Family Truckster LJ build

hokie_yj · Feb 14, 2023

ridered3 said:
Looks much better.

Random story from the plug and play/matching wires. Years ago I had a buddy call having issues wiring his aftermarket radio. Was a plug and play kit.

Me: Match the same color wires together and you are done. Green to green. Red to red. Etc.

Him: I don't have those color wires.

Me: what colors do you have?

Him: Grey. Lighter grey. Black. Darker black….

Me: Are you color blind?

Him: yes. Now that you mention it, I probably shouldn't be doing any wiring…

Me: correct.

Yeah, being colorblind would make that part difficult. Lol. I'm a control system maintenance tech in a chemical plant. We were doing interlock checks once and needed some extra help to verify actions in the field. So they sent one of the old mechanics out with us. I said stand right here and watch these lights and tell me if the red or green comes on. I went to the IO room and tripped the interlock and asked him over the radio which one came on. He said well a light came on. I said was it red or green. He said I don't know, I'm colorblind. Lol. We put him in charge of watching block valves to see if they closed instead.

It's a great upgrade over stock, and really easy to do. It took me maybe an hour and a half spread out over two mornings before I left for work.

ridered3 · Feb 14, 2023

hokie_yj said:
Yeah, being colorblind would make that part difficult. Lol. I'm a control system maintenance tech in a chemical plant. We were doing interlock checks once and needed some extra help to verify actions in the field. So they sent one of the old mechanics out with us. I said stand right here and watch these lights and tell me if the red or green comes on. I went to the IO room and tripped the interlock and asked him over the radio which one came on. He said well a light came on. I said was it red or green. He said I don't know, I'm colorblind. Lol. We put him in charge of watching block valves to see if they closed instead.

It's a great upgrade over stock, and really easy to do. It took me maybe an hour and a half spread out over two mornings before I left for work.

Ha sounds about right for that guy.

That's cool on radio upgrade being relatively simple.

jeeptj99 · May 16, 2023

ridered3 said:
Looks much better.

Random story from the plug and play/matching wires. Years ago I had a buddy call having issues wiring his aftermarket radio. Was a plug and play kit.

Me: Match the same color wires together and you are done. Green to green. Red to red. Etc.

Him: I don't have those color wires.

Me: what colors do you have?

Him: Grey. Lighter grey. Black. Darker black….

Me: Are you color blind?

Him: yes. Now that you mention it, I probably shouldn't be doing any wiring…

Me: correct.

my dad is color blind and watching wire anything with more than 3 wires is hilarious.

tcDawg · May 30, 2023

hokie_yj said:
I finished up a major upgrade this morning before work. I swapped out the factory stereo for a Sony XAV-AX1000 double din unit with Apple CarPlay. Lol.

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hokie_yj · Nov 10, 2023

I finally drug the tons out of the barn and into the shop a few weeks ago. Got the 60 disassembled a little at a time over the last couple weeks. Today I had a solid few hours to work so I got out my favorite tools of destruction and went to work cutting all the brackets/casting off. Wasn't the funnest thing I've ever done. Had everything off in 2-3 hours, but it probably needs another hour with a grinder/flap wheel. Then I'll start getting the truss fitted up.

ridered3 · Nov 11, 2023

Glad to see some progress even though it doesn't look like much fun.

hokie_yj · Nov 14, 2023

Welp… Got all the grinding finished up today.

Then I went at the whole thing with a wire wheel. The very last part I had to clean was the passenger side inner C. Something's not right here…

I bought the axle out of '06 F-250 at a local junkyard. I saw the truck before they pulled the axles. It wasn't a front end collision. I don't "think" the housing is bent, haven't had time to confirm yet. I believe it was caused by a bad/loose balljoint at some point.

Not sure what the next step will be now. I have a set of the American Iron balljoint deletes for the build. They use a bearing, tapered steel bushing and a through bolt in place of the balljoint. I've talked a bit to the owner of the company, he said to test fit the bushing in the C and see how sloppy it is. If it's not too bad he said the bushing could be welded in to the C.

A local buddy has a bad housing with good Cs if I do have to go down the path of replacing the whole C. I really don't want to have to do that, but I really can't afford another $500 plus for a new axle right now either.

hokie_yj · Nov 14, 2023

Well upon further inspection this morning the C is totally screwed. The bottom pad of the C is twisted up 1/8" on the back side. The tubes are straight as can be though so I don't know what in the world happened.

ridered3 · Nov 14, 2023

That sucks!

Just put lots of thread tape on the balljoint delete to take up any of the slack...

hokie_yj · Feb 13, 2024

Finally got a little time to work on the axle today. A couple months ago I picked up a bent housing that had good Cs from a friend that was building it for a JK until he discovered it was badly bent.

Today I cut the Cs off of it. I used a portaband and grinder to cut them as close as possible. I was shocked at the quality of the factory weld. It definitely made me feel better about welding it back on myself.

I ground it down until I could see the crack between the C and the tube. Then I cut the tube inside the C with a sawzall. It took some time but I was able to press the tube out with my HF press.

To get the bad C off my axle I ground the weld out and then cut the C on each side of the tube and split it with a chisel. A couple licks with a BFH and it popped right off.

Next up will be trying to get the new C back on my axle. I measured beforehand to see how far on the tube it needs to go. I've got a couple stops hose clamped on the tube at the right depth. I plan to use my weed burner to heat it to 450* or so and hopefully it will slide on and then I can set the angle before it shrinks back.

I've got to come up with a way to rig the housing up on my welding table so I can lock it in place. The jack stands are way too wobbly to use when I'll be trying to set the caster angle right.

It actually turned out to be an easier job than I expected. Hopefully the install will go well too.

ridered3 · Feb 13, 2024

hokie_yj said:
Finally got a little time to work on the axle today. A couple months ago I picked up a bent housing that had good Cs from a friend that was building it for a JK until he discovered it was badly bent.

Today I cut the Cs off of it. I used a portaband and grinder to cut them as close as possible. I was shocked at the quality of the factory weld. It definitely made me feel better about welding it back on myself.
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I ground it down until I could see the crack between the C and the tube. Then I cut the tube inside the C with a sawzall. It took some time but I was able to press the tube out with my HF press. View attachment 412337
View attachment 412338

To get the bad C off my axle I ground the weld out and then cut the C on each side of the tube and split it with a chisel. A couple licks with a BFH and it popped right off.

View attachment 412339

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Next up will be trying to get the new C back on my axle. I measured beforehand to see how far on the tube it needs to go. I've got a couple stops hose clamped on the tube at the right depth. I plan to use my weed burner to heat it to 450* or so and hopefully it will slide on and then I can set the angle before it shrinks back.

I've got to come up with a way to rig the housing up on my welding table so I can lock it in place. The jack stands are way too wobbly to use when I'll be trying to set the caster angle right.

It actually turned out to be an easier job than I expected. Hopefully the install will go well too.

Glad to read an update to this build. None of the pictures seem to work though.

hokie_yj · Feb 13, 2024

ridered3 said:
Glad to read an update to this build. None of the pictures seem to work though.

I copy/pasted from NC4x4 after I typed it up. I've done it in the past and it worked. I'll fix it and upload the pics here. Thanks, I didn't even notice they didn't post.

Edit: Should be working now. I can see them on my end anyway.

ridered3 · Feb 13, 2024

hokie_yj said:
I copy/pasted from NC4x4 after I typed it up. I've done it in the past and it worked. I'll fix it and upload the pics here. Thanks, I didn't even notice they didn't post.

Edit: Should be working now. I can see them on my end anyway.

Cool deal and I see them too now.

paradisepwoffrd · Feb 20, 2024

Since youre this far in, I would cut the weld on the other C, and get your pinion/caster dialed in perfect for the rig before burning them in.

hokie_yj · Feb 20, 2024

paradisepwoffrd said:
Since youre this far in, I would cut the weld on the other C, and get your pinion/caster dialed in perfect for the rig before burning them in.

I think it's going to be good on the pinion/caster. These axles have 10* of separation and I'll be using the 3* balljoint deletes. So at 6* caster I can still have a 7* pinion angle. It will get driven on the street, but I'm using locking hubs so it shouldn't be an issue.

hokie_yj · Jun 9, 2024

I haven't taken the the time to focus on fixing the 60 yet, so instead I waste my time and money on other completely unnecessary projects. A couple weeks ago I picked up a Warn 8274-50 for a pretty decent deal. I didn't need it, but I've wanted one for a long time, and dang it I'm worth it. :laughing:

I ended up deciding to go with the Motobilt mount. I have the Barnes bumper, and I know they make a mount as well. The Motobilt mount is a little smaller though annd I felt like it would fit better. Plus I liked the looks of it better too. I had to notch it to fit over the d-ring mounts on the bumper, and notch out the back of the bumper as well.

I had to work today and didn't sleep much last night so I hit the shop at 3:30 this morning and got it all welded up before work. Tomorrow morning I hope to get it painted and the bumper bolted back up.

I made my own 125ish' synthetic rope a few days ago on a slow day at work. I'll probably tear into the winch and replace the drum seals and bushings and change the oil as well before I put it on the Jeep.

ridered3 · Jun 10, 2024

Glad to see an update, necessary or otherwise :dblthumb:

hokie_yj · Jun 13, 2024

I got the bumper/mount painted and bolted back on the Jeep. I bolted the winch on to check fitment but I pulled it back off and decided to do a cleanup/rebuild on it. I can't get the winch to free spool. You can tell this winch spent some time sitting outside and I believe the brake may be hung up. The drum seal is also leaking slightly so might as well just tear it down to make sure everything is good to go.

ridered3 · Jun 13, 2024

Looks large and in charge!

hokie_yj · Jun 24, 2024

Finally got to rebuild the winch. Corrosion in the drum/bushing on the idler end was the problem. It's an easy job if you don't forget parts/put parts in backwards making it take twice as long as necessary. lol. I also added the new Warn contactor control box as well. Hopefully can get it back on the Jeep and the new rope on in the next few days.