1. Registration trouble? Please use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom right corner of the page and your issue will be resolved.
    Dismiss Notice

1998 Xj Mild Crawler, Getting Back Into The Jeep Thing

Discussion in 'Builds and Fabricators Forum' started by Dutch, Aug 31, 2018.

  1. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    Since I saw a few Land Rovers posted in here I figure its ok for me to post my 1998 XJ. I bought this Jeep March of 2017 to build into a mild wheeling rig I could take my g/f, son, and my mom (when she visits) wheeling in. I hadn't owned a Jeep since getting rid of my 2008 JKUR to help pay for a divorce in the summer of 2015. We did the ATV thing for a little bit, but while they're a lot of fun they just weren't a Jeep.

    Here is the JKUR I had to sell off.
    [​IMG]

    Back story, getting back into a Jeep:
    I initially picked up an 87 Pioneer that was fairly torn apart (no axles and a lot of the interior gutted) but completely rust free and really clean otherwise. My buddy literally gave it to me, so the price was right. The plan with that one was to make a mid-level crawler that would've been considered hard core back in the day. D44, Ford 9, 37's, cage, long arms, and most likely a rear 4-link. Basically I was going to rebuild my 92 XJ I had rolled a few years back, plus do the rest of the stuff I had planned for that one. I got some axles from the junkyard and hauled it home. I also ordered a Rusty's 4.5" Long Arm kit and an Advanced Adapters SYE.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    This was my 1992 XJ I built over the winter of 2008. It was my second XJ, the first was a 1998 I bought after getting back from Iraq. That one got wrecked when a guy ran a red light.
    [​IMG]

    After it got serial crushed by a rather large guy.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Here is the picture of the 92 YJ I built after rolling the 92 XJ, it was on GM D60/14bolt combo with 39.5" Iroks (went to 42's before parting it out). XJ springs flipped around both front and rear for a 107" WB, 4.0L, AX-15, and NP231/D300 doubler.
    [​IMG]

    After not finding any motivation to work on a stripped down Renix I decided to switch gears a bit and build something milder. I also wanted a more comfortable platform so I began looking at 97+ XJ's. My friend Trent found me a clean 98 on AutoTrader for $1100 or so and I jumped on it. The new plan was/is to basically build my 2000 XJ that I'd sold to get into the JK, but with some revisions due to lessons learned.

    The inspiration
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The new 1998 Sport after swapping the cracked header panel out for a clean, but incorrectly colored one.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2018
    ITLKSEZ likes this.
  2. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    Still Spring of 2017:

    After getting an e-test done and registering the Jeep I finally got around to installing the Rusty's 4.5" Long Arm kit. I had ordered the kit with 2 major changes from normal. The first and biggest change was I had them replace the Y-Link setup in the kit with their competition 4-Link setup. The second change was I had them swap the 4.5" leaf packs out for 3.5" leaf packs and longer shackles. I had also upgraded to their RX200 shocks.
    [​IMG]

    Of course, between the time I had received the kit and the time I was ready to install it on my 98 Sport I had sold off the trac-bar, the rear springs, and the shackles. This was because I had been planning to link the rear of the 87 Pioneer and was also planning a front D44 with OTA trac-bar. Luckily Trent hadn't used the leaf springs yet and I was able to buy them back along with a set of RE lift shackles. Also luckily my 98 Sport had a RE Adjustable Trac-bar to go with its 3.5" BDS short arm kit. So with parts sorted out I made a plan to go to BV and run Chinaman's with the local XJ Chapter and started cramming on the jeep. I also had a barbecue and coerced some friends over to help.

    To save time on the BBQ/Wrench day I pulled the axles on my own the night before.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Then we replaced the rear main seal and transmission filter, installed an Advanced Adapters SYE, and installed the full long arm kit in 1 day with it winding up on 33's that I had bought used.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Needless to say my garage was a mess afterwards.
    [​IMG]
     
  3. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    Still Spring of 2017:
    After that I spent the next week trimming my front fenders and building a front bumper. My buddy Steve used a torchmate to cut out all the pieces for the bumper and my buddy Nick machined out some custom shackle mounts for me. The bumper was based on Steve's design from his own XJ. Nick is running the same core bumper, but he made his "wings" out of plate. I opted to stick with a more minimal tube design like Steve was running, but tweaked it a bit. I also had originally meant to make the tube portion a separate bumper that could be removed/replaced in the event it was damaged but time constraints and my own impatience got the better of me and I just welded everything together.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Pics are a bit out of order because of dumping everything onto Imgur from my phone.
     
  4. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    Still Spring of 2017:
    I think I got the bumper done and the Jeep ready a day or two before heading down to BV for the weekend. It was pretty close, that's for sure.
    Loaded up the night before and the weather started rolling in.
    [​IMG]

    The roads that morning were terrible and heading up 285 to Conifer the *** end of my truck kept wanting to slide out on the hills. Unfortunately my hubs won't lock automatically anymore, I'm pretty sure its the unit bearings I got from Rock Auto because they worked before I put those in, so I had to find a safe spot to pull over and lock them in. I should've just done it when I left the house that morning but I had forgotten. Once I got the hubs locked in and could use 4WD it was much smoother sailing. The Jeep was completely covered in ice and grime when we stopped for fuel and a potty break in Fairplay.
    [​IMG]

    In the end we made it to the entrance of Carnage and met up with little David and his dad who had graciously offered up a space in the camper with them. Of course David being Air Force I made him the little spoon ..!. :D .!.., but all in all it was a very comfy place to sleep.
    [​IMG]

    After getting settled in and a few libations we decided David should run Carnage in his little Yota truggy on 37" BFG A/T KO2's. My g/f Jessica rode with him most of the trail while his dad Matt and I drank beer and hiked trail, spotting David and talking smack as we did.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The little Yota did really good and the KO2's were actually very impressive. We did pull rope a few times and then David flopped at the exit. He blames the spotter but I... err, he says its all David's fault. Who knows really. :D After that we watched some TV and passed out early like a bunch of old people who had drank too much and actually did physical activity for once.
     
  5. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    Still Spring of 2017:

    The next day we got up and waited for the group to arrive so we could run Chinaman's. David and I took lead, which was probably a bad idea as we were both hanging a bit and kind of grumpy. We kept stopping for people to catch up and not realizing there were mechanical issues in the back we wound up getting too far ahead and finishing the trail before the rest. We took our time loading up to see if people would catch us but ended up leaving before anybody else. There were something like 10 rigs not counting ours so we weren't worried about them, just didn't get to do the group thing.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    While on Chinaman's I found a few slight things to fix, the biggest thing was rotating my passenger side rear lower shock mount so that I had more exposed shaft on the shock and it would match the driver side.
    [​IMG]
     
  6. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    June of 2017:

    After Chinaman's and relocating the rear shock mount the Jeep pretty much just sat. I got wrapped up in side work and all the other things going on in life and didn't have a lot of time for the Jeep. I decided that for Father's day that's what I wanted to do. Get the Jeep out and go camping with my son. We had plans for actual Father's Day weekend, plus my schedule at Colin with his mom, so we picked the Kelly Flats trip as the basis for a weekend in the mountains. We went up Saturday morning and managed to snag one of the last spots at the Kelly Flats Campground right across the street.
    [​IMG]

    After setting up camp we went up the trail a bit t find a good place to do some plinking. Neither Jessica or Colin had ever shot with a scope and I put them behind my Walther G22 bullpup .22LR rifle to get some trigger time. They both struggled acquiring the target through scope, but once they figured that out they were doing great. I was especially proud of Colin, he is 8 years old and just shredded the Coors light can I hung up in a tree. Sure it was through a scope, but he was standing up and shooting.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    After plinking we went back to camp and had lunch, then we walked around the camp ground for a bit before going back down the road to a hiking trail we'd passed that morning. I can't remember the name of the trail but it was definitely a more wild than we were expecting. Very narrow and hard to follow with a lot of rocks. By the time we got done doing the just over 2 miles we were far more exhausted than we should've been. When we got back to camp the dog literally got in her bed and just passed out.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The next morning we got up and loaded the truck back up, then headed to the trail head to wait for anybody showing up for the run. I think it was an hour after we were supposed to hit the trail that 1 guy in a JK showed up for the NAXJA trail run. :rolleyes:
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    We hit the trail and easily caught up to another group of JK's playing around in the Chutes
    [​IMG]

    Then we parted ways and headed home. It was a good weekend over all but I decided then I was really not happy being back in an open/open rig on 33's. After having rigs that were more built I just didn't trust the Jeep. So with me getting ready to head to a month of training I began making plans for the next phase of mods.
     
  7. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    August 2017:

    After getting back from Annual Training and with all that E7 money burning a hole in my pocket I decided to make my house a regular stop for the UPS truck. I ordered up 4.88 gears for both axles (or so I'd thought), a Yukon Zip-Locker for the Dana 30, picked up a used Trac-Lock for the 8.25, ordered an Artec Dana 30 truss and lower control arm mounts, a VIAIR constant duty OBA system, heim joint steering from Dirtbound Offroad, a brand new set of 35x12.5r15 BFG KM2's, and a set of 15x10 w/ 3" of back spacing steel beadlocks. I had also scored a used but free Warn XD9000 winch.

    Parts piling up
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Getting ready to pull the front axle
    [​IMG]

    About an hour or so later
    [​IMG]

    Front axle stripped and starting on the truss
    [​IMG]

    Truss welded up
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Welding on the lower control arm mounts
    [​IMG]

    Time for gears
    [​IMG]

    Out with the old
    [​IMG]

    The cute little 8-tooth pinion set in place. This was also where I hit my first snag. The install kit I got didn't come with new axle seals and I thought I'd had some extras but was wrong. So I had to wait a day to get those.
    [​IMG]

    The next day I was able to finish up the axle after work and even tossed some good old Rustoleum on everything to make it quasi-shiny. The old stock cover came in handy as I didn't want to paint the Solid diff cover black.
    [​IMG]

    I took Friday off of work to get the front axle back in and then knock out the rear axle. I was supposed to have a wrench/bbq day on Saturday at my place to do gears front/rear on my buddy Nick's rig. So Friday morning I got the axle back in by myself in about 2 hours with requisite coffee breaks and FB time of course.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Now originally I was going to turn the Jeep around at this point to do the rear axle. Unfortunately for me my buddy Troy had decided to buy my 33's on Thursday and while I had my 35's the beadlocks hadn't been delivered yet. They were due by the end of the day of course. Snag number 2, but not really a big deal.

    Rear axle torn apart.
    [​IMG]

    This is when I hit snag number 3, and it was a big one. 355? That's a weird part number for 4.88 gears. Let me count. 1, 2, 3...... FRACK!!!!!
    [​IMG]

    I spent the rest of the afternoon rechecking my parts order (yes, my dumbass accidentally ordered 3.55's), talking to Ron's Machining Service, calling every shop or person I could think of to try to find a set locally, ordering a new set of gears, boxing and shipping the new 3.55's back, and adjusting plans for Saturday to have the wrench party/bbq at Nick's house instead.

    After going to the post office and then picking Colin up from school I did come home to a nice big stack of brand new beadlocks. Unfortunately they didn't come with valve stems and we only have a NAPA in Milliken that closes at exactly whatever time it is you realize you need a part real quick. So when my buddy Jim arrived to help me with them we instead cleaned the garage up, drank most of a case of PBR, and just caught up as he'd recently returned from Kuwait and we hadn't seen each other much since he'd been back. That was snag number 4, but after snag number 3 it really didn't matter.
     
    Danefraz likes this.
  8. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    August 2017 Continued:

    Yesterday after getting back from Nick's house I picked up some valve stems and mounted up my tires.
    [​IMG]

    I couldn't help but toss one on the Jeep to see what it looked like.
    [​IMG]

    And today I started working on getting my OBA system installed. I started with figuring out where I wanted everything and after a lot of moving things around I settled on a spot for the tank and compressor in the back. Unfortunately where I wanted the compressor wasn't where there was a flat surface to mount it. So I drove to Greeley and hit up Home Depot for some NPT fittings and some 16ga sheet metal. Once back I got to work cutting out the piece I wanted and drilling it for the mounting holes on the compressor.
    [​IMG]

    Then I decided that I couldn't just have a big piece of plain sheet metal under my compressor. I mean, I do have a dimple die set for 1.5" holes so I have to use it. Right? Well that's fine and all except that both of my 1.5" holes saws were apparently trash so that meant another run into town for a new one. Still, it does look cool (even though you can't see it with the compressor mounted) and will allow that much more air flow to the compressor (my justification to myself).
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Then I cut out two more pieces of the 16ga and put the entire contraption together. I welded them to the base plate for the OEM spare tire and then set the new mounting plate on top of that.
    [​IMG]

    Then a little bit of primer followed by some truck bed liner and we have a snazzy little spot to mount my compressor. I also made a little bracket for my air hose fitting that'll come from the tank and let me air up my tires. Luckily I thought if that before I painted it, because I'd have probably been too lazy to grind away fresh paint if I hadn't.
    [​IMG]

    Tomorrow I'm going to try to finish mounting up the tank and then start running wires and air hose. Hopefully by the end of the day I'll have all of that fully installed; including the pressure gauge, on/off switch, pneumatic switch for the locker, and the hose ran to the locker.
     
  9. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    August 2017 Continued:

    I got the OBA fully installed today. I started out by marking where the tank was going to go. I then removed the carpet from spot under the mounting feet and drilled a few holes for nut-serts/threaded inserts. I did a better job of measuring for the holes than I thought because they all lined up too. Once the tank was bolted down I finished the last of the connections between it and the compressor.
    [​IMG]

    Then I set to work on the center console. I figured out where I wanted everything and started drilling holes. The switch by the pressure gauge is for the compressor, the switch by the transmission shifter is for the front locker.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I also installed 2 1/4OD push lock bulkhead fittings in front of the t-case shifter in the floor. 1 is acting as a pass through for the locker supply hose. Its 5mm OD and fits nicely through it. The other one will stay open under the jeep and has the exhaust hose from the pneumatic switch plumbed to it.
    [​IMG]

    After that I just ran my wires and the hoses. Once everything was in place I hooked the battery back up to test it. At first nothing happened and I was trying to think of why, and then I remembered I never put the inline fuse into the holder for the main compressor power wire. Once I installed that everything worked perfectly. The compressor isn't too loud in the cab and it even if it was it fills that 2.5 gallon tank rather quickly. The front locker is working and doesn't have any air leaks either, so all in all not a bad bit of progress.
     
  10. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    Sept 2017:

    Once I got the onboard air sorted out and installed I was able to move onto my steering. I went with the Dirtbound Offroad heim steering over the CavFab only because it was about $40-60 cheaper shipped. I've been happy with the few things I've received from Dirtbound thus far, although their communication and shipping expediency could be improved.

    Painting the steering links
    [​IMG]

    I did manage to break my 5/8 drill bit on pitman arm, so that sucked. Otherwise it was a pretty straight forward install.
    Jump ahead and here it is on the Jeep.
    [​IMG]

    Once that was done I mounted the front wheels/tires and then moved onto finishing up the re-gear on the 8.25 out back. Ron's Machining Service promptly shipped my new gears to me and once the incorrectly ordered ones got to them they called me right up and sent me a refund. I'm very happy dealing with them.
    You have to grind the teeth down on 4.56 and numerically higher gears with the 8.25 or you won't be able to get the cross shaft in or out, as its a c-clip axle that is a problem. One thing I like about the factory limited slip is that it has a smaller cross shaft, so there is a little less grinding. Still, this grinding of the ring gear and that its a c-clip axle is why I personally refuse to run a locker in the 8.25 when running 35's. I've also always had good luck with the factory trac-lok limited slips, plus they're easy to rebuild.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    And in the axle.
    [​IMG]

    I didn't take a picture apparently, but I also installed a Solid brand differential cover onto the 8.25 rear.

    I got it finished up on Saturday, the day before the Spring Creek run with the chapter. I decided to test drive it and make sure it was good to go by running over to Trent's house to pick up my spare 35 and some spare 8.25 shafts. I then drove to another buddy's house in Firestone and bs'd with him for a bit about his Early Bronco project, and finally drove it down to Thornton to meet up with a friend and catch the Carnage on Larimer car show.

    Spare tire "fits" in the back.
    [​IMG]

    Jeep in front of my friend's house in Firestone and ready to go to Spring Creek.
    [​IMG]

    Because I wasn't sure if I was going to need to trim more up front I removed my windshield washer bottle from under the front fender before Spring Creek. My trimming and bumpstopping turned out to be just right however and I was able to put it back in. I also decided that I like the spare tire sitting where it is so I'm going to make another cross bar/hi-lift mount for behind the back seat that will also have a support for the tire. I'll add better tie-downs and use my 3-point tire strap too.

    After I got back from Spring Creek I decided to finally add some front tie-downs to my friend's trailer. I sold it to him a few years ago for pretty cheap with the understanding that I can use it pretty much as needed. I also try to do maintenance on it when I have it to help him out.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  11. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    Sept 2017:

    This last Monday with my mom and baby brother (he's 21 :D ) in town we decided to load up into the Jeep and go up Rollins Pass, Jenny Creek, and most of Kingston Peak. My buddy Jim also came up and brought his 2 Polaris ATV's so my g/f and brother were able to take turns riding the extra ATV, at least until the one broke a control arm coming down from a very respectable jump. As usual I suck at taking pictures when on a trip so this is all I really have.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    We stopped at Ned's in Nederland for dinner and overall had a great day.

    I have drill this weekend but its just our Family Day and only on Saturday. The plan for Sunday is to put my Warn winch back together (the gear housing was crudded up and wouldn't free-spool), install the winch into the bumper, spool up the synthetic rope, and wire that all up. Then I'm going to try to get that spare tire support made so I can lower fold down the back seat again to get better access to my tool bags and spare parts that are under it.

    My buddy Nick made me a bit of custom bling for the winch install too.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Danefraz likes this.
  12. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    Sept 2017:

    Finished up the winch install today. I started on this last weekend but ran out of time and got annoyed with it. Now that its done though I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
    I started out having to take the gear housing apart on the Warn winch. This was a nearly new and free to me winch but it was so crudded up inside from sitting outside it didn't want to work. You couldn't turn the free spool lever at all and it took a few presses of the switch before it would spin. I took it all apart, cleaned it all up, and greased/oiled everything. It works good now, but the free spool still wants to hang up so I might take it back apart and hit it with some emery cloth to remove the last of the corrosion in there. The winch itself works though so I'm not too worried about it.

    After all that was done I began by cutting out the front cross-member.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I also had to bend over the flange on the inside of the passenger side frame rail. This was because the winch mount was offset for an XRC8 or some other winch that my buddy was running when he designed it.
    [​IMG]

    As you can see, with the Warn XD9000 there is enough room between it and the steering box that it probably could've been mounted centered.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I then used one of those light bar mounts to attach the solenoid box to the bar. I'll eventually order another one and then run cubes on either side instead of the short bar I was going to run.
    [​IMG]
     
  13. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    Jan 2018:

    Well admittedly the XJ does a lot of sitting next to the garage, so it was nice to take it out yesterday for a little light wheeling. A buddy of mine recently purchased a 100 series Land Cruiser with a 2" lift and slightly larger tires. He wanted to take it up so we ran up to Bunce School Road, Iron Clads, and Rock Creek. We tried to hit Johnny Park road but the gate was closed. I've been on it this time of the year before so figured it was worth trying before we headed home.

    Overall it was a good day and decent bit of fun. The snow got respectably deep on Rock Creek with a thick later of ice underneath. This lead to a lot of full throttle runs into the snow to break trail ahead of the Land Cruiser. All was going decently well until about 1/2 way up when suddenly my air compressor kicked on and I could see I was still losing air pressure on the gauge. Sure enough once I rolled down the window I could hear an air leak. I crawled underneath and found that the air was rushing out of the breather hose for the front diff. I'm guessing I had an o-ring failure on the collar for the Zip Locker but I haven't opened it up yet to see.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  14. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    January 2018:

    During my last trip the Zip Locker started leaking air real bad. Last weekend I decided to tear the XJ apart to investigate what was happening.
    [​IMG]

    What I found was that one of the O-rings for the air coupler on the carrier had spit out. When I first assembled everything I had to run a fair amount of shims on that side of the carrier to get the back lash correct. It put the outer o-ring on the very edge of the carrier but leak tested good so I ran it.

    You can see in the pic of the carrier how the air seal housing is barely on there. The slot is actually where the o-ring goes.
    [​IMG]

    I called Yukon and talked to them. They said it was ok to put shims on the outside of the air seal housing too as needed to keep the seals fully engaged when setting the back lash and pre-load. Of course none of this was mentioned in the instructions, but live and learn. I ordered up some another shim set and new O-rings so that I could put it back together. I also found that my ball joints on the passenger side had some play in them so I ordered a full set of Synergy ones to replace the OE ones still in this axle.

    With the Yukon parts already here and the ball joints scheduled to arrive today I decided to pull the axle while the weather was nice. I left the Jeep on the side of the garage so I can keep the bikes in the garage with the snow coming tomorrow. I also took the opportunity to get Colin (my 9 year old son) dirty and teach him a few things about how it all works (ok, its a tight space and I didn't want to squeeze my fat *** in between the Jeep and the garage/fence :D ). He did great and worked the impact for me on all the fasteners, plus removing a lot of the smaller ones himself once I broke them loose.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Hover mode engaged
    [​IMG]

    Patient prepped for surgery
    [​IMG]

    I'm also going to go ahead and gusset the inner C's while I've got it out. I'll probably make my own but of course the Artec ones are pretty cheap so I might just go the lazy route and order those instead.
     
  15. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    January 2018:

    Installed the Inner C gussets this morning. After lunch I'm going to try to motivate myself to put the Zip Locker back together. We had a really busy weekend with lots of family activities and I just want to be lazy, but the G/F left me with an empty house and no chores as a reward so I should probably make good use of it. :D
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I tried to watch the newest Pirates of the Caribbean on Netflix but decided it was more entertaining to do some laundry and work on the axle. I cut off the sway bar mounts as the passenger side one was rubbing on my steering a bit. I also got the zip locker back in with the new parts. It leak tested good and now the air seal housing is in a much better spot on the carrier. I also decided to use a lube locker on the cover this time. I've never used one before so we'll see how it goes. Lastly I sprayed some paint on the freshly welded bits. I still need to replace the ball joints and I think I'm going to do some double sheer mounts for the steering too.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  16. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    February 2018:

    After welding an IRO coil conversion truss onto a buddy's 8.25 I decided to put my steering into double sheer. Pics are out of order because Imgur sucks like that, but I guess that's better than holding pics hostage like PhotoSuckit.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]
     
  17. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    February 2018:

    I pressed the old ball joints out and the new Synergy ones in. It was cold last night so I left them hanging to allow the paint to dry. If its warm enough this afternoon I might finally get the axle back under the jeep. Of course I'll have to shovel the snow out from under it first.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I got the axle put back together and under the Jeep. It did suck laying in water and snow, but at least it was nice out today. Kind of amazing how warm 50 deg feels after single digit weather.
    I had to trim the dust/rock shield down on the passenger side
    [​IMG]

    After sweeping/shoveling the snow off of the Jeep and out from around it
    [​IMG]

    Old tractor mud flaps helped to keep me dry
    [​IMG]

    And its no longer a hover Jeep
    [​IMG]

    My JCR mid frame stiffeners showed up today, so that'll be the next project. I'll have to modify them a bit because of the way the Rusty's 4-Link brackets wrap around the frame. It shouldn't be too hard though, I'm basically just cutting a section out of the middle. The 4-Link brackets are already welded and wrap around all 3 sides of the frame rail, plus bolt through the floor with a plate in the cab to reinforce them. I'll probably add fish plates over the seam between the frame stiffeners and the brackets too.
     
  18. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    March 2018:

    Had to go back to the drawing board and rework the bracing on my passenger side knuckle. There wasn't enough clearance between the larger outer gusset and the rotor. Of course I found this out by driving the jeep around the block and going, "wow, what is that grinding noise?" Machined the rotor down pretty good just driving to the end of the block.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    So after cutting off the outer gusset I used a flapper wheel to clean it all up and reshape the top and bottom pieces. I then made two separate gussets and made sure everything would all clear before burning it in.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Once clearance was confirmed (I used the undamaged rotor off of the driver side to be sure) I preheated the knuckle with a propane torch and burned it all in.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Now I just need to find the motivation to get those frame stiffeners installed. Its one of the things I really dislike doing, especially off of the floor in a garage.
     
  19. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    March 2018:

    I decided to go ahead and get started on the frame stiffeners. I started with the passenger side first.

    Cleaned off the frame rail
    [​IMG]

    Then painted the inside of the stiffeners and the frame rail with some weld through primer. I used this Seymour brand stuff, its the only one listed as being self etching and had decent reviews on Amazon. It seemed to work ok, not as good as some stuff I had in the past (can't remember the brand) but better than others I've used.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Then I measured up and cut off part of the frame stiffener so that it would fit behind the 4-Link mounts.
    [​IMG]

    After that I put it in place and started welding it from front to back, moving clamps along as I went.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I'll probably add a fish plate over the gap between the 4-link mount and the stiffener. I'm not going to bother putting the small piece in front of the mount on right now. Once I get some front stiffeners then I'll go about putting that in too.

    That's it for tonight. Time to eat wings and play Nazi Zombies on Xbox with my son, the g/f is out of town so its Boys Night In for us.
     
  20. Aug 31, 2018
    Dutch

    Dutch Member

    Northern Colorado
    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2018
    Messages:
    58
    March 2018:

    Finished up the passenger side and got the rails coated with some truck bed liner. I still have the rocker guards to install, so that'll be the next project. I need to pick up some steel so that I can add one or two additional legs to them. I'm also going to weld them straight to the stiffeners.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
New Posts