Desertfox1023

Well today I replaced the serpentine belt which got rid of the squealing motor. Was going to do an oil change till I got distracted and ended up going to buy some scrap steel instead. I bought a large sheet of 3/16" steel I plan on making my front bumper out of during my spare time over the summer. Also picked up some 1.25" square tubing to make some rock rails out of. We went ahead and measured everything out for the rock rails. Also picked up some grade 8 hardware for them. Plans for tomorrow include the new oil change and hopefully I'll be able to start on the rock rails. If not they'll be post poned till Saturday.

The design for the rock rails is to take and cut out (8) 2.5"x4" pieces and have them sandwich the frame in 2 mounting locations on each side. (4) 4"x4" plates will be welded to each bracket to form a C along the frame rail for the mounting. Then they'll be bolted with 4 3/8" grade 8 bolts per mounting location. Then I'll weld a 9 3/4" piece of the square tubing to each mounting surface to attach the rock rail too. Should come out pretty strong and should provide some unibody strength since they'll be sandwiching the frame. I'll try and snap some initial build pics tomorrow.

Desertfox1023

Well here's a couple of pics from changing out the 02 sensors and motor mounts:

Old 02 sensor left new Bosch O2 Sensor right:


I noticed the motor was jumping around a bit whenever I would get on it or would go moving around off road. I wonder if the shape of this motor mount had anything to do with that.


Needless to say this is what that bushing is supposed to be like and now the motor runs a lot smoother under the hood.

Desertfox1023

Well the rock rails are underway:

Using some 3/16" steel I made some mounting plates for the rails to mount to the frame:


After cutting them out I welded them into an L bracket so it would clamp around the frame. The mounting surface will consist of 4 3/8" grade 8 bolts on the side and 2 on the bottom for each bracket:


The rails them selves will be 1.25 square tubing that is 1/8" thick. The tubing will also be used to connect the mounting brackets to the rails. I also had the ends of the rails cut to a 45 degree angle to add a little curb appeal to them:


So far all I got left to do is finish drilling the holes into the frame so I can start tacking everything together before the final welds are made. Sadly it's raining today so hopefully it will stop sometime this week so I can get these things finished.

a1racer

dude looks like a good start on them how much you got left

Desertfox1023

All the holes are now drilled and tapped for the brackets. Now just got to tack it all together and make sure everything is going to fit right.

a1racer

you are using a jack to hold it in place then tack right i found it easier to hold mine where i wanted it and build the supports from there so it fit just right. i did not go under like your so i may change that soon looks like it will be stronger

Desertfox1023

Ya the L bracket should give them some pretty good bracing. I'll be going over to my buddies house on Wednesday to weld them up. I'll measure where the side attachments need to be welded to the rock rail and fit them in place first. Then I'll hold the rail up against the frame mounts at the right spot and let my buddy go ahead and tack them in place while I'm holding the rail up. That way I know they'll be in the right spot on the jeep when we do it. Then well just have to unbolt them, fully weld everything up, and get them ready for a coat of paint. Everything is looking good so far just got to hope it doesn't rain us out on Wednesday.

Desertfox1023

Well the rock rails are built! Just need a little paint on them and then they'll be ready to get some beauty marks put on them





(As for the first pic, That's my buddy tyler tacking them in place. So before someone post up about welding while on the jeep, we were just making sure they where in the right spot without test fitting 15 times.)

Desertfox1023

Well I pulled the jeep in the driveway on Friday I noticed smoke coming from the front passenger wheel. So I pulled the wheel off real fast to see my caliper completely black. Disconnected the brake line and the piston would not push back for nothing. It was locked up big time and my rotors are trashed. So I got to learn how to drive a 5-speed and drove my sisters car all weekend to work. I was off today so I finally got me some new calipers, rotors, and pads installed today. Also ordered my new YJ lines for the front which should be ready for me to pick up in the morning. Been thinking about going ahead and installing my ZJ proportioning valve while I'm already doing all this brake work.

On a good note for the jeep I pulled the rails off today and took the wire wheel to them. Then I through on about 3 coats of paint. So I should be done with everything tomorrow and I can get the jeep back out on the road.

Desertfox1023

Been a while since I've done an update so I guess I'll throw on a list of updates to the jeep I've done here in the last month or so:

- Installed all new brakes and redid almost the intire braking system to now give me: New booster, master cylinder, porportioning valve, abs removed, 4 wheel disc brakes.

- Made a quick attaching / disconecting mirror for the drive side when the doors are off to keep me legal.

- Put on some rough country disconects since my home brewed stock ones were to short and were becoming a pain.

- Also got me a new steering stabilizer from rough country since the old one was blown out and leaking. (Big thanks to Grimus99Xj on the discounts)

- While I was at it I picked up a 99 dodge darango steering box and threw it on along with custom frame stiffing braket I cuut out of some 3/16" steel. Very simliar to the C-rok 4x4 bracket.

Pretty soon here I'll be starting on the new front bumper I'll be building along with trimming the fenders, stuffing some new 33's under it, and getting the D44 lockright I have installed. Plans are to have it all finshed up by middle of August. Been really busy here latley pulling double shifts and working on the jeep to get on the computer to keep it updated. I'll try to get some pics up here some time soon to show hows shes turning out.

Desertfox1023

Here's some pics from the last trip I made to Uwharrie back on 6/8/09 with 87XJ.


Me coming up the top part of Kodiak Rock at Uwharrie


Me coming down Daniel


87XJ coming down Daniel


Kodiak Rock

Desertfox1023

Here a little bit on the Darango Steering Box swap I did. Before whenever I hit a bump in the road my front end would shake like crazy. On top of that whever I would go to turn I'd have to turn the wheel a 1/4 turn before the wheels would even turn. Needless to say a new box was inorder. Search in the forum I came across this in tech section and I went with it: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/durango-steering-box-upgrade-3805/


Pulling pitman arm off the old box


Working on the getting the pain in the rear pitman arm off the darango box. I had the same problem 99xjlove did and took about 2 hours getting it off. Final solution was a pitman arm puller, a little grease, and air tools. The vibration combined with the high torque poped it right off.


New box in and all hooked up. You can kind of see the steering box brace I cut out of 3/16" steel behind it. The steering is much tighter now and feels a lot more solid. If you steering box goes out I deffently recomend upgrading to the darango box rather than putting in another old XJ one.

broncofire75

Looking good man!

Desertfox1023

Started on a little project today that now looks somthing like this:

Here's the link to check out the build: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f58/bumper-build-20431/

broncofire75

Nice! Without looking at the other thread. What materials are you using for the bumper?

Did you start on the bumper before you finished the sliders? Lol sounds like me.