Ok so I needed a break from my other build to slap something together to take care of my wheeling itch. My wife used to drive a stock 95 YJ with a 2.5 low output and 250K on it. I had since bought her a ZJ so this was a extra vehicle I used to commute when I didnt feel like driving my diesel. So the plan was to build this thing cheaply to be a capable snow wheeler and still be a good driver. I had a extra set of 37" MT/R Kevlars and it seemed stupid to try and trade them for something smaller. So the original idea was to build a 8.8 and polish the hp30 to handle the 37s. But the more i thought about it the more it seemed like a stupid idea. I have been apart of the wheelin culture for to stupid long to follow through with a D30 based build with any real tire 
So I sold the exploder 8.8 i bought for it and picked up a HP D44/big bearing 9" out of a 79 bronco for $300 and already felt better about the whole idea. Plus my gearing options had become so much better than the 4.88 cap a D30 gives you.
So to try and keep things cheap the only real spendy part of the build was going to be the gears. I ordered 5.38/5.43 gears, a 4.10-down D44 carrier
and planned on welding the rear nine. The idea of leaving the front unlocked ate at me too much so I bought a Spartan Locker for it.
To also keep on budget I wanted to keep it low to avoid needing a SYE, so the plan was 2-3" lift and cut the fenders. It so happend that around this time that Russ was parting out his heep so it worked out well to buy a large amount of the parts I needed off of him.
so heres the parts list
HP D44, 5.38s, spartan locked and chevy 1 ton TRE's 1.25 DOM steering.
Ford 9", 5.43s, lincoln Locked.
OME 2.5" yj springs front/rear
Rancho 9000 shocks
Front highline fenders off of Russ's YJ/Rear Highline fenders by me
SS brake lines all around
Ford Bronco Steering box w/ cooler
Anyhoo I suck at picks, thought i took more. but it turns out this is all I took through the build
Kept it sprung under to leave it simple. I moved the front 1.5" forward. I really wanted to move the axles as far forward and rearward without moving the steering box or the gas tank. so 1.5" seemed safe forward and backwards.
here it was the day my wife bought it
tacked in and checking angles
Spring pads welded
Knuckles reemed, steering cut to size and.....realized axle is too close to the steering box :booo:
So I sold the exploder 8.8 i bought for it and picked up a HP D44/big bearing 9" out of a 79 bronco for $300 and already felt better about the whole idea. Plus my gearing options had become so much better than the 4.88 cap a D30 gives you. So to try and keep things cheap the only real spendy part of the build was going to be the gears. I ordered 5.38/5.43 gears, a 4.10-down D44 carrier
and planned on welding the rear nine. The idea of leaving the front unlocked ate at me too much so I bought a Spartan Locker for it.
To also keep on budget I wanted to keep it low to avoid needing a SYE, so the plan was 2-3" lift and cut the fenders. It so happend that around this time that Russ was parting out his heep so it worked out well to buy a large amount of the parts I needed off of him.
so heres the parts list
HP D44, 5.38s, spartan locked and chevy 1 ton TRE's 1.25 DOM steering.
Ford 9", 5.43s, lincoln Locked.
OME 2.5" yj springs front/rear
Rancho 9000 shocks
Front highline fenders off of Russ's YJ/Rear Highline fenders by me
SS brake lines all around
Ford Bronco Steering box w/ cooler
Anyhoo I suck at picks, thought i took more. but it turns out this is all I took through the build
Kept it sprung under to leave it simple. I moved the front 1.5" forward. I really wanted to move the axles as far forward and rearward without moving the steering box or the gas tank. so 1.5" seemed safe forward and backwards.
here it was the day my wife bought it
tacked in and checking angles
Spring pads welded
Knuckles reemed, steering cut to size and.....realized axle is too close to the steering box :booo:
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