99 XJ DD & Weekend Warrior

[NW99XJ]

Re: 99 XJ DD & Weekend Warrior

Well I'm back.
The tip was simply amazing. It was a little sad having to leave.
I cant say enough good things about the Rubicon.
I will eventually be doing a mini trip report, but I have somewhere between 20 and 30 gigs of pics and video to go thru before I can do that.
All I can say at this point, is that if there is any chance you can get to the Rubicon..... DO IT!!! ..... Even if it's as a passenger.
It is/was worth it in every way. I will be back for sure in 2015.

I know someone else who is going to Moab this coming weekend and I think he is going next year too. It'd be cool if we could coordinate to where we all three could go. Do you have dates picked out already?

No dates for our MOAB trip as of yet, but what I DO know, is that it will be in either the spring or fall, as it's just too damn hot during the summer there.

 

[bmikes]

Re: 99 XJ DD & Weekend Warrior

Well I'm back.
The tip was simply amazing. It was a little sad having to leave.
I cant say enough good things about the Rubicon.
I will eventually be doing a mini trip report, but I have somewhere between 20 and 30 gigs of pics and video to go thru before I can do that.
All I can say at this point, is that if there is any chance you can get to the Rubicon..... DO IT!!! ..... Even if it's as a passenger.
It is/was worth it in every way. I will be back for sure in 2015.




No dates for our MOAB trip as of yet, but what I DO know, is that it will be in either the spring or fall, as it's just too damn hot during the summer there.

Did I miss it, or has this report surfaced already??

 

[NW99XJ]

NO I've been slacking.
I have the vids up on my YouTube channel, but that's about as far as I've gotten.
I'll try to do something soon.

 

[Bronzewyrm]

NO I've been slacking.
I have the vids up on my YouTube channel, but that's about as far as I've gotten.
I'll try to do something soon.

Hasta

 

[NW99XJ]

Lower Control Arm Axle Brackets - Nov_2013

After months of neglecting my Jeep, I finally got around to doing something to it.
For months I have had these Ballistic Fabrication Lower Control Arm Axle Brackets laying around, collecting dust.


The main reason for getting these, and what has been keeping me from wheeling much lately (among other things)
...are the bent up, thrashed, and probably ready to fold and/or fail, factory LCA brackets.




Not willing to trust my own welding skills for something this critical,
I enlisted the help of others with better equipment, and more seat time with a welder than me.
The first couple guys I went with didnt work out for various scheduling reasons, etc....
With the help of a long time Jeepin buddy, Brandon "Bmikes" came thru with flying colors.

The day started off with good weather, clear skies and a hellacious wind that would freeze your snot before it left your nose.
After stopping for some doughnuts, I pulled into Brandon's to find him between the legs of his jeep munching on the tank.


We moved a couple things around to get the jeep nosed into the garage and out of the wind at least a little bit.
Jacked it up, removed the tires, and got some jack stands placed. The plasma cutter came out and it was time to get to work.


I used the plasma cutter to make short work of getting the majority of the brackets off.


Once those were out of the way, I ground the rest of the brackets and factory welds down to the tube.




In order to stay warm I did my best to start a fire using showers of sparks in the hopes of igniting the mass piles of leaves that kept blowing into the garage.
Unfortunately, it never worked:

 

[NW99XJ]

Lower Control Arm Axle Brackets - Nov_2013

Once everything was ground off, and ready to go, the new brackets started to get mocked into position.
They came from Ballistic with these extra tabs, not sure EXACTLY what their intended use was for.
But I know they could only go on in a couple ways.

If they were mounted like THIS, then they would interfere with where the brackets are supposed to go,
...and unnecessary modifications would have to made to either the bracket or the coil bucket/shock mount in order to get them to fit right.


Since I really didnt want to go thru all that, I looked at option #2.....
If they were welded in like THIS, then they would interfere with the control arm and/or the grease zirk:


That wasn't going to happen either.
After taking a look at some of the competition, namely the IRO LCA Brackets,
I noticed, they don't have any sort of "internal cross brace thingy"
...and since mine already were a step above those with having the built in skid plate,
I figured it would be fine if I left them out of the equation all together.
(picture courtesy of BMIKES)

The brackets were mocked into position, tacked in place, and the work continued.


I was initially a little worried about heat transfer to the pumpkin, and/or inner seals during the welding phase of things.
This proved to not be much of an issue.
The cold weather, and alternating welds, with cool down times, and working on the other side really helped.

Moving to the other side it was more of the same game plan.
Cut, grind, place, tack, move to the other side, weld, move back to the other side, weld some more. Etc.


After the tacking, and because things were so cold on occasion,
Brandon decided to do a tiny bit of pre-heating in the area to help with penetration.


His welds are great, and I'm more than confident these things aren't going anywhere anytime soon.




The one thing I wish these brackets did was clock up onto the axle a little more.
I think these hang down just a tad below what the factory ones did.


There was just no way to get the brackets any more parallel to the ground without some serious mods to both the brackets themselves, AND the coil bucket/shock mount.
Time was a factor here, as was the cold, and frankly I know these things will hold up regardless.
They're easily 4 times as thick, and there's at least double the amount of weld holding them on.

Big thanks goes out to Brandon for helping me out with the welding aspect of this.
Without him, who knows how much longer my jeep would have gone neglected.

Next up is going to be painting these, along with the steering box brace, and rebuilding the LCA joints.
I have the stuff to do all this, so Ill prob do that before this weekend.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

In the last picture.. your supposed to weld the top plate to the axle tube.

 

[NW99XJ]

I can see where you're coming from on that,
But there's a good 1/4" gap and no means to clock the bracket (without modifying the radius of the mating surface) to bring that closer to the tube.
Prob COULD have filled that in, but again...there are many other brackets out there, like the IRO ones pictured, that dont have this feature and do just fine.

 

[dukie564]

supposed to weld the bracket sides to the tube, then hammer the top of the "skid" portion towards the tube.

HAd to do the same thing with my LCA skids

 

[88nwxj]

My question for you is, would you go with these same brakets again or buy a different set? I'm probably going to be doing this soon myself.

 

[NW99XJ]

supposed to weld the bracket sides to the tube, then hammer the top of the "skid" portion towards the tube.

Had to do the same thing with my LCA skids

I actually thought about that, I also thought about trimming a little chunk of metal to shove in there and weld up to fill the gap.
I may still do that actually. And I may do that myself as it's not as critical of a weld as the other.

My question for you is, would you go with these same brakets again or buy a different set? I'm probably going to be doing this soon myself.

Good question.
I have been mulling this over myself since Sat.
I really liked the ARTEC ones, they seem pretty beefy, are well engineered, and have a lot of good support on their site for the installation. They even have the cam bolt adjuster on the one side, but I think they have an option to get it without.... cant remember now.

Anyways, short answer is probably YES.

But I would consider modifying the brackets to clock them up a little more, to be more out of the way, and generate a better surface to slide on. That is of course, IF I was doing this all over again on a Dana 30.
Now that being said....clocking these things up may prove to be a bad decision, as having them lower like this may be stronger... I dunno... I'm gonna have to do some research.

 

[NW99XJ]

Alrighty folks,
Here's whats happened since I last posted.
Cleaned up and painted the LCA mounts.
Removed, painted, and re-installed the steering box brace.
Rebuilt the LCA X-Flex joints.
Finished mounting the front bumper.
Mounted the winch.
Relocated the solenoid box.
Discovered some carnage.

Here's the pics:
LCA mounts all painted up. Same process as how I did my steering arms...
Clean up what was needed with wire brush/steel wool/scotchbrite pads...
Clean surfaces with grease/wax remover.
Prime with self etching primer. (wait till its dry)
Paint liberally with favorite bedliner spray.
This of course was all done with the LCA removed (I preferred to do just one side at a time)
They turned out pretty dang good. (pic shown after LCA was re-installed)


While paint or bedliner was drying, the LCA X-flex Joints were addressed.
One at a time, they were chocked up in the vice, and work ensued.
The set screw was removed:


Then, using the Rough Country spanner wrench, (p/n RCJ120)
The retaining ring was backed out


Once the retaining ring was out, the guts of the joint can be pulled out:


There was no way I was going to rebuild these joints and not clean things up a bit.
The "ball joint" was pretty nasty....


Some shop rags and brake cleaner took care of that real quick:


The rebuild kit (rough Country p/n: RCJ100-1) comes with everything you need, and then some.
New joint cups, snap ring, washer, and grease zirk.


One of the first things I noticed was a slightly different design of the joint cups from the old to the new.
I had heard rumors that Rough Country had done a redesign a couple/few years ago to "improved" their joints.
Probably in part from the amount of complaints from the end users that they have been having to rebuild the joints
at least once a year due to (what was presumed as) premature wear.
Will this new design work? Will it last? ...only time will tell I guess:


After my examination of the parts was complete, I started back in at the task at hand.
The joint housing (rod end - whatever) was cleaned up using the shop-rag/towel and brake cleaner method.
The first cup was loaded in. Definitely a more "snug" fit with the new compared to the old.
I didnt need a press or anything, but the old ones basically could have just fallen out,
...whereas these needed some force to get in.


The spherical ball joint is placed in the first cup....


And the second cup is then placed over the top, ensuring it sits flat/flush:


Getting the two halves to seat properly took a little finagling, since they have a fairly tight fit to the housing,
it's not easy to do small position adjustments as you press them in.
I used this little dimple mark as a reference to help guide me in, after a couple of failed attempts.


The spanner (retaining ring - whatever) was then cleaned up as well, and threaded into place.
I cinched it down good and lined up the holes in its perimeter to the set screw location once it was nice and tight.
The set screw was tightened and I moved on:


For those who are interested, Rough Country has a video of the process on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQY3lGGXNok

 

[NW99XJ]

The long-since-rusted-since-it-was-installed steering box brace was removed,
wire brushed, etching primered, and painted with the bedliner too.


The bumper was finally fully mounted using a bunch of new grade-8 hardware, and the winch was mounted.


That crusty old fairlead was a hand-me-down from another Jeeper. It was pretty beat up, and needed some refurbishing.
The tabs that hold the rollers were all bent, so I re-bent those into as close of an original position as I could.
Scotch-brited all the surfaces, and put it all back together. It works just fine (for now.)

Since my bumper design has the winch pushed back pretty far,
it was my intentions all along to relocate the solenoid box to the engine compartment.
There of course was not much room, so it was just sort of shoe-horned in there for the time being.


I still have some finishing touches to do to the winch install, but its on there, and mounted solid.
Next up for the winch will be in-cab controls.
My idea for this is to use the "vent switch panel" offered up by various companies.
Here's the one from Rugged Ridge:

They look like this once installed:

Instead of two rocker switches, I will use one for winch power on/off,
And the other will be a two-way momentary switch like this one:

 

[NW99XJ]

Now for the aforementioned carnage....
I went wheeling on Thanksgiving Weekend,
My Jeep HAD been making some "clunking" noises for a littel while, but I had just assumed it was the LCA joints gone bad.
They WERE bad, but were not the source of my noise.
Any time I would accelerate hard, or if I was in 4WD and climbing a hill, there would be a *clunk*clunk*
...not in regular intervals, but solid and deep sounding. Felt like (at the time) like the whole front end was shifting forward and back underneath me. Under a normal load, going downhill, or coasting, it was fine.
It wasn't till later in the day on this outing that with the help of another Jeeper (thank you SpecFab)
It was determined it was my motor mounts.
I hadn't even considered them, as they are barley over a year old.

If you remember, it was back in mid-July of 2012 that I swapped out the old ones.
Here's a couple pics from that:
(new on the left - old on the right)

A Closer look once that real bad one was pulled out:

Now....
Here's what they look like today (December 2013)
Drivers side


Yes the top of the metal housing of the mount itself is snapped in two:


Passenger side:


That's right, virtually no rubber left.


So with these being barely a year and a half old, and having around 10 or so GOOD wheeling trips on them, and a fair amount of freeway miles as well..... I'd say this is a good argument for WHY you upgrade to something more than just an OEM replacement.
This is really making me wonder what my tranny mount is looking like.
In any case, I have narrowed it down to a few choices:

• IronMan 4x4 Fab
• Brown Dog
• M.O.R.E.

Not 100% sure which direction I'm going to go yet, but you guys will be the first to know.

Either way, I will most likely be swapping out the tranny mount at the same time just for peace of mind.

 

[Demonoid369]

99 XJ DD & Weekend Warrior

Make your own motor mounts. Or spec fab. I was going to get a pair from him till my funds ran dry

 

[dukie564]

There's your problem

I've looked at the same options as you for replacing mine in the short term.
MORE looks ok - rubber bushing, but the bracket doesn't look anywhere near as beefy as the other 2.
Ironman ones are relatively new - uses poly (88 durometer) bushings
Brown Dogs are well proven, choice of either rubber or poly bushings

This article give a good first hand comparison of the 2 types:
http://www.moabjeeper.com/articles/general/listing.cfm?articleID=531

I'm set on Brown Dog mounts with rubber bushings for mine.

 

[90xjblue]

Good luck with those bushings. My wifes xflex joint lasted a whole week after i installed the lift. Got new ones they lasted 3 weeks. Literally less than 100 miles on two sets of bushings....

I bought new joints from currie and put them in her control arms. No problems since..

 

[NW99XJ]

Good luck with those bushings. My wifes xflex joint lasted a whole week after i installed the lift. Got new ones they lasted 3 weeks. Literally less than 100 miles on two sets of bushings....

I bought new joints from currie and put them in her control arms. No problems since..

The eventual plan is to go with the Metal Cloak Rod Ends... they outflex anything on the market. Period.
There's no better joint to buffer vibration from washboard surfaced trails, or harsh road conditions, etc.

Metalcloak's Duraflex Joints have very little wear factor. Meaning, you're not replacing joint guts every year or so.

There plain and simply is no other joint on the market that offers as much flex as the Duraflex Joints.

I found a great video of a comparison of the Duraflex Joint, Johnny Joints, and a typical OEM style Clevite Joint.
Anyone who is thinking of changing out their control arms, or is a huge fan of Johnny Joints, REALLY needs to see this video:



Oh and did I mention they accomplish all this without the need to constantly grease it as well?
The joints can be purchased as a stand alone rod-end builder part to add to your own control arms.... (most likely the route I will take)

But honestly, the R&D they've put into their control arms makes it well worth it... IF you want to get arms that is...
No other CA on the market compares to what Metalcloak offers.
Virtually every other CA manufacturer builds their arms misaligned.
Metalcloak arms are the closest you'll get to OEM CA alignment:

Look, I know this all sounds like a commercial and all, but lemme assure you, I'm no salesman, and I have no stake with Metalcloak....
I just like technology that WORKS, and what they're doing to revolutionize the way we think about control arm joints
is the kind of stuff that makes our XJ's perform better than just about any other 4x4 out there.
I do my research folks, and in my opinion, there is no better joint out there, that is as reliable, and performs as well as the Duraflex joint.

I'm still waiting on the long term reviews before I start pulling strings to get a set. But It'll be interesting once I do. Either way...thats the direction i'm leaning... at least for now.

Thanks for reading.

 

[NW99XJ]

Throttle Body Plans - Feb_2014

I have been contemplating this for a while now.... just haven't dove in on the mod because something else usually came up.
Recently I started the discussion on The XJ Talk Show about how I've been refreshing my research on the topic of boring the XJ throttle body out. Tips, tricks, techniques, and different methods, etc... during the live show a very nice fan, (and owner of one of the nicest XJ's I've ever seen) Dean Murray popped up and said "I have my old stock one laying around... I'll send it to ya free of charge to play around with" ...sure-nuff, the very next day he must have sent it out, because just a few days after that, it arrived.


So the plan now, is to use this throttle body to experiment on, and perfect my technique, make any necessary adjustments and do the final pass on my own throttle body. I DO have access to a machine shop, so it may be more of a documentary on how a throttle body is machined to a larger bore, or it could be a write up on how to do it yourself with a drill press, etc...
We'll see.
Either way, that's whats planned, oh... and the throttle body spacer I have laying around will get bored to match as well....
Stay tuned!

 

[dukie564]

interesting joints. Not sure i'm entirely keen on the bonded bushing but i like that they use the housing as the greased race so the whole joint rotates.

But are they really worth 50% more per joint than a Johnny joint?