Well, winter break has been over for a little while now... Its about time I update this.

Here is my to-do list from over break:
- New steering/track bar made of 1.5" .25 wall DOM w/hiems, OTK.
- Build new crossmember
- Install long arms (on new crossmember^)
- Weld on T&T Customs frame stiffeners
- Fine tune shackle angle (or if I have enough time... )
- New shocks
- SYE

I wasn't able to get nearly as much done as I had hoped. I ended up working many many more hours than I had originally estimated, which isn't entirely a bad thing.

First, I threw the stock shackles back into my relocation brackets to lower the rear a bit and get rid of some driveline vibes. I plan on putting the longer shackles back on soon, but I have to pull a leaf spring or two out first.

Then I was able to get my steering buttoned up, however I will be changing it up as soon as I can. With the drag link mounted directly onto the tie rod, the drag link rotates the tie rod front and back when I turn left and right (even when the jam nuts are well... jammed). I am also battling tie rod roll issues (leading to death wobble), and my current fix keeps my steering from naturally returning to center while on the road.

Heres the best shot I can find of the steering as it is now. Thanks to my friend Josh for the photo:



To fix my issues, I will be moving the tie rod under the knuckle, and running my drag link all the way out to the top of the knuckle.

I would like to give a big thanks to my new friends at J&J Welding in Pleasanton, CA. They do great work, are very flexible on their hours, and are fellow wheelers themselves. They helped button my steering up the night before I left to wheel at Hollister. They flexed it out and aligned it as well. Top notch work, service, and very reasonable pricing.

Speaking of wheeling at Hollister, I met up with some locals and tested it all out. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so all photo courtesy goes to my buddies Josh and Tim:

Jungle Trail:



Eating at the top:



Truck hill (in reverse) muahahaha:



And the White Rock climb:



I had a great time out there and cant wait to go back again!


So that brings this back up to speed. I have a hack-n-tap SYE sitting in the garage, as well as some old rustys long arms and crossmember. Frame stiffeners will be finish welded ASAP, and then I will try to figure out the shock situation. Then wheeling till summer break!

-Jeep450r

 

love your jeep man simple clean and oh cheers to green

 

Thanks man!

Well Ive gotten a little bit done over the past few weeks.

I was finally able to get my steering problems out of the way. First, I checked my toe and found out that it was toed in 3/4"! So I (properly) set the toe to just a hair over 1/16th. This alone made a huge difference on the road and kept the steering from doing its own thing while on the road. Now it tracks straight and doesn't try to throw me all over the road when I hit bumps or take turns.

I had been trying to figure out how to keep my tie rod from rolling, which was causing death wobble and some slop in the steering. I tried a few different ideas but in the end heres what I ended up doing:

I welded the jam nut to the threaded bung in the tie rod, and then tack welded the joint to the jam nut. On one side, I rolled the joint forward:



And on the other side I welded it up with the joint rolled back, thus keeping the tie rod from rolling:



Now here is where I am stumped. The first time I tacked the joints, I locked one joint forward and one back like in the pics. I took it for a test drive, and when I got back I had some free play/roll in the tie rod - enough to give me a shimmy when I hit a bump just right at around 30 mph. So I cut off the passenger side tack weld, readjusted it and welded it back up. No wobble.

Now almost a month later, I have a good amount of wobble in the steering again because the tie rod has some roll in it (again)... Which doesn't make any sense because it seems to me that there is no physically possible way for it to loosen up like this. The entire tie rod is now one solid piece because it it welded together from joint to joint, so the only way for it to loosen up (to allow wobble back and forth) would be for something to bend/twist or for a weld to break. The welds are all still holding, and I cant find any signs of bending, twisting, or fatigue. Any ideas here?

The next thing I did was cut up my shackle relocation brackets and paint them up. When I had the shackle at a nice angle (~45*), I backed down my driveway and the shackles kicked back and sat flat against the bracket, pointing straight back. So I adjusted the angle so it was more vertical so it doesn't kick back any more. I talked to Steve at Golden State Motorsports about it when I was in there a few weeks ago, and he recommended putting on a longer shackle. Lucky me, I still have 2" (2.5"?) RC lift shackles sitting in my garage. Now I just need to get some lower springs or take a leaf or two out of my current pack so it will sit lower in the rear.

Heres a pic of my crappy current shackle angle.




Then I had my buddy weld up my frame stiffeners, then I primed and painted them in the parking lot of Sacramento State so I could go wheeling that night.

Heres a few shots my buddy took.





Poser shots FTW!!

 

Now for what I'm currently trying to figure out.

I bought some raised swaybar mounts a few weeks ago hoping they would clear my steering. Nope! So I notched a chunk out of them.



Now it clears my tie rod!



Now it should work, right? Not with my luck! It sits a little too far over..



I could throw a bunch of washers in that open space as shims, or cut a spacer out of a big chunk of metal to fill that space, but I dont feel comfortable with that. There would be WAY too much force put on that in turns, especially with the added leverage due to the sway bar being offset so much to the side and the weak spot I created with those big notches.

So before I throw those $45 sway bar mounts into the trash, does anybody have any idea what I can do here? Are there other swaybar options I could try out? Different style mounts? Should I just gusset the crap out of these and run them?

Any help on my tie rod issue or swaybar issue will be greatly appreciated!

I need it fixed by next weekend or the jeep is getting parked and will collect dust at home.

 

I'd jus like to say, your jeep is reaaaallly clean. In those shot's your friend took it looks reallll good!

 

Thanks a lot man, I appreciate it! Going (light) wheeling this friday so Ill try to snap some pics!

 

Great build, did you solve the sway bar mount issue?