What did you do to your TJ today?

Upgraded my instrument cluster with a new faceplate (that can be seen in the daylight).
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HuskerJeep said:
Replaced my steering gear. The old one was leaking and I was getting poor return to center. This is a reman Lares 1353 from Rockauto, I couldn’t find a lot of reviews or comments on it, so I’ll give it some time and give my impressions after some miles. Initially, all is well.

However, return to center improved only slightly, so I think there is still something else going on there.

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Return to center can be affected by caster angle. To much slows the response.
 
HuskerJeep said:
Replaced my steering gear. The old one was leaking and I was getting poor return to center. This is a reman Lares 1353 from Rockauto, I couldn’t find a lot of reviews or comments on it, so I’ll give it some time and give my impressions after some miles. Initially, all is well.

However, return to center improved only slightly, so I think there is still something else going on there.

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Return to center is directly affected by steering geometry. (Toe in, caster, and camber) primarily caster and toe on a jeep because camber is fixed. the more positive the caster the more return to center. The only adjustment that is easily changed on the TJ is toe. Caster is minutely adjustable (directly relating to pinion angle) without offset ball joints. If your camber is way off something is very bent or worn out. Toe out will also tend to make your Jeep want to wander a little more than it should. Toe in will tend to do the opposite but too much will chew your tires up in short order.
 
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Installed a Sound Ordnance B-8PTD powered sub in place of the stock joke. Won't knock you out of your seat but it definitely fills in the low end. As per a subwoofer thread on this forum, I followed what others have done and mounted the remote gain in the center console. I also remounted the tray from a bottom mount position to a top mount position to get the extra height needed. I used a 30a circuit breaker instead of an inline fuse on the primary wire and used the remote power wire from the head unit to power on with the stereo.
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I also installed a Rugged Ridge dash multi-mount with phone holder. Pretty straightforward install.
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I still need to upgrade the dash and sound bar speakers.
 
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All 4 Wheelin' said:
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Return to center can be affected by caster angle. To much slows the response.
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reddvltj said:
Return to center is directly affected by steering geometry. (Toe in, caster, and camber) primarily caster and toe on a jeep because camber is fixed. the more positive the caster the more return to center. The only adjustment that is easily changed on the TJ is toe. Caster is minutely adjustable (directly relating to pinion angle) without offset ball joints. If your camber is way off something is very bent or worn out. Toe out will also tend to make your Jeep want to wander a little more than it should. Toe in will tend to do the opposite but too much will chew your tires up in short order.
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I have another thread running specifically for my return to center issues and I get into the alignment over there. https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/return-to-center-advice.27485/

Short answer is that caster & toe-in are all in spec, nothing bent, tire pressure is good, ball joints seem to check out fine, so I went ahead and changed the steering gear since it was leaking anyway.
 
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All 4 Wheelin' said:
Installed a Sound Ordnance B-8PTD powered sub in place of the stock joke. Won't knock you out of your seat but it definitely fills in the low end. As per a subwoofer thread on this forum, I followed what others have done and mounted the remote gain in the center console. I also remounted the tray from a bottom mount position to a top mount position to get the extra height needed. I used a 30a circuit breaker instead of an inline fuse on the primary wire and used the remote power wire from the head unit to power on with the stereo. View attachment 125248View attachment 125249View attachment 125250View attachment 125251View attachment 125252View attachment 125253
I also installed a Rugged Ridge dash multi-mount with phone holder. Pretty straightforward install.View attachment 125254
I still need to upgrade the dash and sound bar speakers.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I've been looking to do; I have a tube sub from my old Cherokee in the back but it just takes up too much room. Do you have a link to a write up? I have an 02, so the grill is there in the center console but the actual liner goes all the way down, what'd you use to to remount the tray to gain the clearance? Also, how is the sub actually attached in there?
 
Nordic said:
This is exactly what I've been looking to do; I have a tube sub from my old Cherokee in the back but it just takes up too much room. Do you have a link to a write up? I have an 02, so the grill is there in the center console but the actual liner goes all the way down, what'd you use to to remount the tray to gain the clearance? Also, how is the sub actually attached in there?
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I'm assuming yours didn't come with the factory sub. The liner, as you reference it, is much shallower to make room for the sub. You would have to find a console with the shallow liner. The liner is riveted in place so I drilled them out then set the liner in from the top, redrilled the holes to 1/4" and used plastic automotive trim rivets. The sub I used just fits front to back so it won't really move that way. I used some Velcro to hold it in place on the tranny hump so it stays against the grille in the console. If you look closely at the pic you can see the gray reference marks I made to set it in place. I got my measurements by dry fitting in the console itself.
 
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Waited for the matching Bestop rear seat cover to my front seats to show up on Amazon Warehouse and they finally did the other day so I had to jump on them.

Also started the rear bumper and tow hitch removal in preparation to install the new Bestop high rock rear bumper which is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. It’s putting up a good fight. Got all the bolts out except the two bottom bolts. I think they’re probably rusted in there pretty good. Soaking them in PB blaster overnight and I’ll try again tomorrow hopefully without breaking a bolt🤞🏾

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jazngab said:
Waited for the matching Bestop rear seat cover to my front seats to show up on Amazon Warehouse and they finally did the other day so I had to jump on them.

Also started the rear bumper and tow hitch removal in preparation to install the new Bestop high rock rear bumper which is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. It’s putting up a good fight. Got all the bolts out except the two bottom bolts. I think they’re probably rusted in there pretty good. Soaking them in PB blaster overnight and I’ll try again tomorrow hopefully without breaking a bolt🤞🏾

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I ended up breaking one of the bottom bolts. Had to drill and retap.
 
Removed the hood mounted Hi-Lift jack after its 4 year residency. Never used it on the trail and only once in the garage. Also installed rear Fox shocks (flap wheeled the lower bushing tube a skosh, no...slightly less than that, just a tad to fit the lower mount) and a Morryde Rotopax hinge mount. And, R&R’d the Rock Hard tire carrier bumper with their non-tire carrier bumper (dropping the rear portion of the gas tank makes accessing the inner bolts easier). Now I can fully open the tailgate (and grease the new hinges).
 
All 4 Wheelin' said:
I ended up breaking one of the bottom bolts. Had to drill and retap.
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Ugh. Hoping to avoid all that. Having flashbacks of the rear upper shock bolts. The passenger side bolt is especially annoying because the damn exhaust pipe is in the way too. Right under the bolt.
 
All 4 Wheelin' said:
Installed a Sound Ordnance B-8PTD powered sub in place of the stock joke. Won't knock you out of your seat but it definitely fills in the low end. As per a subwoofer thread on this forum, I followed what others have done and mounted the remote gain in the center console. I also remounted the tray from a bottom mount position to a top mount position to get the extra height needed. I used a 30a circuit breaker instead of an inline fuse on the primary wire and used the remote power wire from the head unit to power on with the stereo. View attachment 125248View attachment 125249View attachment 125250View attachment 125251View attachment 125252View attachment 125253
I also installed a Rugged Ridge dash multi-mount with phone holder. Pretty straightforward install.View attachment 125254
I still need to upgrade the dash and sound bar speakers.
Click to expand...
Damn. Nice
 
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Drove Ripley to town yesterday and it was blowing a gale, 20-25 mph gusts. My hood was doing some serious jumping around. The driver side more so than the passengers side. I made the pass side aluminum base a little taller the driver side which made it tighter. It looks like I need to redo my drivers side aluminum base or tighten up the spring inside the latch if I can. I still like the old school ss Cj8 latches better than the rubber Tj latches.
 
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HuskerJeep said:
Installed the aluminum UCF Engine Skid.

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How was the mounting to the factory transfer case skid? I tried contacting them when I was looking for one a while back, but they never answered the phone or returned emails. I ended up going with the Savvy skid. Only required lining the skid up and drilling holes in the factory skid.
 
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