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Weekend is over...what did you get done?

I'm almost ready to throw my 8.25 back under the jeep. I need to re-route the hard lines and figure out how to bolt the soft line to the axle.

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Went to my parents house in Aiken, SC for the memorial day weekend. Fished some on Saturday and Sunday. Worked too. Gawd I hate being in the trucking business some times..... I really wish I could afford to put a xj or mj down there.
 
Got the 8.25 under the Jeep, super happy to have that done and 4 wheel discs. Just need to get the e-brake cables hooked up, I haven't decided if I'm going to hack the XJ cables to work with the discs or order KJ cables. Anyone used KJ cables before?

What soft lines did you use?
 
Bosco, I think I used WJ soft lines. They're very short (like 4-5 inches) and don't really have a solid way to mount to the axle tube or backing plate. I'm not crazy about it, but I think as long as I have the hard lines routed well, it shouldn't give me trouble.

Braking feels good so far, not a giant difference (wasn't expecting it to be), but the main benefit for me is going to the stronger axle and not having to deal with drum brake maintenance.
 
Brian, pretty sure you can use YJ lines on the rear brakes. Search out that option.
 
Brian, pretty sure you can use YJ lines on the rear brakes. Search out that option.

Thanks Dirk. I've got the hard lines. I picked up some pre-flared lines from O'Reilly.

They were a little long so I thought it'd be a good idea to route them under the axle, right under the spring perch. Obviously I wasn't thinking when I did that.

It's just going to take a bit of creativity. I have a 40 inch line that I'll probably end up using instead of the 51 inch line.
 
So i had a goal last night of getting my axle under the jeep. That didn't happen.

I re-ran my brake lines, no issues there. The axle is ready to go back in. Here's what happened.

I had my springs and RC Shackle relocators installed but very loosely. I started to tighten the passenger side front spring eye bolt. I noticed it wasn't catching in the nut. So I swapped to another bolt I had which looked a little smaller. It went right in with no issues. I moved on to the rear. I tightened the shackle box hanger bolt to the frame. No issues. I tightened the shackle to the box and spring, no issues. I then moved to the drivers side.

I used the same type of bolt on the spring eyes as the passenger side and tightened, no issues. I moved to the relocator box hanger bolt. Major issues. The exact same bolt I used on the passenger side, decided it did not want to catch, at all. I removed the shackle relocation box to get a better idea of what was going on. For some reason, that bolt isn't catching. I tried pushing on it and turning, still nothing. I spent a good amount of time trying and as my goal was to get the axle in, I knew that wasn't gonna happen so I started saying a bunch of bad words and then decided to hit the pause button on that.

I just ordered the hanger bolt from the dealer. I'm hoping the bolt is just a bit oversized for that nut which is why it's not going in. In fact, I think i vaguely remember needing to switch sockets to remove my passenger side shackle bolt weeks ago.

Anyway, there's my long winded frustration of this project as nothing seems to be easy with the rear of this thing.
 
BTW, for reference all leaf spring bolts came from aftermarket and not the dealer. 2 came from Morris 4x4 and others came from Amazon with my new OEM shackles.
 
I need a little guidance here. So, Obviously I put my backing plates on the wrong sides. Can I still run like this? I can't really think of any reason I can't run my brakes like this. Thoughts?

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I need a little guidance here. So, Obviously I put my backing plates on the wrong sides. Can I still run like this? I can't really think of any reason I can't run my brakes like this. Thoughts?

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Are the bleed screws on the bottom or top of the caliper?
 
Are the bleed screws on the bottom or top of the caliper?

Bleed screws are on the bottom. I'll look into swapping caliper sides as I believe the screws need to be above the banjo bolt.
 
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Bleed screws are on the bottom. I'll look into swapping caliper sides as I believe the screws need to be above the banjo bolt.

Yes they do..... Ask me how I know.... :gee:
 
Looks good. That gives me some ideas for when I go to paint my xj.

Speaking of my XJ, I did get a little bit more done last night. I drilled out my u bolt plates to fit over the new spring nut. Then I bolted the axle to the springs and torqued down. I also swapped my calipers and pads and now the bleeder screw is above the banjo. I started running the brake lines and everything is lining up nicely. Next is to install shocks, connect extended line to hard line on frame, tighten fittings, throw on the wheels, torque and check all bolts, and add gear oil. Then I can start on the front.
 
I was able to get my wipers fixed which is a big deal since it always rains in Harlan. I got the tags and hope to get the insurance back today.

I'm pretty stoked to drive it some back and forth to work now.
 
Another good weekend. On Saturday, I was able to replace the rear shocks and a worn rear spring eye busing. I then took it for a ride to Sonic on Sunday. I drove it to work today (Monday).
 
Spent Saturday at URE for a work day. CNC4X4 provided lunch. Ribs, slaw, chips, rolls, and tea to drink. Had a caliper hang on the rear. Sunday went to Summerville to see Deanna's mom and grandma.
 
After a month of sitting, the Commander is back and running. Finally found a good used Hemi out of a sideswiped Commander about 10 days ago. Believe it have about 15,000 miles less than the my Jeep. Once the engine got to the shop, they had it in and running in 2 days work (with a weekend in the middle of it all.)

She seems to run fine. I've put just under 100 miles on it in the last two days. A combination of in town and highway miles, with about 8 miles of towing.

It was not a cheap proposition to get this done, so I'm a little nervous about towing to Harlan, but I guess it can be done. I've got this irrational fear that as soon as I put some load on this engine it will blow up like the original one did!
 
After a month of sitting, the Commander is back and running. Finally found a good used Hemi out of a sideswiped Commander about 10 days ago. Believe it have about 15,000 miles less than the my Jeep. Once the engine got to the shop, they had it in and running in 2 days work (with a weekend in the middle of it all.)

She seems to run fine. I've put just under 100 miles on it in the last two days. A combination of in town and highway miles, with about 8 miles of towing.

It was not a cheap proposition to get this done, so I'm a little nervous about towing to Harlan, but I guess it can be done. I've got this irrational fear that as soon as I put some load on this engine it will blow up like the original one did!

Those and all newer Chrysler/Mopar motors have a cam and timing issue from what I am reading. The oil changes from what I have read are very important. The also like to drop Valves.
 
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