Hmm. I never knew that about the older ones.

Yeah my passenger seat can pretty much fold flat since there obviously is the steering column. I have a 2 1/2 yr old and it isnt hard to put him in at all.

 

I had time to finally install the RC Shackle Relocation brackets I got from Chad. (Thanks again Chad!)

Now if youve been following my thread, youll remember that I mentioned my shackle boxes only have one hole facing the front, when the RC brackets need two.

Here is a shot of my driver side for reference:




A fellow NAXJA member had the same problem only his was a Renix-era 88.


Any options......? Drill it out!




I started with the passenger side. You reuse the factory shackle bolt plus the supplied two front bolts.

Here it is with the top bracket bolted in:





Then you bolt up the bottom bracket to the top, as well as set the shackle with the supplied bolt. I think RC recommends trying the middle hole.





Here is another angle. (I know, I gotta change/adjust the exhaust)





Now on to the driver side. You have to remove the gas tank line "skid plate" cover. Get ready for a POUND of dirt to fall when it comes out.

Unfortunately the gas tank filler hose/vent tube are right in the way of drilling the upper hole.

My solution....? Unbolt the filler neck and unhook it from the inside of the body panel, and push it down and out of the way.






Here it is with the driver side drilled and upper bracket bolted in, and I hadn't reinstalled the filler neck at this point.




So after installing the lower bracket and lowering the Jeep back down the shackle was bottomed out on the bracket. So I had to reinstall both sides on the next hole back.






So install took me about 6 hours since it was raining off and on and I had to re-adjust the shackles. Now I did receive a slight lift from the brackets like RC states, but unfortunately I still have a slightly-under vertical shackle angle. Mainly due do to the fact that its the stubby/wide factory shackles, with longer/narrow ones I could put it back on the middle hole and have a much better angle and a better ride.


After install thoughts?

-RC made this a pretty sweet and easy install product, just had a little more time in mine.

-Still no driveline vibes (even thought I still need a SYE)

-The back bounces around a little more (obviously cause of the shackle angle)

-I need longer rear shocks/brake line (duh! )




NEXT!

Since I dont have rust anywhere I want to avoid getting it anywhere so I removed my factory chrome roof trim on the drip rail. Also the Jeep was missing several whole and pieces of its badges/emblems, so I removed the ones remaining for now. (still deciding what to do about the paint)





Only found small surface rust on the spots where the trim's clips attach. Cleaned and just primed them for now, they're only 1" x 2" spots.




NEXT!

Found a guy selling a bunch of random Jeep stuff and got these stock Jeep Turbine center caps.








Complimentary before/after:



Hot/dry September '14:



Rain soaked April '15



I think its coming together pretty good so far. Especially since its on a budget and isn't being built for stuff it will never see/use.

More to come before the little one arrives.

Thanks for reading!

 

It's... beautiful!

 

Was it bottoming out because the leafs were going flat? Are you still planning to make some Dakota bastard packs?

 

No. I still have great arch in the leafs. I think it was bottoming out because of the AAL that are still installed compared to most people have full packs when installing the RC brackets. Im currently shopping for some shackles and that will fix my problem.

Yes I still want to build some Dakota packs, but it may be later in the summer. Ive got my second child/first girl coming in less than 2 weeks.

 

I got new rear shackles! I followed the advice of several members and went with the 13-4100's "Lowering Shackles" from O'Reilly's. I got them for $31 after a coupon!






They work great, I just had to trim down the bushing because they were slightly wide for my RC relo-brackets.


Before:



After:




So with my setup, I had to put it on the highest setting on the shackle cause my leaf eyes would hit/rub the shackle cross piece. I also had to put it in the most forward position in the relo-brackets. I currently have a nice 45-ish degree shackle angle. I will be building a dakota pack later in the summer and that would replace the AAL and should allow me to adjust the shackle to the next settings.



New stance (with slight rake) but I dont have my spare in at that moment.



Thoughts?
Rides better than ever! (Still need longer rear shocks lol)

Will probably be awhile until the next update, my daughter will be here in 9 days!




Thanks for reading!

 

Well got some time in on the Jeep this past weekend.

First up, finally got some rear shocks to replace my "stretched out" ones. Found a pair of Zone Nitro 4" lift shocks online.













What can I say? The old ones were literally fully extended so it made for one bouncy ride.

Now? Shoot....."rides like a caddy"







Next up!





After having the Jeep since last september, I finally got some new tires for it!




They're nothing special, just a basic all terrain in the 31x10.50.15 variety. But they drive great and "fill the wheel-well" compared to the 235's.



This photo makes the front wheels look out of center in the wheel well...









But as you can see, its still close to centered....














Thats all for now, but I hope to take my son up in the mountains this weekend.

Should be a blast!

 

Im still having that strange front driver wheel squeaking noise that increases as speed increases. Its more pronounced turning the wheel slightly right and less when turning the wheel left. It almost disappears while braking.

I did the "12 & 6" and "3 & 9" test while it was up on stands and there is no movement what-so-ever.

I also felt both front wheels after driving for awhile and there is NO heat at the hub or rim.


I feel like its not my hub assembly based on those tests. I also know its not the tire/wheel since they were just mounted/balanced.



I also took off the wheel to check the rotor/caliper. It seems to spin normally with the normal amount of slight drag disc brakes have. Nothing seemed loose or bent that I could tell.

Could it be my brake rotor or caliper since it seems to go away while braking? Warped rotor? Worn pads? Caliper slightly sticking?




I also checked my front driveshaft, u-joints, and axle shafts at the hubs and they all still seem tight and correct.



Just trying to test some things before I go paying for a bunch of replacement parts.

Any thoughts?

 

Whoa...its been awhile....

Sorry its been so long. Since having our second kid/first girl AND recently moving to a new place in town, there hasn't been much down time for anything.

The Fire-Road Runner FINALLY got to stretch it's legs on its first shakedown run with the small changes recently done to it.



WARNING! PIC HEAVY!



With my son as my co-pilot, we headed over into Idaho up past Laird Park and up towards Little Sand.

Right off the bat we came across a "tough" decision:







Honestly, who wouldn't choose uphill over downhill?

We were then greeted with a surprise:







WHAT!? An open-gated uphill cutout?! This honestly seems to rarely happen, at least that I see, since most are closed and locked. Or sometimes the FS do several "Kelly Hump" burms to discourage misuse.

I for one DON'T misuse the land. If its close-gated or blocked off, I move on.

So onward and upward we went. The road rose quickly through a recently logged/burned area. Then it started to get real pretty real quick...















We crested over the "top" and started down towards the next climb.















Gotta love the views from a Jeep on a deserted mountain two-track...











Well after going for more than an hour in, with no closed gates or road blocks, I decided to turn around and started heading back the way we came.





















Final thoughts on todays trip?

I really do love living and wheeling in the Pacific Northwest.





Thanks for reading!

 

Beautiful country up there, and great buildup on the Jeep! Simple & effective, love it.

 

Yeah it is. Although some people might think fire roads and two-tracks are boring and not a challenge. I think they're great! You get awesome views, sometimes youll find a deserted one like that one, and you can see a ton of wildlife.

Thanks TwistedWrench! I love reading the builds with 35"s and full widths or any lcog build, It just would be overkill for where I live and run.

 

Looking good man! glad you like the brackets

 

Thanks Chad! Yeah they are working great! Still need to tweak my shackles and build those dakota packs, but the brackets look and work perfect.

Thanks again man!

 

Just catching up with your thread. Did you ever figure this out? I'm betting on the rotors or pads.

 

If you wanted to center them a bit more without having to buy LCAs, you can shim them like I did. Most auto parts stores sell the shims for cheap.