97 TJ 1 Tons/5.3

Hey, figured I'd get a little grasp on my build so far, as hopefully I'm entering the final stages of it and can wheel it before a big party on 6/22. So lets see....rig had the 2.5/ax5/231 drivetrain with dana 44's locked in rear 5.13's on 38's, stretched blah blah blah.
New motor out of 02 chevy 1500, picked up engine and tranny and complete harness.
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I knew the harness was going to have to be trimmed and reworked, so I got that done.
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Next I did a little cage work while the jeep was still running.

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Ugly green...
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Added a hoop
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Super shorty headers from novak
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New shifter... [img][/img]

Picking up my front 60
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Had 2 back axles to choose from, a 70hd or a 60. Ended up going with the 60. The 70 was just overkill, would have stuck out way to far.
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New dash panel and gauges. Am not going to be using the dash panel anymore as I ripped out the dash completely and am doing a flat dash.

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My expensive piece of metal...
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Welding rear truss up [img][/img]

Front axle buckets, link and shock brackets. [img][/img]

Front axle minus new diff cover [img][/img]

New 4:1 gear set for d300 [img][/img]

Prepping the headlocks....

Sorry for the random photo uploads, i had them all to Facebook, but for some reason I couldn't get the pic to work and had to host them somewhere else....trying to get more pictures right now.

....why do we not have a drool icon on this forum, yo?

5.3/tranny dropped in [img][/img]

Old axles gone...[img][/img]

The rear 60 came with 30 spline shafts...the weak link, so theres a pain in the ass trick you can do. We ended up boring out the spindles, 3 drills later, to fit 35 spline 1.5" shafts.. So its basically a 14 bolt, minus the weight and clearance problems they have. In hindsight I should have just bought a 14 bolt, but I got that 60 for free, oh well.
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New shafts in. [img][/img]

Setting up front gears [img][/img]

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Needed to spark the fire a bit...[img][/img]

And its dash less!!!! [img][/img]

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So I just got 100 ft of DOM delivered on monday. This weekend is going to be all about the cage as I took out the old one. Since I ripped out the dash I didn't want to use the BTF stanchions and want to go straight tube all the way around.

Basically right now here are some specs of it.

5.3/ 4l60e with lokar shifter
dana 300 with 4:1 gears, twin sticked, 32 spline front and rear outputs
Headers

Front Axle:
Chevy 60 passenger drop
Completely rebuilt, all new seals, races, bearings, hubs, rotors
5.13 gears
Detroit locker
BTF cover
Steering set up from Barnes4wd ( Awesome, awesome guys, cheap stuff that is heavy duty)
Ballistic hi steer arms

Rear Axle:
Ford 60
5.13 gears
Welded carrier
disks
upgraded axle shafts from 30 spline to 35 spline yukons
Solid Diff cover ( It was 65$ on sale from them)

Keeping the suspension the same as I had it before, 3 link front and 4 link rear except that I moved the back axle back a touch, so I'm roughly at 108 wheelbase.

Wheels:
16.5" Black steelies
Total metal innovations beadlocks

Tires:
42" pitbull rockers

Got the seats and harnesses (prp, rci harnesses)

Next weekend will probably be flat dash mock up, since this weekend I wanna do the cage.

I have two spare Dana 60 shafts if you have any interest in them. I have to check how many splines though.

I would assume there 30 spline... which I can't use because I got a 35 spline 4.56 and up carrier for the new shafts. If there 35 spline and roughly 35" from flange ( If I rem correctly, I think mine are 34 5/8 from inside flange to end) I might be interested. But I'm not counting on getting a spare set yet as I need to save a bit for the drive shafts!

Great to see the build behind the beast! We're running MaBell again this weekend, if you're interested at giving her a go again.

Did you like the BTF cage? I've still got to take mine out of the box and burn it in...

Yea I would love to, but night be hard without driveshafts. I like the btf cage, I actually bought another one when I wanted to redo cage, but not going to use it because I'm not running the dash. Still in Saran wrap

Very cool man!

So if any one wants some brand new btf Tj cage stanchions speak up. Might be willing to part with the whole front kit it's brand new