I've Never Figured Out When Enough Is Enough

OK Folks! Here we go. Next stage of the saga.

My Jeep is not at my house right now. It is at the body shop getting some rust repair done due to my lack of confidence in my welding abilities... because of this, I nearly didn't continue this story tonight. I knew you would all want to see photos. So instead I dug up what I could for photos from my computer, and I'm rolling with that.

Last year, when all of this started, I had zero intention of starting a new build on the Jeep. I went out to the garage to do one small project. My hood latches had dry rotted and needed to be replaced to get the Jeep back on the road. Kindly keep in mind, that is where this whole sh!t show started. Ha!

Let me see if I can get this order right... but this is kind of how it went:

1) Replace Hood Latch Rubber
2) Found a hood strut upgrade (seriously, one of my favorite additions to the jeep! No long annoyed with the rod, and no more worrying about my hood sitting on my windshield.
3) realized my windshield wipers no longer worked, replaced the motor. This was a very simple and satisfying repair.
4) Decided it was time to order mirror relocation brackets and finally replace the driver side mirror that had been missing for ten years or so... oops.
5) My front ARB air locker had been leaking air for awhile. I had no idea where to begin, so I started checking for pressure in the air lines. I was assuming one had failed. I wasn't that lucky. Turned out, the locker itself was leaking air as I had air escaping through my breather tube. UGGHHH! So I decided to pause on that repair, as I knew it was going to be pricey (not to mention challenging finding someone who could fix it for me).
6) and then I decided to address a spring spacer that the previous owner had installed. It had just broken up and fallen out. So I decided to pull the rear springs and replace the spacers:
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***Excuse the ugly mug... I'm feeling too lazy to crop my face out***

It was the rust that really made me begin to rethink some things. Replacing a spacer and turning a blind eye to the rust... I couldn't do it. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. So, I started the research on a bolt in short arm suspension. I didn't look far, as I've always really like Metalcloak products. They are admittedly pricey, but I felt like the spend was worth it at the time.

I got the short arm kit on order, and then got busy cleaning up the frame:

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As you can see, I didn't sand it smooth, but I did wire brush it, clean it real good, and applied POR15. I also later finished it with the POR15 top coat. I am very happy with how it turned out. More picture to come in following posts.
 
Also, can I just have a little moment of silence for all of the time I wasted trying to get out those rust/frozen suspension bolts!? OMG. It didn't help that I had shoulder surgery in the middle of the project and was under the jeep with my arm in a sling trying to get those daggum things apart.

As promised, more frame pictures (these aren't in perfect order, as I actually put the whole rear end together before I started on the front):
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The above photo shows the frame cleaned up and ready for its first coat of POR15^^^^^^
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AND now for the money shots (These are obviously before the top coat):
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***The bumper bolts all had to be drilled out and re-tapped***

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More photos and fun Jeep drama to come.
 
I didn't realize you guys did that as a group! I would 100% be down. Full disclosure, I haven't wheeled this jeep since 2012. I have a lot to learn on how to drive these things.

I can't think of better place to get back on the trail than Moab. I say book the trip, the rest will fall into place!
 
Time for a little break from the regularly scheduled programming, to bring you my shipment that came in today! Who doesn't like a good unboxing.

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Obviously, I have a thing for metal cloak products. However, I will say this. I wish they wouldn't put their name all over this stuff. I think it admittedly looks kind of cool, but I spent enough money that I shouldn't be forced to be their billboard.
 
Back to the build story, This little video clip shows what my frame looked like after the top coat. I am very happy with it. As you will see, I coated both front and rear differentials and the rear sway bar as well.
 
The next step was reassembly. I started with the rear end. Again, purchased the MC short arm suspension with the plan to just replace everything. It was like putting eye candy on. It was a lot of fun.

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I centered the dif as well as I could, but ended up taking it to an alignment shop for fine tuning once I got the front end back in.
 
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The next big challenge was my HP Dana 30 with the leaking ARB. I do not trust my own skill set enough to attempt this repair myself, so I went on a hunt to find someone willing to do it for me. I couldn't find a single person in my area. In fact, the closest I found was in Wisconsin. Crazy. So, I took my Dana 30 to WI for a ARB rebuild project. They ended up having it for a couple of months, so I did a bunch of other projects while I waited. I'll bring you all up to speed on those as well in due time, but for now we will stay with this suspension project.

My Dana 30 eventually made it back. Freshly rebuilt. I had the shop put an ARB dif cover on it while they had it. Aside from the fact that I really like how those covers look, I also have a healthy appreciation for the fact that I can change the fluid without removing the cover now. I have since purchased a matching cover for the Ford 8.8 in the rear, I just haven't installed it yet. Its just another future project.

I should mention, while I was waiting for the Dana 30 to come back home, I went through a long debate on what to do with my steering and swaybar disconnect. I decided to go with the Currey Correctlync for steering. As you guys know, this steering setup is a huge improvement on stock and was much needed.

I also debated quite a bit about the swaybar disconnect. I really wanted to keep as much drivability on road as possible while being able to switch to offroad flawlessly. Some of my research led me away from the antirock setup. Mostly I heard that there is some sacrifice on the road with that setup. So I ended up going with the ORO Swayloc. I really liked the idea of being able to disconnect the swaybar with a button on my dash. It was a pretty pricey option, but so far, I do not regret it. I just hope it performs offroad as advertised.

Here are some pictures of the front end install.

This bold was an absolute nightmare to get out. Literally had sleepless nights trying to figure it out:
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Dana 30 prior to being shipped away for repair:
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Coated:
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And here we are installed: I went ahead and did the rotors and pads while I was at it. The shop that did the ARB repair had to cut the rotors off because they were rusted so bad.
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And with the wheels on after alignment:
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While I was waiting for my Dana 30, I had a bunch of other projects going on. One of these was dealing with rust in various places. I removed my MC front fenders because they had begun to develop some surface rust over the years. I decided to sand this all down and coat them with POR15 and topcoat. By spring, I was so sick of painting and waiting for paint to dry between coats.

When I removed the fenders, I found that the battery tray (and the one on the driver side) were covered with surface rust and their paint was peeling. I took them out, cleaned them up, and coated them. There was also surface rust on the tub where the fender bolts up and on the front grill where the fender attaches. The rust on the front grill has been there forever and hasn't progressed at all. I think it was from back when the original fender was on the jeep. Regardless, its gone now.

I don't have great pictures to reflect the rust work, but this one kind of gets the point across: You can see the rust on the grill and on the MC fender as well.

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Now, if I can just find a photo of the completed work.... Found Some!!

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I pulled these pictures out of a video that I had made, so they aren't awesome.
 
Another project that I had going while I was waiting on the Dana 30, was the front bumper setup needed a refresh:

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The above bumper didn't age super well, and I never really cared for the shape of it. So, I continued the MC theme through the whole build, so I got a front bumper ordered up.

The above picture is about ten years old. During that time, the winch fasteners rusted pretty tight. After pulling the bumper, I ended up needed to cut the winch bolts off, and found a machine shop willing to remove the stuck bolts for me. A number of machine shops laughed me out the door at the thought of wasting their time on that little project, so I was super thankful to find an old school guy that understood.

Once that problem was solved, I had to deal with the broken bumper bolts. Three of the four had to be cut off to get the bumper off. What a nightmare. I welded a nut on one of them and was able to back it off... The other two ended up needing to be drilled and tapped. Lost a couple of very expensive drill bits to that little venture. Those were some big ol' bolts to have to drill out! By the time my ORO Swayloc was on, and the frame was prepped for a new bumper, I was beyond excited to get that shiny new bumper in place. I feel like these guys that are modifying the newer jeeps will never quite understand what us TJ guys go through these days! lol

Anyways, here is the new bumper with Swayloc and the trusty old winch mounted up:
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I wish I could get you guys better pictures, but as I stated previously, my jeep isn't home right now. I'm sure I will have it back sometime next week.
 
OK so, I have mentioned the ORO Swayloc a couple of times and now I'm going to dive just a little bit deeper into that. The addition of the Swayloc brought a couple of new obstacles for me to figure out my way around.

First, I needed to plumb this into my ARB Air Compressor. Now, I think a lot of you are instantly thinking that you know exactly how to do this, and I've no doubt you do! But I didn't. lol I just knew that the solenoid that came with the Swayloc wasn't going to work. What I ended up, doing, is running it in line with one of my existing solenoids that activates the rear locker. ARB makes a product that is designed for this function. I ordered that part up, and got busy doing a light rebuild/cleaning of my ten year old air compressor. This really just constituted a disassembly, cleaning, and replacement of the o-rings. Then of course, adding in my new solenoid. Let me see if I can find some pictures...


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Here you can see the addition of the second solenoid that runs the Swayloc.
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And here you can see where the air line plumbs into the actual swaybar.
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I will explain my second obstacle in the next post. This second one was a much bigger deal, I think you will see why.
 
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Here we go, the second obstacle that the new swaybar introduced.... WHERE TO PUT THE SWITCH!!

Omg, this was a big problem. I'm not even exaggerating either. You see, I am big on having a stock looking interior. I just have always liked the look of the factory interior. Tbh, it will probably eventually change, but there isn't any reason I can't keep the dash stock looking. I had already replaced the stock switched for the hardtop with my three switches for the air compressor and two lockers. I did that years ago. So, I needed to figure out how to add the additional switched without it looking hokey. Plus, I really wanted to put my original switches back in that ran my hardtop wiper and defrost.

Anyways, I did a lot of online searching to see what other people have done to solve this same problem. Somewhere along the way, I found someone that had removed the ashtray, and replaced it with the three switch bezel that is on the left hand side. I may have found it on this forum! I have no idea. I don't remember otherwise I would give credit.

Here is what the original dash looks like prior to my modifications:
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I wanted to solve a couple of other issues while I was at this project as well, so I couldn't just dive right in. First, I have the common problem of the fan speed selector switch melting routinely. I decided to start chasing this down. It was a nightmare as well. I replaced every component of the system (new fan motor, entire switch assembly, and the other thing under the dash... can't remember what it is called) and after all new components, it still promptly melted my new switch. So then, after a bunch more research, I decided to attempt the fix that is out there where you add relays. This actually helped, but the highest setting on the switch still quit working. I've decided to leave this problem alone for the time being. It is one of my more frustrating things on this jeep. I wish the manufacturer would have a solution for their own product. I may circle back to it someday if I feel up to it. I'll say this though, fitting all that new wiring in the dash was a huge PITA.

So, another issue I wanted to resolve, is the stereo system. I will address this in much more detail in a later post, but in this one I will at least address the head unit. My old one had quit working over the years, and I just never got around to fixing it. Also, the factory speakers are woefully lacking and basically useless with the top off. So it was ready for some serious upgrades.

I decided to put in a new head unit that would give me the ability to add front and rear facing cameras, and apple carplay. It took way more research than I anticipated to find just the right setup that would meet those needs and also handle the addition of a few amps and additional speakers. But I digress, that is getting into info for another post...

After I put new head unit in, I found out right away that my antenna also no longer worked. It is amazing how many things I had let slip over the years (most of it unknowningly)! I ordered and installed a new antenna all the way out, and it worked great. That was a good feeling to get that resolved.

With my new head unit in, new antenna installed, new heating/cooling system in, I still had to fix my switch situation. I bet you're starting to see why it was such a big deal to add that switch now huh!? It just kind of forced my hand to do it all if I was going to do anything at all.

Back to the switches...

Here is the new Dash piece that I cut up to take the new switches and also handle my new head unit (also pictured below):

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Cut out the sub-dash:

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Here is progress photo...

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New switch came in:

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New Bezel to modify:

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This is the mockup for the cut to allow me to marry these two pieces:

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Continued in next post...
 
This next photo shows where I cut the new piece to make it attach to the old. IDK if that makes sense or not...

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You can maybe see how that will make it fit right into this groove:

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Where the cig lighter was, I put in a adapter for my apple carplay & and spare usb for a passenger:

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Here is the hot mess of wires I was dealing with. I didn't help my situation by adding all of those relays...
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The relays:
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Back to the switch yet again... Here is the one that comes with the swayloc setup:

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And here is the one I replaced it with:


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And finally.... drum roll please... the big reveal!

Final product - Dash.jpg


I will probably show my front/rear camera setup in the next post. Then maybe the sound system... we shall see.
 
Nice work. Enjoying following along with you.
I made one of the double switch panels a few years ago and never used it. The back-end wiring was more than my head could handle so I decided to use the Auxbeam switch panel..
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Nice work. Enjoying following along with you.
I made one of the double switch panels a few years ago and never used it. The back-end wiring was more than my head could handle so I decided to use the Auxbeam switch panel..
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Someone may be interested in purchasing that from you! I got lucky on the wiring. Five of the six switches were already wired, so I only had to figure out the one. Your panel looks great.