The Survivor Project-driveway frame swap/33's "build" by EricsGreen98Tj

11 minute(s) of a 57 minute read

Then I swapped the engine/tranny/t-case over to the new frame. I picked them all up with the hoist and pulled it back. Then I put the old frame down on this dolly thing I ganked from beside the Krogers dumpster  

And rolled the old frame onto the sidewalk. Then I pushed the new frame with the axles and tires under it to the old frames spot and dropped the drivetrain in. I had to get a little creative with a peice of rope in order to get the drivetrain to balance right. But I was able to set the tranny mount down on the OEM skid first and then the motor mounts fell right into place.

I had to use a set of vicegrips on the steering shaft to get the frame turned around in the road and my driveway. Adapt and overcome.....right???

Day 4

Then it was on to fixing the tub. I'd never done any type of body work before this and I hope I dont have to do any ever again!

Drivers side rocker panel had a big hole in it so I cut it out and replaced it.

Before:

After:

When I pulled the seats out I found a hole under the drivers seat-

When I rolled the tub up on its side this is what I found-

NOT GOOD!!! So I cut the old rust sheet metal out,

welded in a nut for a body mount-

and welded some new 18guage in-

All that took 2 days...

There was also a hole under the passinger side rollbar mount location too that I had to fix.

Day 6

I took a cupped metal brush for an angle grinder and ground all the OEM undercoating and alot of the rust off. Then wiped everything down with MEK and put the first coat of Chassis saver on..

Before-

After-

Day 7

Time to put the tub back on. But first I swapped the gas tank and skid onto the new frame and ran my SS brake and fuel lines I got from Classis tube and Inline tube. After that I called up 4 friends and Dad showed up to "Supervise"-which means he came over to get away from mom and drink a 12 pack or so.  

Anyway we got the tub back on and I bolted it down again.

Then I proceeded to put the front clip and windsheild frame back on before dark. This is how far I mad it before it got too dark and dad got too drunk to be around..

I barrowed one of my buddies 35" Swamper Radials to see if I had enough room for em; I think I got more than 2.5" of lift out of the springs. They were for a 6cyl and I have a 4cyl so mabey I should have....

The 35 in the back,

and in the front.

And a comparrison of my old 31's to the 35" Swampers-

Day 8 and the early hours of Day 9

While putting the front clip back on I plugged up all the connectors for the wiring harness(that I LABELED before I seperated). So in the morning I put the battery and everything in and tried to start it. It FIRED RIGHT UP!!!

While it was running I bled the powersteering lines by turning the wheel, then I shut it off to top off the fluid again and .................it wouldnt start!!!!!!  

So I pulled the relay and swapped it with the horn relay(which turns out are the same BTW)...Nothing.

I checked for spark at the coil and plugs............................................. ...........................YEP

I checked for pressure at the fuel rail's check valve............................................. ............some but not much

Checked to make sure everything was still plugged in right............................................. ...YEP

Tested the wires that plug into the fuel pump connector......................................... ..........Had power

Check for gas in the tank.............................................. ..............................................YEP

Checked all fuel line connections for a blockage.......................................... .....................none

I then checked everything again and found that I didnt have power on the fuel pump again. SO I started tracing the wires that go back to the sending unit and found a place where the insulation was tore/scrapped off of two wires; about 1" long. So I cut and spliced the wires back together and it started right up again, first try!!

It took me 13 hours to get it to start the second time.   :thumbsdown:

The rest of Day 9 was left to putting the roll bar, softop and whatnot back on.

After dark I strapped a milk crate to the tub and drove over to my mom and dads to get my seats that she had take the carpet cleaner too. ITS ALOT HARDER TO DRIVE WHILE SITTING ON A MILK CRATE THAN YOU'D THINK!!!  

Day 10 

I took it to my great great grandma's abandoned house/yard to test the flex. She has some HUGE rocks in her yard...

Not bad for OEM shock mounting locations, OEM CA's, 10" travel shocks, and 31's

After that I bought a set of Sidewinder 33's and some Chrome rims for $250 and just drove it too work and took the kids trail riding on the weekends.

Then about a month ago some old lady hit me directly in the front passinger side tire....

It turned out to be her fault and nobody was hurt. SO her insurance company cut me a check.

So I ordered:

A Smittybuilt x20 10 winch

A Body Armor winch plate(same brand as my front bumper)

A set of Superior 4.88's and master install kits

A D30 Eaton E-Locker

A D35 Detroit TruTrac

Alloy USA Chromo 27 spline axle kit(Wanted to go with Superior but the didnt have anything with c-clips)

A pair of JKS Adjustable End links for the rear sway bar.

Another Skyjacker shock for the front

Bought used and CHEAP:

JKD Quicker Disco's

A HP D30 housing out of a 96 Xj

Another complete HP D30 out of an XJ that had good shafts and unit bearings, calipers and rotors

Got for FREE:

Front and rear OEM trac-bars

A set of OEM CA's

So now Im in the process of installing gears and lockers for the first time. Did I mention Im doing it in my kitchen floor?  

I had to get larger bearings for the D30 E-Locker. I called Eaton and Superior and the advised to put the carrier bearing shims on the outside of the bearings instead of between the locker and bearings.

So to to that I had to either buy a case spreader, or make one. I made one-

And while that did work, I stripped the threads of the nut out on my 3rd attempt to spread the case. So I modified my spreader-I drilled a hole so that the bolt could go through the peice of angle and the threads of the nut would always be enguaged, used a 3/4" shaft bolt and nut, and welded some 3/16"x1" flat bar to the outside of the spreader to stiffen it up some.

Works great now. 

This is where Im at right now;  installing traction aids and gears(in the kitchen) and trying not to screw it up too bad.

I should also add that I ran a Zone 3" lift for about a month and a half(before i hit the gas pump) and had to take it off and sell it, along with my 33x10.50 KM2's and Soft 8's. My wife got sick and couldnt work for about a month; Gotta do what you gotta do to keep a roof over your kids head and food in their bellies....

But I did like the lift while I ran it. And my 4cyl like the skinny KM2's alot better than it does the Sidewinders.