Offroad-Express

some more photos

and some more

More photos coming soon.

careful mate ..be to big to get outta ya shed........

yeti wrote:careful mate ..be to big to get outta ya shed........

It will be, have thought of this already - deflating the factory 27inch (i think thats all they are) tyres should get her out haha

Great build you have going,bet you can't wait to get it out and articulate those axles.Have you sorted your handbrake cables for the 8.8 ? Mountain off road enterprises makes them specifically for your app, have their cables in my wrangler . Dana 30's hold up really well with decent axles running 35's, steering linkage becomes the weak link.

Welcome mike, sounds like you are a knowledgeable Jeep guy

Earlier I made a comment about the worked HP D30 being at least on par with a stock D44.

This sounds a bit gung ho so I thought I would clarify - was just talking about the internals of this particular setup & considering the power/weight of the vehicle. Obviously the 44 is a heavier grade axle and bigger in every way, including (and importantly) the axle tubes and casing

So a question..if this was your rig and you were planning to run 35s locked, would you truss/upgrade the D30 case/tubes?

Chipin in. Im not sure 35's even require 4030 in the HPD30 considering we're only really running mud/clay/sand down here in NZ. Its a locked setup getting air and coming down hard onto rock that I would see causing breakages. I'm sussing clearance, then Ill do the ZJ upgrade and finally with 35's I just plan on carrying a spare set of axles for the bigger trips..... I will probably come to rue the day I wrote this - haha

In my experience,no need to truss or beef the d30 housing. When I lived in Las Vegas and wheeled with the Vegas valley 4wheelers and Total Karnage clubs their was dozens of rigs running d30's locked with up to 37's and no issues. A little finesse ,decent shafts and steering and they are remarkably resilient. Mine has endured ten years ,I will replace ball joints soon and have done one unit bearing ($75 usd ).
If you need components I still have very good connections in the States for anything jeep, all wholesale.
Cheers Mike

Superswampermike wrote:Great build you have going,bet you can't wait to get it out and articulate those axles.Have you sorted your handbrake cables for the 8.8 ? Mountain off road enterprises makes them specifically for your app, have their cables in my wrangler . Dana 30's hold up really well with decent axles running 35's, steering linkage becomes the weak link.

Cheers Mike. Really looking forward to completion, but there's still a lot to work out. I'm not to worried about handbrake cables on the ford, I could easily bend the factory cable and use a cable clamp, but I'm not sure if that will pass cert. Reference to - http://www.powerblocktv.com/episodes/TK ... kee-part-3

Steering is going to be an issue, I thought I found someone in the states that did a bolt on high steer kit for a RHD but no go. At the moment I think I'm stuck with over the knuckle by IRO (unless someone else has some better options).

I guess I'm not too confident in the Dana 30's housing strength after bending my Safari GQ front axle which gave me some nice camber. Mind you I won't be doing silly s**t in this beast.

Sorry haven't been on here in a while just haven't found a good solid time to get some new photos on here.

I've got the rear axle (dana 35) out now, the new leafs are in (not torqued) and the ford 8.8 axle is in but not aligned. - Thanks for your help in the weekend Wayne.

Going to get the diff aligned, pinion angle set tomorrow night all going well and get the brackets fully welded this weekend on Saturday. (won't be rushing in to the ford truss brace welded on just yet).

I'll be sure to get some photos up later this week.

I guess I'm not too confident in the Dana 30's housing strength after bending my Safari GQ front axle which gave me some nice camber

I thought they didnt break.
There is a school of thought that suggests that housing flex in this axle leads to gear failure...Although it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when breakage occurs. Whether or not aftermarket gears 'solve' this problem is another question.

Can a Built Dana 30 Handle 37s? (A question in the January 2008 Fourwheeler Magazine 'Techline') -Article here http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Dana30.shtml

sweet as ....will drop trolleys off tonight ....ox locker comes with a heavy duty front plate ..they reckon that helps with the so called flex of housing ....reckon ya 30 be sweet as ..haven't killed mine ....yet

Roll on the photos!

And some more!

more!!

and some more!

more..

and some more

more more more

and some more

RHD track bar and bracket arrived yesterday

Nice.

I would like to build one of these with an Isuzu diesel in it.

Matt.

todays small efforts

hack and tap done ...nice work

yeti wrote:hack and tap done ...nice work

yeah mate, forgot to put the boot on (bloody amateur ae) lol

For bolt on parts this build is taking forever ha I wana see this done asap

the hack and tap is really ezy to put on it only took me 30mins to put on

XJCrawler wrote:RHD track bar and bracket arrived yesterday

can you let me no if it fits they are having problems with the track bar fitting with out hitting anything its when you have the wheel turned all the way to the left they mainly having the problem with the rhd over the nucle steering sistom hitting the track bar

I just chip away at it when I have some free time. Waiting on another shipment at the moment. Track bar fits nicely, waiting for IRO over the knuckle steering to arrive.