Wildman's TJ is getting a face lift

Not a problem. Glad to see JTs taking care of you. I cannot even get them to return my calls and I am supposedly a Nitro dealer.

I was impressed with how fast they handled the situation.
I have one more part coming Monday and then I can get the axle done.
 
Picked up some button head bolts when I was dropping off the snake after playing plumber this morning.
I needed some bolts for the front axle cover.

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I stripped the paint off my engine skid to prep it for painting. And with the amount of moisture in the air I didn't want to leave it bare metal but I'm not ready to paint it yet as I want to move the hole for the oil drain. So I've got to get it up under the Jeep so I can mark where I need to cut for the new hole and then weld in a filler plate in the old hole.

It's done it's job once you look at some of the gouges in it.

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Cleaned up and ready for some primer.

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And some self etching primer for now so it doesn't rust.

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OK for all of you who are more experienced than me. The tie rod is now doubled sheer so I was looking and wondering if I should build a bracket/tab to make this end double sheer also?

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I don't see a way to make the end at the pitman arm double sheer but making something on the high steer arm shouldn't be that hard to do if it's a needed thing.
 
Double sheer on the top heim would definitely make it stronger, but whether or not it is strong enough now I don’t know.

If it were me, I’d prolly do it, but I can’t tell you if it is really necessary. I’m sure someone will chime in.
 
Double sheer on the top heim would definitely make it stronger, but whether or not it is strong enough now I don’t know.

If it were me, I’d prolly do it, but I can’t tell you if it is really necessary. I’m sure someone will chime in.

Looks like I need to get the NashvilleTJ CAD cardboard & painters tape kit out and make a mockup of something so I can run it past all of you.

Running a ram on the tie rod should decrease the stress the drag link sees.

OK I hadn't thought about that.
 
Well there isn't any good place for a drain hole with where the drain plug is situated on the oil pan.
So I'll just fill in the one on the skid plate.

I'm thinking I'll get one of those petcocks for the oil pan. That would move it over to the edge of the skid plate.

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Easy fix.
 
That or something similar.

This is what I was thinking of but the Stahlbus is a nice setup also.

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I haven’t used the Stahlbus, but the Fumoto is amazing. I love the quarter turn action.

I put a short nipple version on my wife’s 2018 Legacy and use the tube adapter with it. I don’t use the tube adapter on my 2015 BRZ since it’s unnecessary. Best $25 I’ve ever spent.
 
I set the engine skid back under the Jeep and bolted it on so I could double check the marks I'd made for the placement of the bolts that connect it to the belly skid.

Turned out better than I'd hoped.

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It will be interesting to see if my mounts I made will hold up.

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It sits back farther than I remember but that might just be my memory.

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There isn't a lot of room with the extra capacity transmission and engine pans I have.

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Got the holes drilled in the belly skid and bolted the engine skid back in place..

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Looks pretty darn good.

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And then realized I'd switched the arms. Figured this out when I flex the front axle and the upper link was hitting the arm. So I swapped the arms and BOOM it's fixed.

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I like the second way.

I guess the BIG question is do I need this? And there isn't any good way to do a double shear on the pitman arm for two reasons.
1) The pitman arm is cast so it would be a bitch to get a good weld on
2) Clearance between the heim and the steering box is really close now so I don't think I have the room.

As Blackjack mentioned since I'm going to be running hydro assist this may not really be needed.
 
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I guess the BIG question is do I need this? And there isn't any good way to do a double shear on the pitman arm for two reasons.
1) The pitman arm is cast so it would be a bitch to get a good weld on
2) Clearance between the heim and the steering box is really close now so I don't think I have the room.

As Blackjack mentioned since I'm going to be running hydro assist this may not really be needed.
You could always run it single shear and see what happens. How much of a pain is it to replace the threads in that arm? Can you just replace it, or is it part of the knuckle? Welding a couple brackets on seems easy compared to repairing threads, but if it's easy and inexpensive to replace the steering arm on the knuckle, run it!