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LJ on Tons

Better than a yard ornament. May not be much but at least it still get a workout from time to time. The LJ fought the stump for a good while.

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Actually, I am very much in the planning phase for the garage and will need to get some thoughts on tool organization and vehicle accessibility so I'm sure you will see me post some stuff here of my sketches (if allowed) to see if others have any thoughts. I have to run 100 amp line from the panel in the basement to the garage and install a subpanel so that the garage functions more as a shop space.
 
A year into my new house and I was finally able to get some work done on the LJ again.. I ran some 10/2 wire to the garage and set up a usable 220v outlet for the welder (no more pulling the stove away from the wall and using my DIY conversion pigtail!) Man, she barely fits. Guess the ceiling needs to go upward LOL.

The LJ got some routine maintenance. Unfortunately my time frame to get everything done was tight and so I didn't take any photos. But the routine work consisted of an oil change, coolant flush, front and rear diff oil flush, new rear hub seals for the 14 bolt, driveshaft servicing, steering "fix," intake manifold cleaning, some wiring, skid plate fixes, etc. I also managed to fix the seizing front brakes and replace the Johnny Joint with a 1.25" Heim on my upper control arm. I will never run another Johnny Joint as I have exploded two now.

This all occurred simultaneously with two other vehicles getting upgrades. My brother's green TJ got a sweet new RuffStuff panhard kit to eliminate the death wobble he had. We also cut his stock front sway bar and sleeved it to make it wilder and fit better with the JK D44 width.

I also got started helping my buddy with his bone stock (for now :stir:) Liberty. The end goal is to build something similar to the BDS suspension KJ.

Everything got done just in time for a trip to Gulches.
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Hoping these videos can post so everyone can see this thing in action. First Video is From Rocker Knocker, Second is from Shipwreck, done in Reverse.


 
Good to see some information on this build again. Really like the creativity of the work you do. We will have a group up at Gulches October 8 to 11. Been awhile since i have been to the park. Interested in all the changes they have made.
 
Good to see some information on this build again. Really like the creativity of the work you do. We will have a group up at Gulches October 8 to 11. Been awhile since i have been to the park. Interested in all the changes they have made.
The park has undergone some great changes. Brandon, Jenny and their group have done an amazing job with parking lot, access trail and camping upkeep. There is a 10pm hard curfew now due to the proximity of their neighbors. I appreciate the complements on the LJ. Be sure to drop some pictures of your trip coming up.
 
Well, I'm back at it with the Jeep. The house is to a fairly good stopping point and I have committed myself to attending OSCAR X at the end of April. There is a lot to accomplish before then.

I ordered a set of Yukon 5.38s from East Coast Gear Supply. They were a huge help in verifying the year of my 14 bolt and giving me feedback on the ratio I wanted to run. I had to make the swap from the 4.56 Up carrier to the 4.10 Down carrier. Swapping the Detroit locker over was easy enough and the new carrier had two countersink bolts to keep the halves together when no ring gear is installed unlike the stock carrier I removed. I've included the carrier deck heights below if you are ever curious about which you have.

Final Backlash was 0.006" +/- 0.001" around the ring gear. The patterns seemed to be right in the center and I verified with a buddy that the sharp edge in the pattern was nothing to worry about.

Pinion preload landed right around 32 in-lbs. My torque wrench only reaches 250 ft-lbs so I could not verify if my pinion nut is tightened all the way to spec. It's tighten to my fat ass hanging on a cheater bar ft-lbs.

4.10 Down: 4.165"
4.56 Up: 4.520"

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With the rear end back together, I got the Jeep on the road to be sure I liked the 5.38s. I absolutely love having the motor back in the power band. It can now get out of its own way and keep up with traffic. Unfortunately every time I work on the damn thing it decided it needs more stuff fix. I had a rear caliper seize and smoke my brake pads. I guess its angry I'm not driving it enough. :unsure: Ended up ordering a set of remanufactured Eldorado calipers and installing them. Now i have to reconfigure my hard brake lines on the rear axle so i can attach to the new calipers. It just keeps piling up.
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I pulled the rear gas tank out to make the quick fix on the fuel filler back pressure slide. I hate that my Jeep struggles to fill up at the pump ever since I shortened the filler neck and hid it behind the body panel. There is not enough pressure from the nozzle to push the plunger down so I constantly had to stand at the pump and trickle gas in. I sanded the raised edges of the plunger off and snapped the system back in. No more nozzle issues or burping at the pump!

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Now that I have the rear regeared, the logical thing to do would be to regear the front. WRONG. I started screwing around with other tasks like getting new lights for my front blinkers to replace the 2 wire trailer markers I installed way back. I also sent my hood off to get the fiberglass reinforced after forgetting to latch it down… And I started stripping paint off control arms and skid plates so I could repaint them. I even got around to replacing the consumables on my welder! You know, the essentials. Don't worry, I did pull the axle out.

I used CitriStrip on the CAs and skid plates and am wildly impressed at how effortlessly it was to remove the old paint after letting it sit for a couple hours.

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@GlipGlop anything new on this one?
Yes I actually! I have been meaning to move a bunch of photos over to my computer from the phone and get on to make some updates. The last couple of years working about the house and traveling for work has slowed progress on the Jeep, not to mention I took a perfectly running rig and made it exactly not that. Let me see where I left off above and I'll jump back in.
 
Feb 2022
Eventually I was able to regear the front axle to match the rear. Left the Spartan lunchbox locker in for the time being. If it ever breaks, I'll upgrade to a full carrier locker. Until then, I wanted to put money else where and use what I already had. About this time I was crunching to get the LJ ridable again for OSCAR put on by Offroad SC in Harlan, KY.

Here's a shot of the ring gear swapped onto the carrier. Not my precision technique to remove old bearings. Up until recent I have never had a bearing puller so I used to cut the bearings from my carriers like the broke college kid I was. I also dropped in a couple shots of my patterning after playing around with the pinion depth. At first I wasn't totally centered up on the teeth.

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