A rebuild of #miRustyJeep...

[Mike_H]

Got out in the woods again today to pre run a trail run I'm leading with my 4x4 club in a few weeks. Had a pretty good time, got the jeep muddy, again. Buddy of mine that pre-ran with me BURIED his jeep in an optional road bypass

We winched him out and then he had to bail his Jeep out!

And, in case any one is wondering, the new BMB tail lights are Bright enough to see through the mud

Off...with a muddy Tail light

And Brake lights ON

 

[psrivats]

Got out in the woods again today to pre run a trail run I'm leading with my 4x4 club in a few weeks. Had a pretty good time, got the jeep muddy, again. Buddy of mine that pre-ran with me BURIED his jeep in an optional road bypass

View attachment 484714

We winched him out and then he had to bail his Jeep out!

View attachment 484716

And, in case any one is wondering, the new BMB tail lights are Bright enough to see through the mud

Off...with a muddy Tail light

View attachment 484721

And Brake lights ON

View attachment 484723

I think you and the XJ buddy need to swap number plates

 

[Mike_H]

I think you and the XJ buddy need to swap number plates

No, it makes perfect sense. He does not hate mud, so he drove in. I do...and didn't! LOL

 

[Mike_H]

Been a long time since I’ve installed any new parts on the ol' girl. Fixed that today. I should have done this a while ago, finally replaced my 0-2” lift JKS track bar with a RockJock designed for 4” of lift.

I bent the axle side of the JKS twice…once spun my steering wheel about 90 degrees. After I straightened it out, I bent it again, and the steering wheel was about 15 degrees off. Only thing I can think of is that the axle side had too much thread showing, even though the lock nut was always tight. I just don’t think JKS’s rod end was strong enough for the use I was subjecting it to.

The old one:

New:

Even treated her to one of Blaine’s nice 1/2” hardened stainless track bar bolts…

Here is the difference in the length of the heavy bar between JKS and Rock Jock. Additionally, the Rock Jock end is forged and the JKS is a bent piece of steel.

Finished up by doing a quick alignment and recentered the steering wheel.

 

[rasband]

Been a long time since I’ve installed any new parts on the ol' girl. Fixed that today. I should have done this a while ago, finally replaced my 0-2” lift JKS track bar with a RockJock designed for 4” of lift.

I bent the axle side of the JKS twice…once spun my steering wheel about 90 degrees. After I straightened it out, I bent it again, and the steering wheel was about 15 degrees off. Only thing I can think of is that the axle side had too much thread showing, even though the lock nut was always tight. I just don’t think JKS’s rod end was strong enough for the use I was subjecting it to.

The old one:
View attachment 487185
New:
View attachment 487182

Even treated her to one of Blaine’s nice 1/2” hardened stainless track bar bolts…

View attachment 487184

Here is the difference in the length of the heavy bar between JKS and Rock Jock. Additionally, the Rock Jock end is forged and the JKS is a bent piece of steel.

View attachment 487186

View attachment 487187

Finished up by doing a quick alignment and recentered the steering wheel.

The JKS is a good bar for what it is, but similarly I had to swap over to the Currie for strength and a bit more clearance around the diff. Given the choice, this is an easy "buy once" recommendation that is too easy to ignore.

 

[Mike_H]

The JKS is a good bar for what it is, but similarly I had to swap over to the Currie for strength and a bit more clearance around the diff. Given the choice, this is an easy "buy once" recommendation that is too easy to ignore.

Yeah, The clearance thing is hard to see unless you have the two side by side. I've seen them in pictures, but holding them next to one another, you can see the diff clearance "bump" bent into the Rock Jock Bar is longer than the JKS bar. Plus we've all seen the way they offset the bar forward on the joint barrel to provide a touch more clearance around the spreader bosses.

 

[Mike_H]

Winter caught up to us in a big way this weekend. Had to cancel my wheeling trip Saturday, since the roads were absolute garbage all weekend. We got around 24" of snow over a two day period and its still coming, though thankfully it has slowed down (maybe two inches yesterday).

My folks are in Florida so I had to go move snowbanks to make more room for the plows...its was right at the "WRONG" temperature and all the snow under the tires was packing down and making ice. Made a miserable job even worse. Got the stupid thing stuck more than once. Yeah, my little truck didn't do anything here except spin tires. Ended up having to dig it out and push with the bucket. I need to go check again today and make sure the drive is opened up enough for the plow guys.

This is my deck as of 7 am Yesterday morning.

The bright side is that my trip that was going to go on the 13th was pushed to the 20th. We should have some good snow wheelin that day. Its not supposed to warm up much over the next week.

 

[Irun]

I really enjoyed snow when I was younger and into skiing. Now, I'd prefer to have to deal with it as little as possible. 24" over a couple days is no joke!

 

[Mike_H]

Spent the day running trails today. Snow can be really beautiful, and it can make otherwise boring trails very difficult. Spent a fair bit of time winching and pulling vehicles. Spent a lot of time blazing fresh tracks and clearing trees from last weeks storms.

Today was a great day!

 

[Mike_H]

A few weeks ago, I posted that I found something wiggly in my front drivers tire. Well, upon inspection, both tires are wiggly. Not terrible, but enough for me to notice. Since they are only moving in one direction and when I have my hands at 6 and 12, I suspected ball joints.

I ordered a new set of spicers and started working on it yesterday. Got myself a shiny new hammer to help get them apart too. Harbor Freight is making a 32 oz dead blow ball peen, for about 60 bucks. It works very well.

https://www.harborfreight.com/32-oz-ball-peen-dead-blow-hammer-58167.html

Oh, and I’m doing something about my brakes, too. The Powerstops with BMB pads just wasn’t cutting it anymore, esp since the transmission swap. They could keep the Jeep from moving in 4low, but a couple times, with accidental throttle input (I have big feet, and wearing boots will sometimes make me hit the accelerator when I’m on the brake) the Jeep has driven through the brakes pretty easily. So, I have a 16” big brake kit sitting on the bench, ready to install.

Out with the old!

 

[tnjeepguy]

Had to turn up the heat in the house just looking at your pics !! D

 

[Mike_H]

Well, I didn’t expect to have to do this…

I found oily mud in the passenger tube when I pulled the bearing and shafts. So, I had to pull the diff and replace a seal.

When doing so, the diff came out very hard and I lost track of my shims. I’ll have to go back to my notes and rebuild the side stacks. I also found one that was mangled…hard to see, but it’s the shim on the left side in the pic of the diff.

Anyway, I got the seal replaced and most everything cleaned up. Still need to get any sand and dirt off the diff, but the tubes, housing and ball joint pockets are clean.

 

[Mike_H]

Got the diff back in. Got my backlash set back to 0.007” and it’s tight. Here is the shim that I found mangled

It must have gotten wrinkled when I drove them in the first time…I really dislike the outboard carrier shims. I didn’t see any other damage.. the bearing cup on that side did have a funny wear pattern in it.

Anyway, I slapped it back together tonight and filled it with oil. We’ll see how this goes. On to the rest of the project.

 

[Alex01]

Got the diff back in. Got my backlash set back to 0.007” and it’s tight. Here is the shim that I found mangled

View attachment 495988

It must have gotten wrinkled when I drove them in the first time…I really dislike the outboard carrier shims. I didn’t see any other damage.. the bearing cup on that side did have a funny wear pattern in it.

Anyway, I slapped it back together tonight and filled it with oil. We’ll see how this goes. On to the rest of the project.

The guy who did my gears put a few of those thin shims in my front locker on both sides. Its such a pita to install the only way I can do it is with a case spreader. Even then it is difficult.

 

[Mike_H]

The guy who did my gears put a few of those thin shims in my front locker on both sides. Its such a pita to install the only way I can do it is with a case spreader. Even then it is difficult.

Yeah…they REALLY suck when you don’t have a spreader.

 

[Mike_H]

I've been looking for corner armor for about a year. Watching FB, looking at a couple metal suppliers to make make my own, talking with different vendors about their parts. I can find some .190 Al in 6061-T6, but its 780 bucks for a 5 x 12 sheet (would give me enough material to make about 3 sets). Then I have to screw around making a bend form and all that crap. I can do that, but I have too many irons in the fire right now. I haven't found anything else used that I wanted to pay for.

Sometimes, you gotta pay to play. I did get a little discount for calling and talking to them, mentioning one of their ambassadors. Plus, over the phone they didn't charge sales tax, which the website automatically adds on. Thought that was nice. That shipping tho.... Keith is a pretty fun guy to talk with on the phone too, which was a bonus.

 

[tworley]

I've been looking for corner armor for about a year. Watching FB, looking at a couple metal suppliers to make make my own, talking with different vendors about their parts. I can find some .190 Al in 6061-T6, but its 780 bucks for a 5 x 12 sheet (would give me enough material to make about 3 sets). Then I have to screw around making a bend form and all that crap. I can do that, but I have too many irons in the fire right now. I haven't found anything else used that I wanted to pay for.

Sometimes, you gotta pay to play. I did get a little discount for calling and talking to them, mentioning one of their ambassadors. Plus, over the phone they didn't charge sales tax, which the website automatically adds on. Thought that was nice. That shipping tho.... Keith is a pretty fun guy to talk with on the phone too, which was a bonus.

Looking forward to the install Genright will likely be the route I go as well when that time comes

 

[Mike_H]

Looking forward to the install Genright will likely be the route I go as well when that time comes

I'm going to try something different for finishing than normal. I want to paint match the corners, but I plan on doing a full recolor, eventually. I don't want to set up and paint them yet though, so I've ordered some vinyl wrap. It will be a good experiment to see how long it lasts around here, with the trees constantly reaching into the trails looking to make their mark on my Jeep.

 

[Apparition]

I'm going to try something different for finishing than normal. I want to paint match the corners, but I plan on doing a full recolor, eventually. I don't want to set up and paint them yet though, so I've ordered some vinyl wrap. It will be a good experiment to see how long it lasts around here, with the trees constantly reaching into the trails looking to make their mark on my Jeep.

I'm curious to see how well you can wrap the edges and if they'll hold up. That's been my hangup with the wraps on corner armor.

 

[Mike_H]

I'm curious to see how well you can wrap the edges and if they'll hold up. That's been my hangup with the wraps on corner armor.

I have all the same questions. It will be an inexpensive experiment. Got the materials for less than 50 bucks on Amazon, so I won’t care too much if it doesn’t t hold up.

I do plan on wrapping the vinyl around to the back. It will be a bit of a challenge stretching the vinyl around the radiused corners and wheel wells, but not impossible.