Yes, I looked at it one day and decided it was dumb to switch back and forth between AN and inverted flare when we want AN at the caliper anyway.
High travel, high clearance & high octane, a streetable adventure LJ story
- Thread starter toximus
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This stuff is confusing, I thought you weren't supposed to do single flares on brakes? And if you use a sleeve I thought you don't flare? Would you describe the tube to AN connection?
Just curious, that's all, nothing critical in the least. Trying to learn.
Just curious, that's all, nothing critical in the least. Trying to learn.
AN with a tube nut and sleeve is used with a double flare. The sleeve (olive) goes inside the tube nut and then hits the shoulder of the double flare.
https://www.jdaent.com/category-s/2138.htm
B00mb00m
The Church of Cutting Brakes of Atlas-Front Digs
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
Are you replacing the cats? I'm considering doing it while things are out but I'm not throwing any codes yet
OP
No. I took a visual look at all 3 and they look perfect. If you're replacing the entire down pipe I'd suggest doing so now while you're cycling the suspension but it's also not a lot of work to drop and replace it later either. When mine go bad someday I'll just be gutting them since I figure at that point I'm doing better for the environment just by keeping the (old) Jeep on the road vs doing what "everyone else" is doing and replacing cars every few years.
OP
Over Labor Day weekend I was able to get a lot done and finished up this stage of my build!
The upper steering arm is fully welded all the way around.
The upper steering arm is fully welded all the way around.
OP
The LCA mounts on the axle are made from 3/16" steel. Since I plan to be scraping them against rocks I had some concerns about them bending over. I boxed them in using Currie mini-skids (CE-9085MS) for a TJ and hacked them up to work with my RJ60.
OP
Now that the axle and frame are how I want them I wire brushed off the surface rust that has accumulated over the last year and a half of this build. Most of it from before my garage was climate controlled. Looking back I would consider having Currie coat the axles for the extra few hundred dollars and grind it away in the spots I needed to weld. That said, it was only surface rust and fully treatable with the wire brush. I think this is one of the first times that I fully was able to appreciate my air compressor — it handled hours of constant use like a champ without me ever having to wait for it to catch up and the die grinder stayed cool in my hands the entire time unlike electric.
I wiped the surfaces down with acetone, taped parts off, shoved ear plugs in threaded and tapered holes (places I didn't want paint), and used Eastwood internal frame coating inside the tubes and in other tight areas on the axle. After the internal coating dried, the next day I shot Eastwood 2k primer with 2k chassis black top coat (I still need to build an air dryer before I can shoot paint with my compressor).
I wiped the surfaces down with acetone, taped parts off, shoved ear plugs in threaded and tapered holes (places I didn't want paint), and used Eastwood internal frame coating inside the tubes and in other tight areas on the axle. After the internal coating dried, the next day I shot Eastwood 2k primer with 2k chassis black top coat (I still need to build an air dryer before I can shoot paint with my compressor).
OP
Before giving the front section of frame the same treatment I swapped the brake line tab to the other side to keep the brake hose away from the exhaust cats:
And I rounded the corners of my motor mount horn patch. The hole is there so I can get to the motor mount nut on the underside with an impact if needed.
Every part of the frame and axle I went over by hand with sand paper to give it a visual once over and to ensure every part is smooth to the touch to make it nicer to work on in the future.
And I rounded the corners of my motor mount horn patch. The hole is there so I can get to the motor mount nut on the underside with an impact if needed.
Every part of the frame and axle I went over by hand with sand paper to give it a visual once over and to ensure every part is smooth to the touch to make it nicer to work on in the future.
OP
OP
Technically, I suppose I could strap a gas tank in the back and go for a drive this afternoon. But I've talked myself into finishing the build.
I have wiring remaining (mainly redoing wiring I've previously done to make it all consistent with new additions), highlining the hood, mounting everything under the hood (including figuring out an air filter), plumbing hydraulic lines, tune shocks, and figuring out what I'm going to do for a fuel cell.
I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I've had a Google calendar setup since first planning my build. Every "to do item" is an event and I can easily add, remove, and move things around. I highly recommend it for a large build such as this.
OP
On Sunday a buddy stopped by with two bad transfer cases for his Cherokee. One had ingested mud and sand and the other was incorrectly rebuilt "by somebody's brother". We were able to take parts from both and make one working case for him to take home.
OP
On Monday I finished painting the frame.
Internal frame coating:
2k primer:
I got the frame mostly coated with the 2k chassis black but ran out and finished with top coat from POR-15. I've previously used this for touch ups since the color and shade are a near perfect match and it's easier to work with.
While the weather was nice, I painted a bunch of other small parts that I didn't take pictures of.
Internal frame coating:
2k primer:
I got the frame mostly coated with the 2k chassis black but ran out and finished with top coat from POR-15. I've previously used this for touch ups since the color and shade are a near perfect match and it's easier to work with.
While the weather was nice, I painted a bunch of other small parts that I didn't take pictures of.
I always get excited when I see a project get to the "paint" stage. Although it may seem like you still have a ways to go, I see a light at the end. I kind of don't want it to end, but still want to see the finished product.
OP
I hope the rest goes quickly. I think the biggest time suckers will be when I send the shocks out for tuning (I have no control over how long it'll take to get them back, but I also need to get the Jeep somewhat more completed to get a correct weight) and it'll depend on how custom I decide to go on the fuel cell.
Don't worry about it ending. I already have a list of a few things I want to redo/improve as weekend projects (meaning little/no downtime) and I've gotten bitten by the building bug so I don't think this will be the last project you see from my corner of the woods.
B00mb00m
The Church of Cutting Brakes of Atlas-Front Digs
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
Woohoo paint! I am just now finishing up hoop welding your progress helps me keep putting in the hours. Getting to log so much time welding in all these crazy positions is Almost worth the project cost and time itself.
When and how exactly did you measure for driveshaft? My stock LJ front driveshaft appears be an acceptable length so I may run that for bit.
When and how exactly did you measure for driveshaft? My stock LJ front driveshaft appears be an acceptable length so I may run that for bit.
OP
I measured once I knew ride height and axle position. With the HP60 I'm running there's no possible way the stock driveshaft could fit so I measured and bought from Tom Woods.
You might be fine with a 2" driveshaft up but I had to go with a 1.25" driveshaft to clear the 42RLE at articulation. I'm not too worked up about running a small driveshaft up front seeing that I'm prioritizing caster angle over pinion angle and will probably have vibes at speed regardless of driveshaft size and will be running with the front hubs unlocked on the street. Combine that with actually driving my Jeep offroad and a small dent to the shaft will cause it not to be balanced anyway. I will need to be careful however not to go too fast with the hubs locked or else the shaft will bend up. My biggest complaint with that is I go in and out of 4wd constantly driving in the winter and just getting out of my driveway requires 4wd in the winter and I don't want get out on -40F days to lock/unlock hubs... So I suppose for daily driving I'll just limit my speed once I get to the highway... A rear locker also helps mitigate the problem of turning off a highway into deep snow and not having a place to pull over to lock hubs.
There is no downside offroad to having the smaller driveshaft (assuming you're not racing and wanting to be locked above 45-50mph.).
If you need a smaller driveshaft, depending on your gear ratio and if you're currently running a JK unit bearing, you might need to look into a hub kit.
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