The Never Ending Tale Of A 74

We looked at a lot of trailers. I wanted a trailer no longer than 25’. Most of the new ones didn’t have enough room for the Jeep when staying that small. We eventually bought a 2006 Forest River Sandpiper Sport 25SP. We liked the colors of the newer trailers, but buying used, choices were limited. First trip to the desert and putting the mud covered Jeep back in the trailer, we were glad we had a gently used trailer.

Still, sometimes I think a 25’ Class C and a flatbed trailer might have been a better choice. Lady Shadetree and I love to camp, with and without the Jeep.

 

Please tell me more about your trailer. I currently flat yow my 72 CJ5 but the idea of an enclosed trailer is very appealing. Especially if it is dual purpose.

 

It's hard to believe it's been over a year since I've posted. Here in Oklahoma I just don't use the Jeep as much. For the first time since I've owned it, I've had to put a trickle charger on it to keep the battery charged. One reason is we're 8 miles to the nearest town, with 2 lane highways to navigate. The steering is so imprecise with the steering box so worn, the tall shackles and the stock springs, that its a handful to keep centered in a lane. Meeting oncoming traffic it often darts towards them. Lady Shadetree absolutely loves riding in the Jeep after sunset so we have driven it a few times this summer. Even took it down to a Jeep meet in Medicine Park, OK. It was an hour drive down to Medicine Park, so I flat towed it down until I was close, then dropped the windshield and cruised the show. Good to meet fellow Jeep people (even if most of them were JK/JL Jeepers). Those drives reminded me I need to quit waiting to build a garage and get to building the CJ5 instead.

I ordered a new steering box and all the tie rod ends etc from Rock Auto. They have arrived so it was time to start this morning. I planned to measure from the center of the hub to the fender BEFORE I started anything, but unfortunately forgot. First I set up a table, got a fan and music ironed out, and started unboxing all the parts I had accumulated over the last 2 years. Unboxing the Rocky Road kit I had forgotten I also got the tall shock towers and the skid plate style leaf spring plates. I had never opened the boxes.

Its pretty amazing to compare the stock front springs with the new OME YJ Springs.

I couldn't wait to see a Rocky Road bracket on the Jeep.

I strapped the axle up to the frame so I didn't have to remove the brake lines or driveshaft. We'll see if that was a good idea or not as we progress. The brake lines I installed during the disc brake conversion are longer than stock so I'm hoping they'll suffice.

This old frame is pretty beat up. I discovered a long crack by the passenger front shackle perch, and have this welded on plate behind the drivers spring perch. I'm having a time getting it off. I can't get my cutoff wheel everywhere I need it, and there's still enough weld to keep me from bending/breaking it off. Unfortunately, the new Rocky Road bracket needs to bolt to the bottom of the frame right where this patch is so it has to be removed.

Plus the bracket that fits over that patch had to be ground on to slip over the old perch. I fear every bracket I touch is going to fight me. I just keep thinking how good it will drive as I crawl around on that gravel. Over the last two years all my tools have been scattered between two storage areas and three vehicles. Not to mention untold boxes still stacked in one storage area. Still haven't uncovered the YJ Sway Bar Disconnects I know I have... somewhere. Still, after two years of home upgrades, yard upgrades, and exploring our new stomping grounds, it's nice to get back to wrenching on the Jeep.

 

Got a few more hours in on the suspension swap today. I decided to switch to the passenger front side and see how it went. A few hours of grinding, drilling and banging and I had both brackets installed. I used a 1/4' bit to drill my initial holes, then a combination of a standard 1/2' bit, a Harbor Freight 3/4' Unibit, and an Amazon sourced 1/2' Bridge Reamer. That Reamer was almost too aggressive for my Milwaukee 12V Drill. I'm thinking I may break out the corded drill next time, see how it fares. My poor Milwaukee was struggling all day.

Attempting to mount my new OME Spring, I realized I had forgotten a critical detail. OME has uniquely sized spring bushings. So my basic cheapskate nature reared up to bite me in the butt once more. Two years ago, instead of buying the complete install kit (woah that's too much money), brackets, springs, and all bushings, u-bolts etc, I decided to buy their basic kit, and source my own springs, u-bolts, and bushings. So now I have a pile of totally useless bushings, and $160 dollars worth of the correct OME Bushings on order. Fortunately, they will arrive before I finish getting the brackets installed. In the end, instead of saving a dime, I'll spend extra dollars. Still, a day spent rolling around on a moving blanket, spread out over gravel, constantly looking for the drill bit I just had beats a day in my recliner. Cheap therapy

 

Typing my latest post, I started thinking about the u-bolts I got in the kit I bought. Mindlessly unboxing them yesterday I didn't pay close attention, but I decided I should go back out and check them. There are 6 smaller diameter u-bolts, and 2 larger diameter u-bolts. My Dana 30 only requires 1 of the larger size. Another minor glitch in my smooth install...

 

Have you read up on norcal's build, Steve's jeep, and Buildflycrash. They reworked all the rocky road brackets due to poor shackle angles and articulation. They were able to get much better performance by throwing the instructions and brackets to the wind.

 

Jw60, thanks for the input. Over the last couple of years I've read through every YJ conversion I could find, including those. I'm going to be honest though, between working in a gravel carport and knowing that I'm never going to push this Jeep to the extreme, I'll be fine with whatever it turns out to be. I've never been a build it during the week and break it on the weekend kind of guy. Without a garage, and these recent 100 degree humid days, I'm finding myself just wanting to get the process over. Today was awesome though, rainy and in the 80s.

Thursday of this week Lady Shadetree left for SoCal to be with her mom. Grandma Shadetree is 94 years old with liver failure, and just fell and broke her wrist. It is sad to realize she may not be around much longer. Her life currently is reduced to sleep, eat, sleep. But if I live to see 94 I would consider that a good long life. Nellie is a character and will be missed when the inevitable happens.

The OME bushings came in. I also ordered greaseable shackle bolts. Reading of a few experiences of the OME bushings not lasting too long, I wanted to do everything I can to make them last. Looking online for urethane bushing compatible grease, I remembered I had some Red Line grease from an old VW urethane bushing project from years ago. Red Line CV-2 is a low washout grease highly recommended by the VW Urethane Bushing manufacturer, and I drove the wheels off that VW Vanagon. This Jeep will not get the kind of miles put on it that the Vanagon did.

Looking at the passenger shackle mount this morning, I realized it was sitting crooked. How did that happen? Quality control must have been playing hooky last weekend. A little tweaking and it straightened up.

The drivers side went on straight, but what a pain to get bolted on. Fortunately I needed to pull the steering box anyway, and have all new tie rod ends. Had to unbolt the grill to get the rear frame bolt out that holds the steering box bracket on. After pulling the steering box and bracket off, the new side frame bolts fed from the inside, with the nut on the outside. The steering box bracket should fit back in over the head without interference. It should have been easier to reach all the nuts inside the front frame rails, but my hitch receiver D-Ring mounts pass through the bumper and bolt to the frame rails too. Fortunately it didn't interfere with the Rocky Road Bracket bolt placement. But that front bolt up through the bottom of the frame rails was almost impossible to reach. I was about ready to give up and pull the bumper when I finally got the nut and washer over the bolt with just the tips of two fingers,

Now I'm back to cutting and beating on the fixed end frame mount on the drivers side. Where I started last weekend. At least it's now the last mount left to install for the front axle to be complete. Tomorrow I need to get that mount finished, but I may work on getting the new steering box and tie rods installed first. Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?

I knew the front driveshaft had too little clearance even with my old springs. That Tom Woods Driveshaft is quite a bit larger diameter than stock. We installed the driveshaft while on a trip to Johnson Valley several years ago. That trip saw me wheeling over rocks I usually wouldn't attempt. Surprised the driveshaft survived. With these new springs I definitely need to pull the skid plate and modify it.

 

I got a little more done today. But as I wind down for the evening and check Facebook, I see videos of my old SoCal wheeling buddies Mark & Marco on a 4 night camping trip through the Rubicon. Marco brought his wife and 3 small kids. He runs a modified TJ.

Here's Mark's Sammy. That thing gets no love and just keeps going. Toyota axles, 1.6L, I forget what transfer case, but it crawls very slow. Been down a lot of trails just in front of, or just behind that rig.

Man, I should have been with them. Makes me a little homesick. Not for California itself, but the good friends I had there, and the wheeling trips we went on.

Meanwhile, back in Oklahoma we got over 5" of rain this morning. My driveway slopes from the highway and runs the water right through my carport. With the breeze we had the carport didn't help keep anything dry. The power went off at 7:30 this morning and wasn't restored until almost 11:00 am. The thunder and rain stuck around to make the linemen fixing it miserable. Needless to say, I got a late start. Started by unboxing all my steering replacement parts.

The old Tie Rod Assembly had a little kink to it. Way back when we first bought the Jeep my neighbor came over to "help" me. While he was jacking the front end up, it slid off the floor jack, and taco'd the Tie Rod Assembly. We straightened it the best we could, and we've ran it that way ever since.

Lowered the axle down so I could put the passenger spring plate on. With no weight on the axle, it still stretched the brake line to it's maximum length. I put an old shock on, and it's too short as well. I have the new Rocky Road Tall Shock Towers that I need to install so I can measure for new shocks.

Unboxing and mocking up the Addco Sway Bar I realize the YJ sway bar disconnect and the CJ Sway bar don't play well together. The Addco kit came with it's own links that fit the sway bar, but they don't play with the Rocky Road spring plate.

The new steering box feels fantastic. The old box had about 12" of play. Trying it today, even with only one spring anchoring the front axle, it feels very precise. On my computer I found a possible solution for the sway bar, ordered it, and some longer brake lines.

 

Your kit from Rocky Road is not special. That's just the best that they can do......

 

No, I know that for sure. But, this kit is getting bolted on a 50 year old frame that was never special to begin with either, so maybe it’s a perfectly imperfect match. This old Jeep has been rode hard and put up wet too many times. I keep reminding myself an 1/8” here or there isn’t going to make or break the install. In the end it’s going to drive mostly straight and sit mostly level, and will embrace its Jeep heritage because of it.

 

I needed to pick up Lady Shadetree from the airport Saturday evening, and I wanted to install a sand separator on my water well before working on the Jeep. But I eventually got to work out in the carport. Getting the fourth bracket installed for the front, I was eager to see how it looked. The old brake lines are stretched to their limit, but all I'm going to do is back out in the driveway to see how she sets. I had some old shock extenders so I bolted the old shocks back on. They were past their limit. Need to install the new shock upper brackets, and install the new brake lines, and align the front end, and install the sway bar, and run a wrench on all the new parts. And that's just the front end. Purposely left the shackle bolts loose so it could settle easier.

As I had mentioned previously, the sway bar I have doesn't match. The sway bar has an eyelet, and the spring plate uses a ball socket. I have a set of sway bar links that are ball socket, so I bought these to convert at the sway bar end.

Mocking up the sway bar, the bend in the arm seems like it is for a narrower mounting point than the frame allows. Researching further, I see a stock CJ sway bar uses brackets that narrows the mounting points. So I picked up a set of brackets.

The new ride height looks a little goofy with the 31s currently on there. I think I'll take the 1" body lift off. The 33s would still fit easily without the body lift. The new steering box fixed the worst part of driving the Jeep. I drove it back and forth the 120' or so from the carport to the highway a couple of times. It felt good. Today I needed to mow and cut up a tree that fell. Right now it's 104 degrees out and I still need to weed eat.

 

the frame book used to say plus or minus a 1/4 thats a huge allowance for error in the body work realm.

 

It’s true I recently replaced my RR kit. Also true it was the right choice for me when I first built the Jeep. I had no fabrication experience then and the suspension was definitely an upgrade from stock. Swaybar is necessary.

After you’re confident about your shackle angle add a bit of welding from the bracket to the frame. Welds you can cut off later if you need to replace the bracket.

My brackets always seemed secure when I tried to retightened bolts but the suspension always rattled when going over bumps.