The Gubblemobile- Series III from hell.

[Alaska Mike]

Well, I picked up the bulkhead yesterday, and I'm just giggling like a little girl over it. All of the dash pieces are in great shape, and the only parts that really need attention are the floorboards. The title for the chassis is free and clear, and not only is the model correct (88 SW), but the year as well. Gotta love that. It is blue, but I'll try to suffer through.

This will save me a ton of man hours trying to fabricate a new dash, which will thrill my wife to no end. Having a brake booster and spare clutch master cylinder is also a bonus.

Floorboards are on the way....

 

[Alaska Mike]

Well, yesterday I spend about 4 hours cleaning and painting the rear leaf springs. Now I know why people buy new springs.

Getting the spring packs apart took a considerable amount of time, as prying apart the spring clamps was a chore (they're pretty beefy). The rust had pushed the leaves tightly against the clamps, so I didn't have a lot of room to work. Then I spent a bunch of time pounding the clamps into U shapes (instead of the C shape that goes over top the spring), since the plastic I'm inserting might take up too much volume. It's a 12 leaf pack, so it adds up.

I burned and cut out the rubber spring bushings, which wasn't that bad considering that they were worn to the point of being mere afterthoughts. Great Basin Rovers supplied me with the greaseable poly bushings, and to save a little money I bought a set that had coarse threads. I have to re-tap the shackles, but that's about it.

All of the bolts broke as I tried to remove them, but they were going to be replaced anyway. I cleaned the loose rust and scale off with an aggressive wire wheel on my angle grinder. I left a little surface rust on (I couldn't get it all of if I tried) and painted them with Extend, followed by a thin coat of gloss black spraypaint. Hopefully the plastic will prevent the springs from getting too hot from friction, which might render the paint useless.

I'm going to let them cure for a couple days before I apply the plastic and put them back together.

Thanks to TeriAnn for posting the idea on her website (http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/) and listing resources to get it done. Hopefully it will prevent me from having to get new springs. The last quote I got for springs (stock or parabolics) and OME shocks (including shipping) was like $1400, and we never get the free shipping offers up here.

 

[revor]

I used the same technique on my 109's springs based on how TeriAnn did hers (hope Andre isn't watching) it works great! I did cheat and extend the front frame horns enough to put rear springs up front. Another thing I did was to leave a few of the shorter leaves out of the clamps, this helped them move a little more freely. Mounting the rear shocks the way Timm did it also helped things move a bit more. I was able to use the mounting for the travel limiting straps to mount my crossmember. I also moved my shock mouning points up front to teh top of the frame. With these mods I was able to use shocks from an F250 (1993) and gain several inches of travel without causing a boatload of extra lift.

On my second 109 (not done yet) I simply used Jeep Yj Front springs, 4" longer each end. I used F350 front shock mounts in the front. This truck is about 3" higher than stock.

Blast! Now I'm not only guilty of having owned a vehicle (numerous really) with Leaf springs but also guily of using Jeep parts on a Land Rover!!! I will burn now...

 

[Yorker]

On my second 109 (not done yet) I simply used Jeep Yj Front springs, 4" longer each end. I used F350 front shock mounts in the front. This truck is about 3" higher than stock.

Blast! Now I'm not only guilty of having owned a vehicle (numerous really) with Leaf springs but also guily of using Jeep parts on a Land Rover!!! I will burn now...

Keith- Do you have any pics of that?

 

[Alaska Mike]

I'd like to see that as well. Did you use stock YJ springs, or were they aftermarket?

 

[gjackson]

Blast! Now I'm not only guilty of having owned a vehicle (numerous really) with Leaf springs but also guily of using Jeep parts on a Land Rover!!! I will burn now...

Keith, you are going to the special hell . . .

cheers

 

[Alaska Mike]

Geez, I'm installing a whole Jeep engine, not just a set of springs. What ring am I headed to?

 

[articulate]

What ring am I headed to?

Ring? It's actually square with rounded corners. Like the bastardized headlight that came on the YJ.

 

[Alaska Mike]

That's appropriate, since the engine will be coming out of a YJ.

 

[revor]

I'll try to locate some pic's I'm sure I have a few. Basically I used 3"X.120" wall square tubing to extend the horns, Butt welded and then plated. I thin I made my own front spring mounts that mimicked the factory one but raised them as high as I could. In the rear I used a bung through the frame like stock to mount the shackle bushings only a bit lower and bigger diameter so that I could use bigger bushings. The springs are a 4" Super lift soft ride lift with a double military wrap to fit the front of said YJ (3" wide springs)

The Truck has a Ford 302/T18/lt230 combo and it seems to sit nicely.

See if I can round up some pics!

That special hell? Do they have beer?

 

[Hltoppr]

Don't worry Mike...just don't tell the hardcore roverphiles what motor is in it...

When I was looking at a SII...I was going to put the entire 89 Wrangler 4cyl/5speed/231/Dana 30F-35R drivetrain in it....just to be able to source cheap parts....

-H-

 

[Alaska Mike]

That's just evil.

Actually, if it wasn't for the 88's crossmember right behind the transfercase, I would have gone the centered-diff route and probably saved a bunch of money.

I'll have a Jeep engine, GM transmission, Scout transfercase, and Series axles (with a rear Disco I 3rd member). Will it qualify as a hybrid?

 

[Hltoppr]

Sounds to me it would be just as easy to make a new crossmember, as far in it as you are anyways...

You're gonna save a bunch of $$ on parts later on by having that drivetrain!

-H-

 

[Alaska Mike]

I seriously considered the crossmember work, but I opted for just using a Spicer 18 with the Rover axles. I had considered using M38A1 axles, but I nixed that idea because parts aren't any more common for the Dana 25 than they are for the Rover axles. I like the full-floater, 3rd member design, and with the Disco diff and the Seriestrek axles, I'm pretty close to the same strength of the the 44 (ish).

The adapters are adding up, but I see this as a do it once and move on kind of thing. How long do you think a SM465 can last behind a 4 cylinder? Fully rebuilt Spicer 18s last decades. The new driveshafts will be much stronger than the stock items. The axles themselves will be rebuilt completely, and will probably last a very, very long time. The engine itself I'll have to see about rebuilding, as it may be fine for 100,000 more miles without an issue.

I can't imagine what I would have had to spend to rebuild the original engine and drivetrain, only to have it be half as capable, reliable, or strong as the one I'm putting in. I still won't be passing any hotrods on the street, but at least I'll be able to keep up with traffic (with the help of a strong tailwind).

 

[Hltoppr]

The 4cyl makes what, 130hp or so....and some decent torque, but nowhere close to having to worry about those axles and trans, even with 33s...

I couldn't remember if you were going with the 2.5 fuel injected or older carbed motor? In 1987-1989 the Wranglers had the throttle body injection on the 2.5L motors....super simple injection system...I'd highly recommend it...especially since you'll have quite a temperature range, and likely altitude range where you're at...

-H-