4 speed atlas with 5.45 ratio. sexy beef.

Pic of the starter Cherokee. It was a good time.
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picked up 4x4 outpost drive slugs for 35 spline d60 used.
and ruffstuff showed up today. this is all the smaller stuff. still waiting on frame stiffeners and whatnot.

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psc 2.75" dual ended ram with p pump steering setup. makes me wanna touch myself.

and warn 9.5 winch that i traded for storage of a customers abandoned jeep.
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Now we get to the point that i wasted a LOT of time on a 60. and couldve put the parts on a 14b. FML

d60 balljoint axle is wating for solid inner c's and outer knuckles and hi steer arms. 4.10 gears in the axles since i can gear down using the atlas case. (This idea was abandoned in favor of 5.38 gears because reasons.)
 
More neat things showed up today.
Solid inner c's
D60 spool is on the way. Ordering the knuckles next week
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(this part was ****. a bad idea, and i shouldve built a damn 14 bolt.)

Started grinding the inner c welds off last night. Cutting perches off until I ran out of oxygen. I can tell getting the c off is going to be a fun time.
 
Well this was fun. Beating off the ball joint inner c's to replace with solid king pin is a lot of work
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Artec forgot to ship my truss. My guess is cause I ordered on a holiday weekend. They sent it out today. Be here Wednesday. Got the other side inner c off. Everything ground smooth. Gears will be here Wednesday . Got the master rebuild kit from ecgs in today.

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Friday afternoon I'm pulling the jeep in the shop and the plasma cutter is coming out to cut off any unnecessary brackets and Saturday will be spent putting on the center frame plates maybe fronts and rears too we'll see how it goes. I'm really not looking forward to this. I still haven't found anybody that's enjoyed doing it. Once I get the frame Stiffeners is on then I'm going to try to slide the atlas in to see if I'm going to need the spacer or not.

Ordered the atlas rear mount kit and 15 Bolt shave kit from TMR customs.

Axle truss and Gears will be here next Wednesday and I will get that done. I have the kids that weekend so the following weekend will be three link mock up start. oh, btw. anyone need some standard rotation non thick cut 5.38's for a d60 i have a set. because thats what i get for driving and ordering parts. ****ed up. (never could even give these away so they got thrown in the garbage.)
 
high steer arms from four wheel offroad.net showed up today. spacer ring for the atlas4 shows up monday with the yoke i need.

15 bolt shave kit from tmr and atlas rear support from tmr show up next week sometime.

got the front suspension and steering cut off last night. frame washed, going to start stiffeners tonight. hopefully by saturday night the main front and rear stiffeners are all on.

pics to come.
 
Got the driver side center and front frame Stiffeners tacked on. Wasn't too terrible. The rough stuff stiffeners are pure beef. ruff stuff front Stiffeners are not quite as thick, they dont need to be. but still nicely built. I'm going to wait to do the rear stiffeners until after I have the rear axle pulled out and leaf spring perches cut off.

got the pass side all on. working on welding everything up. millermatic 180 can only go so long, then it needs a cooldown.
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I set it up for the thicker material start your weld on the stiffener itself and then drag the puddle to the frame of the Cherokee and circle back.

Just finished up welding the front and center Stiffeners are all done. Depending on the ice storm coming in and if I have to salt or not tomorrow I'm going to take off the rear receiver hitch sway bar shocks and bump stops. Also taking out the seats carpet and headliner.

Today's progress was gutting the interior. Cutting the front inner fender wells off to narrow it. Removed rear sway bar gas filler hitch and bumper.
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made the transmission and transfer case crossmembers today. going to add a couple front to back bars and make a skidplate that covers everything. pretty much a flat belly so im happy about that. clocking the atlas was a bastard. the studs they send were nearly impossible to get into the clocking ring without a 2 foot pipe wrench. i tossed them and used bolts where i could fit them.

got the 5.38 gears set up in the 60. again, nightmare. had to adjust and shim and check and take apart and repeat for about 3 hours. but its done. the ruff stuff cover is on.

the xj is on jackstands now in my flat bay. going to position the front axle under it and get the pinion angle figured out, then weld on the SOLID inner C's, then the ARTEC truss, and then were making the 3 link.

I've decided to run my lower links to the frame rails instead of the transmission crossmember. both to get better link seperation at the body side and its pretty cramped real estate under this thing. running the upper link on the pass side i think.

pics in the following post.
 
Didn't get much done today. Got jeep in the flat bay and set at ride height. Tomorrow's goal is adding bushings to xmember mount instead of solid mounted. Then set axle at ride height and mark inner c positions and maybe install inner c's. Once that's done I can weld the truss on and start with the Lower links.
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Got the rear quarters cut out. Tried putting knuckles on and it wasn't even close. Dropped them off at machine shop today. Got the 14 bolt torn down. Going to Costa Rica for a week Thursday. Ordered these today. The wallet felt than one.
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Got the 14 bolt shave done. Tmr makes a nice kit. Dropped the knuckles off at the machine shop for the second time. Get the 5.32 gears installed and weld the spiders tomorrow night maybe.

As soon as the knuckles get back it's time to setup the front 3 link. And then We're back to making progress!
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FML couldve built a 14......
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****ing finally. What a terrible idea putting in er c's on a d60 was. Driver side knuckle bored out perfectly. Pass side was just a ****hair oversized. But I think it will be just fine.

Got the orb of traction welded up for the 14 bolt.
 
Sat the artec truss on. Got a bit of grinding to do where the truss meets the knuckles. But that was expected with the swapping and balljoint style truss (artic recommended this truss.)
 
Got the truss 90% welded up today and 14 bolt wore wheeled. Decided to order a Yukon spool for the 14 bolt. Also ordered crush sleeve eliminator.
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Got steel today. 2 x 6 for rock sliders. inch and three-quarter 120 wall for shock hoops and roll cage. 2 inch square tubing for control arms.
 
upper mount.

37.5" long lowers as it sits now.

my idea is wrap steel from stiffener around top side of unibody, across floorboard area (after cutting floorboard out of the way first) then tie inside of mount to trans crossmember in a giant U shape. Try to have equal amount of separation. And it will make the upper longer than the lowers by a several inches.

Gotta get a 5/8" drill bit for link tabs because they are 9/16. But no big deal there.
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God I forgot how ugly this is. its held strong against everything i can throw at it though.

Upper monstrosity mount. Putting it here gives me good separation between the upper link and lower link. No bends in the upper link needed to clear anything.

Cut inner factory "frame" out and welded mount in its spot. Then used 2x2" 1/4 wall tubing from ruffstuff stiffener over the the Uca mount. Then put plate from top of stiffener to mount. Then plated the trans tunnel and ran plate from the uca over to that. Then a gusset back to the seat mount. Also gussets from the uca bracket to trans crossmember. According to my engineering research (very little) I don't think it will go anywhere.

. I'm making a new subfloorboard to cover it all up which will also hopefully provide insulation from the exhaust heat on your feet.

Yes it's ugly. But I want to be quadruple sure this thing is solid. And for the record I hate welding on sheet-metal I suck at it
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Cycled the front axle. Track bar hits oil pan at what will probably be past full bump is the only clearance issue I have.

Got link tabs all welded up. Moves nice and smooth with near zero pinion angle change.
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One thing I think I'm going to run into is the driveshaft clearing the trans mount crossmember. With the 4 speed it sits back farther and I probably will have to notch the crossmember.

Axle housing and knuckles and brake calipers are painted. Next Weld inserts into the control arms and paint them. Then assemble the axle and set it on tires. Oh and build shock hoops. Making progress is exciting. I have to make sure I take my time and not rush it.

todays progress, got the link inserts welded. bolted up and painted.

got the 35 spline outers and spicer u joints in.

got the kingpins torqued to 500 ft lbs. lower kingpins assembled and knuckles sat on with the bronze bushings. however the hi steer arms wont clear the bushings. gotta do a little research on the best course of action and whats exactly causing the issue. was hoping to get it on tires tonight but thats out now. axle shafts are in the housing. figure out the kingpin clearance issue and put on the spindles and hubs and seal this front axle up.
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Front axle is assembled Drive slug to drive slug. Building the axle and three link were the biggest time consumers of the whole project. Tomorrow night I'll start making the steering ram mount for the double ended Psc ram. Figure out where the ram will connect to the hi steer arms and drill them out. Then it's Time to cut rockers and weld in 2x6 sliders.

To do list for the week/weekend

Sliders
Rear frame rail plating
Install gears and truss on 14 bolt
Start building 4 link


(Warning I make lists here to keep myself on track)
Followed by building front and rear bumpers and mounting the winch. Remaking the floorboard. Installing psc power steering parts. Then dropping it off to get driveshafts made. Then start on the cage. Put ori struts on whenever they get here.

Getting the steering ram mocked up tonight.
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Got the drivers side rear frame plated tonight. Ran outta motivation. Hopefully tomorrow is better. Need to get a 4 link built
 
Got the rear frame plated with iron rock off-road kit. Now to start welding on the 14 bolt truss.
 

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