A rebuild of #miRustyJeep...

I very much admire your willingness to make the tailgate armor yourself. With the price of material and the amount of time I'd waste studying the problem, doing it myself would only prove to be an exercise in frustration!

At the time I bought the material, there wasn’t really anyone offering a panel. Now at least two forum members are.
 
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Started installing Tires this weekend. Doing it myself, since I want to make sure the beads get cleaned (they are a mess) and I have to rotate wheels and tires around so I have my best wheels in my new tires, and the worst of the generals on as a spare. Didn't feel like explaining that 12 times to a tire shop...so here we are. The first one was pretty hard...but I got it done. Second one took me about an hour to removed from the Jeep, Dismount the old tire vaccum out balance beads, remount the new tires, pour in balance beads and install on the Jeep. I got a LOT quicker.

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However, I found some concerning wear on the drinker's side front tire. The Outside of the tire is worn quite a bit more than the inside is. I also found a bad unit bearing. May be related...maybe not. The plan right now is to get the unit bearing fixed and take it to an alignment shop for some measurements. More to come on that. Tires LOOK really good though, LOL.
 
Started installing Tires this weekend. Doing it myself, since I want to make sure the beads get cleaned (they are a mess) and I have to rotate wheels and tires around so I have my best wheels in my new tires, and the worst of the generals on as a spare. Didn't feel like explaining that 12 times to a tire shop...so here we are. The first one was pretty hard...but I got it done. Second one took me about an hour to removed from the Jeep, Dismount the old tire vaccum out balance beads, remount the new tires, pour in balance beads and install on the Jeep. I got a LOT quicker.

View attachment 565270View attachment 565271

However, I found some concerning wear on the drinker's side front tire. The Outside of the tire is worn quite a bit more than the inside is. I also found a bad unit bearing. May be related...maybe not. The plan right now is to get the unit bearing fixed and take it to an alignment shop for some measurements. More to come on that. Tires LOOK really good though, LOL.

What do you get with a good quality level vertical on the wms?assuming your toe is in spec and the wheel straight?You should be able to see if the axle is bent.

Are those aev wheels? They look good.
 
What do you get with a good quality level vertical on the wms?assuming your toe is in spec and the wheel straight?You should be able to see if the axle is bent.

Are those aev wheels? They look good.

Yes to AEV wheels. Haven’t pull the front end apart to really do any investigation yet.
 
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Finished up mounting my new tires today. Its not a terrible job, little bit of a fight, but its not difficult. I may invest in a manual changer, or convince a couple buddies to throw in with me for a used powered machine. Doing it myself let me clean up the bead seating surface in my wheels really well. I also found some damage on one of my wheels, now rotated into my Spare.

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I think I know when it happened. When on Drummond last, I was in a water crossing and felt / heard a pretty loud bang under the Jeep. Probably dropped onto a rock or something. It wasn't leaking air, but I also didn't want it in main duty.

Add to the list of maintenance...My driver's side wheel bearing is loose too. I don't know what is going on with Timken, but they are not that old. I have one on order, to be delivered tomorrow, but I'll need to order another. I did take the extra step to check the axle nut and make sure it wasn't loose, and it was not.
 
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I wrapped my armor tonight. I don’t know if I’d do the whole vehicle with a wrap, but it was very satisfying and easy to get a nice, shiny surface on my new armor.
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Mike, this looks great!

What wrap did you use for this? Did you choose one specifically that's more resistant to scratches? How has it held up thru the few trips it's seen?

When you installed the fasteners, did that try to twist or peel the wrap that was under or near the fastener head? Any tips in this department?

I'm ready for my armor to not be raw but don't have a compressor large enough for hvlp and cringe at the cost of automotive and 2k rattle cans. Been wondering if this would be an alternative knowing it wouldn't be as tough as well applied paint.
 
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Mike, this looks great!

What wrap did you use for this? Did you choose one specifically that's more resistant to scratches? How has it held up thru the few trips it's seen?

When you installed the fasteners, did that try to twist or peel the wrap that was under or near the fastener head? Any tips in this department?

I'm ready for my armor to not be raw but don't have a compressor large enough for hvlp and cringe at the cost of automotive and 2k rattle cans. Been wondering if this would be an alternative knowing it wouldn't be as tough as well applied paint.

I used some Vivid stuff on Amazon. Nothing specific for toughness, more because it was cheap and offered in the sizes I needed.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09H3L7FLL/?tag=wranglerorg-20

Its holding up pretty well...A couple scratches but not terrible. I did have a couple "twist bubbles" under my screw heads. I tried to minimize them by cutting the majority of the film away from the countersink. There are a couple small wrinkles...but you have to look REALLY closely to see them.

I did end up sanding and priming the aluminum, just to keep it from oxidizing under the film and causing the film to loose adhesion to the armor. So Far, So Good.
 
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I used some Vivid stuff on Amazon. Nothing specific for toughness, more because it was cheap and offered in the sizes I needed.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09H3L7FLL/?tag=wranglerorg-20

Its holding up pretty well...A couple scratches but not terrible. I did have a couple "twist bubbles" under my screw heads. I tried to minimize them by cutting the majority of the film away from the countersink. There are a couple small wrinkles...but you have to look REALLY closely to see them.

I did end up sanding and priming the aluminum, just to keep it from oxidizing under the film and causing the film to loose adhesion to the armor. So Far, So Good.

Thank you for sharing!
 
Spent some time tonight working on the Jeep. She's been neglected for a long time apparently, and is letting me know with broken parts. I mentioned that I had two bad unit bearings that I found while changing my tires. Well, Those are still bad, but I also found that my passenger side axle shaft has a totally roached U-joint. Never made a sound but it was VERY notchy and dry in one direction when I was working on the front end. So, I got that pulled apart tonight and I'll have to pick up a new one tomorrow. Looking back through my records, It looks like I replaced the Driver's side at the end of May this year. Not sure why I didn't do both sides at the same time...I must have been in a hurry or something. Anyway, I'll catch the Pass side up now.

I have an appt on Monday to get alignment checked. Basic angle finder checks shows that I'm about -2° Camber and only about 1.5° Caster. If my measurements are correct, that little caster might explain some of the weird tire wear I'm getting and it DEFINITELY explains why my steering follows the road so bad. Going to have to play with that, I bet. Putting more caster in might take care of the excessive camber too, based on the steering axis inclination. I'm looking forward to seeing the readings they get...less looking forward to having someone other than me work on my Jeep.
 
New u joint and two new bearings installed. Added couple inches to my sway lock links to angle the bar up more since I noticed wear marks in the old tires from the bolts.

Went for a test drive and these tires are great! They are quiet too. Of course, they are brand new, but they are quieter than the Baja boss AT I have on my truck! They are able about 5 lbs lighter, per tires, than the generals that are coming off.

They run pretty smooth too. Had it up to 70’ish on the secondary’s around my house and she feels pretty good. Still have just a touch of steering wheel shake. Monday will be alignment day. After the alignment, we’ll see how everything is performing. Gotta get the hard top on too, since I can’t currently close up the stop top, due to my broken zippers.
 
My top needs to be on next weekend. Enjoying a fall stent of 70's weather, although the mornings are a bit chilly, 45*. Shorts weather for you, I'm sure.
 
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My top needs to be on next weekend. Enjoying a fall stent of 70's weather, although the mornings are a bit chilly, 45*. Shorts weather for you, I'm sure.

I’ve been known to rock the shorts at 45 degrees. Usually on the back side winter vs heading into it though. We had 72 here yesterday and I wore pants.
 
alignment was done on Monday, I think...They were not able to give me the printout, because their printer is broken. I wasn't expecting that...and honestly, I was disappointed. I brought it somewhere mostly FOR the print-out. But I did talk to the mechanic who said everything was decent but the toe was off, so they adjusted that and the steering wheel back in. I noticed my tie rod ends are shifted off center, so I'll need to adjust those back to center too. It does seem to drive better, so I think they did something. I just wish I knew what it was. I do have some pivot plates that I bought for my motorhome to do an alignment. I'll probably build a wheel fixture I can set my angle finder on to be able to get these numbers at home.

I'm getting a bit of grinding or rubbing noise when I turn the wheels driver as slow speed. Not sure what it is...might just be the new tires making noises I'm unaccustomed too. I'm not turned far enough when the noise starts for it to be tires rubbing anything. It has me a little gun shy, only because my old Pass unit bearing was VERY tight to my axle shaft (like pound off with a hammer) and the new one didn't go on easily either...so I'm wondering if I have a bad stub shaft that is making the axle ride too deep in the carrier and binding the U-joint (since that is also the one I had to replace).

Maybe I should just pony up for RCV's?