I occasionally glance at them after a failure from not reading the directions.
The Pickle LJ
- Thread starter PickleLJ
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I occasionally glance at them after a failure from not reading the directions.
Thats a wrap on the Sterling Regear, a couple adjustments on the pattern, the crush sleeve eliminator showed up so got the preload set correct, re-checked pattern, everything was in spec. Backlash is at 13 thousandths, preload at 28 inch-lbs, and all is well. Fresh cover, fresh yoke, and a fresh set of gears. Started cleaning up the axle tubes as well, but thats going to be a job for when i can have the door open and im a softy when it gets below about 20 degrees 
too much dust in the air with the door shut.
Side note, some of my suspension components arrived today so I know what ill be aiming to get tackled all week!
too much dust in the air with the door shut.Side note, some of my suspension components arrived today so I know what ill be aiming to get tackled all week!
Made a little bit of headway this evening, got the rest of the axle tubes on the sterling cleaned up, got the Mercedes power steering box out of the jeep, and dug out the plasma to start cutting off the factory brackets off the front 60. Anybody have a picture of their 97-02 gearbox? Mine has a nub that makes contact on the frame and I wanna make sure there’s no holes there before I lop it off with a grinder.
Yessir the one on the front. Looks like it it is about 1/4-1/2” too tall and making contact with the round crossmember/brace (whatever you’d like to call it. Your psc nub looks smaller. Thinking about it now I guess I could have sent one of the old pictures with it circled
. Got the old axles sold today, guy is coming down from Moab to get em, so I’ll take a closer look when I get out there and make sure that’s where it’s making contact.
Yessir the one on the front. Looks like it it is about 1/4-1/2” too tall and making contact with the round crossmember/brace (whatever you’d like to call it. Your psc nub looks smaller. Thinking about it now I guess I could have sent one of the old pictures with it circled
View attachment 666557
You can shave a little off that nubbin but don't go nuts. I heat that tube up just where it makes contact and give it one good strike with a ball peen and it usually clears.
Dealers Choice.
LG
Update on El Picklé. Got 90% of the factory bracketry cut off of the front Dana 60, ordered some balljoint eliminators for the uppers, and new lower balljoints. Also ordered my lower shock mounts, and a couple other goodies to help get the axles cleaned up and tidy. Havent had a chance to take care of the powersteering clearance issue yet, appreciate the info though Lanzg, ill probably go with the torch and hammer method 
. Got the old axles and tires sold, so we are halfway to a set of beadlocks and tires lol. Unfortunately, even with safety glasses on a piece of metal managed to get into my eye and lodged itself so I had a visit to the eye doctor this morning to get some dremmeling done on the ole eyeball. 10/10 don't recommend getting metal shavings in your eye, i guess its goggles and face shield from here on. All that is left as far as cleaning up the axles go is to cut 2" off the driver side diff housing for mounting area, fill where i cut a little too deep, and polish up the tubes with my hand belt sander. After that I will start getting the truss, high steer and bracketry setup and the remaining parts cleaned and ready for welding.
. Got the old axles and tires sold, so we are halfway to a set of beadlocks and tires lol. Unfortunately, even with safety glasses on a piece of metal managed to get into my eye and lodged itself so I had a visit to the eye doctor this morning to get some dremmeling done on the ole eyeball. 10/10 don't recommend getting metal shavings in your eye, i guess its goggles and face shield from here on. All that is left as far as cleaning up the axles go is to cut 2" off the driver side diff housing for mounting area, fill where i cut a little too deep, and polish up the tubes with my hand belt sander. After that I will start getting the truss, high steer and bracketry setup and the remaining parts cleaned and ready for welding.
Update on El Picklé. Got 90% of the factory bracketry cut off of the front Dana 60, ordered some balljoint eliminators for the uppers, and new lower balljoints. Also ordered my lower shock mounts, and a couple other goodies to help get the axles cleaned up and tidy. Havent had a chance to take care of the powersteering clearance issue yet, appreciate the info though Lanzg, ill probably go with the torch and hammer method
View attachment 667470
Dang hope your eye is okay. Once I got a shard of metal in my eyeball and I used a magnet to get it out in my bathroom lol. Now I use a face shield + safety glasses. Can't see shit because I need actual glasses plus the layers of dirty plastic but its worth it.
I keep thinking you missed an opportunity to call it the PickLJ when I scroll by this thread
Yep all is well, they got it cleaned out, put a contact lens in it to protect it for the first 24 hours, and some eyedrops ill have to put in for the next few days, but cant even tell it happened now! I managed to get out the metal piece myself the night before but there was rust left behind that wouldnt come out, and eyes arent worth taking chances imo. Im right there with you as far as extra stuff goes, ordered myself a set of dewalt goggles and a new face shield haha. Gunna be looking like im ready for some dodgeball.
My license plate is super close to that! but that would have been more clever!
Now that the eyeball ordeal is out of the way 
I can get back to the current tasks. Today I started setting up the shops welder with gas, got some new swag coming for it since its only ever ran FluxCore, and some parts on it were looking a little worse for wear anyways.
After that I took another look at the power steering box mounts, and as it turns out i don't need to reshape the round bar at the front or cut the nub off the box, i just needed to move the rubber shroud out of the way by the radiator
. That being said i didn't have the right size hole saw handy to relocate the upper mounting sleeve, so I took that time to pull the steering input shaft and drill out the plastic bushing that holds it at the Mercedes box length. Since i had it apart anyways i took the opportunity to clean up the sleeve and get it adjusted to a "close enough" for now length until im ready to install the box all the way.
Jumping from part to part as always I decided the next step was to start tackling the middle section of the jeep, I pulled the factory skidplate for hopefully the LAST time, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at getting the frame mounts on, I glanced at the instructions. after more unsuccessful attempts I called the company and they told me I needed to remove the third cat, heatshield and most important to READ the instructions (My bad). Anyways after properly reading the instructions (they did in fact say what i was told lol) I was able to get the brackets mocked up, and mark where I needed to prep for welding. My welding supplies should get here tomorrow and I'm hoping to get those knocked out at least tomorrow night.
Finally since the lines running down the frame wont be accessible after welding, I went ahead and got the brakeline pulled off that some over eager grinder wielder nicked with a cutoff wheel and a new one of those coming as well. I coulda bought alot more cutoff wheels if whomever it was wouldnt have nicked that.
Anyways, Lots of small progress, cant wait to start putting parts back on this jeep
I can get back to the current tasks. Today I started setting up the shops welder with gas, got some new swag coming for it since its only ever ran FluxCore, and some parts on it were looking a little worse for wear anyways.After that I took another look at the power steering box mounts, and as it turns out i don't need to reshape the round bar at the front or cut the nub off the box, i just needed to move the rubber shroud out of the way by the radiator
. That being said i didn't have the right size hole saw handy to relocate the upper mounting sleeve, so I took that time to pull the steering input shaft and drill out the plastic bushing that holds it at the Mercedes box length. Since i had it apart anyways i took the opportunity to clean up the sleeve and get it adjusted to a "close enough" for now length until im ready to install the box all the way.Jumping from part to part as always I decided the next step was to start tackling the middle section of the jeep, I pulled the factory skidplate for hopefully the LAST time, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at getting the frame mounts on, I glanced at the instructions. after more unsuccessful attempts I called the company and they told me I needed to remove the third cat, heatshield and most important to READ the instructions (My bad). Anyways after properly reading the instructions (they did in fact say what i was told lol) I was able to get the brackets mocked up, and mark where I needed to prep for welding. My welding supplies should get here tomorrow and I'm hoping to get those knocked out at least tomorrow night.
Finally since the lines running down the frame wont be accessible after welding, I went ahead and got the brakeline pulled off that some over eager grinder wielder nicked with a cutoff wheel and a new one of those coming as well. I coulda bought alot more cutoff wheels if whomever it was wouldnt have nicked that.
Anyways, Lots of small progress, cant wait to start putting parts back on this jeep
Now that the eyeball ordeal is out of the way
After that I took another look at the power steering box mounts, and as it turns out i don't need to reshape the round bar at the front or cut the nub off the box, i just needed to move the rubber shroud out of the way by the radiator
View attachment 667704
Jumping from part to part as always I decided the next step was to start tackling the middle section of the jeep, I pulled the factory skidplate for hopefully the LAST time, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at getting the frame mounts on, I glanced at the instructions. after more unsuccessful attempts I called the company and they told me I needed to remove the third cat, heatshield and most important to READ the instructions (My bad). Anyways after properly reading the instructions (they did in fact say what i was told lol) I was able to get the brackets mocked up, and mark where I needed to prep for welding. My welding supplies should get here tomorrow and I'm hoping to get those knocked out at least tomorrow night.
View attachment 667705
Finally since the lines running down the frame wont be accessible after welding, I went ahead and got the brakeline pulled off that some over eager grinder wielder nicked with a cutoff wheel and a new one of those coming as well. I coulda bought alot more cutoff wheels if whomever it was wouldnt have nicked that.
Anyways, Lots of small progress, cant wait to start putting parts back on this jeep
Cool I'm interested in hearing how much nicer gas is than flux. I got a tank recently and haven't bothered to fill it and get non flux wire yet myself so maybe it'll be motivating
Since I’m about done working on the jeep for the weekend, here’s the progress update from the week. I got the frame side control arm mounts/transfercase skid plate on and welded up. It’s about 80% done, I need to space my body lift up a little bit more to clear the transfercase on the tub, as well as add a little bit to my motor mount lift OR cut off a little bit from the skid plate so the trans pan is not resting on it.
My welds are structural but not pretty at the moment so I’m gunna get some scrap this week to get practiced back up. Been about 8 years or so.
I am pretty excited to have a flat belly skid, I didn’t really know what i was getting when I ordered it so I’m pretty stoked. like I said though it’s very tight so I’m going to have to make some adjustments so the tub is not making contact.
Next I started to disassemble the front hubs to prep for high steer, got axles pulled, all ball joints pressed
out and drilled out the mount to 1” for the high steer kit. Got the driver side mocked up and cleaned up.
That’s all I was able to get taken care of since I posted last, the frame mounts took me a considerable amount of time but sometimes that’s just how it goes.
My welds are structural but not pretty at the moment so I’m gunna get some scrap this week to get practiced back up. Been about 8 years or so.
I am pretty excited to have a flat belly skid, I didn’t really know what i was getting when I ordered it so I’m pretty stoked. like I said though it’s very tight so I’m going to have to make some adjustments so the tub is not making contact.
Next I started to disassemble the front hubs to prep for high steer, got axles pulled, all ball joints pressed
out and drilled out the mount to 1” for the high steer kit. Got the driver side mocked up and cleaned up.
That’s all I was able to get taken care of since I posted last, the frame mounts took me a considerable amount of time but sometimes that’s just how it goes.
What are your thoughts on the Nemesis Billy Rockers? I think they're a beautiful piece but curious how they'd hold up against bashing off rocks.. I installed a set on a LJ but it has yet to see any offfroad.
I personally will have to see how they hold up, one of my buddies has their sliders and they’ve taken some abuse but otherwise they are in good shape!
That’s awesome to hear, I hope you can bring it to fruition! I had to search all over and fly to Texas for this one!
Waiting for the high steer kit and upper balljoint eliminators sleeves to cool on the knuckles overnight, then I might have to clean up and reweld some parts due to a bit of porosity. In the meantime however I decided to tackle trimming back my front truss for space for mounting goodies as well as welding it together, and I was pretty pleased with the results! I really only need the truss over the top of the diff for my upper mount, but want to leave enough in case i decide that I NEED a 4 link. its not in the books, but better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I have not welded it to the axle since I only have 1 welding blanket and there is currently two steering knuckles wrapped up in it lol. I also want to hold off until I can make sure my trackbar will clear whatever mount i choose.
Additionally I came up with a plan for my needs for a larger motor mount lift and slightly taller body lift. I currently have a 1.25" BL and 1" mm lift but i need 1.5" of each. Initially I was going to put some aluminum spacers under my existing MML but decided against that and ordered the only 1.5" MML i could find from Brown Dog Offroad. For the body lift I got some thick fender washers I plan to put on top of the existing pucks to space it that 1/4" for Tcase clearance on the tub. I guess nobody likes making parts for these anymore...
Sidenote, this jeep has had a few leaks since I bought it from the motor and trans, and while i was underneath it today I noticed the oil pan gasket is pushed out towards the front of the motor. I figured, while I have easy access to it, I would do the oil pan and rear main seal (got a mopar RMS and Felpro Oil pan gasket), as well as since im replacing the fluid in virtually everything else, I would put a new trans filter and Lubelocker gasket in. Hoping the trans leak is just leaking between the RTV but the filter is probably original and needs to be replaced anyways. When i pull off the grille to get it repainted I'll drain the cooling system as well so that means the jeep will be running on 100% fresh clean fluids from brakes to gas
Anyways thats all for now if work stays quiet this week planning to get the truss and cradle welded up and start setting up the front gears! The seals and etc wont be here till Saturday so that will be the weekend project.
Additionally I came up with a plan for my needs for a larger motor mount lift and slightly taller body lift. I currently have a 1.25" BL and 1" mm lift but i need 1.5" of each. Initially I was going to put some aluminum spacers under my existing MML but decided against that and ordered the only 1.5" MML i could find from Brown Dog Offroad. For the body lift I got some thick fender washers I plan to put on top of the existing pucks to space it that 1/4" for Tcase clearance on the tub. I guess nobody likes making parts for these anymore...
Sidenote, this jeep has had a few leaks since I bought it from the motor and trans, and while i was underneath it today I noticed the oil pan gasket is pushed out towards the front of the motor. I figured, while I have easy access to it, I would do the oil pan and rear main seal (got a mopar RMS and Felpro Oil pan gasket), as well as since im replacing the fluid in virtually everything else, I would put a new trans filter and Lubelocker gasket in. Hoping the trans leak is just leaking between the RTV but the filter is probably original and needs to be replaced anyways. When i pull off the grille to get it repainted I'll drain the cooling system as well so that means the jeep will be running on 100% fresh clean fluids from brakes to gas
Anyways thats all for now if work stays quiet this week planning to get the truss and cradle welded up and start setting up the front gears! The seals and etc wont be here till Saturday so that will be the weekend project.