The JB Weld will hopefully work as a short-term fix, but you'll probably want to go ahead and pick up a replacement. At least now you know exactly how deep you can cut!

 

It'll for sure be easier to replace the diff with the lift kit installed. It seems like they'll be more room in there

 

So, the jb weld is going OK so far. Just got the hole closed up. I'm gonna put one more coating in about half an hour, and let it harden overnight.

Tomorrow I'll flush some oil through it, to hopefully get out most of the metal shavings. Then I'll fill it up, and see if it leaks.

With any luck, I can have the front end completely finished by tomorrow evening

 

So, hole is closed with JB Weld:


Hopefully it doesn't leak, haven't checked yet. I wanted to completely finish any cutting and grinding I needed to do, in case I poked any other holes in it.

Before installing the rear lower control arm cross member, you have to cut on the driver side "pocket." Basically, your're cutting off the old lower diff bracket. Here's the cross member installed:



It's hard to tell from the pic, but that drop bracket is super tight to the diff. That's the reason the fins need to be cut. If anyone reading this installs a kit themselves, be very careful cutting those fins! Get a stack of aluminum grinding wheels, and go slow. It'll take longer, but do you want a jb weld differential houising?

Here's a pic of the diff installed:



Anyone who has this kit has zero excuses to have leaking oil lines! They're very easy to get to with the diff dropped 6". You could probably remove the adapter and lines altogether, and just run a filter on the block, if you wanted to. You would lose the oil cooler, though.

There's a few spots that I had to pay extra attention to, as far as clearance.

First was the steering stabilizer bracket and diff:


At full lock left, this would hit the remains of the upper diff bracket. A little extra grinding, and it had plenty of room.

The other spot was from the steering center link to the diff. From center turning left, it would rub. I ended up grinding some off the new center link, and as much as I felt comfortable on the diff:


This pic shows the clearance I was able to get. I didn't want to grind more on the diff, as I was getting into a gasket surface. I could honestly have probably gone deeper on the diff, but I'm now leery of leaks lol. There's always daylight visible between them, so I'm going to leave it like is.


Have to run to the store for gear oil, but it's looking like the front will be done today. I'll post another update later on today.

 

Time for the evening update.

To get the driveshaft hooked back up, you have to cut out part of the exhaust:


I bought some flex exhaust tubing to do a temporarily permanent fix on it. The angle of the shaft is obviously much steeper than factory, which was pretty much flat. Hopefully it's not too much for the ujoint. I plan to run it till failure, and then replace with a high angle one.

Before installing the upper control arm drops, remove the bump stop bracket:



There is some slight trimming to be done around the factory control arm mounting points before the drop brackets can be installed:

The red triangle is what you will need to cut from the upper front pocket on both sides.

Also, there is a piece you will need to cut on the frame , between the two upper control arm mounts:

Not the best representation, but it'll give you an idea, anyway. Basically, as you're beating the drop brackets into place, take note and cut anything that's interfering with it. They're a tight fit, and I had to beat mine in with my BFH. I also had to use a reamer to get the bolts in, as well.

Upper rear mount:




There's no good pic of this in the instructions. This seems to make sense to me. Since the factory mounting holes are slotted for camber adjustment, this keeps the drop brackets from moving around.

These two bolts attach to the lower rear crossmember. Had to ream those holes, as well, since they were no where near lining up:



Here's the whole thing installed:


In the rear upper mounting point, they send "crush sleeves" to go in between, to keep from collapsing the mounting tabs. I had to grind on both of those to get them to fit.

Next, remove the bump stops from both upper control arms. Use the bump stop hole to align the shock mounts, mark it, and drill the holes to mount it:


In their instructions, they have the driver side and passenger sides mislabeled. The only way they fit, was to have the driver mount on the passenger arm, and vice versa. Pay close attention to this when you mount them.

Went ahead and installed the sway bar drops:



Upper control arms in, cv shafts back in, knuckle semi installed:



Can't really do anything else until the t bar drops are in, then I can make up the lower arms, and finish out the knuckle. Might not have a chance to work on it for a few days. Got several different Christmas' to go to, with all the family and in-laws.


Edit: forgot to take pics of the stabilizer bar for the drop brackets. Basically, it runs above and parallel to the steering stabilizer, and ties bot of the control arm drop brackets together. They give you two shims for it, I ended up using one. It's a pretty simple piece, don't think anyone will have trouble with it.

 

It's coming along nicely. Damn Christmas... always taking up important time for maintenance lol... my only concern, for myself, is that when I did my 2.5 RC lift, they replaced the stock UCA's with tubular ones... not sure if that bracket would bolt up to it. might have to get a pair of stock ones from the wreckers, or send an email to RC and see if they have a way around it...

all in all good work so far.... any leak from the diff yet?

 

Haven't noticed any. The hole was above the oil level, so I might not be able to tell until I drive it, and it all gets sloshed around.

 

So, front is completely finished, except for brake bleeding and alignment. Didn't take as many pictures as I should have, but I'll get a post up tomorrow.

Here's how it sits now:


Hoping I can get the rear done in a day, it's just an axle flip.

I'll be ordering the tires and rims on Monday. Going with 33x10.50 super swamper boggers on pro comp 51 rims.

Tried to find some cheap steel rims at pick n pull, but no luck. Really didn't want to spend $300 on rims, but looks like I'm gonna have to

 

Damn! That is quite the lift!

 

This is an awesome write up! Nice work.


Ouch, it sucks about the diff. Jb weld makes a 'steelstik' which is almost like a 2 part clay you kneed together. lve used it on a four wheeler crank cases(anytime a chain comes off, it tends to blow a hole in the crank case lol). Anyhow, they're also cast aluminum (and operate at way higher temps) and I've never had the steelstik jb weld come off or leak. I'd highly reccomend using that over regular jb weld. Plus its rock hard when it cures, and thick so one layer is all you'll need.