Renegade Rebuild

[imtheant]

Loooking great man, I think you and I are about on the same pace. When did you first start the restoration? I started in October of 2008 and Im hoping to be up and running by July.

[namredla]

The day after Christmas 2008 the jeep rolled off of a trailer into my driveway. I am shooting for a July timeframe as well (lots to do yet).

[namredla]

Got the sway bar back in with new poly bushings. It seems pretty darn tight to me. I am thinking that maybe I ought to weld a 3" or 4" extension into the sway bar links. One could even get crafty and fabricate a couple of quick disconnects...

[RiverChief]

Amazing Job! Very motivational, keep em coming!

[nontypical]

Originally Posted by namredla

Got quite a bit done today. Loosened up the U-bolts on the front and reset the axle using a tape measure and a torque wrench, cris-crossing the nuts as I tightened. The first time the axle was slightly out of square with the frame. It is awfully close now.

Pulled the back end out:



A couple of the shackle bolts had fused to the metal bushing collars so probably new hardware is needed (you would think that Skyjacker would supply some hardware!!!).

A new toy to install:



Took the old valve cover off just to look at everything, and it looks pretty darn clean to me. I could swear that I read in some thread that there is supposed to be some type of plastic bridge that supports the valve cover. I don't see this here, so maybe this was modified at some point or I am just mistaken:





The rain shut down my rear axle prepping, so I coated the rest of the afternoon:

what did you paint the tranny with? looks awesome

[namredla]

I have painted everything so far with a POR product. The tranny happens to be painted with a little bit of leftover manifold aluminum paint. POR is good stuff, if a little bit pricy.

[namredla]

Finally got the valve cover to where it looks good (kind of good anyway). I will admit that shooting paint is a little bit tougher than it looks and you are looking at my first experiment (note the lack of close ups). It would have been nice to at least have somebody who had done it before looking over my shoulder...





I also got the rear axle prepped and ready for POR. I will coat it tomorrow and hopefully have the rear lift on this weekend.

[namredla]

Another productive day.

Installed the rebuild kit on the intermediate steering shaft:



Installed the new tie rod and connecting rod:





Coated the rear axle with POR15, and then coated EVERYTHING with a final coat of POR Chassis Black:



And then just took this photo for the hell of it:



And then while these pics were uploading to photobucket I cleaned the garage (for my wife... for Mother's Day... as opposed to a gift) I hope she doesn't read that.

[namredla]

Got quite a bit done today.

Installed the larger distributor:





Then for the big one







This thing was a bear to install. I had to trim the header flange to get the bolts in (no studs coming out, no studs going in). The two bolts on either end are a good 1/4" from lining up. I am half tempted to drill out the header to get these in. Headers are hard enough as-is to keep tight without missing two bolts. I will say that these were missing to begin with, and now I know why.

[imtheant]

Did your 4" lift come with a transmission plate drop kit? If so are you going to install it or just skip it and keep the driveshaft at a steeper angle?

[namredla]

The Skyjacker lift did not come with a kit. I guess that my plan was to do nothing to correct the pinion angle. What is the general consensus as to pinion angle and correction here on the JF. I figure that you are halving the life of the u-joints on the front and back. What are the options?

What about caster, you looking to do any corrections there?

[namredla]

Due to some rust issues in the rear shackles, some new ones were required:



These are Currie shackles that were supposed to be original replacement (as in no lift). When I compare these to the stock shackles it looks like they will give me an extra 1-1/4" of lift. So, that makes for 4" suspension lift, 1" body lift, and 1-1/4" shackle lift; for a grand total of 6-1/4" +/-. That ought to fit those 35's.

[NVRDUN]

awesome build and congrats on a job well done sor far...

[drerict]

looks good man

[CJ7VFR]

Originally Posted by namredla

Due to some rust issues in the rear shackles, some new ones were required:



These are Currie shackles that were supposed to be original replacement (as in no lift). When I compare these to the stock shackles it looks like they will give me an extra 1-1/4" of lift. So, that makes for 4" suspension lift, 1" body lift, and 1-1/4" shackle lift; for a grand total of 6-1/4" +/-. That ought to fit those 35's.

In order for these shackles to give you a 1.25 inch lift they have to be
2.50 inches longer than the stock ones.

Are you sure they are that much longer?

If they are 1.25 inches longer than the stock ones, then they will actually
give you .625 (5/8) inches of lift total.

Jim