The things that have kept me from wheeling

I just figure since I am dying to to go wheeling, but have had to pass up like 10 opportunities to go in the last couple months, I might as well let you guys see what I have been up to.

So here is what I have been doing to my jeep cherokee thats been keeping me off the trails since the last time I wheeled back in January with you all.

First I put some hood vents in it, but yea not a big deal.



Then I spent some time installing my clayton 3 link long arms upgrade (which I still haven't trail tested!!) that replaced my original rubicon express short arms.



Definately a sweet setup. It is a true 3 link so there is no binding in the system when it flexes, and it uses johny joints on all ends so no crappy stock bushings. As you can see I also had to weld in a bridge over my diff and attached it to my truss.



I also welded it into the frame rails.



After getting that done in January, I started working on my transfer case. I had a 231 in my jeep and it had a bad bearing. I decided that I didn't want to just fix it since I had already rebuilt the whole case recently and don't want to go through all the work again just to have a stock setup.

So instead I took the opportunity to upgrade... big time.

I decided to buy a Klune V crawlbox:



...and mate it to a twin stick dana 300 transfercase out of an 86 cj:



I had to flip the dana 300 to make it drivers side drop, so in order to do that and have twin sticks, I bought some NW fab cable shifters.





So aquiring all those parts took me until about the middle of February when I finally got to start installing everything. However, this was a pretty complicated project. It required a ton of research and some experimenting. So I figure I might as well walk through all that I have done.

I tend to only have weekends free to work on this so I spent my first weekend disassembling the dana 300 and putting new seals in it. Luckily it was in great condition and didn't need new bearings.




Notice it is an all gear driven transfercase that means no more bicycle chain like the normal jeep transfercases.



This is what I mean by experimenting. Because a front 231 yoke is the same spline count as the d300, I was able to use two front 231 yokes in place of the d300 yokes so that I could use double cardon driveshafts instead of the single u-joint shafts that originally came on the cj.



Here are all the seals pulled:



Next I had to cut off the old shifter mount due to the design of the cable shifter I bought needing to have it removed:





Next I cleaned everything up in the parts cleaner:



Then I tapped and installed an oil sight tube:



Then I came to realize the input shaft on the klune was too long. So I did some more experimenting using a spare 231 case I had from a tj and figured out that the planetary gears used in the klune V are the exact same ones used in a 231 case accept it has 6 planetaries instead of 3, so I could swap my 231 input shaft into my klune planetaries.



Next I pulled apart my center console:



...and did some cutting and installed these shifters in place of the stock shifter:



Next I installed the shift fork rod covers that I came to realize my d300 was missing.



And painted everything to make it look shiny:



Then I realized that in order to have the klune shifter pointing up and be able to clock the transfercase to where I want it, I would have to buy a clocking ring. So I had another week for that.



Then finally it came and I pulled my transfercase about a week and a half ago:



and test fitted the setup:



Then I had to take it back out to do some more stuff. First swapped my 231 short input gear into the klune planetaries:



And rotated the shifter to the correct position for my application:



Then I bolted everything together this time sealing everything with RTV and installed some breathers and sight tubes and filled them with oil.





And here she is finally permanently bolted in with crossmember back on.





And the shifter cable bracket installed:



And after about a month and a half since starting the "install" that's how it sits today.

I still need to cut a hole in the floor to install the klune V shifter and drill a hole for the cables going to the d300.

I dropped off my driveshafts at a driveline place yesterday to shorten the rear and lengthen the front about 2 inches. I was hoping to get them back today and maybe try to finish everything tonight and go wheeling with you guys tommorow, but they won't be ready till tommorow. Oh well. All I can say though is I seriously can't wait to get everything finished up so I can get back out there on the trails with you guys. Hope you guys enjoyed my novel

that thing is going to be SWEEEEET!!!! it's going to be like a mule, not even a goat....slow and steady. Now just get some serious tires that get real sticky when you spin them on the rocks. Watch out!!!!!!

Haha yea i can't wait to trail test it. I went with this so I could have a much stronger case and keep my stock low gearing of 2.72 for looser stuff/higher speed plus have super low gearing for crawling rocks. I will basically have triple sticks too which will allow me to do front digs and have front only low and rear only low when needed in tight corners. Definately going to be sweet.

Wow this is awesome! I want ha ha. I'm really liking that three link, this is certainly in the future for my rig.

Awesome

Thanks guys it's been a lot of work but it'll be worth it. I got the drive shafts back on yesterday so it finally drives again. I just need to finish up connecting the shifters now so I can shift the t-case.

damn nice looking upgrades

What a lot of work but it'll crawl so beautifully!

Sweet!

Thanks everyone for the motivation!

Here are some more pictures on my progress:

Here are the 3 drive shafts I got resized. (one extra in case I break both the other ones).



Installed the rear no problem:



The front comes too close to the crossmember though:





But I halfway expected that, so I am going to have to cut a section out of my crossmember to allow it to flex fully without hitting the driveshaft on the crossmember.

I cut a hole for the klune shifter this past weekend:







And I did some more cutting and mounted the double cable shifter in the drivers side for the d300.




Had to bend some brackets to make the shifters point upwards.



And here is the Semi-Final Product:



Now I just need to find a way to seal all the holes up to keep water out, and hook up the cables to the shifters and I will be done finally!! Oh...and I gotta go cut out a section of the crossmember and figure out a skid plate for it.

Like a BOSS!

Nice work man, I can't wait to see this thing out on the trails!

That's a ridiculous setup. Very nice.

What axles and tires are you running? It looks like an HP30 up front and a D35 in the rear, but I'm hoping that's an 8.25 instead...

8.25! Chromos all around, this guy knows his stuff

Deacon wrote:

That's a ridiculous setup. Very nice.

What axles and tires are you running? It looks like an HP30 up front and a D35 in the rear, but I'm hoping that's an 8.25 instead...

Yea I have a HP30 trussed/gusseted/welded C's up front with chromo shafts, and the rear is a 29 spline 8.25 with chromo shafts.

Not sure if I mentioned it, but the klune is the "goliath" version not the "david" so that means it is only a 2.7:1 reduction instead of the 4:1 reduction. This means I will have the following gear choices: 2.6:1, 2.71:1, and like 7:1 (not the 10:1 that I would get with a 4:1 crawlbox). I am pretty light on the throttle so my axles should be able to handle it...if they break I have extra shafts...and I will probably upgrade to tons... I should be fine though.

I got a lot done on the jeep this weekend and it is finally trail worthy again!!! who wants to go wheeling!?

Here is what I did this weekend to get the jeep ready for the trails again:

-I Cut out a section of the crossmember. Now I have plenty of room for the driveshaft even at full flex. It's not that pretty but it gets the job done:





-I installed my new 27" stainless steel brakelines and flushed the brake fluid. Now they don't look like stretched out banjo strings when I flex out the front anymore.



-I set the front pinion angle higher by lengthening the upper control arm in order to fix the front driveshaft vibrations :

Before:



After:



-I finally bought a spare tire. The matching rim should come in on monday.



-I cleaned out my fuel injectors using a vacuum pump and injector cleaner and then I rebuilt them with new filters/o-rings/pintle caps.






-Then today I installed a boot on the bottom of my cable shifter unit to make it water tight.








Final Product:



-Then hooked up the cables from the transfercase to the shifter and adjusted them.



-After that I went to a parking lot and tested out the shifters and the transfercase shifts perfectly.

-Finally, I decided to drill & tap holes to install my transfercase skid plate. I eventually plan to fab a fully belly skid plate and additional crossmember to support the added weight of the transfercase, but this will be fine for now.



So yea 3 months have gone by since I first started this doubler and transfercase project, and finally after hours upon hours of work, I can officially say the install is done!

Can't wait to trail test it, anyone planning on wheeling next weekend or the weekend after next?

Great work man! I think my Next 2 trips will be Wheelers for the wounded at Hidden Falls, and Cinco Day Mayo at K2

Correction, I thnk I meant Memorial Day at K2. Wheelers for the Wounded is May fifth

Yea man I will probably be able to go to both of those, I have been wanting to check out k2 for awhile.

I will probably be trying to wheel at least 1 or 2 times in April too now that my jeep finally works. If anyone has any plans let me know I would love to tag along.

I am so pumped for K2. Let me know if you head out there

IntenseBlueSwamper wrote:

I am so pumped for K2. Let me know if you head out there

Ya man i definately want to go, especially now that I have a doubler

I'll plan on going with you the memorial day and I'll definately let you know if I end up making plans to go sooner in April in addition to that weekend.

Sounds good man!

That project took a lot of planning, patience know-how and $$$. I'm sure you will enjoy it on the trail. Congrats on a job well done.

Dam, all I've done lately is put new windshield wipers on and that broke my budget.

Haha yea that's why I went with an xj instead of jk so I could spend the difference in upgrades and not feel as bad about it. I am going to be finally using the jeep this weekend at hidden falls can't wait!