lots of pictures with some text...last of my TJ build essays

[camper49]

well, this is essay no. 5 from my vacation week in my garage. If you've read any of my earlier stuff, I have a '98 TJ sport that was completely stock. I swapped both axles and installed a suspension kit and many of the other common things you guys do to make it operate dependably. I took a lot of pictures and have been stringing them together with some text describing what I was learning. I wanted to do this to offer something for the guys like me who read the forums to learn the basics. All of this took place in october '07 and I've been driving the jeep everyday. It's great.


So far during the week I had installed a body lift, motor mount lift, slip-yoke eliminator, belly-up center skid. I pulled the rear dana 35 axle, installed a kilby gas tank skid, a rubicon dana 44 rear axle, rubicon express coil suspension kit, and new rear drive shaft. In the front, I pulled the dana 30 axle and installed a high pinion dana 30 from a jeep cherokee. I rebuilt the front drive shaft and axle shafts. And I put the rest of the coil suspension kit in, re-installed the brakes, and re-installed the steering linkage with some new parts.

I also drank some beers, nearly broke my wrist and thumb, listened to the stereo in the garage, ate two bags of potato chips, stayed up all night several times.....


The below essay wraps up some details so I could back the jeep out of the garage and test drive it. At the end of this, I'll review and provide some links if you want to see the earlier pictures. It wouldn't surprise me to learn later I could have done something in a smarter or better way, so keep that in mind.


I set the front end toe alignment to about 1/8 inch inward, measuring the difference at 3 and 9 o'clock on the tire. The factory spec is for each front wheel to be 0.3 degrees inward deviating from parallel. But there are many internet instruction pages describing how to do it yourself with a tape measure. I centered the steering wheel roughly just sitting in the garage. Both tasks are easy... just loosen the turnbuckle at the drivers tie rod end and dial in the toe setting. Loosen the turnbuckle at the draglink to pitman arm rod end, and dial in (or out) the steering wheel rotation. Make sure to tighten the adjuster sleeves (turnbuckles) when you have everything set.

--------------

All I have left on the front is the sway bar. I have JKS sway bar "quick" disconnects to install. Pretty simple task.


The front axle sway bar rests on the front frame rails and connects to the axle with two links. The sway bar dampens and limits the flexibility of the axle (the drop and stuff of the tires in the wheel wells). On the road, this prevents excess body roll and is an important safety feature for coil spring suspensions. Quick disconnect links allow convenient removal of this flexibility limitation when using the jeep offroad. On uneven surfaces, increased axle flexibility helps keep tires on the ground, particularly useful with unlocked differentials.


The JKS link has a flexible lower bushing that slips over a new axle stud and is retained with a spring pin. When disconnected, you swing the link up and anchor it to a frame mounted post. You have to drill and tap a 5/16x18 thread hole in the frame. You need a "F' size drill bit and a thread tap. Alphabet drill bits are sized for thread taps and are sold at lowes or home depot. You have to look for the tap and dies display in the tool department, which may be a different display away from the other drill bits.


In the picture below at the bottom of the coil spring, you see the sway bar link connected to a new stud in the axle with a spring pin securing it. In my earlier essay, I showed how I removed the old factory threaded stud with a puller. The body of the JKS link is threaded to adjust for different coil lift heights. There are a couple JKS kit nos. depending on the lift height range you use. The new anchor post for disconnect status is in the middle right of the picture attached to the frame rail. It's a hollow sleeve with a 5/16 allen head cap screw threaded through the center. You rotate the JKS link up and hang it on the post to keep it clear of the tire. This keeps the sway bar stationary.

If you set the link threads for a shorter length, the sway bar will be tilted down some when connected. This would also require you drill and hang the post on the frame closer than I have. Some guys in the jeep club have this same quick disconnect. When trail riding disconnected, one fella kept losing the spring pin when he turned his tire full lock. The tire would rub the anchor post and spit the spring retainer pin out. So far, I haven't had that happen to me. So I think it might be important how you set up the length of the adjustable sway bar link.

This product had good instructions, was well made, installed easily. They make other stuff. I might try some of their other products.

more parts to install below......

[camper49]

I don't too feel bad about any of my product purchases. I made many of them over a 18 month period. I use the internet, but most of the time I spent my money with local businesses because I like to support my community. I did okay but I can't really brag about any "killer" deals like fellas on the forums do.

I've seen many styles of rear bumpers in the jeep club and on the internet. I have bigger tires now and I don't want to ruin the tailgate door. I already have a hitch and I have a plan for a tire carrier. I just wanted something a little better than the stock bumper.

When I was working on my KJ liberty, I developed a friendship with a parts counter guy at a local jeep dealer. He's a jeep owner and hangs out on a florida jeep forum. Some parts I like to get from the dealer and he treats me very fair. For this TJ, I needed a single locker air pump for the rear dana 44. While I was talking to him about that, I mentioned I was looking for a aftermarket bumper. The TJ models are history at the dealers and he had some TJ mopar stuff he wanted to unload, including a rear bumper. It's normally way overpriced so no one buys it. He gave me a really great deal on it to get it gone. I never see this bumper on other jeeps. I really like it.


It appears to be well made. The welds are good looking and the powder coat is nice. The design wraps around the tub corners and the tube style matches the tire carrier I'm going to use. It allows use of my class III hitch and it isn't extremely heavy. I'm sure heavier designs are stronger but this one is pretty solid. I like it alot.

In the above picture, you can see my home made cb antenna mount behind the right tail light. I'll say something about this in a paragraph below.


After reading several favorable comments about the bestop oversize tire carrier, I decided to go that route. It came in a box with "made in taiwan" in big letters. The instructions are pretty good. The pieces seem to be well made. These jeep aftermarket vendors really ought to supply top quality nuts and bolts with there stuff though. I decided to replace some of the bolts in this kit. (I also did that with some of my body lift kit, and my belly-up skid). Anyway, there's a box of pieces to put together.


When the tailgate is closed, the weight of the tire doesn't put as much stress on the door. When you open the door, the carrier arms swing open too. When open, the two door hinges are relieved of some load by the two carrier hinges attached at the right corner of the tub. The upper carrier hinge is backed by a plate bolted inside the tub at the roll bar, so it's pretty strong. The lower carrier hinge has a backing plate to create a simple sandwich with the sheet metal in between. The lower plate rests against the frame but isn't attached to it. The sandwich occurs near the radius of the tub and when I tightened it up, it tried to flatten the radius and caused my paint to crack slightly. Install is basically a puzzle. And there's some holes you have to accurately drill.


There's a 3 stud flange that rides on the large tube in the center of the carrier. The flange isn't shown in the above picture. I was still adjusting the carrier arms to level the tailgate door. The spare tire bolts to the flange. The depth of the installed flange is adjustable to fit different width tires. The finished install has the flange stay loose until you hang the spare tire and tighten the lug nuts. Because of this, lifting the tire and locating in on the flange studs is a little more difficult than it should be. But as the back sidewall of the tire presses against the carrier arms, the mount flange gets tight. I had planned to modify the flange to make it secure, but once you hang the tire, you forget about it.

I took this picture later to show the tire mount flange....


I ditched my third brake light not long after I bought the jeep. There's a access hole for the wiring in the tailgate door. I have it covered with white tape. You can see my trailer hitch is now installed below the bumper.



I screwed around for some time adjusting this carrier to get it right. I seem to spend more time on projects than other forum fellas admit. While I was cussing it, I was thinking how I might review it. I would prefer the lower hinge have a frame attachment. When you tighten the lug nuts, the back sidewall deforms slightly around the carrier arm tubes. This gives a strong, vibration-free mount. After three months use, it's really solid and doesn't rattle at all. Potholes and railroad crossings are no problem. It takes a little more effort to open and close the tailgate door now, but the door stays where I want it when I open it. I checked on it regularly at first. I don't even think about it now.

I used to have a home made plate behind the right tail light for a cb antenna mount. I couldn't use it now because of the upper right hinge. So I drilled two holes in a scrap piece of 2 inch bar stock, ground down the corners, and slipped it under the bolt head that serves as a hinge pin. I mounted my cb antenna there. I took this picture later for this essay. The mounted antenna is still behind the jeep, not out to the side. So it doesn't get hung up on trail rides. When I open the door, the mount doesn't rotate with the hinge. The antenna doesn't interfere with the hard top rear glass.





I purchased 15x8 white steel wagon wheels from my local independent jeep shop. They have 3.75 inch backspacing. The brand is "American Racing" and they came in separate cardboard boxes. You may be interested to know, I could read through the label and see a "Unique Wheel" label underneath. They are probably the manufacturer for a lot of brands. I bought five and ended up sending one back because I didn't like the weld bead. I got a replacement the next day. I've gotten a few comments about the old style....I call it retro-cj. They were popular in the 70's....my era. They're heavy and take a lot of wheel weight to balance. I'm glad I went with the 8 inch wide instead of 10 inch. Not because of the weight, but I think the mounted tires look better. The black steel wheels seem to be popular now. I like the white better.

I have new 33 inch - 12.5 inch wide bf goodrich mud tires. I bought them local from a 50 year independent tire shop. A couple crusty old fellas with some dusty deer antlers on the wall and the grime of many years on the floor. They have a lot of fleet accounts and know how to mount truck tires. The price isn't as good as costco but I've bought tires from these guys for many years. I gave them my wheels and asked them to balance the tires like they were their own. I purchased these several months earlier and told them I didn't need them right away. I asked them to take their time so I wouldn't have any vibration issues. They tried six tires to get me five they were satisfied with. I have hammer-on weight on both the inside and outside of the rim. They're not pretty but I haven't had any balance problems.

I used old man emu (ome) shock absorbers. I don't have much other experience and I've read those shocks are a good choice. I've been running the tires on the high side of air pressure range, trying to get some gas mileage numbers over a length of time. Some folks rave about how nice the OME shocks feel. The suspension is a short control arm design and the springs are new still. My suspension is stiff and it rides like a truck. I don't mind it but you can feel the potholes and manhole covers. I'll reduce the tire air pressure pretty soon and see how the mpg changes. That will help soften the ride.

see below for more preaching.....

[camper49]

Okay, a few more things. I had to bleed the brakes. I've always done this by pushing the brake pedal. I was alone most of the week, so I tried to do this by myself. I borrowed a hand vacuum pump from my dad and used it to pull brake fluid though the lines. I was able to pull the air bubbles out but the brake fluid stream wasn't as forceful as I liked. Later, my mother-in-law came over to see what I was up to, so I got her to sit in the jeep and push the brake pedal while I opened the bleeders. Brake fluid absorbs moisture and degrades. I used the whole quart bottle of brake fluid and flushed all the lines and calipers. Rear passenger, rear driver, front passenger, front driver....keep checking the reservoir and top it off with brake fluid as you go.


I used my TJ brake rotors, calipers, hub bearings on the XJ steering knuckles. My brakes were in good shape with the 28 inch tires I'd been running. The rubicon rear axle brought disc brakes and they were low miles. It turned out my brakes worked fine with the new suspension and 33 inch tires. I had already ordered a Vanco brake kit for the front. It hadn't arrived yet, so I ran the factory brakes for about a month and they never worried me. I could have saved the expense of the Vanco kit, and used the money for other parts. But I don't regret having good brakes. I may try to put together another essay that covers just the Vanco brakes install.

(EDIT: since I typed all this up, I have installed the Vanco brake kit up front. I've also learned some other stuff about brake systems, bleeding them, etc. I never did get a good essay together about all that.)


....something else....

I raised the motor and transmission with engine mounts and a belly-up skid. I also raised the tub with a 1 inch body lift. So my exhaust routing and clearance remained about the same. I decided to use rear shock absorber relocating brackets to clear the rear spring perch. The only exhaust clearance problem I had was at the rear passenger shock. I cut a piece of a plumbers flame shield and stuck it to the exhaust with some copper rtv. There isn't any pressure against the shock body but it did rattle sometimes. I also stuck a piece between the tail pipe and the hitch mount where it ran close by.


I have since removed this felt piece at the tail pipe and replaced it with a piece of flattened radiator hose (about the size of a business card)....it just prevents any rattles. The exhaust is in pretty good shape, but it isn't new. When its time to replace it, I'll address the routing in these areas. Or I might cut the lower spring perch and remove the shock relocate brackets.


more below.....

[camper49]

When I started to think about switching from my KJ to a wrangler, I had been reading the different forums for a couple years. I put a no-slip lunchbox locker in the rear and a detroit tru-trac in the front of the liberty, along with some additional armor and a few other things. I knew I wanted to eventually have lockers in any wrangler. I also knew about the desirability of a rear dana 44 axle over the more common dana 35. I looked for that option amoung used jeeps but found a unmodified TJ with the dana 35 that appealed to me.

I also knew I'd want to run a better gear ratio for larger tires. I figured replacing the rear axle was my best move and was gonna cost a few dollars. I found a used rear dana 44 from a '03 rubicon TJ and purchased it shortly after I bought my TJ. I made this my first parts purchase before I spent all my modifications budget. It was in good condition with disc brakes, factory 4.10 gears, and the factory air locker. It didn't come with a locker air pump so I needed to purchase that as well. I ended up ordering one from the jeep dealer. I didn't know if I would have to buy the pumps as a pair but my friend at the parts counter had no problem ordering just one pump.


The pump is usually installed with a second pump for the front rubicon axle. I'm not sure how the factory computer plays into the wiring flow of two pumps. There are several wires leading from the pump I bought....a black ground wire, two red power wires that splice into one, and a pink wire and green wire that splice into one pink wire. All of these flow into a factory three wire plug....black, red, pink. I had read on the forum that all I needed were the red and black wires. I set the pump on the front fender by my battery and used some small jumper wires. I jumped the red and black plug blades to my battery and the pump began to whir. It has an internal switch that shuts down when approximately 5 psi is reached at the locker diaphragm. I put my finger over the output nipple and the pump shut down.

Below is a picture of the dana 44 locker when I was cleaning up the swap axle....you can see the brass air line nipple goes through the casting. It connects to the short rubber hose inside the pumpkin. There's a diaphragm that gets pressurized and engages the locker. The rear locker also has a limited slip feature that works without any pump pressure. Notice the pigtail harness hanging over the axle tube.


The differential pumpkin has a two wire pig-tail/switch sticking out near the passenger tube. I don't exactly know how it works. The switch senses when the air locker engages and closes a simple circuit. I purchased a mopar wire harness with the correct matching factory plug and a length of 3/16 vacuum line, all wrapped in plastic wire loom. The harness is only long enough to reach the factory rubicon center skid where the pumps are normally mounted. I'm going to run the two wires to a simple indicator light.


I won't be installing all this like it comes factory. I will be the only driver of my jeep and I don't need any safety features to restrict using the locker to only 4wd low range. I looked at some expensive rocker switches but decided to pass on a $20 switch and went with a cheap one from the local parts store. I bought a couple and threw one in the tool box. I added a simple indicator light. I don't know very much about electrical circuits. The short pump wire harness is all small gauge wire, so I hope the pump doesn't pull a lot of current. I already had some 18 gauge utility wire and some old in-line fuse holders. I made this install with a guess and a prayer. I don't claim it is a smart or correct install.





I would have liked to use the switch panel in the center console, but I didn't buy the correct style switch. I decided to make it easy. I can reach the rocker switch while driving and I can see the switch and the indicator light from my normal driving position by looking down through the steering wheel.


When the rocker switch is on, it glows red. When the pumpkin switch circuit is closed, the green indicator light glows.



I mounted the air pump on the inside fender under the brake master cylinder. The pump came with some small rubber grommet/isolators that I modified slightly to isolate the pump vibration from the sheet metal. It should stay relatively dry and undisturbed in this location. Normally the pump is mounted to a tray under the center of the rubicon near the transfer case. I don't know exactly what the tray looks like. I also don't have the matching plug body so I cut the pump plug off and left the pink wire unused. I have 12 volt power coming from the dash switch to the red wire. There's a existing ground screw forward near the driver headlight where I ran the black wire.

It may be a little confusing in the above photo because of the existing hoses and wires near the air pump. You can take another look at the first picture in this section. Five pump wires go into the black heat shrink, but only two (red and black) come out. I hope you see two rubber hoses coming off the pump body. The hose closest to you delivers about 5 psi to the rear locker. I had a length of 3/16 fuel line that was long enough to go unspliced all the way back to the rear differential. I figured the fewer splices I have, the fewer places to look for air leaks. The hose underneath where you see a little of the plastic nipple is only about 9-10 inches long and sticks basically straight up. That's the intake/vent hose.


....how I mounted the pump from the underside of the driver fender well....a slice of rubber sheet to further isolate the pump vibration.....


I don't know how to make a proper wiring schematic. I made this drawing to explain what I did. I don't think the pump pulls much current. It only runs for a few seconds. I didn't bother with a relay in the circuit. If someone who understands electric circuits wants to tell me what else I need to show, I can revise the drawing. I don't want someone else to damage their jeep based on my "instructions".

[camper49]

The next picture shows the factory pigtail coming out of the passenger side of the pumpkin. The harness I bought has the matching two wire plug. The air hose nipple is just behind where the pigtail/switch comes out of the casting.


I picked up some larger diameter wire loom at lowes and ran the two wires and the air hose from the rear over to the driver frame rail. You can see it ziptied to the sway bar. The two wires from the harness weren't long enough to reach the firewall, so I spliced in more about half way up the rail. The loom ends under the firewall where the 3/16 rubber hose runs to the pump, while the two wires run to the dash light and on to the battery.


I've used the locker in the woods and it works fine. The pump only runs for a second or two and then the green indicator light comes on to tell me the locker is engaged. The pump shuts down and holds pressure. I don't think it had to switch back on to re-pressurize the diaphragm but I may not have noticed while I was crawling around in the woods. I ran with some fellas a few weekends ago with the locker on for 15-20 minutes at a time. When I turn the locker off, the green light goes out. I never had any problem.

The rubicon model TJ has been a big seller and I imagine there are now thousands of these lockers in service. There are probably a lot of rubicon owners who have never tested the lockers on trails. Of course, many jeeps that do see trail use get modified with larger tires. So I don't know how to relate a reported failure to the total number of lockers in service. I've read that the rear locker is a weaker design than the front because of the limited slip design built in. But I don't see failures mentioned on the forums enough to think it's a bad product. Some folks who tear their's up replace the rear locker with the one intended for the front. You lose the limited slip feature though. The aftermarket also has differential lockers, with the Detroit automatic locker and ARB air locker popular choices.

I've really enjoyed the new hobby so far. Learning about the mechanics has been a particular interest for me. I appreciate when someone on the forums explains a design weakness, and I'll try to continue learning. It may sound odd, but I probably enjoyed researching and then working on the jeep as much as you all enjoy riding the trails. The stuff I did is the basic work that's easy for many of you guys. I think I'm better prepared now. I'll try to deal with whatever happens when it does. Otherwise, I'm going to try not to worry about it. If the rubicon locker isn't as good as a detroit or arb, I'll learn that eventually.

...the last part is below....

[camper49]

Finally, I can roll out of the garage. With my hard top, I barely made it out. I washed the grease prints off and took some pictures. You can see my cb antenna on the rear corner.

There's a lot more I want to do, but I ran out of money.....


compared to before.......


My garage at home....




I had a lot of fun in the garage....a week away from work with a collection of parts I'd been gathering for 18 months. I've been reading everyone else's stories on the forums and wishing I could get my jeep ready. It was one of my best vacations.



...some of the "cast offs" from the work I'd been doing....inside and outside the door....added something new every day.


a little more below....

[camper49]

I drove around the neighborhood for a few days listening for problems. The front axle came from a junk yard and I didn't know if it was going to be dependable. I drove to work a few days....every thing worked great. I don't know what 4.56 gear ratio feels like but I'm fine with 4.10 gears on 33 inch tires. I took the jeep up to the woods the following saturday and rode around a little....I needed someplace to check out the transfer case and front axle. I took some poser shots.










I bought this jeep used....it was in really good shape and I don't think it had ever been taken off the road. The driver seat had a tear in the pleating so I patched it and put some seat covers over it. I replaced the lift struts in the hard top rear glass, put a hitch on the rear. Other than that, I drove it 18 months in stock condition and never had to fix anything. Now, in ten days in the garage, I had changed a lot of things, any of which could rattle or break. My shake down rides went great with no wheel wobble, no bearing failure, no problems. I was very happy.

....just need to save some for more parts....

[camper49]

here's a summary......


I chose this forum as a place to post some photo essays. I like this site generally and have subscribed as a forum supporter for a couple years. I wanted to learn how to work on my jeep. I use the search feature and hopefully find what I want to learn about. I don't have a lot of posts myself. I asked a couple forum moderators if I could post a long multi-picture essay about what I learned. I agree that the "tech" section should be for instruction. That's what I wanted to contribute. This essay kind of got away from tech here at the end. Something like this with lots of pictures only works for people who have a fast internet connection and I hope it hasn't been a problem.

below are links to the previous posts....they tell the whole story.....they have a ton of pictures if you like that kind of thing....

thanks for looking....

essay 1 - my axles for swap

essay 2 - my belly up skid

essay 3 - my rear axle goes in

essay 4 - my front high pinion dana 30 goes in

the final essay (no. 5) is the long one you read above.....

[Thunderstrike]

Great write-up, again.

My pinion seals are leaking front and rear (dana-44). If you change yours, please take lots of pics and easy to follow instructions. I did read your dana-30 pinion seal removal write-up in the '98 TJ Build Essay".

Thanks for your post again.

[Greg_Volkman]

MAN! Now i don't feel so bad, lol.

[rmb2485]

Looks awesome! There is one more mod you need to do though...spend $20 on some Krylon Fusion and make those flares black again!

[Buckshot]

Looks great!!

[MtnHighTJ]

Looks Good! I like the white wheels, for a change Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[Xlr8n]

I took the time to look thru this and your earlier write-ups. All I can say is you should be very proud of your work. Very clean, very thorough, very well documented. Enjoy the fine rig you've created. (And ditto on touching up the fender flares. )

[$lick]

you did a great job.

I'm sure some of us are curious.. what'd the axle swap run ya $. (you probably stated that in your other threads?)