Jeep Wrangler TJ Full Electric Conversions

Mvigo's '04 Rubicon

Got back from another fantastic trip to Sand Hollow last week. If you have never been, it is well worth the effort. Last Monday, we ran with Tony and his Genright crew, who were all very nice and accommodating. We pretty much had Sand Hollow all to ourselves as most I suspect, were in Moab at EJS. The weather was great all week and we ran Double Sammy, Sliplock Gulch, John's Trail, Papa Smurf and a few others I can't remember.

The good:
IMG_6935.webp


IMG_6028.webp


IMG_6995.webp


The bad:
image000000.webp


and the ugly:
IMG_6938.webp






The trails at Sand Hollow can be easy to no fucking way in a TJ (at least for me). The vast majority of scars on my TJ have come from the tougher trails in Sand Hollow. The flop was on a hill on the Papa Smurf trail, the windshield frame came from Double Sammy.

The flop messed up my front fender again, but the corner armor saved the tub in the back. Tried crawling the hill, no dice, gave it the beans, ran out of traction, clutch in, roll back, but, I am guessing my rear driver tire hit the rock wall on the driver side and flipped me over onto the passenger side. Very disappointed in my driving that moment. I also got all wadded up on a tough early exit out of Double Sammy after a 2nd time around and bashed in my driver side windshield frame.

I am finally re-thinking the OEM fenders, need something more durable. I really wish the Genright 4" aluminum tube fenders wouldn't compromise my up-travel. I am reticent to go to highlines but am watching @jjvw install closely. If anyone has any ideas out there, I am all ears...

What is the saying? Oh yea, build, break, fix, repeat...
 
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Daryl said:
If you ever get to drive a similarly set up jeep as yours with an automatic, you’ll see the advantages they offer.
Click to expand...

I get it, and understand the advantages, I have just driven manual Jeeps way too long...perhaps if I ever build another, I will consider the automatic...
 
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Shame on me...why is it we all seem to wait until the last minute to get ready for a trip that occurs the same weekend of each year?

I am leaving for the Rubicon Trail Thursday AM, started going thru the Jeep to make sure all good, packing, etc. Welp, I am now remembering that my rear ARB locker was cycling on and off in SandHollow this past Spring and upon further investigation, I find this:

IMG_7218.webp


Rat fuck! I know ARB has a repair kit for this line but no way it gets here in time before I leave for my trip so...I have heard of people soldering the holes in the line in hopes of repairing the leak. In talking to a pal of mine, he suggested using a copper sleeve instead. Great idea!

I ended up buying a small 3/16"OD copper brake line for $8, cut a chunk off of it, had to ream the inside diameter out a little so it would fit over the ARB line and cleaned up the broken line with a tube cutter:

IMG_7219.webp


Soldered the sleeve onto both pieces of the airline, reinstalled the line using new fittings from the ARB repair kit I had on hand:

IMG_7221.webp


IMG_7222.webp


Jacked up rear end, turned on compressor, turned on rear locker and it holds! locker engages and disengages as it should. Now I just need to button up the rear diff, add gear oil and I should be good to go.

For the real fabricators and gurus out there, have you heard of anyone using this technique to repair an airline and it actually works? Or will I be disappointed because it will fail? Lastly, if it does work, should I run it this way until it gives again or should I get a new ARB seal housing kit and make it proper?
 
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mvigo said:
Shame on me...why is it we all seem to wait until the last minute to get ready for a trip that occurs the same weekend of each year?

I am leaving for the Rubicon Trail Thursday AM, started going thru the Jeep to make sure all good, packing, etc. Welp, I am now remembering that my rear ARB locker was cycling on and off in SandHollow this past Spring and upon further investigation, I find this:

View attachment 541459

Rat fuck! I know ARB has a repair kit for this line but no way it gets here in time before I leave for my trip so...I have heard of people soldering the holes in the line in hopes of repairing the leak. In talking to a pal of mine, he suggested using a copper sleeve instead. Great idea!

I ended up buying a small 3/16"OD copper brake line for $8, cut a chunk off of it, had to ream the inside diameter out a little so it would fit over the ARB line and cleaned up the broken line with a tube cutter:

View attachment 541461

Soldered the sleeve onto both pieces of the airline, reinstalled the line using new fittings from the ARB repair kit I had on hand:

View attachment 541462

View attachment 541463

Jacked up rear end, turned on compressor, turned on rear locker and it holds! locker engages and disengages as it should. Now I just need to button up the rear diff, add gear oil and I should be good to go.

For the real fabricators and gurus out there, have you heard of anyone using this technique to repair an airline and it actually works? Or will I be disappointed because it will fail? Lastly, if it does work, should I run it this way until it gives again or should I get a new ARB seal housing kit and make it proper?
Click to expand...

I’d definitely buy a new seal housing incase you have an issue. I don’t think I’d pull the diff as long as it’s working.
 
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mvigo said:
Shame on me...why is it we all seem to wait until the last minute to get ready for a trip that occurs the same weekend of each year?

I am leaving for the Rubicon Trail Thursday AM, started going thru the Jeep to make sure all good, packing, etc. Welp, I am now remembering that my rear ARB locker was cycling on and off in SandHollow this past Spring and upon further investigation, I find this:

View attachment 541459

Rat fuck! I know ARB has a repair kit for this line but no way it gets here in time before I leave for my trip so...I have heard of people soldering the holes in the line in hopes of repairing the leak. In talking to a pal of mine, he suggested using a copper sleeve instead. Great idea!

I ended up buying a small 3/16"OD copper brake line for $8, cut a chunk off of it, had to ream the inside diameter out a little so it would fit over the ARB line and cleaned up the broken line with a tube cutter:

View attachment 541461

Soldered the sleeve onto both pieces of the airline, reinstalled the line using new fittings from the ARB repair kit I had on hand:

View attachment 541462

View attachment 541463

Jacked up rear end, turned on compressor, turned on rear locker and it holds! locker engages and disengages as it should. Now I just need to button up the rear diff, add gear oil and I should be good to go.

For the real fabricators and gurus out there, have you heard of anyone using this technique to repair an airline and it actually works? Or will I be disappointed because it will fail? Lastly, if it does work, should I run it this way until it gives again or should I get a new ARB seal housing kit and make it proper?
Click to expand...

It is low pressure air in the world of pressure. I've fixed dozens of them that way with no issue. Some of mine are holes, others are extending a line inside the diff that was done poorly or broke during disassembly. It will be just fine.
 
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mrblaine said:
It is the same repair as bazillions of copper water lines are put together with in millions of homes, it won't fail.
Click to expand...

I don’t think it will either but I also keep seal housings in my tow rig.
 
Instead of a sleeve,a swedging kit like either of these work to open up one half to slide on the other for soldering. I was leary of the rotary ones at first but they are easier to use than the ones you hammer.

I use them all the time on connections with hundreds of psi and high temp swings

Screenshot_20240709_201302_Chrome.jpg
Screenshot_20240709_201341_Chrome.jpg
 
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Rickyd said:
Instead of a sleeve,a swedging kit like either of these work to open up one half to slide on the other for soldering. I was leary of the rotary ones at first but they are easier to use than the ones you hammer.

I use them all the time on connections with hundreds of psi and high temp swings

View attachment 541493View attachment 541494
Click to expand...

Those don't go small enough. The ARB line varies between 1/8" and the metric version of that or 3mm near as I can tell. But, we are only dealing with a 100 PSI so just about any sleeve you can get over it works fine.
 
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mrblaine said:
Those don't go small enough. The ARB line varies between 1/8" and the metric version of that or 3mm near as I can tell. But, we are only dealing with a 100 PSI so just about any sleeve you can get over it works fine.
Click to expand...

I ended up using a 9/64" drill bit to ream out the 3/16" OD brake line...very small....
 
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I had a fantastic time on the Rubicon Trail last few days. For those keeping score, my rear ARB airline fix solved my problem. The only problem I had was the centering ball on my original front driveshaft started chirping to me approaching Auburn. I nursed my TJ thru the trail only hooking up to a pal through the tough sections of Big Sluice. The rest of the way was slow going but eventually made it out to the Loon Lake staging area, removed the front driveshaft and drove home. And because everyone likes photos, this is the only picture I got:

IMG_6396.webp


I have learned my lesson and will now grease that fucktard centering ball each and every year!
 
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