My '01 XJ - A Work in Progress

stumpXJ said:
Good for you doing the majority of it yourself... Now go buy some damn Simple Green and wash that pig! That engine bay makes me cringe....LOL.
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Thanks man. There definitely is a satisfaction that comes from doing the work myself. I know I had messaged you awhile ago about coming down to you shop and doing some work, but this summer it might actually happen if I get new springs, etc...and if you'd be up for it. Don't worry, the engine bay is quite a bit cleaner now. The exterior is squeaky clean (minus pollen), but I can never seem to get the undercarriage clean. Any recommendations for that, or is Simple Green good for it?
 
Simple Green is a great cleaner, but that good ole Georgia clay will require some pressure washing. You could put a sprinkler under there for a few hours to soften it up, and then hit it with simple green.

Offer still stands.
 
stumpXJ said:
Simple Green is a great cleaner, but that good ole Georgia clay will require some pressure washing. You could put a sprinkler under there for a few hours to soften it up, and then hit it with simple green.

Offer still stands.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have learned that Georgia clay, while sometimes fun when it's on the trail, isn't fun when it's on the Jeep. I will give the sprinkler/Simple Green treatment a try, probably this summer, when I give it an ultimate cleaning in hopes of keeping it relatively shiny while I'm making upgrades. I will PM you when the time comes for parts installation!
 
bzauche said:
The exterior is squeaky clean (minus pollen), but I can never seem to get the undercarriage clean. Any recommendations for that, or is Simple Green good for it?
Click to expand...

cheap "dollar store" oven cleaner and a pressure car wash-- hit the dollar store and get a few cans, spray it in the parking lot, drive to car wash, and blast it clean.

Pick up a pair of cheapo children's swin goggles at the dollar store too-- keep the oven cleaner out of your eyes:gee:
 
Shorty said:
cheap "dollar store" oven cleaner and a pressure car wash-- hit the dollar store and get a few cans, spray it in the parking lot, drive to car wash, and blast it clean.

Pick up a pair of cheapo children's swin goggles at the dollar store too-- keep the oven cleaner out of your eyes:gee:
Click to expand...

I'll keep that in mind!
 
Shorty said:
cheap "dollar store" oven cleaner and a pressure car wash-- hit the dollar store and get a few cans, spray it in the parking lot, drive to car wash, and blast it clean.

Pick up a pair of cheapo children's swin goggles at the dollar store too-- keep the oven cleaner out of your eyes:gee:
Click to expand...

I second the oven cleaner. I use it for cleaning engine bays it's very effective. It's not an everytime thing, once you have gotten the years of build up knocked out of there cleaning is usually done by a dose of Simple Green and a hosing.
 
A quick update, and a question or two!

I am finally home from school for the summer, so working will provide a little extra cash to spend on my baby.

I had a few gift cards laying around, so I went to the store and grabbed these things:

DSC_3613.jpg


The front speakers were replaced with the head unit, so I'm going to put these Kickers in the roof. They should provide good mids and highs to complement my Rockford sub!

I pulled my front DS today, and I will be driving around for a few days without it to see if there is any reduction in vibrations/noise. If there is, I plan on rebuilding it with new u-joints. Can you tell from these pictures if the u-joints are in need of replacing? I don't have any record of the PO replacing them, and I certainly haven't touched them.

DSC_3606.jpg


DSC_3611.jpg


Also, what are the differences in brands of u-joints? I know Advance sells Brute Force, Neapco, and Moog, but I also know that Spicer is what Jeep used. Do I need to spring for Spicer's again, even if I don't do any really heavy wheeling?

I have been really thinking about where I want to take this build, and I think I might have a good vision. Since this is my DD and camping/light trail rig, I know I don't need anything super heavy duty. I'm even thinking about keeping my D35, at least until something breaks, if it does. Right now, I have in my head:

3/3.5" Lift (Still planning on OME springs)

SYE (Only if rebuilding my rear DS doesn't do anything. I have very slight vibes at certain speeds that I'm trying to diagnose, and the rear DS is certainly an option)

Remove door trim and bedline:
Stock rear bumper (if I can bang out the dent)
Bottom of doors
All fender flares
Front bumper
Maybe grille insert

Cowl Air Intake

784 Injectors (sitting on my desk right now)

Flowmaster Super 44 with 2.5" tubing

Custom rear cargo area box

Possibly Brown Dog Motor Mounts


I think that would leave me with a pretty good DD/camping rig. I know XJ's are never "done", but until I graduate and get a good job with a good cash flow, and buy another car for a DD, I think I'll be happy with that setup.

Any input/advice is certainly welcome!
 
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hard to tell anything by a picture-- if you're not sure about the life of the joints, change them and know their history. I've got the "brute force" ones in my Heep, but recent experience with them has me re-thinking my next purchase-- it'll probably be the Moog or Spicer variety when they're needed again.
 
bzauche said:
A quick update, and a question or two!

I am finally home from school for the summer, so working will provide a little extra cash to spend on my baby.

I had a few gift cards laying around, so I went to the store and grabbed these things:

DSC_3613.jpg


The front speakers were replaced with the head unit, so I'm going to put these Kickers in the roof. They should provide good mids and highs to complement my Rockford sub!

I pulled my front DS today, and I will be driving around for a few days without it to see if there is any reduction in vibrations/noise. If there is, I plan on rebuilding it with new u-joints. Can you tell from these pictures if the u-joints are in need of replacing? I don't have any record of the PO replacing them, and I certainly haven't touched them.

DSC_3606.jpg


DSC_3611.jpg


Also, what are the differences in brands of u-joints? I know Advance sells Brute Force, Neapco, and Moog, but I also know that Spicer is what Jeep used. Do I need to spring for Spicer's again, even if I don't do any really heavy wheeling?

I have been really thinking about where I want to take this build, and I think I might have a good vision. Since this is my DD and camping/light trail rig, I know I don't need anything super heavy duty. I'm even thinking about keeping my D35, at least until something breaks, if it does. Right now, I have in my head:

3/3.5" Lift (Still planning on OME springs)

SYE (Only if rebuilding my rear DS doesn't do anything. I have very slight vibes at certain speeds that I'm trying to diagnose, and the rear DS is certainly an option)

Remove door trim and bedline:
Stock rear bumper (if I can bang out the dent)
Bottom of doors
All fender flares
Front bumper
Maybe grille insert

Cowl Air Intake

784 Injectors (sitting on my desk right now)

Flowmaster Super 44 with 2.5" tubing

Custom rear cargo area box

Possibly Brown Dog Motor Mounts


I think that would leave me with a pretty good DD/camping rig. I know XJ's are never "done", but until I graduate and get a good job with a good cash flow, and buy another car for a DD, I think I'll be happy with that setup.

Any input/advice is certainly welcome!
Click to expand...

Your joints don't appear to be bad but looks can be deceiving sometimes. However spicer is really good stuff so if they went bad you would be able to tell. The Double Cardan joint in the front shaft (the funny joint that looks like it has two u-joints in it) has a VERY apparent tone when it goes bad and will sound like an angry sparrow squawking at you when the vehicle starts to roll. The double cardan also has more than just two u-joints in it, it has what is called a ball centering kit. I messed up my first one and didn't put enough grease in it and ran it dry. I also didn't use a Spicer ball centering kit either. For someone who has changed out a few u-joints before could tackle this but if you haven't yet then I would say let a pro do it because it is easy to mess up. The Double Cardan also doesn't go bad that often so if you don't hear that angry sparrow sound then leave it alone.

I can't remember if you said if your Jeep was a 2000-2001, but if it is then you have a low pinion front dana 30 which can be more prone to front driveline vibs because of the steeper driveline angles. So replacing u-joints won't fix your problem there. Only way to fix that is fix the angles and to do that you can adjust the length of your control arms but that will mess with other alignment issues and cause other driveability discomforts and issues. What most guys with 00-01 XJs do is just swap their LP D30 for an older model XJ HP D30.

Here is my .02 cents on replacing OEM spicer parts on a Jeep, ALWAYS REPLACE WITH SPICER!!!! Sad to say but my Jeep sees 95% daily driver duties and I have had no name brand crap joints in my Jeep that didn't even make it 2 years before they needed to be replaced again. When I replaced them I went back to Spicer. Every professional I have ever talked to that knows anything about Jeeps has told me to go with Spicer. Any professional driveshaft shop will tell you there isn't anything better than Spicer and that they always recommend going with Spicer over anything else. I had a shop tell me years ago that my axle u-joint on the driver side was bad. They replaced it with a no name Japanese brand that lasted 5 years before it nearly seized up on me, I couldn't even turn it in one direction by hand once I had the axleshaft out. I replaced the OEM Spicer joint on the other side simply because it had over 200,000 miles on it and the damn thing still had plenty of grease in it!!! Didn't even need to be replaced. The other side had burnt up needle bearings and rust dust fall out of the caps.
 
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Shorty said:
hard to tell anything by a picture-- if you're not sure about the life of the joints, change them and know their history. I've got the "brute force" ones in my Heep, but recent experience with them has me re-thinking my next purchase-- it'll probably be the Moog or Spicer variety when they're needed again.
Click to expand...

That's what I original had in my mind. I was going to change them out just for a peace-of-mind thing, and it can never hurt.

Ben824 said:
Your joints don't appear to be bad but looks can be deceiving sometimes. However spicer is really good stuff so if they went bad you would be able to tell. The Double Cardan joint in the front shaft (the funny joint that looks like it has two u-joints in it) has a VERY apparent tone when it goes bad and will sound like an angry sparrow squawking at you when the vehicle starts to roll. The double cardan also has more than just two u-joints in it, it has what is called a ball centering kit. I messed up my first one and didn't put enough grease in it and ran it dry. I also didn't use a Spicer ball centering kit either. For someone who has changed out a few u-joints before could tackle this but if you haven't yet then I would say let a pro do it because it is easy to mess up. The Double Cardan also doesn't go bad that often so if you don't hear that angry sparrow sound then leave it alone.

I can't remember if you said if your Jeep was a 2000-2001, but if it is then you have a low pinion front dana 30 which can be more prone to front driveline vibs because of the steeper driveline angles. So replacing u-joints won't fix your problem there. Only way to fix that is fix the angles and to do that you can adjust the length of your control arms but that will mess with other alignment issues and cause other driveability discomforts and issues. What most guys with 00-01 XJs do is just swap their LP D30 for an older model XJ HP D30.

Here is my .02 cents on replacing OEM spicer parts on a Jeep, ALWAYS REPLACE WITH SPICER!!!! Sad to say but my Jeep sees 95% daily driver duties and I have had no name brand crap joints in my Jeep that didn't even make it 2 years before they needed to be replaced again. When I replaced them I went back to Spicer. Every professional I have ever talked to that knows anything about Jeeps has told me to go with Spicer. Any professional driveshaft shop will tell you there isn't anything better than Spicer and that they always recommend going with Spicer over anything else. I had a shop tell me years ago that my axle u-joint on the driver side was bad. They replaced it with a no name Japanese brand that lasted 5 years before it nearly seized up on me, I couldn't even turn it in one direction by hand once I had the axleshaft out. I replaced the OEM Spicer joint on the other side simply because it had over 200,000 miles on it and the damn thing still had plenty of grease in it!!! Didn't even need to be replaced. The other side had burnt up needle bearings and rust dust fall out of the caps.
Click to expand...

Dang, thanks for all the info man! Do you know of a good place (and which ones I would need) to get the Spicer's? I am going to see how it drives without the shaft first before I make any purchases, but I'd like to know for future reference. I have read about the HP vs. LP thing...I'm just not in the place to start swapping axles right now, which is why I'm even considering keeping my D35 for the time being, unless someone hands me an 8.25 that is in excellent condition. Would a .5" T-case drop help at all, or is 1" necessary? I have been thinking about the IRO SYE & DS combo for a long time now. For $200, it seems like a pretty good deal, and I wouldn't spend any more money on my current rear DS.
 
bzauche said:
That's what I original had in my mind. I was going to change them out just for a peace-of-mind thing, and it can never hurt.



Dang, thanks for all the info man! Do you know of a good place (and which ones I would need) to get the Spicer's? I am going to see how it drives without the shaft first before I make any purchases, but I'd like to know for future reference. I have read about the HP vs. LP thing...I'm just not in the place to start swapping axles right now, which is why I'm even considering keeping my D35 for the time being, unless someone hands me an 8.25 that is in excellent condition. Would a .5" T-case drop help at all, or is 1" necessary? I have been thinking about the IRO SYE & DS combo for a long time now. For $200, it seems like a pretty good deal, and I wouldn't spend any more money on my current rear DS.
Click to expand...

I have replaced all most of the Spicer products on my Jeep (like my previous story most of which may not have needed to be but for peace of mind) and I got all my Spicer replacement u-joints from Drive Line Services of Atlanta www.drivelineserviceofatl.com in Norcross. They do all kinds of drive line work and can tell you anything and help you with anything. They can make custom driveshafts, balance driveshafts, modify driveshafts, and perform all kinds of drive line services. Their prices are fair and comparable to others. I don't know the part numbers off hand of what you would need but just give that shop I mentioned a call and they will be able to tell you exactly what you need.

If you do not already have a t-case drop then get one! If you have vibs then it is most likely from the rear. A t-case drop usually helps cure the average mildly lifted XJ's vibs. They only come in the 1" variety from what I have seen and I have been in the XJ world for 9 1/2 years and never seen one offering more or less than 1". Now the cure all is a slip yoke eliminator and CV driveshaft combo. The cheapest way to get one done is to buy Dirtbound's Hack-N-Tap (same as the IRO just doesn't include a driveshaft which is just a rebuilt stock front driveshaft from an XJ) and a good junkyard front driveshaft from the local pull-a-part for $25. My cousin went this route and got a good front shaft from the pull-a-part in Norcross and had it cut down since it was just a little bit too long but still running the original joints in it and has yet to have a problem. His driveline vibs were awful couldn't hardly get above 55 even with a t-case drop. If you have mild vibs try the t-case drop first since it is cheap and easy to do.
 
Ben824 said:
I have replaced all most of the Spicer products on my Jeep (like my previous story most of which may not have needed to be but for peace of mind) and I got all my Spicer replacement u-joints from Drive Line Services of Atlanta www.drivelineserviceofatl.com in Norcross. They do all kinds of drive line work and can tell you anything and help you with anything. They can make custom driveshafts, balance driveshafts, modify driveshafts, and perform all kinds of drive line services. Their prices are fair and comparable to others. I don't know the part numbers off hand of what you would need but just give that shop I mentioned a call and they will be able to tell you exactly what you need.

If you do not already have a t-case drop then get one! If you have vibs then it is most likely from the rear. A t-case drop usually helps cure the average mildly lifted XJ's vibs. They only come in the 1" variety from what I have seen and I have been in the XJ world for 9 1/2 years and never seen one offering more or less than 1". Now the cure all is a slip yoke eliminator and CV driveshaft combo. The cheapest way to get one done is to buy Dirtbound's Hack-N-Tap (same as the IRO just doesn't include a driveshaft which is just a rebuilt stock front driveshaft from an XJ) and a good junkyard front driveshaft from the local pull-a-part for $25. My cousin went this route and got a good front shaft from the pull-a-part in Norcross and had it cut down since it was just a little bit too long but still running the original joints in it and has yet to have a problem. His driveline vibs were awful couldn't hardly get above 55 even with a t-case drop. If you have mild vibs try the t-case drop first since it is cheap and easy to do.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link! I'll certainly give them a call when the time comes. I do not have a t-case drop or an SYE right now, so I'm actually surprised the vibes aren't bad. I guess every XJ is different, but I'm sitting at 4" with just slight vibes, so I'm thinking a T-case drop will be good for now. I will probably do an SYE further down the road, but since I'm planning on actually lowering it a bit, so I think a T-case drop will be good for now. Yeah I've known Michael for quite a few years now, and still haven't wheeled with him! In fact, I haven't technically wheeled with anyone yet, so I'm slacking pretty hard.
 
bzauche said:
Thanks for the link! I'll certainly give them a call when the time comes. I do not have a t-case drop or an SYE right now, so I'm actually surprised the vibes aren't bad. I guess every XJ is different, but I'm sitting at 4" with just slight vibes, so I'm thinking a T-case drop will be good for now. I will probably do an SYE further down the road, but since I'm planning on actually lowering it a bit, so I think a T-case drop will be good for now. Yeah I've known Michael for quite a few years now, and still haven't wheeled with him! In fact, I haven't technically wheeled with anyone yet, so I'm slacking pretty hard.
Click to expand...

I have been running a stock rear driveshaft with just a t-case drop on my XJ since I lifted it 9 years ago so trust me at that height with minimal vibes a t-case will suit you fine. I want to get Michael, his twin brother, and anyone else who wants to go out for a fun easy trip one day this summer. I know of a fun trail out near Dawsonville at Amicalola falls. It isn't too hard but technical and fun. If you think you would be up for going with us I will have Michael get in touch with you when we are making plans. I also want to make a trip to beasely knob sometime.
 
Ben824 said:
I have been running a stock rear driveshaft with just a t-case drop on my XJ since I lifted it 9 years ago so trust me at that height with minimal vibes a t-case will suit you fine. I want to get Michael, his twin brother, and anyone else who wants to go out for a fun easy trip one day this summer. I know of a fun trail out near Dawsonville at Amicalola falls. It isn't too hard but technical and fun. If you think you would be up for going with us I will have Michael get in touch with you when we are making plans. I also want to make a trip to beasely knob sometime.
Click to expand...

That's awesome to hear, glad you chimed in! Oh yeah, Matt has an XJ too! Yeah definitely tell Michael to let me know when y'all go out there. Dawsonville is just a few minutes north of me so I should be able to make it if I'm not working. Thanks again for the help!
 
I got my 784 injectors awhile ago, but just got new o-rings and filters today. On order is a Spectre Cowl Intake, as well as new upstream oxygen sensors. Hopefully I will be able to get it all installed sometime next week when I have the time! I'm hoping to see a little bit increased throttle response, and an MPG or two would be nice, but I'm not planning on anything drastic.

Since it is summer and I am home from college and working, I'll finally be able to put some good money into the XJ. I have it planned out in stages:

Stage 1: Mechanical/Performance (In process)
784 injectors
Spectre Cowl Intake
New oxygen sensors
Possibly a Performance Curve kit (I love the sound of the Super 44)
Brown Dogs?

Stage 2: Road Manners
Redo springs with OME components
Shocks
Hack-n-tap SYE (if needed)
Steering

Miscellaneous throughout summer:
Repair and repaint rear bumper
Repaint hood and install hood vents
CB Radio
Remove door trim

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's the basic plan!
 
bzauche said:
Tomorrow's projects! Along with o2 sensors...

DSC_3619.jpg


DSC_3622.jpg
Click to expand...

I like that spectre kit! You will love those injectors! I put the 703s (same specs as the 784s just has a different part number for the different connector style) and my Jeep became a much better driver. Saw some performance gains, smoother idle, better mileage, and better cruising on the highway. I have done nearly every bolt on basic bolt on performance modification and nothing gave me as good of results as the injectors.

Make sure to clear the computer's memory so that the Jeep can learn the new injectors and give you the best performance benefits out of them.
 
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