flatlander757's 03 TJ build/update thread - Page 2

**Grewe02** · 10-15-2007, 07:06 PM

Frickin awesome! I'll have to come over and check it out this week. Good deal man. Glad you got it finished.

**flatlander757** · 10-15-2007, 10:12 PM

It looks 10x better now...

I just got the tires mounted but it was already dark out so here are some teaser pics until tomorrow

I was on my way to Slick Trick Performance and Off-Road to get tires and at about 60mph on the highway I got some hellacious death wobble all of a sudden, I was seriously afraid I was going to crash

I had to slow down to 30mph on I-264 during rush-hour traffic between Independence and Witchduck road... not good. So I took a look when I got there and found that the tie-rod end of the front track bar had the adjustment-locking nut work loose so I tightened the ever-living hell out of it and all is well now... I'm carrying a 1-1/16" wrench w/ me now just in case, but if it happens again I'm gonna use thread lock.

The tires are awesome, they couldn't get them to dynamically balance, so did a static balance and it worked out great, no out of balance tires as far as I can tell

They aren't anywhere near as loud as some people on this forum make them out to be...

Ninnies. And driving w/ a 5 speed, 3.73s and 33in tires isn't bad at all either. I am so glad I didn't settle for anything less... I love my Jeep

**flatlander757** · 10-16-2007, 05:13 PM

And here it is in the day time...

Stupid spare tire, that's next on my list.

This is what belongs on a Jeep:

Mmmm...

Again...

The front springs/swaybar disconnects(which aren't great)

**flatlander757** · 10-16-2007, 05:15 PM

...

Front shock and the brake line drop bracket:

Rear trackbar relocation bracket:

Front adjustable trackbar at the axle-end:

Frame-end of the adjustable trackbar:

I liked the kit, the instructions suck as they leave out a lot of torque specs and what bolts to use where so you pretty much make it up as you go, but the parts and all seem very nice.

tomk864 · 10-21-2007, 11:37 PM

looks good!

tomk

KINGZ · 10-22-2007, 09:18 AM

WOW WOW I want my lift now lol lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatlander757

The front springs/swaybar disconnects(which aren't great)

SO what did you not liek about these Disconnects, I was looking at them for my jeep.

kingz

**flatlander757** · 10-22-2007, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KINGZ

WOW WOW I want my lift now lol lol

SO what did you not liek about these Disconnects, I was looking at them for my jeep.

kingz

the design makes it so you have to connect both at once, but the problem is that when you connect one, the other hole may not line up if you're not on 100% level ground.

I don't plan on disconnecting a whole lot so it's not a huge issue, but I'd like to give either the Nth degree disconnects, the JKS quicker disconnects, or the anti-rock a try when I feel the need to upgrade that. But armor and other minor things must come first

**flatlander757** · 10-28-2007, 05:16 PM

Got to test out the lift/tires today...

Friend Dave - it was his first time out, his Jeep is still stock. He got stuck here but got out relatively easily w/ a tow-strap.

My Jeep - only vehicle to not get stuck of the 3

Dave's too big to have a stock-height Jeep

Mine after the first trail

I opted to not go on the second route because I didn't want stuck when I know it's going to happen. Tyler apparently didn't care so we all piled in his K5 Blazer and he got stuck like I knew would happen. He got stuck good.

I took a poser pic while I was waiting on them to hook up the tow straps.

Here's another angle of said stuck K5

More of just my Jeep

This is the last pic I took, figured it would make a cool background

Dave ended up getting onto the roof of the K5 to jump over the water to dryish land, but in doing so he landed wrong and broke his leg, I got him to Chesapeake General Hospital where he's doing fine now.

Tyler's K5 is still stuck as far as I know. We broke 3 tow-straps trying to get him out w/ my Jeep and hardly budged him at all. I will give him so much crap on Monday at work.

VTECZILLA · 10-29-2007, 10:03 AM

Killer Pics!!!!

98tjsahara · 10-29-2007, 08:01 PM

I love your Jeep. I'm gonna hopefully have mine set-up similar to that this summer.

**flatlander757** · 10-29-2007, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 98TjSahara

I love your Jeep. I'm gonna hopefully have mine set-up similar to that this summer.

Thanks

I love the tires, the tall and skinny swampers are freaking great in the mud!

**flatlander757** · 11-06-2007, 09:02 PM

I decided to make a bracket to raise my spare tire carrier up and out by about 1" so I could mount my 33x10.50 spare. I used some square tubing and hardware from Home Depot. Basically I bolted a piece of the tubing to where the existing spare-tire bracket was bolted to, then stuck the spare-tire bracket onto the tubing. I originally had 5 individual pieces for each hole but found they were way stressed and bent within a short period. They were terrible looking by the end of the weekend.

So the revised version was two pieces about 14" long IIRC for the two holes left and right, and one individual piece which provides a bit more support up top for the 5th hole. I used spare crap in my tool box to space the 3rd brake light up and notched the plastic so the rim wouldn't hit it as well.

It's a bit hard to tell by the pics, maybe next weekend I'll pull the spare off and take detailed pics in the daylight so you can see exactly what was done. So far it has held up really well, no rattles, it's very solid, etc. Also, I used hockey pucks to space out the rubber bumpers as well

And while at Pepboys getting some oil for my Jeep, I grabbed this compressor to have some OBA

I think I want to hard-mount it for airing up tires and eventually get a CO2 system to run air tools.

EG00TJ · 11-07-2007, 10:03 PM

Looks good man !, very similar setup to mine.. i also like the 33x10.5. but i have bfg m/t's . and a RE lift. anyway good thread, let us know how the OBA setup works

jayhawkclint · 11-08-2007, 07:48 PM

Your lift and tires look good; 33x10.50 are my favorite size. However, I can't help but comment on your tie rod end removal. I don't mean to be offensive, but I am really confused when I view your in-progress photos. I just cannot disagree more with your sway bar removal technique. I am not posting this so much as to criticize you, but possibly thwart someone else reading your post from making an expensive mistake. You're hitting a piece of cast iron with a hammer. There is no good that can come from that. Very best case scenario is that you distort the eye and have to ream out a new mount. Worst case scenario is that you crack off a chunk of the mount altogether. I've seen both happen before. Cast iron is a very soft metal and just cannot stand up to a forged tool like that dead blow you're swinging there. Especially when a tie rod end kit is so cheap. Hitting the tie rod end is no better; there's a really good chance you'll "mushroom" the threads of the TRE causing it to get stuck when you try to pull it through the hole.

For others needing to do this task at home, here is a kit for only $11:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38649
I've had a similar kit in my own roll-away for almost 10yrs now and it is still in service.

Once again, I really don't mean any offense to you. I really like your Jeep and the lift and tires you've put on it. Just have an issue with that one picture you've got there; an inexperienced person could easily hit that mount with too much force and cause damage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatlander757

...and for the track bar tie-rod end, I did the same thing that I do for tie-rod ends in the dealership, loosen the nut enough to get loose but still hold when the tie-rod end is free, and hit whatever it mounts into with a hammer. It will take a few good blows...

**flatlander757** · 11-09-2007, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jayhawkclint

Your lift and tires look good; 33x10.50 are my favorite size. However, I can't help but comment on your tie rod end removal. I don't mean to be offensive, but I am really confused when I view your in-progress photos. I just cannot disagree more with your sway bar removal technique. I am not posting this so much as to criticize you, but possibly thwart someone else reading your post from making an expensive mistake. You're hitting a piece of cast iron with a hammer. There is no good that can come from that. Very best case scenario is that you distort the eye and have to ream out a new mount. Worst case scenario is that you crack off a chunk of the mount altogether. I've seen both happen before. Cast iron is a very soft metal and just cannot stand up to a forged tool like that dead blow you're swinging there. Especially when a tie rod end kit is so cheap. Hitting the tie rod end is no better; there's a really good chance you'll "mushroom" the threads of the TRE causing it to get stuck when you try to pull it through the hole.

For others needing to do this task at home, here is a kit for only $11:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38649
I've had a similar kit in my own roll-away for almost 10yrs now and it is still in service.

Once again, I really don't mean any offense to you. I really like your Jeep and the lift and tires you've put on it. Just have an issue with that one picture you've got there; an inexperienced person could easily hit that mount with too much force and cause damage.

Thanks for the advise... I guess I take for granted to just not go ape-sh** on it, sometimes stuff like that is what I hope people have common sense for.

As for mushrooming the threads, notice the tie-rod end nut is on there just not all the way? It's there just for that purpose, If I do accidentally hit the threaded area, at worst I'll distort the nut and need a new one.