Project SAC'D FJC - Phase II

[Landrover]

Monster tires. Monster axle. Monster FJ! Looks great bro.

[sbechtold]

GTKrockeTT previously said:

Such an optimist!

No just a realist.

Fjamming previously said:

Are you going to build in a cargo divider (separate cargo from backseat)?

I will probably do an "X" behind the rear seat, but haven't decided on a cargo barrier. Right now I would say no. I would like to chop the top eventually and the cargo barrier would be worthless at that point and I would have to cut it out.

AWSUMDC previously said:

Sol. That axle looks great. Thats an amazing difference between the two ring gears.

The 8" third weighs ~50#.
The 9.5" third weighs ~80#
The rear housing bare weighs ~95#
The stock housing bare weighs ~45#
Assembled Diamond axle weighs ~300# w/o wheels.
A single tire + wheel combo weighs ~130#

Rear unsprung weight should be right around 550#.

[FJ #8]

you still dont have a rear demello bumper though....

[sbechtold]

I may never have one of those.

[Blind]

Looks awsome! You have any flex shots? I could not find any in the first thread.

[sbechtold]

Did you really read through all 700+ post? They are there... Here try this link.

[Air2air]

This will be great to watch, Sol. And I was proud of my seat brackets.

Through my build Sol has been a great source of assistance and information. Right up there with Sean and Bellydoc. So I took his advice and called Brian at Diamond, one of the most helpful guys ever. I told him I knew zilch about rear ends and yet he didn't take the patronizing attitude of many other vendors. He just walked me patiently through all the details and kept me on the phone forever. He seems to be doing well enough, also, so that he could talk me out of potentially expensive routes.

The one time I was in Sol's FJ was the very first drive out of the back of the shop when everything had been finally installed. We went across the 3' deep ditch in the back and I still couldn't believe we had left the pavement. It just walked across it like we were on a bridge.

There *might* also be upcoming HD video of the Bechtold Beast going through its paces that I really would love to see...

[Fjamming]

sbechtold previously said:

I would like to chop the top eventually and the cargo barrier would be worthless at that point and I would have to cut it out.

You are just full of surprises!

[ThyIrishMen]

looking GREAT! sooo much work and time and money. for you my friend

[sbechtold]

Diamond Axle - Full Float "Extra Wide" Rear Axle Upgrade:

More parts showed up all week long. I have almost everything needed to put the rear axle together. I got a little more done this weekend.



Made some brackets for the limit straps, hard lines and ARB compressor. I got all the bracket welded on the rear axle and started to mount the ARB compressor bracket under the hood.

Limit strap brackets - made a template out of cardboard, then cut them out of .25" plate steel that I picked up at the scrap yard for fifty-five cents!





The ARB compressor is proving to be a little challenging to mount as I'm out of room under the hood. I decided to move the power steering reservoir over which involved cutting of the long leg of the factory mount and welding it back on at the same length as the other two legs.



I then cut up some steel plate that will act as a mounting tray for power steering reservoir and the ARB compressor. The tray allows me to move the power steering reservoir over a few inches so I can fit the ARB compressor next to it. I went with the new CKMA12 ARB compressor and I will be setting it up for on-board air as well. I also carry a 10# CO2 tank as well for airing up tires.

Here you can see that there is NO room under my hood.



Here you can see the mounting tray and I'm holding the reservoir where it will go once mounted.



My ADD kicked in after making the tray (but not installing it), so I moved onto the rear axle. I received all the hubs, bearings, brakes, adapters and other parts so I decided to do a dry fit of all the parts. I have to say that for completely custom parts Brian at Diamond did a fantastic job. The tolerances are super tight and everything bolted right up.

Here are all the part required for one side ready for a dry fit.



Here the spindle and brake adapter are installed.



Emergency brake setup installed.



Here the caliper is bolted up along with the wheel hub.



And finally, completed dry fit with all parts installed. Everything fits very nice! Pretty amazing that Brian was able to combine my FJC backing plates, emergency brake setup, calipers and rotors with spindle from a mini-truck and custom brake brackets and make everything fit this clean.



I need to take everything back off, clean and paint some parts, then grease and reinstall everything. I will work on it again next weekend...