Rebuild and Refresh in Florida

antighboatye

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Feb 18, 2019
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34
Location
Pensacola, FL
Introduction post here.

2004 TJ Rocky Mountain Edition that I'll be working on repairing, refreshing, and rebuilding. It has less than 90k miles on it, but it has been ridden hard and put up wet too many times, and ultimately just underused for several years. My girls are finally to the age that they've taken an interest in it, so initially I'll be working on fixing the things that are needed most. Copied from the other thread:

1. Rear brakes need to be replaced. They are worn and caked with dirt and grime, and the e-brake may as well not exist currently.
2. Even with fixing the cracked vacuum line, I still have a whistle when letting off the throttle, so I need to track that down.
3. Alignment and spend some time adjusting and setting pinion angles and caster.
4. Address rear sway bar. When I installed the rear CAs, I noticed the bushings in the RE links were crumbled (they're 14 years old), so I need to determine if it's worth it to replace them or just run without it altogether.
5. Adjustable rear track bar with correct relocation bracket. The original RE bar that's in there is fixed and the bracket isn't angled so it's in a permanent bind and the bushings are worn. Also it's off center by a full inch.
6. Tires. The MTRs are a decade old at this point and while they still have decent tread, they have flat spots and suck to ride on. I'm thinking of going with Cooper STT Pros in the same size.
7. Exhaust. After the belly-up the exhaust is rattling on the side of the transmission pan, and my quick fix with parts store strapping didn't resolve it. The bushing on the trans mount is wallowed out, but I think if I can replace that and bend the hanger a little it should eliminate the issue.

I'm still waiting on my passenger side PRP Daily Driver seat to come in. I ordered one by itself originally to make sure I fit in it, that way if I needed to get the wider model I could just move this one to the passenger side. I'm happy to report that I do indeed fit in it, so when the second one comes in, I'll get it mounted. As a tip for the seat-mounted female end of the seatbelts on later model TJs, I came across this bracket that I think will work great to mount them without any question regarding strength. I've seen Jerry's bracket he fabbed and this looks very similar, but for $2 each they look like they'll be adequate and a time saver for me.

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Note that my risers that I had on the factory seats weren't needed since the adapter brackets give just about the same amount of height, but I had to place them on top of the seat brackets temporarily until I could replace the bolts with the correct length versions.

I can't promise frequent updates, but I'll try to be regular with them. I'm also looking forward to feedback and any suggestions on the jobs listed above.
 
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Bonus pics!

This was the second bottle of fluid I flushed through the brake system. You can see where the clearer fluid lightened the top. The first bottle was entirely black. :oops:

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Painting the seat brackets was totally worth it. I took a medium scotch brite pad to the rusted metal first, then good ol' Duplicolor semi-gloss black.

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14 year old Rubicon Express rear sway bar links.

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New rear lowers to go with the uppers I added a few months back. Pinion adjustments will be made once I have the new rear track bar.

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And a little Florida wheelin' from several years ago. This trip earned me the rear corner armor. It's not rocks, but that hard packed clay will definitely crumple sheet metal.

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Just gonna keep talking to myself here...

New rear sway bar links and bushings are in, as well as new front sway bar bushings. I just replaced the links with the same RE ones that came out since they were inexpensive and the right length. Used Moog bushings which are a vast improvement over the dry rotted OEM rubber.

Also replaced the rear crumbled/missing jounce bumpers with a set of urethane ones from Energy.

New JKS rear adjustable track bar is on order, as well as a Bedrug carpet kit. My tub is lined, but I really like the idea of mitigating some of the noise and heat. I've sold and installed a good number of truck Bedrugs and the material is unbelievably resilient.

And finally, I got my second PRP Daily Driver seat in for the passenger side so I'll need to clean up the factory brackets and get that one mounted, then install the seat belts.
 
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Looks good. Add more pics, and toss those build specs from your introduction post in here! Just saying.
 
Looks good. Add more pics, and toss those build specs from your introduction post in here! Just saying.
Haha, it was in jest but I appreciate the feedback. Just didn't want to clutter things up with a duplicate post. Specs are here:

4" JKS coils with Rokmen front LCAs and JKS for the rest
Rancho RS5000X shocks
35x12.50x15 MTR Kevlars on 15x8 street lock steelies
Currie Steering and front track bar
RE rear track bar that came with original lift
4.88 Yukons with Lockright in front and open rear
AlloyUSA chromo front axles, stock rear
SYE and CV shaft
1" BL/MML
UCF Belly Up
UCF windshield armor
TNT front tube fenders and Rokmen short corners
Big Daddy Offroad sliders
Chopped Bestop front bumper w/ 10k Keeper winch
PRP Daily Driver Seats
Monstaliner in the tub
Rampage fastback top, but it stays in safari top mode most of the year
AEM intake to fit the fenders
Poison Spyder hood louver
Spintech muffler w/ turndown
Skyjacker transfer case linkage
Pioneer head unit with PPI 4ch amp in the glove box and Polk two-ways f/r

Things waiting to be installed:
UCF gas tank skid
PRP DD passenger seat
JKS adjustable rear track bar

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I have the JKS rear track bar. I sort of wish I would have gone with the Currie unit. Its more $$ but I believe better.
 
Ordered in new Hella headlights and Philips X-treme Vision H4 bulbs, new front brake lines, ball joints, tail lights, and Monroe steering stabilizer. Also the JKS track bar and Bed Rug came in. Then I spent Saturday getting to basically none of that. Ultimately I did finally get the driver's side seat belt reinstalled with the new seat, cleaned out the floor boards and installed the bed rug, and got the passenger seat base cleaned up, painted and ready for install.

I'm not crazy about the driver's seat belt, since it's smashed in between the seat and console, and makes sliding the seat difficult. I imagine it will only get worse when I mount the passenger side, so I either need to find a way to get the buckle higher above the seat cushion, or find a soft belt instead of the steel one. I'm open to suggestions here.

Not much in the way of pictures, except for mid paint prep on the seat base and the finished bed rug. I'm hoping to tackle a couple of the other smaller items this week.

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I set some time aside to re-set the rear pinion angle today and install the JKS adjustable track bar. Instead ol’ Murphy stopped by and after smashing my thumb I discovered that JKS packaged the wrong bushing sleeve in the hardware kit so I can’t finish the install today.

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In other news, I was able to spend a little time on my Sportster yesterday and got some new shocks installed out back. Obviously not Jeep related, but I figure wrenching is wrenching.

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