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Project Unicorn - a light duty trail rig

I guess maybe I'm more skeptical of the fact that any company would be willing to put that kind of R&D...into an XJ :laugh:

Our motor's aren't known for performance by a long shot, and aren't remotely THAT great of a market share anymore.

LOL, true. That being said, the majority of XJs I see on the road these days are modified in some way.

I put the cooler in front of the mechanical fan so that it's always working, even when the vehicle is moving slow or is stationary. My aux fan very rarely kicks on, so most of the time the aux cooler would be doing next to nothing at very low to zero speeds if it were in front of it.

That's also the hot side, so the hot air coming off of your cooler has less impact on the radiator's efficiency there since temperature deltas are still relatively high (probably 20-30* above ambient, so 140* air tops hitting the 210*-ish radiator).
 
I guess maybe I'm more skeptical of the fact that any company would be willing to put that kind of R&D...into an XJ :laugh:

Our motor's aren't known for performance by a long shot, and aren't remotely THAT great of a market share anymore.

I have to admit I was quite surprised they were interested, but they also did TJ and JK products at the same time. They own their own rotomold facility, so it may be that costs are low enough to still make it beneficial


And i think you underrate the performance you can get out of our engines.
 
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Looks great. It's coming together nice.
What are those bellowed bump stops in the bottom of the spring?
 
Prothane Coil Spring Inserts.

Search for them here or just google them. Read a few threads here about how to set them up best. Those are an old beat to shit set that came off of the race car.
 
Prothane Coil Spring Inserts.

Search for them here or just google them. Read a few threads here about how to set them up best. Those are an old beat to shit set that came off of the race car.

LOL. those are supposed to be red...
 
Stock or whatever house brand stock replacement was in it when I bought it.

I'll probably upgrade to something someday, but I don't know what.
 
So it's been awhile -- Did you end up keeping those 285 falkens on?

Hows it drive with 4.10 gears? Wish you where at 4.56?

Just looking for some real world feedback...
 
I spent the weekend before last down at SFR working on the 44 for the rear of this, I still hadn't gotten around to it.

A few weeks before I had XCM install a Powertrax Grip Pro LSD with some thick cut 4.10's and a u-bolt yoke into the housing.

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Took it down to SFR, cut the mounts off, adjusted the pinion angle to fit my jeep and put new antiwrap perches on.

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Then did the Iron Rock Offroad 44 truss.

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Didn't photo it, but also welded the axle tubes all the way around once the truss was in place.

The truss covered the vent hole, and I never liked the stupid plastic stick in vent nipple anyway; so welded that hole up and drilled a new one, welding a proper nippe into its place.

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Had Dallas cut out a set of .188 retainer plates for the 44

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Added some Currie spacers for the disc brake conversion, tacked in.

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I had a set of ZJ backing plates sitting around. Dropped the retainers on then and marked where they needed machining for the 44 pattern.

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Normally we'd go to the mill and make this fast and pretty, but Dallas had to run and I don't like running the big machines when I'm the only one in the shop, so did it the slow and hard way.

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All mocked up.

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Pulled it back apart to install new parking brake shoes.

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Opened up a shiny new set of Ten Factory shafts.

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Wheel studs were too short, so off to the parts store for some new ones. I had ordered up fancy ARP studs but they never arrived.

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Went to knock the old bearing races out and couldn't find the slide hammer. After looking for too long, grabbed some scrap and made something.

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It worked better than I would have expected it to, and I got everything bolted together.

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Dropped some spiffy powerstop rotors in.

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Went to install the shiny new Powerstop calipers and Black Magic pads, and discovered I'd ordered the wrong caliper.

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In the last 4643 refresh I learned that we're better off using late model TJ rear pads and calipers as the pad is bigger - so thats the pad I bought. I went into my amazon history and re-ordered calipers, but apparently reordered Ford Explorer calipers.

I could have run out and bought a pad or caliper from a local store and got it together, but I wasn't in a hurry, so I stopped there until I can get the right parts.

Tossed a new diff cover on. I spent longer than I am willing to admit trying to decide what diff cover I wanted. I went with Teraflex's, as I really liked how the one on 4643 looked.

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Installed with a lubelocker for good measure.

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And new plated, serrated grade 8 bolts

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As it sits waiting:

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I'm shocked by how tall the truss looks. We ran it on 4643 and it didn't look so much like a sail. ;)

As far as 4.10's vs 4.56 goes, time will tell. If I'm not happy with the 4.10's, I'll put 4.56 in the front and then revisit the rear. Hopefully in a week or two I'll get to run down and finish this up.
 
I'm shocked by how tall the truss looks. We ran it on 4643 and it didn't look so much like a sail. ;)

As far as 4.10's vs 4.56 goes, time will tell. If I'm not happy with the 4.10's, I'll put 4.56 in the front and then revisit the rear. Hopefully in a week or two I'll get to run down and finish this up.

I was gonna say, that is a hell of a sailboat of a truss :laugh:
 
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