LJR long term "rebuild"

How was the 4th at SMORR? Good shakedown, any carnage?

No shake down. Haven’t started my build and my buddies diesel truck floated valves and cracked a piston and head so no YJ’s this trip. Was a good trip, but hot and dusty. My cooling fan started blowing fuses so it’s getting replaced. You still coming down in July? I need to book camping if so.
 
No shake down. Haven’t started my build and my buddies diesel truck floated valves and cracked a piston and head so no YJ’s this trip. Was a good trip, but hot and dusty. My cooling fan started blowing fuses so it’s getting replaced. You still coming down in July? I need to book camping if so.

Yes, we are coming July 21-24. Wheeling that Friday and Saturday. Wife will be with me and she won't sleep in a tent when it's hot so we got an Airbnb in town.
 
Yes, we are coming July 21-24. Wheeling that Friday and Saturday. Wife will be with me and she won't sleep in a tent when it's hot so we got an Airbnb in town.

I can probably swing camping Friday night and wheeling Saturday if my fan shows up in time for me to install it. Don’t break your shit Friday :) I’ll let you know what I can figure out.
 
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For how light a TJ is, I was looking at how to install a SD 60 with no truss. But unless you go coilover, there is really no place to attach a coil spring perch on that drivers side of the SD Dana 60 without adding the truss structure to give you a flat surface. Also, need the bridge to add the upper control arm mount.

Quoted gasiorv, but more directed to AMS417

Would re-tubing the 05+ have any advantages in pinion angle and caster? If re-tubing could the diff be moved towards the center and make room for a coil spring? Is your front driveshaft parallel with the frame or angles out to the pinion? I really don't want to mess with those F-350 brackets.
 
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Quoted gasiorv, but more directed to AMS417

Would re-tubing the 05+ have any advantages in pinion angle and caster? If re-tubing could the diff be moved towards the center and make room for a coil spring? Is your front driveshaft parallel with the frame or angles out to the pinion? I really don't want to mess with those F-350 brackets.

Sure it could if you want to build a custom housing. I’m not running coil springs and didn’t want to spend the money on a housing I didn’t really need. I know a lot of guys running SD fronts just fine on coil overs and ORI’s. Pretty common swap around here.

There is a guy in FB retubing 14B and Dana 60 centers and he’s reasonable price wise. You’d still need to find shafts to work with whatever you do. If you look at the truss versus the pumpkin in the pic pics of my front axle it’s level all the way across and full width.
 
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Decided to buy some new seats and harness, safety third you know. Spendy for sure, got a standard size for the wife and a +1 tall +1 wide for me. Should have gotten +2 tall.

PRP Enduro Elite with heaters. PRP 5.3 harness and adapters in a box out in the garage. Need to get organized but I have some electrical gremlins to work out after this weekends event. Previous owner wiring job coming back to haunt me again. All lighting related, not critical but its blowing fuses so its on the list.

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Got delayed due to me blowing up the rear end last weekend. Broke a shaft and it shattered. Slapping in my spare shafts and smoked a bearing. Ten Factory sent me a new kit asap but both shafts are short side. Waiting on them to ship the correct shaft now. Fun stuff.

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Lots of progress on the white LJ swapping in all my parts. All his stock Rubicon parts are posted for sale on FB if anyone is interested.

Got all my armor, sliders, removed and ready to install on the white Jeep next weekend. After that we get serious on my LJ.

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Naked Jeep, LJ parts swap complete. Next steps body lift, lifted engine mounts, t-case crossmember, and we start setting up the front axle.

I’m taking a couple weeks off for vacation. Next shop days in December.

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You need to powerwash that thing before pulling it into the shop, keeps some (not all) of the grit from falling onto your face :)

I like the placement of the triaxle trailer, it is ready to be hooked up and loaded without ever moving it.
 
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Has 37" blue labels on it now. Runs 80mph on the highway no problem. I like my truck for anything out of town. Still up in the air on what tires we will run. Could do 39" BFG KM3 or 42" Krawler red's. Long time till I need to make a choice yet. Either way it will still be street drivable, just not a great idea on stickies due to the wear rate.
 
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You need to powerwash that thing before pulling it into the shop, keeps some (not all) of the grit from falling onto your face :)

I like the placement of the triaxle trailer, it is ready to be hooked up and loaded without ever moving it.

Yeah it was pretty clean already, probably should have washes it but too late now. Most of the dirt was under the armor. That’s my buddies 40” trailer with a pop up on the front. Hauls the YJ’s.
 
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Motobilt Sale! Snatched up a TJ/LJ stretch tank and a Genright LJ fuel tank relocation bracket! Going to push it back all the way, need the wheelbase.

Probably going to EVAP delete and HP tune out the P codes for emissions and downstream O2's. No smog checks here.

Can't wait to get back from vacation and get cranking.
 
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I jumped on the sale too and bought some stuff.

Enjoy the vacation and look forward to seeing the work on the Jeep when you get back.
 
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Got some bad news on the white LJ we swapped all my parts onto. Was making some gear noise while coasting, figured it might have a lash issue or a bearing that needed replaced in the carrier. Nope, the housing is bent about 1/2" on the drivers side tube.

Good news, local hydraulic machine shop was able to true it up for $250 with a 1 day turn around. Don't give up on those bent housings, pretty inexpensive to fix versus replace.
 
Some progress this weekend. Removed all factory suspension brackets, need to fix a couple cosmetic issues with weld / fill and grind. Installed body lift and raised engine mounts.

Need to source some 1.5” DOM for crossmember and trackbar this week. Next we will stuff the drivetrain and see what we need to “clearance”. Trying for flat belly or very close to it. Fuel tank relocation will be next.

Bought a 9k two post lift as well. Will pick it up next weekend and install it.

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Didn’t get anything done on the Jeep this time around but my buddy put it on a cradle for me so we could move it around the shop. Rolls so easy one person can move it.

We disassembled, relocated and installed the two post lift in an afternoon. Took longer to run conduit and pull wires than it did to put the lift up. Works good, and it’s like new. Got a smoking deal on it from another friend who lost his lease on a building.

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