Norcal_Chris 95 Jeep build (Snowball) TH350 gurus

[NorCal_Chris]

Well for those that do not know I sold my blazer...alot of thought and it was decided the best thing to do for now.

Anyways this is what i picked up for 3500 bucks to mess with now.


The wife (and kid) love it. She has stolen it a few times to go to the store and enjoys learning more how to drive it.

It is a 95 with the o so peppy 2.5 4 banger. 5speed with a teralow 4.0 kit on the 231 with a SYE.

4.5in rubicon express extreme duty lift. Spring under. d30 front d35 rear with 4.56s. 33in bfg km2s with only 1k miles. Also a brand new 33in baja claw spare. And it has a hardtop wich is nice.
has some sort of way too loud muffler with no tailpipe that needs to be addressed.

I need to move some mounts around to mess with the shackle angle because it sucks right now. It starts up quick, runs nice and the MPFI is so much better than carb garbage.

Ive been reading and searching and trying to figure out what springs to shove under it and how to go about it. I think spring over is the way to go, but i dont want to waste money on these axles to replace em later. i think 35-37 is max tire size i would want so i have been researching the 8.8 ford rear and still undecided on the front.

Im gonna fab up some sliders for it, and make some rear corner armor as well as tube fenders. I do not want to be a buy and bolt on guy as i think that route sucks.
anyways here are some pics.

 

[raymos]

Sweet ride....for a Heep! . J/k


For real tho, cool ride. Lets see some wheelin pics.

 

[RollinKaos]

My friend has a '94 with a 2.5 in it. He is running a custom spring over pack and a 3 in body lift. Body lift is coming off soon though. He has 10 bolt diffs out of a early 80's K5 with 4.88 gears. He can do 70 mph on freeway no problem and not too high rpm either with 37" MTRs. Thing climbs like crazy, rides rough but has nice flex too it.

 

[1BEATK5]

I had a 97 with a 2.5, 4.88s and 31's. It was pretty peppy. I don't like yj's just because they ride like poo.

Anyhoo. If you want to spring over. 76' And older f150 axle. Narrowed to waggy width is a good setup. Not too wide. 80' And newer waggy axles are ok, but the front is low pinion, which wouldnt be a problem with a 2.5.

Rear axle. Waggy, or even a 72' and older Ford 60-2. Or a j-truck 60-2. Or older 60s era Ford 4x4 trucks had Dana 44 rears. I would avoid the 9" because of the low pinion offset screws you on driveshaft angle.

Just don't waste any money on the Dana 35. The Dana 30 front would be ok with a 1piece axleshaft kit in it.

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

Finally!!!

I gotta tell you guys.... The low-low in that thing is ridiculous!

 

[1970worthog]

I had a 97 with a 2.5, 4.88s and 31's. It was pretty peppy. I don't like yj's just because they ride like poo.

Anyhoo. If you want to spring over. 76' And older f150 axle. Narrowed to waggy width is a good setup. Not too wide. 80' And newer waggy axles are ok, but the front is low pinion, which wouldnt be a problem with a 2.5.

Rear axle. Waggy, or even a 72' and older Ford 60-2. Or a j-truck 60-2. Or older 60s era Ford 4x4 trucks had Dana 44 rears. I would avoid the 9" because of the low pinion offset screws you on driveshaft angle.

Just don't waste any money on the Dana 35. The Dana 30 front would be ok with a 1piece axleshaft kit in it.

Might check out the d44 rear axles that came out of the rodeos/passports
Ive read some came with a track lock and even 4.56s

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Finally!!!

I gotta tell you guys.... The low-low in that thing is ridiculous!

Try that 4:1 low with a trans that actually has a decent 1st gear

I need to move some mounts around to mess with the shackle angle because it sucks right now.

What do you mean?

i think 35-37 is max tire size i would want so i have been researching the 8.8 ford rear and still undecided on the front.

Ford 8.8 in the rear is a great choice, chromoly shafts and good later joints (i.e. TJ/D44 axle joints, and chromoly shafts setup for the bigger joints) are a great choice. Honestly, a D44 isn't much of an upgrade over a later D30 and I believe the YJ D30's will take TJ shafts/joints as a direct swap.

You will have axle wrap problems with the spring over if you go that route, honestly I'd think about links/coils.

 

[NorCal_Chris]

Try that 4:1 low with a trans that actually has a decent 1st gear




What do you mean?



Ford 8.8 in the rear is a great choice, chromoly shafts and good later joints (i.e. TJ/D44 axle joints, and chromoly shafts setup for the bigger joints) are a great choice. Honestly, a D44 isn't much of an upgrade over a later D30 and I believe the YJ D30's will take TJ shafts/joints as a direct swap.

You will have axle wrap problems with the spring over if you go that route, honestly I'd think about links/coils.

Lol 3.9 first isnt THAT bad. Plus this way i get a nice smooth easy shifting manual with overdrive

Well as it stands right now i have 2in of downtravel in the front from ride height. I want to kick the mount back a touch to get the shackle less vertical to gain some droop, and also since i do not need all that compression stroke.

My biggest iffy with this d30 is the vacuumn disconnect. It looks like a big pieice of trail breakage. if i could somehow get rid of that setup and have normal hubs i would be down to keep it.

I have also thought about links. If i can get my axle situation sorted out i think it could be a fairly easy to do option. I would run coils most likely and make my own brackets so i belive i could do it for fairly cheap. Plus then i could keep it low, since ive found most SOA jeeps are sky high.

 

[K85 Octane]

I'm flabbergasted and stunned. Wow! My heart hurts just a smig lol

cool, so we get a wrangler build going soon right?

 

[blazinzuk]

Keep the suspension the way it is I bet your shocks are limiting you, tube fender the front , crusher corners and cut out the rear wheel wells run 37s no problem, for the rear axle 8.8 is a great way to go, front honostly I think a custom dana 44 is worth the money

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

I have also thought about links. If i can get my axle situation sorted out i think it could be a fairly easy to do option. I would run coils most likely and make my own brackets so i belive i could do it for fairly cheap.

We both need links...

 

[shiner2001]

The 91 in my sig is my main trail rig. Originally had a 2.5, so when I did the engine swap, I had to re-learn how to actually shift all the way to 5th gear on the highway (I once got a speeding ticket with my 2.5 and 33's and was ecstatic). Good news about a 2.5 is you get the 4.10's. The Explorer 8.8 swap is a great (and easy) D35 replacement (and they also came in 4.10's). Grand Wagoneer D44 fronts are a good (and again, easy) swap for the D30, but that's not a terrible setup if you treat it right. Also, I highly recommend ditching the vacuum disco on the D30 if you keep it. The cable actuated unit (Posi Lok) is well worth it.

Happy Jeeping!!

 

[496truck]

It needs a small block. Just sayin.

The front D30, should be a high pinion IIRC. It's not a bad axle under a light rig like that up to a 35" tire. Ditch the vacuum disco, it's easy. Just go to the jy and pull a "one piece" axle shaft from a TJ or XJ. It'll swap right in. Then you just make a block off plate to bolt on to the axle tube. IIRC there is a seal you need to install inboard of the disco unit because the seal is currently outboard of it, have to remove the carrier to do so. And it will leak. And you will replace it. And it will leak. And you will replace it again. After a while I just lived with the drip. Maybe you can just run the outer seal or something, I dunno. I sold my S10 with YJ axles in it back in 2009 so it's been a while. There might be a kit with a premade block off plate and the seal or seals in it.

Ditch that D35 rear. Go find an Explorer 8.8 rear with an open diff and toss a lockrite in it. Then get a c-clip eliminator kit for it too. That way if you snap a shaft you can keep going or get off trail.

That little buggy will be surprisingly capable with 33s, slightly better with 35s. 37s may put you into the same territory you were at with the K5, not wanting to drive it. Plus you'll need bigger axles with 37s.

 

[big pappa b]

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

...Front, honostly I think a custom dana 44 is worth the money.

^ I keep saying this....
Eventually it'll stick...

If my 10b's survivin'.... A D44, built like mine, should be bullet-proof.
Under a Heep...

 

[NorCal_Chris]

little cute flexing this evening. Shocks are not the limiting factor. they still have about 2inches of travel.

front tire was able to be lifted 19inches before the rear started to pop up.

 

[mudmobeeler]

I had an 87 with a dana 44 and dana 60 out of 70s era ford 3/4 ton, had stock rear waggy leaf springs all they way around in spring over. The fronts were flipped around to stretch the front a lil bit. The rears were ran normal and stretch the rear back a lil bit. It cleared 36s easy and was very flexy. I dont remember the backspacing on the rims but the tires didnt stick out very much at all. Looked good. Unfortunately I never got it running and driving and had to sell it to pay bills.

Pics were on the day I brought it home. I dont have many others really.

 

[mudmobeeler]

Forgot to say your jeep looks good, lol.

 

[magik235]

The YJ looks good. Install an 8.8 in the rear, upgrades the D30 in front and eliminate the disconnect in front with a TJ style axle. Spring over axle with 2.5" BDS springs and 35s should make you happy and it will still be drivable so you don't end up with same predicament as your Blazer.

This is how I moved my shackle when I repaired my frame. The repair section height was increased 1.5 inches at the back edge to improve drainage and the shackle mounts were moved to the bottom of the repair section to increase ride height.

This is how my friend moved his shackle.

Shackle at full tuck, spring almost touching frame rail.

Full droop. The rear of the spring moves up/down a difference of about 5 inches, so at the axle it moves half that, so this little mod gained several inches of extra travel.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Lol 3.9 first isnt THAT bad.

That's much closer to second gear in a 465/4500

Well as it stands right now i have 2in of downtravel in the front from ride height. I want to kick the mount back a touch to get the shackle less vertical to gain some droop, and also since i do not need all that compression stroke.

FWIW, and most posts you'll see on the internet don't address it, putting more angle on the shackle in the way you describe makes the effective spring rate higher (stiffer), contrary to most of what you read. In some cases it does allow more droop travel but most don't bottom out the shackle in the first place.

My biggest iffy with this d30 is the vacuumn disconnect. It looks like a big pieice of trail breakage. if i could somehow get rid of that setup and have normal hubs i would be down to keep it.

I don't remember if that YJ has the D44 sized joints for the smaller 1310 sized axle joints but if it's the smaller ones, make that upgrade #1 after the rear axle. With a set of chromoly shafts and the bigger joints they do ok but the stock early YJ stuff couldn't be more fragile and makes 10 bolts look stout.