Danimal's buggy build

I had a perfectly good 04' Rubicon on 37's that was a fairly capable rig. I had been getting ready to do a one-ton swap when my buddy called me (thanks Ed) and said he knew of a chassis for sale. I had already pulled the D44's and had sold them so i decided to pull the trigger and just part out the the rest of my jeep. There was not a thing wrong with it and had alot of nice parts. However, I needed the cash from that to fund my new project so....piece by piece i sold it off. All I was left with was the tub. I kept the vin and title for the new buggy.

So, follow along and check in from time to time to see my progress. I will try and keep this thread updated with pics and text as often as I can. My busy season for landscaping is here now so at times my progress may be slow. My goal is to have it completed in 2 years or less from when I orig started.

My build plans for the buggy include:

-Carolina rock shop chassis set up at 107" wb
-Double triangulated 4 link rear and single tri up front using 1 1/4" chromoly heims all the way around
-16" Rockequipment coilovers
-2" and 4" fox air bumps
- 79' Ford HP D60 front and 14Bolt FF rear, 5.38s, lincoln locked, chromo shafts and BTF trusses
-4.3 vortec with jims performance computer, headers, cold air intake (possible turbo in the future)
-4l60 trans with art carr shifter-built
-4.3 atlas
-tom woods shafts
-Ron Davis alum radiator mounted in rear
-RCI fuel cell
-42's on H2's for now
-PSC full hydro with double ended ram
-48" wide fiberglass TJ hood and grill
-Mastercraft seats and crow harnesses
-12v guy switch panel, ect, ect.




Here's the old Rubicon before she was parted out.. had some good times in that rig and learned alot about wheeling, second pic was with my nephew Austin in Tellico before it closed

As I was selling off parts I turned right around and starting sourcing and buying the parts I needed. Found some deals on CL, pirate, hardline, ect.
Picked up a 79' Ford HP dana 60 front in Ft. Lauderdale and a 14 bolt FF rear (already with discs) in north FL.

Both axles have stock internals, I worked on the 60 first, cleaned off all the old brackets and tabs..

Before and after...oops i think i have those pics backwards.

Then I started to tear down both axles, they were all orig and in much need of rebuilding.

Trying to keep everything organized and labeled.

Ordered the Blue torch trusses, ram mount, and link tabs. Also ordered ally axle rebuild parts from 4wdfactory.com
I got complete rebuild kits for the king pins, new bearings and seals, U-joints, and Yukon 5.38 thick gears.

4wdfactory.com parts

First "project" in order was to weld up the rear 14 bolt diff cover from blue torch. It was 4 seperate pieces and I welded it inside and out.

For all you welding critics out there. Yes it was welded with a 115V hobart.

I was going to do a full shave on the 14 bolt and have the ring gear turned down on a lathe. I decieded to just do a light "shave" and cut approx 1/2" off of the bottom to make it flush with the diff cover. I'm going to run a 42" tall tire so I should be fine with that. A few more pics..

Mocked up both axles with the BTF trusses before teardown. I'm not sure now if i can use the front truss with ram mount because it makes the PSC ram sit so high and the buggy will sit very low, I may have clearance issues. I will wait until the ram is here to make a decision on that.

Good sounding parts list. Any pics of the chassis?

So my fianc'e and I took a road trip to Atlanta, GA to pick up the chassis. I cannot take credit for the the tube work. It was originally built by Andy Zuber of Carolina Rock shop (which i believe has since closed). He built it to run W.E. Rock comps with. It's 48" at the cowl and 52" at the B pillar.It was sold to a friend Lee who wheeled it for a long time before it ended up in my hands. The list of parts I purchased from Lee are:

-Chassis with skins, interior panels, grill, hood, ect
-Ron Davis aluminum radiator
-RCI fuel cell
-Fox air bumps
-16" Rockequipment coilovers
-4.3 Vortec with full exhaust

This is what it looked like when Lee had it. It was a VERY well built, capable buggy..

After his tear down, we picked everything up and brought it back down to FL.

I pulled the motor and set it aside to start the fab work on the chassis. Even though this was a complete running buggy prior to me and everything had tabs and mounting locations, there is alot of work I want to do to personalize it as well as repair some of the bent tubes, ect.

So I started cutting..

I cut out the rear "bumper" tail light area, rear coilover mounts, gauge cluster, rear suck down winch brackets, and a bunch of other misc tabs i wasn't going to use. The two A pillars were both bent pretty bad, after getting a crash course from Lee on sleeving tubing, I sleeved both sides with 1 3/4" .120 wall dom using 1 1/2" dom inner sleeves. I also cut out the brackets holding the fuel cell. It sat too high for my liking and I want it to sit down lower in the chassis.

New A pillars welded in place..

The motor will remain the same. It has a jim's performance computer, headers, cold air intake, flowmaster, and ran very well. I may opt for a T3 or T4 turbo in the future but its not a priority right now.