GrandpaX

Workin' on something new...

I love my kids more than racing.. as much fun as KOH would be.. they need a dad first. I wouldn't mind being part of a KOH team, and could probably drive just fine, a crazy fabricating pit crew guy would probably fit the bill better. Haven't used the tires yet. It is funny how most of my friends that run Krawlers try other competing brands.. and always come back. Mine are a used pair with about 80% left on them.

This last year Tyler Morgan parted out his R50 project. I helped him out by buying his VH45DE/tranny/atlas adapter. As this build has changed a few times along the way... and this also changed the direction. You may see the engine from the HB in this Pathy to begin with.. However I would like this build to end with the V8 on board. He rebuilt it from the ground up making it a good power plant for many years to come. All the other engines laying around here have 150K plus on them. So to answer your question this Pathy will end up with the Stak. The V8/5 speed/Stak should make a really nice all around combination (Driver/Tow/Trail) Reading between the lines in this story the HB is going away... it has been a good rig and will be missed. Then.... there is a pile of neat stuff laying around my house. The idea is to make something the Pathy can tow to the crazy trails. There is a good start to a tube chasis with 4 link front and rear, a pair of Spider 9's, a couple VG33's, turbos, intercoolers, a NWF doubler, a flipped Dana 300 with 4 to 1 gears, a set of Spider Lock wheels with 39 inch red label BFG Krawlers, 5 point harness seats... Are you thinking what I am thinking... Then last but not the least... The Jeep... who knows...

I just sold my Calmini geared/SYE tcase. Waiting on a pallet from Stak. Thinking about how to make an SYE in the past... I always thought a fella could cut the splines off the existing slip yoke and weld a 1310 flange to it somehow. It would need to be turned after the weld for a nice balance... but it would work.

Yes, the HB has the Calmini Gears and SYE (which they don't have anymore)

That is called axle out from under Rodeo in 10 minutes... gotta love the 18V porta-band. Plus I get that yoke/u-joint for free this way... LOL

Yes it is back there... kinda hard to see being this rig is setting on 2.5 inches of lift. Normally the fuel tank/skid would be up a little higher for sure. I still need to figure out a way to get the sway bar and shocks mounted up.... pics of those will probably be next.

The idea of this rear built was to use JGC coils... once the first mock-up was together it was obvious the Jeep coils were not stiff enough. A guy can find stiffer coils... however they tend to be short and don't flex as well as the longer coils. So off to the drawing board again.... imagine that! So after a couple cups of coffee laying under the rig a new idea popped up. The factory rear coil buckets have quite a bit of extra room above them. So why not make new coil buckets that are a couple inches taller.. and while I am at it.. make the new buckets adjustable. Oh darn.. something new to make!!! With a little research some Rubicon Express 3.5 inch lift coils were purchased.... So after 3-4 days of fabbing up new stuff... the new mock up come to a weight on wheels rest. This is far from being done.. .however thought I would share the progress. It ended up being the exact same lift as before with longer/stiffer coils... Sweet!

IFS in theory is the way to go... However the only setups that hold up off-road are custom or military. Using the IFS from some grocery getting is only going to piss you off... and make the Jeep guys laugh as they drive past your busted setup. Now doing this for on-road use... should be sweet!

Replacing some of the old plastic.... These two reverse lights should light up the hatch area at night...

Cheepo Anti-rock... Leftover Xterra TBar parts from a past SAS job,,,

Swag Offroad.. Milwaukee.

I use this most of the time anymore. The notchers are almost too exact...

I have not done it to this axle yet... They are configured the same way. The only problem being how they hook up. The easiest way would be to cut the lever and all out of the floor of the Rodeo. In the past I kept the backing plate that holds the cables in place. Then made deal that held the two cables on one side and hooked up to the Nissan lever on the other. This current setup will be different being I am changing the parking brake lever to be the under dash assembly from a Hard Body adapted to the the Isuzu cables. This will make room for a nicer center console. Love me some cup holders....

So to answer your question... It will take a little time to make this a "great" product. I would say two-three months you will see something offered. Probably see what folks think at Gone Moab before it is.. (This setup will be made to work for the first gen Xterra folks too)

It needs a few months of heavy use before the will be offered to folks. There will be an upcoming truss made the reflects the production model. This is the second version.. the third will have all the tweaks learned from the first two. The things this truss has to offer so far.. Lifts all the mounting points up 2.5 inches.. uppers-lowers-panhard (the production model will have the panhard going the OEM direction) JGC coils normally lift our rear ends about 2.5 inches after settling. The all the mounts lifted the same the links are close to factory configuration again. With the bracketry lifted 2.5 inches.. nothing hangs below the axle tube.. :o) The bumpstop catches are also 2.5 inches higher.. helps keep bigger tires from hitting wheel well. The upper arm mounts can be made to fit three configurations. 1) The stock upper arms 2) The stock lower arms to upper arms 3) Full-On triangulated 4 link (no pan hard). It allows a Pathfinder owner to install a Isuzu Rodeo Dana 44 with disk brakes/parking brakes. Doesn't really sound all appealing until you start upgrading the axle. Gears are half price, name a locker.. everyone makes lockers for the D44! A couple of us in Colorado have used these axles with 38 inch tires. They held up! Not saying this is the best axle for the bigger tires.. however if they took that beating.. it should hold up to 31-35 inch tires wonderfully! The 90-95 Rodeo axles are 58ish wide. The 96-97 axles are 60.5 wide. The later Rodeos (98+) have a different ring and pinion. I need to do a little more research on this one.. not sure it has much support. However it comes in around 64 wide. We can get these axles at the local "pull you own parts" yards for 150-250 dollars. Find a (Disk/Parking Brake) replacement for the 233b that ever comes close to this price and has the support of a Dana 44 with it! Nothing comes close!

Getting slowed down by other everyday commitments... however getting close on the truss for the 96-97 Isuzu Rodeo Dana 44. It is a smaller version of what I posted before... The pan hard runs the other way to match the direction of the front track bar (SAS). The truck is setting high on jack stands.. the pan hard is almost level at ride height.

It is centered on the (Front) output. He plans of running slugs, not manual hubs. Centered up will run better at speed on the highway. The early Bronco axle was a little over 59 with Chevy outers. The short side on the HP is the same.. just need to cut down the long side to EB.

Here are some pics of that last axle.. It got the name Haxle. On the lower pic... the track bar mount is lined up perfectly with where the drag link mounts up. Here is the pile is started out as... the 3 inch tube center section from a 78 Bronco and the outers from a couple Jeeps.

(For reference the axle width on the old Pathfinders (WD21) is right at 59 wide and the first gen Xterra (WD22) comes in at around 63 wide) Ford-3 is a custom axle shaft axle. It would end up being a little over 62 wide. Most folks cut off 2 inches making it a little over 63 wide. This makes the long side the same as a Wagoneer axle shaft. A person can then order shaft, or find them in the junkyard, at a lessor price. (It also fits the Xterra width) My pathy has Ford-4 making the axle a little over 61 wide (custom shaft size). The rear axle is from a 96 Isuzu Rodeo at 60.5 wide. Having the front axle a hair wider than the rear makes the rig track better. This rig is being made for more of a daily driver, tire tucked in wheel well, type rig. To confuse someone ever more.. The last axle someone wanted had the long side cut off four inches and the short side extended two inches. This made a 63 wide axle with the pinion centered to the output on the TX10 transfercase. This axle is currently being put under a 2 door Pathy with a rear body cut job. Pics when he is done...

Oh I totally get what you are saying. I have a few ideas how to make it happen. However, I would rather take the risk with my money and not yours on this one. Plus I own an axle alignment jig which takes care of 90% of the battle.

You only have to flip the diff for a rear engine buggy. The gears are the same front to rear. The problem is normally the axle seals.. on a rear diff the seals are on the outside.. on the front the seals are in the pumpkin. The front axle moves too far back and forth as the knuckle turns for an axle seal to be there. The front seals normally have a machined seat in the tube itself. Spidertrax and assorted other companies make a seal seat with a set screw for the inner diameter of D.O.M. tubing. However it gets to a point where a Dana 44 is twice as cheap and has 500 times the options. Custom tubes, custom seals, custom shafts, custom inner c's, one selectable locker to choose from (arb)... Ya may see me do this down the road.. because I can... however not cost effective at all. Someone will want to post the outer seal kits for a Dana 30... sorry not enough room in a D44 knuckle.

Thanks, ya all this crap and my favorite toy is... As I get older the luxury of getting away from it all has become more and more inviting. Bought this middle of the road 29er last summer.. It helps me get lost.