Took my daughter on a small dirt trail. She's been anxious to go since helping me install the bumpers. By the time I hit the dirt, she was passed out in her car seat.

 

Be careful about going up there. That's all private land owned by Howard hughes

How do you like the rear bumper?

 

Yea I found out by the BLM on dirt bikes. They were cool with me just taking pictures as long as I didn't do any illegal activities. The guy actually said he would rather have people up there that know the terrain and won't trash the place instead of kids who think its a party area. We talked for about awhile before I left.

The bumper is HEAVY! And the frame tie ins line up perfectly. I didn't have one hole off like I have read on other posts. I wish the destaco latch was lockable though. Other than that, I wanted to make sure the tire wouldn't fall off and the carrier wouldn't move. It held up to this short bit. For the money spent, I like this carrier over my old C4x4.

 

I have that 1 hole problem on my rear. Lol

 

Found a worn tie rod on the passenger side. Not even a year!




Got it removed and exchanged. Good thing I have the entire steering under lifetime warranty! Hoping to have it installed and aligned in the garage tonight.

 

In the process of replacing the UCA bushings. Driver side bolt is out at the axle end. I lost a 15mm socket at the frame end... RIP Craftsmen 15mm socket. You will be missed.




Ended up cutting the old bolt out. There is a flag on one end at the ear broke off. I will be replacing it with new hardware, once I figure out what size it is.

 

are you willing to weld to the tire carrier? would be easy to just weld a tab off of the carrier with a hole in it that lines up with the hole on the latch to drop a padlock through

 

I will be welding a tab to the latch area so I can lock it. So far it hasn't been an issue, but there is always the "wrong place at the wrong time" situation. As for the swingout, I am still tossing around ideas of how to keep the carrier from opening all the way. And how to lock it in the open position for when parking on inclines. If you have a suggestion, please feel free to post it. I am always open to new ideas on this.

 

Experienced a severe death wobble last week. Luckily I didn't cause an accident on the freeway. That was the reason for the control arm bushing replacement. Upon removal of the upper control arms, I noticed some play in the track bar. So I removed that. Then I noticed play in the drag link AGAIN! So the steering came off too. One thing led to another and the entire axle was out.





Everything is out minus the damn control arm bushings like I originally planned!



Rough Country track bar is shot. I am on the third heim joint and will be replacing the entire unit with a more reliable one.

So far I need to replace the following:

 

New UCA bushings are in the axle now. I bought them the other day and stuck them in the freezer until I was ready to install. Removal was a bit of a pain due to the rust, mud, road grime, more rust... A chisel and punch and a 4 lb mini sledge is all it took to remove and install in about an hour for both. I didn't take any pictures of the removal as there are many ways to go about doing so.


Excess grease from the install. The freezer trick makes it so much easier! A few whacks from the mini sledge and they went right in.



Old ones. You can see all the marks from the chisel to remove them. I even tried using a ball joint tool to remove them with no luck. Out came the tools! Passenger side on the left and driver side on the right.

 

Here you can see the excess play in the upper ball joints. More noticeable in the driver side pic.

Driver side


Passenger side


Passenger side hub bearing. Replaced last year too.


Passenger side control arm bushing at the frame. There is a lot of play in this bushing.


Driver side hub bearing. Replaced last year too.



This weekend I start on the ball joint replacements. Getting them from Serious Offroad as he is cheaper than 4WheelParts for Dana/Spicer ball joints. Hopefully I will have some time next week to finish this and get her back on the road!

 

New u-joints on the axle shafts. Got these from AutoZone for the lifetime warranty and because O'Reilly didn't know what an axle shaft u-joint is. Unfortunately these are made in China and O'Reilly has Precision brand that are made in the USA. But should these fail, free replacement!




Removing the passenger side upper ball joint. While removing the spindle, I noticed the upper center stud would move up and down with the spindle. Once I got the spindle off, the center piece had a lot of play. When I attempted to remove the ball joint, the center piece broke through the top.







I stopped after removing the upper. I was going to remove the lower but with the kids being sick, this project is put off to the side until later.

 

Parts list for those interested. I will be updating this list with all the parts on the Jeep for future reference.


Ignition Components:

Champion Copper Spark Plug RC12LYC

Accel Distributor Cap 120330

Accel Distributor Rotor 130330

Summit Racing Wireset SUM-867625R



Steering Components:

Drag Link DS1238

ZJ tie rod DS1312

Adjusting sleeve for drag link and tie rod ES2079S

TRE at pitman arm for drag link and driver knuckle on tie rod ES3095

JCR steering spacer



Suspension components:

Moog upper control arm bushing (pair) K3128

IRO XJ extended length stainless steel braided brake hose kit

RE1463 3.5" leaf springs

Rough Country adjustable shackles

Rusty's 4.5" coils

IRO XJ Critical Path Long Arm Upgrade

Rough Country adjustable track bar <-- UPGRADED TO IRO!!

Iron Rock Off Road Adjustable Double Shear Track Bar

Serious Offroad Dana Spicer Replacement Ball Joints for both sides

RC sway bar quick disconnects

Fat Bobs Garage steering stabilizer

Rear bump stop plate

HD Offroad Engineering XJ bolt on shackle relocation kit



Drivetrain components:

Serious Offroad Axle Tube Seal Pair (Red)

Axle u-joint even though mine is non-ABS they have the size listed as ABS. 1996 and newer use the larger 1-3/16" (1.1875") u-joint for the axles.

Adams Driveshaft SYE and custom driveshaft

Solid Axle C8.25 diff cover

Front driveshaft u-joint 1-0153DL greaseable for longevity



Exterior armor:

JCR nut strip

Nate's 4x4 front/rear bumpers

AJ's Offroad Armor XJ Super RockRails

 

New ball joints are in. Removing the old ones was a pain because they all fell apart. I'm glad they didn't fall apart on the road.





These Dana/Spicer replacements went in smooth. I haven't torqued the spindle down yet since the axle is still off the Jeep.

Got the axle tube seals and factory bump stops in yesterday. Getting anxious to finish this so I can get it back on the road.

 

Axle tube seals are in



Official league hockey pucks. Officially for the Jeep now!



Waiting... waiting... waiting...