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Your Jeep progress?

Well, there I was, headed down to CHW's to do the final major stuff (D44 axle bearings and seals), was a couple miles from my house, turned into the right hand curve and the wheels kept going straight for the cornfield and the traffic headed at me!!

WTF??? :eek:

Managed to dodge everything (including the "salutes" from the oncoming drivers) and eased my way a 100 yds or so into a church parking lot with little directional control.

Took a look underneath, and surprise - surprise - my adjustable track bar had stripped the threads on the frame side mounting bolt and was flappin' in the breeze!!!!

Damn - never saw THAT before! :confused:

Managed to get it re-inserted into the tube, put a ratchet strap on to keep it together, and carefully drove back home.

Closer inspection in my garage showed about an inch of flattened threads, and even the axle side mount had an egged hole.

Strange wear - only a year and a half old. Just 32's on 4.5" - this doesn't make sense.

Anyway, got a new one ordered and am dwelling on what would have happened if it failed at 75mph on one of the sweeping mountain turns in PA or CO on my way West.

:wow:

Mike in NJ :patriot:
 
Man looks like many of you guys are in the same boat I am...mine is also on jack stands, with loads of welding and fabricatiing (and $$$$$$$$$$$$$) yet to be done.

XJguy
 
I've got rockrails on Both sides now. The ultra-sloppy tilt steering column is solid once again. The control arm JJs are rebuilt. The ARB and gears for the front have arrived and need to go in, along with the OBA to run them, and then there's the rear D44 to modify and install. And if I get all that done, I'll worry about the TJ flares and hood vents.
 
hey Armstrong, what did you do to fix your sloppy column?

I have the same thing on my new Jeep, and was just goin to replace it with one that I have, but if it's an easy fix I'd do that first.
 
bumpers done and got the perches tacked to the 9", installing t-case skid and maybe my rockrails today (I miss them)
 
Fore Wheeler said:
hey Armstrong, what did you do to fix your sloppy column?

I have the same thing on my new Jeep, and was just goin to replace it with one that I have, but if it's an easy fix I'd do that first.
Click to expand...

Hey Dan. It's about six of one . . .

http://www.chevyasylum.com/column/tiltcol.html

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/suspension/t_steering.html

these two sites have pretty good descriptions of the job you'll be getting into, up to the point where you need the special tool no one you know is likely to have. Even before that, you'll need a steering wheel puller, and a tool that holds a big spring plate down so you can get a spring clip off the shaft. I was able to borrow both of these from a friend. I got lucky (the second time around) and found a guy who not only had the mystical special tool to get the cloumn the rest of the way apart to access all four bolts, but was willing to come out to my place and give me a hand with it. You can reach (sorta) two of the four bolts that secure the tilt joint without this special tool, and that's the way I did it the first time. Unfortunately, that stayed tight for all of about two days. So I recommend going the full route, whether it means swapping out the column, finding the right tool, or having a pro do it. It's SO nice to have it back nice and tight again. And we used plenty of red locktite on them so as to give me the best chance of not having to do it again for another ten years.
Oh yea, almost forgot - these four bolts have external torx heads on them, so you'll need an E8 external torx driver on a 1/4 inch drive extension (another unusual tool).
Good luck - it looks like you've got quite a project on your hands considering the time remaining. How goes the running gear swap?
 
Dan i took my steering wheel off and tightened something like three bolts i think it was and it has been solid as a rock since.....
 
I don't know what I'm going to do yet, I have a good column that is blue, which will sorta match my grey interior, but I don't know if it has cruise or not, so the wireing may be different. I've tightened GM columns before and I figured that these must be close to the same, right now it's just getting the axles swapped and so on, then I'll get to the column, I may pull it apart first and see how involved it is before swapping.

Armstrong, the swap is going good, the rear is DONE, and as soon as I get the 231 in I can go ahead and put the front axle in, should happen tomarrow. Not looking forward to drilling through the frame tho, but I borrowed a drill doctor to help with the dull bits. Bumpers are painted, slightly different color of sliver but it's close enough for who it's for. :) Still need to swap in things like my CB and such.

The father of the bride of the wedding I shot Sat is an old friend of mine from my stock car days, he's been building race cars and dune buggies lately, he seems to think I need a cage before we go, so next week we'll be building my cage, working a deal for wedding pics, this is his second daughter to get married in the last 6 mts. :D
 
whoozey1953 said:
If it wasn't for the last minute, we would never have time to work on our Jeeps.
Click to expand...

ain't that the truth
 
Well, I finished repairing and re-designing my very cracked (bad metal fatigue) track bar mount, fixed and beefed up (again) a crack in my frame around a steering box bolt, fixed my bent sway bar links, and repaired a cronically leaking (plugged) tire. With any luck at all, the track bar mount and frame around the steering box should be good for a very long time.

I still need to fix my very bent t-case skid plate so it will bolt up properly, pull my spare rear shaft and put the main one back in, and replace some badly worn bushings in my t-case linkage. Then fix a rear tail light, adjust the headlights, check the alignment, tighten the exhaust flange, and get the oil and trans fluid changed. Oh yeah, and get my third paint job this year. :D :D

Nothing major...... :)
 
I want a crok, and I want my tbispacer on, and maybe a rustys or more brace....

and 6.5"s of lift and 35"s and long arms and arbs and 4.56s....

:D:D:D:D
 
Dan -
The columns in our XJs are either GM columns or the closest copy you'll ever see. So if you've tightened GM columns, you know what lies ahead of you.
All that work AND a new cage? Maybe I should take up photography . . . you seem to have plenty of time to work on your Jeep! ; )
I'm looking forward to seeing the new ride.
 
ArmStrong said:
Dan -
All that work AND a new cage? Maybe I should take up photography . . . you seem to have plenty of time to work on your Jeep! ; )
I'm looking forward to seeing the new ride.
Click to expand...

If you feel this is glamour, I'll sell you the studio. :D

been working nights, till one or so, plus all day on Sunday with the help of Vug, CJS and a couple other friends, worked another 12 hours on it today, it sets on four wheels today and the list is getting shorter of the things that need to be done. Hope to be able to test it out before I drive half way acrost the US.
 
After buying my new trailer, I'm fresh out of studio buying money.
There's NOTHING like having friends to give you a hand on your Jeep. So many projects go so much more quickly and easily with a few extra hands. TRL WGN came over the other night and gave me a big hand. It sounds like you're making great progress.
I've got more to get done yet than I care to think about.
tick
tick
tick
 
9" is in, just need to install the brakes. still need to modify my rockrails to fit with the long arm setup.
 
TRNDRVR said:
I'll should finish most everything up today.
CROK plate and a rusty's steering box brace, new C4X4 front winch bumper, reinstall my winch, and a Rusty's steering conversion. I have one bad "hard" brake line that needs to be cut and re-flared, but I need some help from someone that is competent at doing brake work. Other than that, I just have miscellaneous stuff I want to do, but if doesn't get done it won't stop me from going to Moab. :D
Dan.
Click to expand...

I lied. :D
Still working on it.
Less that 3 weeks. :eek:
 
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