Building Homer (2005 TJ Build Thread)

[FarFire70]

First crack at fixing the twitchy & darty nature of the Jeep was to try and re-do the toe. My wife helped me set the toe before the first drive, using the tire treads. I figured better to invest in some aluminum tubing for this and future toe alignments.

We were right on with 3/16" of toe-in just using the tread. So that wasn't it.

After this, the Jeep pretty much sat for August. My wife was absolutely a saint with her patience in July as I rushed to get drivable and clear emissions. She handle the twins all day while I was at work and then all evening while I was in the garage. On top of that, she did most of the prepped for the birthday party.

So it was my time to spend more time with her and the boys in August and put the Jeep on the backburner.

 

[FarFire70]

Finally catching up with this build thread...

I cut out rear trackbar bolt I had welded and put in the new one. I then had my wife shake the steering wheel and found the front trackbar wasn't torqued... I really was rushing and missing things.

After retorquing both trackbars, I drove it again and it was still all over the place on the road.

—-

I decided I would try to re-center and square the axles. I was moving quick on the first measurements so I double they were perfectly where I'd want them.

So I removed the bolts for both trackbars at the axles.

Then I went to remove one upper's bolt at the axle and loosen the jam nuts on the lowers. That's when I found this on the passenger lower....

No way this could be contributing to darty & twitchy conditions...

So I fixed put that joint back together. Only about 50 miles on it and not sure when it came loose but there was no visible damage to the bushing.

I'm hopeful to get time this weekend to work on squaring axles.

And... now we are up to date.

 

[FarFire70]

Got a little bit of time out in the garage today to adjust and measure the axles.

Measured the front axle just inside the C to the front of the first side body mount bracket and the front of the TC skid. Made 1 fill turn of the passenger front lower to bring the sides into alignment.

Measured the rear just outside the spring mounts to the middle TC skid bolt. Looked good.

I tried to see if the axles were square by dropping some finishing line over the axles with washers. Used a laser level to transfer that to the floor and then ran a couple tape measures down each side. A really rough estimate but best I could do on my own.

It was within a 1/8" which is what I was hoping to be, given how much variability is in this attempt at a measurement. If it was a bigger variance than that, I'd have wanted to try a better way to measure.

—-

Gonna need to get some new lower control arm bolts. Not enough threads engaging.

 

[Rickyd]

Looking great! I'm jealous.You don't want to cut or roll the rear of the wheel opening to make room without more bumpstop?

 

[FarFire70]

Looking great! I'm jealous.You don't want to cut or roll the rear of the wheel opening to make room without more bumpstop?

Thanks! It's been a journey for sure.

I'm not ready yet to start to modify the opening... Slow to warm to chopping into the exterior panels of the body.

I may get there though now that I have the rear flares on and see how much body could be removed inside the flare.

 

[FarFire70]

September was a tough month... Shortly after my last post above, our dog, Bella, was diagnosed with a lung tumor. She'd been having some struggles but we weren't prepared for that diagnosis.

A week later, she had regressed quickly and it was time for her to go to heaven.

She was the first pet for either my wife or I and, at 13 years old, she had been with us 10 years.

Some of the last pictures of her. She loved to lay under the Jeep...

 

[voodooridr]

so very sorry

 

[FarFire70]

The rest of September, our family passed a cold around - gotta love having the new younglings to help foster and add more people to host and spread colds...

Finally got to wrenching this weekend. Friday, I went out and installed new lower control arm nuts from Gerald at Savvy after I reached out due to the nutserts being concerningly low on thread engagement.

Original hardware from Savvy had thick washers and nutserts:

New hardware is standard Grade 8 washers with top lock nuts:

Much better!! Look at that thread engagement

 

[FarFire70]

To try to mitigate the darty driving after determining the axles are as square as I feel I can get them, I am going around re-torquing everything. This involve replacing the rear track bar bolt that stripped the nut on the bolt (and I welded for those first drives....)

I also kept using the torque spec for the front track bar, as listed in the Currie instructions.


WELL....

Apparently Currie updated their track bar design to change from a rubber bushing at the axle to a JJ. When they went to JJ - they upgraded the stock bolt to a 1/2" bolt.

Well OEM 10mm didn't like the torque spec of a 1/2" bolt...

 

[FarFire70]

so very sorry

Thank you! Couldn't have asked for a better first puppy (she was a puppy from the day we got her to the day we lost her...).

 

[FarFire70]

Also, as I replaced the lower control arm, I must has welded in the new lower mount on the driver side about 1/4" off from stock. I had installed the axle without the brakes installed.

Found the bolt wasn't coming out with the brake rotor in place...

So today, I pulled the tire and rotor and the dust shield flexed the needed amount for the bolt to come out.

Installed the bolt with the new washers from the differential side on this side.

 

[FarFire70]

I picked up 1/2" bolts (2.5" and 3" as I wasn't sure what size would work best) this morning.

That's when I realized the rubber bushing and it sized for the 10mm.

I foolishly tried to drill out the sleeve to fit a 1/2" - hoping to use the 1/2" bolt in the bushing while I ordered and awaited the new Currie JJ design. After getting 1/8" into the bushing after several minutes on the drill press - I realize this was a fools errand.

So I went to Lowe's and they luckily had 10.9 10mm.

Unfortunately, the bushing wasn't 100% square and the OEM taper had made that work. So I put a rethread tool on the bolt and then hit it with a flap disc. Removing the rethread tool them made the threads at the end of the bolt usable.

I put the tip offset to match where the rear hole was off-set.

I also welded up a nut holder for the 'blind' nut

Bolt went in and the new blind-nut all worked. Trackbar is back in with all the hardware but I needed to stop before I torqued everything. So that will be tomorrow's starting point.

Hopeful to drive again (with the suspension at proper torque & no JJ's falling apart... Compared to this journey so far) this weekend...

 

[Rickyd]

Sorry to hear about your doggo. Its tough to lose a family member. Their short lifespan and positive attitude and priorities teach us some valuable lessons about how we can live in the moment more and in our heads less. Someday I'll get another,but not yet

 

[FarFire70]

Sorry to hear about your doggo. Its tough to lose a family member. Their short lifespan and positive attitude and priorities teach us some valuable lessons about how we can live in the moment more and in our heads less. Someday I'll get another,but not yet

Thank you! We're in the same spot — Some time, we'll have another puppy in the family but not any time soon.

 

[FarFire70]

It's amazing using the proper torque specs makes or even torquing the components at all... Got everything buttoned up and it drives completely different! Much more predictable and under control.

I realized I never lubed the new Currie Currectlync so I had the wife turn the wheels back and forth until I found the sweet spot where each joint would take grease. That helped remove the deadzone I was feeling in the steering.

The Jeep drives completely different now (obviously having a JJ apart and components not torqued caused a lot of the unpredictable characteristics). It's still more 'floaty' than I was expecting so need to see if that's a feature of 4" JJ lift or if it needs to be dialed in further. It's been 2.5 years since I regularly drove the Jeep so I also need to get used to the Jeep feel.

Going to start driving it to work daily to get some more seat time to feel how it's driving.

——

Battling an intermittent issue where the turn signal doesn't cancel. Still need to gather more data on the conditions of when it is and isn't canceling. Turn signal switch/lever isn't all that older after replacing it a few years ago...

New issue identified:

Going to need new axle seals - Put that on the winter To Do List.

I removed aftermarket outer axle seals that were likely hiding this issue. So good advice here on the forum to remove them as they are not needed and hide issues...

 

[FarFire70]

Drove it to work today (30 mins each way - about 17 miles). Started off fine. By the time I got to work - it had me a little concerned on the stability, again... Was NOT fun to drive home...

Something is loose in the suspension. I want to say it feels like it's in the rear, but I'm not 100% sold.

I'm going to try to torque the rear track bar bracket as I could have overlooked that on the initial install.

I also have ordered the JJ track bar for the front at the axle. So that will bump it up to 1/2" and a JJ which should help in getting the bolt installed (compared to this weekend's bolt modification).

 

[FarFire70]

Greased ball joints. Dialed caster in from 0.1* to 6.5* (measured on top of the ball joints on each side). [Huge thanks to the forum for identify this as a root cause]

Bled brakes again. Removed a few air bubbles.

Checked rear track bar bracket and it's torqued to spec.

Confirmed - Dr side Dana 30 seal is leaking...

After all that, I drove him again. DAMN what a world of difference! Adding front caster (from nearly none) took all the darty and squirely feel out of the speed! Had it back up to 75MPH again and it felt way more planted!

Still need to drive it a few more time to gain confidence and stop expecting it to jump out on me...

 

[FarFire70]

I don't believe I posted this yet. While the other upgrades were going in, I replaced the steering wheel leather.

I typically drive with my left hand on the top of the wheel. Over time, this has worn that area - and on humid days the wheel was deteriorating and coming apart in my hand.

Old wheel:

Wear on the wheel:

Leather may have shifted some...

I carry a pocket knife regularly and sometimes the latch caught the wheel when hopping in:

—-

So I ordered a new steering wheel cover & padding from Redline Goods. I knew my sewing skills weren't up to it so I added the installer payment where I ship out the wheel and an installer puts on the leather.

Wheel installed with the leather. It's not OEM smooth but it's pretty good. Way better install than I could do and way better than a cheap $20 cover...

(Blue sheet in the background is to keep my greasy clothes from rubbing on the seat )

My only issue is just above the left switches:

I wish they had brought the stitching down more to close the gap. Installer did a little better on the right side.

 

[FarFire70]

Driving much better but still planning to schedule time at the local Jeep dealership who sells modified Jeeps (so I trust they will know how to handle adjustable control arms compared to a lack of custom truck shops in the area).

Next up:

Shifter needs bent back:

That button on the A/C was to turn off the A/C when the defroster ran. Still need to get the A/C working. I drained it when I replaced the engine and never have got it working again. That's on the list.

Easy task I keep meaning to do but forgetting when I hop out and move on to another task...

Need to adjust the parking brake

 

[FarFire70]

Hardtop off

[For the record - that #22 Logano is for my wife. I still need to get my #9 Chase CHAMPION banner hung!]

I have the parts on hand to weld in new threaded portions of the 'hangers' screwed in to the wood. Right now they screw in and out of the wood only.

I expect that will wear out the wood over time so I'll remove the hangers and weld in sections with a nut & oversized washers (or cut some plates) to distribute the weight better and through-drill the bolt in the wood.

I'm terrified of the hangers pulling out so I'll fix this before I drop the top for winter 2025 [Reminder to future Mike]

That bag in green on the red toolchest already has the hardware to do this upgrade...