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2002 Bella Blue, WJ Build

52703 Views 269 Replies 36 Participants Last post by  snobrdrkid07, 
GmanWJ
2002 Bella Blue, WJ Build

It seems like build threads are a thing here, so here's mine. Meet Bella.


>>Factory Build Info

Table of Contents:

BUILD
Suspension​
  1. 2.5" Lift: OME HD Springs & Bilstein 5100 Shocks
  2. Addco 684 Rear Sway Bar
  3. Factory 2004 WJ 30mm Solid Front Sway Bar (no pics)
  4. Core 4x4 Adjustable CAs (stock length)
  5. Ironman 4x4 UCA
  6. Kevin's Offroad Track Bar Bushings
  7. Rubicon Express Front Swaybar Disconnects
Electrical​
  1. Stereo Upgrade 2006: Fosgate Power & Infinity Perfect
  2. Stereo Upgrade 2020: DDIN Kenwood and Backup Camera
  3. Dual Battery and Trailer Charging Port
  4. 2awg Battery and Ground Cable Upgrade
  5. Auxiliary Lighting
  6. Mechman Alternator and 0awg Cable Upgrade
Other & Extras​
  1. EBC Brakes (good!) & Synergy Spacers (removed)
  2. Whip Flags: Firestik mounts, Tusk holders
  3. 3M Undercoating
  4. Wolf Vinyl Decal (fight me!)


REPAIR
Suspension​
  1. Rear Upper Control Arm
  2. Rear Lower Control Arm (video)
  3. Front Control Arm Replacement
  4. Ball Joint Replacement
  5. Detroit Axle Control Arm Review

Engine​
  1. Fuel Injector Connectors
  2. Left Valve Cover Gasket
  3. Right Valve Cover Gasket
  4. Water Pump Replacement
  5. Valve Stem Seals & Lifters
  6. Spark Plug Replacement (video)

Other Stuff​
  1. Driver Door Wire Repair
  2. Rear Axle Bearing Replacement
  3. Headliner Repair? -- FAIL
  4. Hood Emblem Replacement


I have had her since July 2002, new to me and the only new vehicle I have ever owned.

Aside from the typical routine maintenance (fluids, filters, tires, shocks, brakes, ...), some of the things I have had to fix over the years. Note: at first I had all of my service done at the dealer or quick lube shops, but after a few bad things happened I started doing it all myself. Well mostly myself. Some jobs I still take to a shop if I feel like it's over my head or I just want somebody else to do it instead.
  • Rear axle "failure" and rebuild at 30k. Dealer stated the diff was empty. Odd, since they did all the service for me.
  • Rear axle "failure" and rebuild at 65k. AGAIN!!
  • Right rear TPM sensor replacement. Jiffy Lube smashed the valve stem for me.
  • Passenger side wiper arm replacement. Jiffy Lube strikes again.
  • Power steering hose, I think this was a factory recall?
  • Evap cannister hose leak. Was throwing a trouble code.
  • O2 sensor replacement. Threw a code so I was going to replace them all until I saw how expensive they are, so just did the one.
  • Climate control panel replacement. The A/C would not blow cold air and really had me stumped. Replaced the panel out of desperation and it worked.
  • EVIC overhead module replacement. Display just died. Got one without TPMS capability because I was running BFG E range tires that would constantly trigger high pressure alarms on the highway.
  • Parking brake cable replacement, TWICE. What is this about?
  • Window regulators on front driver & passenger doors
  • Hood, liftgate, & liftglass struts several times
  • Driver door panel replacement due to cracks in the arm rest. Done this twice too and need to do it again.
  • Passenger side power mirror, I suspect a parking lot incident.
  • Thermostat leak, replaced
  • Water pump leak, replaced
  • Radiator leak, replaced (& hoses)
  • Starter motor replacement, solenoid was dying and threatened to strand me.
  • Engine rear main seal replacement
  • Rear axle seals, bearings, pinion seal

Current list of things that need to be fixed:
  • Peeling headliner (failed 09/05/2020)
  • Driver door panel (arm rest)
  • Driver heated seat
  • Heated seat switches, some lights don't work (but the switch does!)
  • Clunks and creaks in the rear end (completed 11/01/2019)
  • Oil seep from valve covers (completed 03/26/2018)
Obviously I am in no hurry to fix these things ...

Here we are exploring the Lost Coast some years ago. We found a remote deserted beach with a fire ring and stopped for lunch.


Follow along with my adventures with Bella on my dedicated thread:
Gman's Adventures with Bella Blue
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GmanWJ
three_jeeps said:
Yea, I was surprised how ratty the hood emblem got, but at $70 a pop to replace it, there were more urgent places to spend the money, especially on a jeep.
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The term "lipstick on a pig" comes to mind. lol. I like the dental floss idea, I will have to remember that. Thanks.
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Bigrigr
Looking good Gman, I like the blue on the control arms...
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GmanWJ
Bigrigr said:
Looking good Gman, I like the blue on the control arms...
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Hey thanks! I know I picked the color ... but it really is a little too much like purple. I was shooting for the darkest blue I could find, this is what I ended up with. I can dig on it, though.
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Bigrigr
Yeah, I think that blue looks great.
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UncleWoody
Gman, wondering how the WJ is handling. I notice in one of your pictures that the front sway bar is somewhat parallel to the ground. I thought it should be about 30* upward angle. Is that because how you jack it up to do the work? Just wondering.
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GmanWJ
UncleWoody said:
Gman, wondering how the WJ is handling. I notice in one of your pictures that the front sway bar is somewhat parallel to the ground. I thought it should be about 30* upward angle. Is that because how you jack it up to do the work? Just wondering.
Click to expand...
It is currently handling pretty well. The new control arms and upper axle bushings really settled down the front end. There is still a wag going on ... I think (hope) that will go away when my new adjustable A-arm arrives. Suspect the rear upper ball joint is toasted again, so I am going to eliminate that from the equation.

The front sway bar looks parallel to the ground because the axle is in full droop in that picture. Have to drop the axle to get the springs out. When the springs are in and the wheels on the ground, the sway bar is where it is supposed to be.
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GmanWJ
New control arm arrived from Ironman4x4fab. This big boy weighs a whopping 30 lbs, guessing that is 3x what the stock arm weighs. As Andy told me, this thing is way overbuilt; if this doesn't stop the tail wag ... well I am either looking in the wrong spot or it can't be stopped. Flex joints are Enduro joints by Barnes 4x4.

Looking forward to install when I get some free time.

https://ironman4x4fab.com/collections/grand-cherokee-wj/products/wj-rear-a-arm

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SD Overland
Shoot, that's a nice looking boomerang! I'd be willing to bet that's going to tidy everything up.
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GmanWJ
GmanWJ said:
New control arm arrived from Ironman4x4fab. This big boy weighs a whopping 30 lbs, guessing that is 3x what the stock arm weighs. As Andy told me, this thing is way overbuilt; if this doesn't stop the tail wag ... well I am either looking in the wrong spot or it can't be stopped. Flex joints are Enduro joints by Barnes 4x4.

Looking forward to install when I get some free time.
Click to expand...
Installed today. Hit some unexpected snags. It turns out order of operations was very important (for me anyway), so I basically had to do it twice.

Order: body mounts, springs, diff bracket/mount, shocks/sway bar. I could not get the stubborn springs in with the UCA mounted on the diff (the axle would not droop far enough), so I had to take it back out and start over. But maybe it was all for the best because I could set it to factory length with the springs out.

Old UCA w/ball joint weighed in at 16 lbs, so at 30 lbs the new one is a little less than twice as heavy.

Was almost done by lunch, but it ended up taking all day. Test drive was encouraging. I will say no more for now. :)
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Bigrigr
GmanWJ said:
Installed today. Hit some unexpected snags. It turns out order of operations was very important (for me anyway), so I basically had to do it twice.

Order: body mounts, diff bracket, springs, diff mount, shocks/sway bar. I could not get the stubborn springs in with the UCA installed, so I had to take it back out and start over. But maybe it was all for the best because I could set it to factory length with the springs out.

Old UCA w/ball joint weighed in at 16 lbs, so the new one is a little less than twice as heavy.

Was almost done by lunch, but it ended up taking all day. Test drive was encouraging. I will say no more for now. 🙂
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I have had several of those upper control arms out now, and they are just a bear to work with. I do it a little different each time, thinking i have the shortcut, and it never works out that way. I have another one to do here in the next few weeks. I will get to practice once more...not looking forward to it....
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GmanWJ
I shortened up my UCAs on Sunday, looking to increase my caster angle and aiming for ~7°. Based on some guesstimated measurements, I shortened both sides by 5 full turns; at 16 threads per inch on the arms, I suppose that means they are now 5/16" shorter than factory. My guesstimates said that should be around +2° caster.

Test drive was good. Commute to work was good; I hit that ONE BRIDGE that usually creates a shimmy and it was rock solid and I was smiling. Commute home I hit that ONE BRIDGE again and got a fairly alarming shimmy ... never had a problem on that particular side of the road before. So now I am worried about future DW implications.

Stopped by my local shop to get some alignment readings. Caster is 8.8°! LOL wow I really overshot. So I am going to back off two full turns (1/8") and take it back for a rescan. Terry says he will redo for no extra charge.


Awesome that somehow the caster angle is showing GREEN (in-range) status. It should be in the 6.0-7.5° range. Clearly they adjusted the limits for "modified suspension".
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Bigrigr
Wow is right, that is alot of Caster! I agree you need to get it back down closer to 7 degrees to keep the u joints in the front driveline happy. Wish you had a little better camber on the front. But no real easy way to fix that unless you do offset ball joints. Watch the tire wear on the inside edge, If they wear ok, then no harm no foul...Might try slighter more toe in to compensate for the oversize tires. (the tires want to "spread" out while going down the road anyways, larger tires exasperbate this, so adding a little more toe can help keep them straight to each other while going down the road. this can also help with bumpsteer)


Also double check your tire air pressure, what do you usually run? Many times you need less than you think. This also aggravates the bumpsteer issue.


Did you do the adjustable lower control arms on the rear also? If so, you could adjust them as well to help with that thrust angle...perfect world would be a reading of zero. Try to get it as close as you can to that...
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GmanWJ
Bigrigr said:
Wow is right, that is alot of Caster! I agree you need to get it back down closer to 7 degrees to keep the u joints in the front driveline happy. Wish you had a little better camber on the front. But no real easy way to fix that unless you do offset ball joints. Watch the tire wear on the inside edge, If they wear ok, then no harm no foul...Might try slighter more toe in to compensate for the oversize tires. (the tires want to "spread" out while going down the road anyways, larger tires exasperbate this, so adding a little more toe can help keep them straight to each other while going down the road. this can also help with bumpsteer)

Also double check your tire air pressure, what do you usually run? Many times you need less than you think. This also aggravates the bumpsteer issue.

Did you do the adjustable lower control arms on the rear also? If so, you could adjust them as well to help with that thrust angle...perfect world would be a reading of zero. Try to get it as close as you can to that...
Click to expand...
These are all good points, thanks for making them.

Tires are currently at 30 psi cold, I just checked them this morning.

Part of my overshoot on the caster was that I thought the arms were 16 threads per inch, but they are actually 14 tpi. What I thought was a 5/16" adjustment was actually closer to 6/16" (3/8") ... sadly, not really enough to account for how far off I was. So I will just remove the two turns and get it re-measured.

Terry told me they just got a new $35k alignment machine, so I assume it is working pretty well ... but I am not so sure about the guy running it. He was having trouble setting the toe and then adjusting the drag link. Frankly those both seem like easy adjustments to me, just set the total toe with the tie rod, straighten the wheels, and adjust the drag link to center the steering wheel. It cannot be that hard.

I am going to put a half turn into the tie rod to pull the tires in a bit, like you suggest, before I take it back.

But the thrust angle number is probably accurate. The lowers are adjustable, the upper is adjustable. If I read it right, my left rear wheel is aft of my right rear. I need to push my RR back a bit, or pull my LR up a bit, or both. Thinking I will make a full turn adjustment and either split the difference left/right or just all into the right.

I just happened to stumble across camber adjustment shims by SPC Performance today, they make +0.5° and +1.0° sizes:
https://www.spcalignment.com/compon...erokee&year=2002 - 2002&from=USAFrom&to=USATo
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P
Great info! This is a great write-up and encouragement for me. I love the photos and especially especially the details including order of operations. Thanks!
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Bigrigr
GmanWJ said:
These are all good points, thanks for making them.

Tires are currently at 30 psi cold, I just checked them this morning.

Part of my overshoot on the caster was that I thought the arms were 16 threads per inch, but they are actually 14 tpi. What I thought was a 5/16" adjustment was actually closer to 6/16" (3/8") ... sadly, not really enough to account for how far off I was. So I will just remove the two turns and get it re-measured.

Terry told me they just got a new $35k alignment machine, so I assume it is working pretty well ... but I am not so sure about the guy running it. He was having trouble setting the toe and then adjusting the drag link. Frankly those both seem like easy adjustments to me, just set the total toe with the tie rod, straighten the wheels, and adjust the drag link to center the steering wheel. It cannot be that hard.

I am going to put a half turn into the tie rod to pull the tires in a bit, like you suggest, before I take it back.

But the thrust angle number is probably accurate. The lowers are adjustable, the upper is adjustable. If I read it right, my left rear wheel is aft of my right rear. I need to push my RR back a bit, or pull my LR up a bit, or both. Thinking I will make a full turn adjustment and either split the difference left/right or just all into the right.

I just happened to stumble across camber adjustment shims by SPC Performance today, they make +0.5° and +1.0° sizes:
https://www.spcalignment.com/compon...erokee&year=2002 - 2002&from=USAFrom&to=USATo
Click to expand...
I agree with everything you mentioned. Those exact remedies would be what I would do If I were in your shoes. Those shims are new, but a great, easier solution to your problem. They didnt have those when I was wrenching. Nice to see someone working on those common problems.
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GmanWJ
Pretty sure the only thing that saved me from DW last night was my Moog Trail Boss. I hit that ONE BUMP and she shimmied for FAR too long, probably a dozen cycles before finally damping out. No bueno.

More head math told me better to extend my UCAs by 3 full turns (~3/14"), so I did that after dinner. My DS sounds happier and turning the wheel feels more free. Road manners are yet to be fully tested. Wish me luck.

Immediately after applying spec. torque to the track bar (74 ft-lb), I decided I wanted it a bit tighter so I dialed up 80 ft-lb on my wrench. Imagine my mild surprise when the wrench immediately 'clicked' without turning the bolt at all. That's interesting ...
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GmanWJ
Got new measurements. Extended RR LCA 3 turns. Shortened tie rod 1/4 turn.

Caster = +7.4 deg. Nice.

Thrust = +0.04 deg. Nice.

Toe = +0.33 deg. Oops.

So I extended tie rod 1/8 turn. Should be golden. Then adjusted drag link to center steering wheel. All good.

I hit that ONE BRIDGE yesterday after the caster adjustment and it was rock solid both ways. No shimmies. Nice.

The rear feels solid and stable. The front feels solid and stable. The wind buffeting problem is basically gone. Yet to tow the trailer with the new rear UCA but I am feeling good about it.

Gman is finally starting to feel happy about this lift.
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Bigrigr
GmanWJ said:
Got new measurements. Extended RR LCA 3 turns. Shortened tie rod 1/4 turn.

Caster = +7.4 deg. Nice.

Thrust = +0.04 deg. Nice.

Toe = +0.33 deg. Oops.

So I extended tie rod 1/8 turn. Should be golden. Then adjusted drag link to center steering wheel. All good.

I hit that ONE BRIDGE yesterday after the caster adjustment and it was rock solid both ways. No shimmies. Nice.

The rear feels solid and stable. The front feels solid and stable. The wind buffeting problem is basically gone. Yet to tow the trailer with the new rear UCA but I am feeling good about it.

Gman is finally starting to feel happy about this lift.
Click to expand...
Nice Job! I knew you could do it. Caster is our friend, but like everything else good in our lives, only up to a point. I think you have it in a great place now. If you get anything again, maybe try dialing it back a half degree on the Caster. But you should be very close to your sweet spot. Im very impressed on the thrust angle specs now. It should drive like its on rails...
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GmanWJ
Bigrigr said:
Nice Job! I knew you could do it. Caster is our friend, but like everything else good in our lives, only up to a point. I think you have it in a great place now. If you get anything again, maybe try dialing it back a half degree on the Caster. But you should be very close to your sweet spot. Im very impressed on the thrust angle specs now. It should drive like its on rails...
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Agreed, I do not think I need that much caster either. I can pull it back another 0.5° pretty easily which would relieve some unnecessary stress on the driveshaft.

I am smiling more every day now. She is feeling really good. These control arms definitely transmit more noise and shock, but the articulation is very nice and the biggest plus is no more wagging in the front or the rear.
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Bigrigr
GmanWJ said:
Agreed, I do not think I need that much caster either. I can pull it back another 0.5° pretty easily which would relieve some unnecessary stress on the driveshaft.

I am smiling more every day now. She is feeling really good. These control arms definitely transmit more noise and shock, but the articulation is very nice and the biggest plus is no more wagging in the front or the rear.
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Glad its all finally coming around for you. Happy Jeeping!
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