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Thor! My 93 ZJ. 8 in Long Arm

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#21 ·
Check out my heavily trussed D44A. What do ya think?
http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo260/wildman_wilds/DSC02245-1.jpg

http://s381.photobucket.com/albums/oo260/wildman_wilds/

QUOTE=ZJGrandMaster;324536]Well guys, I just got done doing the D44a swap! I put in a complete D44a with 3.73s and disk brakes in place of my old beefed up dana 35. Now, I had yukon shafts and a lockright in the 35, and never broke a thing, i still had the stock shafts as spares. However, its just cooler to have a disk braked d44. I again have a spare set of shafts should I break one of the d44's, but at 1.5 inch and 30 splines, its a big step up from the old puny 27 splines.

As for a locker, ya, u can see by the pics. lol. Its from Miller :punk: Not my first choice, but lockers for the dana 44a's are hard to find, and in all, I made $100 on the swap by the time I sold my old axle. Not bad eh? :hump: I paid 50 bucks for the D44a and sold my dana 35 for $200. Spent some money on new brakes and seals for it, and hey, came out ahead. free money, and a bigger axle, still locked and still have trail spares. BTW I even have a spare cross pin, c-clips, spider gears, ect ect should this one ever fail me. Now, I am going to truss it with the long arm kit for the rear, and do away with the trac bar. triangulation baby! :cheers:

new axle...
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spares....
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Locker....
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Discussion starter · #22 · (Edited)
Well, I will be home on R&R during october. Cant wait to see my jeep! Its been in the shop almost 3 months now. I'll post the pics up when I get there, and will be doing a trail ride soon after. Then its back over here to afghanistan. Heres a recap of whats been done..

-Claytons 4 link in the rear, with triangulated shocks
- 3 inch flowmaster 2 chamber, with 3 in magnaflow cat
- Hyd Asst Steering with 8in ram
- Np231 swap

Its gonna be a whole new animal. Pics coming soon!
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
Heres some teaser shots of my new rear end! Got the claytons rear 4 link all welded in. Also did their triangulated shock kit! Everything looks great! Im actually on my way home for R&R from afghanistan right now, so i'll have some updates in a few days of how it all works!

For a recap, im running 7in springs, and IRO's 3 link front.

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Discussion starter · #26 ·
Got the flex pics done today! Was out at the shop all day working on it. Fine tuning some things.

All I can say, is its ****ing Awesome.

Yes, I did do the clayton frame stiffeners, you can see them in the pics. They worked good with the IRO front crossmember. They welded the stiffeners right where they needed to be, and they just over lap the crossmember, giving more strength.

Actually, my sliders needed more modification than the crossmember did. They had to move the mounts so the new frame could sit flush. Not bad though. You can see where the new slider tube is, on the last picture.
 
Discussion starter · #27 · (Edited)
Here they are, final pics! I STILL could NOT get a tire off the ground. I'd flop it on its side before I lifted a tire. Now im fine tuning the bump stops and limit straps.

Here ya go, Pics say enough.....

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Discussion starter · #32 ·
Well, I've been through 2 hatches in the last year and they keep ending up the same. They rattle, they ding, they dent, and I've broke out two rear windows on the trail.

So I've been planning this idea for a while, and today the wife gave the go ahead.

I removed the hatch and got a tailgate net for the rear. I ended up going with the "small to midsize" one after measuring the hatch to be 50" wide. I was worried at first that it would look out of place, or that I would have to "hack" it into place. That was not the case, and the brackets that came with the net worked perfectly. Its 3 small brackets on each side, that mounted to the metal around the opening. The adjusters even work perfectly so I can loosen the net if need be. As for my tools and recovery gear and spare parts, I used a ratchet strap with the 4 tie down rings on the floor. Holds everything perfectly. As for theft, I have a removeable face Stereo, and I just pop it out and disconnect the Ipod. And I just leave the tools and gear at home, unless im going wheeling.

Final thoughts, I LOVE IT. I can now see EvERYTHING behind me, rear visibility is MUCH improved. Not to mention the weight loss over the rear axle. I cant wait to hit the trail this sunday and see how it works. I know one thing, I WONT hear my hatch rattle!

As for wind noise, its totally OK. With the windows up, I can have a conversation with my wife, the heater / AC still gets us plenty good up front, and I can hear the stereo fine.

With the windows down, its kinda like a convertible, kinda cool =).

So...... Am i the only one doing this, or has any one else seen it?

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#34 ·
Looks good man. I did the same thing on my ZJ a couple days ago with the whole bedliner thing. Love the fact that if you scratch it, just spray some on and your good.
 
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#35 ·
With all the snow that we get in utah, this wouldn't be realistic. Unique though, I would have never thought of this.
 
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Discussion starter · #37 ·
tharlanjr said:
Where is your exhaust routed?

How hard was it to take that off?
Click to expand...
My exhaust has a 3inch magnaflow cat, then a super short muffler, and has a turn down right after my t-case. It comes out in front of my passenger rear tire. With the claytons its hard to run a tailpipe to the rear.

As for taking it off, its a 5 minute job. Theres two wire harnesses, one on each side at the top. Remove those, unhook the gas shocks, and then its two bolts per side on the hinges. Comes right off. Have a helper though, that suckers heavy.
 
#38 ·
You don't worry about the exhaust coming inside the jeep?

I used to run it like that on my last ZJ, loved the sound but on this one I went all the way back with it. I have been thinking about doing a turn down again but worry too much about the fumes.
 
#39 ·
have you thought about structural integrity?
 
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Discussion starter · #40 ·
yes, but with the frame stiffeners that come with claytons kit, plus the two extra crossmembers I have added, and the sliders welded in 3 places on each side, they more than make up for what the hatch was doing. I have wheeled it hard, and its stiffer now than it was from the factory.
 
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ZJGrandMaster
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