LJR long term "rebuild"

Got my new Grizzly front locker installed. Removed the factory locker switch and hoses. Plugged the hole with a pipe plug and some red loctite, capped the pressure nipple with a vacuum cap and a zip tie. Had to shim about 4 times to get lash right. Not bad other than pulling and reinstalling the RCV's. Those boots are a bitch.

Will have some OE Rubicon locker parts for sale soon. Need to get the other switch out of the rear, and pull and test both pumps. Have one good diaphragm as well. Maybe some hard parts too once I dissect the locker.

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AMS417 said:
Got my new Grizzly front locker installed. Removed the factory locker switch and hoses. Plugged the hole with a pipe plug and some red loctite, capped the pressure nipple with a vacuum cap and a zip tie. Had to shim about 4 times to get lash right. Not bad other than pulling and reinstalling the RCV's. Those boots are a bitch.

Will have some OE Rubicon locker parts for sale soon. Need to get the other switch out of the rear, and pull and test both pumps. Have one good diaphragm as well. Maybe some hard parts too once I dissect the locker.

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Where is your diff breather?
 
Was able to reattach my fender flair that was ripped off last trip out. Sourced some slightly longer tapered head cap screws and broke two tap handles (Harbor Freight) rethreading the holes. Had to put the fender in my 20 ton press to get it to line back up. Its coming off soon enough, so good enough for now. The pipe part has a serious kink in it behind the wheel.

Also noticed my super expensive Rare Parts lower ball joints that came with this Jeep when I bought it are shot. They are sending me two new ones and an RMA to return the worn joints for inspection, but made me pay in advance. Good for me, if they don't stand behind the new joints, I have recourse with my credit card if it comes to that.

PS, I hate working in the garage over my buddies giant shop. He has all the cool toys and almost more sq ft than the lot my house is on.

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More stuff showed up today. Had to play garage Tetris to find a home for it all. Hard to see since its all piled in the corner and on the tool carts. They sent the wrong inner fenders but the right ones are on the way.

All Motobilt:

Highline front fenders 2" flair
Aluminum inner fenders
Tub armor (in front of door, behind fender piece) To cover my recent dent.
Extended sliders for comp cut corners
Blank corner armor
Double arch rear fender flair 2"
Grimple plates for adding steps to extended sliders

Will be sitting a while, but its here and paid for. Will all get a test fit and trimming / cutout prior to powder coating and final assemble.

Really need to clean and reorganize the garage some day....

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Installed new lower ball joints today, had some time to remove all the no longer needed stock locker stuff. Jeep is back up and ready, but not this weekend. Have to help my buddy get the YJ finished up and trail ready. He has to borrow some parts due to back orders, but my stuff is just sitting, glad to contribute to the cause.

Even had time to change the oil in the Ram 2500. Need to clean the garage next and purge a pile of house flipping stuff. Not planning on getting back into that anytime soon.

Pile of pumps, harnesses, hoses and other stuff I no longer need.

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Didn't get to work on my stuff this weekend, its all hands on deck to get my buddies wife's Jeep moving. He was going to sell his 4BT and swap in a Mercedes OM606 in his YJ and things went sideways. He found an OM nearby and made a deal to buy it, pulled out the 4BT and it sold immediately, then the OM seller backed out. Now he has a YJ with no engine, so we shifted focus to the green YJ. We need at least 1 functional Jeep asap.

First we primed and painted the assembled rear axle, a Sterling 10.5". It has a Ford OEM electronic locker installed. We added all new brakes and wheels and tires and rolled it into position, connected the links and started working out the coil over mounts. Still waiting on the diff cover to come in, hence the rusty unpainted OEM cover.

Since the cage is tied to the frame at the A, B, and C pilar we cut some DOM and ran a bar between B and C to make the upper mount. Punched a hole through the tub and started working it out. He has all the cool toys in the shop.

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We ended up with this. Still need to add all the extra weight from armor, sliders, doors, seats, tools, etc. and see how it does. Might need to play with spring rates and lengths to get it working prefect. 14" Fox emulsion on the rear, 14" resi on the front. Lots to do yet but its coming along.

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Not much progress lately, but Rare Parts did end up giving me a warranty credit on the lower ball joints after I returned the bad ones. I still would not recommend these parts. Overcomplex and don't really solve the Rubi Dana 44 issues. They came installed when I bought this Jeep, I would have never bought them myself but it seems the customer service is pretty good.

Also received the pipe bender die I ordered a couple weeks ago so we can do 1.5" tube for track bars and crossmembers.

Had plans to do some work this weekend, maybe tomorrow?
 
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Did some boating and some wheeling this weekend. Got to test out the YJ build, its needs highline fenders or maybe we will fab some tube highlines for it, also needs a larger power steering cooler in a bad way. Other than that, its works great! Still some detail work to do, but its 95% finished I would say.

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Ripped my frame side track bar bracket all the way off. Made getting back to camp kind of slow going. We used a ratchet strap to keep the bracket on.

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Turning the last corner onto my street I lost focus and clipped the curb with the leading trailer tire. I was unloaded, sent the LJ home with my buddy, since he has a better MIG than I do.

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Nothing a deadblow and a big ball peen couldn't solve. Swapped this wheel with the spare just to be safe. Will get it checked for roundness and tire damage later this week. It has some damage but nothing deep. Might replace it just for peace of mind.


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Came home to a couple of surprise packages from ORI. All I need are tires and we are ready to begin. Tucker thinks they smell funny.

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Received LTL shipping notice on my tires today. Will get them picked up I hope next week and mounted on the wheels. That puts me real close on parts to get started with the tear down in a few months.
 
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Uncanny timing, happy birthday to me. Picked up my five new MT Baja Pro XS tires. Grabbed some Magnum balance we use in semi truck tires as well. 18oz should be enough I hope. Couple of the tires have weight patched in them from the factory. Pretty normal for a large flotation bias ply DOT tire. These things are sick. Just need to stick with the plan and wait until it cools off to get started.

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43's make the 37's look tiny. Gonna take a lot of creative fab work to get this rig low and still have some up travel. I am ready for the challenge, I think.

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AMS417 said:
Uncanny timing, happy birthday to me. Picked up my five new MT Baja Pro XS tires. Grabbed some Magnum balance we use in semi truck tires as well. 18oz should be enough I hope. Couple of the tires have weight patched in them from the factory. Pretty normal for a large flotation bias ply DOT tire. These things are sick. Just need to stick with the plan and wait until it cools off to get started.

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43's make the 37's look tiny. Gonna take a lot of creative fab work to get this rig low and still have some up travel. I am ready for the challenge, I think.

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Happy Birthday! Mine was yesterday.
 
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