MiRustyjeep

[Mike_H]

Seats are done. Been a while since I updated the thread. Not too much exciting stuff happening in the garage these days to the jeep...I'm teaching myself how to weld better (bought my own) so I can really get crazy!

I mentioned that the foam was not well reinforced against the pressure of the steel frame...Here you can see where I added more fabric to try and prevent the problem.

And my seat risers/bases/frames or whatever. They provide the slide adjustment and flip ability...RUSTY!

So, like every project I do, I need to allow time for cleanup and for paint to dry

Since I had them all apart already...what better time than now to install heaters!

Finally, here they are, all cleaned up and ready to bolt back into the jeep.

Its amazing what a quick wash can do for a set of seats. They're 14 years old and have 137000 miles on them, but still look almost new.

I haven't gotten around to installing the wiring yet. Might work on that this week. I have quite a list of parts to install...my front D/S was pulled in September or so for a rebuild and that hasn't made it back in yet, I have some frame tie-ins for the rear bumper to install, a steering box skid, and I've got a line on a full set of Curry control arms...its going to reduce the cost of my tummy tuck project considerably.

 

[mots]

Nice seats!

 

[derekmac]

The seats turned out great! I really should add some heaters to mine too, I love them in our Cherokee!!

 

[JMT]

Today I repaired my foam seat lowers. I stopped at an upholstery and mattress shop on my way home from work and talked to the guy there. Ironically, he's a jeeple too. Anyway, we talked about what was going on, and he sold me some of the facing material they put on box springs. Very tough stuff. Gave me a couple yards for 2 bucks. Of course, the adhesive was pricey at 15 bucks a can. I got all of the foam repaired. I also got all of the reinforcing material applied.

Here is the adhesive I used...Oh, Canada...
View attachment 69643


This is your friendly public service announcement. Get into your seat cushions and put some reinforcing fabric on the bottom. Even the newer seats were starting to tear at the same spot.

Here is the worst of the worst...as a reminder, this is what was causing me discomfort while sitting in my seat. The steel frame will ride up into that crack and the whole seat sit crooked. That white fabric is there to protect the foam from the center springs (which support the weight of the person sitting in the seat). They cut is short, and the foam tears along the edge of the fabric. Design Flaw, IMHO.

View attachment 69639

So, first I sprayed adhesive into the tears and stuck the foam back together. Then I cut the new material for the seat bottoms roughly to size. You want to be sure and orient the fabric correctly. The stuff I have would expand in one direction, but not the other. I put the non-stretchy direction across the seat, so it would resist the frame more. Once the fabric is cut, spray both sides with adhesive.
View attachment 69640

Now you wait a couple minutes for the adhesive to flash off. Once it gets tacky (not wet and slippery) you place the fabric over the foam and press is down. You have a couple minutes to reposition...but only a couple. Its not as fast as contact cement, but you gotta work quick. This has been applied and it ready to trim. Pay special attention to the edges...You need to get it REALLY stuck down here, or all this work it for nothing.
View attachment 69641

Finally, here is the finished seat base, all trimmed up.

View attachment 69642

Tomorrow, I will fire up the steamer and push some steam back into the foam and try to pain the raw steel bases...Gotta run to the laundromat and wash seat covers too.

I really want to paint the bases and put seat heaters in mine. Yours look great!

 

[Mike Jackson]

Seats look great nice job.

 

[Mike_H]

Today, I sucked it up, and went to go put my borescope into the frame. I've kinda been dreading this...knowing what I've found. However, it wasn't so bad. I'm actually relieved to find that the frame is in pretty decent shape, internally. Sometimes, surface rust is really just surface rust. I have a couple bad spots where the frame meets the rear cross member. I'll cut that out and replace it soon. Welding above your head, upside down is a fun trick.

Now that I have a good idea what I'm getting into, I'll build a flail for my power drill, knock the crap out, power wash and go for the internal frame coating.

Note: all these pictures are of the skid plate mounting area and rear control arm area...you know, the typical trouble spots.

Sorry for the grainy photos...I have a Harbor Freight borescope, so I was taking pictures of the display. I should probably buy one of those smartphone ones...but the one I have has a pretty good camera, all things considered. I can also plug it into a larger display, if I had one handy (think a TV)

 

[jodomcfrodo]

Wow. Considering how much body rust you had, your frame is truly an anomaly. I would've thought for sure your frame would be rotted to pieces on the inside. Wonder how that happens.

My Jeep is the exact opposite. Almost no body rust (certainly no body rot) but an absolutely terrible frame internally.

Bet that is a relief though.

 

[Mike_H]

Wow. Considering how much body rust you had, your frame is truly an anomaly. I would've thought for sure your frame would be rotted to pieces on the inside. Wonder how that happens.

My Jeep is the exact opposite. Almost no body rust (certainly no body rot) but an absolutely terrible frame internally.

Bet that is a relief though.

The body rust isn't really too terrible either...except the passenger rocker and both rear wheel wells. Oh and the Pass Rear corner. The windshield frame rotted out too. I've already welded in new metal on the rocker and replaced the windshield frame, so now its just wheel wells and the rear corner. I think I can clean up the rear corner without replacing too much, but I gotta get in there and see if I can get the evap system out without destroying it. Its like 85% rust free at this point.

I'm starting to watch some auto auctions. I'll try to snag a flood vehicle from down south...No body damage and hopefully a fresh water flood. Part what I can, keep what I need. I don't want to pay more than a grand though, so I'm watching a few right now to see what they sell for. I know I can get a tub for about that, or less, if I'm a smart shopper.

 

[Mike_H]

Got lots of stuff rolling in lately. Feel like @Squatch with all kinds of parts in boxes to be installed, and no activity. Working through the dash right now. I had to disassemble the center stack to finish the install on my seat heaters. So, naturally, while I was in there, I had to put LED lights in. Those came in today. I did the dash as well.

And, since it would really be terrible to put it together and take it apart again, I decided it was time to upgrade the stereo system... That stuff has been arriving this week too.

Kicker sub, 1factorydirect modified head unit (with blue tooth), and a soundstream 5 channel amp. I upgraded the speakers a couple years ago to Kicker 5.25 coaxials all the way around. My front speakers are in 3d printed boxes. This should get my stereo up to snuff for cruising around topless.

Finally, I found some used Currie control arms (thanks again @jodomcfrodo ) to move me a BIG step closer toward getting my tummy tuck done. I've decided to make one myself, got a design I think would be pretty good.

They will need to be cleaned up, degreased, and have a couple issues addressed... But hopefully by the end of summer, I'll have a tucked t case.

 

[Mike_H]

Audio Upgrade time!

Over the weekend, I installed some audio gear, finally. The design goals were pretty simple:

1. It had to be loud enough to be heard with the top down on the highway. Not too hard to do. You only need about 50 watts / channel to achieve that.
2. I wanted it invisible. I live in a relatively crime free area, but I try to keep honest people honest. Didn't want to give them any reason to slash my top. Plus, I am unwilling to sacrifice any of the valuable storage space in my TJ.
3. I wanted a sub...I miss the low end and my center console was factory equipped.
4. Finally, It had to have Bluetooth. I listen to streaming sources 90% of the time behind the wheel. Not too concerned about phone calls though...I use my jeep to escape.

I had previously bought some Kicker 43CSC54 speakers for my factory locations a while ago. They are a decent speaker. 90db sensitivity, Poly cone (so not affected by water) and they were relatively inexpensive (I think I paid about 90 bucks for all 4 from Crutchfield, WITH the wire adapters and mounting plates). They can handle 75 watts RMS, so they are plenty strong for my plans. Not the BEST speakers I could have picked, but they are already installed.

They worked, OK'ish, for the next couple years. What really saved me and allowed me to delay the full install so long is the mini enclosures I got from a member here. He was 3D printing them and selling them on ETSY. Made a HUGE difference in the sound stage. I tried the BOOM Mat cones and they just didn't work for me. These work awesome.

For an amp, I decided on a Soundstream Picaso Nano PN5.640D. Its a 5 channel (4 speakers and a sub) that is stable to two ohms. It also accepts High Level (speaker) Input. Since I wanted an invisible system, this was important as the factory radio does not have Low Level (RCA) outputs. The amp is also VERY small (about 5" x 1.5" x 10.5") Its hard to beat this little guy for the price, less than 140 dollars on Amazon. The installation guide leaves a LOT of information out though, so I don't recommend this amp if you've never done an install before. Otherwise, it seems pretty good. Lots of control, comes with a remote level knob for the Sub channel, independent gain control and HPF for each pair of channels (front and rear) and adjustable crossover frequencies. The Power Input and Speaker Output terminals were a little hokey, but they worked out in the end. They are just screw clamps for bare wire, vs the terminals that you wrap the wire around the screw and clamp it down with a little square of metal. I'm not describing that well...but it is the one thing that disappointed me about this amp.




Amazon Link

For the Sub, I went with the one Ohm Version of the Popular Kicker CompRT 6.75" Sub. I went with the one Ohm model because my amp is two Ohm stable. I wired the sub's coils in series to get a two Ohm load. At two Ohms, the amp pushes 350 watts RMS. I might be overdriving the little guy a bit (150W RMS), but better to overdrive the speaker than clip the amp. If it blows, I'll go with the two Ohm model, wired to 4 Ohms and have a better match of speaker to amp.

Amazon Link

Finally, I needed a head unit. My current Stereo only plays over the air. The CD player doesn't work. Since I wanted Bluetooth and a factory appearance, I went for a refurbished radio with Bluetooth. No link here, as I cannot in good conscience recommend it. I'm sure it works for some, but it didn't work for me. More on that later.

I spent the better part of this weekend laying out the system and making connections. First things first, where is that amp going to go? As I was tearing my dash apart installing LED's, I noticed that there was a nice area under the steering column that would work perfectly. Here is the area, with my amp mounting board in place. I bent up a couple of 16 ga steel "L" brackets to hold the board to my column.

Here is the amp, installed on the board and mostly wired. Its a convenient mounting spot, as the column is unpainted there so very easy to find a good ground

Finally, fully installed after the wires are tied up and tucked away. Invisible!

It was also a convenient spot to poke a hole through the firewall. I drilled a new hole between the two that were already there on the far LH side. That allowed me to very neatly route the wires along the existing path to the battery.

Remember I said I was using High level inputs? Yeah, that was a royal pain in the ass. The amp comes with these little connectors with wire pigtails on them. Three of them, one each for front and rear channels and another for the sub channel. I wired in extensions to those pigtails to get from the amp to the radio. I also tied the Sub channel to the front R and L channels. Once the harness was made up, I routed it through the dash to the back of the radio. Using standard butt connectors, I cut and spliced into the factory harness.

For the sub, I pretty much followed THIS THREAD by @RangerRick. He details the process pretty well, so no further documentation is necessary here. The sub, installed...

Finally, I was ready to plug the new factory radio in and start tuning...This is where the story goes bad. To start, I had tried out this radio before I installed all the other stuff, to make sure it worked. I noticed the volume wasn't quite linear. Hmmm...that's not right, but no biggie I've had that before. Figured it was just a dirty pot on the board. I have some contact cleaner, and if that didn't work, a whole other radio I can steal stuff from. I also noticed the receiver portion didn't seem as strong as my old radio. Again, not a huge deal. The CD player worked and the Blue tooth worked, if not a bit clunky.
Anyway, in front of the new system, I notice is there is a TON of Hiss. High level inputs can do this sometimes. Well maybe I can control it with gains. So I start playing with adjustments, and start to push the system. Well, the hiss is getting worse so I try to turn the head unit off. Wait? The hiss isn't going away? Turn the ignition off...Still hissing. WTH?! Finally unplug the radio and the speakers stop hissing. That was weird. I plugged the radio back in...and nothing. Won't turn on, no lights in the display...its a brick! MotherTrucker!

I'm thinking SHIT...what the hell did I do? What did I miss that cooked that 165 dollar radio? So, I tried my old radio. It works. Still have the feedback, but it works well enough for me to restore my confidence in the installation. I got a bad radio. They are taking it back. But since I don't feel like spending a TON of time chasing feedback from high level inputs, or spending another 30-60 dollars on Line Level Converters, I decided to just purchase an aftermarket Head unit. For 80 bucks, I got a Kenwood KMM-BT322U. I added the Sirius XM antenna for 70 dollars with a 70 Dollar MIR, and the RCA cables I'll need to hook the amp up with Low Level Inputs. That stuff should be here tomorrow.

Should have just gone this way to begin with. Its not a stealth as I wanted, but I know it will sound better. I'm just bummed that I cut up my factory harness. I know how to install this stuff to not have problems, but everyone makes mistakes once in a while. I hope it doesn't cause me problems in the future. Thankfully, the only wires I cut were speaker wires and I cut the factory sub and amp wire harness out. I should be OK, but I know that will be in the back of my mind from now on. It was also a LOT of time this weekend, making those harnesses up...I won't get that time back.

 

[dieselvrr]

Audio Upgrade time!

Over the weekend, I installed some audio gear, finally. The design goals were pretty simple:

1. It had to be loud enough to be heard with the top down on the highway. Not too hard to do. You only need about 50 watts / channel to achieve that.
2. I wanted it invisible. I live in a relatively crime free area, but I try to keep honest people honest. Didn't want to give them any reason to slash my top. Plus, I am unwilling to sacrifice any of the valuable storage space in my TJ.
3. I wanted a sub...I miss the low end and my center console was factory equipped.
4. Finally, It had to have Bluetooth. I listen to streaming sources 90% of the time behind the wheel. Not too concerned about phone calls though...I use my jeep to escape.

I had previously bought some Kicker 43CSC54 speakers for my factory locations a while ago. They are a decent speaker. 90db sensitivity, Poly cone (so not affected by water) and they were relatively inexpensive (I think I paid about 90 bucks for all 4 from Crutchfield, WITH the wire adapters and mounting plates). They can handle 75 watts RMS, so they are plenty strong for my plans. Not the BEST speakers I could have picked, but they are already installed.

View attachment 83266

They worked, OK'ish, for the next couple years. What really saved me and allowed me to delay the full install so long is the mini enclosures I got from a member here. He was 3D printing them and selling them on ETSY. Made a HUGE difference in the sound stage. I tried the BOOM Mat cones and they just didn't work for me. These work awesome.

View attachment 83267

For an amp, I decided on a Soundstream Picaso Nano PN5.640D. Its a 5 channel (4 speakers and a sub) that is stable to two ohms. It also accepts High Level (speaker) Input. Since I wanted an invisible system, this was important as the factory radio does not have Low Level (RCA) outputs. The amp is also VERY small (about 5" x 1.5" x 10.5") Its hard to beat this little guy for the price, less than 140 dollars on Amazon. The installation guide leaves a LOT of information out though, so I don't recommend this amp if you've never done an install before. Otherwise, it seems pretty good. Lots of control, comes with a remote level knob for the Sub channel, independent gain control and HPF for each pair of channels (front and rear) and adjustable crossover frequencies. The Power Input and Speaker Output terminals were a little hokey, but they worked out in the end. They are just screw clamps for bare wire, vs the terminals that you wrap the wire around the screw and clamp it down with a little square of metal. I'm not describing that well...but it is the one thing that disappointed me about this amp.


View attachment 83268

Amazon Link

For the Sub, I went with the one Ohm Version of the Popular Kicker CompRT 6.75" Sub. I went with the one Ohm model because my amp is two Ohm stable. I wired the sub's coils in series to get a two Ohm load. At two Ohms, the amp pushes 350 watts RMS. I might be overdriving the little guy a bit (150W RMS), but better to overdrive the speaker than clip the amp. If it blows, I'll go with the two Ohm model, wired to 4 Ohms and have a better match of speaker to amp.

View attachment 83270

Amazon Link

Finally, I needed a head unit. My current Stereo only plays over the air. The CD player doesn't work. Since I wanted Bluetooth and a factory appearance, I went for a refurbished radio with Bluetooth. No link here, as I cannot in good conscience recommend it. I'm sure it works for some, but it didn't work for me. More on that later.

I spent the better part of this weekend laying out the system and making connections. First things first, where is that amp going to go? As I was tearing my dash apart installing LED's, I noticed that there was a nice area under the steering column that would work perfectly. Here is the area, with my amp mounting board in place. I bent up a couple of 16 ga steel "L" brackets to hold the board to my column.

View attachment 83272

Here is the amp, installed on the board and mostly wired. Its a convenient mounting spot, as the column is unpainted there so very easy to find a good ground

View attachment 83273

Finally, fully installed after the wires are tied up and tucked away. Invisible!

View attachment 83277

It was also a convenient spot to poke a hole through the firewall. I drilled a new hole between the two that were already there on the far LH side. That allowed me to very neatly route the wires along the existing path to the battery.

View attachment 83280 View attachment 83281

Remember I said I was using High level inputs? Yeah, that was a royal pain in the ass. The amp comes with these little connectors with wire pigtails on them. Three of them, one each for front and rear channels and another for the sub channel. I wired in extensions to those pigtails to get from the amp to the radio. I also tied the Sub channel to the front R and L channels. Once the harness was made up, I routed it through the dash to the back of the radio. Using standard butt connectors, I cut and spliced into the factory harness.

View attachment 83282

For the sub, I pretty much followed THIS THREAD by @RangerRick. He details the process pretty well, so no further documentation is necessary here. The sub, installed...

View attachment 83283

Finally, I was ready to plug the new factory radio in and start tuning...This is where the story goes bad. To start, I had tried out this radio before I installed all the other stuff, to make sure it worked. I noticed the volume wasn't quite linear. Hmmm...that's not right, but no biggie I've had that before. Figured it was just a dirty pot on the board. I have some contact cleaner, and if that didn't work, a whole other radio I can steal stuff from. I also noticed the receiver portion didn't seem as strong as my old radio. Again, not a huge deal. The CD player worked and the Blue tooth worked, if not a bit clunky.
Anyway, in front of the new system, I notice is there is a TON of Hiss. High level inputs can do this sometimes. Well maybe I can control it with gains. So I start playing with adjustments, and start to push the system. Well, the hiss is getting worse so I try to turn the head unit off. Wait? The hiss isn't going away? Turn the ignition off...Still hissing. WTH?! Finally unplug the radio and the speakers stop hissing. That was weird. I plugged the radio back in...and nothing. Won't turn on, no lights in the display...its a brick! MotherTrucker!

I'm thinking SHIT...what the hell did I do? What did I miss that cooked that 165 dollar radio? So, I tried my old radio. It works. Still have the feedback, but it works well enough for me to restore my confidence in the installation. I got a bad radio. They are taking it back. But since I don't feel like spending a TON of time chasing feedback from high level inputs, or spending another 30-60 dollars on Line Level Converters, I decided to just purchase an aftermarket Head unit. For 80 bucks, I got a Kenwood KMM-BT322U. I added the Sirius XM antenna for 70 dollars with a 70 Dollar MIR, and the RCA cables I'll need to hook the amp up with Low Level Inputs. That stuff should be here tomorrow.

Should have just gone this way to begin with. Its not a stealth as I wanted, but I know it will sound better. I'm just bummed that I cut up my factory harness. I know how to install this stuff to not have problems, but everyone makes mistakes once in a while. I hope it doesn't cause me problems in the future. Thankfully, the only wires I cut were speaker wires and I cut the factory sub and amp wire harness out. I should be OK, but I know that will be in the back of my mind from now on. It was also a LOT of time this weekend, making those harnesses up...I won't get that time back.

Do you have a link to those mounts/enclosures?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[Mike_H]

Do you have a link to those mounts/enclosures?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

No, sorry I don't. I got them from a member here. His user name is chase_c. Only shows 17 posts though. I don't think he's real active. You might send him a PM. Or search Etsy. I went back through my PMs and just PayPal'ed him directly vs going through Etsy.

 

[Mike_H]

Audio Upgrade is finally Done. After my Debacle with the modified factory radio, I went with a Kenwood Digital Media Receiver. Added a Sirius XM tuner to the package. Finished up the install today. I miss the simplicity of the factory radio. This kenwood has so many sources that its kind of a pain to cycle through them all. I need to figure out if there is a way to turn off some of them. Its very tunable though, so I've been able to get the whole system to sound VERY VERY good. Crystal Clear highs and midrange with just enough on the low side to fill in the music. If I'm honest, I would like a bigger sub...but it is what it is for this location. It does sound very good...I just like a little more punch. Another Item off the To-Do list!

 

[JMT]

Just another reason for the BL. I bang mine from time to time so this would be a great mod, if I could weld.

You’re referring to the Stock Gas Tank Tuck. You can just drill holes and use bolts to hold it together instead of weld.

 

[Mike_H]

You’re referring to the Stock Gas Tank Tuck. You can just drill holes and use bolts to hold it together instead of weld.

Not if you wanna be one of the cool kids! .

Actually, I was pretty impressed with your bolt together solution.

 

[JMT]

Not if you wanna be one of the cool kids! .

Actually, I was pretty impressed with your bolt together solution.

Man if I could weld I’d definitely be a cooler kid! Great work as always.

 

[Mike_H]

I've been cruising Craigslist, FB marketplace, OfferUp, Ebay, etc. looking for a "good" set of Used control arms for a while. Been pretty tough to find. Most are well past their prime and are Rough Country or Rubicon Express, or some other brand that is not worth my time to rebuild. At the end of last year, I managed to catch a member here that was buying new ones, as his shop said his control arms were "shot". It was a full set of Double adjustable Curries. I reached out, and took a chance on them. Curries are worth rebuilding, in my mind.

This is what they looked like when I got them.

It took a couple days to disassemble. I tried making a tool to compress the bushings and remove the Snap Rings. To make a long story short, Don't. Get the Currie Tools. They make the job SO much easier. I did get something to work, but I struggled to make it work well. I'm essentially a cheap bastard and didn't want to spend 200 bucks on tools for something that may or may not be worth saving, so I posted a plea on my Jeep Group's Facebook page. Thankfully, someone had a set that they were comfortable letting me borrow. I will be getting my own tools now. They just flat work. Here is a full set of Currie Double adjustable arms, fully disassembled...LOTS OF PARTS!

And a quick Video to show how JJ's come apart and how the tool works.

I started cleaning things up, and putting a critical eye on everything. I realized that the zinc plating was pretty close to gone on the cast pieces. But, I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with the Yellow Zinc Chromate that was on its last legs. Getting rid of it is easy. I have a sandblaster. I didn't want to paint them though...I was concerned about fit and incompatibility between the paint and grease. I did some calling around and Googling. I was contemplating making my own Zinc plating bath at home. Its a pretty easy process, but I didn't really know how to dispose of the solution afterward. I got in contact with a local shop here in town. They are able to do small batches of plating...and they didn't charge an arm and a leg for it. So, for 30 dollars, I got all my Yellow Zinc Chromate redone. I sandblasted all the grease bolts and cast JJ housings. I cleaned and degreased them as well as I could and dropped them off to the plater. I was really happy with how they turned out.

Another thing I wanted to address was the powdercoating. It was flaking off in spots and one of the struggles I had during disassembly was getting the upper arms apart. Breaking the first lock nut free was a piece of cake. Getting the second one free proved difficult. The arms don't have wrench flats in them. I ended up using my 18" pipe wrench to get leverage on the tubing. As anyone who has used a pipe wrench can tell you, they work by biting into the metal. Well as you can imagine, when you use a pipe wrench on a powder coated surface, it doesn't stand a chance.

As an aside, I asked Mr. Blaine why the uppers didn't have wrench flats and how you're supposed to adjust and tighten the locknuts without. He said they actually used to have flats on them, but they had trouble with people adjusting the arms under load and pulling the threads out of the tube. He also described how to set the length without them.

With those issues in mind, I took the uppers to work with me one day and stayed late. My uppers now have 7/8" wrench flats in them. I cleaned up all the other boogers and chips in the powdercoat and got the arms ready for a fresh coat of paint. I thought about having them powdercoated again. The issue was that the stuff that was still there (95% of it) was REALLY on there. My sandblaster couldn't touch it, so I just used a Rolock wheel to clean them up and some semi-gloss Rustoleum.

Ready for paint...

Freshly painted. Side note, the thread fit on Johnny Joints is very tight. The painted threads shown on the front upper brackets needs to be cleaned off to adjust smoothly. Also...A "normal" thread tap in 1"-14 (normal is 2B) will be too big to chase the threads in the arm. Don't ask how I know that...

Finally, we get to the "expensive" part of this endeavor. I needed to decide if I should replace bushings or not. I took the time to clean them up as good as I could, but noticed that nearly all of them had some material displaced out of the joint and through the retaining washer. Some were just bad, and others looked "OK." These are typical of what I was finding.

Again, some conversation with Mr. Blaine helped figure out what was going on with the bushings. Apparently, you can overgrease these things, and that is the result. He said they would probably work...but they weren't that expensive either. I debated it for a bit...but decided I wanted the best result I could get. So, I bought rebuild kits for every JJ in the set.

I also found this manufacturing defect...

The grease ring isn't complete, and doesn't intersect the cross-hole. I replaced that piece too. Currie didn't replace it for me...but I really didn't expect them too. I also bought all new locknuts and extra thick washers. The washers were rusty and I was missing some. The locknuts are toplock style and are known as "prevailing torque" locknuts. That means they have material interference designed into them to provide the locking function. They are technically only good for one use. I didn't know how many times they had been installed and removed, so I elected to replace them.

Here are my completely rebuilt arms, ready to be installed. Pretty happy with how these turned out. I've not seen brand new ones, but I can't imagine they look too different. I still have some questions related to install...Like should I replace my LCA brackets on the axle, but I'll start a thread for that.

 

[Chris]

I'm really impressed!

So I have to ask: With the cost you paid for the used arms, the rebuild kits, the zinc coating, paint, and the time you put into them, how much do you think you ended up spending total (valuing your time at some sort of hourly wage as well)?

I'm only asking because I'm curious to know whether or not you actually saved enough that it made it worth while, or if it would have been more cost effective to buy new arms? I imagine that unless you paid a lot of money for the arms, you probably came out on top.

I didn't know that about over-greasing the arms. What is it about over-greasing them that causes that to happen?

 

[IPerkWVU]

I've been cruising Craigslist, FB marketplace, OfferUp, Ebay, etc. looking for a "good" set of Used control arms for a while. Been pretty tough to find. Most are well past their prime and are Rough Country or Rubicon Express, or some other brand that is not worth my time to rebuild. At the end of last year, I managed to catch a member here that was buying new ones, as his shop said his control arms were "shot". It was a full set of Double adjustable Curries. I reached out, and took a chance on them. Curries are worth rebuilding, in my mind.

This is what they looked like when I got them.

View attachment 87076

It took a couple days to disassemble. I tried making a tool to compress the bushings and remove the Snap Rings. To make a long story short, Don't. Get the Currie Tools. They make the job SO much easier. I did get something to work, but I struggled to make it work well. I'm essentially a cheap bastard and didn't want to spend 200 bucks on tools for something that may or may not be worth saving, so I posted a plea on my Jeep Group's Facebook page. Thankfully, someone had a set that they were comfortable letting me borrow. I will be getting my own tools now. They just flat work. Here is a full set of Currie Double adjustable arms, fully disassembled...LOTS OF PARTS!

And a quick Video to show how JJ's come apart and how the tool works.

I started cleaning things up, and putting a critical eye on everything. I realized that the zinc plating was pretty close to gone on the cast pieces. But, I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with the Yellow Zinc Chromate that was on its last legs. Getting rid of it is easy. I have a sandblaster. I didn't want to paint them though...I was concerned about fit and incompatibility between the paint and grease. I did some calling around and Googling. I was contemplating making my own Zinc plating bath at home. Its a pretty easy process, but I didn't really know how to dispose of the solution afterward. I got in contact with a local shop here in town. They are able to do small batches of plating...and they didn't charge an arm and a leg for it. So, for 30 dollars, I got all my Yellow Zinc Chromate redone. I sandblasted all the grease bolts and cast JJ housings. I cleaned and degreased them as well as I could and dropped them off to the plater. I was really happy with how they turned out.

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Another thing I wanted to address was the powdercoating. It was flaking off in spots and one of the struggles I had during disassembly was getting the upper arms apart. Breaking the first lock nut free was a piece of cake. Getting the second one free proved difficult. The arms don't have wrench flats in them. I ended up using my 18" pipe wrench to get leverage on the tubing. As anyone who has used a pipe wrench can tell you, they work by biting into the metal. Well as you can imagine, when you use a pipe wrench on a powder coated surface, it doesn't stand a chance.

As an aside, I asked Mr. Blaine why the uppers didn't have wrench flats and how you're supposed to adjust and tighten the locknuts without. He said they actually used to have flats on them, but they had trouble with people adjusting the arms under load and pulling the threads out of the tube. He also described how to set the length without them.

With those issues in mind, I took the uppers to work with me one day and stayed late. My uppers now have 7/8" wrench flats in them. I cleaned up all the other boogers and chips in the powdercoat and got the arms ready for a fresh coat of paint. I thought about having them powdercoated again. The issue was that the stuff that was still there (95% of it) was REALLY on there. My sandblaster couldn't touch it, so I just used a Rolock wheel to clean them up and some semi-gloss Rustoleum.

Ready for paint...

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Freshly painted. Side note, the thread fit on Johnny Joints is very tight. The painted threads shown on the front upper brackets needs to be cleaned off to adjust smoothly. Also...A "normal" thread tap in 1"-14 (normal is 2B) will be too big to chase the threads in the arm. Don't ask how I know that...

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Finally, we get to the "expensive" part of this endeavor. I needed to decide if I should replace bushings or not. I took the time to clean them up as good as I could, but noticed that nearly all of them had some material displaced out of the joint and through the retaining washer. Some were just bad, and others looked "OK." These are typical of what I was finding.

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Again, some conversation with Mr. Blaine helped figure out what was going on with the bushings. Apparently, you can overgrease these things, and that is the result. He said they would probably work...but they weren't that expensive either. I debated it for a bit...but decided I wanted the best result I could get. So, I bought rebuild kits for every JJ in the set.

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I also found this manufacturing defect...

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The grease ring isn't complete, and doesn't intersect the cross-hole. I replaced that piece too. Currie didn't replace it for me...but I really didn't expect them too. I also bought all new locknuts and extra thick washers. The washers were rusty and I was missing some. The locknuts are toplock style and are known as "prevailing torque" locknuts. That means they have material interference designed into them to provide the locking function. They are technically only good for one use. I didn't know how many times they had been installed and removed, so I elected to replace them.

Here are my completely rebuilt arms, ready to be installed. Pretty happy with how these turned out. I've not seen brand new ones, but I can't imagine they look too different. I still have some questions related to install...Like should I replace my LCA brackets on the axle, but I'll start a thread for that.

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Nice work, there has to be some satisfaction in bringing those back to life.

 

[JMT]

Man, looks like you got them where they need to be. Great work, as always. You sound like you learned a lot along the way!