Inside-Out Build—2006 LJ

My first time off pavement (back in June), the new Johnny joints I put on my RC lower control arms were creaking like crazy. Never had that issue on any products I've bought with JJs installed (Currie track bar, Savvy UCAs) but these loose ones were terrible.

I finally got around to taking them apart today and all 4 were bone dry except for a tiny bit around the "equator" where a small amount got in through the zerk fitting. I had read here that the zerks were ineffective and disassembly was the only way to lubricate them but pretty disappointing that a product with the reputation they have would be shipped in a state where they have to be disassembled and greased before they can be installed. and yes, I'd read this is necessary as well but I'd had good luck so far.

Disappointment on another front - the guy I paid to do my gears, though the gears seem to be well done, tossed my lube lockers in the trash and put the covers on with RTV. He also seems to have a practice of keeping your diff covers, giving you freshly painted ones off his shelf, and painting yours and using them on another vehicle. I don't have a major objection to this on the surface, except I had put time into proper cleaning and prep work for a durable paint job, and from the appearance of the covers he gave me, he does not. The front has flaking and surface rust without even being wheeled yet, and I knocked off a good several square inches from the rear with the rubber mallet, reveling untreated surface rust underneath. So I get to paint those, again.

Leaving tomorrow afternoon for southwest Colorado with freshly greased joints, new 85W140 conventional gl5 in both axles, redline MTL in the Nsg370 and my usual gtx 5w30 high mileage in the crankcase. Since I still haven't sorted my vibrations out, I'll toss the front driveshaft in the back and install it when we get there.
 
UCF extra clearance skid install

Had this in my garage since July. Finally went to put it on between meetings today.

First I pulled the old and test fit the new. The exhaust was mostly good but the hanger rod welded to the cat was pushed up against the heat shield under the tub, and the hanger in front of the rear axle wasn't doing anything. I got lucky and the height of the transmission minus the thickness of a 2x4 is exactly at the level of a tooth on my jack stand, so the trans is sitting exactly where it would with the skid mounted up.

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Not pictured, but I flipped them over on the floor and measured that the mounting surface for the trans mount is 2-1/8" closer to the frame rail surface than the stock skid, so if you're wanting to know the exact amount this skid raises your drive train, that's it.

I pulled the trans mount and shook the exhaust around so it would settle in the other mounts, then held it up and measured that it needed about 7/8" less height. I alternated between a Sawzall and cutoff wheel to separate the exhaust mount from the trans mount and cut 7/8" off the bottom end of the exhaust mount. I'm in a rental and have no work bench so this was kinda painful, but I bolted the mount to the bottom side of the stock skid to hold it still, or at least as still as the rubber trans mount would hold it. Cleaned it all up and bolted the trans mount to the transmission and hung the exhaust mount from the hanger. Clamped and ready to tack up.

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That's basically where I had to stop because I went to go get my son from school, but I'll tack it, pull it off and finish welding on the table tonight.

I did take a measurement of the actual gain in belly height, and it's actually less than the increased height of the transmission. I found that interesting, but I guess having that hat section across the bottom adds something and even without the height, it's better to have the smooth belly than a bunch of lips and ribs grabbing on to stuff.

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well that was unexpected...

got it all together last night, set the rear pinion angle this morning (half a degree below driveshaft), went to fire it up and was met by a real racket, honestly sounded like engine was bone dry, the transmission was halfway in gear, or something else horrible.

Got out, popped the hood, and the fan is contacting the shroud at the bottom. I get that raising the transfer case would lower the fan, I just didn't figure it would be enough to matter since the lever is much longer on the transfer case end. So I guess 1.25" BL + 1" MML + 2.125" trans lift requires a fan shroud drop.

I haven't set the front pinion angle...it ended up about 3 degrees below the driveshaft. I think I remember having around that at one point on my TJ without vibes so I'm gonna test drive it first before making any adjustments. I'm satisfied with the amount of return to center I have now with about 4 degrees of caster, and I wouldn't like to lose any.
 
got it all together. Runs good. Briefly had it up to 71 with no vibes from the front driveline so I think I'll be ok without adjusting the front pinion or losing any caster.

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I haven't been wheeling yet, but it also hasn't popped out of reverse. So maybe the movement of the drivetrain while reversing uphill was bumping the shifter into the console or the tub and nudging it out.

Most importantly, I appear to be the latest in the list of whose oscillating vibrations after regear were helped by a heavy skid. That sucker weighs about 80 pounds, which I'm not enthused about at face value, but I'll gladly tolerate the weight over the vibrations. Then again, I also changed the operating angles of all the driveline U-joints, so there's no "control group" so to speak...but they all got more, not less extreme. At any rate it's too early to break out the champagne yet since I've only had it to 71, but previously they were discernible by then, even with the sunrider and windows open. So I'm nearly certain they've at least improved. Fingers crossed that they're gone up to at least 75, I'd be even happier if 80 since that's the speed limit on the highway I would be taking to Disney. (pic borrowed from the internets)

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Disregard what looks like a major reverse rake in this pic...the front passenger was up on the curb.

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Revolution US made rear 4140 axle shafts are in!

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it's a shame to cover them up. :(

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I had a retard moment mid-install. Had my old shaft out, was putting the lug bolts in the new one. Noticed the lugs seemed long. Slapped my wheel spacer onto the shaft and sure enough, it was poking out. Well shit, that's not gonna work! Better get these lugs back out, put the Jeep back together and go order some shorter ones, right?

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oh wait...something is missing here...the thickness of the brake rotor hat! Doh! All is well, lugs back in and Jeep is back on it's own weight.
 
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Install tip - > even if you think you can get it done without removing the bumper...just take it off. I ended up unbolting the passenger side and just leaving the two front bolts in the driver side so I could pull it in and out like a hinge, but all said and done I think it might have saved me some time installing the bushings if the bumper had been out of the way entirely.

Two out of the four jam nuts in my kit were the wrong size, so I had to make a run to the hardware store for two 1/2-20 nuts to finish the install.

There are black misalignment spacers that go between the rod ends and the arms. The instructions referred to selecting the right combination of spacers to make the link as vertical as possible, but I only have one spacer for each bolt, so it is what it is. It did help me discover that my axle is 1/2" to the driver side, which I can't comprehend because I thought I used a pretty exact method of centering it and actually thought I left it offset toward passenger because the track bar is as short as it will go, but maybe my ride height has settled or something. I'll fix it when I pull the UCAs to grease the JJs.
 
You're gonna love that Swayloc. I installed mine last weekend. They shorted me the prelube grease, so I had to wait for Steve to send me some.
 
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You're gonna love that Swayloc. I installed mine last weekend. They shorted me the prelube grease, so I had to wait for Steve to send me some.

good to hear. I'd had the antirock on my list for a long time but always had reservations about how I would like it on the street with my affinity for soft shocks. The SwayLOC is a very elegant solution and well-executed. I got an unexpected and well-timed bonus from work within a couple of weeks of almost destroying my disconnect brackets when my tires made contact at full stuff/full lock, so I sprung for the SwayLOC.

ironically, the 8oz tub of prelube that I ordered to try out on my Johnny Joints arrived last night along with the SwayLOC so I could have gotten by if they'd left it out.
 
Current status:

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Went to install my powertrax LockRight today and it didn't go as planned. I got it all installed and went to perform the functional test before putting the cover on, and it won't unlock by spinning the wheels.

I can move the driver with a screwdriver and spin a wheel, but as soon as I remove the screwdriver it locks up.

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The carrier was new 2 years ago when I regeared, but I forgot that I just put in the tightest set of used spider/side gears and thrust washers I had on hand. The spacer-to-crosspin clearance is at the max of 0.020" on both sides, which was ok, but the driver spacing is supposed to be 5/32" nominal to a max of 0.170", and mine is closer to 0.18", just a hair under 3/16". I find it hard to understand how this particular dimension being out by 10 thou is enough to screw the whole works, but I know that question will be raised if I ever get hold of someone at Richmond tech support so I'm gonna have to take care of it. If anything I would think the spring pressure would be too loose and make it unlock too easily, but maybe the extra spacing causes the shear pins to lean over and bind up?

4WP supposedly has the washer available for next-day store pickup so I've ordered 2 in hopes that they actually come through on that.

Today I've completed installation of my RGA axle shafts and the LockRight, only to completely disassemble it again. The only disassembly work I haven't done twice is the 36mm axle nut. Doing the same work twice is my favorite. :cautious:
 
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Torq locker went in fine, with driver spacing at 0.150", what I'd call perfect in the 0.0145-0.175" tolerance since it leaves plenty of room for any wear that might take place in the carrier and thrust washers.

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Pretty invisible on the road so far. Heard a pop or two in a parking lot turning at full lock but that's it. Need to find a field somewhere to try it out in 4wd.

Last time I ran a lube locker gasket it was seeping a bit, so I had been using RTV, but I'm giving the lube locker another try. If you look closely in the photo of the locker, there's some RTV residue that the scraper left on the surface, and I didn't go after it with a wire brush to get it spotless as I usually do. I'm hoping that the remaining RTV fills in the imperfections that the first lube locker couldn't get into.

Also added a Warn diff skid that I've had sitting around for nearly a year.

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looks like I'm gonna need some steering stop washers and track bar adjustment; this one with the swayloc is at full lock to driver and just a couple inches of uptravel. Gonna have to pull the springs and really cycle it.

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This isn't new, but I hadn't noticed it before - the tie rod touches the track bar bracket/ spring perch at full lock to passenger and flexes the drag link just a bit before the steering stop.

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I've been aware of this for a while - driver side contact with LCA. Strangely the axle is already offset 1/4" more to the driver side so this will only get worse with correcting the track bar.

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I'm not really sure why the passenger side doesn't make contact...is there something about the steering that allows it to turn sharper to driver than passenger?

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What happens if you were to lengthen the links?

The limit to the sway bar travel is when the arm contacts the rear edge of the top plate of my Warn bumper. I set them as high as I could while making sure that didn't happen, including some wiggle room, but it's just based on measurements at ride height. I know it's within the range that it won't hit the bumper or invert at full droop, but it's quite likely I left some on the table when it comes to tire clearance. I wouldn't raise them any more without doing the full cycling check, but since I plan to do that anyway, making the links longer will definitely be an option.
 
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The limit to the sway bar travel is when the arm contacts the rear edge of the top plate of my Warn bumper. I set them as high as I could while making sure that didn't happen, including some wiggle room, but it's just based on measurements at ride height. I know it's within the range that it won't hit the bumper or invert at full droop, but it's quite likely I left some on the table when it comes to tire clearance. I wouldn't raise them any more without doing the full cycling check, but since I plan to do that anyway, making the links longer will definitely be an option.
Fwiw, my tires rub the Swayloc at full flex, full lock. When it's unlocked, the rolling tire will make that spring loaded block click.
 
I'm not really sure why the passenger side doesn't make contact...is there something about the steering that allows it to turn sharper to driver than passenger?
Generally it's the opposite side steering stop that determines how close the tire is to the control arm at lock. Toe changes this and if the axle isn't centered it'll change a little bit. Make sure your toe is spot on and overall it don't matter at all when things rub a bit at full lock unless it's your brake lines. Things are always slow at lock. Same with the steering, if it pushes out of the way it'll be fine, some contact isn't the end of the world, rocks are going to hit that stuff much harder than a little nudge at lock. Personally I only really worry about clearance with the wheels straight fully bottomed out both sides, that's high speed and interference will break things quick.
 
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Fwiw, my tires rub the Swayloc at full flex, full lock. When it's unlocked, the rolling tire will make that spring loaded block click.

I'm fine with that if that's where I end up, and that may be where I land once I adjust my track bar. But right now I can make it touch just raising one end of the axle with a floor jack, springs still installed, so I'm pretty sure that would be hard contact by the time I reach full compression.
 
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Fwiw, my tires rub the Swayloc at full flex, full lock. When it's unlocked, the rolling tire will make that spring loaded block click.
I'm making light contact at full flex on both sides, somewhat well before the steering stops, after lengthening the links as far as I could without bumper interference. It's just lugs hitting the side of the arm so it's not as worrisome as grabbing the top edge and pushing it down, like I had with the stock bar.

There's miles of room before fender contact so I could lessen the tire interference if I notch the bumper above the arm, but I'm not sure I could eliminate it entirely.

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I just installed a sway loc on my LJ and I ran into the same interference. I used the longest link combination, clearances the top of the bumper about 1/4”. I also added wheel spacers I used the 1 1/2” spacers so I would not have to cut the studs at this time. I have the 6” fender flares so it will help with the flares rubbing on rocks in my case. I think I could get away with a 1” or less spacer but I wanted to keep the tire away from the air lines also. The spacers also keep the tire off the shock tower which was a rubbing point when the tire was turned at full stuff
 
I just installed a sway loc on my LJ and I ran into the same interference. I used the longest link combination, clearances the top of the bumper about 1/4”. I also added wheel spacers I used the 1 1/2” spacers so I would not have to cut the studs at this time. I have the 6” fender flares so it will help with the flares rubbing on rocks in my case. I think I could get away with a 1” or less spacer but I wanted to keep the tire away from the air lines also. The spacers also keep the tire off the shock tower which was a rubbing point when the tire was turned at full stuff

What is the backspacing in your wheels? I run 1.25" spacers behind 5.25" BS for an effective backspace of 4". More would just trade one interference for another because I'd be into the rear wall of the fender on the tire turned to the outside.

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I like to run as narrow a stance as possible to keep the scrub radius down and I prefer the way it looks. When I've run 33s I ran a 10.5 on 5+ BS. I've read of some getting away with as much as 4.5" with 35s but I don't know how without losing noticeable turning radius... I'm already hitting the LCAs on both sides now at ride height with more than a washers thickness between the stops.