On a non-lightbar related note, I figured I'd show an update with my new rear shock mounts all welded and painted up. JKS made this one pretty easy to work with.

 

Tonights project is readying the JCR Stage 2 Sliders for installation tomorrow. I have one modification to make to them first though, I'm adding aluminium diamond plate panels to act as steps for the Jeep.

Slider already powdercoated:


Aluminium diamond plate step panel:


Everything clamped together ready for the drilling:


I managed to finish one tonight, but will finish the other one quickly tomorrow as I've finally figured out the steps and look forward to getting them installed with some more goodies.

 

Those sliders will look sweet man. Nice touch

 

Thanks!

Jack wasn't tall enough on its own so I had to add a 2x6 and an old laptop box to lift the bar all the way up


And the finished product. Right side took me 4.5 hours, left side took me 1.5, had to just figure everything out the hard way I guess.


It's nice having a wide area to step on to access the roof, and the kids really like the few extra inches they don't have to climb to get inside. I'm having to re-learn how to get in so I don't get myself filthy rubbing up against them.


I like that I didn't really lose any ground clearance with them either and got some killer rocker protection.


Assuming that everything goes smoothly tomorrow, I will try to put on the transfercase skid Sunday. We'll just have to see.

 

Well, I removed my aeroskid and installed the steering box brace last night. After many a scraped knuckle from working in the tight spaces it is done... and I'm glad to say, that fixed my aparent knocking sound I was hearing occasionally from my front end. Just to be sure, I checked the steering box bolts on the other side to find them tight enough, but gave them a turn for good measure just to be sure with the torque wrench. No pictures of that this time, but maybe later when I feel like laying on my back again. The biggest complaint I have about it is how one of the bolts perfectly bisects an edge of the bullbar mounting and forced some VERY awkward drilling to get the hole to go through.

The next thing is I installed that Rugged Ridge Crossover steering kit. Seems to be built tough enough (at least much more so than stock which isn't saying much I know). But man did it go together easily! Too lazy/greasy for installation pictures, but the finished results are pretty nice.

Passenger Side:


Driver Side:


Just suspension:


The hardest part of this was trying to get the steering to come away fromt the pitman arm. In the end I had to make a quick trip down to Harbor Freight for a "pickle fork" (ball joint puller) to get it out with the least amount of anger and broken parts possible.

Yes, there is a lack of a steering stabilizer right now, and to be honest, I really doesn't need it at the moment unless I want to really get rough with it offroad. Took it through some really bad sections of road, pavement, railroad track crossings and the odd ditch just to see if it would majorly affect they way the vehicle normally handles... for me it seems to have "tightened" everything up quite nicely. Asides from re-aligning my front end after attaching everything up to it, the installation of these two products have made this rig feel like it's old self again before I put on the 35's. I'm glad for at the moment anyway to be rid of that woefull wandering effect I've always had on non perfectly smooth roads since the lift, just much more so with the bigger tires.

Just waiting now to get in my brake parts so I can get those attrocious things managed. I did a few tests of them now that my steering is squared away and although I can effectively drop the nose, I really don't capitalize on enough braking force to make the tires even lose the tiniest bit of grip. Not to say I want to skid everywhere, but when I need those brakes to hold, they need to be able to really do their job.

 

dude, your jeep is amazing, love the sliders, i have to get me a pair of them eventually, my girlfriend is 4'11" so she'll need it, lol

 

Recieved two presents in the mail today. The first from James at jeepersandcreepers.com being my new 62mm throttle body.





The other is from ARB ala Dirk at dpgoffroad.com with a steering stabalizer (no pictures until I get it installed).

I should be able to work on them both tomorrow. I can't wait to have some more fun with this thing!

 

Got the stabalizer installed this morning, I don't think I'll quite get to the throttle body until tonight though.







I did take it about a mile or two down some normally squirelly sections of pavement and am pleasently surprised to find near no pull at all from the tires when encountered.

 

Holy crap, I should have upgraded that throttle body back when I installed the CAI. This is easily the most seat-of-the-pants mod to date. I've been languishing for a while now how horribly my rig accelerates because of the stock 3.55 gears pushing 35's, but I can almost hardly tell that now. I'm really interested in how it will fare when I have the 4.56 gears on it. It almost seems like every day that passes my Jeep is getting newer (at least parts wise it is). I'll take some pics tomorrow!

 

Good to hear! I'm about to get my spacer and was hoping I would read about power increases

 

As promised

 

Well, due to what I believed to be a leaky exhaust manifold, I ordered and installed a set of Banks Torquetubes to replace them. I know there's mixed reviews on this product, but I'll take my chances on them. I haven't noticed a big change in power output but take my word for it, they sound mean. I'll post again later with a youtube video.

 

I hope this isn't a dumb question but how much lift do you have overall?

 

Have you noticed any improvement after having the torquetubes installed for a while? Also, love your car!

 

Without knowing where to measure from I'd have to hazard a guess on that one. I'm fairly sure I'm close to 7 inches in the front and 6 inches in the back. The flares opened my rear up more so it looks even with the front, but lift wise, I remember there being quite a bit more in the front initially.