Last weekend some friends and I installed my Rough Country 2.5" lift. I already
have the JKS 1.25 BBL and MML. The install went pretty smoothly except for one
rusted shock bolt on the front passenger side. Thanks to the sawzal, it came off
pretty quickly! The rear was a lot easier than the front. I got the track bar
relocator to keep my rear axle centered. My front seems to be almost centered,
so I'm gonna hold off on an adjustable track bar for now. The ride is about the
same as before but I definitely notice that my calf hits the body when getting
in as opposed to before. I have pics in my gallery if anyone wants to check it
out!
I had no idea what wheeling is when I ambled on to the Jeep dealers lot.
Nope, not a clue! Now I had driven several 4X4's... Bronco's and a Samy, or
should I say a Geo Tracker. Same thing, different labbel. In fact it was the
Track with 150K miles on it that had me looking for a repacement. I kew it
needed some shop time if it was going to last much longer, but I still needed
something to get back and forth from work.
I looked first at the want adds for a Toyota FJ40. I've always wanted one
of those! I like the look, and the utility... nothing, not one was anywhere to
be found for sale. So I test drove a the new version at the Toyota Dealer. It
was sound and comfortable, but, I don't know, a bit too plastic, and had poor
visibility. I came away from the test drive rather un-impressed.
Then I wandered around the Jeep lot. The 07's were out, and I liked the
top.. two peace, hard top... great! But it just doesn't look like a Jeep. I'm
sick to death of "Bubble Cars" [anything that looks like a Ford Tarus from the
side] and do not want my Jeep to start taking that same shape. Then I saw them,
two classic Jeeps on the edge of the lot. One was all gloss black, the other
was black over white. The last of the 06 models.
I bought the white one. An 06 TJ Rubicon, and had no clue what I was realy
getting myself into. I did not then know about the low gearing, the
differential lockers, and heavy duty axles, or any of that, and why I'd want
them. I do now!
I have driven more places, and seen more of Idaho, in the last year than I
ever did in over 20 years of living here. I have braved trails that my other
rigs could not have crossed, and I have forged ahead without any carnage, dents
or troubles. Maybe some difficulty, but nothing that couldn't be handled. My
Jeep has opened up a whole new Idaho, I didn't even know thet it existed.
Now I love to go out wheeling. Near or far... in groups or alone... I take
the dog, and give her a walk. I take the camera and record the views. I take a
friend, and we actually have time to talk... now that's wheeling!
got the tom woods custom ds and all the u joints keep burnin the bearings out of
the caps the angle is good has sye kit installed the 6 mos warranty expired and
they quit sending life time joints said no more i say screw emm there ds are
junk and my buddies were goin to replace our machine shop with theirs but i was
test dummie and saved them money now i got to get a new one made up the drive
shaft is 10 mos old and had 9 u joints go thru none broke but just keep burnin
the bearings
this web site is so confusing to use i just want to make a post and idk how....
and put up pictures in my profile... but idk how... can anyone please help me?
Newest member of the I hate torx club... Getting ready for the only mod I can
afford, Herculining the Jeep. Not surprisingly in the Canadian climate, I had a
decent amount of rust on the floor when I ripped up the carpet. So I decide to
be thorough, and make sure I clean up under my roll cage. All but 3 of the
bolts came out without too much frustration. But the last 3.... f*#*^Y%.
I drilled one bolt out clean, with the biggest drill bit i have (1/4"). That
did absolutely nothing. I broke off a drill bit in another bolt, and I broke
off an extractor bit in the 3rd.
With no options left, I take it into the closest shop (Canadian/Crappy Tire). I
decide to leave it up to the uncertified professionals and come back half an
hour later. The "installer" was quite pleased that he had successfully knocked
off all 3 heads of the bolts. Now he just had to worry about the threaded part.
(is this common practice?? don't most people just grind the edges off so they
can grab it with pliers and a torch?) It took over 2 hours to extract these
reasonably accessable bolts, AND he claimed that when he hit one of the threads,
it burst into flames and melted a huge section of my interior.
SO I don't have any springer-inspired final deep thoughts, but when Torx go bad,
they go really bad. And maybe there should be a special class on them in the
non-existant "installer" school that teaches you how not to melt someone's
vehicle if they are giving you money.
I left my YJ at a dealer yesterday to get inspected and to get the wheels
balanced. I figured I'd through them a few extra dollars for the wheel balance
and a rotation. I'm curious to see this morning if some of my 65mph wobble is
gone after the balancing. (I subscribe to the thought process known as 'it can
always get worse') Incidentally, the YJ did not pass inspection. It passed the
emissions test, but they said I have to replace 2 of the body mount bushings to
pass the vehicle inspection. There was a long list of other stuff too,
including all my leaks that I haven't taken care of yet. They were looking for
about $800 to do the work. I said no thank you. When I was picking up the
vehicle I commented to the cashier about how dirty my paperwork was in
comparison to all the new jeeps that were there. She offered that I could trade
in my YJ. Wow. Why would I do such a thing? I don't plan on going back there
any time soon. At the very least, they didn't tell me anything I didn't already
know about the Jeep so I feel pretty good about having a handle on what's right
and wrong with my YJ.
Just got into the jeep thing. My grandfather had a 78 cj-7 which fosters some
memories. I just bought a 69 cj-5 that I plan to model (style wise) after his
old jeep. When I got my jeep, it was completely rusted through. You could see
the street from sitting in the back looking through the floor. The two seats in
the front were bolted to a metal fence post that was only lodged into place.
There is no exhaust after the manifold. Most of the gauges are faulty. The front
right fender is beyond repair and rusted. The front left fender is bent but
fixable with some heat. It was covered in mud from all inside the engine
compartment to every inch of the undercarriage. The good news is that it starts
and stays started. If it had brakes, it would be driveable. The first thing I
had to do was remove everything that might be destroyed by water so that I could
attempt to wash this beast. Afterwards I washed with a pressure washer
everything that looked like it might have mud on it and the mud turned out to be
clay and was very resistant. I still was able to manage to get most of it mud
free. Then I took out the rear floorboard because grinding it down even would
have been pointless. I would have ground right through it. I then used a drill
and a coarse wire brush and de-rusted the entire back half of the frame and the
removed roll bar, and then used Rustoleum's anti-rust metal primer to paint
both. I finished with Rustoleum anti-rust enamel.
I am not at the point where I can begin moving forward instead of backwards in
terms of restoring things. I just found the wheelhouses online and will wait to
order those until my next paycheck entirely too far from now. That will free up
the framework to begin welding the floor and other components into place. To
waste time until then, I am taking the paint off of the exterior.
I never have done this intense of work before so the learning curve is quite
steep. I had to acquire tools $$$ and then get some parts like the rear floor
panel and then get some more tools $$$. I have now a flux-core wire welder.
Grinder with multiple attachments, drill for things like the wire brush, body
repair hammers and stabilizers, tin snips, wire cutters, etc.
Thats pretty much where I am at this point. I'll keep you updated.
Jeep, Wrangler, Cherokee and Grand Cherokee are copyrighted and trademarked to the Jeep/Chrysler Corporation
JeepForum is not in any way associated with Jeep or the Chrysler Corp.