So my winter break is over and this jeep has been changed quite a bit. I'll just let the pics do the talking.

 

With the tire off the roof, it's a much more pleasant ride down the highway since there is no parachute up there slowing me down. It pivots down with just the release of a pin and the license plate has been relocated to the center of the tire and I made up a light for it that just plugs in to the trailer wiring. The drivers side half door is done with the exception of padded arm rests for the top of it and interior panel. It's been sanded, primed, and painted to match to the best ability that a can of Rustoleum can haha.

 

Well I've finally gotten around to replacing the tre on the track bar and I will say this is the LAST time I do it. When I replaced it last time it threaded in smoothly. This time, however, it fought me and near about won. The old tre was a ***** to get out and the new one was even harder to thread in. I know I had the correct tre as I have replaced it before but damn...it was a work out.

So, because of that, and the fact that I eat through the tre's about every 8 months, I'm going to be ordering the Rusty's conversion to make it a double shear track bar. I'm hoping that the bushing in that will last longer than a tre and, if ever needs to be replaced, it will be a much easier job since the end doesn't need to be fully removed.

Anyone run a Rusty's tb and have any pros or cons for it? I will only be using the double shear drop bracket and end, not the whole tb. I have heard and seen pictures of their tb's failing but it was in the welds on the tb itself and not the ends.

 

I run a RC double shear trac-bar. It's held up to my abuse so far lol. I can't speak on Rusty's behalf, though.

 

Well I currently have an RC adj track bar but RC doesn't offer just the conversion. I have looked into RE hd track bar but I don't think I wanna fork out that much cash just yet. I'm in need of motor mounts, O2 sensor, and an SYE as well so trying to fit all that in my budget is quite hard.

 

Believe me, I understand all too well lol.

 

So Saturday was quite an eventful day. My girlfriend and I had swapped vehicles because I had a trip to Charleston for the day for some Fraternity stuff. I left her with my Jeep and a tank of gas. She's an Elementary Education major and in order for her to get a job after graduation she had to take the Praxis test. She had just gotten on the highway to head to her test and next thing she knows, the whole Jeep was vibrating violently.

Because I was 3 and a half hours away there was nothing I could do. She called me crying because it scared the ever living **** out of her. I called a buddy to go pick her up and unfortunately she missed her big test. So, now I've got $140 wrapped in paying for her next test.

With all that done it was time to access the Jeep. Now, before anyone takes this as me knocking Rough Country, that is not what this is. It turned out that the track bar had broken. I've been running a Rough Country adjustable for about a year and a half now. The tie rod end on it had failed while she was doing 55 mph down the highway. It left the entire front axle to move wherever and however it so wanted.

Right now I'm diagnosing all the damage done and once I've figured everything out, I'll report back

 

That sucks dude... makes me a little weary about my RC trac-bar...

DW and worn parts is one of the fears I have letting my wife drive mine.

 

Well I just made a 400 mile round trip the weekend before and everything was solid as a rock.

 

nice build!! i have a 96 2 door, i swapped in a rear 44 aswell, you should look into putting zj disk breaks on it, its all bolt in and helps alot! Lock it too

 

Did you grab the disks of a D44a out of a ZJ? I've looked into it but what I've seen so far entails grinding out the inside of the backing plate and redrilling holes so that it will mount to the axle itself

 

Sweet build dude. Read the whole thing.

Makes me want to get the black 91 2 door at the end of my neighborhood that im wanting to pick up for $400. Love 2 doors.

I live inside of Uwharrie. When was your last trip? How does it do?

 

Grinding out the inside of the backplate is the only part that is actually needed. As far as I know, the bolt holes line up fine. You don't have to get it off of the D44a either to make it work, IIRC.

 

I did a few searches on it months ago and I thought I had read that new holes were to be drilled. Could be mistaken. Either way, a disk swap won't be happening any time soon thanks to this track bar BS.

 

Shoot...for $400, I may take a trip up there and snag it haha. I haven't done much wheeling over the past few months because my classes are getting very involved. Homework and tests are taking up majority of my time. I did get a few rescue calls from guys around the campus area being stuck. So, the only "wheeling" I've done lately are just those recovery missions haha