"THE SKEEZ" 76' Cherokee Chief Build

[trcooperone]

I am new to the board and thought I would put my build thread up.

The platform was a 76' Cherokee Chief with a very old and tired 401 and a quadracrap t-case. I bought it for $500

I pulled the motor and had that rebuilt, it is bored .30 over and I put a mild cam just to give it a little pep. It has about 375 HP and 425 ft/lb of torque.

While I was at it I got a th400/Dana 20 combo from a 72 wagoneer and swapped that in to replace the non working th400/quadratac combo.

Now I on to the suspension with pictures.

Here is what it looked like right before the disassembly



Here is the front axle (3/4 chevy dana 44) ready to go in, no my friend Brint is not high.



I did a Spring Over in the front with stock spring, this ended up not being tall enough but that comes later.

Here is when the front was "done"



I moved from one friends shop to another friends shop and worked on the rear, it is a FF 14 bolt with 4.10 and a detroit.





Once we pulled it out of the shop we noticed we where a little off on how much lift we would get. In the front I did a SOA with stock springs and in the rear I inboarded chevy 63" springs under the frame and moved the rear axle back about 7". Either I got too much lift our of the rear or the front springs where too old and flat.

Here are some pics.



As you can see we had to let some air out to get it out of the shop but with only 1 psi in the tire and 30 psi up front we where off on the lift height.

Front suspension



Rear suspension



The rear spring hanger is as far back as you can go

To fix the problem I made my own front lift springs. The main leaf is still stock, the middle two are from a dodge ramcharger 4" lift, and the bottom is a random spring from my friends garage that has a matching one for the other side. Slapped them all together and this is what happened.





I also did some more trimming and reversed my front springs to move the from axle forward 2"



Since these pictures I left for a couple of months and came back home (San Diego) and did an internship. When I got back I went back to work, I installed disc brakes on the 14 bolt and swapped out the tranny modulator filled it with fluids and took it for a drive. I am not done and but here are some poser shots of it moving under its own power!!!!!













I am going wheeling next weekend and hope to have some real pictures of it out on the trail.

[Metal Twister]

Pretty serious rig! Any progress as of late?

[trcooperone]

I have installed an aluminum edelbrock intake and q-jet carb and I got a dana 60/70 combo for $400    I now need to sell the 70 and get a few things together to install the dana 60, who knows when I will get it under there so for now I am just going to wheel it. I needed to get new idle mixture screw for the carb so right now it is a great street ornament.

[Metal Twister]

SWEET!

[Chief Gunner]

That is a tough looking rig.  I like it a lot.  I would love to get my hands on a Cherk wide track, but with kids and wanting a family rig, I had to stick with the GW.  I will get it lifted and ready to tackle all obsticles one day, but til then, I can read and watch your build.

[trcooperone]

Thanks, I hope to have it even bigger in the next couple of months. If I get things together I hope to get the 60 under there and get some 40 or 42's!!!! In July we have the Idaho state 4x4 Association Run, three full days of nothing but wheeling. The goal is to have it together by then.

[trcooperone]

Time for an update. I was going to sell the D70 and convert the front D60 to SRW but I couldn't sell the D70 so I sold my 14 bolt/D44 combo for $450 which means I made $50 bucks for going to 1 tons!

I got the D60/D70 combo under the truck and then I had an issue. My rims where only like 3.5" back spacing and my track width was close too 100"! In a perfect world I was going to run H1s and 42s but again no one wanted to buy any of my stuff (Stupid SE Idaho).

So I did what any desperate wheeler would do. I took the dually rims that came with the axles and I slapped my 38s on them and started whelling.


Here are a couple of shots of its first trip out with 1 tons. I snappedone of the ears on the t-case to tranny adapter that bolts it to the cross member. I am currently repalcing that adapter with a reinforced one.







Last time I tried this I had some electrical issues and had to back down and then get towed home. This time I made it to the top!

I also decided the multi colored look was a little ghetto so I gave it a krylon paint job.




Here is a pic of the rear D70, this is a relly beefy axle!



I also insalled interior panels and S10 front seats for a more comfy ride.





I have also installed disc brakes on the rear and bought wheel spacers so my front and rear track width are the same. I also welded the rear since lockers for a D70 are not cheap. It is comming along and just in time for some snow wheeling.

[trcooperone]

And I also built a new cross member and sliders, and have a rear bumper tire carrier in the works.

Here is a rough idea of what the bumber will look like.

[HEEP4me]

You can run a spool in that 70. Much cheaper then a locker

 That tire rack is like the ones GENRIGHT makes. thats what I plan on doing as well.

 Keep up the good work!!