Sinking Creek 4WD Association

Well, I guess now is as good a time as ever to start an actual build thread on the LJ. So I bought last may and by September I had a 3 inch lift on 33's, nothing special. This past winter i had plans for a small block mopar swap, but that died in the water do to issues with wrangling the pixies for the confusers. So this spring, i decided on a one ton swap and two days later with the help of corys Frankenstein 1500 goat, I brought home a Dana 60 CAD and Dana 70 out of a burned down '01 2500 Cummins. I also scored a set of H1 wheels and 37 12.50x16.5 goodyear Military OZ's.

After about a month of tinker with the new axles I had all the Dodge Brackets off, and came to realize that I was gonna need to order a new set of 37s because the ones i had had been burnt and dry rotted beyond saving. This was also the time i finally picked out and ordered my lift kit, A rough country 6 inch longarm no welding required. I also ordered a rubicon express axle bracket kit, which just so happened to come with a truss that it wasnt supposed to come with...

Next big expenditure...... I ordered up Yukon 5.13 rings an pinions for from and rear, thick cut for the front so I wouldnt have to replace the carrier and 5.13 is way above the carrier split and the axles originally came with 3.55's. As for lockers I opted for a Miller locker on the front axle and a Detroit Locker for the rear.

Slowly but surely, with the help of Sam and Alec and quite a few others, and a more than a few beers they started to look more and more like TJ axles. WE finally got the axles welded up after a nightmare with the front pumpkin being conveniently wear control arm and spring mounts needed to go but we made it work.

Fast forward to last Friday, and the the Won Ton swap really began!!!! Jacked up the LJ and dropped the drive shafts and started unbolting shit. Nips and Joyce hung around for most all of it for much needed help, moral support and transportation to and from beer and sustenance. Dropped the factory hardware, slid out the 44 first and then it got real..... time to cut the factory lower control arm brackets... no turning back here boys. then we bolted up the new long arm mounts and slid the 70 into its new home, all the brackets lined up basically perfectly with almost no fuss.... except the originial shock bolts that nips and joyce broke off.......

day or two Later came the front... dropped the old axle and hardware like before, and cut the old control arm mounts..... Then the front axle swapped in just as well as the rear to my surprise. But there she was sitting on won tons for the first time, I teared up a little, lot of time and even m,ore money put into this thing at this point.... more of each than planned.

But now for steering and brakes.... I knew this part would be interesting because im dealing with one ton sized components and im trying to make them work with a TJ. As for the brakes, the banjo bolts for the TJ calipers and One ton calipers happen to be the same so i was able to just bolt the brake lines that came with the kit right up in the front, but had to do a bit a scorcery and mishmashing of old and new brake lines to get everything together, but sorted it all out in a couple hours. Bled the brakes and they seem to be solid (more so than before the swap) but wont really know until until i can actually drive the thing. Parking brakes remain non-existent at this point because the stock jeep, or new one ton parking brakes were not comaptible, but a place called Madison Power Systems out of Detroit says they can make the cables for me for about 70$ a cable, so that should be solved pretty soon, but who needs a parking brake with manual transmission anyway, besides cory....

Steering.... For financial reasons i decided to stick with the shitty y stock one ton steering for the time being, which was all fine and dandy until my fear was confirmed and the drag link tie rod end on the one ton steering was wayyyyy to big for the tj pitman arms..... but by shear curiosity i stumbled upon another strange perfect fit from the dodge 3/4 ton pickup and my puny LJ... The shaft from the steering gear is the same on each.....and drop on a stock ram pitman arm happens to be the same as the drop pitman arm that came with my kit... SCORE!!!! so it steers now.

I also installed the posilock cable actuator for that DAMNED center axle disconnect that Chrsyler just had to have..... Cross that off the list.

Slip yolk Eliminator.... Done!


So at this point all I need is my new driveshafts, Parking brake cables, and finish the rear shocks...... then its a test trip to potts baby! Cant wait to see all my money snap in half and go down the shitter


I was pretty bad about taking pictures so ther will be some to come....

You didn't mention how handy the ol ratcheting floppy dick was!

Here's a few pics I took

Heres some pictures.... in no certain order

Looks good man, glad it's coming together. Props for the parking lot swap

Saw this yesterday. Alison said "well that has to be someone you guys know" lol

BadAssEddie wrote:Looks good man, glad it's coming together. Props for the parking lot swap

Saw this yesterday. Alison said "well that has to be someone you guys know" lol

Ahhh Foxridge parking lot wrenching.

Time for an update on your terrible death wobble?

Death wobble update..... dual steering stabilizer almost remedied it. im thinking its either a caster issue or tire balance issue probably both

Badass dude! cant wait to see it on the trail!

So on my second ever trip to Potts trying to climb an obstacle and at full lock, my front driver ujoint and axle shaft decided to shit the bed and riddle the forest floor with shrapnel
Attempting to locate the parts now but it's looking like it'll be a cheaper fix than I originally thought. But I need to figure out a way to change my steering stops, because with the Lincoln locked front axle I'm just putting too much stress on the joints at full lock. There's no way to adjust them as the axle sits stock so I'm gonna rig something up. Any ideas?

Recreate the stock-type stops on your knuckle.

Weld a nut to the knuckle and use a bolt as the stop. Clearance your ears on the new shafts to gain more steering angle and adjust the stops to engage just before the ear and yoke kiss. I had the same problem on my stock 60 shafts. They would bind oh-so-slightly at full lock which most of the time was fine but sawing back and forth with wheel speed would cause the momentum to snap them everytime.

Idk, what your replacement plans are but use the SPL-553X Spicer Forged Joints. If you do decide to go with chromos, the cheapest route (at least when I did it) were USA Standard Gear shafts on Amazon (~$700), those Spicer joints (~$120), and TG Dana 60 drive flanges (~$200) for Dodges (I had to machine to fit, but you shouldn't).

Chromos aren't actually an option right now. Since it has that stupid disconnect and 32 spline shafts. I'm gonna go to bills and get a new shaft,stub, and ujoint. But I am gonna try to do something like you said with the stops. That should at least help keep me from putting them in such a bind next time. Locking hubs, a solid passenger side shaft, and chromos all around is eventually going to be a thing though. But the hubs are an expensive conversion on its own.

Turd Ferguson wrote:Chromos aren't actually an option right now. Since it has that stupid disconnect and 32 spline shafts. I'm gonna go to bills and get a new shaft,stub, and ujoint. But I am gonna try to do something like you said with the stops. That should at least help keep me from putting them in such a bind next time. Locking hubs, a solid passenger side shaft, and chromos all around is eventually going to be a thing though. But the hubs are an expensive conversion on its own.

Forgot you had that disconnect axle. I think you should be fine with stock shafts if you can keep the ears from binding. It might be worth putting new joints in the replacement shafts to remove a potential weak link, unfortunately most times when a joint lets go, you trash the shafts too. That doesn't really help if you are trying to fix it today, but maybe food for though for spares or whatever.

Another upgrade you should consider while you've got the shafts out is converting to full circle clips. I assume it's the same process as a D44, just requires a grinder and the right size snap rings. Good quality u-joints with full circle clips will add a lot of strength for very little money. Make sure the U-joints you use are not the greasable kind. I'm thinking your u-joint let go first and the shock wave from that snapped the shaft.

Oops