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Joel's multipurpose XJ build (rocks/boulevard)

Catching up on progress... Mostly done in service of making So Cal Fest but anyways.

Mid Skid Reworking:

It didn't fit with the frame stiffeners added width since it bolted from the side. Debated a few different approaches and ended up just cutting off both sides and re-welding. However before any of the happened it needed a pretty serious cleaning.

XJMidSkidRework1.JPG


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Couldn't help it. While I was in there I welded up all the old holes because I like tidy stuff.

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Skids been holding up well so no regrets over the use of aluminum as of yet.


On the random maintenance topics, my flip over spare tire and license plate trick finally failed the tiny wires in my plate light connector so I rewired those with a heavier gauge where it bends.

XJPlateRewire.jpg



Really mostly I've just been driving this a bunch. Wheeling when I can, but seeing plenty of daily driving duties too. Not a bad drive home from work when this is the view.

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Prothane Coil Insert Bump Stops (w/ Bonus Front Frame Stiffeners)

I was happy with my rear bump stops but the front bumps kind sucked. They were always harsh and one side kept trying to cut itself on the edge of my raised pad. I decided to try the Prothane coil bumps. There were quite a few positive reviews scattered over several threads. A few good references.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/prothane-coil-bumps-221747/

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=985677


Key facts:

-Most folks start with the Prothane 10.5” coil inserts and cut down to whatever they decide is their happy length.

-A washer or pad can theoretically be bolted where the OEM bump cup was before. I’m not sure if it’s only certain XJ’s have this position threaded, but a few folks claimed it was an m10x1.5. Maybe the intent was to tap the hole to that since I’d think Jeep would be using imperial hardware rather than metric. I went a different way (more on this later).

-Some folks add hockey pucks or some form of strike pad that nest on top of the bump.

-A few folks who test claim they’ve been able to compress the coil bump by about 60% (40% residual height at max bump.

-2” air gap until the point of first strike seems to be the most common measurement. Some folks run all the way down at 1”. NAXJA 4643 ran (runs?) a 3.5" airgap and 1.75" of prothane until it hits the hard bump.

-One of the downsides of the bump is that there’s not a hard bump so the hard bump alluded to above is a 1.5” UHMW rod that serves as an internal hardstop. Mcmaster 5243T15 is one option. I ended up using some 1 3/8” scrap I had lying around.

A couple sources of supply:

http://www.jegs.com/p/Prothane/Prothane-Coil-Spring-Inserts/762178/10002/-1

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=prothane coil insert


I started this project about 2 weeks out from SoCal Fest and barely made it.

In order to get enough droop to pull the springs I had to remove: shocks, tie rod, and drag link.

XJProthaneBumps1.jpg



When pulling that apart I found one of my shock bushings was trashed so rigged up another right quick from some spare parts.

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Bump pads I mentioned were a pain to get off. Regular socket wouldn’t fit so I had to hammer in a 1/4" drive socket to get it apart.

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Hadn’t really played with the stock bumps before so went looking for the m10 some folks had mentioned.

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Nope, you just yank and it pops free.

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I was going to make a bolt in setup. 1.375” tube was about right to keep it aligned.

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But then I went digging. I could probably drill and tap one side. Other one? Not so much.

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I decided to weld in a bump stop plate (after confirming my spring could slip over this). I tried hole sawing ¼” plate but it just chattered too much.

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Almost broke out the plasma cutter but for two plates it hardly seemed worth it. Ended up getting creative with some extra hole saw support via some plywood and that did the trick. 3” hole saw, left me with about 2 3/4” pads. Shown cutting is a smaller 1.5” plate for the bottom end.

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After that I just couldn’t weld to that lousy cup for the stock bumps. Took some measurements, and decided a longer insert would be good for me and proceeded to cut off the stock cups. Used an angle grinder to cut around the 75% of perimeter I ccould get to. Slicing right on the middle of the weld worked nicely. Beat it down with a hammer and finished it off with a sawzall. By the way, angle grinder cutting discs come in either 0.040” or 0.060”, if you have a lot of metal to move, spring for the thin discs (aka not what you get at harbor freight), they cut a great deal faster.

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For the bottom end, made a short 1.5” riser from 1.5” 1/8” tube and plate to help keep the insert from flapping around everywhere in there. Note the ID of the insert is just under 1.5” so this makes for a minor stretch fit. Then decided to get elaborate and make a threaded stud for the plastic hardstop.

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Note on the threaded stud bit. Yeah. DON’T DO THIS. In hindsight (and following the experience of some wheeling) I should have just let the plastic rod float. I’ll cut off the studs next time I’m in there.


But that’s given hindsight… What I actually did? Plenty of weld through primer like usual.

XJProthaneBumps14.jpg



I had so much of the front opened up at this point that I couldn’t help it. I launched into the front frame stiffeners too. I’d had the front HD Engineering bits floating around the garage for a while.

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Bend angles marked if you care, might be better to verify on your own rig.

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Impulse buy. Much nicer scraper than the old school extender sheet metal version everyone has from the 60s. Made short work of a 1.5 year old shipping sticker.

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Trying to keep 1/4" steel floating was a little tricky. Only so many hands while working solo.

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Opposite side for the weld shot since my passenger picture turned out crappy.

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Process was much like the rear stiffeners I did a while back. 1) Mark stitch weld positions, 2) grind paint, 3) weld through primer, 4) Lotsa clamps.

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5) Burn it in

Once the side was on I decided to plate the bottom at least on the driver rail since it sees more axle loads from both steering and track bar. Designed patches in cardboard and I was pretty happy with the fit of the results.

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6) Grind for a while.

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Quick plug here. My last angle grinder died so I decided to try a good one. Picked up a Makita 9564CV which was about the top rated thing on Amazon (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005Q7BE/). It’s unreal how much better this is. Doesn’t blow out your eardrums, starts with a ramp up in speed so it never tried to tear itself out of your hands and somehow manages to be much smoother running. It doesn’t vibrate anything likely my old $30 Ryobi used to. For the longest time I thought angle grinders were a great tool to cheap on. Just spins around right? No precision needed. If you’re in that school of thought, don’t use a nice one. There’s no going back.

Other side is the same.

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There was one slight problem. Somewhere around here I decided to add a bit more weld to the bottom riser. Jumped right back down and started to weld. I was about 2 seconds on when there was a bit sizzle and pop, arc stopped. What the hell? Uh oh, I didn’t move the ground back down to the axle when I move from top to bottom.

Turns out control arm bushings are a decent isolator. You’re not getting any current through those. You know what does conduct electricity? Braided stainless steel brake lines.

Crispy critter, my bad.

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Amazon prime to the rescue.


My wife did the POR15 (step 7) for me while I was at work (Thanks Babe!)

XJProthaneBumps25.jpg



Came home and seam sealed the top edges only (step 8) based on the theory I should let the bottoms weep if needed. Then sprayed underbody coating over all that (step 9), finally (10) reassembly.

The coil insert themselves I cut down to 9” (7 rings instead of 8). This is a little longer than usual since I removed the cups up top so you could probably order the 6 ring version to begin with if you’re not significantly lifted. I was targeting a 2.5” air gap and ended up closer to 2”. The inserts cut fine on a band saw. I cleaned up the edges with a belt sander.

I then chamfered the ID on one end so it wouldn’t have a corner rest on the fillet welds around my riser. Required? Probably not, but I’ve been designing stuff too long to let it slide.

XJProthaneBumps26.jpg



I made sure the springs would slip over the flat plat I welded. However, I forgot that I was running coil spacers. They don’t slip over the protrusion.

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Screw it, sliced one side, flexed them around and added a hose clamp to be sure it stays put. Maybe I’ll find longer springs at some point in the future, for now it’s good enough.

Here’s the hardstop insert threaded on my “shouldn’t have done it, stud thingy”.

XJProthaneBumps28.jpg



I cut this to a length such that it would bottom out about ¾” before the shock does and that should also keep the oil pan maybe 1.5” away from my truss. It would be more reliable to cycle the suspension with track bar and no springs, but I didn’t have time to re-assemble things twice so I based mine on measurements and went for it.


Anyone have hot tips for keeping the brake lines out of the coils? Mine seem convinced they want to rub which I’d like to adjust.

XJProthaneBumps29.jpg



Everything else went back together pretty smoothly.


So how’s it ride? You can feel the bumps engage but it’s never harsh and didn’t seem to hold me back from flexing. To be fair, I haven’t hammered on anything yet. 1) I don’t really drive that way so a “big accidental jump” isn’t typical for me 2) had little girls in the back seat and 3) my ball joints were creaking and knocking all weekend (noticed it during reassembly but didn’t have time to do anything about it). I could feel the coils knocking against the insert on occasion with I assume is partly due to the mounted hardstops. As noted I plan to let those float. On net, I’m happy though. They’re cheap and work well what more do you want?

So that was my saga and hopefully it helps someone else out. Event was worth it though.

Climbing a waterfall on Doran.

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-Joel
 
My XJ took a shot from a car that came in hot, didn't make a corner and slid into me.

XJaccident.jpg


Not too bad, but it did bend the inner C on my axle so my camber is off. Insurance folks get confused when you tell them you need a suspension shop rather than a body shop (and that the labor rates will be more than body rates).

Mostly have that squared away and finally have an agreement on scope. The vehicle is with Leadfoot offroad up in La Verne. The front axle has been pulled and low and behold it doesn't fit in the axle fixture (they're outsourcing the straightening) because of my truss. That means they either get to cut off the truss -- no, might as well start over at that point -- or pull the diff to pull it on a bar fixture, which naturally isn't part of the agree upon insurance scope.

Anyone dealt with this kind of BS before? Since the shot was straight from the side and it was only off in camber by maybe -2 degrees I'm tempted to heat it up and persuade it back into place with a sledge and a block of wood. I know it's the inner C that bent and it seems like caster wouldn't change with a side shot so I just need to match camber from side to side. More to it than that? I already bought the Inner C trusses so we can fortify after it's put back.

Anyone have a spare (ideally built) HPD30?
 
At the moment the decision is whether to spend the money pulling the guts for something that might not be repairable. How they straighten it is open. I'm going though a shop partly so I can get quotes for the insurance folks and get paid. They don't know how to handle DIY even if I wanted to.
 
They couldn't get the housing on the fixture even with the guts pulled. Frustrating since it really look like its only out in camber by maybe 1-2 degrees. I'm really tempted to just heat it up and go off measurements but since it's theoretically possible my u joint might not end up at an ideal elevation, I may still abandon this housing before doing all the mods for steering (new track bar and sway bar interfaces.)

Before I do all this is should at least check if anyone running built axles and looking to go bigger? I might be interested in a matched set if I could drop them in. Otherwise I have a WTB for a HPD30 in the so cal classifieds.
 
I’d say the time is now to find a new housing or upgrade to some JK44s. A tweaked housing is going to cause all sorts of problems overtime.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I’d say the time is now to find a new housing or upgrade to some JK44s. A tweaked housing is going to cause all sorts of problems overtime.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I hear what you're saying, but I'm trying to figure out the mechanisms behind whatever problems I might run into. This isn't a bent axle like I jumped it and it folded at the springs. This was a 10 mph impact from another dude's car directly from the side.

It seems to me that the only three things I care about regarding the inner C that I know have damage are 1) caster, 2) camber, and the 3) elevation of the u-joint.

Caster we can verify on a bench and honestly I'd be damn surprised if that had an issue given the side impact. If it's jacked up I'd say it's not worth pursuing the housing further and I'll sway it out.

Camber has been affected. The result was more negative camber at that wheel which I assume was the upper leg of the inner C being bent backwards towards vehicle centerline. While it's possible that the lower leg was yanked outward that doesn't make much sense given the impact from the side would want to push it toward centerline as well. Either way, we can take some side to side measurements and then bend the upper leg back down and this should be damn close.

Elevation of U-joints is a bit of a wildcard in the above. Obviously there's a specific vertical spacing intended between ball joints. If we bend this back poorly and the U-join ends up at a different spot, I can see how it might give me alignment issues between the axle splines and the differential. That said, guys weld trusses onto axles all the time which involves at least some weld deformation and it's not an issue (so long as you go slow and skip around). I have 20k miles with my truss and haven't had an issue.

What other problems am I not thinking about? I'd love to not throw away a housing I had a great deal of work into. Other than the camber, we have no evidence that it's bent since we were never able to really fixture it.

Thanks,
Joel
 
Hi y'all, been a while.

Wanted to let you guys know about some changes for me and the family. First good news... the XJ is alive and well. I had Leadfoot Offroad build up the WJ setup I’d been gathering parts for as part of the insurance repair where I got hit.

XJLeadfoot1.jpg



It went OK. There are some more stories to tell as I’m not so sure about that shop in hindsight. One notable bit was that they didn’t properly torque a bunch of fasteners, I had a shock fall off a week or so later, which tore off one of my brake lines, which purged all my fluid while driving. Not so much fun.

XJLeadfoot2.jpg



The good news is that it was at least fixed in time for some big life changes. As of last November I’m now the Sr. Mechanical Engineer for the Keck Observatory where I've been working on this:

NewRoads1.jpg



It's one of two 10m telescopes at the top of Mona Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. I'd often half joked that I don't want to die in CA (I've lived in various parts of the state since I was seven) so now I get to prove the point.

So yeah, why haven't I posted anything about the XJ even though it's back on the road? Well now you know... We've been busy frying other fish.

Upon arriving in Hawaii, I had to do a safety inspection which involved figuring out a front license plate and fenders to cover the tires. I ended up doing the local’s special and adding some garden trim to the stock fender flares. Unlike the local’s special, I installed some stainless pencil rod in up the edges to help keep the proper form.

XJSafetyFlares.jpg



By pulling the flares back off, I’m risking a ticket but you need some space for tire flex… Anyways, it’s rad over here. I’ve having a ton of fun, work is good, the family is settling in well and there are so many places to explore.

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Pretty excited about the new roads ahead. Here's a few we've found so far:

NewRoads2.jpg


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If there are any other XJ folks on the Big Island please say hello. I've started running with the Big Island Jeep Club and it's good people...

Aloha!
Joel
 
Awesome update Joel, fun roads ahead for sure!
 
Congratulations on the new job.

Did Keck pay to ship your collection of scrap metal (post 401, this thread) to your new location?

Yes, I’m kidding.
 
Funny you should mention the metal supplies, I was just starting a write up of the craziness involved in the move...

So what’s involved in moving to an island? Basically a crap ton of logistics. Keck gave me a bucket of money based on a set formula (X people, Y distance) and I got to figure it out from there. Some folks take the money burn/sell/give away everything and just show up with suitcases. That doesn’t work so well when you have tools and one non- running FJ40, so we ended up renting the biggest shipping container available. More on that in second.

What do you do first? Well, first you purge, then purge some more. We were trying to sell our house in SoCal and every realtor we spoke to told us the same story. Great place, you need half the stuff to stage this well… Three weeks later we had about half the stuff (inside anyways). Sold a ton of stuff on eBay. I think there were 15 runs to the Salvation Army.

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Then you list your house for sale with your chosen realtor. We went with the version that had the most bells whistles, (3D fly around, landscaping etc). On the plus side the listing looked rad and I was stoked that they used my engine block coffee table in the staging.

HawaiiMove3.jpg



Listing is here if anyone cares…
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Tustin/14931-Bridgeport-Rd-92780/home/4616710

One single open house later and we sold the home (really nice young family that was stoked on the deck and some of the backyard work I’d done).

HawaiiMove4.jpg



While escrow was going down I was working like a dog packing. I quit my job Oct 18 with the new one scheduled to start Nov 5. The challenge: A standard shipping container is 40’ x 8’ x 8’6” tall. If you rent a 45’ high cube, it comes in at 45’ x 8’ x 9’6”.

It also normally is delivered to your house on a chassis on wheels. You don’t get a ramp… How the F do you get a non running Land Cruiser 4’ in the air? How about a 1000 lb welding table or giant steel cabinets, or any of my other myriad of heavy stuff? Answer: you have to hire heavy equipment movers. You can either have them load or be like me and have them set the entire container on the ground (after verifying that they can pick it back up loaded of course)

Give away some more stuff. That solid carbon fiber truck bed I had went to a friend of a friend and unfortunately probably burned down in the Paradise fire up in NorCal.

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I also did a CAD layout of all my bits and pieces to help ensure I’d played tetris as best I could (with relatively evenly distributed loads).

I borrowed race car scaled from my friend Ash (thanks amigo!). Turns out my FJ40 currently weighs 4639 lbs with almost all of its parts inside (few extras a few missing).

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I can also say I hauled home 13,000 lbs of metal back when.

Brass tacks, since we did so much of the moving effort ourselves, I did have enough fundage to allow us to haul some serious weight with us. :)

To be continued…
 
In case you missed it, the Land Cruiser got at least mostly shot in primer since I was moving somewhere wetter… Preview of my tailgate too. I’m sealing between stitch welds for future rust avoidance.

HawaiiMove8a.jpg



And it was the first thing loaded since it was about the last thing I’d need access to. Looks lonely back there.

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I ended up building 3x raised decks inside the container so I could put things on top of things (covered hood etc).

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One of my best and oldest friends came down from NorCal, so between he and the 6 day laborers I hired from in front of Home Depot, we moved the heaviest stuff: metal carts, weld table, compressor, and stronghold cabinets. That got us here:

HawaiiMove12.jpg


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Then the wife and I left on a 5 day cruise we’d won in a raffle the year before and had pre-booked 6 months back before we knew any of this was going down. We’ve got time, right?

HawaiiMove14.jpg
 
So what’s involved in moving to an island? Basically a crap ton of logistics.

I moved a family of four to Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia in 1992 after signing a one-year contract with the Pohnpei State Attorney General’s Office. The logistics weren’t as complicated as your situation. The contract specified that my new employer would pay to ship 2500 pounds of personal goods each way, and that was more than enough. Put a bunch of stuff into storage, made several trips to the thrift store with donations. My folks were really helpful and found a rental agency to rent my house in Oxnard after we moved, furnished with the furniture we’d left behind.
 
I moved a family of four to Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia in 1992 after signing a one-year contract with the Pohnpei State Attorney General’s Office. The logistics weren’t as complicated as your situation. The contract specified that my new employer would pay to ship 2500 pounds of personal goods each way, and that was more than enough. Put a bunch of stuff into storage, made several trips to the thrift store with donations. My folks were really helpful and found a rental agency to rent my house in Oxnard after we moved, furnished with the furniture we’d left behind.

Solid effort. International/overseas always adds complexity. We ended up abandoning a good bit of our furniture in favor of the steel but that's because mine was volume limited rather than weight... (Well kinda, more on that in a second.)
 
I’m gonna let the pics do the talking for a while.

HawaiiMove15.jpg


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Buddy doing the pull-up is another of my best and oldest friends who also drove way too damn far to help me (and yes that’s the engine block coffee table behind him, it came too).

Kids got in on the monkey bar action.

HawaiiMove19.jpg



Getting closer:

HawaiiMove20.jpg



Managed to carve some pumpkins on the appropriate day (island for the win), otherwise did nothing but hard physical labor for a solid week.

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We closed the doors at 5:30 in the morning the night before the heavy equipment movers showed up. The last slog was something like 23 hours straight. I couldn’t believe my father in law was still standing to take this pic. What a rockstar…

Getting closer to wrapping up this tale. For now, may you have a blessed Easter celebrating the things that are important with the ones you love…

Regards all,
-Joel
 
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