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LS2 XJ

Well, after 12 hours of work today, I realized I forgot to get some fittings I needed to hook up the ARB solenoids. So... I decided to head back into town and grab those. Tomorrows plans are to get the ARB stuff done, get the Gas tank skid on, and maybe try to do some of the electrical. Unfortunately I don't have the batteries, so I am on hold for finishing up that as well. Brent ordered Batteries, so who knows when they will be here. But... I can maybe go ahead and get the box mounted and the Painless Dual battery kit installed. Plus, he's got like 50 switches for all kinds of stuff that I could work on if I run out of stuff to do.

I was able to get the front axle all put together. I had to make a spanner socket for the ball joints since I didn't have one, but oh well, I got it whooped. It was kinda weird with the RCVs... they stuck out further than they should have, kinda like the stubs were slightly too long. Now, I know the hubs/rotors don't have anything to do with it b/c its the same ones Tim has and they worked fine. However, he is running the small bearing Chevy spindles and knuckles, and we are running the Reid Ford knuckles and spindles. Maybe they are supposed to have shorter stubs, like the 9.72" ones instead of the 9.94"??? Oh well. It ended up working just fine, but I did have to remove the grease fittings out of the end of the stubs so they would fit under the drive slug caps. We are planning on running 30 spline Warn Hubs, so with them I think the grease fittings could stay in. Oh well, the important thing they are in and work just fine, so no big deal really.

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im bringing a tool bitch with me tomorrow night..... he's good at moving and cleaning stuff.... were gonna finish this thing ;)
 
I got a chance to hear that LS2 last night......it was loud, smooth, and crisp! Then I went home and started my 4.0 and felt a little sad.

Actually mine runs too well to swap for now, but if she let's go, it's V8 time but I'll have to go with one of those other brands of engine.

Brent, it's coming together pretty well! I have no doubt it will be seen at the crawl.
 
2 days and no update??? Someone must be bustin arse.... :laugh3:
 
Ghost said:
2 days and no update??? Someone must be bustin arse.... :laugh3:
Click to expand...

Yeah... no kidding. You guys have no idea. Here is where we stand. The rear axle is in, all links are tight, brackets are all welded. All thats left on the rear is the frame end ORI mounts. I did hit a little snag yesterday though. Long story short, the rear links all had to be shortened up some. It wasn't too big of a deal, but it did cost me quite a bit of time. Also, the rear ORIs are a little long. We had gotten the 12" travel ones, but now we are having second thoughts about that. We are going to be able to make them work just fine, but they are going to have to be laid back at a 53* angle (that's at full stuff, it's slightly less at ride height and full droop). In the owner's manual it says they are fine until 50* so we are still in the green by 3*. It's not ideal, but short of getting shorter struts, its the only solution. So...tomorrow morning, or in roughly 7 hours, I will be back out there at it again. We are going to get the rear all done, then move our operation to the front. It needs a tie rod, drag link, track bar and mounts, sway bar mounts, and also frame end ORI mounts. Still a LOT left to do, but we have all of the stuff, so its just putting it together at this point. Keep rooting for us. The encouragement definitely helps keep me motivated and pressing on.

Time for bed, got another LLLOOONNNGGG day ahead of us tomorrow. :speepin:
 
YOU CAN DO EEEEEEEEET!
 
Just got back up... man, Im tired! Im so stressed about getting it done that I'm having trouble sleeping at night. Of course, downing energy drinks like they are water probably doesn't help. Unfortunately it seems they are needed to keep me going sometimes! haha. Lets go see if I can knock out some rear ORI mounts!!!
 
Advice.... No more energy drinks they affect your temper and make you really jittery I used to drink two a day and it was awful.... If I need a boost I grab some coffee or sweet tea and a water, been energy drink free for almost a year now and it feels good.... Sidetrack over continue with awesomeness
 
Keep up the hard work Tyler. It will be worth it. I know a lot of guys who are very excited about seeing this rig at the Crawl in Harlan. I'm one of them.
 
Well, then you will be happy to hear the following news...

The rear is now sitting on it's own weight. Got the ORI mounts built and installed this morning, and we were through spraying paint by lunch time. Then after we ate, we installed the ORIs and charged them up. 225 PSI in the top piston got us the ride height we wanted and 4" of up travel. So after a big high five and a few pictures, we moved our operation to the front. The 3 link was already put together, so we made the Tie rod first. Once it was made, we installed it and the double checked to make sure the axle was centered under the jeep. After verifying that, we made the drag link for the steering. Ran into a little problem there... I apparently only ordered 4 heims, when we needed 6. Luckily I had some stuff laying around that I was able to cut up and get what I needed; just 2 inserts. I was able to steal some heims and the jam nuts off of Bombshell Betty since she wont be making the trip anyway. That took a couple of hours to straighten out, but it is done and taken care of now. Then it was time for the trac bar. I was bound and determined to make it the same length as the drag link, so I just assembled it with the correct length. After a couple of hours of measuring, making brackets, tacking, cutting said tacks and moving said brackets, re-tacking, re-cutting, cussing, swearing, grinding... etc, we finally got it it whooped. It's tight! Looks like we are only gonna be able to get 4" out of the front too, but it will have to do. We can get more if we raise the jeep up some, but Its not too tall now and we like it. Overall, I am very happy with it. I was able to make some pretty trick mounts for everything, and, well, it just looks like the most bad ass Cherokee in the world. Probably because it is! haha. Tomorrow morning I al going to tighten everything on the front suspension, change the Diff cover and pour in some oil. Then I'll be getting started on the upper end of the front ORI mounts. Hopefully sometime tomorrow afternoon it will be driven under its own power again!

So... here's the deal... I do have pictures, but Im not going to post them yet. This is my way of encouraging you to come to the crawl and see it in person. If you absolutely can't come, I completely understand, so I will post the pictures up after the trip; the rest of the build pictures, as well as the pictures we take of it at the Crawl.
 
Team Willys said:
So... here's the deal... I do have pictures, but Im not going to post them yet. This is my way of encouraging you to come to the crawl and see it in person. If you absolutely can't come, I completely understand, so I will post the pictures up after the trip; the rest of the build pictures, as well as the pictures we take of it at the Crawl.
Click to expand...

You suck!
 
Well, good news!!! We just got done driving it like 40 miles! We need to do some adjusting on the rear ORIs, but other than that, its all pretty darn good. It handles like a champ! Heck we even put it up on the RTI ramp and tried it out. Amazingly, the front clears great. The tire can tag the bumper ever so slightly, but that's about it. We also need to move the horns b/c we almost ripped those off haha. The rear is well, really tight. The tires touch everywhere when its flexed up. With a little hammer action to the body, there won't be anything that can really hurt the tire, but I wish we had more room. I could move the rear lower strut mounts up by cutting them off and re welding them, but then we will only have a couple inches of up travel, so Im not sure that's the best idea. The 4 link does need adjusting some too, but nothing major.

Anyway, today we got an absolute TON of stuff done. The ARBs are hooked up and functioning great (other than hooking up the solenoids backwards; easy fix) so that's good. Also, we obviously got the dual battery kit hooked up, the brakes on and bled, and also got the front suspension knocked out. Man, those front strut mounts are a work of art, and the removable strut tower brace turned out pretty trick as well. I am seriously not one to brag on myself, but damn this thing rocks! There is no doubt in my mind that this thing is the most bad ass, hardcore, Daily Driven Cherokee in the entire world.

So the list of things before the crawl are something like this:
CB install
Put in rear seat
Flip the ARB solenoids for currect function
Install winch solenoid box
Tweak rear ORIs
Install front driveshaft
Remove drive slugs and install Warn hubs for long highway drive
Install Gauges if Novak will ever get them back to me (those F&C&%@S!!!)
Hook up fog and rock lights
Finish hooking up the E-Brake

Think that's it...

For those wainting to see it at the crawl, just wait, you have no idea what you are in for!

And finally, thanks for all the encouragement guys, it has been super inspiring and helpful to keep me trucking forward with 12-15 hour days. I now can safely say; LS2 XJ will be at the 2010 NAXJA CrAwL in Harlan, KY. WOOT WOOT!!!!
 
Well, forgot some things that were supposed to go on the list, but since they are now done, I guess I could mark them off. lol.

This morning I got up at 7 and headed out to the shop. I adjusted the passenger lower on the rear 4 link b/c that tire was a bit too far forward. Also, the torque of the engine was pushing the jeep over that way during hard acceleration so I bumped up the pressures in the lower piston of the ORIs by 30 PSI, and then added an extra 20 PSI to the top piston on the passenger side only. That basically makes the spring rate slightly higher on that side, and therefore helps fight torque roll.

You wouldn't believe how amazingly well the thing drives on the road. The ORIs are SO stable that it's not even funny. There is no sway bar since we didn't have room for it up front, and still, it really doesn't sway at all when driving it. In all seriousness, its not any worse than a stock XJ.

I had to come inside and take care of mother nature, so I decided to take a few minutes and make an update. This after noon we are going to try and get the electrical knocked out, get the CB installed, etc, and hook up the E-brake. Then we will throw in the front driveshaft if it comes today.

Just a few more small things that we need to do, then it will be ready to go!
 
Team Willys said:
Well, good news!!! We just got done driving it like 40 miles! We need to do some adjusting on the rear ORIs, but other than that, its all pretty darn good. It handles like a champ! Heck we even put it up on the RTI ramp and tried it out. Amazingly, the front clears great. The tire can tag the bumper ever so slightly, but that's about it. We also need to move the horns b/c we almost ripped those off haha. The rear is well, really tight. The tires touch everywhere when its flexed up. With a little hammer action to the body, there won't be anything that can really hurt the tire, but I wish we had more room. I could move the rear lower strut mounts up by cutting them off and re welding them, but then we will only have a couple inches of up travel, so Im not sure that's the best idea. The 4 link does need adjusting some too, but nothing major.

Anyway, today we got an absolute TON of stuff done. The ARBs are hooked up and functioning great (other than hooking up the solenoids backwards; easy fix) so that's good. Also, we obviously got the dual battery kit hooked up, the brakes on and bled, and also got the front suspension knocked out. Man, those front strut mounts are a work of art, and the removable strut tower brace turned out pretty trick as well. I am seriously not one to brag on myself, but damn this thing rocks! There is no doubt in my mind that this thing is the most bad ass, hardcore, Daily Driven Cherokee in the entire world.

So the list of things before the crawl are something like this:
CB install
Put in rear seat
Flip the ARB solenoids for currect function
Install winch solenoid box
Tweak rear ORIs
Install front driveshaft
Remove drive slugs and install Warn hubs for long highway drive
Install Gauges if Novak will ever get them back to me (those F&C&%@S!!!)
Hook up fog and rock lights
Finish hooking up the E-Brake

Think that's it...

For those wainting to see it at the crawl, just wait, you have no idea what you are in for!

And finally, thanks for all the encouragement guys, it has been super inspiring and helpful to keep me trucking forward with 12-15 hour days. I now can safely say; LS2 XJ will be at the 2010 NAXJA CrAwL in Harlan, KY. WOOT WOOT!!!!
Click to expand...

SO........ its gonna be a DD? DAMN!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see it in action at the Crawl!
 
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