moundhill

awsome build...one of my favorite one's yet

XJAbuzer

Thanks.

On another note, one of my best friends here in OKC is originally from Hamilton, OH...near your neck of the woods.

phillyxj570

that is deff. one nice xj i wish i had the money to do all of that to mine

XJAbuzer

Thanks. It has taken a lot of saving pennies and not having kids helps too. It has been 4 years in the making to get it where it is now.

mwdouglas

you have done an excellent job on your xj i hope one day i can get mine to look as good but like you said it helps not to have kids were i have 2 with me and 3 with there mother

SGT ABN XJ

That's an awesome build thread, and totally cool pictures !!!

Nice work, bravo your skills and direction are great....

Fraser

ahh. i was just wondering if it was actual vehicle primer, or like a rustoleum type.

XJAbuzer

I took it out today. It hasnt really been out because of several issues. A friend just bought a Sami and he wanted me to go out. I am glad I did. It has me motivated to get this thing trail ready again once I get back from my Colorado trip. I leave for Colorado Sept 4th and will be there for a week in my ladies WK. Once I get back, I have a to-do list on the XJ...

1) Make Limiting straps. I kept dumping coils today because I am still running the RE 4.5 coils with the IRO long arms. It caused my drivers side coil to get bound up against the shock and I bent the body of the shock

2) Replace bent shock

3) Replace the motor mount with the one Brown Dog sent me. One of the bushings are destroyed on mine.

4) Trim more. The tires are eating the fenders for lunch.

5) Put on the stock WJ rear shocks I got from my buddy. I still have the 4.5 RE shocks back there and since I shortened the shock mounts, they only have about 2 inches of compression left. The stock WJ shocks should be about the right length and they are free.

6) Install the transfer case shifter I bought from Novak. My linkage is mangled and it will not stay in 4wl or 4wh. I did all wheeling today in 2wd.

7) Replace the wiring harness that runs to the o2 sensors. My wire became entagled in the drive shaft and pulled the wires out of the O2 sensor plug. My O2 sensors aren't even hooked up right now.

8) Rebuild both drive shafts

9) Replace steering shaft. Mine is cracking and popping like crazy.

10) Buy a spare

Now you can understand why it wont be making the Colorado trip this year. Luckily I live less than a mile from work.

I did snap a pic while I was out there though. Not at full flex. You can see the spring still has a way to go before it comes out. The rear hardly has any flex because the shocks are limiting tuck...

C.J.

I cannot wait to get my IRO Long Arms, let me know what you end up doing for limiting straps.

XJAbuzer

I ordered some goodies after I returned from Vacation....





I was able to get some work done on it. Not as much as I wanted due to a few non-Jeep and some tool related delays throughout Saturday and Sunday I was helping my dad get his new boat slip ready for the boat to be moved in.

I was able to get the steering installed and some trimming done.

Here is my bondo-cracked (previous owner), bent, mangled, torn fender before....



Here is what I took off....




And here it is afterward. I beat the pinch weld flat too...






Notice the bent shock




Broke the bolt...



This could have been bent back....





but the rest was gone....







I ordered a IRO OTK kit. I was going to do a write up on the steering but Iron Rock included very detailed easy-to-follow instructions that a write up isn't needed. However, they sent the wrong size jamb nuts and I had to stop and purchase the correct size. I will post some pics I took as I was assembling things.


Old steering out...



Knuckle end of the drag link...



Steering off...



New tie rod assembled...



The pitman arm end of the drag link had to be spread by tapping in a flathead with a hammer. It was the only way we could get the adjuster screwed in...



Had to drill out both knuckles and pitman arm for the 5/8" hardware. We were able to do it with a 14.4 volt Dewalt cordless...




Passenger side knuckle assembled but not tightened yet....





and driver side...



and that is where I stopped taking pics of it. It was getting late and I wanted to get it back together. I will take some daylight photos tomorrow of it all put back together. I love the way the Jeep drives now. It doesnt try to change lanes when I hit big bumps like before. A lot less road wander (of course, because the bumpsteer is gone).

XJAbuzer

I snapped a pic of the new Optima for the heck of it....



Its the cleanest thing under there.:laugh:






Now for the bad...

The steering shaft that I ordered does not fit. Mine has splines on both the interior and exterior end and the one I got doesnt. The one they sent is the old square non-splined end so it will not work. I am contacting 4x4 group buy to return it and get a refund. I called them several times today, left messages, and sent an email. I have yet to have any response. Believe me, I will not stop blowing up all their lines until I get them. I am pretty peeved about the whole thing.



It turns out the steering shaft was not the source of the pop. Pulled it out and it was fine and I was not happy for wasting all that time.

So, needless to say, I think the popping is coming from my Durango steering box. My buddy is bringing his stethoscope by to be sure. This will be the second Durango box that I have put on since I did the swap, all for the same type of popping. The original one I put on did the same thing.

I am thinking of going back to a stock box until I go hydro assist. I am assuming the Durango with the snow plow option has a different pump than a stock XJ. If that is the case, then that is probably the problem and going back stock does away with the mismatch. I am tired of screwing with it.




On another note, thanks to Stu and Bill for coming by to help. We got some things done on Stu's Sami (trimmed the poles behind the bumper, hammered flat his pinch welds, and installed a electric fan) He had his new wheels installed too. I think the white wheels look good on it.






Once mine is ironed out and ready to wheel, I am looking forward to helping Bill combine this...





with this...








I will take "completed" pics tomorrow after work and post them up.

mtparker97

that sucks about the durango steering box. i was going to swap mine out since i busted the seal on it this last trip. figured a stronger one would be better. nice build by the way. can we get a full pic of the OTK steering.

C.J.

Just a few questions, I saw that when you swapped in the HP30 you replaced it with the 2000 knuckles? Any reason?

Also what caused the shock to bend so badly?

Last, when you trimmed that high on the front fenders...did you take out the windshield wiper fluid reservoir?

XJAbuzer

The earlier HP 30 (from 1988) has a different style braking system with slide pins and its not quite as good. You hvae to swap out the knuckles to use the 2000 calipers

The spring dropped out when i flexed and got caught in between the shock and tire


Yes, I took it out. I am going to be making a cowl intake soon and I will move the bottle under the hood or replace it with a different one.

XJAbuzer

Yes, I plan on taking some tonight after work. Look for them about 7:30 PM CST