Just a quick post about what I'm working on now. . .
The axle swap is well underway and in the middle of that I've decided to do a shock shifter modifiction as well.
Some of you might know I picked up the stronger rear D44 axle out of the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon edition to replace my current rear axle. Along with a number of goodies it has the factory air locker in it which I'm looking forward to. So it is a strength and traction improvement.
All told the project is encompassing these major phases:
Axle Swap
This is the basic mechanics of getting the new axle installed and mechanically functional. Normally, the new axle is a straight bolt-in swap. But I needed to re-set the pinion angle as well as add lower shock mounts) and I'll be swapping out the pinion yoke for a different type.
Electrical Installation
The axle locker is air actuated and requires an air pump. This requires electricity and I'll be tapping into the Jeep's Power Distribution Center and opening up the dash to install the necessary relays, switches, and wiring harness.
Pump Mounting
The pump needs to be bolted under the hood, hooked up to electricity, and have the air hoses routed to the axle and to the firewall / air filter.
Shock Shifter
This is the biggest PITA of the project. Trying to re-design the suspension system. I'm basing it off of an existing aftermarket kit but otherwise having to reverse engineer it based on looking at internet photos. Normally it's a $130 kit but I can fab it up out of some scrap steel I have kicking about my garage. The tricky part is accounting for the movement of the axle. As the Jeep suspension cycles the axle moves left to right, up and down, and slightly forward or backwards, not to mention it also rotates slightly.
Step one: removal of the old axle from under the Jeep.
The new axle on jack stand so I could weld on
some mini-skids and box in the lower control
arm brackets. It helps to strengthen them as
well as provide a base mount for the shock shifters.
New axle under the Jeep. The suspension links
are loosely fitted and the springs, shocks, and
swaybar left out so I can flex the axle throughout
it's range of movement to check clearance for
the shock shifter mod.
I wanted to re-use my old OEM forged steel track
bar instead of the adjustable unit I was using.
This required modifying the factory track bar
mount since the rotation of the axle housing to
accommodate a different type of driveshaft got things
out of alignment. Only half of the bracket is fabbed
up right now. I'll make the other half once the axle
is pulled out from under the Jeep again for
final welding.
With the axle "located" with all the suspension links
and the housing re-set at ride height it was time
to work on the shock shifters. Here the mounting
tabs are bolted into place on the rear cross member.
To this I'll weld on various bits of steel for the upper
shock mounts.
A cardboard template and the piece of steel
I'm cutting for the upper shock bracket.
Compressing the axle to the bump stop to
check for shock clearances.