Yep, I ordered the shock extension brackets yesterday - cheap enough to experiment with. Right now, the rear is at 4.7" up/4.9" down.
PRNDL's Green Jeep
- Thread starter PRNDL
- Start date
Yep, I ordered the shock extension brackets yesterday - cheap enough to experiment with. Right now, the rear is at 4.7" up/4.9" down.
I got this Jeep one year ago today.
More than a decade ago, I swapped in built axles from an '03 Rubicon into my 2001 Sport. I was young and naive on 35s, 3" springs and a body lift. I never once had issues with track bar clearance, never set bumpstops, didn't have any idea what uptravel was, never had driveline issues, never had vibes. Everything just fit and worked. I was caught up in wanting to look like spyder6's TJR from over on JF.
What I've come to realize over the past year having this TJR is that 1) those '03 Rubicon axles were more modified than I was able to appreciate at the time, 2) just about everything I thought I knew from that 2001 Sport was wrong and 3) yes, I swapped axles in a car port at 23 (and thought I was a badass for it) but all I did was bolt on new parts. I never really "modified" anything or even progressed to understanding why you would want or need to.
Getting things working and working well is hard - a lot more difficult than I imagined it would be. Its also much more fun knowing the why behind what we do to get these Jeeps right. I'm finding pride now in the things not as easily seen.
More than a decade ago, I swapped in built axles from an '03 Rubicon into my 2001 Sport. I was young and naive on 35s, 3" springs and a body lift. I never once had issues with track bar clearance, never set bumpstops, didn't have any idea what uptravel was, never had driveline issues, never had vibes. Everything just fit and worked. I was caught up in wanting to look like spyder6's TJR from over on JF.
What I've come to realize over the past year having this TJR is that 1) those '03 Rubicon axles were more modified than I was able to appreciate at the time, 2) just about everything I thought I knew from that 2001 Sport was wrong and 3) yes, I swapped axles in a car port at 23 (and thought I was a badass for it) but all I did was bolt on new parts. I never really "modified" anything or even progressed to understanding why you would want or need to.
Getting things working and working well is hard - a lot more difficult than I imagined it would be. Its also much more fun knowing the why behind what we do to get these Jeeps right. I'm finding pride now in the things not as easily seen.
Installed the ZJ tie rod, serviced the front diff while the tie rod was removed and set the alignment.
The ZJ rod is solid. The upgrade is obvious just by holding it vs the old one.
First time cracking the front diff - easier with the tie rod out of the way.
The diff internals look good. The air line is secure. There might be a little streak of rust getting in at the external air fitting. I'll shore that up from the outside assuming the fitting doesn't need to be replaced.
I used a lubelocker and Valvoline full synthetic 75w-140.
New tie rod went in without issue. Alignment was set at 1/8" toe in.
Front: 58 1/8"
Rear: 58 1/4"
Alignment came out identical to what it was before the swap since the steering wheel did not require centering adjustment.
All cleaned up and it looks great. Greased with Lucas Red'n Tacky. The factory front diff cover is in great shape compared to the rear - the rear cover has some rust. I might look into a replacement for the rear end.
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As a follow up to to rear track bar/gas skid debacle: I modified the stock skid. by removing the offending section and taking a BFH to the lip. Looks good for now. I hate dropping the tank... I'm not looking forward to the next time I have to do that.
I also installed Rock Jock shock mount extensions to get the shocks out of the perches, etc. The passenger shock is close, but not contacting the exhaust. I lose about an inch of up travel with these. Not sure I'll keep them, but they are serving their purpose at the moment.
The ZJ rod is solid. The upgrade is obvious just by holding it vs the old one.
First time cracking the front diff - easier with the tie rod out of the way.
The diff internals look good. The air line is secure. There might be a little streak of rust getting in at the external air fitting. I'll shore that up from the outside assuming the fitting doesn't need to be replaced.
I used a lubelocker and Valvoline full synthetic 75w-140.
New tie rod went in without issue. Alignment was set at 1/8" toe in.
Front: 58 1/8"
Rear: 58 1/4"
Alignment came out identical to what it was before the swap since the steering wheel did not require centering adjustment.
All cleaned up and it looks great. Greased with Lucas Red'n Tacky. The factory front diff cover is in great shape compared to the rear - the rear cover has some rust. I might look into a replacement for the rear end.
—-
As a follow up to to rear track bar/gas skid debacle: I modified the stock skid. by removing the offending section and taking a BFH to the lip. Looks good for now. I hate dropping the tank... I'm not looking forward to the next time I have to do that.
I also installed Rock Jock shock mount extensions to get the shocks out of the perches, etc. The passenger shock is close, but not contacting the exhaust. I lose about an inch of up travel with these. Not sure I'll keep them, but they are serving their purpose at the moment.
Johnny Joints have been creaky for about a month. I did not grease them when they were new and they have been installed for about 10 months and 2,500 miles. I bought the Rock Jock 2.5" tool (CE-9110T), a tub of Red Line CV-2 and the recommended Knipex snap ring pliers (for the 2.5" joint).
The process was much more straight forward than I anticipated. I think I had it built up in my head to be more than it was. I did not remove the joints from the arms or loosen the lock nuts. The first arm took a bit longer to get the process down and set opposing height to be even with the tool in the vise. Three stacked rolls of duct tape was just about perfect.
The joints were not in great shape. I couldn't move some of the joint balls by hand
- even with a bolt as leverage through the joint. All eight joint internals and races looked fine, just dirty. The grease content was not consisten from joint to joint. My driver rear LCA had almost no grease in either end wheras the passenger side actually seemed fine. None of the balls were drilled/slotted which I believe means I cannot use the optional greasable bolts. The JJ tool made it very easy. I expected to fight the snap rings more than I did, I assume the correct pliers made the difference here as well. All 8 joints probably took me around 3 hours including removal/reinstall time.
Reinstalled and torqued to 90ft.lbs. No creaking now. I swear it rides better on the road now too. I still need to service the UCAs, but I might go the DIY route on the tool now that I know what is involved first hand.
The process was much more straight forward than I anticipated. I think I had it built up in my head to be more than it was. I did not remove the joints from the arms or loosen the lock nuts. The first arm took a bit longer to get the process down and set opposing height to be even with the tool in the vise. Three stacked rolls of duct tape was just about perfect.
The joints were not in great shape. I couldn't move some of the joint balls by hand
- even with a bolt as leverage through the joint. All eight joint internals and races looked fine, just dirty. The grease content was not consisten from joint to joint. My driver rear LCA had almost no grease in either end wheras the passenger side actually seemed fine. None of the balls were drilled/slotted which I believe means I cannot use the optional greasable bolts. The JJ tool made it very easy. I expected to fight the snap rings more than I did, I assume the correct pliers made the difference here as well. All 8 joints probably took me around 3 hours including removal/reinstall time.
Reinstalled and torqued to 90ft.lbs. No creaking now. I swear it rides better on the road now too. I still need to service the UCAs, but I might go the DIY route on the tool now that I know what is involved first hand.
ranger101
TJ Addict
Here was my tool for the uppers. 4” long 3/8” bolt and two sockets. Hit it with the impact and pull the snap ring. I could rebuild each joint in about 10mins. If you need to clean the uniball run a bolt down through it and chuck it up in a drill so you can spin it while using mild sandpaper or scotch brite. My joints were so stiff that I couldn’t even move them while they were still bolted in place. At one point I tried kicking at one of them and it wouldn’t budge. I can only imagine the stress that was putting on the frame side mounts. I’m excited to see the improvement in ride quality also.
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Thanks, that's helpful to have an example. I'll probably pull one and take it to HF to test fit sockets. looks like you're using a 1" and 16mm?
My joint balls looked ok. They didn't need much cleaning, really only needed to have the old grease removed and dirt scrubbed from the outer sides. I'll keep that in mind though about running it on a drill for the future. I remember seeing a picture of your joints. Are the upper 2" joints one piece rubber bushings or are they a split two piece like I found in my lowers?
The improved ride is all in my head right?
ranger101
TJ Addict
I was using a 1” and a 13/16” I believe. My upper joints were one piece rubber and I remember some people being a little surprised by that. To get the one-piece bushing off, I took a 1” wrench and put the closed end on the bushing and smacked it with a hammer. They go back on even easier since they’ll be clean and greased up.
Im going to say that the improved ride is actually there, but we know how that opinion goes lol I think it’s the same thought people have when coming from stock control arms with seized bolts in the bushing sleeve. Youre freeing up some major resistance(in my case anyway), I’d assume that accounts for something. Especially on these lighter vehicles.
Im going to say that the improved ride is actually there, but we know how that opinion goes lol I think it’s the same thought people have when coming from stock control arms with seized bolts in the bushing sleeve. Youre freeing up some major resistance(in my case anyway), I’d assume that accounts for something. Especially on these lighter vehicles.
Catch up post from the past few months.
2022-10-07 - installed a new air filter: Wix 46081
2022-11-12 - Installed new wipers: Bosch Microedge 40713
Somewhere along the way, I installed a set of Skyjacker Black MAX rear shocks (B8528) hoping to relieve stiff ride characteristics of the Rancho 5000x. They also run shaft down which allowed me to remove the Currie shock extension brackets. These have been a huge improvement in ride quality. I haven't noticed any ill effects from running different shocks front (still Rancho) and rear. At some point, I might get a set of Black MAX for the front, but for now, I'm happy with the improved ride.
I was given a factory trunk by a local forum member. My Jeep did not have the nutserts installed in the tub to mount the trunk. I followed a post from @Jamison C as a guide to set the nutserts and mount the trunk. Very nice addition. I'll probably look to add threaded knobs at some point in the future.
2022-10-07 - installed a new air filter: Wix 46081
2022-11-12 - Installed new wipers: Bosch Microedge 40713
Somewhere along the way, I installed a set of Skyjacker Black MAX rear shocks (B8528) hoping to relieve stiff ride characteristics of the Rancho 5000x. They also run shaft down which allowed me to remove the Currie shock extension brackets. These have been a huge improvement in ride quality. I haven't noticed any ill effects from running different shocks front (still Rancho) and rear. At some point, I might get a set of Black MAX for the front, but for now, I'm happy with the improved ride.
I was given a factory trunk by a local forum member. My Jeep did not have the nutserts installed in the tub to mount the trunk. I followed a post from @Jamison C as a guide to set the nutserts and mount the trunk. Very nice addition. I'll probably look to add threaded knobs at some point in the future.
I liked having that trunk. Been really difficult to find one in khaki :/ Been wondering where you were!
I've been here lurking. Life has been busy keeping up with the kids over the winter.
Thanks for documenting your nutsert/trunk project!
I previously installed Polk DB522 front speakers with 5.25" adapters and a cheap new sub. The sub has been great, but the polk's really didn't make much difference compared to the factory speakers probably because my knees were the primary beneficiaries. I'm still running the not-great single din head unit installed by the PO. I asked around on the WTJF sound system thread and the resident audio expert provided a few recommendations:
- BLAM 130 RS 5.25" components + tweeter pods from a recommended ebay seller
- Kicker 47KSS504 5.25" components with included tweeter pods.
I chose the Kickers for convenience and because the pods are smaller profile - though I am not doubting the BLAMs are better.
The installation was un-exciting. I drilled 1/2" holes in the plastic A-pillar covers for the tweeter pods. Mounted the crossover controllers with dual-lock behind the dash. The woofers replaced the polks and the wiring was zipped out of sight. The little pods look great.
I moved the Polk's to the soundbar and used the factory grille covers which required just a bit of clearance-ing. Nothing really to see there. Not sure these are an actual improvement over the factory speakers to my ears. They have a higher sensitivity and sound louder I guess, but not exactly better. It took a bit to balance them with the new components up front.
The kickers have a three way switch to set the gain to the tweeters: +0db, +4.5db and +9db. I'll play with these settings a bit over the coming weeks with different top/door combinations. I put the crossovers in a place that can be easily reached to adjust them if needed.
After a few trips around town with the top and doors off, I am very impressed. I can hear the audio at lower volumes - its a miracle! Very happy with them, though now I'm taking another look at amps and head units. It looks like the beloved Picasso Nano has been discontinued?
- BLAM 130 RS 5.25" components + tweeter pods from a recommended ebay seller
- Kicker 47KSS504 5.25" components with included tweeter pods.
I chose the Kickers for convenience and because the pods are smaller profile - though I am not doubting the BLAMs are better.
The installation was un-exciting. I drilled 1/2" holes in the plastic A-pillar covers for the tweeter pods. Mounted the crossover controllers with dual-lock behind the dash. The woofers replaced the polks and the wiring was zipped out of sight. The little pods look great.
I moved the Polk's to the soundbar and used the factory grille covers which required just a bit of clearance-ing. Nothing really to see there. Not sure these are an actual improvement over the factory speakers to my ears. They have a higher sensitivity and sound louder I guess, but not exactly better. It took a bit to balance them with the new components up front.
The kickers have a three way switch to set the gain to the tweeters: +0db, +4.5db and +9db. I'll play with these settings a bit over the coming weeks with different top/door combinations. I put the crossovers in a place that can be easily reached to adjust them if needed.
After a few trips around town with the top and doors off, I am very impressed. I can hear the audio at lower volumes - its a miracle! Very happy with them, though now I'm taking another look at amps and head units. It looks like the beloved Picasso Nano has been discontinued?
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A busy winter, not much Jeep action or news. My father-in-law just bought a 2022 Sahara and is showing interest in some light off-roading. I need to get a few projects completed that I have been putting off for a while now for the spring season.
My Jeep survived its time in the northeast before making it to Texas with relatively minimal rust. One area I noticed early on was the oil pan. There were rust spots that I wasn't sure exactly how thin the material was and didn't want to find out. I bought a replacement pan over a year ago and have been waiting for the next oil change to make the swap. That day was today.
The exhaust has to be disconnected at the header and lowered to allow the pan to clear the oil pump pick-up. Having never removed the exhaust before, I had concerns about the exhaust bolts both in being seized and simply accessing the bolt heads for removal. WTJF had the answer, as always. A 15 mm swivel socket, an impact wrench and several extensions made quick work of removing the bolts. I did get the socket hung up once on the inner side of the rear mini-cat but was able to finish it with a ratchet. After that, it was lowering the skid and removing the transmission support bracket to allow the exhaust to droop. I'll be modifying this bracket to clearance the exhaust around the passenger UCA mount before reinstalling. More on that later.
With the exhaust lowered and the starter removed, 26 of the 28 bolts holding the pan were easily removed. the final two at the rear of the block were partially blocked by the oil pan strap(?) (and caked on dirt/oil). Once the socket was on the bolt head, they were also removed.
Removing the old gasket was tricky near the corners where RTV is applied. It took time and patience to get the old RTV removed from the gasket groove. Once everything was cleaned up, reassembly was easy. I used the pins provided with the Felpro gasket. I know a lot of guys prefer to make their own as prescribed by the FSM, but these worked well enough. Four corners with RTV and help from my assistant keeping the bolts in order and the new pan was installed.
New pan all ready to go.
All in all not too bad. Glad I researched and planned ahead. I need to correct the exhaust hanger bracket before I can fully reassemble. Spoiler alert: that is done too. The test run went well and as of this morning, no drips. Lots of firsts in this project. Glad to have it out of the way.
While the pan was off, I took a look a the timing chain. I have questions about how much deflection or slack is expected. I'll do more research on this later, but mine doesn't look too much different from this example. Here's a video of the chain slack/deflection in my 4.0L.
My Jeep survived its time in the northeast before making it to Texas with relatively minimal rust. One area I noticed early on was the oil pan. There were rust spots that I wasn't sure exactly how thin the material was and didn't want to find out. I bought a replacement pan over a year ago and have been waiting for the next oil change to make the swap. That day was today.
The exhaust has to be disconnected at the header and lowered to allow the pan to clear the oil pump pick-up. Having never removed the exhaust before, I had concerns about the exhaust bolts both in being seized and simply accessing the bolt heads for removal. WTJF had the answer, as always. A 15 mm swivel socket, an impact wrench and several extensions made quick work of removing the bolts. I did get the socket hung up once on the inner side of the rear mini-cat but was able to finish it with a ratchet. After that, it was lowering the skid and removing the transmission support bracket to allow the exhaust to droop. I'll be modifying this bracket to clearance the exhaust around the passenger UCA mount before reinstalling. More on that later.
With the exhaust lowered and the starter removed, 26 of the 28 bolts holding the pan were easily removed. the final two at the rear of the block were partially blocked by the oil pan strap(?) (and caked on dirt/oil). Once the socket was on the bolt head, they were also removed.
Removing the old gasket was tricky near the corners where RTV is applied. It took time and patience to get the old RTV removed from the gasket groove. Once everything was cleaned up, reassembly was easy. I used the pins provided with the Felpro gasket. I know a lot of guys prefer to make their own as prescribed by the FSM, but these worked well enough. Four corners with RTV and help from my assistant keeping the bolts in order and the new pan was installed.
New pan all ready to go.
All in all not too bad. Glad I researched and planned ahead. I need to correct the exhaust hanger bracket before I can fully reassemble. Spoiler alert: that is done too. The test run went well and as of this morning, no drips. Lots of firsts in this project. Glad to have it out of the way.
While the pan was off, I took a look a the timing chain. I have questions about how much deflection or slack is expected. I'll do more research on this later, but mine doesn't look too much different from this example. Here's a video of the chain slack/deflection in my 4.0L.
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Since installing the body lift and the UCF extra clearance skid, the exhaust pipe is contacting the passenger side upper control arm mount (see "Exhaust clearance" here). It is not noticeable in any way except at very low engine speeds when it rattles loudly. Not a huge deal except for (lazy) starts in first gear and especially in low speed crawl situations off-road. There are solutions. UCF sells a low-pro transmission mount, but increases engine vibrations in the cab. Another option is to take it to an exhaust shop to fab something up. Others have cut and welded the factory hanger to lower it back to the normal location with the factory skid. Really none of these were appealing for different reasons.
Recently, this same scenario was described here by @MountaineerTom. I followed along and will be replicating the solution. It is similar to the cut-and-weld, except its a cut-and-bolt thing. The original inspiration for this fix cut and slotted one side and used bolts to reassemble at the desired height. In a subsequent post, @Farmergreg suggests an improvement would be cutting bracket closer to the lower hole. Tom's exhaust hanger mod takes that into account.
The cut, drill, paint and reassemble was just as simple as described and the results solved the problem. No rattles at low RPM.
The muffler clears the ucf skid.
The exhaust clears the front passenger UCA mount.
The rubber hangers aren't back to their factory positions, but have much less binding than before. More tweaking could possibly improve here.
Recently, this same scenario was described here by @MountaineerTom. I followed along and will be replicating the solution. It is similar to the cut-and-weld, except its a cut-and-bolt thing. The original inspiration for this fix cut and slotted one side and used bolts to reassemble at the desired height. In a subsequent post, @Farmergreg suggests an improvement would be cutting bracket closer to the lower hole. Tom's exhaust hanger mod takes that into account.
The cut, drill, paint and reassemble was just as simple as described and the results solved the problem. No rattles at low RPM.
The muffler clears the ucf skid.
The exhaust clears the front passenger UCA mount.
The rubber hangers aren't back to their factory positions, but have much less binding than before. More tweaking could possibly improve here.
After the kicker speaker upgrade, it was obvious that a separate amplifier was needed. A regular recommendation on the forum is the Soundstream Picasso Nano 640D that I believe has recently been discontinued. I found a used unit with all the attachment cables on Ebay and ordered. 5 channels, small footprint and plenty of power.
The next obstacle was my 10+ year old head unit. It had only 2 pairs of pre-amp RCA outs; one for the front speakers and another set that could be set to rear or the sub. There may be other solutions, but I opted to replace the unit with another forum recommendation: the Kenwood KMM-X705 with 3 pairs of pre-outs at 5v.
The Kenwood install was easier expected. Crutchfield supplied all of the required parts. I had it done in about an hour. No real change in sound quality running from the built in amp vs the old Pioneer.
The amp install was much more exciting. There are plenty of good examples on the forum (here and here are just two) for mounting the amp in the unused space under the steering column. The forum research and pre-planning made this install about as simple as it could be. I spread it out over a few evenings and had it ready to go for the weekend.
I've only done some basic tuning and I am blown away. The sound is clean, the tweeters up front are fantastic, the $25 Goldwood sub sounds great and I can hear everything cruising with the top down. Special thanks to @NashvilleTJ for his write up on the Soundstream amp gain knobs - saved me a ton of time. A big thanks to @skrelnik for his Jeep audio expertise that he so regularly shares on this forum.
The next obstacle was my 10+ year old head unit. It had only 2 pairs of pre-amp RCA outs; one for the front speakers and another set that could be set to rear or the sub. There may be other solutions, but I opted to replace the unit with another forum recommendation: the Kenwood KMM-X705 with 3 pairs of pre-outs at 5v.
The Kenwood install was easier expected. Crutchfield supplied all of the required parts. I had it done in about an hour. No real change in sound quality running from the built in amp vs the old Pioneer.
The amp install was much more exciting. There are plenty of good examples on the forum (here and here are just two) for mounting the amp in the unused space under the steering column. The forum research and pre-planning made this install about as simple as it could be. I spread it out over a few evenings and had it ready to go for the weekend.
I've only done some basic tuning and I am blown away. The sound is clean, the tweeters up front are fantastic, the $25 Goldwood sub sounds great and I can hear everything cruising with the top down. Special thanks to @NashvilleTJ for his write up on the Soundstream amp gain knobs - saved me a ton of time. A big thanks to @skrelnik for his Jeep audio expertise that he so regularly shares on this forum.
Looks great, clean install, and glad to read it sounds that much nicer. Good find on the Picasso Nano, there are other amps out there but good Ebay find!
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Great and clean install. It's amazing how much the sound improves by relocating the tweeters and adding an amplifier takes it to another level - you can cleanly hear music with no top on at high speeds.
Huge thanks to you, sir. Every forum search I did researching audio solutions had your fingerprints on it.
MountaineerTom
LJ Enthusiast, Retired USAF Weapons Loader
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
I’m not sure how I did it, but after removing the transfer case, installing a SYE and then putting it all back together my rear exhaust hangers are back like they were before I started any of that. I did have to lower the rear of the transmission/transfer case really low to get the top two bolts loose. Maybe that did something to it.
Glad the mount worked out good for you.
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