MountaineerTom's 2006 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

[JMT]

I've read a lot of complaints about the LoPro vibes. I'm sticking with the OEM mount. A little extra TC height shouldn't hurt, once we have our SYEs in place. I don't see much of an advantage with the LoPro, especially on an LJ. Sorry, lots of TLAs in this post.

If you want to do a TT you need an SYE, a DC, some UCA’s and LCA’s with an ATB and ARB and don’t forget the BFH. 🤣

On a lighter note, that UCF Lo-Pro mount gives vibes in the 500-800rpm, which means at idle your mirrors will be shaking. Kind of annoying I’m sure. I think mine vibrates more with the Savvy transmission mount. It’s livable as long as I keep everything else in the dash from squeaking and rattling. Every once in awhile I develop a new sound I have to track down. 🤣

 

[MountaineerTom]

After thinking about this for a couple days and giving my back a break, I think this is what I'll try. I really want to stick with the OEM transmission mount, so I bought a used transmission mount bracket with exhaust hanger off eBay. I'm going to do what @Farmergreg in THIS post in his build thread with using his recommended adjustment to cutting the bracket in his next post. Thanks to whoever linked that thread, I can't remember who did it.

I think I'll be able to lower it enough so that the exhaust doesn't hit the front upper control arm mount bracket. By just looking at it, I don't think I'll have any contact issues on the other side with the driveshaft like @Jamison C did. It doesn't appear to be anywhere close to it but I guess I'll find out when it gets flexed.

Going to wait for the Ebay bracket to come in before I do anything.

 

[MountaineerTom]

Still waiting for the trans mount bracket/exhaust hanger to arrive, but in the meantime, I crawled under to see if any other areas of the exhaust is hitting. The last day I worked on it my back was killing me and I really didn't care. LOL So, this is what I found tonight; rear exhaust hanger pushed up significantly, exhaust hitting the rear track bar and the already discovered front of the exhaust hitting the front passengers side rear control arm mount. This is using the UCF extra clearance skid and an OEM transmission mount. Modifying the trans mount bracket exhaust hanger so everything can be lowered should fix all of this. In the last pic, the hanger and cat aren't hitting. I can slide my fingers in between them and the heat shield.

 

[OldBuzzard]

They say every Jeep is different. This seems to prove it. My 2005 LJ, with the same UCF Extra Clearance skid, and OEM exhaust hanger, and OEM exhaust system, doesn't have these problems. The rear hanger hangs down like it always did. The pipe misses the track bar by 1/2". The cat is almost touching the tub insulation, like yours. And the pipe in the front is close, but not touching, the control arm mount.

I'm going to shorten my tranny exhaust hanger by about an inch or a little more tomorrow, and I'll see what that does for it.

Have you loosened your cat-to-muffler nuts and your pipe-to-manifold bolts so everything can shift around a little?

 

[MountaineerTom]

They say every Jeep is different. This seems to prove it. My 2005 LJ, with the same UCF Extra Clearance skid, and OEM exhaust hanger, and OEM exhaust system, doesn't have these problems. The rear hanger hangs down like it always did. The pipe misses the track bar by 1/2". The cat is almost touching the tub insulation, like yours. And the pipe in the front is close, but not touching, the control arm mount.

I'm going to shorten my tranny exhaust hanger by about an inch or a little more tomorrow, and I'll see what that does for it.

Have you loosened your cat-to-muffler nuts and your pipe-to-manifold bolts so everything can shift around a little?

I can't remember, are you using an OEM trans mount too, or the UCF Lo-Pro mount?

I didn't loosen any exhaust connections. I think when I cut the bracket with the exhaust hanger mount and overlap them with some adjustability designed into it, it should all be ok. If not, I may try loosening some connections up. The tailpipe is not actually hitting the frame, but it's about 1/2 to 3/4 inches from it. To my knowledge, it's all the factory exhaust.

 

[Feralkid]

maybe something like this would work

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086MJ2Z65/?tag=wranglerorg-20

 

[OldBuzzard]

I can't remember, are you using an OEM trans mount too, or the UCF Lo-Pro mount?

I didn't loosen any exhaust connections. I think when I cut the bracket with the exhaust hanger mount and overlap them with some adjustability designed into it, it should all be ok. If not, I may try loosening some connections up. The tailpipe is not actually hitting the frame, but it's about 1/2 to 3/4 inches from it. To my knowledge, it's all the factory exhaust.

I'm using the OEM trans mount. My exhaust system seemed kind of "tight" until I loosened the cat-to-muffler nuts. A good thump and it settled into a better alignment. I'm leaving it loose until I get the hanger lowered. Then I'll thump it again and tighten everything up.

 

[MountaineerTom]

maybe something like this would work

http://[URL][URL]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086MJ2Z65/?tag=wranglerorg-20

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I've already got an extra bracket on the way, like in the 3rd picture, so I'll probably just wait for it to arrive. I'll keep that option in mind though. Thank you.

 

[MountaineerTom]

@OldBuzzard , I forgot, I have a 1 inch motor mount lift too. Do you have one as well?

 

[OldBuzzard]

@OldBuzzard , I forgot, I have a 1 inch motor mount lift too. Do you have one as well?

Yes.

 

[OldBuzzard]

I cut my exhaust hanger and lowered it by 1". I bolted it together for now. Maybe I'll weld it later, after I'm sure everything fits right. Haven't got it installed yet, but I hung it in place and it looks fine.

 

[MountaineerTom]

I cut my exhaust hanger and lowered it by 1". I bolted it together for now. Maybe I'll weld it later, after I'm sure everything fits right. Haven't got it installed yet, but I hung it in place and it looks fine.

View attachment 391708

View attachment 391710

The one I ordered is showing it will arrive Tuesday. I have to work Wednesday and Thursday so I won’t be able to do anything with it until Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Looking forward to figuring mine out.

 

[OldBuzzard]

I installed the tranny mount / shortened exhaust hanger. It works nicely, and has a little over 1" clearance above the cat. I had thought about lowering it to align the two original holes, but that would have taken it down about 1-9/16". Instead, I drilled it to lower it by 1", and I'm glad I did. After getting it installed, the cat clears the crossways support bar in the UCF Extra Clearance skid by about 1/2". Dropping it more than 1" would have put the cat too close to that bar. And dropping the full 1-9/16" would have had it touching the bar.

 

[MountaineerTom]

I installed the tranny mount / shortened exhaust hanger. It works nicely, and has a little over 1" clearance above the cat. I had thought about lowering it to align the two original holes, but that would have taken it down about 1-9/16". Instead, I drilled it to lower it by 1", and I'm glad I did. After getting it installed, the cat clears the crossways support bar in the UCF Extra Clearance skid by about 1/2". Dropping it more than 1" would have put the cat too close to that bar. And dropping the full 1-9/16" would have had it touching the bar.

View attachment 391965

That’s great.

 

[MountaineerTom]

Well crap, the used transmission mount bracket I ordered came in but they sent one for a 2.4L auto. 😐

 

[OldBuzzard]

Ah crud! There's not much more frustrating than waiting for days for a part and then getting the wrong one.

Why were you getting another one? So you would still have the stock one, just in case? I don't blame you, I don't like to do things which can't be undone, especially experimental stuff. But I figured I could buy another OEM one later, if I screwed mine up. And it turned out fine.

I was reading that other thread about the UCF LoPro. Realized that there might be an interference problem at the bottom if you lowered your exhaust hanger 1" like I did, and used the LoPro. Mine has about 1/2" clearance below the cat to the skid, with the OEM tranny mount, but I disremember how much lower the LoPro drops the tranny.

 

[MountaineerTom]

Ah crud! There's not much more frustrating than waiting for days for a part and then getting the wrong one.

Why were you getting another one? So you would still have the stock one, just in case? I don't blame you, I don't like to do things which can't be undone, especially experimental stuff. But I figured I could buy another OEM one later, if I screwed mine up. And it turned out fine.

I was reading that other thread about the UCF LoPro. Realized that there might be an interference problem at the bottom if you lowered your exhaust hanger 1" like I did, and used the LoPro. Mine has about 1/2" clearance below the cat to the skid, with the OEM tranny mount, but I disremember how much lower the LoPro drops the tranny.

Yeah, just so I have another one to cut up. Plus, my back wasn't feeling good, so I had the time to wait. It's still not 100% so it will do it good to wait a little longer.

I just want to get under there and get to fixing it.

 

[MountaineerTom]

Still waiting on my correct transmission bracket.

More stuff though. 😁

 

[OldBuzzard]

Nice. Be sure to grind the corners of that rear steel flange, like here, or it will gouge your tank pretty badly (7th, 8th, 9th pictures).

 

[Longwhitejeep]

Still waiting on my correct transmission bracket.

More stuff though. 😁

View attachment 394478

Nice! Mine should be here this week too.

Nice. Be sure to grind the corners of that rear steel flange, like here, or it will gouge your tank pretty badly (7th, 8th, 9th pictures).

Thanks for the advice on the install.