Picked Up A Traitor Jeep (tj)

This is becoming the plan. I'm still working on finding the right friend to travel along, and any mods the Jeep might need (skid plates, rocker protection, spares, ...etc) but that's the direction I'm heading.

 

The stock Rubicon skid plates are actually pretty stout. I did replace mine but probably did not need to.

 

Some guy that sticks Volvo engines in flat fenders would probably make a decent spotter.....

 

Agreed!

 

Just going to drop this here.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/03-06-ucf-extra-clearance-skid-plates.75355/

 

It's been too cold to glue the rubber to the plywood out in the shop. The can says all parts should be 65 degrees for at least 24 hours before gluing. Rather than stink up the house, I've been waiting for it to warm up so I don't waste so much propane heating the shop. We'll be going from minus teens earlier this week to low 40s during the day next week. Heating the shop from 40 isn't nearly as bad as heating it from -13.

In the meanwhile, its just warm enough out there to paint the metal parts. I welded some tie-downs to the fender tubs in case I want to strap something down above the shelf. I also welded on a couple of tabs to attach my sleeping shelf to. After some grinding and degreasing, one side of everything is painted. I'll flip them and paint the other side tomorrow:

 

By golly, a nice coat of Rustoleum semi-gloss makes my mediocre fab work look pretty nice!


I'll get these installed tomorrow and hopefully get the rubber glued to the plywood too.

 

Had most of the day to work on the TJ today.

One side bolted in:


Both sides bolted in and the shelf frames still fit:


ITLKSEZ recommended this to glue the rubber matting to the top of the plywood:


Boy does this stuff stink. I turned the propane furnace off while doing this since it has a million fire hazzard warnings on the can. Tacking up:


Adding some weight to keep the corners attached while it dries:


Fenderwell storage lids in place:


Main shelf in place. Dogs go on top and luggage below. I like how it turned out:


The back half of the shelf flips forward for access:


You can also prop it up so the odgs have some space while you are accessing things:


This project is officially done. Next is working on my sleeping area extension and maybe a step that lives in the receiver hitch so dogs can get in easier.

 

Needed to pull the F-250 that's been sitting for a month down to the shop to charge the battery and air up the right rear tire. Decided to use the TJ to to the "recovery" for practice using the stuff that's packed in the Jeep. I'm glad I did, the brand new D-rings I bought to put in the Jeep were still on the shelf! Also used the air compressor to air up the truck tire. Took a while to get to 70psi, but it got the job done:


I decided to finally investigate something I noticed when I had the transmission out. Then the parking brake is pulled, one cable moves a LOT more than the other one:


I jacked it up and discovered the left rear wheel spins freely when the parking brake is engaged. Turns out I've had a one wheel parking brake for the last seven months. I spun the adjuster a bunch to no avail. Hmm, time to pull the wheel off.

Well there's your problem, it ain't got no friction materiel in it! The shoes are completely bare on that side:


I ordered parts and put it back together for now. I'll do some cleanup on things when I put the new parts on. I'll probably pull the axle to make the brake job easier. The axle flange is completely in the way on these drum-in-disk parking brakes.

 

Was that an ode to sling blade?

 

Yes. Yes it was.

 

Wire brushed the rust off, threw a coat of Rustoleum on things, install new shoes/hardware, and adjusted. Same on the other side. Parking brake is working on both sides now. How exciting!

 

I'm a little confused. My 2004 has 4 wheel discs.

 

This is four wheel disk too. The rear disks have a small drum-type parking brake inside the hat. Notice how the shoes are barely bigger than the axle flange. You can see the disk caliper hanging to the upper right of the photo.

 

That makes perfect sense now

 

Guess I better check mine some day soon.

 

Another thing to address on the TJ (especially if I'm taking it on the Rubicon) is the crappy tie-rod. They are really spindly from the factory.

Mine already has a bend in one end I noticed when aligning it last year:


There are aftermarket complete steering linkage solutions that range from $700 to $900, but thanks to the internet I found a much cheaper solution. The drag link is pretty beefy from the factory, so it's only the tie-rod you really need to change and it turns out Jeep put a much stronger setup on the V8 ZJ Grand Cherokees that is a direct bolt-on. The parts you need are:

• MOOG ES3096L Steering Tie Rod End (the short side)
• MOOG DS1312 Steering Tie Rod End (the long side)
• MOOG ES2079S Steering Tie Rod End Adjusting Sleeve

You can get all three for $85 on Amazon.

MUCH beefier. It's a larger diameter bar that is solid not hollow, and the rod end threads are 7/8" instead of 11/16" (pictures are post paint. They come bare):






After it was installed, torqued, cotter keyed, and greased it was time for the alignment. I was working by myself and wanted to more accurate than the last time I did it measuring off the tires. I clamped some chunks of angle iron centered to the hub on the face of the rotors. The shorter angle iron was 28" long so I marked the longer one and clamped some tape measures to it:


Here's the whole setup:


I could read both tapes at the same time to see what the difference is. The spec is 0.015 degrees toed in on each side. That works out to just over 1/8" for the 28" span between the tape measures.

After some adjusting, this was the rear:


And this was the front:


Just over 1/8".

Done and back on the ground. Nice improvement for $85.00:

 

After bending my tie rod the first time I went to this set up also. I was able to bend one of the new ones as well.

 

Thanks for posting this Roy. I have been using the tires for checking the toe-in. I went out and set up this method on my new dana 30 and found it was actually quicker and obviously more accurate. I appreciate you posting the photos!

 

Interesting. By smacking it on a rock? I don't like how this new tie road already has a couple of bends in it. It would be nice to find a standard thread version of the short tie-rod end and thread a thick straight pipe to go between them.