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so you got the 15" rims to clear ? Everyone says you need 16" or 17" rims to clear the WJ knuckles & brakes.
No you can use 15" wheels. Just have to figure the best way to run then for your rig:
-running heims or straight 1T TRE you will clear the wheel fine, but might have issues hitting any aftermarket diff cover.
-running the WJ TRE and linkage you don't have to worry about anything
-if you want to clear an aftermarket diff cover your options are limited to putting bends in the tie rod, or doing what I did and just shave the offset TRE until they clear.
Also the caliper clears just fine, HOWEVER, once I added static weights to the inside it rubbed so I had to shave a little off the caliper.
Made some progress on how I'm going to mount the swaybar. Driving on the highway and making turns the other day wasn't fun at 55mph, and with my 9hr trips to ME a few times a year the swaybar is a must.
I mocked things up today, and decided I would have to mount the swaybar discos above all the linkage (DL on the passenger side) to clear it good. I already bought the RC discos at the beginning of my build thinking I could get them to work by changing the bracket on the axle. I also ordered the Synergy relocation brackets. The Synergy relocation brackets won't work. I need something coming off the C with a bend, so I will be trying either Black Magic Brakes or JCR sway bar relocation brackets.
Also to clear all the linkage I needed shorter discos, and having the RC discos for 3.5-6" of lift already I just decided to mod those instead of buying new ones. I cut off about 3 or 4" and used the appropriate die to re-thread it:
Got the 8.8 parking brake adjusted properly. It stops but doesn't grab like I remember the 8.25. Maybe just need to wear the new pads a little.
I've been tossing around the idea of swapping to an air filter just flopped in the engine bay with a prescreen bag over it. I like the Spectre cowl intake, but the noise inside for some reason started bothering me, after almost 2 years of driving with it haha. So to see how much the in-cab noise would be reduced I just flipped the cowl elbow bend around so it points forward. I may actually just run it like this around town and on my long trips, then when wheeling turn it back and connect it to the cowl.
Having to take the coil out to add another 1.25" of bump stop, I decided to just try the Prothane progressive bumps that everyone raves about. I figured it would make installing the coil easier, and give a softer bump. I ordered the 10.5" ones and will most likely cut them down to leave an air gap. I do need a hard stop, and to ensure that I'm going to use 1-1/4 diameter UHMWPE solid rod to ensure I get that hard stop. For the upper tower I am just going to drill and tap the jounce cup (97+ isn't screw on but a welded cup) and use whatever washer(s) I can get to work. I don't want to cut of the cup or anything in case I decide to go back to the OEM rubber bump setup.
What I was going to put on:
Extra thick 2" diameter washer, fits perfectly on the end of the tower, and I'll use a button head screw to fasten it to the tower. However, I think the I will need a 3" diameter washer as I think the 2" will pierce the hole on the Prothane still:
My winch wiring somehow got messed up in the build as well. It work before I rebuilt everything, but for some reason my in cab controls both "in" and "out" made the winch go IN. I took it all apart and looked it over. It all looked correct and I couldn't find any reason it was doing that. I thought maybe the internals of the switch went bad or something, and to be safe I ordered a DPDT switch so I can wire it like Warn wanted you to: switch trips both + and - sides of the circuit. Before I was only using a SPDT switch, which worked, but left the system always grounded, so if there were ever a short it would run on its own.
Got my front progressive bump stops all figured out today. Used the Prothane 10.5" coil inserts cut down to 7.5". I used a hockey puck as the top contact plate, and used UHMW rod, drilled and tapped for an insert/hard stop. The top contact plate for the old tower I just drilled an tapped a hole and used some over-sized washers:
They work good, I'm impressed with them on the short trip I did down an access road with some small whoops. Now I'm waiting for U-bolt plates so I can install the progressive rears.
I also figured out my winch controls. While I did need the DPDT switch instead of the SPDT, it turns out the main reason why both "in" and "out" on my in-cab controls made the winch go in, was because I had "A" and "F1" switched on the winch itself. Whoops haha. In my haste to get it installed I must have not been paying attention.
Also, to combat the excessive interior noise from the Spectre cowl intake, I flipped it forward like I showed on a previous post. Doing that eliminated ALL sucking noise from the cab, so I'm going to run it like that and then attach it to the cowl when I wheel. beats having to buy something else, esp since I would never be able to get this setup if I decided to sell it.
Got my first chance to flex it out. Did awesome, I could have kept going, but my rear isn't bump stopped yet so I didn't want to push it. B Lee flex everyone:
So later that day after flexing, I was merging onto a freeway and getting up to speed, hit about 55 and it happened. Let's be clear, this wasn't a shimmy or shake or what half of the forum members think is DW, this was true DW. The whole front end bounced and the jeep shook so violently I had to fight to even slow down to zero, I thought the jeep was going to roll. So there I was stopped in the middle of the freeway, wondering wtf could have gotten tweaked up front. I decided to continue on the freeway. I kept it around 50 for the 15mi or so I needed to be on the freeway, and the shake didn't come back, at least not like the first time. I did feel like it wanted to every time I hit a bump in the road.
Having arrived at my destination I crawled under to look for the usual; play in anything, bolts, nuts, cracks in welds/frame. I didn't see anything that jumped out at me so I just left it.
A couple hours later I headed back home, and same thing; getting up to speed on the freeway, violent shaking. But once cruising at 50-55, it only wanted to do it when I hit a bump.
So I get back home, and notice a noise coming from under every time i tap the brake, like a creaking noise right below my feet. The only thing below my feet are the CA's, rather LA's.
So this morning I go check the LA's, and grab the upper and shake it as hard as I can and it starts making the noise I think I was hearing/feeling in the cab. The heim joint frame side has NO visual play, but seems to be making noise.
My question, to anyone reading, is how do you tell when a heim is bad, and how can a heim go bad in 200mi. Are RuffStuff heims that bad now?
Found the main cause of my DW. So apparently my passenger WJ caliper decided to become loose. Maybe from me not tightening it as tight as I thought, maybe from me braking hard over and over to match the pads/rotors.
Regardless what was happening was every time I hit a bump it knocked the caliper into the wheel/wheel weights, throwing it out of balance. With the tight clearances already in the WJ setup with 15" wheels it only took a small bump. It would also explain why braking when it happened made it worse haha.
So I tightened the caliper and the DW is almost gone. I have another noise coming from underneath the driver floor board I've pretty much narrowed to the upper frame side CA heim. Must have been a bad one from the start and flexing the jeep once, and then the DW must have killed it. I do get a small shimmy now around 55 I think is that heim, as it's creaking and making all kinds of noises. I called RuffStuff to warranty the heim and they're sending me a replacement, so we shall see.
Found the main cause of my DW. So apparently my passenger WJ caliper decided to become loose. I called RuffStuff to warranty the heim and they're sending me a replacement, so we shall see.
It's good that you found the root cause. Hope the new heim completes the repair. Keep us posted.
spray some whit litium grease on it, i coat mine in it every few thousand miles.
make sure the poly bushings on the axle side have grease in them, the angle zerks on mine were absolute garbage and never really allowed them to be greased. i was getting a nasty creaking sound and the dry joints were the problem.
i replaced the zerks with ones from an old tierod i had lying around, greased the very well, and no more creak!
spray some whit litium grease on it, i coat mine in it every few thousand miles. make sure the poly bushings on the axle side have grease in them, the angle zerks on mine were absolute garbage and never really allowed them to be greased. i was getting a nasty creaking sound and the dry joints were the problem. i replaced the zerks with ones from an old tierod i had lying around, greased the very well, and no more creak!
I did grease them pretty good when I installed them. Mine came with straight zerks as well. I'm going to use the suggestion of a forum member, forget who, and drill a hole in my front mini skid so I can grease them regularly, because right now it's blocked.
I did spray a little lithium on all the joints too yesterday to see if it helped. They say just to leave them dry. But crawling under and pulling/pushing the upper arm you can def tell its that arm as it makes the same noise I'm hearing and feeling in the cab; it's like a creaking sound, and sound alike metal on metal.
The joint isn't clunking so it's not completely bad, really it sounds like the Teflon liner wore a little prematurely.
On a side note I need to get some greasable joints for the frame side leafs, because the creaking from those is obnoxious and not going away haha.
01-23-2016, 08:21 AM
