Progress!

Last week I welded up the other mid stiffiner after work one day. My welding skills are improving vastly! I figured out that I need to have a very clear field of vision of the puddle so I can really see what is going on as well as being comfortable and able to move. I had a hard time on the other side because the height I was working at. Its too high to lay my head on the ground but too low to sit upright. On this side I propped myself on that blue watering can and had much better control of the puddle.



Next was getting my crossmember back on, which is never a fun task. Five of the six nuts that I welded to the stiffiners lined up fine but for some reason one did not. I bought a carbide burr for my die grinder and it ate right through the thick steel.



At this point I reinstalled my fuel tank, buttoned up the fuel and brake lines along the unibody rail, and got ready to fire her up! After looking for my key for 15 minutes, and not finding it, I grabbed my spare and my jumper cables, hooked up the battery and excitedly turned the key over. To my surprise the battery cranked strong without needing to be jumped. It cranked for about 15 seconds and didnt start. I used my brain for about .01 seconds and remember I had just installed my tank and there was no fuel in the lines. Primed it a few times, kissed the started and boom! Fired right up. Didn't see anything leaking and no weird sounds. It felt great.

Next I removed my tie rod and drag link to prepare to replace them. I'm not super happy about replacing them with ZJ stuff because its still factory geometry but I need to do something about my bent stock rod. This stud on one of the TRE's was spinning with the nut. I wasn't in the mood to play footsies with it so I cut it right off and kept moving.



At this point I had been working on this for like two straight days and was slowing down. I set the goal of mocking up one of my front stiffiners then calling it a day. It feels so good pulling parts out of my pile in the basement and bringing them to their home on the Jeep.

This was easy. I had already removed the shocks, bumper and brake line bracket so there was nothing in the way. Only issue I ran into was needing to trim around the Ruffstuff section.





..and that's where I left it off. Very pleased with my progress this weekend. I'm still shooting to have this running and driving by Friday the 25th. Still a tall task but I'm going to put in the time every chance I get.

Till next time.

 

Boy oh boy, my deadline is quickly approaching. My last day working at my internship is this Thursday and I'd love to be able to drive the Jeep in after all the ball-busting that has been going on for not having it on the road. Its still possible.

I am pleased to announce I have completed installing my frame stiffeners.







This project was a grind, to say the least. As always, it took about three times as long as I anticipated but I'm proud to say that I did it and am excited for future projects to build off them (mmmm, sliders). My welding skills increased immensely from beginning to end. You know what they say, "if you wanna learn, you gotta burn."

Yesterday I started piecing the front end back together. Got the axle bolted back up along with the coils, shocks, and sway bar. I had to open up a couple of the holes on the trackbar bracket to compensate for the stiffeners. I also did the front diff fluid. I'm still waiting on the ZJ steering parts, which will be here tomorrow.



So, here's the to-do list:

-Rear diff fluid.
-Engine oil.
-Rear exhaust hanger.
-Front driveshaft.
-Body-filler small holes in floor.
-Drag link/tie rod/steering stabilizer.
-Driveway alignment.
-Torque everything.
-Grease everything.
-Front bumper/grill.
-Carpet/trim/seats.
-Test drive.

 

I DROVE THE JEEP TODAY

Filled the diffs and topped off the trans fluid. When I put the driveshaft in I realized I lost the orientation of where the weight went. I lined the ears up and hoped for the best. I thought the alignment looked off but I measured it again and it seems good. I'm probably going to bring it somewhere and have them throw it on the rack to do the toe just to be sure. Torqued all the bolts down, threw my seat in and off I went.

I only went around the block a few times and to the gas station. All seemed to go fairly well. No leaking fluids. I was getting a pretty obnoxious grinding noise under acceleration and/or turning that I'm not sure where its coming from. I couldn't hear if it was with a wheel or with the belt. Short of that everything seemed to feel pretty good. I'll be able to report back with more details once I button everything else up and put a few more miles on her.

Decided not to take it to work tomorrow, even though I probably could. Tomorrow is my last day of the summer. Gunna try to sneak out early so I can get the Jeep back together and ready to go for the school year.

 

Probably the last update for awhile,

I did not take the Jeep to school the first weekend because there were a few things I had to button up, as well as cleaning up my giant mess created from a summer long project.

Went home this past weekend and spent Saturday putting on the grill, bumper, the entire interior, welded my rear exhaust hanger, and did an oil change.

Side note; having the ability to weld is f'in awesome! I had originally intended to drill a hole and put a self tapping screw through it but after looking at how difficult it would have been to get a drill in there I said screw it and grabbed the welder. Took maybe 10 minutes to drag it out, grind everything clean, and run a 5 second bead. Great success!

I also took this time to go through my toolbox that I keep in the Jeep to organize it, as well as organize my entire trunk area with tools, extra fluids, recovery gear, and basic survival stuff which I keep in there all the time. I vacuumed the interior as I was putting it in, armor-all'd all plastic, cleaned the glass and ran it through the car wash. Got her looking (and smelling) good for college!

I determined the sound I previously mentioned does not correlate with engine speed, it changes with wheel speed. I am 99% sure it is just my rusted bent up dust shield rubbing the rotor.

On the way up to school I was thinking I forgot how to drive this thing. I was kinda all over the place at times. Worried I was gunna get pulled over for a suspected DUI lol. I'm definitely bummed I couldn't get to my WJ swap this summer, but now I have everything in place to do it. Needed to get the stiffiners on there before dealing with the frame-side track bar bracket.

So, build season is over. Hopefully I'll find time to fix my vacuum leak to get my heat working correctly before winter. Short of that I have no plans to do anything till next year.

Here's the Jeep and the bike looking good parked 15ft from my front door.

 

She looks good dude

A summer well spent

 

Looking good. Enjoy it this winter. Hope you'll be able to do some wheeling this fall.

 

As seems to be the trend every year, I haven't been doing much with the Jeep while in school. I've taken it out for a couple mild trail runs but she's mostly been a grocery getter. I have not been as impressed with frame stiffeners as I had hoped. I just do not notice that significant improvement so many people talk about. However, I am extremely glad to have a solid base to build from.

Took the Jeep to get aligned the other day (after like 2 months) and the toe was only out a quarter of a degree after doing it in the driveway; not bad!

As far as other updates, I still have a vacuum leak that causes my heat to only come out of the defrost vents (2 years later). I would really really like to get that fixed before the winter is here. I'm headed home for the day this weekend and will hopefully be able to mess with it for awhile. I also have a CEL for something that I want to read and figure out.

I've been planning next year's build schedule, as well as thinking about what I am going to purchase on Black Friday.

At first I had $1,600 in lockers in my cart, then realized I have other priorities to attend to before that happens.

Right now I'm looking at buying:

-Arctec Dana 30 truss
-IRO C gussets
-JCR sway bar relocation brackets
-Solid differential covers front and rear
-Yukon 1510H rear shafts

Also was just looking at steering box braces and trackbar braces.

The tentative plan for next year:

WJ Swap:

The biggest part of this is my frame side trackbar mount. I have a Ruffstuff outside frame mount that I want to use to push the mount forward slightly to cheat some extra length. I intend on plating the bottom of the unibody rails from where the Ruffstuff stiffeners end all the way to the front. This will give me some extra meat to weld the mount to but I still am not completely comfortable with welding the Ruffstuff mount directly to the rail. I would like to weld the Ruffstuff mount to a L shaped piece of 3/8" or 1/4" which could then be welded directly to the unibody rail or possibly a combination of bolts and small stitch welds. That should be plenty sturdy enough, especially if I do end up bracing to the opposite rail.

While on the topic of bracing, I am going to put crush sleeves in to support my steering box. I considered plating the inside of the rail behind the box to support that area but I do not think its necessary for my intentions. However, I would like to run a steering box brace and trackbar brace to the opposite unibody, bolting up from the bottom and also through the rail with crush sleeves, if there is enough room after the steering swap.

Moving on from the unibody, the track bar itself will be 1.5" x 0.250" DOM with 7/8" Heims. I'm really hoping I can get away with running a straight track bar in the position that I'm thinking. I've eyeballed it but will not know until its all apart and in my hands. Axle side TB mount is going to be the Ruffstuff offset axle end, again, pushed as far to the passenger side as possible to maximize length. While I'm working on this I will install my truss, C gussets, and swaybar mounts. Also going to make some LCA skids out of my OEM u-bolt plates or something similar.

Steering is Ruffstuff's GM crossover kit. 1.5" x 0.250" DOM with 1-ton TRE's. High angle ends on the drag link and offset ends for the tie rod to clear the diff cover. Offset ends will probably require grinding to work with my 15" wheels.

New Spicer BJ's and Timken bearings. Akebono calipers with EBC yellowstuff pads and rotors. Calipers will require grinding but I'm confident it will all fit.

Should be a *****in' setup when its done.

I'm still considering a truss for the 8.25. JCR has one for $100 and IRO for $130 but I am also considering building on from some 1/8" plate I have. I'd also like to move my shock mounts up a bit, just the trick where you cut them and weld them back on a couple inches higher. Thinking about shaving it too.

All of this and more should keep me plenty busy. Now I just need something to keep me busy till spring..

I'll be updating this to keep my thoughts organized somewhere.

TL;DR:

-Plate bottom of front unibody rails
-Truss front and rear
-Gussets, miniskids, relocate shock mounts
-Sleeve steering box bolts
-Steering box brace
-WJ knuckles
-Ruffstuff panhard kit
-Trackbar brace
-Ruffstuff GM crossover steering kit
-EBC yellowstuff pads/rotors
-Solid diff covers

 

I know when I did the 2x6s I noticed a smoother ride and felt more solid offroad. I finally am getting to putting the stiffeners in and tying it all together.

 

I'd skip the 1541H shafts for the 8.25 unless there's something wrong with the OEM shafts or you're getting a crazy good deal. They're not really much stronger than stock.

 

X2, there is no company that makes a truly worth chromoly shaft for the 8.25

 

Thanks for the input on the shafts guys. I know the 1541H is only about 10-15% stronger than stock and much less strong than chromoly. The only reason I was considering them was because they’re about $275 for the set. After sitting on it for awhile I decided it will probably be better just to pick up some spare stock shafts for now.

What’re your thoughts on a truss for the 8.25? Worth my time? I’ve decided that if I am going to do a truss I’ll just buy one. $100 is cheap enough that I’d rather use something that fits instead of fabbing one.

I played with my heat the other day. Went Round all my vacuum lines with a propane torch and carb clean. Didn’t find anything. I pulled a line off and the motor almost died as well as it pulled strong vacuum. I inspected the lines at the back of the hvac controls and didn’t find anything. Next step is to use a vacuum pump and gage to investigate further. I’ve never diagnosed a vacuum system before so it’s definitely a learning process for me. Any tips are greatly appreciated!

 

I wish IRO made their D44 truss with the extended bumpstops for the 8.25, all them make is a box style. I'm sure the box style is stronger over the plate though. I would say for the cost it can't be a bad investment.

 

Sooo I just bought myself some treats. I had hoped to find better Black Friday deals on parts I wanted than I did so I didn't go too crazy. I got:

-Artec Dana 30 truss with Daystar bushings for about $175 with a free t-shirt plus $30 shipping.
-Solid diff covers front and rear for the usual $65 each.
-Staun tire deflators (pretty neat, check em out)

I ran my check engine codes and got P0442 and P0455, which are small and large evap leaks. Surprise surprise.

Also did some investigating/ordered parts to fix my heat. I tested for vacuum with a pump/gauge yesterday. To get a baseline reading of the system's vacuum I disconnected the line to the HVAC controls and put the gauge in its place. It fluctuated rapidly between 17.5-18 in-Hg which, from my understanding is where it should be. I next pulled the vacuum harness off of the hvac control valve on the dash and tested for vacuum there, which was a steady 17.5 on the black supply line. I then used the vacuum pump to supply vacuum to the outlet lines that run from the hvac switch to the actuators. I referred to the FSM schematic to see which color hose went with each vent position. The manual showed that multiple hoses see vacuum for each position but I only had the one vacuum pump so I could not exactly produce what was supposed to be given to move the vents. Regardless, I put vacuum on one of the other hoses and, wouldn'tcha know, I got heat out of my other vents.

I just ordered the hvac controls piece on the dash as well as a new vacuum canister and an elbow on the intake manifold. I ordered a canister for a GC because they are a long narrow rectangular shape opposed to the XJ's egg. I'm unsure if they have the same inlet diameter. Hopefully they will but I'll make it work if not. I'm thinking about relocating the vacuum canister to the driver's side of the engine bay where the airbox was and deleting my cruise control because I put in a non-cruise clockspring. I'd kinda like to leave myself the chance to get cruise back but I also don't intend on doing a clock spring again unless I need to. Eliminating the cruise would free up a bit of room for electircal doo-dads by the PDC.

I'm not confident these parts will fix my check engine codes but I did not see much else that would throw the code. I went over the entire vacuum system from reservoir (JB welded together..) to the intake, as well as the intake to LDP and to the charcoal canister. I found several spots where the plastic line had a flat spot worn in the side but nothing that was broken through. The rubber elbows at the canister look aged but were not visibly cracked. One thing I found suspicious was on my metal line from the canister to the fuel tank. It is crushed flat this spot:




Obviously not good. I'm going to replace that line with fuel hose, as well as install a new gas cap because why not. I'll start off doing those and see if that gets me anywhere. Need an inspection in January so gotta get it done.

 

Where did you find them for $65?! Tell me more.

 

Right on their website!

https://www.solidaxle.com/productcar...29&idcategory=