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Thor! My 93 ZJ. 8 in Long Arm

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Discussion starter · #62 · (Edited)
Well... I did the d44 axle swap today. Went out to the shop to borrow a truck and this is what I saw. First time I had seen it during the day.
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Here's a close up...
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So I went out to the junkyard and pulled this beauty... a d44 out of a 82 ish wagoneer with the 360. Don't worry its upside down in the pic. It is a driver side diff.
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I then went home and started the tear down.
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An hour later I had this...
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And here's the damage...
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Well then I started on my 44. I got it stripped down and plasma cut all the brackets off. I got new pads and rotors for it. Also paint and caliber paint to make it look nice. I order some ballistic fab brackets for it. They should be in in a few days. In the mean time I'm working on the truss. Going to be a bridge over the diff for the 3 link mount and the a truss down the long side axle tube.

Cool thing about the waggy axle is the width stays the same so my beefy IRO steering will still work. Too bad it came with 2.72 gears. Hahaha. Ya... that tall. So um regearing both to 4.88.

Well that's all for today . Sorry forgot to snap a pic of the axle as I left it. I'll get some when the truss is done.
 
#63 ·
Dam,that is trashed d30..lol
U better start thinking about a cage if ur going to be running with out a hatch.I have seen first thing wat happen if theres no hatch and no cage.Jeep starts to rip apart.ur very back windows will be one of the first things to break!!
 
#64 ·
That is so sad/cool! I don't know what to say other than congrats and I'm glad you are getting it back together.
 
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#65 ·
faststang1 said:
Dam,that is trashed d30..lol
U better start thinking about a cage if ur going to be running with out a hatch.I have seen first thing wat happen if theres no hatch and no cage.Jeep starts to rip apart.ur very back windows will be one of the first things to break!!
Click to expand...
In page.... I don't remember, but he stated he will be fine for now. He has enough support under there to run cageless.

Great build. Nice job on the d30 :)
 
#66 ·
96Redzj said:
In page.... I don't remember, but he stated he will be fine for now. He has enough support under there to run cageless.

Great build. Nice job on the d30 :)
Click to expand...
LOL...sliders,bumper and clayton stiffeners dont make up for running no rear hatch!!
 
Discussion starter · #67 · (Edited)
Well did some more work today... here's how she looked this morning.
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And then I grinded the tubes smooth...
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And the pulled apart everything and rebuilt it. New brakes, repacked bearings, cleaned / painted calipers and brackets ect.
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This is how it looks now...
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It's like a new axle. Didn't paint the tubes yet cuz it needs brackets. Still didn't arrive yet. But its ready for the truss. Then it can go under the jeep.

As far as the hatch goes. I'm not even gonna go there. I've beat it to death. I just say it doesn't do half what people think. You'd think from them your jeep will magically fall apart and the world will get sucked into a black hole without it.

But don't worry. A 12 point cage is in the works as well as p
3/16 plate from end to end on the "frame". Yes my zj will have a frame. Yours won't.
 
Discussion starter · #68 ·
Forgot to mention the best part. Afterward I decided to tear apart the 30 for giggles. Well the shafts were both bad (short side cv torn apart and long side had a WICKED bend but not broke) and the unit bearing was only a week old. Well anyway it was all under warranty and I got $220 bucks back by returning my parts. Haha. That more than paid for my 44 and that's not counting the locker I get to sell. So I made $ buy going bigger. Sweet.
 
Discussion starter · #69 ·
Well... its in. It was done Tuesday night... yes in 10 degree weather and snow. Both Sean and Kevin from txpro went above and beyond once again. I won't specify how... but I owe those guys something special. Both would not stop until I could drive to work Wednesday. And its a long story buy let's say nothing went as smooth as its planned. But what ever does.



Anyway... im more than pleased with the results but Sean would like to put a few additional touches on it before he calls it finished ( is this guy great or what ) . So for now I can only show u a few teaser shots of during the build. I'll show you the finished work of art when he says its done.



Here's the ballistic brackets.
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And them laid out...
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The start of the build...
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Showing off seans amazing fab work and beautiful welds...
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And the teaser of the upper 3 link mount bridge. Yes its 1/4 plate. As well as all the brackets. Also for where the upper link mounted Sean doubled it up so its 1/2 thick where it mounts.
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Seeing Sean fabricate on the fly is truly impressive and his welds are second to none. If you can picture it... he can build it.



I'll leave u with that.... as always if you need ANYTHING for your car truck or suv. Call txpro first. Beat price and best damn service I've seen in the ten years I've been wheeling. What these guys do for customers is unheard of. Thanks sean, Kevin and the rest of txpro. You guys really do ROCK Texas.
 
Discussion starter · #71 ·
Update huh ? Well the good news is I got a call from Txpro yesterday and my gears are hear.

The bad news is .... I forgot to post last Thursday I finally cooked my trans. I can't complain, the original trans lasted 190,000 miles. It just couldn't handle that 5.9, have I said it enough that this motors ****ing awesome ?

Anyway AAMCO has had my jeep since last Thursday I should get it back Friday. They said there was so much metal in the pan it was clogging the filter enough to lose drive. Still don't the final report of what let go inside.

But now im looking at two brand new axles, a new t-case, a fresh motor and now a brand new trans. It should last another 190,000 miles. Or 1000 with the way I drive. Haha.
 
Discussion starter · #73 ·
Well, no luck with the trans yet. AAMCO said the pump bushing went out, and took pretty much everything. Gonna get a full rebuild and a new torque converter. Not a bad way to spend $2200 dollars. OUCH!!!!!

Anyway, got my HID pics up finally, and figured id do a write up. I replaced the 4 130W bulbs in my current lights with a 55w HID kit.

So heres the kit, with 4 new HID bulbs and 4 ballasts. Also includes all weather pack connectors. (only 2 lights in the pic)

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And heres the bulbs... (went with 8000k, pretty damn bright white, with a hint of blue)
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Putting the bulbs in the housing....

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And the soldiering heat shrink (im a stickler for details, no hack jobs here)

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Putting the lights back together...

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A mock up of where im hiding the ballast / ignitors... Its under my air filter, against the heat shiled.

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A pick of all 4 ignitors mounted... Came out real clean, with the filter installed, you never see them.

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And a shot of the HIDs on, and yes the headlights are on in this pic, but doesnt even show up... (pics never do lights justice)

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Overall Im pretty damn happy. I love the light output, puts the old 130W bulbs to shame.
 
Discussion starter · #80 · (Edited)
Alright, so I FNALLY got around to regearing this beast. Went with 4.56's. Perfect match for 35's. Puts it back exactly to the stock rpm range. OMG it changed the whole vehicle. Everything feels even peppier than before. I can crusie at 70mph, in OVERDRIVE finally. Its nice to feel the tranny do what it should. It its got power everywhere. I love it. not to mention........ 1st gear LOW, is nonexistant. haha. I LOVE it. I cant wait to crawl with this thing. It tachs out like 4000rpm at 3 mph.

Anyway, heres the scoop. Gears ready to go in, (yukons in back, USA gear in front)

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and getting it up on the lift to take it apart

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Heres the front carrier coming apart...

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Pulling the old pinion bearing off...

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Pinion bearing on the new pinion (im a cheap *** this time, re-used all bearings)

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Ring gear ready to go on....

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Carrier and Gear done and ready to go in...

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AND...... the final result

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and close up

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I ****ING love the front pattern. I want to marry it. lol It went together awesome, and after running the pattern once, I switched .010 from one side to the other, and BAM, its ****ing golden. The pattern is perfect. Right dead in the middle of the gear. =)

I didnt take any pics of the rear. I started the front at 11am and finished at 430-500 ish. I started the rear and it was getting late and I just wanted to be done. It basically went the same as the front..... EXCEPT, I had a horrible time getting a good pattern. Damn aluminum D44a is probably so warped from 13 years that it didnt help. I took it apart 3 times, first time, it wouldnt even turn the gears, just clash. SO i took it apart I shimmed the pinion bearing closer to the ring gear. Then tried. Ended up better, but the pattern was still right on the toe on the drive side. Coast side wasnt bad at all. I then moved .010 from the ring gear side to the non side, and it would spin better, the pattern was closer to the center, but backlash was worse. (.012-.14) ughh. So I finally I added another .010 shim and called it a day. It ended up with .008-.010 of backlash, which is fine, and a pattern I can live with. Hell, with an aluminum rear end, every time I heat it up, the pattern probably changes. hahaha. Sean put it best with, "who the hell runs an aluminum rear end"??? lol.

So its done, and its a freaking beast. I love my new 4.56's.
 
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ZJGrandMaster
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