A lesson learned—keep it light and nimble!
- Thread starter Irun
- Start date
OP
Is that a homemade raised track bar bracket?
OP
I only had to do a little cleanup, then sprayed them with rust converter. Only did that because it may get stored outside for a little while.
OP
This will likely be a slow project, but I'm finally digging into the HP30 build. It will consist of:
Re-gearing
JJ upper control arm bushings
Reinforced passenger side upper control arm mount
Tie rod flip
Iron Rock lower control arm mounts
Reinforced track bar mount
Eaton e-locker with 30 spline shafts
Yukon small hub conversion
U-bolt style pinion yoke and
All new bearings, seals, balljoints, etc.
The donor vehicle was a stock Cherokee. While the housing has some surface rust it doesn't appear to have been abused or ever touched. The first step is to disassemble and inspect the housing.
Re-gearing
JJ upper control arm bushings
Reinforced passenger side upper control arm mount
Tie rod flip
Iron Rock lower control arm mounts
Reinforced track bar mount
Eaton e-locker with 30 spline shafts
Yukon small hub conversion
U-bolt style pinion yoke and
All new bearings, seals, balljoints, etc.
The donor vehicle was a stock Cherokee. While the housing has some surface rust it doesn't appear to have been abused or ever touched. The first step is to disassemble and inspect the housing.
Last edited:
Correct. I have a RockJock one to go on when I get my tummy tuck done. For right now, it works fine.
I had my passenger upper boxed in when my lowers were upgraded. Wish I had spent the money for the upper JJ's before having our purple TJ friend do all that work.
OP
First good sign. Internals are in great condition and the bearing caps tell me things are where they are supposed to be!
OP
Axles are out with no surprises. Everything there is a throw away.
MountaineerTom
LJ Enthusiast, Retired USAF Weapons Loader
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
Out of curiosity, if you were looking for a axle housing in a junk yard, what would be the best way to check that it's not bent?
Reinforced passenger side upper control arm mount —> Do tell more. Are you just boxing in the mount?
While you're at it, I'd recommend checking link below out. I'm about to hammer some metal to get close to an @mrblaine soution shown here.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/a-lesson-learned—keep-it-light-and-nimble.44924/page-77
If you're reinforcing, may as well hit it all.
OP
For the upper control arm mount I'm just planning to weld in a Barnes plate. Thanks for the reminder on reinforcing the stock swaybar brackets for the SwayLoc. I had completely forgotten about that conversation!
swaybar mounting SwayLoc
If you're going to flip the tie rod, you aren't going to reinforce the sway bar mounts anyway if you're using the BMB brackets. But strengthening that TB area is a good idea. When I pulled my axles for my recent build, it seemed like the metal there was in need of reinforcement (just looked thin) - and then I found the thread I posted that I had bookmarked previously for myself.
I'm very excited to see the build play out. I'm starting the same on my hpd30 too!
Thanks for posting that link! I ordered 2 sway bar mounts from @mrblaine because I read that suggestion. I just couldn't find the post after I thought I book marked it.
That reinforcement piece comes with his hydro assist kit I believe.
This is what I did for my housing I just pulled from the junkyard.
MountaineerTom
LJ Enthusiast, Retired USAF Weapons Loader
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
Is there any way to do it correctly (or somewhat correctly) with the axles still in before you take it out of the junk yard?
Something like laying a straight edge on the tubes or something?
I‘m not in the market for one out of a junkyard, just curious how you know you’re making a good purchase. I could see me paying for it, hauling it home then finding out it’s no good.
Last edited:
Not that I'm aware. I just pulled it apart in the junk yard. Battery impact helped me. I also only needed the housing which was cheaper at my yard vs buying the entire thing with shafts, knuckles and brakes. So I didn't take anything but the housing with the carrier. I even popped the ball joints there so make sure they didn't have knurled/oversized joints.
Just be careful pulling the carrier. I sit the diff cover underneath so the carrier doesn't fall in dirt.
I tend to try and start with one that wasn't in an accident if I can help it. My yard had about 4 of them and the cleanest was chosen.
Pic I snapped at lunch of my housing without axle seals or carrier.
Last edited:
OP
I'm anxious to check for the same thing!
OP
What a PIA! It took me 2 hours to remove just the ball joints. The bottoms were seized and it took heat and a BFH to finally get them out. One ball joint stud seized in the knuckle. I really wish I could watch someone that knows what they are doing remove ball joints. Maybe that way I wouldn't feel like such an idiot when I'm doing them. 
On the plus side, they were stock!
On the plus side, they were stock!
Mine had the oversize joints. Blaine told me to add a million dimples with a punch and install oem. It worked quite well. My tire still hasn't fallen off.
I really wish I could watch someone that knows what they are doing remove ball joints. Maybe that way I wouldn't feel like such an idiot when I'm doing them.
View attachment 423540
Try this guy.