Doing It The Hard Way - JL Steering Box and a Front Stretch

Got my exhaust all done today, glad to have that over with. That's it for the difficult jobs I think, only thing left to get it daily driveable is figure out the electric fan control.

Made my own exhaust hangers out of some front upper shock bushings and a long stainless bolt. I wanted something more constrained than the factory two hole rubber hangers.
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Used one of the bellhousing bolts to mount this one
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Same method for the muffler. I'm going to redo this one when I tackle the rear of the Jeep, want to make it bolt to the link bracket rather than be welded on. Makes it difficult to get the muffler in or out with it welded. It's fine for now.
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For the tailpipe, I just ran a straight tube right out the back from above the axle. Just wanted to keep it easy, it will probably need to change when the rear shock towers go in. It'll be a good test to see if this puts the pipe out of the way of rocks or if fumes get caught up in the wheel well or anything.
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I ran the Jeep for a while in the garage to get everything warmed up. After about 15m of idling in my 98°F garage, with the cooling fan hotwired on low, I measured a maximum of 425°F at the cat, but a maximum of 225° on the heat shield. Idling isn't much load, but so far I like what I'm seeing. It really gets a lot of airflow at that location from the cooling fan. The engine never was able to get up to operating temp either, only got to the second notch at the gauge, temp gun said about 185 at the top of the radiator. I wonder if I have a stuck thermostat...
 
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For those of you running electric fans, are you using a fan controller or just simple thermal switches and relay logic?
 
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carrotman said:
For those of you running electric fans, are you using a fan controller or just simple thermal switches and relay logic?
Click to expand...

On the big brushless Spal I run, I use the Spal thermal controller which drives variable speed on the fan based on radiator temp. Works very well.

It’s also driven by a relay which kicks it into high speed when the A/C kicks in.
 
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NashvilleTJ said:
On the big brushless Spal I run, I use the Spal thermal controller which drives variable speed on the fan based on radiator temp. Works very well.

It’s also driven by a relay which kicks it into high speed when the A/C kicks in.
Click to expand...

Is that built into the fan itself or is there a separate box wired in somewhere?
 
Took my Jeep for about a 15 minute drive around the neighborhood at speeds around 25mph. Anxiety levels very high considering everything I've done! 😬

The brakes are starting to make less scraping sounds, and the tires aren't squeaking on the pavement as much.

I took an IR temp reading off the front diff pinion, and it was pretty hot, like 225°F in spots. That seems too high, especially since I don't even have a driveshaft installed. Might I have added too much preload to my pinion, or are break in temps normally in that range? I know IR temp guns can be weird sometimes too and take reflected readings, so it might have been a reflection off the exhaust or something. Diff cover temps were significantly lower, like 120°F

I'm running the ECGS recommended Lucas conventional 85w140 gear oil. I also ran the pinion in reverse with the wheels in the air using a drill several weeks ago, I read in another thread the high pinion front axles may have trouble getting oil to the pinion when new.

@hosejockey61 @Blackjack Should I be concerned?
 
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Just as a sanity check, is 75 inch pounds too high when checking pinion preload WITH the axle fully assembled, so rotating wheels, carrier etc?

If I rotate a tire slowly to remove the “stiction” then check at the pinion, it’s more like 30 in/lb, but I have no idea if that’s a real way to measure or not.
 
You can't measure properly like that. Pinion pre-load needs to be measured with the pinion only.

Newer jeeps like the JL use a pinion torque to rotate but that's only the pinion and the carrier installed. I still set the pinion as usual but check the TTR after just to verify.
 
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Thanks for the input. I'm just being a worrywart and need to trust the process. My second test drive got the pinion bearing area of the diff to about 255°F which had me panicking, but after seeing it suggested online that anything under 300°F during break in is considered normal, I decided to just continue break in. After several more test drives, my most recent drive of about 25 minutes at 35-40mph only got the pinion bearing up to 190°F, so it is definitely starting to wear into a more comfortable range already.

Got a full tank of gas and someone at the station said my Jeep was awesome, so that's a win!

I've definitely forgotten what it is like to drive a tall vehicle, it's taking some getting used to again, particularly with the 4" springs now. So far though, the steering seems to be tracking very well.
 
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carrotman said:
Thanks for the input. I'm just being a worrywart and need to trust the process. My second test drive got the pinion bearing area of the diff to about 255°F which had me panicking, but after seeing it suggested online that anything under 300°F during break in is considered normal, I decided to just continue break in. After several more test drives, my most recent drive of about 25 minutes at 35-40mph only got the pinion bearing up to 190°F, so it is definitely starting to wear into a more comfortable range already.

Got a full tank of gas and someone at the station said my Jeep was awesome, so that's a win!

I've definitely forgotten what it is like to drive a tall vehicle, it's taking some getting used to again, particularly with the 4" springs now. So far though, the steering seems to be tracking very well.
Click to expand...

What are the temps during a burnout, Carrot? That’s the important reading…

🙂
 
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In an attempt to get @NashvilleTJ some important data, I decided to finish bleeding my brakes and bed the BMB pads to the new (used/sanded) rotors I put on. First hard braking, the driver side front grabbed way more than the rest of the brakes, which was not a fun feeling, but after about 10 more hard brakings, everything feels even now side to side and there was a noticeable improvement in stopping performance towards the end.

Now that the front brakes can hold the rig still... who are we kidding I'm not breaking 35s loose on pavement with those 4.10 gears at the back. :p



I re-measured the front shock shafts at ride height again just to see how things are settling. After putting some miles on (like 25), a full tank of gas and with the exhaust system installed, exposed shaft on passenger side is 6 1/8" and 6 1/4" on driver side. With someone in the driver seat, driver side goes down to 6", passenger doesn't change. That's looking pretty good! We'll see if it continues to settle at all.

After a trip to the grocery store yesterday, which was the farthest and fastest drive yet, my pinion bearing temp reading was only 165°F. I even took the trip with the fan off that time to see how it did, and it was fine while moving but engine temps started to creep pretty fast at a red light. I'm going to try to make it to a junkyard at some point to pick up another PDC so I can put more fuses and relays in my existing one. My fan relays will live in there. Just need to figure out if I want to use simple thermal switches, or a temp sensor with a controller. Too bad I can't just use the PCM for fan control...
 
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Some of you might barf when you see this, so viewer discretion is advised.

I did the world's most half assed rear shock outboarding today, in about 4 hours from idea to test drive!

I had this idea in my head that since I had the wider JK axles, I might be able to just slap the Poly Performance towers on the outside of the frame without cutting anything and get it to work, at least temporarily. I've got the sway bar/driveshaft limiting my down travel, and the sway bar limits articulation as well. Because of that, I figured I didn't need so much room between the tire and the tower. After mocking it up by clamping the tower to the frame and cycling everything, it seemed like a go!

When I said half assed, I meant it. I didn't really measure anything, its all eye-balled into place.
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Don't look at those brake lines. I can't wait to redo the rear brakes.
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Had to move the exhaust hanger a little. It worked.
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I'll admit it is pretty close to the tire. I do have some wheel spacers if I need them.
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Big zip tie holding on the res... Fits the theme...
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I should rename this thread doing it the easy way. Outboard in a day? 😝

The reason I did all this was because it was having some undesirable road manners when hitting bumps due to the rear end missing a shock. It was almost like bump steer but from the rear. I didn't really want to buy another shock since I already had the Fox 2.0s, and it's gonna be a while before I can have the Jeep down again, so I figured I should give it a shot.

After a quick test drive, I could immediately tell it was completely planted. Less body roll, way more predictable. The shocks are maybe a little too stiff at the rear, but I might just need to get some more weight back there. I did however notice a new vibration that seemed like it could be the driveshaft...

After pulling it back in the garage, sure enough, the yoke coming from the transfer case SYE had some play. Removed the driveshaft and checked the nut, and it was completely loose! It must have already been lose, but it probably got pulled out of place by drooping the axle down. I put loctite on it and torqued it back down, went for another ride, but I'm still getting some vibration. I'll take a better look at it tomorrow.

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Any chance I bent the driveshaft or its joints just by the weight of the axle? I probably should have disconnected it before today's project...

Checked the front driveshaft clearance to the exhaust as well. Plenty of space. Had to remove the dust boot to get the driveshaft to touch both yokes. At ride height, there's only about 3/4" of spline engagement, so definitely need a new front shaft.
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Have you flexed it out with the tires on, Carrot? Under articulation it looks like the tire will quickly get into the shock mount - even with wheel spacers.
 
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NashvilleTJ said:
Have you flexed it out with the tires on, Carrot? Under articulation it looks like the tire will quickly get into the shock mount - even with wheel spacers.
Click to expand...

If I disconnected the sway bar and removed the springs, I'm sure I could get the tires to contact the shocks, but as it is, fully assembled, I can't get the tire closer than 1/2" from it using just the weight of the rig and a floor jack. I'm definitely going to have to take it easy offroad until I do the real outboard, but I think it will be fine for street driving, for now.
 
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I figured out my vibration, and I was right about it being the driveshaft. I was able to get a little bit of movement from the double cardan H bridge when rocking it back and forth, so I went ahead and disassembled it and just put in the centering ball from my front driveshaft instead. 27 year old part but its still good! I didn't want to buy a replacement part because I wasn't 100% sure that was my problem, but no more vibration now! Everything got fresh grease, so I guess I can expect a fresh coat of grease to appear everywhere under the Jeep now... I just need a bit more time out of this driveshaft, I'll be needing a new one when I stretch the rear.

So far, I haven't encountered any issues with the rear outboard 🤞
 
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I ordered an XJ PDC from DeadJeep to hopefully salvage some connector terminals from in order to expand my existing PDC. I also got a connector for the JK fan, so far I've just been using spade connectors on the terminals. I'm still not sure which route I'll go for fan control, whether I'll use a standalone controller or just use thermal switches.

Looks like I might be needing a new radiator cap. Is Stant the go-to recommendation?
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I might not bother with this, but I'm thinking of swapping my driver and passenger seat around so that I can mount them farther apart. I've got Corbeau seats that aren't designed for a TJ and the recline lever runs into the roll bar. Because of that, the seat isn't quite centered on the steering wheel. It looks like I can move it at least an inch or two before it touches the door.
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I'll have to make sure the seat belt receiver doesn't get in the way of the lever though.
 
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