How do I determine how much to move exhaust?

JamesAndTheSahara

TJ Addict
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May 22, 2017
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Auburn, AL, United States
I got everything installed today and found out what causing my loud clunk going over speed tables.

Here are my mods that can/can’t affect the rear:
  • MetalCloak Adjustable Rear Trackbar with Relocation Bracket.
  • Stock rear TJ driveshaft on Dana 44 (listed here as the driveshaft is stock with no sye, yet).
  • Magnaflow Muffler & Factory Replacement Cat.
When I had my cat and my muffler replaced I didn’t think it would be an issue with a new trackbar. My previous trackbar had no issues whatsoever with contact (Stock Track Bar & No Relocation Bracket). The solution here is to move the exhaust, just how do I determine how far it gets moved and explain that to the exhaust shop? Sorry I don’t have full bump pictures yet of the new setup.

Photos of contact area in question:

8CD894B0-E006-4EA6-96C5-44C5A390EE62.jpeg
C4C89D8A-3C45-4DEF-A22D-33EFBCF72C62.jpeg
1DC7F924-BB3D-4303-A9A7-A1A3FEAC0458.jpeg
AE93303C-0612-4D3A-BD7B-FF0B75BA6A53.jpeg
97A773E9-1D25-47E9-8A40-D6A2875C072E.jpeg
DA453CBF-CA90-4AF7-84BE-2BD31575799D.jpeg



Bonus: Will my SYE/Driveshaft plans affect this again with the pinion being rotated up?

Thank you all in advance.
 
You really should run it all the way up and see how much contact it makes. If it is minor, you may be able to get away with some properly placed ball peen hammer smacks :D If more than that, an exhaust shop can take care of it.
 
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I got everything installed today and found out what causing my loud clunk going over speed tables.

Here are my mods that can/can’t affect the rear:
  • MetalCloak Adjustable Rear Trackbar with Relocation Bracket.
  • Stock rear TJ driveshaft on Dana 44 (listed here as the driveshaft is stock with no sye, yet).
  • Magnaflow Muffler & Factory Replacement Cat.
When I had my cat and my muffler replaced I didn’t think it would be an issue with a new trackbar. My previous trackbar had no issues whatsoever with contact (Stock Track Bar & No Relocation Bracket). The solution here is to move the exhaust, just how do I determine how far it gets moved and explain that to the exhaust shop? Sorry I don’t have full bump pictures yet of the new setup.

Photos of contact area in question:

View attachment 24086 View attachment 24087 View attachment 24088 View attachment 24089 View attachment 24090 View attachment 24091


Bonus: Will my SYE/Driveshaft plans affect this again with the pinion being rotated up?

Thank you all in advance.

I think getting the SYE and new drive shaft will help you. I got the same track bar and I have an SYE and cv drive shaft and I have no interference with the exhaust. I think the cv bracket that came with your track bar is made for a rig that has an SYE and cv drive shaft.


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I got everything installed today and found out what causing my loud clunk going over speed tables.

Here are my mods that can/can’t affect the rear:
  • MetalCloak Adjustable Rear Trackbar with Relocation Bracket.
  • Stock rear TJ driveshaft on Dana 44 (listed here as the driveshaft is stock with no sye, yet).
  • Magnaflow Muffler & Factory Replacement Cat.
When I had my cat and my muffler replaced I didn’t think it would be an issue with a new trackbar. My previous trackbar had no issues whatsoever with contact (Stock Track Bar & No Relocation Bracket). The solution here is to move the exhaust, just how do I determine how far it gets moved and explain that to the exhaust shop? Sorry I don’t have full bump pictures yet of the new setup.

Photos of contact area in question:

View attachment 24086 View attachment 24087 View attachment 24088 View attachment 24089 View attachment 24090 View attachment 24091


Bonus: Will my SYE/Driveshaft plans affect this again with the pinion being rotated up?

Thank you all in advance.

I think getting the SYE and new drive shaft will help you. I got the same track bar and I have an SYE and cv drive shaft and I have no interference with the exhaust. I think the cv bracket that came with your track bar is made for a rig that has an SYE and cv drive shaft. W


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Doesn't look like it's contacting very hard, so like Rob said, maybe some slight massaging will do it. From your pics, it looks like rotating the pinion up might actually give you a little more clearance.
 
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Doesn't look like it's contacting very hard, so like Rob said, maybe some slight massaging will do it. From your pics, it looks like rotating the pinion up might actually give you a little more clearance.
before I do the sye I wanted to get the rest of the control arms which are out of budget right now. I will see if I can massage the exhaust lol.
 
I think getting the SYE and new drive shaft will help you. I got the same track bar and I have an SYE and cv drive shaft and I have no interference with the exhaust. I think the cv bracket that came with your track bar is made for a rig that has an SYE and cv drive shaft. W


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Where on MetalCloak's website is it advertised that the bracket is designed for for CV applications? Just curious before I change anything.
 
Where on MetalCloak's website is it advertised that the bracket is designed for for CV applications? Just curious before I change anything.

It doesn’t. Or not that I could find. I had a relocation bracket on before I got the metalcloak, and I wasn’t sure if I could just use that bracket or if I needed to use one that metalcloak sends with it. So I emailed metalcloak and the respone was that the bracket was made to get the track bar back to the right angle after an SYE and cv driveshaft install. I know I have read a thread or two about it as well. I will see if I can find it.


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For anyone who is curious, @UnlimitedLJ04 on WF spoke in detail on this exact situation:

“when you install a SYE, you need to align the pinion angle. this requires adjustable uppers, with lowers highly recommended.

several things happen when you rotate the housing to point the rear pinion at the t-case with the double cardan shaft.
1. the rotation causes the fixed track bar mount to rotate back, toward the gas tank. meaning it's no longer parallel with the frame mount. because of this non-parallelism, you can't get the stock bar installed unless you either stress the heck out of the bushings (not good) or cut the bar, rotate it, and then sleeve it (requires welding).
2. lengthening the uppers to align the pinion actually lengthens the wheelbase slightly. this means the bumpstops become slightly misaligned, and the track bar is pushed toward the gas tank mount. the rear track bar bracket and/or diff cover can also be pushed into the gas tank skid during suspension travel.
Examples:
DSC02038.jpg
IMG_1143.jpg

3. that lengthening of the wheelbase will actually push the tire back in the wheelwell, and you get the tires contacting the rear of the wheelwellduring travel...at the steel of the fender. this isn't a flare issue...its a steel vs rubber issue.
Example:
154_0504_04_z+no_lift_tj_part2+rear_stuffed.jpg

from: No Lift Tj Part2 Rear Stuffed Photo 2

If you've ever taken off your rear flares, you can see how much they cut away based on the holes...

Ok. So how do we fix these problems? Well, remember the adjustable lower control arms were highly recommended? One reason for that is so you can SHORTEN the lowers in the rear as you extend the uppers...to keep those clearance issues from arising.

So where the CV style track bar bracket fits into all this? Well, you'll notice these angled brackets do two things - they try to put that parallelism back in place with the rotated housing, most are setup for a 4" lift. They also push the track bar forward on the axle mount to avoid problems #2 and #3. The issue with them is they don't have any adjustability if you need it...it's fixed, so you may still have an anti-parallelism problem.

The caviate to the adjustable lowers for the rear is they need to be able adjust shorter than stock. Many aftermarket companies arms do NOT, including the Rokmen's I run. You can cut some thread off and hope you don't mess it up, or keep them at stock length and hope for the best. On my LJ, I hoped for the best because the housing rotation required to align the pinion on the long wheelbase wasn't that severe...and the issues are very close (if you've poked through my build thread you've seen them).

You need a relocation bracket with a lift (or to fabricate/weld-on a taller, open top bracket). Thats due to the interference adjustable track bars create with the weak stock closed top bracket.
PICT0057.jpg


The replacement/relocation bracket doesn't need to be a CV style - however you do need to account for the anti-parallelism problem. That is easily done with an adjustable rear track bar, preferably one with a flex joint on at least one end. The new Currie rear track bar (available through Savvy) is supposed to address gas tank frame mountinterference issues mentioned in #2...although I haven't seen full bump pictures of it myself, so I'm still skeptical...but at least this is the first time I've ever heard a company agree the problem exists!

So in other words, either a CV or non-CV style bracket will work IF you place the housing correctly in the wheelwell with adjustable uppers AND lowers, and you run a track bar that accounts for the potential misalignment.

Personally, on a SWB TJ with a CV shaft, I'd probably cut the rear track bar mount off....then reinforce & move the uppers forward a bit, and weld on a 1/4" wall open top track bar mount, while running the new Currie track bar. Or better yet, triangulate the rear uppers and toss the stock track bar aside altogether. I've been considering fabbing a new axle side rear track bar mount for my Jeep for a long time...maybe next year”

I used what photos were avaliable, however some links were broken. I hope if anyone has any questions in the future this proves useful, @Rex Baucom thanks for sharing.
 
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