got the crossmember mounted up. its not done yet but it is done enough to hold everything in place. i will be cleaning the crossmember up and reinforcing some areas and also building a tcase skid plate attached to the back side of the crossmember






then i went out and pulled the trigger on a new truck.... brought home a 2008 dodge cummins 2500 6.7L quad cab short bed pickup. here is my new truck compared to my old 1/2 ton dodge

 

Yeah but it's still a Dodge...

 

O but its got power and style unlike a chevy

 

Nice tugger dude!

 

Got a little more done the other night

welded on the upper link mount and started my tcase skid plate. it is just a bent piece of 1.5x.120 tubing that i will plate the bottom of. also started boxing off one end of the crossmember. have one more side to box in and then plate the tcase skid and its all done!

 

Keep it going can't wait to see the three link.

 

finished boxing off the ends and got it mounted so i could move the jeep

 

Looks good how to do mine here soon

 

so instead of pulling the front end out and geting the links all together i decided to start prepping and building the upper coilover hoops. in order to do this i have to move my battery to the back of my jeep, tear out the whole AC system and throw it away, move my fuse block, move my coolant reservoir, move my ARB compressor, and move my PSE power steering reservoir.

i started by pulling out the whole AC system, the battery, the fuse block, and my coolant bottle. this should give me enough room to get the upper hoop done and then piece back together everything i pull out

 

i finally got both sides of the engine bay pulled apart in preparation for the coilover hoops. i then began cutting holes in the fender wells to fit my hoops in. they are then attached to my front frame stiffeners. i will also be adding a bar that goes over the motor to tie in both coilover hoops to add some side to side strength.

cut out one fender well so the hoop will slide up into the engine bay


bent my two coilover hoops. using 1.5"x.120 tubing. i will be using 14" travel coilovers so i cut these down to compensate for the coilover length


bottom of the hoops are attached to the frame stiffeners


upper part of the hoop clears the master cylinder enough so that if i ever need to replace it i can still pull it off


both hoops set in place. cant complete the finish welds until i get the coilovers and make sure everything fits right.


the only hiccup i had was that i wasnt able to push the hoops as far back as i would have liked. i didnt want to lengthen the wheel base any further as i am at 108" right now. but with the master cylinder in the way i will have to push the front axle forward a few more inches. next step is to pull the front leaf springs out and start mounting all the new mounts for the lower links and upper link.

 

pulled the front leafs off and pushed the axle forward so that the coilovers will be perpendicular to the ground. this pushes the axle forward about 2 inches.




i also bought a pair of new 14" Rock Equipment coilovers from a guy off Pirate4x4.com. they should be here in a week or so. next step is to cut off all the old mounts on the axle and frame and start welding on the new ones

 

U still running the D44 or u upgraded to a D60?

 

Im still running the 44. I think im going to leave it because i havent had any issues with it with only running the I6 and 35s. I am "trying" to keep this as light as i can also

 

Cool man! Waiting to see what u come up with for the axle brackets. Looking good

 

Well i have some axle brackets that just need to be welded on for the lower arms. Then i need to get an upper arm mount made