Re-hashing my XJ build for the North Coast

[srmitchell]

Hey dudes, figured I'd do a little updating.

My wheeling opportunities are seldom these days, which sucks, but that is just life I suppose. I work 40+ hours a week at the Eureka Lithia CJD dealer as an apprentice technician... So I wrench all day, and wrench on the weekends too.

The Rubicon/DV was a blast last year, but I don't rock crawl here... Mostly expedition, forest road stuff. It is time to waste more money...

On the beach-
Samoa Cruising by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

My Cherokee has gained a few little things-

50 inch Chinese light bar with Hooligan Offroad mounts-
50 Inches of Daylight by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

Lots of light! Kinda stupid, but it was 300 bucks haha.

Before paint-

Jan/Feb 15 by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

Light!

Jan/Feb 15 by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

Anyway, I'm beginning to change parts of my build which have been, simply... neglected. Because I live on the North Coast, we have to travel really, really far to wheel, or explore. There really aren't any trails within the Eureka area, besides the dunes at Samoa.

I want to make this jeep better for forest explorations, better for long distance travel, and I want it to be reliable while I'm away from civilization.

Starting small-

I had those Daystar extended bumpstops up front, hitting RE lower extensions. Holy crap were they too hard. No absorption whatsoever.
Saturday- swapped in crown stock replacements. Eventually I'm going to get the Prothane coil inserts...
Jan/Feb 15 by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

Drilled some hockey pucks to make up the length.
Jan/Feb 15 by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

Jan/Feb 15 by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

Oh, and having a shop to do work is killer! Had the coils out within 5 minutes of having the wheels off.
Jan/Feb 15 by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

New OME Shocks out back, to replace my worn units from 2009. 45,000 miles of use... They were shot.

Jan/Feb 15 by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr


Next up- When I did the Go-ferit tie rod flip years ago, I had to hack the sway bar mounts off. Well, the jeep is very, very unpredictable with the Detroit locker out back, and the complete lack of sways bars. Since most of the wheeling I can do here consists of bombing through back roads, I don't even want to mess with disconnects.

So I ordered Poly Performance extended links, and a Currie Anti-rock system today, to match.
More to come when it shows up!

Sean

 

[srmitchell]

Oh and some of you remember that I was daily driving this silver wj?-
Untitled by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

Sold it. Got 7,000 bucks which was awesome... Used it as a down payment to order a brand new Dodge Dart, GT from my work. Love this thing. Killer mpg, and it has a 6 speed manual trans. Not fast, but quick!

Jan/Feb 15 by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

Hell of a daily driver!

Jan/Feb 15 by Sean Mitchell 707, on Flickr

Thanks for reading!

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Half of your pics do not show, just FYI. And I know you get a deal working at a dealer, but what did you pay for the Dart? What engine does it have? I kinda like the look of the new Dart's for some reason..

 

[831_xj]

badass! pics were working for me.. i too like the dart man

 

[souske]

You'll love the prothanes

 

[Skipper51]

You got to build for where you live that is for sure and since this is where you are setting it up for sand and back roads does make sense.

I first thought that building up the Jeep would be hard but I am finding out that not building it too far is the struggle.

 

[NorCalChris]

You're going to love the sway bar!

 

[XJensen]

I would like to hear how the sway bar works out for you.

Looks good. Suck it up and get down here some time. Haha.

I have wanted to go to that drive up beach and camp for a long time. Maybe a lost coast trip next year

 

[Ivan]

I see you bopping around town from time to time. Great to see how your XJ has evolved over time. Good solid build for the area!

I hope to get out more with mine this year....Now that I've recently retired, I have a lot of free time on my hand!

Ivan

 

[knucklehead 61]

wtf columbus, why didn't you get the challenger hellcat with your employee discount?!?

 

[831_xj]

Ya wth.. my boss just got his last Saturday. With a 10k markup from msrp hah

 

[knucklehead 61]

Ya wth.. my boss just got his last Saturday. With a 10k markup from msrp hah

still cheaper than an equivalent corvette, plus faster & quicker.
and not ghey.

 

[srmitchell]

I got a pretty solid deal on the dart. Below invoice!
Lol I would love a Hellcat.. but those things are unobtanium. We have two on order, since September... Still haven't showed up.
Dodge really screws lower volume stores like ours. They don't base allocation on total sales, but by Dodge sales alone.
(That does not include trucks, that is the RAM brand now.)

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. IVAN! We need to hit up USAL man!

OKAY-- time for the age old issue...

I'm fighting front end vibrations again. It has become intermittent, between 58-68 MPH. Droning, harsh vibration coming from the front driveline. I dialed my pinion angle up slightly, (spun the upper joints out 360 degrees.) The vibes changed, and at first appeared smoother at 65ish, but I notice more vibes now at 55-60. KILL IT WITH FIRE

I'm going to email Tom Woods and see if they can inspect/balance and just make sure that front driveline is perfectly smooth.

33's on 4.56's puts the driveshaft at right around 3100 rpm at 65 miles per hour. It seems silly to complain about this on a weekend rig, but like I stated earlier, this has to be reasonable on the freeway, and the vibrations are so intense and apparent, that it worries me. Vibrations are not a good thing for precision components like bearings and rotating assemblies.

 

[srmitchell]

The more I think about it... I could just do... Nothing.

And mount some 35's... (Dropping my rpms significantly...)

 

[srmitchell]

I put my xj up on our 4 post lift at work. Measured the front pinion angle, dead perfect at zero degrees. I raised the axles and had my coworker run it in 4 wheel up to roughly 40mph, the shafts appear dead true with no run-out whatsoever.

Measured the rear axle, the angle is like.. 3 degrees pointing up! Not good! This may explain a lot.

As most of us know, 2-4 degrees below straight on is perfect, because it accounts for the effect of axle wrap under torque.

I originally installed 4 degree shims in the back to dial the pinion up for the SYE.(Back in 2011.) Well, years ago, we measured the angle at knucklehead's shop, and determined that was too high, so Tim milled the shims down to 2 degrees, roughly. Well, since then, I have installed longer rear shackles, and the leaves have sagged quite a bit. This would explain the bad angle I now have.

I am going to order a set of 2 degree and 4 degree shims, to be installed backwards. I'll mock up the smaller angle, and if that doesn't get the angle right, 4 should do it.

 

[XJensen]

Sounds like your on the right track

 

[srmitchell]

Yanked those shims out yesterday. Angle is now 1 degree down. Vibes are... different. Lol.

Anyway, got the Anti-rock and poly performance brackets yesterday. I'll take it to work so we can burn the brackets on, then I'll get the sway bar on. Really stoked. I might do a before/after go-pro video of the front axle, kinda like this one I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC7J4LR1t8U&list=UUY7J1KAFckL0nfE726vydTA

 

[blondejoncherokee]

maybe replace U joint at the pinion. it could have journaled in at the angle it was at? changing the angle with a bad U joint still would have vibes then. U joints are cheap. keep that one as a trial spare.

 

[srmitchell]

Yeah, planning on doing that. The shaft is already a junkyard unit, with the standard slop in the slip portion that is so notorious. It'd be good to just go for a TW shaft out back too.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

Yeah, planning on doing that. The shaft is already a junkyard unit, with the standard slop in the slip portion that is so notorious. It'd be good to just go for a TW shaft out back too.

yeah that would be even better ! A good rear shaft and some fresh U joints and I bet you'll be good to go.