2005 Texas Jeep TJ Never Sell Build

Then in July I got the axles, but distracted myself....again....with this CJ5. I just came across it, it's a Frankenstein 82 with a 304 from the 70's a Dana 300 short TC, T176, and lifted, runs excellent, drives like dog chit ((hmmmmmmm imagine that). Not working on the CJ though, still gonna get to my TJ and finish, the axles actually got here!!!!

And dad gum chances hit me, right after I get the CJ, I see these CJ Wide Track axles, which I want, in Dallas, and had to get them, so my wife is like "What in heck, you have 2 full sets of axles that aren't on a Jeep on the floor in the garage???" Yep, yep, I do. And super happy.

I told my wife, I had to get it, it's just like my 78 CJ5 that I wish I never sold, except it has silver flames, ha. and no top.

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These Wide Tracks I find right away, AMC 20 and Dana 30 just like what's in the CJ now, just Wide Track. For $350!! Gotta get 'em.

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And of course my TJ Rubicon axles are now in my garage too!!!

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So I got anxious end of last July, 2022. It's 120 in my garage (afternoon sun crushes it) or more. Really sucks.

I needed tires, and couldn't wait to get all this done, so I just got my BFG KM3 MT's 35's. I know, don't run them on my Dana 30 and 35 combo, but I took the chance for a month or two while I got my axles in (or 3, ha). And great for everyone's choice of tires, I put 35" BFG Mud's on my 78 CJ5 in 1991 I think, in college. Saved up all summer for them. I just like BFG's, and that was when Mickey T's and Dick Cepek's were still the Mud tires of the cool, and I went BFG, so I'm a BFG guy I guess.

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Before with the 33's that were about worn out, and my 35's. Still on the 3.5" sagging Ranch lift, ha. But still, fired UP!!!

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My boy at Training, volunteered to carry every heavy machine gun they had.....so he would get to train on them! Ha, been like this since he was 4 years old, no joke, he's as happy as I've every seen him. Can't wait to hit Ft Benning next week and see him get the blue cord and then graduate. Hoohah!!!!

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It strikes me that your son is a BFG guy as well….

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Ha, I pay for the tires on the JK right now, so he gets what dad suggests, ha.

My veiled attempt at humor there was that your son is a "Big Fucking Gun" Guy... :)
 
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Then randomly, I see on FB marketplace a guys sells his JK near me, and took his B&M shifter off. Selling it, a year old, $200! Score, it’s on, with a new inner rubber boot (yeah, the crazy expensive Mopar) and it’s nice on the NSG370!

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My boy at Training, volunteered to carry every heavy machine gun they had.....so he would get to train on them! Ha, been like this since he was 4 years old, no joke, he's as happy as I've every seen him. Can't wait to hit Ft Benning next week and see him get the blue cord and then graduate. Hoohah!!!!

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Sand Hill. I remember those days
 
Sand Hill. I remember those days
We hear to Ft Benning next Wednesday.

He’s going to the 101st 3rd Brigade, but doesn’t have more than that. He’s hoping 2nd of the 506th, Curahee, our Uncle was that in Vietnam, E Company, just like Band of Brothers, ha.

Thanks for your service, my son was a Plebe at West Point last year, and he enlisted, smart, just does not like to study, hard for Pappa now, but I’m fired up, he’s super happy now every time we talk. Had this made to document every tag and give it to him when I go, or he retires , ha.

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So finally, Sept 14th, 2022 after waiting a year + I pulled my front axle and started my Rubicon Axle (from a 2005 like mine) swap.

They have:
Revolution Gear and Axle Dana 44 Thick Cut 4.88 with Koyo Bearings
Revolution Discovery 4340 Chromoly Front axle kit
G2 Axle & Gear Chromoly Rear axles
Rubicon stock lockers
Almost brand new locker pumps on the bracket

So I pulled the Dana 30 with auto locker and 4.11 gears

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Before I put in the new front axle, I knew I wanted to do some clean up.

So, based on research here and Blaine suggesting Krylon Rust tough, I bout like 5 cans at O'Reilly's. The semi-flat. Directions say spray straight to metal, so I followed what the manufacturer said.
First I use a light sander or flap wheel on cordless grinder on some very mild surface face rust, literally buzzed off like nothing. The only area, was between skid and frame, notorious, had some actual pitting, but I hit that hard and got it super clean.

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Here's the result before putting new axle in on the front. I still need to pull the front bumper and get the front 6 inches of the frame 100% face rust free, there's a couple spots around the bolt that hold the bumper on, but I want it all off. Rust isn't an issue with this Texas Jeep, but I figure if I'm pulling it all, then why not get it all clean and painted, since I'm fortunate not to have the problem now, then stay on it non stop.

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We hear to Ft Benning next Wednesday.

He’s going to the 101st 3rd Brigade, but doesn’t have more than that. He’s hoping 2nd of the 506th, Curahee, our Uncle was that in Vietnam, E Company, just like Band of Brothers, ha.

Thanks for your service, my son was a Plebe at West Point last year, and he enlisted, smart, just does not like to study, hard for Pappa now, but I’m fired up, he’s super happy now every time we talk. Had this made to document every tag and give it to him when I go, or he retires , ha.

Thank you. If I could offer some advise, get him into Ranger School as soon as he can. It's not as intimidating as it seems and it will open up every door available for his career.
 
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Then the new front axles went in, and I pulled the Rubicon Express track bar and the Rancho Springs obviously.

Going back were the newly rebuilt Rubicon axles, the Currie Front Track Bar, and the Currie 4" Springs.

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So this went pretty easy......right up until I was trying to connect the lower control arms to the axle.

I mentioned before, but I have the Black Magic washers here, and are using them on this axle as well. I could NOT get both washers in the slot and the bolt to go through. I did this stupidity for about 45 minutes.
I let out the "Are you F'ing Kidding me, what the F is going one, Mother Fer" This is where my wife laughs at me and stays a 1,000 feet from the bear when he's swearing.

So....I let that out, then I usually get up and down a bottle of water with Liquid IV, ha. I breath, lay on the crawler and just stare at things from different directions. I've got to be missing something.

Well, these axles have the LCA skids welded on. I see that from the "front" of the axle, and wasn't thinking of this. I cut some out, and bam, it seats in about 10 seconds. Bolt through, snug it up, and I had hit where I cut with the Krylon paint as well.
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I got the Currie Track Bar in, the axle side has been drilled out, a larger hole, and I have a larger bolt from clayton to go in there, but as I've learned here, the clamping force is what holds it, and that is to torque spec. I'll change it just because, but it's not needed.
The lockers I don't have hooked up yet as of Sept 2022, I'm going to get the rear in next and then get that.

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So these are the front springs I took out and put in Sept 2022 for this front axle step.

The red Rancho was on the Jeep when we got it, and it's an older lift 3.5" and is a spring and spacer package. The Currie next to it is the new, and about 1/2" taller on the table, and eventually have have some measurements before and after, I think I got a touch more than that, and definitely in the back, because it was sagging back there.

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Thank you. If I could offer some advise, get him into Ranger School as soon as he can. It's not as intimidating as it seems and it will open up every door available for his career.

100%, that is what he wants. If he finished West Point it would have been basically automatic, but I'm letting that go, ha.

He said 101st has the best Ranger prep school, and he's going to push to get into that as soon as possible. He'd like to serve 75th if possible, in the Ranger Regiment (I'm not former, just everyone in my family, Dad, 3 uncles, brother, Dad talked me out of it, first to go to college and in the 90's military was cutting not recruiting after my college years, only regret I have in life).

Thank you, very good advice, and I will 100% pass it on. He was a 4 year varsity wrestler here in Texas and football and baseball, but he had to cut weight, grind non stop, so I know he's one of the most stubborn kids on the planet when he wants it, and the head is 95% of it or more from what I understand, so I'm hopeful he gets there.
 
So September still, and now I have a Dana 44 and the yoke is longer, so my DS I may need to shorten.
For anyone doing this, you have a couple of options. The Dana 44 is longer, but also has a 1330 Yoke on The Rubicon axle. The Dana 30 I had was a 1310 yoke, thus my drive shaft was a 1310 u joint, and the rest of the transfer case etc is all 1310 u joints.

1. You can get a 1310 / 1330 Spicer U joint. This is what I did for now.
2. You can replace the Yoke on the Dana 44 axle to a 1310, I'm thinking of doing this in the future so I only have 1310's throughout. Just not right now.
3. there may be other options, I didn't explore any others.
So I contacted Sean at Tom Wood's and I will ship this TW drive shaft back to them and give them the measurements to adjust it. That's why I can't do both axles at once, because I need to get this back to a front wheel drive while I do the back and wait around. Got the front back super quick, and was ready to move to the rear.

As an aside, I didn't not earlier, I have a front Tom Wood's DS because when I went up in haste when Covid hit, I drove to Texas Tech to get all his stuff, and throw the tow bar on the TJ. It was a rush to get out of the dorm before it closed....which turned out for too long. I should have checked the U Joints. Well.......we are 3 hours into the drive on I 20, and someone waves us down, you just lost a drive shaft on the Jeep. I've towed it a bunch, it was done correctly, just my dumbass didn't do a U joint drive shaft check, I should have .

So, I was slammed transitioning my dad gum business to remote, and had Just Jeeps rebuild the Transfer case and get a drive shaft, luckily a Tom Wood's. I took over working on things just after this happened back in March 2020.


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October 1st, 2022..... I have the front DS back, and all looks good.

Now to pull the rear, paint cleanup, and get it back in...

Couple challenges on this one.
1. I replaced the center brake line, which has the block, and I had to do some work on the hard brake line going into it and to the driver rear brakes. It took a pretty good amount of time, hour or more of back and forth, bending, not kinking etc. Been a while since I remade all the hard brake lines for my 78 CJ5, I think 1992, and I did it at my brother's shop Off Road Unlimited so I had any tool I needed, but this was no biggie.
I didn't have a bender, but Pulled it, marked where I wanted, and bent it with a vice and a long socket, just took my time. Not ideal, but not terrible.

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New rear brake, I took the advice of Blaine (recurring theme here, ha) and got the Dorman extended, months before, waiting to get this done.

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I also pulled the JKS angles Track bar mount and put on the Currie that Came with my Currie Track Bar.

That was a BYOTCH. Until I went and got some better drill bits, and it took about 20 seconds per freaking hole. Use good drill bits, life is easier.

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Painted frame rails looked good too, I was pretty happy with it.

New Currie 4" springs in the back

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On the rear, I cleaned the heck out of the rear wheel plastic wells. I didn't put the front's back in, they look like crap, I can't get them clean, still wondering on those, power wash and use black stain....because I've read there is no painting them that lasts.

These rear ones, I got clean, then cleaned with WD 40, and they look pretty darn good.
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October 2022, now that the rear axle is out and replaced, I need to get the JB conversions SS SYE in so I can measure.

My TC has the Harmonic Balancer. People seem to think it's hard to get off, it was no issue, 3 bolts method and pulled it.

Then did the SS SYE Install. I will say, I piss myself off a lot. I like to do things twice, when once is good enough.
I did this, then realized I didn't measure the shifting rod......and wasn't 100% sure. It shifted, but I have to be the "am I sure" guy. So, I pulled that and measured it, and was good.

This JB Conversions kit is freaking the bomb. I can't say enough how easy that was, and I'm not super mechanic. And you can see in the last pic, huge difference.

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October, while I had the TC out, and the skid off, I wanted to get the new shifter cable on, and paint the frame. I thought about the tub, but it looks good. There is a dent and the factory paint off from when the front DS blew up towing, and dented it, so I hit it with the Krylon, I should have gotten silver or gray, but oh well I had this on hand.

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I also noticed the DS blow up must have hit these fuel lines. It still concerns me, but on this forum, folks have said leave it, it works you don't have an issue. I keep looking for part outs, to get this, it's a 3 or 4 hard line set that runs back to front.
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The Savvy Shifter....went on super easy. I had no real issues, and having the Skid off obviously made it much easier. I had this, literally sitting in my office here, for over a year waiting to put it all on.
 
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October 2022 still,
Transfer Case back on with the JB Conversions SS SYE, I got the Savvy Shifter Hooked up.

If you're putting in the Savvy Cable Shifter, you may know this, but my humble advice:
Get it all hooked up, loose, then pull the shift handle up to 4H, where it hits the metal and stops. Then, get make sure the TC is in 4H, notched in 100%, not kind of, then lock those cable lock nuts down. Then run through the shifting.

First pass, I was adjusting on 2H, and I felt that didn't adjust it super locked into the right spot, but maybe it was just me.

This is a huge upgrade, major functional fix, very nice.


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