Project Baby Runner/Mini Crawler: R.J.'s Navajo Build

[R.J.]

as soon as someone wants to help me weld spring perches on for an SOA. any takers???

 

[carlover]

if you lived closer i could get it done...

 

[R.J.]

from BTF? im not that far from upland

 

[carlover]

he's in rancho which isnt that far from upland. im sure he'd do if for some beer lol.

 

[R.J.]

i might have to take that up with him

 

[mounty71]

It's about freakin time! Is that axle geared/locked already or will you need to have that done too?

 

[mounty71]

O ya, and why are you going SOA now, you getting new leafs? Which means also new shocks...you could maybe run outside the frame rails?

 

[R.J.]

gears and locker will be switched from the navajo axle. they'll interchange. over the axle for more ground clearace and maybe shocks outside the frame like fat cat had

 

[Dannyboy]

R.J.-good work on your choice of 8.8 full width. Get yourself some 44 knuckles to swap on for correct bolt pattern and bigger brakes, better hubs. I was at the junkyard saturday and saw all kinds of 44 TTBs sitting around there. I would have been pulling knuckles if I had a little more time, I had a lot of tools, but not everything I needed.

If you don't have access to this stuff I would be happy to make a trip back for you.

 

[R.J.]

thanks danny, wow really nice offer! im sure i can find all the parts out here, broncos are common in the junkyard, but it wold probably be cheaper where you live. to get the whole front axle, housing, hubs, diff, brakes, it's gonna be expensive. maybe on a half day sale it would be $200 if i can get it. oh im planning on using a complete d44 ttb front. that way it will be all stock parts hub to hub. just need the mounting brackets from autofab or mcneil and some radius arms. buuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttt thats another day

 

[Dannyboy]

yeah, I've looked at a full size 44 TTB, from what I read by the wise wizard 410, it would probably be easier to go solid front axle. I'm thinking if it was that easy, then Paul B., 410 and a few others would have gone that route.

Let me know if you scrap your front end. I'll throw some 44 outers on your beams and run them if you don't want to.

 

[410Fortune]

Only reason I dont have a D44 ttb under my BII is because I have so much $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and time into my d35 ttb, two sets of gears, ARB been fixed twice, custom shaft, all new tie rods, ball joints, hubs, bearings, rotors, we built the beams, duff drop brackets, skyjacker amrs, etc etc etc etc I think I can wheel this pig for a bit longer and focus on a body diet and full cage

D44 outers would be nice, I MAY go that route.

if I had won powerball I would order the Autofab D44 beams, brackets, radius arms, and steering then go to town with a engine cage, coilovers, ARB, 4.88, new wheels, etc etc
the basic Autofab D44 kit with steering pulls 19" with COILS, but its also about $5K for starters

doing it yourself would saev half, but John at Autofab knows his stuff its almost worth it to just buy them

AutoFAB = cry once and drive forever smiling

 

[CopyKat]

RJ you've already extended a set of D35 beams. Just need to do the same for a D44. Only need to go 1" per beam. You can then use your pivot brackets you have now.

A D44 TTB would be a walk in the park for you. You already have most if not all the connecting parts. I plan to do this to a buddies ranger as soon as my Junk is out of my shop.

The D44 outers are a nice upgrade. I'm glad I did mine. I should have just done the D44 to start with. I just need to find a D44/D50 pig with 4.10's and I'd giver on mine.

 

[Dannyboy]

RJ you've already extended a set of D35 beams. Just need to do the same for a D44. Only need to go 1" per beam. You can then use your pivot brackets you have now.

A D44 TTB would be a walk in the park for you. You already have most if not all the connecting parts. I plan to do this to a buddies ranger as soon as my Junk is out of my shop.

The D44 outers are a nice upgrade. I'm glad I did mine. I should have just done the D44 to start with. I just need to find a D44/D50 pig with 4.10's and I'd giver on mine.

Are you saying that increasing the beam 1" will make up for the positioning of the pivot points being different? Then stock 44 shafts will work?

 

[R.J.]

i've read about d44's a lot. copykat knows some great threads about them. if you stick d44's in the stock explorer brackets, one side will stick out an inch farther than the other.

i only have about $500 bucks into the d35 beams (excluding gears and locker) so i don't really care about keeping them to much. entire d44 is the way i want to go. all stock parts, stronger gears, no machining needed, and it'll be wider than what i have. and if it is hard to do, all the more unique and cool it'll be. but i would'nt plan on me doing that anytime soon... unless i destroy my axles and need new ones. i have some intense plans to do to the car before the front end is touched again.

 

[R.J.]

yeah, I've looked at a full size 44 TTB, from what I read by the wise wizard 410, it would probably be easier to go solid front axle. I'm thinking if it was that easy, then Paul B., 410 and a few others would have gone that route.

yeah but not that many people actaully try it. i thought it would be hard to extend my beams but it wasn't really that hard. just took time strengthening it to make it look cool haha

 

[CopyKat]

i've read about d44's a lot. copykat knows some great threads about them. if you stick d44's in the stock explorer brackets, one side will stick out an inch farther than the other.

You've got to do both beams. If you just do one then ya it will be 1" further out on one side. The F150 pivots are around 2" narrower spaced than the RBV ones. So by extending the beams 1" at the pivot, you will then get the Beams to line up with the RBV pivots and keep all the stock axle shafts. Autofab kit just uses custom 2" lift brackets that move the pivot point to the F150/Bronco spacing.

On my buddies ranger we already have the STX highrider brackets installed and plan to cut and turn the lower balljoint for camber correction.

The only downfall to a D44 conversion is the springs. And since RJ already has coilovers he just needs to add the mounts to them. Should be able to retain his extended rad arms too.

I may have a line on a D50 pig that has 4.10 gears in it. so that will likely be for my truck when the time comes. Unless I can find a set of 4.10's for my buddies 8.8

Comeon RJ you know ya wanna do it!

 

[Dannyboy]

Comeon RJ you know ya wanna do it!

Heck yeah, even I want to do it. I've got a Detroit and 5.13s in a 44 at my house and was just ohhing and ahhing at all the 44s at the junkyard on Saturday. If I'm not mistaken my Autofab uses STX brackets so I am in good shape and if (err ahhh) I swapped my 8.8 back in(with matching 5.13s) and sold my 9" I could probably make up all the costs plus clean some axles out of my yard.

The biggest thing I heard about this swap is that the 44 would put the pumpkin right underneath the frame rail reducing uptravel. KopyCat, if you want to start a new thread how-to thread I can move these hijacked posts over to it.



Robbie- did you do the welding on your 35 beams yourself (such as trussing)? If so, why can't you weld on your axle perches? They are easy, just don't do too much at once and you won't warp the tube. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought you had a welder.

 

[CopyKat]

KopyCat, if you want to start a new thread how-to thread I can move these hijacked posts over to it.

Robbie- did you do the welding on your 35 beams yourself (such as trussing)? If so, why can't you weld on your axle perches? They are easy, just don't do too much at once and you won't warp the tube. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought you had a welder.

I'm not ready to start on the D44 stuff yet. Need to get my Bronco running and out of my shop. My buddies rnager has been sitting outside my shop all winter. This is the innitial fit up to see which way we were going to go. This is Stock D44 beams in the RBV pivots. There should be a TTB build section.

From what I remember RJ just tacked the D35 stuff together then took it to a buddies place to get it fully welded.

 

[R.J.]

i have a little welder. i weld all my shock tabs and stuff like that with it. but when it comes to serious stuff like trussing and coilover mounts, i tack weld it and take it to a friend of mine to do some strong welds.

don't you have to set the angle when installing perches? like set them to 15 degrees?

i have a decent d35 setup, i think i'll run this for a while. it was a pretty big project to setup the d35 beams and i don't feel like doing that again right now. i kinda actually want to GO OFF-ROADING and DRIVE IT and i'd rather work on my doubler first