OP
I made an inner-fender liner out of 1/8" neoprene sheet and am holding it place with some push in clips.
Last edited:
High travel, high clearance & high octane, a streetable adventure LJ story
- Thread starter toximus
- Start date
OP
Steering parts have arrived!
From this point on I will be focusing almost entirely on the front now that the rear is 99.9% completed except for tuning the coilovers, and getting coils on. Those will wait until the Jeep is entirely assembled and be done alongside the front.
I touched briefly on the steering a few months ago in one of my first posts, to recap I will be making my own crossover steering copying the design perfected by Blaine: http://justaddrocks.com/Steering Pictures/steering.htm . The 37s require hydro to turn so I will be adding in hydro assist. Full hydro can be dangerous if it fails at speed, hydro assist leaves the physical draglink in place between the steering gear and knuckles.
Since I'm probably going to be jumping around a little bit with my posts adding and adjusting stuff so everything plays nicely with each other in the front end, here is my full shopping list for steering parts so you guys have a general idea of the game plan (subject to change as I work on it):
I ordered my hydro parts from PSC over the phone and asked for them to email me an invoice so I could double check my order. Instead they shipped them and forgot several parts. I let them know once I realized their mistake and they want to charge $24 shipping for $19 of parts that could fit in a flat rate envelope. Thanks, but I'll source them someplace else. Aside from that, they were very helpful getting me the right parts.
I am also still waiting on front bump stops from Fox. They are on factory back order until mid-January. I can't find them in stock reasonably priced anywhere else.
The front will be using the same 2.5" x 14" Fox coilovers that are in the rear. We'll be aiming for 7" of uptravel up front too.
My work is cut out for me!
From this point on I will be focusing almost entirely on the front now that the rear is 99.9% completed except for tuning the coilovers, and getting coils on. Those will wait until the Jeep is entirely assembled and be done alongside the front.
I touched briefly on the steering a few months ago in one of my first posts, to recap I will be making my own crossover steering copying the design perfected by Blaine: http://justaddrocks.com/Steering Pictures/steering.htm . The 37s require hydro to turn so I will be adding in hydro assist. Full hydro can be dangerous if it fails at speed, hydro assist leaves the physical draglink in place between the steering gear and knuckles.
Since I'm probably going to be jumping around a little bit with my posts adding and adjusting stuff so everything plays nicely with each other in the front end, here is my full shopping list for steering parts so you guys have a general idea of the game plan (subject to change as I work on it):
- SG400R - PSC ported steering gear
- SR145-8-12 - PSC 7.25" reservoir with -8an return and -12an feed (unfortunately PSC is no longer making these shorty reservoirs and they are now 8" tall. Fortunately they had some old stock when I ordered.)
- SP32432JP PSC CBR power steering pump with -6an out and -12 feed
- SC2216 - PSC Cylinder with 1-3/4" bore, 10" stroke, and 3/4" rod.
- HK2022 Cylinder hose kit with -6an 90* field serviceable fittings and 8 feet of hose.
- Edelmann 80293 - Hose pressure side
- Black Magic Brake's -8an to steering box return side custom made fitting (email BMB directly, they also have a good single cooler mounting bracket to consider)
- SWEPCO 715 Power Steering Fluid 4qt
- REXFR12 - 3/4" x 3/4" rod end
- REXMR10-12 - 3/4" x 5/8" rod end
- MB01 - Mounting tabs
- FSNJ-3/4-16RH - Jam nuts
- MBC100 - Cooler bracket
- DER-13613 - Cooler with 1/2" NPT inlet and outlet (I'm using a second one for my transmission)
- A bunch of socketless AN fittings and hose from Aeroquip.
- Tube adapters from PolyPerformance
- FK rod ends
- ES2027L & ES2027R TREs from PartsMike
I ordered my hydro parts from PSC over the phone and asked for them to email me an invoice so I could double check my order. Instead they shipped them and forgot several parts. I let them know once I realized their mistake and they want to charge $24 shipping for $19 of parts that could fit in a flat rate envelope. Thanks, but I'll source them someplace else. Aside from that, they were very helpful getting me the right parts.
I am also still waiting on front bump stops from Fox. They are on factory back order until mid-January. I can't find them in stock reasonably priced anywhere else.
The front will be using the same 2.5" x 14" Fox coilovers that are in the rear. We'll be aiming for 7" of uptravel up front too.
My work is cut out for me!
When you get the front done and it is steering and driving, we'll chat and I'll explain a lot of stuff that will help get it tolerable. My learning style can best be described at persistent brute force trial and error. As such, I keep at it until I figure it out or give up. The rig will have some steering issues. I've explained what I've done to a very smart guy and he has explained back to me that although most of my terminology is only accurate if you understand the issue, my solutions are dead on and work as predicted.
The problem will be darty steering due to the inability to achieve Ackermann. We are going to mitigate the problem by adding some toe out and increasing the caster. The trade-off will be a slower response off of center, but it will be very tolerable and certainly more desirable than the darty way it was.
The problem will be darty steering due to the inability to achieve Ackermann. We are going to mitigate the problem by adding some toe out and increasing the caster. The trade-off will be a slower response off of center, but it will be very tolerable and certainly more desirable than the darty way it was.
OP
Before removing the steering gear, I found the center of my steering wheel and used the seat belt to secure it in place so that the clock spring won't get damaged.
The old steering pump and gear are out and the new is in. I was previously running a steering box brace, I ditched it since hydro-assist will take the strain off of the gear mount.
The PSC SG400R steering gear is longer than stock. I needed to shorten the lower steering shaft. There is a plastic pin half way down the shaft that is designed to fail in the event of a collision, pounding the shaft on the ground will break that pin and collapse the shaft. There is still room remaining for it to collapse if there is a collision. While it was out I greased the bearings in the support.
While the steering pump was out I removed the stock quick disconnect from the gas line and switched over to AN:
The CBR power steering pump has 2 through holes for the mounting bolts and 1 threaded hole. In that threaded mounting hole, a flanged class 8.8 M8x1.25 35mm length bolt worked perfect for me with the thicker supercharger bracket (I actually could only find a class 10.9, but 8.8 would have matched OEM), with the stock brackets a shorter 22mm bolt would have worked. I used blue loctite on the threads and torqued to 16ft-lbs (20ftlbs dry).
The PSC power steering pump has an ever so slightly smaller diameter pulley which required me to go back down a size on the serpentine belt and was able to use the one included in the BoostedTech kit.
To remove the pitman arm off the stock gear I had to use a little heat:
The old steering pump and gear are out and the new is in. I was previously running a steering box brace, I ditched it since hydro-assist will take the strain off of the gear mount.
The PSC SG400R steering gear is longer than stock. I needed to shorten the lower steering shaft. There is a plastic pin half way down the shaft that is designed to fail in the event of a collision, pounding the shaft on the ground will break that pin and collapse the shaft. There is still room remaining for it to collapse if there is a collision. While it was out I greased the bearings in the support.
While the steering pump was out I removed the stock quick disconnect from the gas line and switched over to AN:
The CBR power steering pump has 2 through holes for the mounting bolts and 1 threaded hole. In that threaded mounting hole, a flanged class 8.8 M8x1.25 35mm length bolt worked perfect for me with the thicker supercharger bracket (I actually could only find a class 10.9, but 8.8 would have matched OEM), with the stock brackets a shorter 22mm bolt would have worked. I used blue loctite on the threads and torqued to 16ft-lbs (20ftlbs dry).
The PSC power steering pump has an ever so slightly smaller diameter pulley which required me to go back down a size on the serpentine belt and was able to use the one included in the BoostedTech kit.
To remove the pitman arm off the stock gear I had to use a little heat:
OP
OP
I rolled the front axle under the Jeep and hooked up the LCAs.
OP
OP
Yesterday I worked on the garage some. I hung the battery chargers on the wall, replaced a busted air hose, disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled a new vise, and swept the floors.
Today I dug in on the front axle.
The general game plan for the front axle is:
1) Set control arms and determine axle placement.
2) Set drag link to determine axle travel.
3) Set track bar.
4) Keep adjusting each of these until everything plays well and does what it's supposed to do.
5) Locate coilovers and bumpstops.
5) Final adjustment.
It sounds like a short list but each of those has it's own laundry list of to-dos. Buckle up and hang on as there is going to be a lot of build philosophy and practical knowledge, and I can already tell that it's going to be bumpy.
Starting with item #1, the control arms:
I centered the front axle and set it to ride height (technically the Jeep is set 0.5" higher than ride height to account for the tires not having a load on them).
(Yes, I know there is no breather on my front axle.)
In the front there isn't going to be enough room for the truss to fit between the oil pan and frame so I made a mock up top plate out of a 1/4" steel scrap I had. After I have the UCA in it's final position I'll be recutting this plate to the correct size so for now it's not fancy. I used the drill press to copy the holes from the truss to the plate. The new cross slide vice worked like a dream for this work.
I decided to try for a 2" stretch in the front. This puts the wheelbase at right around 105-107" based on my rough measurements. Not for performance but because it will give me more room to work with fitting parts in where I need them. It will also complicate fitting other parts, so this is going to be a bit of an adventure.
With the pinion angle set, I am placing the UCA roughly center of the diff. I'm expecting to move it later so just a few tack welds are all that's needed for now.
I think that concludes #1. At least until I get to #4, but maybe sooner... it all depends on how things play with each other!
Part of the big picture steering philosophy is that everything stops at the same point. This means that the steering gear box, ram, and knuckle steering stops all need to share the same stopping point. This seems to be often overlooked in builds but is very important so that higher than stock forces applied from the hydro assist don't end up ripping the steering gear off the frame. Since I'll be using all straight steering linkages there will be no "spring" forgiveness to them either. Blaine has been a huge help in streamlining my process of turning philosophy into actuality, so if I sound smart here it's because I learned it from him.
To actually achieve that philosophy a piece of it is that the pitman arm must be clockable. If say the driver's side steering stop touches and the passenger's side is off, the pitman arm can be clocked a spline or two to correct that. The OEM pitman arm has master splines that need to be removed so that it can be clocked a spline at a time.
Here are the masters marked in white:
(Btw - After the first white marker died early on in this build I got a new one for you guys! Hopefully that will make notes in pictures easier to read again.)
I used a small burr to get in gently and remove the masters:
Today I dug in on the front axle.
The general game plan for the front axle is:
1) Set control arms and determine axle placement.
2) Set drag link to determine axle travel.
3) Set track bar.
4) Keep adjusting each of these until everything plays well and does what it's supposed to do.
5) Locate coilovers and bumpstops.
5) Final adjustment.
It sounds like a short list but each of those has it's own laundry list of to-dos. Buckle up and hang on as there is going to be a lot of build philosophy and practical knowledge, and I can already tell that it's going to be bumpy.
Starting with item #1, the control arms:
I centered the front axle and set it to ride height (technically the Jeep is set 0.5" higher than ride height to account for the tires not having a load on them).
(Yes, I know there is no breather on my front axle.)
In the front there isn't going to be enough room for the truss to fit between the oil pan and frame so I made a mock up top plate out of a 1/4" steel scrap I had. After I have the UCA in it's final position I'll be recutting this plate to the correct size so for now it's not fancy. I used the drill press to copy the holes from the truss to the plate. The new cross slide vice worked like a dream for this work.
I decided to try for a 2" stretch in the front. This puts the wheelbase at right around 105-107" based on my rough measurements. Not for performance but because it will give me more room to work with fitting parts in where I need them. It will also complicate fitting other parts, so this is going to be a bit of an adventure.
With the pinion angle set, I am placing the UCA roughly center of the diff. I'm expecting to move it later so just a few tack welds are all that's needed for now.
I think that concludes #1. At least until I get to #4, but maybe sooner... it all depends on how things play with each other!
Part of the big picture steering philosophy is that everything stops at the same point. This means that the steering gear box, ram, and knuckle steering stops all need to share the same stopping point. This seems to be often overlooked in builds but is very important so that higher than stock forces applied from the hydro assist don't end up ripping the steering gear off the frame. Since I'll be using all straight steering linkages there will be no "spring" forgiveness to them either. Blaine has been a huge help in streamlining my process of turning philosophy into actuality, so if I sound smart here it's because I learned it from him.
To actually achieve that philosophy a piece of it is that the pitman arm must be clockable. If say the driver's side steering stop touches and the passenger's side is off, the pitman arm can be clocked a spline or two to correct that. The OEM pitman arm has master splines that need to be removed so that it can be clocked a spline at a time.
Here are the masters marked in white:
(Btw - After the first white marker died early on in this build I got a new one for you guys! Hopefully that will make notes in pictures easier to read again.)
I used a small burr to get in gently and remove the masters:
liquidfluidity
TJ Enthusiast
I can definitely see a road trip this summer to come and see this beast! Awesome build and it's nice to see some of your skillsets grow through the project progression.
OP
This morning I revisited a mod I did in 2017.
At the time I wrapped the straight thread plugs with teflon tape. They've been slowly sweating fluid ever since:
I cleaned the area and am trying to solve the leak with crush washers. If this doesn't solve it, the stock plugs are going back in.
I can't remember if I showed this before, but here is how I've been sitting pinion angles: Place the yoke on the TC and axle at the same angle, thread string between the 2 yoke, and use a square to check the angle.
I tried installing the replacement axle skid that I was sent when my axle didn't arrive with one. I can't make it fit. I think it's actually a skid for the RJ60 and the RJ60VXR may share the skid with the 70. It has become clear during this build that Currie has a disconnect between their shop floor and customer service when it comes to the RockJock 60 VXR. The knowledge and support from them has been filled with lots of misinformation. I'll give them a call on Monday to try and get this skid issue resolved.
toximus;39688202 said:To finish off the transfer case I installed a sight glass made from these parts (inspiration came from NuckelHead):
- 2x -6 AN to 22mm x 1.5 Metric Adapter (FRA-460414-BL)
- 2x -6 AN Socketless Hose End (FBL1532)
- 3/8" Clear Fuel Line
I have some concerns about it snagging branches on the trail so I'll be carrying the factory plugs and enough fluid to fill it back up until I'm sure it'll be fine.
At the time I wrapped the straight thread plugs with teflon tape. They've been slowly sweating fluid ever since:
I cleaned the area and am trying to solve the leak with crush washers. If this doesn't solve it, the stock plugs are going back in.
I can't remember if I showed this before, but here is how I've been sitting pinion angles: Place the yoke on the TC and axle at the same angle, thread string between the 2 yoke, and use a square to check the angle.
I tried installing the replacement axle skid that I was sent when my axle didn't arrive with one. I can't make it fit. I think it's actually a skid for the RJ60 and the RJ60VXR may share the skid with the 70. It has become clear during this build that Currie has a disconnect between their shop floor and customer service when it comes to the RockJock 60 VXR. The knowledge and support from them has been filled with lots of misinformation. I'll give them a call on Monday to try and get this skid issue resolved.
Unrelated to the recent work, but seeing the Savvy cross member reminded me of this. Didn't you weld the cross member mounting tabs directly to the frame?
Probably.
It makes it easier to install the raised weld on Genright brackets for the body mounts.
Last edited:
That will get you close for mock up but the pinion will be too high for final. The reason it is too high is the DC joint actually drops down where the tube attaches since the DC joint splits the angle. You're setting it for a single joint at each end shaft, but it will get you close.
OP
Post 168: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...treetable-adventure-lj-story.9956/post-210070
The Savvy C brackets don't fit with the raised body mounts.
OP
Probably.
View attachment 68031
It makes it easier to install the raised weld on Genright brackets for the body mounts.
Ok! Bear with me. The GR brackets are part of my thinking. Couldn't this be an opportunity to raise the skid equal to the thickness of the frame brackets and shims? The skid would need to be clearanced for the frame nutserts or the nutserts would need to be replaced with a sleeve for a through bolt. And the outputs would be a hair higher.
I realize this is less than an 1/8" gain, but it's there to be had, right?
Last edited:
OP
And that's exactly what you did!
Every possible gain I can get I've been trying at.
Take a look at my frame building posts to see where I used tubing to replace the nutserts.
Have you been able to figure out the frame and belly heights yet?