1984 Grand Waggy build. Engine Swap, axle swap, etc...

[lurch1980]

Hi.

I usually lurk and just read a lot of other peoples stuff, but on this one I figured I'd start a build thread and share it.

This will probably go a little slow since I have an upcoming surgery in a few weeks that will take me out of being able to work on the jeep for about 3 months, but then I should be able to get back to it and hopefully finish this by camping season in 2017.

The goal of this jeep is to haul the family around places in Colorado and to take us around in Moab. We like to run things like Hell's Revenge (Usually don't do too many of the optional stuff there) and Fins N' Things to give you an idea. I also want this to be able to tow out popup camper for camping trips.

I'm starting with a stock 84 Grand Waggy that has a seized 360 in it. I'm putting in the following.

- 99 Vortec 5.7/4l60e combo
- Staks three speed monster T-Case
- Super Duty D60/10.5 axles with 4.88 gears and Yukon Zip lockers
- hi steer, maybe Hydro assist too???
- 37s
- Hydro boost brakes
- Dakota Digital dash
- then just some cleanup for the exterior and interior

I'm planning on just out boarding the leaf springs right now. I did have plans, and actually have the kits to do a 3 link front, and a dual triangulated rear, but to get this going and the kids back up into the mountains I just want to use leafs.

Here are some pics of when I brought the Jeep home.

[Gumby]

That's a really nice rig you're starting with. Looking forward to this build too.

[lurch1980]

Thanks. The pics make it a little better than it is. There are little rust spots starting in a bunch of places, so I'm planning on some body work. The frame is pretty clean though, which was one of my biggest reasons for buying this particular jeep.

[rocklaurence]

You'll need a lot of lift for 37" with the small rear wheel well. Good luck and keep us posted.

[lurch1980]

Yeah, Basically I figure this a SOA/SF and I'm planning on trimming. I've even thought about putting bigger wheel wells in. I don't want to cut into the cargo area too much, but I want to run 37s with a lower center of gravity. I'll do what I have to but I refuse to hack it up and make it look like a drunk teenager found a sawzall, it will be clean.

[lurch1980]

I also forgot to mention above that I have a set of XJ pocket flares to open up the fenders. If that doesn't clear my 37s then I'll either modify the wheel wells or replace them.

[lurch1980]

So I'm in the hospital recovering and doing a fair amount of web surfing. I figured I'd post up the progress I made presurgery and some thoughts on the direction I want to go. I'm pretty sure I said it before but my ultimate goal is to have a clean built rig that I can drive to the trail, possible drive to Moab and pull my popup camper. It won't be a fully restored rig, but I want it to look nice, feel nice, and have some cool unique features if I can. Anyway, on to the pic and some thoughts.

The front clip is off and drivetrain is pulled.



Starting yesterday I'm down for 6 weeks minimum on lifting heavy parts. So I think I can look at some wiring.

I also think I will add a Vintage Air Magnum Gen IV. I cleans up the engine bay and gives me a dehumidifier when I"m running the defroster.

But there is a down side to me sitting here thinking about what I can do with this platform.... I had found cu4whln's build thread on ifsja.org and that totally mess with me. It's an awesome build and honestly more than I can do in my time frame, skill set, and financial budget I have for this. The thing that jumped out the most to me was his use of JK axles. It looks to me that JK axles can fit without having to modify the axle side mounts. Basically the frames are about the same width. You can see some decent pics here.

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthre ... 80&page=21

This matters because Artec Industries has a weld on truss to put Super Duty axles, like mine, in a JK.

http://www.artecindustries.com/JK_SD_60_1T_Swap

I like that because I get out of having to use coilovers if I wanted to do a linked setup. I'm thinking about all this, because I actually have front 3-link and rear dual triangulated link kit from Ruffstuff, but I decided to change directions because I wanted to avoid the coilovers. I felt that in the front I could have handled them well (as in a nice clean install) but in the rear I didn't want to cut into the cabin to accommodate coilovers.

So I guess I could do one of three setups.

1) just outboard the leaf springs and effectively do a SOA and shackle flip.
2) do a front coil spring setup using an artec truss ans JK parts, and/or I could use the front 3-link kit, with a leaf sprung rear axle (basically an XJ setup)
3) do a JK front link setup like above, but also do a rear link setup using coil spring.

I have some time to think about all this.