04 LJK Repair, Redo, Recycle - The 3 R's of a First Build

IT BREATHES!! I only took it for a trip around the cul-de-sac. It has no muffler yet and these are surprisingly loud unmuffled. I have to say from my 1/2 mile test drive. WOOOOWWWWW. I can't wait to wheel this thing! It feel so planted. I've had this body rock and roll when hitting bumps i've always had since I bought this jeep. It seems to be gone. The suspension feels Planted and connected. Why didn't someone say it would be this good!!! Blaine you have out down yourself sir with this kit design. I will report back after real drive and exhaust is in.

I'm happy to report the stock sway bar does fit in the rear. I had heard some say it would not.

I had a little scare I got in and the brake light wouldn't go out. I tried adjusting ebrake cable tension checked fluid and all seemed good. Pumped brakes a few times and light went off. I was having my 9 year old daughter help me bleed brakes with a 4x4 tied to her foot. Maybe that had something to do with it. I will rebleed everything with an adult to be sure all air is out.

I could find very little info comparing Currie 4" spring vs metal cloak 4.5" spring. Side by side stackup shows the free height is very similar but Currie has way more active coils. Lift seem comparable between the two and I would say Currie may give more but haven't checked my numbers in the garage. I have over 6" of shaft on all four shocks and all tires have verified they get full uptravel. Turns out my rear corners were limiting flex previously. I found the rub marks to prove. Not sure where the bumpstops were but with trimming I got a full 1.2" more flex in rear.

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Looking forward to hearing what you think of it once you have the exhaust installed and get a chance to really try it out on the trail. It looks great and glad you got it all done.
The old 2x4 to the foot trick works but our little ones have trouble pushing all the way sometimes. Great that you had her out there helping you out.
 
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I took out the tape measure and frame height raised approximately 7/8" between metal cloak and Currie springs. I did not expect that, if anything i thought they would net less lift, since their compressed length is a inch shorter than MC. Lots of metalcloak suspension parts to be listed soon.
 
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I'm over here twiddling thumbs till my exhaust appointment. Been shopping for trailers in the mean time for a potential Naches trip end of June not sure if I'll drive jeep or buy a trailer.

I pulled the skid assembly and went and fixed my initial fuck up of making a non removable (welded) exhaust hanger when I did the crossmember trans mount. I was able to do this in-situ without removing the xmember which was nice. Added a little piece of angle on top of mount, used existing holes in the exhaust hanger and TAPPED 8MM-1.5 HOLES just to say a friendly fuck you to naysayers. 😁

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Exhaust shop appointment tomorrow morning, it's like Christmas! I want to drive my jeep sooo bad.
 
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B00mb00m said:
Exhaust shop appointment tomorrow morning, it's like Christmas! I want to drive my jeep sooo bad.
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I know the feeling. And it'll be a few more weeks/months for me. Enjoy.



Make sure you leave your man card at home for letting someone else work on your Jeep. Damn even a 1 legged man could change out that exhaust alone..... :ROFLMAO: :rolleyes:
 
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Wildman said:
I know the feeling. And it'll be a few more weeks/months for me. Enjoy.



Make sure you leave your man card at home for letting someone else work on your Jeep. Damn even a 1 legged man could change out that exhaust alone..... :ROFLMAO: :rolleyes:
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It's so easy even a wildman can do it.
 
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Well it ain't going to be cheap. Estimating 6 hour job for the whole exhaust package. Looks like they have a dynomax muffler that will fit snug. Have to notch out some of my beautiful skid brace but that's the cost of doing everything in stages lol. Should've done the rear 4 link before the skid brace.
 
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Wildman said:
Wow 6 HOURS?? @ $125 an hour? or is the shop rate more?
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Whenever i hear the shop estimate in hours im like oh is that all> Shoots it would take me 20 hours minimum to do it. Then i hear their shop rate and I'm like "what in the flying fawwwwwwwk" does your mechanic have a doctorate in Microbiology!?@?@?@>@<?????@!!!!!
 
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B00mb00m said:
Whenever i hear the shop estimate in hours im like oh is that all> Shoots it would take me 20 hours minimum to do it. Then i hear their shop rate and I'm like "what in the flying fawwwwwwwk" does your mechanic have a doctorate in Microbiology!?@?@?@>@<?????@!!!!!
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If you really look at what a mechanic has to know it's more than a doctor. Plus the mechanic is getting maybe $20 per hour from that shop rate.
I did it for too long so don't get me started.
 
Wildman said:
If you really look at what a mechanic has to know it's more than a doctor. Plus the mechanic is getting maybe $20 per hour from that shop rate.
I did it for too long so don't get me started.
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I won't get you started, but since you were in the industry, is an exhaust shop mechanic in the automotive industry akin to a chiropractor in the health care industry? :unsure:
 
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B00mb00m said:
Well it ain't going to be cheap. Estimating 6 hour job for the whole exhaust package. Looks like they have a dynomax muffler that will fit snug. Have to notch out some of my beautiful skid brace but that's the cost of doing everything in stages lol. Should've done the rear 4 link before the skid brace.
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I think 6 hours is about what it took the shop to do my cat back in 2.5". But I also made them cycle the suspension and make minor adjustments. If they used 2" they could have done it in 4 hours I bet.
 
Oh
toximus said:
I think 6 hours is about what it took the shop to do my cat back in 2.5". But I also made them cycle the suspension and make minor adjustments. If they used 2" they could have done it in 4 hours I bet.
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Ya I let them use 2" after the muffler. Was that a bad idea? Well that's not so bad then because they also installed the y pipe / cats. Still cost me $800.
 
I'm pretty happy with the exhaust work, is there anything I should be unhappy about?

The exhaust is SOOOO quiet wow. It's pretty nice. Previously had a flowmaster 40 but I'm kind of over loud exhaust. It makes it hard to diagnose issues. Diagnosing weird noises seems to occupy about half my jeep life.

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I did have to allow them to notch a lot of my skid stiffener. RIP my beautiful stiffener. I'll drop the skid and clean it up and repaint.
 
B00mb00m said:
Ya I let them use 2" after the muffler. Was that a bad idea?
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Not with the stock engine imho. Before the cat, stock, it's 2.5" after the cat it's 2.0".

With a modified engine 2.5" helps it breath so the engine doesn't have as much pressure building up creating heat.
 
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