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Day 5

Not much happened this weekend. I did the final welding on the bottom side of the frame brackets and the axle brackets. I added the coil and shock mounts. And I flipped the frame right side up.

My Jeep's on-board Premier Power Welder came in handy here. It had no problem welding the 1/4" brackets to the 1/2" axle tube. With all the smoke produced by the sticks' flux a particulate filter was a must, even with the garage doors open.

I also got u-bolt yokes for my Dana 60 axles from Tom Woods. Spicer doesn't make u-bolt yokes anymore, so companies like this make their own. Here you can see the difference between the Spicer yoke with straps and the new yokes.

Days 6 and 7

Nothing exciting happening here. Cleaned and primed the previously welded brackets on the frame and rear axle. Took out the front axle and doing some much needed maintenance on it. Slowly taking things off the old body and frame.

Days 7 to 10

After the paint dried, I assembled the rear suspension and adjusted the control arms to straighten and center the axle.

Based on a recomendation, I checked the alignment of the axle coil bucket with the frame's coil bucket.

They don't align well, so I cut off the frame bucket, and doing so without damaging them wasn't easy. The inside front has tight access to the weld, I had to use a Dremel with cut off wheels to cut it down. I moved them back against the gas tank crossmember which lines them up well with the axle. This also leveled them out so they are parallel with the axle bucket.

I redid my axle brake lines. I welded a bolt to the new truss to mount the 'T' as the main line will go along the UCA.

The lines follow the truss down to the axle then go back around the spring perch.

At the caliper ends I fabricated a U shape out of 16 gauge steel and welded them to the new shock mounts. The lines slide in and I bend the tabs to hold them in place.

The front axle created a big problem. It was made close to stock width for a leaf sprung YJ, but the steering knuckles and inner C are so big, they don't allow the coil perch to go out far enough. The coils are supposed to be 37" center to center, the best I could do is 34".

That 1.5" difference from the top to the bottom of the coil could cause long term warpage of the spring, or even binding. After considering a lot of options, I decided to mount the perch on the C, and hack some of the perch so it only rises 2". To compensate at the top of the coil, I'll cut off the frame's shock/coil mount and will weld it back 2" higher.

I already cut off one frame bracket, I'll keep the other in place as reference until I'm done the one side. I used cut off wheels on my angle grinder, die grinder, and Dremel. I would change to a smaller tool as space got too tight.

I left a piece of the bottom of the bucket to help with alignment when I put it back on. This also made for less weld removal and less work.

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