It's begun...

Thanks for stopping by. Well not much has happened yet. I bought a jeep, a piece of shit mind you off ebay (never do that). Long story short, it ran for about one day and now has an electrical problem. No worries though, the plan was to convert it to diesel all along. That's the last thing I'll say about that.First thing is first, I sourced stronger axles from the junkyard and have started cleaning them up.  I used:

• 1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer - Front Dana 44 Axle Assembly
• 1998 Ford Exploder V8 - Rear Ford 8.8 Axle Assembly (w/ disc)

Things I've learned from this. Don't worry about paying more then $500 for the pair ($250/each) , you spend plenty of money else where making these work.  Also, I'm not planning on beating this truck through hell. I'll be using it to drive daily and will probably go easy for the most part. There are stronger axles out there if you plan on giving it hell.Things that make these two axles work:

• You'll need similar gear ratios. The rear was a 3.73. I'll be using that and change the front ring and pinion to 3.73. Eventually tho, I'll probably run no 4wd till I can afford to re-gear the front.
• You'll have to remove all the old brackets that made it work on the old truck.
• Axle bracket kits, you'll need brackets for the front and rear axle. I chose the easier route and bought the correct brackets.. you could make them if you're that good.
• A set of two rear wheel adapters.  I chose to use the front bolt pattern off the Wagoneer axle (6x5.5"). I adapted the rear axle to match.
• I'm deciding to reuse the rotors for these and having them turned. The rotors are expensive for these trucks.
• Yoke Conversion, you may need the yoke conversion for the rear driveshaft. My junkyard left the back half of a driveshaft attached to the axle, so the converting piece was still bolted to the yoke.
• Your e-brake cable. Again the junkyard was feeling generous and left the one of the Exploder intact. I'll create a piece that mates the jeep cable with the Exploder cables.

More to come. Site is inprogress... stay tuned! 3-30-10 LJF