I will carpet them later. Maybe. Sprayed them with some black trim paint for now. Sounds way better than before. Going to need a sub though.

 

Front Suspension.

I was in a real hurry to fix the front end and didn't get any pictures of the process. The Jeep has minimal rust so I was able to do the LCAs, Springs, and Shocks in a few hours. The UCAs on the other hand were too much trouble for one Saturday so I put them off until another weekend.

I only got one front coil as the other was backordered and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The Crown HD Coil springs from Quadratec were not as heavy as the Moog CC782 Coil Springs (ZJ HD) and I got a 1.75" lift from them. I am assuming they will settle a little when I put the bumper on.

 

After swapping the parts we did a quick alignment and test drive. It just keeps getting better. Soon it might be civil to drive on the road.

1" Lift done... it is really 1.75" right now but I expect it to settle. I also ripped the molding of the sides as it was beat and starting to fall off. Took about an hour to get all the goo off the sides.

 

Next up the tires...

Falken Rocky Mountain 30x9.50x15s installed. So far I am happy with them. Cheap tires that ride fine on the highway. We will see how they work when I go camping.

 

This weekend I am going to fix the UCAs and deal with the 1" offset to the passengers side in the front end. I think the track bar bracket is bent.

I still have to deal with check engine light and the P0455 and P0420. Guess I will be doing vacuum line work soon.

The A/C blows cold air through the defroster all the time so I guess the flap is broke. Have to take the dash apart again and figure that out.

Driver Door wiring harness needs to be repaired as I still have power lock issues and an intermittent short.

Roof Rack, Bumpers, Trunk Organization in the works as well.

 

Parts list so far. I think moving forward I am going to use MOOG parts.

From Quadratec

2 56015 005 FRONT UPPER CONTROL ARM 52087711
2 56015 001 LOWER CONTROL ARM 97-06 TJ 84-01 XJ 52001162
2 56015 100 BUSHING-UPPER CONTROL ARM-AXLE 52087709
2 56001 05 BUSHING-LEAF SPRING FIXED EYE 84-01XJ 52000503
2 56001 06 BUSHING-LEAF SPRING SHACKLE END 84-01XJ 52000504
2 56010 11 LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY 84-01 XJ HD 4886186AA
1 55014 8202 DOOR CHECK ARM BRACKET 84-01 XJ 55002361
1 55014 8203 DOOR CHECK ARM PIN 84-01 XJ 55012900AB

From Oreilly

1 CC782 Moog Variable Rate Coil Springs CC782 UPC: 80066194776

From Discount Tire

4 Falken Rocky Mountain ATS 30X950R15C1 104S OWL

From Amazon

1 Monroe SC2928 Magnum Steering Damper
2 Moog K3150 Sway Bar End
1 Moog K3171 Sway Bar Bushing

 

Nice Jeep man, I have the same one, color and all. I bought mine last year and slowly am getting everything taken care of. I'm planning on doing a Rough Country 4.5" full spring lift with 32x11.5's. What are your future plans?

 

Awesome. I wanted a red one but at the time all I could find were 4x2s... my kid likes the green.

Lift wise I am done. I will try to keep it at the 1.5" mark so if it settles a lot I will do stuff to bring it back up. I may put new leafs on the rear if the Crown HDs prove to be junk.

Interior still needs work and I am sure I will have to do the headliner soon as it is starting to bubble.

I am going to keep swapping broken things for new parts as needed. This is my DD so I have to keep it alive.

As for MODS - Mostly Expedition stuff.

Roof Rack

Bumpers

Painting it a snottier green.

Eventually dealing with the mileage on the 4.0L

 

Time to finish up the front end. I didn't get good pictures because I had grease up to my shoulders and had my kid take some pics during a break.

Upper control arm axle side bushings are miserable to replace. I decided to drill out the rubber and air chisel the shell out. It was not easy or fun. The right side took a while because I had to remove the coil and shock to get to the bushing. While I was over there I replaced all the sway bar bushings. No more squeak.

On to the drivers side. I decided to try this side without removing anything. It was a good choice as most of the work had to be done from the motor side.




If you look behind the spring you can see the bushing is out.

 

So look behind the spring again and you can see where I tok a cartridge on the die grinder and polished the inside of the flange before pressing the bushing in.




Done enough for now. Drives straight at 70 and crawls fine.

 

Next up is to figure out why the A/C stops working after about 15 minutes

 

So I think I might have a cracked header. When I first crank it in the morning I get a small puff of smoke then it clears up.

Basically I need a whole new exhaust system as I have the P0420 CEL saying my CAT is bad, the muffler is rusted pretty bad, there is a serious dent in the front exhaust pipe, and the jeep sounds like a it needs help.

I wanted to start at the header and work my way back. However I don't have a welder so I figure to have a muffler shop do everything after the front pipe.

Any suggestions on the Manifold? I am currently planning on using the Dorman OE Solutions 674-196 Exhaust Manifold from RockAuto for $142.00. I can get it locally at Oreilly for $189.00 if necessary. I am going to grab a Fel-Pro gasket while I am at it.

I figured I would just pick up a Walker front pipe.

 

Did you get the ac to work through the other vents besides defrost? If not it could be the vacuum tank located in the front bumper. Not sure about it stopping after a few minutes though.

 

Going to work on it this weekend. Thanks for telling me about the vacuum tank in the front bumper. I never would have guessed that would have anything to do with the AC.

The AC comes through ALL the vents when it is on. I found what looks like a coat hanger in the main center duct work when I was changing the radio. I am assuming the PO did something funny here.

I think it needs a charge as well. That would explain it freezing up after a few minutes.