#iwannagofast ZJ build

[Johnny Quest]

Why not cut a bit of your grill out and sink the winch down and back a bit?

After sleeping on it, that’s the route I’m gonna go. I’m gonna move the plate to the underside of those brackets, and then cut the front crossmember out, and gain 2-3” of room to move it back.



Not much room if I don't cut out the crossmember; even with the crossmember cut out, the radiator is right there:


Might end up something like this:

 

[Tom95YJ]

After sleeping on it, that’s the route I’m gonna go. I’m gonna move the plate to the underside of those brackets, and then cut the front crossmember out, and gain 2-3” of room to move it back.

View attachment 166989

Not much room if I don't cut out the crossmember; even with the crossmember cut out, the radiator is right there:


Might end up something like this:
View attachment 166991

That looks like it'll be a better setup for you Dan, You know the ZJ crowd will send you death threats for cutting up a 9er grille haha !

 

[Bart]

Much better.

 

[Johnny Quest]

Well, it drove around the block last night. Certainly makes some noises that need to be investigated before I go too far, or too fast. But it felt to good for a quick cruise.

 

[Johnny Quest]

It sags to one side, has countless rattles, an odd vibration from who knows where, it smokes, has exhaust leaks, stops eventually, and has multiple fluid leaks…..but I took it to the gas station that is 0.7 miles away (since the gas light has been in for who knows how long), and it made it there and back without anyone dying! Hey, it’s the little wins.

 

[Thursty]

I’d say having it out of the garage under its own power is a BIG win! Nice work!

 

[Johnny Quest]

I did things.


I cut this out, since it was getting in the way; still have to cut out the other side, and then close them both back in, but with more clearance. The airbox on the drivers side was eliminated as you can see from the cone filter that’s peaking through, but the other side will be a little more tricky, as that’s where the battery and fuse box currently live.



I started my locker swap. The 11+ super duty’s came with E-lockers in the rear axle, and they’ll fit in all sterlings going back to the late 80s. Just gotta swap some things and it *should* drop right in.



Snagged a 1350 rear output yoke from Tom Woods to replace the 1310 yoke that comes with the Teraflex SYE kit. Gotta get that in, and then order a new rear driveshaft, also from Tom Woods; I didnt trust the one I built.



I also bought this diff cover and ram clamp mount from a buddy of mine who was going to full hydro. Just gotta get some hoses made up, and then I can tackle the steering system (again). Box is tapped and ready to go; I have an upgraded pump too, but I’m not sure if I want to mess with that just yet.




How many days til Delta?

 

[Johnny Quest]

Well, time for an unfortunate update. I learned last night that the axle I thought was a Sterling 10.5 is in fact a Dana m275 rear axle; internally, these two axles are different in almost every way- 12 vs 14 bolts holding the ring gear in place, 35 vs 36 spline shafts, 10.25/10.5” ring gear vs 10.8” and so on, so the eLocker from the m275 will not work in the Sterling. Not gonna lie, this is a pretty big setback. Back to the drawing board.

 

[Johnny Quest]

Got the m275 reassembled and sold this weekend, so that nightmare is out of my way. Also got a Ruffstuff diff cover and PSC ram mounted for my hydro assist steering; obviously the clamp end will get moved down a bit, but it sits nice and high, so its fairly well protected from rocks, and is damn near parallel with the tie rod, so I shouldn’t have any side-load issues with the tie rod wanting to twist. Gonna order some hydro lines this week, and I’ll be replacing the diff cover hardware with some longer newer stuff too.


Also ordered up a driveshaft- turns out that a front driveshaft off an early 2000s gas f250 should be the right length and have 1350 joints on both ends, so it just might work as a rear driveshaft for me. We’ll see- if it doesn’t work, I’ll call Tom Woods.

 

[Johnny Quest]

Started on some painfully simple and somewhat last minute rear shock towers. The idea behind the bolt-on shock mount design was to still fit in the 4600 rulebook, which states you can’t cut through the body for any reason other than a cage, and the stock shock mounts were very low and limited travel; this has a much higher mounting position, so I can Fit a longer shock without sacrificing ground clearance. That being said, I’ve pretty much moved on from ever racing, but the shocks are in place, and I don’t really want to change them up right now. Plus, if it works, it works.

Gonna chop the ears off the brackets since they’re gonna be in the way, weld everything together, and I figure I’ll do a bar across the top to connect both sides.

“If it’s stupid, but it works, it’s not stupid”



Also, put a downturn directly on the end of the cat, (because cheap/easy/available), cut out the other front inner wheelwell, and kinda figured out where I need to make the battery fit. Messed with the hydro assist cylinder location as well, and proceeded to dump whatever fluid was in my steering box/pump all over my garage floor, so that’s neat.