Davemayn13's 2004 LJ Hemi Swap Project

[davemayn13]

Hey everybody,

Been lurking forever but finally joining the ranks and sharing my build thread.

Started as a new to me 04 LJ with 90k miles and a fair bit done to it already.

2004 Jeep TJ Unlimited LJ 4.0L
42rle Auto
Suspension: 4” Rubicon Express Short Arm w/ Super Flex Joints, 2.0 Tuned Fox Shocks 1” body lift w/ complete teraflex tummy tuck
Wheels/Tires: 37” BFG KM3s on Battle Born Beadlocks Wheels
Front Axle: Dana 44, RCV 30 Spline shafts, G2 4.88 R&P, G2 axle seals, ARB Air Locker, Dynatrac Diff Cover, Artec Truss, Artec Gussets, Artec trackbar bracket, Artec Control arm brackets, Currie Jonny Joints.
Rear Axle: Dana 44, G2 Chromoly axle shafts, G2 4.88 R&P, ARB Air Locker, ARB diff cover
Steering: Stock box, Currie correctlync, Currie track bars. Currie Antirock Off-road Swaybar.
Transfer Case: NP231 w/ SYE, Advanced Adapters Rubicrawler Kit (9:1), Spicer drive shafts, all new spicer U-joints.
Armor: Warn Rock Crawler Front Bumper, Warn Rock Crawler Rear Bumper w/ Tire Carrier, Rock Hard 4x4 Sliders, Tera Flex Skid Plate, Smitty XRC front and rear fenders.
Misc: Warn 10s Zeon Winch, Rigid Trucklite LED Headlights. Viair compressor with 2.5 gallon tank w/ quick connect at bumper.

I bought it with a plan in mind to do a Hemi Swap right off the bat. Initially, I had also considered swapping it to a manual in the process, but ultimately decided to stick with the automatic after a whole lot of research and internal debate.

First order of business was correcting some of the current issues.

Rear Warn Bumper was shot and shitty, replaced with an extra smittybilt I had at the house temporarily. Looking to throw something different on there at the end of the day, but this will do for now.

The flush tail lights were a total hatchet job. Previous owner admitted he probably had a few too many beers when he took the saw to the tub..,cleaned up the body, painted over the cuts and scrapes, and added corner armor. Ordered a set of LED tail lights to go in.

The front fenders were a bit of a hack job install too. You can't see from the outside, but the original fender cuts were...let's just say not done well or cleanly... The first time I popped the hood I was disgusted, so promptly ordered a set of Metalcloak aluminum arch fenders and 6" flares to be installed when I pulled everything for the motor swap.

The cluster had the "888888" odometer symptom going on. The trip odometers worked fine, the 888,888 came up when you tried to see overall mileage. Initially, I sent the cluster out to Brian's Speedometer Repair, but honestly he was not very helpful. On his end he couldn't get the cluster to show anything or light up, which is odd since I could get it to do everything when plugged into the jeep, both before I sent it and after he returned it to me. Eventually I gave up on this, asked him to ship it back to me and got a replacement cluster instead off ebay. Problem solved.

The brakes were still OEM front and back. They had a hard enough time slowing down the 37" tire, add the rubicrawler box in low to the mix and it literally drove right through the brakes. Added 16" Black Magic kit to the front to help slow this beast down.

The wiring for all the "extra" stuff (lights, lockers etc) was a hodge-podge of various standalone harnesses. I went through and stripped out all the misc harnesses, which I'm going to replace with an SPOD setup to clean up installation. I'm pretty sure I pulled out 8 different standalone harnesses when it was all said and done, 2 air compressors, and some harnesses that went to nowhere.

Air system was a combination of a Viair 450C and an ARB high output compressor. I'm simplifying this whole system down to a 2.5 gal aluminum tank and a smaller Viair 420c compressor. I'll run the ARB lockers in the axles off the tank to a manifold where I have a regulator and both the solenoids. Should free up some space under the hood and make things simpler.

Front axle still had a stock rubicon carrier that wasn't working. Knowing I was going to swap a Hemi, I went for an upgrade. Bought an 00 TJ out of PDX (the trip to and from is a whole other COVID filled adventure for another time...) that had a new Core 44 front axle and a decent rear Rockjock 60 axle. Did a little swappy swap. Said TJ was promptly flipped with a donor 35/30 axle combo I scored off craigslist.

Donor TJ:

Droppin and Swappin...

Finished Axle Swap:

While the axles were being swapped, I took the liberty of keeping the RCV axles up front...because why not.

One thing that I noticed after the axle swap was how little clearance I had between the OEM gas tank skid and the rear axle housing of the rockjock 60, I mean literally less than 3/8". I went ahead and ordered a Savvy gas tank skid, which I'll install in the "high" position to open up some room. The previous jeep had a similar issue, which explains the rash on the bolt heads of the cover! I'll install all this when the new pump/fuel line assembly comes in so I don't have to drop this thing twice.

No clearance! Rash!

While all this was going on, I had kept my eyes on the local Craigslist to find a Hemi donor. The classified gods had their eye on me when I found a listing for a rolled 06 Ram in Sierraville (about 2 hours away) that was being parted out...212k miles, running, driving, just...you know...crunched.

Safe to say I jumped all over that. A little negotiating and I had the engine, transmission, and whatever else secured for $700. One early Sunday I drove my happy ass over and got the donor pulled with the help of the original owner.

 

[davemayn13]

Engine and trans were pulled in 3 hours. In addition to that, I snagged the computer, wiring harnesses, Smog related equpiment and some misc other goodies. Back to the bat cave for tear down...

Honestly, for 212k miles the motor looked reallly good. Crosshatching was still visible in the cylinders, everything looked pretty good. The only issue really was some odd wear on the camshaft/bearings. I probably could have run this motor without the full rebuild, but if I was going to swap, I was going to do it right. So away to the machine shop it went. I also took the time to tear down the 545rfe for rebuild and get it cleaned up while they were tanking the motor and all the other stuff.

Another real win was I had scavenged extra wiring harnesses, the fuse box, etc from the rolled Ram. I decided to go with Hotwire for the new harness, and therefore didn't need the Hemi harness from the Ram. Slapped some extra stuff up on ebay and ended up with a free motor/tranny!

Hemi Engine Harness - $275
Hemi Fuse Box - $250
Ram ABS module - $125
Ram Lights/Engine Bay Harness - $100
06 Ram ECU - $100

Took the motor to a local shop for rebuild and machining. Ended up boring the block out to the next size and getting a full rebuild kit. They did good work, all the machining and assembled the short block for me. OTD was $3k, which was just a little bit cheaper than an ATK/VEGE line made setup. Took them 3 weeks, which compared to other shops in town was pretty good. I opted for rebuilt heads, as they were honestly cheaper than rebuilding the cores that were on the motor.

The 545rfe transmission has been torn down. I bought a full rebuild kit with bearings, refurbished servo, and some transgo upgrades. I'll be rebuilding it in my garage, but looks to be a simpler rebuild than the 4L80E I did in a previous project. Stay tuned for that.

Currently I've shipped my fuse box off to Hotwire to get re-worked for the Hemi. One important note, I will be working to keep this swap smog legal, as we (unfortunately) have to smog yearly here in Reno. I'm waiting on a call back from Jim at Redrock4wd to get the rest of my swap kit ordered and moving.

More to come as I get time.

 

[davemayn13]

Reserved 2

 

[AndrewLJR]

Subbed to see this

 

[downthepines]

Nice Jeep. Should be an awesome thread. Looking forward to it.

 

[Chris]

I assume you're swapping in the automatic transmission that came in that truck as well?

Maybe I missed it, but what are you doing about the transfer case?

 

[davemayn13]

I assume you're swapping in the automatic transmission that came in that truck as well?

Maybe I missed it, but what are you doing about the transfer case?

Correct, I'm rebuilding the 545rfe that was in the Ram and will swap that into the LJ. I'm keeping the 231 transfer case I currently have, may consider an Atlas down the road but right now I'm good.

 

[B00mb00m]

 

[davemayn13]

Should be able to place my order with Redrock after labor day, got my initial quote today and just needs a few adjustments. It's going to be a weekend of paint and transmissions...and the little honey-do stuff I've been putting off...

Threw some paint down today to freshen up the look of everything. Will seal up the engine tomorrow with the oil pan, timing cover accessories, etc. Then on to the transmission rebuild. I've also got a couple stripped screws at the windshield I'm going to remove. I'll start with welding a nut, if I can't get it to bite I'll go to drilling them out.

Block paint, hemi orange:

Transmission cases (AX15 and 545RFE) and timing cover

Also got my savvy tank skid painted while I was at it, ready to go on the jeep as soon as the hemi fuel assembly gets here.

And a while we're making things pretty, I snagged a finishing touch for when I get this thing done

Next up, rebuilding/reassembling this mess

 

[davemayn13]

Well, didn't quite get everything accomplished over the long weekend, but made some good progress:

Hemi Coils and Wiring Issue:

So one item that came up for future people building a Hemi is the difference between the coil setup of the 03-05 hemi and the 06+ hemi. Maybe this is common knowledge and I'm just a Hemi newbie, but figured I'd share for anybody coming across this thread. My donor was an 06 Ram, but I'm using an 05 Ram ECU and tune as well as a generally 05 harness setup from Hotwire. Until I started assembling the engine this weekend, I didn't understand the differences. I hadn't opened up the coil boxes until now to realize there was a difference as I'll show you below.

03-05 Hemi uses single boot coils and traditional spark plug wires. This means a lot of wires in the engine bay compared to the 06 I pulled out. Here's a shot of the boot and the coil setup in an 05 hemi:

As you can see, a whole lot of wires (compared to what you'll see next)


The 06+ hemi uses a dual boot coil and eliminates all the spark plug/coil wiring. See below:

So. Much. Cleaner. After realizing how much extra crap it was going to take (and realizing I'd need an 05 set of valve covers because my 06 isn't backwards compatible) I emailed Chris over at Hotwire to see if there was anything we could do. He confirmed he has done, and can do the 06+ coil wiring with 05 everything else. Will make that engine a lot cleaner for sure. Done and done, we're going with the 06 coils from the start.

Engine:

Got the front rotating assembly all installed after the paint work. New everything, alternator, compressor, PS pump, pulleys, the works. Also took the opportunity to see which sensors I still needed to order and got that placed with Rockauto.

Parts on order:

Talked to Jim at Red Rock Offroad, he answered my questions and was super helpful. The order is in and should ship in the near future. One other thing that came up, my Savvy cable shifter won't work with the swap without modifying the bracket. Because of that, I went ahead and snagged RR's shifter instead so I don't have to hack up my savvy bracket. I'll pull it and sell separately.

Items in the redrock kit as follows (with items I already had struck through):

Stage 1:

• Conversion HEMI Motor Mounts
• American Made 2 Core Aluminum Radiator, custom made to our specifications
• Electric Fan and Shroud Kit
• Radiator Hose Kit
• Heater Hose Kit
• Transmission Crossmember Kit
• External Transmission Cooler Kit
• Drop-In EFI Fuel Pump Assembly
• Complete Fuel Line and Fitting Kit
• Complete Steering Shaft Kit
• Low Pressure Steering Return Line Kit
• 1.25" Body Lift Kit

Stage 2 additional Items:

• EGR Delete
• Thermal Activaction Fan Switch
• Reducer Fitting
• Factory Mopar Accelerator Pedal
• Accelerator Pedal Mount
• Complete Air Intake Kit
• PCV Kit
• Shorty Exhaust Headers
• [2] Upper O2 Sensors
• Battery Cable Kit
• Over-flow Recirculation Bottle Kit
• 4wd Cable Shifter Kit
• 545rfe Transmission Side Auto- Shifter Cable Bracket
• A/C Line, Fitting and Bracket Kit
• Mega Short SYE Kit for the 231J Transfer Case

I also ordered some misc switches and goodies for my lighting setup once this all gets done. I'll post about those when I go to install them.

I hit up Savvy for a steering box cover and a body lift set. The LJ currently has a lift of unknown origin. Plastic pucks, somewhere between 1-3/4 and 2" tall.

One item I upgraded, I ordered the extended LJ Aluminum corners from Poison Spyder, namely because the short corners will have a weird overlap with whatever fender I end up with in the rear.

I'll get those painted and on the rig when they show up, probably 30 days out at the moment.

Last item I ordered was a set of front aluminum arch fenders and 6" flares from Metalcloak with the Labor Day sale going on. Ordered them raw as well, I'll paint them and the corners at the same time. Likely going with a matte black on those for easy touch up.

Transmission:

Did not get to the transmission this weekend. My garage was a total shit show and needed a good cleaning/reorganizing. Spent all of Monday doing that. I have an AX-15 on my bench that needs to be reassembled, so I'm going to knock that out over the week to clear some space. Then it's on to the 545. I'll try to document the hell out of that for future knowledge also (and to diagnose out what I screwed up if it doesn't work the first time lol).

General Swap Stuff:

Touched base with Teraflex. My current setup uses the teraflex belly up skid, but with much google searching it turns out there was a Hemi-swap belly up skid produced by them too. Problem is, that skid isn't made anymore, only the regular TJ skid is. After a phone call to their tech group I found out that the regular TJ belly up skid will work with the swap (I assume using the teraflex transmission mount). Fingers crossed, I really don't want to drop more money on a skid.

Hopefully I'll be pulling the drivetrain out of the LJ in the next few weeks to get this beast in! We'll see what the ETA on the harness and Red Rock kit is this week.

 

[Wildman]

Awesome build. How is your dealings with Red Rock so far? I don't remember where but I'd read some where that people had issues with them as far as getting parts or they weren't following thru type stuff.
Look forward to hearing how you like the Hemi once it is all done.

 

[davemayn13]

Awesome build. How is your dealings with Red Rock so far? I don't remember where but I'd read some where that people had issues with them as far as getting parts or they weren't following thru type stuff.
Look forward to hearing how you like the Hemi once it is all done.

So far so good with Jim, but we're fresh into this relationship and nothing's been shipped yet. I'll keep you posted. I will say he's been quick to answer my questions and super helpful to date which is all you can ask for these days.

 

[davemayn13]

Whelp, life happens and I've made zero progress on the trannys in the garage. Going to try and get after them this week/weekend though.

Swap parts:
No update on ETA for the swap kit or the harness yet. Just being patient on this for now.

Other parts:

Found out that Poison Spyder has discontinued all LJ corner armor except the Daddy Longlegs Stretch corners. My order was cancelled and I ended up placing an order with Nemesis. They were super responsive and helpful answering my questions. Not a ton of cheaper options left out there for aluminum corners on the LJ. I'm considering a pair of genright rear aluminum 6" fenders to finish out the rear, but it kills me to pay more for the fenders than I did for the corners. If anybody has any other suggestions, I'm all ears.

Savvy body lift and steering kit shipped today, faster than I figured since some of it was on backorder. Less than 2 weeks!

Seriously considering a savvy front/rear bumper setup to cut some weight, but need to find a good body mount carrier that I like. Metalcloak is a little rich for my blood, and ORFab is gone. We'll see.

I've also been looking into building my own relay panel. Pretty straightforward, might jump into that later in for my lighting circuits.

That's pretty much it for now, hopefully my next post has some forward movement!

 

[Wildman]

Are you having any issues getting onto Red Rocks web site? I'm getting this when I try to go to their web site.

 

[davemayn13]

Are you having any issues getting onto Red Rocks web site? I'm getting this when I try to go to their web site.

View attachment 190048

Yeah they've been.having issues for a week or so now. The site has been in and out.

 

[Wildman]

Yeah they've been.having issues for a week or so now. The site has been in and out.

Ok glad to know it wasn't just me. I was going to order their lower steering shaft kit and kept getting that screen. Guess I'll have to call them instead.

The engine looks like it is coming along great. That 545RFE is one reason I would like to do a Hemi in my TJ.
The 46RE isn't a bad tranny but the 545RFE is a lot better.
I'm about ready to start putting my engine together.
I'd thought about putting some Magnum V-8 stickers on my TJ but being stealth is fun when someone doesn't know what you got under the hood.

 

[davemayn13]

Mail call part 1:

Hotwire harness came in and all I can say is wow!

It was spendy, but you get what you pay for. New connectors, labels, instructions, the works. This thing is going to look good under the hood, like it came from the factory this way.

Talked with Jim @ Redrock, just waiting on the radiator to show up and the kit is headed my way. I opted to add their exhaust builders kit. We don't have many exhaust shops here in Reno and the few I worked with previously were absolute trash. One couldn't bend pipe worth a shit, the other couldn't weld and route any better than I can. My welding isn't great, but I'll be God damned if I have to pay quadruple for a job equally as shitty as my welds look. This will also give me a chance to really dial in where and what type of muffler and cats will fit dimensionally and within my taste. I don't want an obnoxiously loud rig with drone, so I'll be exercising my google-fu on that one once I know my dimensional constraints.

My garage has been turned into a makeshift tranny shop. Found a few hard parts I needed to replace in both the AX15 and 545, and needed a tool to compress the springs in the 545. Those are all here now, so I'm hoping to take a short day at work tomorrow and get after the rebuilds. It may look like chaos, but I've got manuals, pictures, and an organization system that only makes sense to me lol. The AX15 just needs to be reassembled and pressed. The 545 still needs a few modules dismantled and rebuilt. I've already finished the valve body and oil pump, and the reverse pack is just needs reassembled. I've also finished 75% of the bushing removal and install.

I've got a couple other goodies headed this way in the mail, but I'll post about them when they show up.

 

[Chris]

Just remember to put everything back where it goes. I've been in situations where parts where laying all over like that and I put everything back together only to find I was missing something (a bolt or similar) that I had no idea where it went

Looks like it's coming along nicely though!

 

[davemayn13]

Just remember to put everything back where it goes. I've been in situations where parts where laying all over like that and I put everything back together only to find I was missing something (a bolt or similar) that I had no idea where it went

Looks like it's coming along nicely though!

Man I hear that. Between the GBs of photos, manuals, notes I kept, and YouTube videos I should be good to go. Going slow and triple checking against the resources is key

 

[Chris]

Man I hear that. Between the GBs of photos, manuals, and notes I kept, and YouTube videos I should be good to go. Going slow and triple checking against the resources is key

I agree. When you try to rush things and get them done in a certain amount of time, that's when you start messing things up. I've found when I take lots of breaks I think more clearly.