Low budget, low skill zj build.

[Tryloff]

Here's my first real modification to my zj. I wanted a low profile winch mount. Everything I found that was pre-made stuck out like a fat lip.

 

[Tryloff]

I took it to badlands and broke a shaft. New shafts are on order. I also smashed a headlight and pass bumper skin when I ran into another rig. I'll have to figure something out with that too. I have a trip planned Nov 3rd so I have a little time.

 

[Tryloff]

Upon further inspection, I bent the front drive shaft pretty good. There was a hill climb that I never made it up because at the top of the hill it went back down pretty steep. I think that's what did it. Also, the front diff is pretty chunky when I turn it by hand. I'm guessing that's because ethe passenger axle shaft is pulled out and the side gear is falling out of alignment? I have an aussie locker to stick in there so it will all be coming apart soon enough. Hopefully it's nothing major because I don't really want to invest any more money into a dana 30 and I'm not ready for a different axle.

In the meantime, I found a used but restored bds long arm 6.5 lift for a decent price. I'm picking that up this weekend. It was powder coated blue so it matches terribly with my red jeep. I may try to rattle can a white body line in there somewhere to give me a red white and blue theme. It will probably be really corny and I'll regret it.

Before my Nov 3rd rush trip I NEED to:

• Install the front axle shafts
• fix my driveshaft
• fix the clanking rear suspension. Shock bushings and loose? Control arm bolts.
• half ass reattach my front bumper skin.

I want to:

• locker in the front
• weld the rear
• temporary fix my headlights pending dove nosed front end
• fix my smashed exhaust

 

[Tryloff]

I scored a bds long arm 6.5 lift today. They're discontinued butthis one was restored. It's the wrong color but who cares. This will never be a show rig. It has steering with it and some other odds and ends.

 

[Tryloff]

Here's some more carnage and the aussie locker I chose to fix it with. Chromo shafts too. So next time I break something it should be pretty cool.

I'm having trouble getting the front diff to spin freely after installing the locker.. it will spin most of the way around then act like it's binding up. This only happens when I get everything seated and torque the 4 bolts to ~10 ftlbs and try to spin it. If I loosen the bolts a half turn after that and don't touch anything else it spins perfect. When taken apart I don't see anything obvious in the bearings or gear teeth. Pinion is tight and spins easy. Caps are on the correct sides and the correct orientation..

Any ideas on that?

 

[Tryloff]

The binding is definitely between ring gear and pinion. There is plenty of backlash when it's not bound up but when it binds the backlash goes away and it's tight. It always binds on the same spot on the carrier. I took the ring off and moved it around a bit and the binding still happens at the same spot on the carrier, not the ring.

Is my carrier bent? I have a digital dial indicator but the battery was dead last night. So that's no help. I'm getting a new battery today and hopefully will figure out what I need to replace.

This kinda sucks because I need this thing done by this weekend and didn't want to spend too much more money of this weak ass d30/35 set up.


IF ANYONE HAS A DANA 30 CARRIER THEY WANT TO DONATE TO THE CAUSE, IM IN NEED!

 

[Gunhand1]

The binding is definitely between ring gear and pinion. There is plenty of backlash when it's not bound up but when it binds the backlash goes away and it's tight. It always binds on the same spot on the carrier. I took the ring off and moved it around a bit and the binding still happens at the same spot on the carrier, not the ring.

Is my carrier bent? I have a digital dial indicator but the battery was dead last night. So that's no help. I'm getting a new battery today and hopefully will figure out what I need to replace.

This kinda sucks because I need this thing done by this weekend and didn't want to spend too much more money of this weak ass d30/35 set up.


IF ANYONE HAS A DANA 30 CARRIER THEY WANT TO DONATE TO THE CAUSE, IM IN NEED!

Definitely sounds like a bent carrier to me, a (working ) dial indicator will definitely let you know though

 

[Tryloff]

Gonna fix that today. Buying a battery and an old timey mechanical dial

 

[Tryloff]

It's definitely bent. I'm going to ship around for a cheap carrier for the next day before giving up and buying a whole axle.

Is a bare carrier from a high pinion 30 the same?are the hp30s any stronger than the lp30like the internet says they are?

 

[LScout800]

It's definitely bent. I'm going to ship around for a cheap carrier for the next day before giving up and buying a whole axle.

Is a bare carrier from a high pinion 30 the same?are the hp30s any stronger than the lp30like the internet says they are?

Don't if they are the same or not, but HP are stronger because of the way the gears mesh, not the carrier. Where are you at? Most junkyards have a healthy amount of zj's in them most of which will have the part you need.

 

[Tryloff]

Logan county Ohio. I just don't have the time to pull one at a pick and pull, and the couple of yard around here will only sell the whole axle for 250 which isn't worth it if I can avoid it.

 

[Byro]

Run it. It’s going to eventually cash because it’s a D30, not because it has a tight spot.

HP30 is marginally stronger.

The carriers are the same, even up to the JK30.

 

[Tryloff]

The tight spot is pretty dang tight. I'm going to find something else to stick in there. Hopefully a junkyard carrier with decent bearings already on it. Use my ring and pinion and see how it works

 

[arse_sidewards]

Sand the tight spot.

I'm not even joking. Put 90 grit on a random orbital. Check results using dial indicator. Repeat until satisfied.

It's a Dana 30, who cares if it's perfect.

 

[Tryloff]

So I beat it with a hammer and was having pretty decent success until it cracked. I found a 3.55 hp30 that I'm going to use my ring gear on that carrier and call it good enough. I paid 80 bucks for the axle so I think it's my cheapest option, plus now I have spare shafts with decent wheel bearings on them already.

If this has taught me anything, it's that dana 30s are no good for anything other than 31s and mild puddles. I'm hoping a dana 60 will happen soon and maybe that will hold up to my more ignorant driving style.

 

[Tryloff]

We're back in action.
-rear diff is welded
-front driveshaft is retubed

• front diff and axle is completely back together and back on the ground.
• rear shock lower bushings were missing the metal tube so I put some in there.

All I need to do is self tap the bumper skin back on and route the exhaust to a much less carbon monoxide poisony location.

I also found a set of 33 boggers for sale on jeep rims that I'm probably going to buy to replace my 31s. They have good tread but are a little dry. So that will mean I need to cut some fenders and probably make my front right bump stop functional again.. I already smashed the pinch welds over in the front.


For the exhaust, I ripped it off when it was a rear outlet by going up a steep hill and smashing the end of it. I'm thinking of doing a side exit coming out of the bumper about an inch or so. Hopefully that will keep it further out of harms way.

 

[Byro]

Man. I really miss this stage of building/wheeling of my life.

I don’t care what anyone says this is the most fun. With a little driver finesse you can stick a setup like this places it shouldn’t go.

 

[Tryloff]

Yeah man it's a freaking blast. I do break something every trip because it's not all built up and caged and what not. But it's also cheap and fun. I have a couple buddies with buggies and race rigs and they can definitely do more than I can, but I'm able to have a load of fun with them anyways. The two main areas they have me beat on are speed and being able to climb boulders.

I would love tons and 40s and the works, but it would never get done and I'd never wheel again. That's what happened with some older projects. I just have to keep something wheelable or else my adhd will convince me I want to collect coins or build a raised garden or something.

 

[Tryloff]

I did a quick exhaust fix. It's not what I want but it's what it's gonna be for a little bit and at least it gets the exhaust out from under the jeep.

The actual rear hanger should be here tomorrow, so the ziptie is just for mock up.

 

[Tryloff]

passenger front fender cut is done. This is the one that had the broken bump stop. I got the new bump stop mocked up too. I'm going to weld that in tomorrow and hopefully get the other front cut and bump stop welded in. Then I scheduled Thursday for emergency service calls for work only and Friday off completely so I can finish the rear fenders and bump stops and give it a final once over before leaving for rush on Friday.

I just realized these pictures are shit, and I'm already back in the house. I'll get some better pictures tomorrow of how the bump will actually be in there and the full fender. Not that either of those are super exciting to most.

 

[Tryloff]

Last minute stuff. The tires ended up being junk but I made em work. Bump stops are tacked in place pretty heavily. I cut the rear bumper even though it wasn't rubbing. It was pretty close.

We're rolling into rush in about an hour. If anyone's out there this weekend come drink a beer!

 

[Tryloff]

Well..


Broke the front drive shaft and the right rear axle shaft. Pretty early to be doing this crap.

 

[fl0w3n]

Well shit. Sounds like a JY 8.8 is in order

 

[Tryloff]

Well shit. Sounds like a JY 8.8 is in order

Yes absolutely. I have one in my shop that will probably go in.

I pulled the front drive shaft out and threw a spare rear shaft in and finest the day in 2wd. I wheeled about 10 hours total in 2wd

The dana 30 held together but the front shaft t case ujoint died. Funny enough I just had this shaft rebuilt at a local shop and they tried ti charge me almost 500 for the service. They used skf greasable joints and we see how well that worked out.

I think when I do the 8.8 swap I will also swap my hp30 housing in up front. The 8.8 is 4.10 and my 30 is 3.55 so I'll have to buy gears and a carrier anyways, might as well swap in the ?stronger? Hp30. I'm aiming for 4.88 gears and 33-35 tires.

The only thing that has held me back fr9m the 8.8 so far is I think I would really like tons at some point so I didn't want to waste money. But the 14y.o. is talking about wanting a ranger for a first truck so maybe the 88 and 30 could still be of use.

I think I'm going to Wellsville in mid December so I'm going to have to act fast if this is supposed to be done.

I might just fix the front drive shaft and not drive like an angry teenage girl. At least that was I can get to Wellsville without much issue. Then I can spend a little longer rebuilding both axles and make sure it's done right. Then I can swap them in whenever I do the 6.5 lift kit.

Photo dump:

 

[Steve300xcw]

Skf's are trash.

Greaseable u joints are trash

$500 to freshen one up is insane

 

[Tryloff]

I said all of these things to them. When i dropped it off to be retubed after i bent it they said 250ish and i told them to call me if it needed anything above that because i would just go buy a jy shaft. He never called and tried to say 500 and i told him to keep the shaft ill go get another for 75 bucks. He agreed to the original 250 and we called it good. They did retube it since I bent it at badlands, and it looks like they put in few new pieces for the t case side, and a new boot. Not sure why though because what i gave them was in pretty decent shape aside from being bent. I'll be putting 3 new joints in it and either drilling and tapping these holes for a larger bolt or helicoil the holes for the same size bolts. I have to see if bigger bolts will fit in the yoke.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Well hold on a min. That pic looks like the centering yoke and the ball stud yoke were replaced. If so, yea you are getting into the $500 range.....with the solid spicers.

Retube for a jeep that isnt anything special should be around $150

 

[Tryloff]

Yes I'm pretty sure they were replaced. But they used skf joints. Summit has the centering yoke for 70.99 and spicer joints for around 20.

Are these joints worth the extra money? Or is a spicer good enough? The spicers still have the x drilled out I thought..

 

[Byro]

Wellsville is the shit. It’s in the process of being logged currently so it’s a little messy.

 

[Steve300xcw]

That $70 ujoint is a spicer

I'm guessing you are still 1310's if so grab some 5-1310x ujoints and rock on. Fuck $70. Look at dennys driveshaft

Just for a reference. I toss 3 new ujoints and a center bearing into cv drivelines for around $200