On a trail ride this year a member nicknamed my Jeep "The Beast". It's a fitting name, unfortunately, and the reason I recently tried to sell it. It's loud, it's big, it's ugly, and it's all around not very enjoyable to drive any distance.
Since giving it away isn't an option I needed to focus on this winter's build and set clear objectives. This has to be a vehicle I want to drive, and drive on a regular basis. It has to be much quieter. Ride nice. Drive nice. Good storage. Nice sound system. Lastly, it needs to look good too.
Most of the trails I like to run here in the Northwest aren't exactly Johnson Valley. It's mostly dirt, mud, roots, tight trees, and moderate climbs. Not much in the way of rocks. The way my Jeep is setup now almost makes it boring it's so easy. I think we all have been there. Build the rig, can't make an obstacle, build the rig bigger... Eventually the rig is basically too big on the street and is only fun on extreme "either I make it, or I total the rig" sort of challenges.
To know where we are going, we first need to know where we are.
Its not so much bottoming out or fully extending the shock, it's more of just over time all the pressure that a shock will supply to that bolt while dampening bumps could break it. It's your jeep I don't mean to tell you how to build it, I'm just letting you know I've broken mounts like that before. If you think it will work for your application then I'm sure it will. It just didn't for mine
It's actually not a bolt. It's a shock mount that came with the shock. I have owned around 5-6 Cherokees that have the same single sheer setup stock with a weaker mount with no issues. Blaine has also used single sheer rear shock mounts when he outboards. I have also seen people mount steering linkage in single sheer using heims (and I suppose you can consider tie rod ends single sheer as well) with far more force and no issues. If it were to break, I would just remove the shock and build it bigger when I got home.
Way too low. 1st gear lasts around 10 feet and it spins pretty quick on the freeway. That's one of the main reasons I sold the axles and went with the JK's. I would need to be around 38-40 inch tires for 5.13's to work well and that wasn't happening with the TJ Rubicon 44's.
I like how you can use a range of gears and most of them will be tolerable with the V8 compared to my 4-cylinder which is so sensitive. Jealousy setting in again!
I've been distracted by other projects, so the Jeep hasn't been getting much attention. Now that I have most of that out of the way, I can refocus.
I finish welded all my brackets. Here are the uppers.
Painted everything and bolted everything up for the "final" time.
I also had some braided brake lines made and ran them.
Here's another angle.
Put the gas tank back in and started to figure out what I needed to do with my various lines.
After a little notching for the rear anti-rock I set the rear of the tub in for a little sense of accomplishment. I also set the soft top rails on to see how close I was. Everything lines up nicely.
I had to make clearance for the rear anti-rock. Warmer weather, short sleeves, and cutoff wheels and plasma cutting isn't too fun. The rear suspension is about 100% at this point.
I threw a tire on to check clearance on the tub at full stuff to see if I need to cut some. Nope. This is with the bumpstop out and fully stuffed on the bump stop pad. I'm super glad this worked out. I need to get this project on the road.
In, non-related news, I saw a 89 YJ on my phone's craigslist app. It was only $1500 - had a hard top, Soft top, bikini top, new seats, new carpet, webber carb, looked VERY nice. Only issue is a engine knock. I emailed the guy... Nothing. Then last night he called me. He had to take the ad down he had so much response! Apparently he liked my email the best. So, I'm headed down tomorrow to check it out. I really want to keep it, but I will probably end up fixing the engine and flipping it for snowmobile funds...
I've never used the Rancho's before. I will say this: the shock bodies are huge. Makes packaging them interesting. This is my first time outboarding shocks. I've never had a Jeep that rode nice enough to drive fast enough in rough conditions to need a resi shock, so I suppose I will see?
Well, I got the wife a brand new Subaru Forester and then work decided to cut overtime to almost nothing. Go figure. I could never ask her to sell it. In fact, I enjoy driving it. The only other two big items we could sell are the trailer and my jeep. We can't give up camping and, in my wife's eyes, tent camping isn't camping, it's torture. Poor defenseless jeep.
If you do sell it it's not like you can't get another. You could sell it and buy a cheaper one and have money left over. There are deals to be had for the patient.
Like this YJ I just scored for $1500. Looks like it just rolled out of the showroom.
I played with the front axle a little last night. It didn't go exactly as I was picturing in my mind. I was hoping for 4-5" of travel for the front with my 3" savvy springs but that looks like it's going to be a no go. Everything wants to be in the same place. My exhaust, front drive shaft, track bar mount, and upper link mount. The switch to a high pinon front really moves things around.
On a positive note, I ordered my wheel spacers and also called Tom Woods up and got my pinon yokes.
I did manage to get a little more done. Played around with my new skid plate. Added a transmission mount with some C channel and made some cutouts for my transfer case and transmission.
Then I fixed a broken nutsert and bolted the skid in place.
Then I started work on the front end. Finished fabbing the control arms and tacked everything in place. I also bent a truss for the front.
As luck would have it, my upper link sits exactly where the exhaust manifold outlet is. Looks like I'm going to have to order up some center dump block huggers and hope for the best. There is really no other place to put it, so I have my fingers crossed.
I'm going to order these up. I think they will do the trick.
They are only $200 so I can't really complain too much about that.
A few road blocks:
I tried to mount my wheel spacers that came today. The back ones are great. The front ones don't seat all the way because of a slight lip on the unit bearing next to the face. I'm not excited about dealing with this, as it was supposed to be just an easy bold on deal.
Also, I tried to bolt the JK drag link to my stock pitman. That was a no go. The JK taper is quite a bit larger than the TJ, and I sold my TJ stuff so I can't cut / weld the two together. Looks like I'm going to have to go with some poly performance stuff for that.
Tomorrow I'm going to check clearances and see where I'm going to be at for maximum uptravel and maybe fab some spring plates up.
If I was doing a flat skid plate I would have made it. I needed around 2" of drop, and for $120, the barnes 4x4 skid plate is a non decision. It would have cost me more in time and materials to make something like this that I can just bolt in place.
The original plan was to put the axle in about the stock location, maybe .5" forward. That way I could reuse my track bar and avoid removing the factory track bar bracket.
This is what it looked like. Not happy with the amount of uptravel I was getting or how close everything was to... Everything. So what if I move if forward 2 inches? Much better....
I gained at least 1.5" of up travel. I've read that removing the factory track bar bracket is a pain. That is absolutely correct. I can't believe how solid that sucker is attached to the frame. I killed two good cut off wheels, a 40 grit flap disk, and a set of consumables for my plasma. I was originally going to quit my job and start a business removing factory track bar brackets, but after this ordeal I think I'll stay where I'm at.
Of course in Jeep world, one change means you have to change 20 other things... So a call to Currie, Ballistic Fab, Poly Performance, and Amazon was made. I'll be making a track bar out of 1.5" .25" wall DOM with narrow body Johnny Joints at both ends. It will be double adjustable, so that should make adjustments very easy, and with the Ballistic hex inserts, keeping everything tight will be a snap. I also got Poly Performance's HD all metal TRE's and double adjuster inserts. 1.5" reamer from Amazon.
It's a Jeep thing, and I'm not sure I understand. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction ,or at least thats how I recall the quote . But I dont think Newton foresaw that Jeeps would shoot a hole in that theory
Most of my parts came in today except my Currie JJ's and headers. Headers will be here tomorrow. Went to track the JJ's and...
Mojave, CA, United States 05/21/2013 6:00 P.M. Train derailment.
Ontario, CA, United States 05/20/2013 10:47 P.M. Departure Scan
05/20/2013 9:10 P.M. Origin Scan
United States 05/20/2013 7:10 P.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS
Oh oh.. That can't be good. Hard to make that up, huh?
The transmission mount for the 4l60e is pretty flush with the bottom of the pan. With some work, I may have gotten away with a 1" drop. Barnes only had 3", 2", and flat, so I went with the 2". It hangs around as low as the rubicon express skid I had before, so I think I'll be ok.
Good news and bad news. My headers came, but they are very unfriendly with my motor mounts. I cut a bunch away to try to make it work, but it's not going to work without reworking both mounts completely. So, I'm going to do what I should have done originality and get the Novak (Sanderson) headers.
The Jeep knows when you are trying to save money, and will do anything in it's power to stop that from happening. :thumbdown:
On a happy note, they scooped up my junk out of the overturned train and what is left will be here tomorrow.
Made a call to Novak first thing this morning. They had a set of the Sanderson headers in stock. They are in Utah, so a quick two days via UPS unless a meteor hits a train, or a truck bursts into flames somewhere. With the holiday I should see it on Wednesday.
Made a call to Novak first thing this morning. They had a set of the Sanderson headers in stock. They are in Utah, so a quick two days via UPS unless a meteor hits a train, or a truck bursts into flames somewhere. With the holiday I should see it on Wednesday.
You kid , but will the I-5 bridge collapse affect you ?
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