I caught the jeep fever when a friend started posting pictures of his Jeep trip along the Western Continental Divide. I searched high and low for the right jeep locally, but was not finding what I wanted. Then a friend told me about a friend who had a 2004 Rubicon for sale with only 44,000 miles on it. After viewing the pictures and talking with the guy, I decided this was the jeep for me. Only thing was that I was in South Carolina and he was in Mississippi. U-Haul helped me work through that problem.
In Mississippi
At home
As you can see, the jeep came with a lot of equipment. Here is the list the previous owner shared with me. I was pretty excited to get a jeep fixed up almost exactly as I wanted.
The first problem was how we were going to take the jeep on the road with us. My wife and I are long time motorcycle riders and our riding had evolved into "Adventure Riding". When we retired, we bought a truck and toyhauler and hit the road. It was fun.
Unfortunately, toyhaulers will not carry a Jeep. Not to mention that my XLR toyhauler was becoming a maintenance nightmare after 3 years of use. We sold the toyhauler and bought a car hauler with living quarters. We named the trailer "Moby Dick". It was a big White Whale.
The changes I made on the jeep before we started traveling was to pull out the rear seat, add a Tuffy box in the back, and to change the mud terrain tires for all terrain tires. The box gave me a biggish place underneath to lock up stuff, and we could carry jackets and snacks on top of the box. The all-terrain tires rode better and were not so noisy.
My wife and I found that, except for when we were meeting friends to ride motorcycles, the bikes stayed at the campsite. Some of this was because we loved the Jeep, and some of it was age/health issues that made the motorcycle riding harder. Our second trip after buying the Jeep, we left the bikes at home.
It is tough being retired and having to got to all these places. but we are getting by.
The final thing before serious talk about the Jeep was another camper change. The big White Whale did exactly what I hoped it would do, but it was big! It was a chore getting in and out of camping spots, and the actual camping space was kinda small. Contributing to my wife's dissatisfaction with the trailer was a few weeks of cold weather camping in Big Bend in JAN 2018. She wanted a motorhome, and she was willing to give up taking her bike on our trips if we had a motorhome. Youse guys may have heard the expression, "happy wife, happy life". It's true. We bought a 2001 Alpine Coach. I had an extension made for the hitch where I could carry my bike and tow the Jeep.
I have a request for pics and info about the car hauler - lots of pics here.
https://andy29847.smugmug.com/Other/Shadow-Trailer
My wife and I were considering a truck camper in place of the toyhauler. We planned on pulling a cargo trailer to bring our toys on our trips. The truck campers are expensive and heavy, plus it is a long climb to get into the camper. I discovered car haulers with living quarters on the website www.racingjunk.com . The car hauler with living quarters had a much nicer living space than the truck camper, plus it is low to the ground. I liked the car hauler construction (aluminum). It proved to be much more durable than the toyhauler. The combination of the truck and trailer was very solid on the road. It was like driving a sports car compared to pulling the toyhauler. The cons included it was hard to keep warm in cold weather and it's big. The triple axle arrangement and the rearward location of the wheels makes the back of the trailer dive inside in slow tight turns.
I'm envious! I'd love to have a camper like that and be able to tow a Jeep behind it. I'm sure that would make for a fun retirement and a lot of adventures. One day!
The only bad things I noticed when I test drove my Jeep is that it drove a little loose and the mud terrain tires were noisy. I used my Google-fu to look for solutions for the loose steering. I found a Rubicon forum and shared my problems with this picture:
I got some nasty feedback about my Skycrapper lift kit. It made me mad. I decided to fix it my own way. I should have listened. The big thing wrong was the front axle side track bar bushing was worn. I replaced that bushing and things got a lot better. The process of getting to that point helped me learn more about my jeep. In a few months, i switched to a Currie track bar. Not long after that, I switched to Currie steering gear too. I chose Currie thinking I would only have to do this one time. Oh yeah, my Skyjacker swaybar links were stuck together so I changed to JK sway bar links. Here is what I have now:
I think most of us can agree that Skyjacker doesn't make anything good, literally. Everything those guys turn out is garbage. However, it's as I always say, "live and learn".
The Currie stuff is really well made and top-notch. Not to mention it looks good too
Nice transition, and nice Jeep! Enjoy those retirement years. The RV sure does make it a more comfortable experience. I have 10 years to go for retirement, but you can kind of say I have the 1/16th scale version of your mobile transitions.
In between the Skyjacker Front end and the Curre front end, I had some wobble problems. I had always had a little light shake around 45mph. The front end componets were all tight, and the tires were balanced. I thought that if I replaced the Skyjacker control arm bushings, the shake would go away. With the new bushings installed, I went from a light shake to a serious wobble. I probablly caused some of it by changing the bushings one arm at a time and tightning that arm before going to the next one. I should have waited until all the bushings were installed, the control arms back on the jeep, and then bounced the ends a couple of times before tightning the control arm bolts. Anyway, I struggled with wobble for a couple of weeks before I ran out of talent and took the jeep to a 4x4 place in Augusta. The mechanic found that 3 of the 4 tires was out of round. When the tires were trued up, life got much better. He also put in a caster bolt kit to increase the caster a little. This trouble created the resolve to change from the Skyjacker stuff and to domething that was really good.
Here is my picture of one of the skyjacker control arms.
I'm just a retired telephone man, but I believe I recognize some issues with the Skyjacker lift kit. The biggest thing is the track bars. In the front, they supply a bracket to relocate the axle side of the bar above the axle. They also include a dropped pitman arm to get the track bar parallel to the drag link. The combo might work if the bushing supplied with the track bar was designed differently and made of better material. As supplied, the shoulder of the bushing wears quickly and breaks off. Skyjacker does not provide a rear track bar with their kit. They have a bracket extension to raise the axle side and use the stock track bar. The result is the arm is installed under a twisting tension. It is hard to install in the driveway. The control arms work when the bushings are new, but they get sloppy fast. I also had to add a Caster bolt kit in the front to make my jeep handle in a manner that was acceptable to me. The springs that come with the kit are good. I don't have a opinion about the shocks. I changed them the first week I had the jeep (Blistein),
The person that I bought my Jeep from had made some custom racks for the back. The top rack was for camping gear. The smaller racks on the side are for water and gas.
The racks were well made but heavy. After a 6 months of driving around without using the racks, I removed them with my sawsall. They can be remounted easily. The picture below also shows the Tuffy Security Box. I like it.
Posting slow. I spent last week putting on Currie control arms. It took me so long to make this move because they are expensive. The deciding factor for me to make the change was when I begin to feel a little rear axle slop when accelerating. I picked Currie because of their reputation. I only want to do this once. The installation was not hard. A couple of good ratchet straps and careful measurements both before and after were important. The front was tricky because of the cam bolts I had used with the Skyjacker arm. I had to measure the distance from the axle to a frame point of reference (I used the skid plate) and change the length of the arm once after the first initial trail fit. All of the other arms were set to match the Skyjacker arm length. I had to adjust a couple of them after the initial install. I was surprised, but I'm guessing this was necessary because the old bushings were deformed from wear and age. I considered doubling up on the washers at the front lower control arm after I noticed one washers dished out a little from the 90 ft/pounds of torque used on the fasteners. I will probably go back and address this issue. I used the existing rubber bushing on the front axle control arm brackets. I have ordered some new bushings, but they are taking forever to get here. The old front bushings look pretty good. It will be a while before they are changed out. The drive test went great! My jeep is more stable than it has been before. Road tested to 75mph. New territory for Rootie the Rubicon. FWIW, I haven't noticed a difference in the ride quality. My jeep is not a daily driver, so I never thought much about the ride before. As an aside, I have Bilstein 5100 shocks on my jeep. I was happy with them until I started reading the opinions here. Now I am looking for quarters to run over to see if I can really tell if the quarter is heads or tails. .
Here is the front LCA. The Currie supplied washer seems kinda of weak. One of the washers distorted when I torqued the bolt. I'm considering a stronger replacement or doubling up on the washer.
One of the things I have consistently read about regarding control arm installation is how to secure the cables to the new control arms. I put 2 layers of vinyl tape around the arm to protect the paint and give the cable tie something to bite into. I use one cable tie around the arm pulled tight. I run another cable tie under the first and secure that to the cable. I cut the brackets of the cables. I felt comfortable pulling the cable tie tight around the emergency brake cable because it has a metal guard on it. The cable tie around the wire run and brake cable is not pulled so tight. I also guarded the brake cable with some fuel hose. Need those brakes all the time.
I added a tray for the dash. I got mine off of ebay. It's some of the best money I have spent.
The previous owner has used a ram glue on ball to mount his GPS. It works great.
I use a Montana GPS that moves back and forth from my Jeep to my motorcycle. I use a ram long arm to get the GPS out to the edge of the dash. The GPS mount has a power connection for the GPS ,and plugs into my lighter plug. I used a couple of fiber furniture sliders under the GPS mount to give some additional support and diminish vibration. FWIW, my GPS is 6 years old. I have had to replace the battery one time. In the same period of time I have had 3 phone and 2 pads. I like my GPS. I buy all my GPS stuff online from GPS City. You also get a good shot of the dash tray here too.
My radio isn't anything expensive. I changed to an after market model to have a USB plug. I listen to music from a flash drive with 200 of Andy's All Time Favorites 95% of the time. Sometimes my wife makes me turn the music off.
Here is how the Tuffy Security Box looks from the top. I put some stick on carpet on the bottoms to prevent scratching, reduce things sliding around, and provide some noise abatement.
Last but not least is my camera mount. I use a heavy duty suction cup on the windshield. Sometimes I put the camera inside, sometimes it goes outside. My camera is an Olympus TG-3. It is waterproof and shock resistant.
I like to make movies. I don't have enough internet at home to load most of the movies I make on the trail. I'd like to get some better editing software and polish my stuff up some. The Jeep is pretty noisy inside too, so I normally add some background music. Here is a track from the Hard 6 section of the Kentucky Adventure Tour. When Jeff, the guy who developed this tour, marks something as hard, he is not kidding.
This completes my report. My Jeep build is mild compared to many here. I admire the guys and gals with the talent, money and equipment to go radical. I'd love to have a Jeep on tons with 40's, just to go to Starbucks.
This completes my report. My Jeep build is mild compared to many here. I admire the guys and gals with the talent, money and equipment to go radical. I'd love to have a Jeep on tons with 40's, just to go to Starbucks.
I thought I was through. That is funny. I was finishing up spring maintenance when I noticed a front axle u-joint was a funny color.
That looks like trouble to me. Jerry Bransford confirmed my feelings - bad u-joint. I decided to change the wheel bearing, ball joints, and u-joints at the same time. I ordered my parts online. I choose Spicer u-joints and ball joints and Timken wheel bearings. When the Brown Man delivered my parts, I rented tool kit 46 (23 piece u-joint/ball joint tool) and tool kit #15 (pickle fork) from Advance Auto to use with my project. I read through the info online at this forum before starting. I had done some u-joint work before, and replaced wheel bearings too. Replacing ball joints was a first for me. The work went as described on line. I was surprised at the force required to remove the old ball joints. I used a 7/8 socket on a 18' breaker bar and a 2" cheater bar wiht the rented tool to get the ball joints too move. All the parts I took off had 80K miles on them. Both u-joints were bad, i.e., tight in one axis. Reflecting back on my on the road experience, I had heard some noises that were probably caused by the u-joints. I charged what I heard to the front end binding up in a tight turn. I ma smarter now. The old ball joints and wheel bearings seemed OK, but they were the original parts. I'm comforted by the reality of having new parts installed.
My Wifey has been talking about a soft top where the front folds back to make like a sun roof. Happy Wife, happy life I say. Rootie now has a new Bestop NX Supertop in Black Diamond. I installed it. There was a lot more hardware than my old style Supertop. I love the door surrounds and the stiffeners for the rear corners.. It was really hard to stretch the top into place. I built some muscle finishing this job.
Youse guys are costing me money. One of the first things I did to my new-to-me jeep was replace the Skyjacker shocks with Bilstein shocks. I picked Bilstein because of their reputation (marketing?). When I joined here, I read in several places that the Bilstein shocks rode rough. I think it was Jerry who said the Bilstein shocks ride so rough you could determine if a quarter was heads up or tails up when you ran over it. Having heard that, I decided he was right. Still, I was stubborn about changing. The price for that was dissatisfaction with the ride of my Jeep on my recent Colorado trip. The Bilstein shocks were mostly OK, but I felt every rock I rode over. I am home now and I just installed the recommended price friendly solution, Rancho 5000X shocks. I can't wait to go wheeling to try them out. Anybody want to buy a good used set of Bilstein shocks from a 2004 Rubicon with a 4" lift?
