GrandpaX

Me too...

This front bumper removed the lower valence that your radiator mounts to. It is a one off deal that probably wouldn't be useful to most folks.

Looks SWEET!

You will see this truck in Moab pics... a rear bumper that is getting fabbed up for it..

Search a little more... I can say there are many forums with this information out there. You need to think long and hard about the time it takes to solid axle a truck when the patience level is not high enough to search around and learn for a few weeks. R50=unibody This can be done and the unibody on a r50 blows away any XJ Jeep out there. Go outside and look at your lug nuts... then go look at a Jeep. There is something different about that Jeep axle. This has been asked many many many many many times. It normally starts with some Jeep buddy thinking his Dana 30 is the stuff. Well it will not work well without changing both front and rear axles and if I remember correctly the rear on that JGC has issues. Not trying to be a butt with this post. Just inserting some reality... If you continue on with the project, I can't wait to see it come to fruitation. Solid axles are the fix to many of the problems we have with steering, lift, lockers, gearing, etc..

Tri tracks straighter.. and you are correct with shorter life span. Heims work better in that application.. being they do not have any give. Actually a 3 link would work well with what I am doing too.. the only problem would be I plan on towing with it... so the more links/joints to spread out the force/wear the better. I didn't take your statement as a second guess.. it was a viable question for sure. Being this is somewhat of a build thread I try to answer this stuff as if it applies to the build. Sometimes I don't have a ton of time to make what I type perfect.. just trying to get to the point and run. Can't wait to see your build!

Amen!

Take another look at the bump stops... :o) Everything was repositioned/raised 2 inches on the axle... uppers, lowers, panhard mount, and the stops for the bumpstops, Also check out how the rear mounts for the arms do not hang under the axle any more... :o) Two less things to get hung up on.. The springs are not longer factory in the back... these are some JGC coils that raised the rear two inches. So it ended up being a two inch lift (total) and runs 35's... So truck is two inches higher than stock and the arms are essentially the same angle as before. I may have said this before... but the idea would work great for an IFS guy who wants a two inch suspention lift. Cut all the stock mounts off... weld on a truss with new mounting points... run the same shocks, springs, arms, panhard as stock... only the truck is two inches higher. The rear link geometry would be nuts on stock... This is not a rock crawler fix... more of a fella wanting to run 33's with a tbar crank and the end effect being factory antisquat etc.. (Don't look at my link/spring setup.. think stock stuff all the way!) Just think... no shocks, springs, or jacked up pan hard angle... to deal with. (Add it up!)

I think Rugged Rocks is your best bet... that ratio was never in an OEM rig... so deals are hard to find.

With 37's the speedo is nuts on with 5.38's. So I imagine you are in the ballpark! What 44 are you using? Rodeo?

This rig is my swiss army knife. It will be driven daily.. tow.. run trails.. etc. However this is not my "wheelin" rig... that would be my HB. The links are matched up, so it is just a matter of placing the mounts correctly. This can be a pain in the arse.. however once it is set it ends up being a long term "low maintenence" setup. They should be good for 100k or so....

The Xterra uses the same drive shaft only with Spicer 1310 joints... Have one here from a fella who installed a Calmini SYE.

mocked up..

Ok... so 9849CY was my Alaska license plate number... thus "AK9849CY" During Gone Moab in 2006 we were comparing the Xterra's to my Red Pathfinder.. I started the conversation saying the frame for the WD21 was purdy much the same as the WD22.. thus making the Pathfinder effectively the Grandpa of the Xterra's. For the rest of Moab they called my red Pathfinder "Grandpa X". It is my radio handle at Moab to this day... Moab Rim during 2006 Gone Moab. Back then it was maybe 50 rigs... now it is around 200 or so... More pics from that week.. Clicky

Maybe get them mounted/cleaned up before Moab... Wonder if the clock could be stopped for a couple months..

Boat-side sliders idea..