06 X Build: A Little at a Time

Any tricks to making it last longer?

If you find one let me know because I have yet to figure it out!

The last two (which have included two different axles) I have placed a light bead of RTV hoping to seal it but it still seeps out after several weeks. Looks similar to what you posted.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2006TJ1
If you find one let me know because I have yet to figure it out!

The last two (which have included two different axles) I have placed a light bead of RTV hoping to seal it but it still seeps out after several weeks. Looks similar to what you posted.
Yep. I think mine has been going on for a little while. This is the first time I've noticed the whole pumpkin getting soaked. I put some pipe sealer on the splines of the yoke, so I know there's no oil seeping out there, but of course the seal obviously isn't working.
 
Last edited:
Make sure the yoke or pinion shaft (whichever is going through the seal) doesn't have a burr on it when reassembled. Also, sometimes it helps to put a plastic baggie over the splines, to prevent them nicking the seal upon installation.

I had a Mitusbishi Eclipse that I could NOT get to stop leaking on the drivers side CV axle at the transaxle/differential. I had mechanic do it the first time and he did it two more times under warranty. I did it the next two times. Finally, that last time I used some Emory cloth on the shaft where the seal rode. I couldn't see or feel a burr, but there was something there. It never leaked again in the four more years we had that car.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2006TJ1
Make sure the yoke or pinion shaft (whichever is going through the seal) doesn't have a burr on it when reassembled. Also, sometimes it helps to put a plastic baggie over the splines, to prevent them nicking the seal upon installation.

I had a Mitusbishi Eclipse that I could NOT get to stop leaking on the drivers side CV axle at the transaxle/differential. I had mechanic do it the first time and he did it two more times under warranty. I did it the next two times. Finally, that last time I used some Emory cloth on the shaft where the seal rode. I couldn't see or feel a burr, but there was something there. It never leaked again in the four more years we had that car.
I'll have to try that out. It's not like the seal is expensive to replace, but this is going to be such a PITA. Hopefully one new seal will do the job.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chris
If you want to get really technical about it, it could be the pinion gear pulling oil out as it spins. When we precision grind pinion gears we have to run a string test to measure the runout over a period of 30 seconds. If the grain of the material pulls the string towards the end of the pinion gear, it’s scrap because it will draw oil past the seal as it’s spinning.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2006TJ1
If you want to get really technical about it, it could be the pinion gear pulling oil out as it spins. When we precision grind pinion gears we have to run a string test to measure the runout over a period of 30 seconds. If the grain of the material pulls the string towards the end of the pinion gear, it’s scrap because it will draw oil past the seal as it’s spinning.
Hm. Possible I guess. They are Revolution gears though, so they should be very high quality. I will try the seal first and possibly contact Revolution if the problem persists.
 
I guess I went the entire year without updating this thread. I want to get back on track simply for the purpose of my own documentation. I have parts coming in as Christmas gifts, so I will have plenty of updating to do in January. Here goes.

In February I had a check engine light that turned out to be an O2 sensor code; I went ahead and replaced all 4, so hopefully I shouldn't have any problems for a long long while.

March: I had noticed some angry sparrows noises, so I pulled the front driveshaft to investigate. Noises went away. 7 Spicer u-joints and a centering ball kit came in from UPS soon. Decided to put new u-joints in the rear shaft at the same time for the sake of being thorough and refreshing old components. After the rebuilds, noises were gone.

April:
IMG_20190427_132919.jpg

PO had painted my steelies black, but the paint job was pretty shitty and it was peeling in certain areas and very chipped as a whole. I decided to go with a grey/gunmetal color. It turned out pretty well, and I like the contrast.

May: Dropped the Jeep off for the much needed fram repairs. The middle rail sections were rotted all to hell and behind the rear control arms had actual holes in them. Pocono metal craft to the rescue.
Here are some before pictures of how nasty the frame was. Ultimately, the frame should've been a red flag before purchasing but I just didn't know better. The Jeep has no body rust or other rust outside of these areas in the frame, and being in Georgia, there shouldn't be any new rust developing.
20181213_162445.jpg
20181213_162602.jpg
20181213_162624.jpg

Here are the install/after pictures. I used three cans of Eastwood internal frame coating to seal the inside of the frame and prevent any rust in the future. I will make sure to wash out the frame frequently and make sure this is not a problem in the future.
Attach244015_20190522_180126.jpg
IMG_20190529_150626.jpg
IMG_20190529_154145.jpg
IMG_20190529_154149.jpg
 
When picking my jeep up in May after the frame work, I saw a very questionably built CJ-8 Scrambler in the shop.

IMG_20190529_144951.jpg
IMG_20190529_145058.jpg

The front has MAYBE 2 inches of up travel from the insanely long shocks. I have no idea who built this or what in the world is going on with it, but it's sad to see such a unicorn getting built so shittily.
 
Late May: I picked up some WeatherTech Liners. I would highly recommend them. I had some generic floor mats before and they slid around and didn't do much of anything to keep the floors clean.
IMG_20190531_181222.jpg

In addition, I got a new top from Sierra Offroad. I initially had some issues with it flapping at high speed, but it was just extremely loose from sitting in the sun before install. After it sat in the garage for a day and cooled off, the flapping went away and now I very much like the top. The zippers are kind of shitty, but for $200, I don't have any legitimate complaints. It its miles better than the raggedy Smittybilt top that was on the Jeep from the PO.
IMG_20190602_112036.jpg
IMG_20190602_112043.jpg
IMG_20190602_112101.jpg

I also painted the spare wheel to match the rest, as I originally did not have enough paint.

July: I had a bunch of parts coming in as (high school) graduation presents. After a day's work, I had them all in the Jeep. At the moment, it was sitting on a 2" budget boost on stock springs that had sagged about an inch. 33" tires. Savvy 1.25" body lift.

Here are some before pictures:
IMG_20190620_143502.jpg
IMG_20190620_143517.jpg

Here are some after pictures:
IMG_20190622_200902.jpg
IMG_20190622_200854.jpg

Now, the Jeep has 3" front and 2" springs from BDS paired with the Rancho RS5000X shocks that I already had on there. Extended sway bar links. Brown Dog Motor mount lift, though for whatever reason I don't have any pictures of that install. I'm pretty happy with the way everything turned out. I have a rear trackbar relocation bracket and front adjustable track bar going on soon.



Since then, I have started school and have had very little money and time. As I have said, I am very happy with the current setup I have. There is plenty of travel for my 33" tires, and I experience no driveline vibes. On the subject of vibes, I have decided that the increased vibes from the BD MML were too much for my own liking.
For Christmas, I will be doing the ZJ tie rod conversion, adding a rear track bar bracket and a front rough country adjustable track bar. In addition, I have a brand new stock motor mounts and aluminum 1" spacers to replace the Brown Dog MML. I will be trying to sell those to recoup some money.
 
For the future: I need new control arms. The stock arms on the Jeep now are shot; the bushings are beyond worn out. My issue is that I also plan on tucking the transfer case eventually, so I am figuring I ought to go to adjustable arms. I may just replace the stock arms up front and get adjustable arms for the rear so that when I get an SYE + tucked skid, I can set the pinion angle.

I don't know how well these work, but I have been curious about the Zone rear cam bolts which claim to work with up to a 4" lift. I emailed Zone asking if that would be functional with a 2" lift and a 2" tuck, but they didn't have much info worthwhile to give. I don't have any reason to ditch stock arms, as they flex well enough and I don't really need any adjustment up front. We will see what I end up going with; I guess more research needs to be done.

I still need a rear bumper with recovery points, a winch up front, and rock sliders. I'm not too sure what brands/models I will go with for those yet, but I am hoping to get all of those throughout 2020 and get plenty of seat time wheeling.
 
Keep up the good work. I remember building my Ranger on a high school budget. Graduation scored me my first set of 35’s after I gathered up the money 😎
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2006TJ1
Since last post, I got around to the sound deadening project. Although extremely time consuming, it was a really fun project. My work was kind of rough in a few areas, but it all gets covered up anyway.

I completely gutted the tub; I think the PO sprayed some adhesive to stop the carpet from moving around, so I took a medium grit sanding sponge to it and got most of it off. Scrubbed the tub, wiped down, scrubbed again, wiped down again, then hit with alcohol to degrease. Let it dry, then it was ready for Noico. (NOTE: this picture was before I hit the tub with any abrasive. I forgot to take a picture of the adhesive all cleaned up before I applied the Noico unfortunately.)

IMG_20200118_122805.jpg


I wasn't aiming for full coverage with the Noico, as many say it is not needed. All the Noico does is reduce the vibrations and echos created by large undamped areas of sheet metal. I bought the 36 sq ft package, and after doing the tub, I believe I have a sheet and a half leftover (out of eight) to use for the doors. Who knows if they really need it, but it won't hurt.

IMG_20200118_175436.jpg
IMG_20200118_160324.jpg


I hit all of the seams with aluminum tape to hopefully prevent any water getting underneath in the event that the tub sees any water (which it shouldn't).

I topped off all of the Noico with a layer of EZ Cool to help with heat/cooling insulation. The closed cell foam helps with sound absorption as well, IIRC. I hit the edges of the insulation with aluminum tape as well to stay in place.
IMG_20200118_183748.jpg

IMG_20200118_190842.jpg


As I reassembled, I was able to fix the sloppy wiring for my subwoofer as well. As of now, I have the amp wired in the center console with the sub in the rear. The sub will obviously be staying in the rear, but I am hoping to relocated the amp to under the steering column to recoup some space in the center console. I should have done this with the Jeep completely stripped down, but I didn't have any speaker wire long enough to go from the front to the rear of the Jeep unfortunately.

Still gathering parts for ZJ tie rod, which is the next on the list. I have the tie rod itself, the extra TRE, and the adjusting sleeve, but I want to replace everything while I am in there, so I will be ordering a new drag link, upper adjusting sleeve, and stabilizer before doing the job.

My sister just got new tires on her Jeep ('06 Sport, completely stock), and her front steering was shot so I gave everything a refresh with a new Moog track bar, complete ZJ setup, and new drag link/SS which was by no means difficult. So I look forward to getting the beefier parts on my own rig.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Squatch
IMG_20200418_210709.jpg

Finally got around to putting in the ZJ steering along with an RC adjustable track bar. Pretty much all the steering components were shot so I replaced everything: Track bar, ZJ tie rod + TRE , XJ drag link + ZJ TRE, along with a Monroe damper. Alignment set at 1/16, and steering wheel centered. All is well. Very happy with the setup.

I was having some bump steer though the pitman arm and track bar mount are all stock, but now it is 100% completely gone. I guess all the components were so sloppy they were the reason.

I'm still having some shimmies in the steering wheel every now and then so I suspect tires need to be balanced.
 
Last edited:
Tuesday I am going to trade my old tube bumper for some complete set of RC adjustable arms that are completely shot. I definitely wanted to get double adjustables but these should be fine. I'm planning on replacing the adjustable end with either a Synergy DDB or a JJ. Can't decide whether I should order replacement rubber ends from RC or bite the bullet and get DDBs to press into that end as well.

I was planning on getting Core Tier 2 arms but considering I'm spending $0 on these, I figured I'd see if I could turn them into some decent arms for just the price of joints.

I have a vibration around 70+ that needs to be addressed, so I'm gonna keep dropping the T Case until that goes away. Hoping when I get these arms Refurbed I can start gathering pieces for an SYE/TT. I want to see if the TC drop fixes it first obviously, because I do have 4.88 gears and I know there are plenty that still have vibes even with an SYE.
 
Last edited:
My Jeep came with the plastic stick-on "diamond plate" rocker panel covers from the PO, but I picked up a set of Rubicon rocker guards for $50 on Craigslist.

I know they aren't the best as far as protection but for what I do they will be fine. I'll readdress them if I am ever really worried about bashing in the rocker panels. I figure if I decide I need more protection I can probably sell them for around $50 down the road no problem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Vasq