Mid level yj build

I'm nick aka moose and I'm new here. I'm doing a mid priced yj build. 42's full hydro stock motor trans tcase(for now) on leafs. Planning to stretch. Using a motobilt rear stretch kit and I'll figure out the front on my own. Planning to use the xj springs all the way around. Cage by poison spider and me. It financially made more sense to buy their cage kit on black Friday and modify then to buy materials and build myself. All 1.75 x .120w Dom. I'll add more tubes to mount my prps to and strengthen weak spots.

Progress, sorry trying to get the hang of these forums been off them a long time and posting multiple pictures is apparently alluding me.

cage work

rear cut, I kinda figured that this would be enough originally but maybe not now that ive got the rear axle ready to go in. narrower than i was expecting. rear axle is a 10.25, welded carrier, disc brake conversion and 5.38s

been collecting parts for a while now. going to use a psc pump kit to run my hydro with a surplus center ram and ill make hoses, still figuring out which orbital im going to use. picked up a artec mount seeing material prices are through the roof and this saves me also time and it was on sale. tom woods SD sye for now until i can get an atlas hopefully later this year.

jeeps and 89 yj. the ignition system was all ****ed up from the previous owner since this will be a trail rig mostly (will add back what i need to make road legal this winter) i gutting the entire electrical system and built my own. put an hei distributor in the 4.2, had a local shop to me make the alt a 1 wire, and bought a gauge kit from jegs, ditched the stock dash since it has alot missing factory and made a cj style dash instead on my plasma table, steering will get changed to work with the hydro and ditch the factory column. i dont have any pictures but i built my own aluminum fuel cell to fit behind the seats and still leave plenty of room for gear, its almost 20gal

Looks like a great start.

The Luke said:

Looks like a great start.

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lets just hope it all works out. im a bit concerned with the front steering working out with the spring over and highsteer on a balljoint axle, i should have done alot more research but kingpin axles are impossible to find in my area in the PNW i looked for 6 months before i settled on the 93 60 BJ so im hoping to make it work until i can save enough for the knuckles and C's to convert it.

This looks interesting. I like your plans for leaf springs. Especially the Xj spring in the front.

Looking good. Nothing better than a nice yj build imo.

I'll toss you 1 suggestion. Unless you are planning to direct some air for defrosters, I'd ditch the factory heater system. Removing that box makes anything you need to do behind the dash so much easier. I also pulled the intake duct and closed up the cowl vent on mine.

I haven't gotten around to adding a heater back into mine, but a summit hotrod heater, or a Mojave will be an easy addition eventually.

I stuck a mojave in my CJ and it works decent. It keeps the windshield partially defrosted and provides a little feets heat.

moose99psd said:

lets just hope it all works out. im a bit concerned with the front steering working out with the spring over and highsteer on a balljoint axle, i should have done alot more research but kingpin axles are impossible to find in my area in the PNW i looked for 6 months before i settled on the 93 60 BJ so im hoping to make it work until i can save enough for the knuckles and C's to convert it.

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You may not need highsteer, as the arms on the BJ axles are higher on the knuckle. I also believe there are BJ eliminators out for those axles, which would make them as strong or stronger than a KP knuckle. Could likely weld on high steer if need (similar to SD axles).

bgredjeep said:

Looking good. Nothing better than a nice yj build imo.

I'll toss you 1 suggestion. Unless you are planning to direct some air for defrosters, I'd ditch the factory heater system. Removing that box makes anything you need to do behind the dash so much easier. I also pulled the intake duct and closed up the cowl vent on mine.

I haven't gotten around to adding a heater back into mine, but a summit hotrod heater, or a Mojave will be an easy addition eventually.

Click to expand...

I'll probably build a redirect for the defrost come fall time. I'm in the PNW so snow wheeling is a big thing. I think most of the summer I'll ditch the windshield but I'll definitely need it for winter. Doubt I'll keep the top but I will the doors and try to come up with some kinda way to "seal" the cab.. just not sure yet. Pulling the HVAC system was kinda on my list and most likely will be done at some point in Leu of a smaller system.

paradisepwoffrd said:

You may not need highsteer, as the arms on the BJ axles are higher on the knuckle. I also believe there are BJ eliminators out for those axles, which would make them as strong or stronger than a KP knuckle. Could likely weld on high steer if need (similar to SD axles).

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I'm worried how low that would put my hydro cylinder? The bj deletes I've seen only offer one half for my axle? But if it's viable and would save me 1700 and all the time to cut and weld knuckles back on I'm totally game. I suppose only doing one side would prevent the knuckle from being able to slide out, like I've seen happen under high stress? I'm running full Chrono shafts 35spline outers and Yukon joints. I'd like to get their extreme hub kit and keep my flanges for spares so I could street it now and then.

moose99psd said:

I'm worried how low that would put my hydro cylinder? The bj deletes I've seen only offer one half for my axle? But if it's viable and would save me 1700 and all the time to cut and weld knuckles back on I'm totally game. I suppose only doing one side would prevent the knuckle from being able to slide out, like I've seen happen under high stress? I'm running full Chrono shafts 35spline outers and Yukon joints. I'd like to get their extreme hub kit and keep my flanges for spares so I could street it now and then.

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Most of what I have seen fail is upper BJ. Im sure the lowers could fail too, if a ujoint exploded.

Four wheel supply out of VA made high steer arms for those knuckles, and machined them. His website is down, and I heard he closed, but might be able to contact him on FB and see if he will make another set.

Also looks like these folks machine and make the arms: https://www.skysoffroaddesign.com/products/ford-d60bjhs-001.

paradisepwoffrd said:

Most of what I have seen fail is upper BJ. Im sure the lowers could fail too, if a ujoint exploded.

Four wheel supply out of VA made high steer arms for those knuckles, and machined them. His website is down, and I heard he closed, but might be able to contact him on FB and see if he will make another set.

Also looks like these folks machine and make the arms: https://www.skysoffroaddesign.com/products/ford-d60bjhs-001.

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I've got a set of arms coming made of the same materials sky's uses. Ill machine the knuckles myself hopefully. I'll definitely get rolling on the bj delete though

Love a good YJ build!!

moose99psd said:

lets just hope it all works out. im a bit concerned with the front steering working out with the spring over and highsteer on a balljoint axle, i should have done alot more research but kingpin axles are impossible to find in my area in the PNW i looked for 6 months before i settled on the 93 60 BJ so im hoping to make it work until i can save enough for the knuckles and C's to convert it.

Click to expand...

I did high steer on a 97 ford ball joint axle. I originally shipped one knuckle out to have it done, but after seeing what was actually done to it, I did the second axle myself with a grinder. It has held up to a V8 rig on 39's for over 10 years with no issues.

holy sheet its been a while... finally got some more work done.. lets update.
little bit of a photodump. got my highsteer done, ended up using skys to machine the knuckles and then i made my own arms... in hindsight i should have just bought their arms and saved myself all the trouble. they came out great but cost me alot of time. i bought fuel injection to ditch the bs carb that was on there. its freaking awesome. performance fuel injection from ebay does an amaing job, all based off chevy 4.3L parts so getting replacements will be easy no matter where im at. axles are in, it sits low.. im gonna have to cut more in the rear to get some more up travel, i had to cut and extend the chassis in the front to accomodate the flipped yj springs up front, not super mad about it just a bit of a setback. then i got busy again. things are gonna slow down a bit and i can get back on it. snows gonna fly sooner than later and i wanna wheel in it. funds are built back up so next up is pulling the tcase to install the new chain and SYE then i can order for driveshafts. leaning towards tom woods but if anyone has any other sugestions thatd be great. also trying to work out brake lines so if anyone has any insite to that, thatd be awesome as well. im leaning towards standard extended for the rear and then in the front going to a center drop and assentially making it the same as the rear setup so i dont need some crazy long lines. any help on what to use or where to go would be infinately helpful

some more