Build Thread YUKON007's '82 CJ7 Build.

[YUKON007]

Its been a long couple days but the frame is repaired, POR-15-ed and top coated.

Grinding the frame down. POR-15 has a bad rap for not adhering to bare metals but we had little choice. The amount of rust, original paint, and the PO's undercoating would have made prepping the surface complicated. We elected to take a chance and bring it down to bare metal. With Metal Prep and 80 grit sandpaper we shouldnt run into any adhesion problems.


Before: This is the 1/4" angle we repaired with, we prepped and cleaned the surfaces before welding, this is just a test fit.


After Weld: Yea...yea...yea its ugly. But functional!


Before:


After: Used the same 1/4" steel and plated the seams for extra support.


Test fit the 3/8" thick 2.5" tubing. This fit inside the rusted out rear tube snugly. We cut out any rust spots and transfered any mounting holes over. Excitement got the best of us at this point and we made a measurement error on the new leaf spring mounting holes.... They're a 1/2" short, so much for measure twice cut once... Talked with a couple local jeepers and we're hoping it wont be an issue.



After:


Then we moved shop again, to my new garage to complete the POR-15 process. Made a huge mess, but it turned out amazing. We started out with simple green to clean the frame, I had ordered the Marine Clean that POR-15 recommends but didn't remember until after the initial cleaning.

After de-greasing the frame we washed it thoroughly with warm water and hit it for 30 minutes with the Metal Prep. After another wash, we allowed it to dry while we went food shopping for an early thanksgiving with friends.



2 coats of POR-15, first coat we spent extra effort to make sure we hit all the joints and welds. The coats were successive because it took about 20 minutes to lay down the first coat. We finished up the second coat at about 9 pm.



We let it sit for 5 hours and came back to a fairly cured POR-15 frame. Next up was 3 coats of Rustoleum Enamel Gloss Black to serve as a top coat and UV protection. I finished up with that around 3am. Long night but it was all worth it to get this frame back to road worthy.



The orange tranny pan is Frumples reward for tireless hours of grinding, welding, fabbing, washing, and painting. I think it'll help identify the jeep when I sink it in a snow berm or a mudhole. "If you see orange, send help"

 

[YUKON007]

Pulled the trigger on a 4" BDS Lift kit with: add-a-leaf, shackle bushings, .5" shackles, blue shock tubes, and a steering stabilizer. Just doubled by cost to date on the build but I couldn't bring myself to cheap out on something I plan to keep for a long time. Guy up here in Alaska is offering free shipping which is huge and won my business. Hoping to have some more heated garage time in early January to do a little body work and mount the tub.

Transmission and Tcase are headed to the shop for some professional TLC. I'm debating sending in my axles along with them to get the brakes looked at.

I've read up extensively on the AMC20 rear and am still on the fence over it. I did find out its a Limited Slip Trac-Loc with 3.31 gears. Good? Bad? I plan to run about 35" tires and I'll be doing medium wheeling/mudding.

On one hand I can keep it, install a truss: $50 materials, one-piece axles: $250+, and eventually upgrade to an OX locker while upping gear ratio to 4.10 or 4.56. That's $300 to get it to where I'd be with a Dana 44 or a Ford 9". I can snag a Dana 44 for about that but there's another load of info on the swap I'd have to acquaint myself with, and my mind is already reeling from the flood of other Jeep related projects. I'm not going to debate the usefulness of the AMC20 vs Dana 44 with anyone, I've read enough to already despise that topic! I'm leaning towards keeping the AMC20 , building a truss and waiting till I break an axle to swap in a one-piece.

Current plan:
Clean front axle, POR 15 and Top Coat
Weld in truss for rear axle, POR 15 and Top Coat
Drop off Tranny/Tcase for inspection
Install Lift Kit and get back to rolling chassis.
Mount Engine, tranny, tcase.
Run new brake/fuel lines
Install Tub
Rest
Finish rest of everything else....

The end feels real! Can't wait to have herit back on the road this spring

 

[Lumpy Grits]

If your go'n to 35's(why?). Ditch the OEM axles.
I run 33's with a Ford 9" in the rear. I also run front and rear Detroit Lockers.
The rear 20 is weak and very breakage prone.
With 35s, you want either 4:56 or 4:88 R&P gears.
LG

 

[Petescj]

I wouldn't build a AMC20 from stock to handle 35s. Since you'll already be re gearing I'd look for a Ford 8.8 for the added strength and the benefit of disc brakes. Mine came to me with 1 piece axles and 35s with 3.73. Since I don't plan on re gearing I'm only going to truss mine and see where I end up. I'm Just going with a 4/1 kit in the Dana 300 and keeping my gas mileage at 17mpg. Being a Limited yours should have power brakes wich puts you one up on me. Whatever you do decide just put aside a couple more bucks for a brake upgrade. The difference between stopping 35s as opposed to 33s is significant. From what I've experienced with mine 35s require upgrades that you can usually put off with 33s

 

[YUKON007]

I found a Ford 8.8 with disk brakes out of an Explorer. Measures 60" WMS-WMS. Now the plan is to cut down a Chevy Dana 44 , 7" or so on the long side to match the 60" width of the rear. I'll have to convert the Chevy to the Ford lug pattern and re-spline my long-side axle shaft. This leaves me with one custom axle that I'd have to replace in the event of a failure.

My question is, I've already purchased the 4' BDS lift, and I still plan to go SUA. Since the Chevy Dana 44 is set up for SOA will I have problems with my springs interfering with the steering? From the looks of the Chevy D44s, the steering is straight forward of the axle tubes, rather than above and forward. Anyone have insight on that?

I can't find a 74-79 Wagoneer in AK, otherwise I'd be stealing front/rear axles out of that.

 

[YUKON007]

Quick update so people don't think my resolve has faltered...

Snagged a pair of D44s out of a 1975 Wagoneer. In the process of outboarding my spring mounts and hopefully hanging axles in the near future. Most of my progress has been towards preparing my garage, and expanding my tool list.

Here's my cardboard story board for measuring up old and new spring mounting plates to determine out-boarding distances and my increased WMS-WMS distances.


Couple pictures of the outboarding process. Throwing around the idea of a shackle reversal, I know the pros/cons, still up in the air.





Progress is happening!

 

[gp4play]

Congrats on your axle find Did you make your outboard mounts or find them on-line?

 

[YUKON007]

Made the mounts and bought the spring and shackle hangers from Ruff Stuff. Mounts are made from 1/4" steel and will be both welded to the frame and through-bolted, I plan to weld in spacers inside the frame so I can torque the bolts down hard and not squeeze the frame. I'll snag a picture of the mounts when I get a chance to work on them again.

 

[YUKON007]

Operation "Outboard" is coming to a close. Mounts are made of 1/4" steel and bolted with 5/8th bolts as added strength/safety. These things are stout! I'm waiting on a new regulator for my welder before I do a final burn-in and finish welding the mounts together and then to the frame itself. I think I've got everything to set it back on axles. All I'm missing are 2ea spring plates, and u-bolts for the front passenger side because the bolts fit over a portion of the pumpkin and are larger/longer than the rest of the u-bolts. I'm hoping to have legs under the rig this weekend, pending a couple Amazon.com orders showing up! Heres some progress pics:

These are the new shackle hangers in the rear. I cut 3/4" holes and ran 3/4" tube as spacers so that I wouldn't crush the frame when I tightened down the bolts. Turned out nicely after I welded in the tubes and ground smooth.


More sleeves welded and ground smooth, these are for the front spring hangers. It was a sad day grinding off the POR15...


A couple pictures of the spring mounts before I weld them solid.





Here it is mounted to the frame. Still have to pull it off, weld it and then remount and weld it to the frame.




This is the front shackle hanger. Had to adapt my original plan to miss conflicts with the Power Steering brackets.


I'm excited to get axles back underneath it and start on brake lines and fuel lines.

 

[YUKON007]

More pictures of the mounts welded solid and welded to the frame. I'm still new to wire feed welding, but my welds definitely improved after almost 5 hours of welding on Saturday. I took my time, welded bit by bit to allow the welds to cool, and I'm stoked with how stout it looks!

 

[82Laredo]

Looks great man, awesome project!

 

[YUKON007]

Looks great man, awesome project!

Thanks! Its been a learning process... I'm ready to have it back on wheels.

 

[YUKON007]

Had some time in the last couple days, hung the axles and installed the bulk of the 4" BDS Lift. Putting on new parts is my favorite...

Also spent some time and cleaned up the gas tank, the skid plate, the power steering, and the Dana 300 . I'm planning on POR15 for the skid plate when I coat the outboard mounts and do a little touch up, hopefully this weekend.

New poly motor mounts are in the mail and once they arrive I plan on setting the AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l that has been on the engine hoist for months. That'll be a big step towards re-asembly! Still searching for a good AX15 to swap in, but I leave in a month for the summer and I won't be around to work on the Jeep so I'll have plenty of time to replenish the budget and search for a good deal.