High Mileage 2001 Sahara Build

Got the final lower apart and greased. Only arm so far I had trouble getting back in. I looked like a bit of a lunatic laying on my back rocking the Jeep back and forth with my foot on the tire in the parking garage, but I got the bolts back in eventually.

I have to do the uppers now. Going to see if I can rig something with my current JJ tool before I go buy another one for the smaller joints. I'll probably just end up giving up and getting the smaller tool eventually :rolleyes:


Also put some new NGK plugs in. I didn't know what my shop had put in during the frame swap (they were champions) so I thought I'd knock that out even though the old ones only had 10k or so on them. Didn't notice much of a difference on the beer run. Did have to do some maneuvering to get around my friendly neighborhood anti-cop protest, so that was fun.
 
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My audio wouldn't work when I fired up the Jeep tonight. The radio is picking up my phone but the speakers won't make a sound. Seems like that chinese amp under my driver's seat finally gave up the ghost. It is covered in mud and dust so I was expecting it. Absolutely no clue how it is wired, so removing it seems like a fun job... Just when I thought I had the Jeep dialed in :rolleyes:. Now I can't piss off the local moms walking their kids. As a 21 year old, that is a massive problem...
 
Got two of the uppers out and greased. Both rear joints were dry on the inside but the front JJ was actually not too bad. It does seem that Currie doesn't use enough grease to me, but I haven't disassembled a brand new JJ and Currie definitely knows better than me, so maybe I'm wrong.

My front end squeaking came back very shortly after I thought I fixed it with the new trackbar JJ. The squeak was there before the frame swap as well, so I'm running out of ideas on what it could be. I still run stock axle side upper joints, but they were replaced when the frame swap occurred. The only front suspension components that are left from before the frame swap are the springs and the axle side trackbar joint, so I ordered a new one and will swap that out.

My amp also has power and the audio inputs are working correctly. Took the amp apart and neither of the 30 amp fuses inside were blown. Just ordered a new amp so I can quickly plug everything back in and get my audio back (hopefully...).
 
Went to torque my front upper back on and snapped the axle side bolt before I even hit 60 foot pounds. Weird.

Noticed my exhaust was loose. All four of the bolts that connect the downpipe to the manifold were loose. Wonder how many of my problems I just solved by tightening those.
 
Those rear uppers can be touchy. Do 55ft. lbs. and call it good. 10.9.

I'm going to replace all my bolts just to be safe. Probably not super necessary, but was definitely weird. Wonder if my shop over-torqued them last time. Have to walk over to the Ace tomorrow to get some bolts.


Also, anybody replace their anti-rock heims? Mine seem a little loose and are 40k miles in. Currie wants $50 each for them :(
 
Took apart and greased my driver lower front arm. Definitely dry on the inside and new greased freed it right up. About 1.5 years and maybe 10k miles at most. A year would be a good service interval for JJ’s in my opinion.

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Agree on the year interval. I noticed a couple of my rear arms are squeaking and creaking. Gonna have to buy a set of tools.
 
Agree on the year interval. I noticed a couple of my rear arms are squeaking and creaking. Gonna have to buy a set of tools.

The only part about having to grease them that sucks is the $225 of tools you need to do so without a ton of frustration. I tried to rig something up with a socket and some longer bolts. More frustration than it was worth.
 
The only part about having to grease them that sucks is the $225 of tools you need to do so without a ton of frustration. I tried to rig something up with a socket and some longer bolts. More frustration than it was worth.
yeah, I did similar. I got something to work, then borrowed the proper tools. What a difference. Buy once, Cry once, right?
 
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The only part about having to grease them that sucks is the $225 of tools you need to do so without a ton of frustration. I tried to rig something up with a socket and some longer bolts. More frustration than it was worth.

Don‘t think of it as $225 to do the job once, think of it as $225 to be able to do it over and over again for the rest of your life. That’s what quality tools do for you.
 
Happy Halloween! Softop went back on today for the first time in 6 months. Spooky.

Bought some bolts at Ace for the upper front arm that are barely long enough, but will work until my McMaster order gets in. Amp should be here Wednesday, so the Jeep should be back to normal for it's winter sleep then. Tightening the exhaust made a huge difference on how it feels to drive the Jeep. Definitely had an exhaust leak beforehand. No clue how long it had been like that.

I also tested that I could fit in my "civil unrest hideout" in case anything happens around the election. Some students have been fighting with police and burning things around my school for the past few weeks, so I need to make sure they don't find where I park on campus...


Anyways, I fit! Good to know I can throw the Jeep in here if I ever need to.


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Well it appears someone was doing some funny business with my Jeep. I started back up on the audio question today. I went to replace the inline fuse today and noticed my amp power wire was connected to the negative side of the battery... what...

Swapped it back over to the positive and boom everything works again. I was at a racecar test day when my audio stopped working so I guess one of my buddies did this and never told me. I think I need better friends.
 
Well after figuring out that hilarious amp prank (😐) I swapped the transmission fluid out for some new redline MTL and got the Savvy skid system bolted back up. Jeep is almost ready for the winter sleep. Going to rotate the tires tomorrow (which is just front to back since the treps are directional) and then we’re good to go for the winter.


Plans before next summer include getting some raceline beadlocks and some new MTR’s. I also hope I can get the mid arm ordered so I can install my 4” springs and relocate my spring perches sometime next spring or summer. Would definitely like to knock that out before I start work next fall after I graduate in June. I’m still hung up on the fact that I’ll be installing the mid arm on a LP Dana 30 unless I find a Rubi 44, but maybe I’ll get over that.

Not too proud I didn’t see that my amp cable was swapped over to the wrong terminal beforehand, but at the same time checking that isn’t exactly the first step when you are trying to diagnose an audio issue. Can’t win them all.
 
Swapped out the T-case fluid. Whatever chocolate milk was in there before, I’m sure happy is gone. Wasn’t looking good.

Started on getting military style terminals on the battery. I’ve never crimped anything more than about 14 gauge, so I’m not sure I’m happy with how these turned out. They definitely don’t feel too solid with the cheap amazon tool I got. Probably going to redo them or just get new cables. The runs also have a lot of tension. Just not real happy


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Rear pinion angle came up in another thread so I thought I’d remeasure mine. I know it is low, but I can’t imagine it is this low. Anybody want to tell me what I’m doing wrong here? This implies about 9 degree difference, which makes no sense at all.

Back of the diff: 15 degrees


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Bottom of driveshaft, about 25 degrees


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Driven it across the country twice like this, I must be measuring wrong.
 
New rod ends for the anti-rock. My old ones had a crazy amount of play in them. I got these from summit since Currie wanted $50 each and that just seemed ridiculous. Don’t really care that these are greaseable but they seem high quality enough.

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New rod ends for the anti-rock. My old ones had a crazy amount of play in them. I got these from summit since Currie wanted $50 each and that just seemed ridiculous. Don’t really care that these are greaseable but they seem high quality enough.

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Got a link to those? Mine rattle like crazy and have for years