My '96 progress thread

[Georgia Mike]

I talked to my friend Aaron (one of the weldors we have here at work). He said he wouldn't worry too much about preheating those gussets. I showed him the picture of where I'd welded them and although he could see where I started and stopped, it appeared as if I got plenty enough heat in them for it to be a good strong weld. He did, however, say that in other higher stress situations that a preheat would be good, but in my case I should be good to go. He also highly recommended to not quench the forgings. He said to just let it naturally air cool which is what I had done.

 

[Georgia Mike]

Got a new bottle for the welder today. Got to the shop and finished welding the inside welds on the inner C gussets. Also made a quick repair to the passenger side sway bar tab that I had modified to work with the ZJ drag link when I first bought it.



So I go to take the axle outside and wire brush and clean it with brake cleaner to get it ready for paint. As soon as I sat it down outside it began to sprinkle a bit. I turned around to go get the saw horses to sit the axle on, and I heard the loudest noise I think I've ever heard! It literally sounded as if something had exploded right outside the door, and my dad came running inside. Lightning had struck the neighbor's tree, less than 100 feet from the shop doors. That will get your attention for sure! So I did what every other chicken would do; closed the shop doors and piddled around inside lol

I put the knuckles in the bead blast cabinet (Harbor Freight special-actually works quite well for home use!) and cleaned them up. Blasted one on the bottom, dirty one on top.


Then I did the diff guard. It still has a bit of old powder coat that I want to scrape off before painting, but it looks a whole lot better than before.


Wire brushed and cleaned with brake cleaner. It's not perfect but it's as good as I'm gonna get it.


And if anyone is still paying attention at this point, let me bounce something off you.....concerning the UCA mount; I purposely left the lowest corners unwelded to allow any water inside a place to drain out. Would you leave it like this, or fully weld it and drill a weep hole on each side of the mount body?

 

[Georgia Mike]

It has been like monsoon season around here the last two days, and since all the spray painting has to be done outside I haven't had a chance to paint the axle yet. All I got done this afternoon was install the front passenger side stiffener, and put in a new pair of extended bump stops.

 

[PacificEd]

Mike,

On the drain for the UCA mount, I don't know. I'd probably leave it just like you did to let the water drain. That part is a lot stronger than stock plus it looks like you are a good welder and it's not going to pop off.

Oh yeah.....awesome build thread. Keep it up.

 

[Ghost]

I'd drill a hole there. 2 reasons as to why. One it will get dirt in it and will clog that small hole. With a .25 or so hole you can stick a screwdriver in to break up the dirt. However it will have to be cleaned more often.

 

[Lowrange2]

I'd weld the thing all the way around and then weld a cap on top to keep water out completely...

 

[Georgia Mike]

Well, I left it as it was since i didn't see the other replies until now. It has a decent sized hole there in the corners so I can fit a coat hanger wire or something in there if need be. If it becomes an issue, I'll address it at that point.

Finally caught a break in the weather and got it painted


Bead blasted the diff cover, and as soon as I was heading outside to paint it...raining again. Go figure


Tacked the skid plate back together. I'll probably weld that up tomorrow or Friday.


Other than that, I didn't get much else accomplished except for making the passenger side frame tie-in plates and drilled the extra bolt holes I mentioned before. My main goal for tomorrow is to get the axle reassembled and ready to reinstall.

 

[Georgia Mike]

Finally got the axle 95% reassembled today. Got the diff cover and diff guard painted




Then I went to install the new axle shaft seals and they fought me the entire way. I HATE installing those things! I had made a tool a long time ago to install them, but with the C gussets in place, I had to make a modification to the outer piece. Then the inner part that pushes the seal into place kept screwing up, so I decided to toss that piece and start over.

The outer part of the tool needed to be turned down about 1/4" to fit inside the gussets


New inner "press bushing"


Fits nicely into the seal recess


Dropped the carrier in place


Installed the ball joints, knuckles, UCA bushings, unit bearings and the new axle shafts


New bling for the trail rig! Adds another 10 trail prowess points :dunce:


And I didn't get a picture of it, but I hit a snag with the axle tube seals. I installed them with the zerk fitting pointed up, but they went in so far that I won't be able to get a grease gun on it. I discovered this when I installed the first one, but honestly I was so tired of everything fighting me all evening that I just slammed the other one in, packed the seals by hand and will just deal with it later. One possibility is to remove the zerk in the future and use a needle type fitting to inject the grease, but I would really rather install an angled zerk. Problem is that I can't install one with the hole so close to the axle tube. I guess I'll have to wait until I have them out for some reason in the future

 

[94xjsport94]

Nice thread so far. Always neat to see what people with access and knowledge of machining tools can come up with for random purposes. Are you planning to tie the stiffeners and bumper brackets together?

 

[Georgia Mike]

I haven't decided what I'm gonna do there yet. My first thought was to weld a piece on the stiffener to lap over the bumper bracket, then bolt it on so I could take the bumper off easily if need be, but I just have to wonder if I'd ever have a need to do that. I know that I don't really care for how far it sticks out, but it's only an issue on that rare occasion (like on Rocker Knocker lol). Who knows. I'll figure it out one day.

Since you're here, I'm glad to see you chimed in. I wanted to ask you about the D&C cage you had installed. As you know I installed the same one, and I know you removed some (or all) of yours, but I think I remember you had installed a pair of D-pillar bars. Do you have any pics of that? I'm going to have to install something back there and need to get a few ideas.

And now for another progress report...

I got sick (again) this week, so I haven't gotten much done. I finally got the axle put back in yesterday morning. Sometimes lifts can make jobs so much easier, and then again sometimes they can hinder progress due to being put in an awkward situation without the proper tools to complete the task. Take this for example:

Saturday morning I thought "yeah this is gonna make it so much easier!" then I realized after I had the LCA bolts in place that I had no good way of tilting the axle back and upward at the same time to install the UCA bolts. I tried with the only ratchet strap I had on hand, and when I was within 1/2" of where I needed to be....the ratchet mechanism broke and pinched my thumb. Add to that fact the flimsy sawhorses kept trying to unlatch at the bottom, I'd already smacked my head on one of the lift's arms, and I was fighting the overwhelming fatigue from a cold + cold medicine and it just wasn't happening that morning, so I went back home....and slept ALL DAY....and all night that night It's funny now, but it sure wasn't at the time. The old XJ now has a bit more damage on the fender, and it's not trail rash.

I swore off of Jeeps that morning for like the 10th time in my life. That never seems to stick. :looney:



So I went back Sunday morning with a fresh attitude (and better ratchet straps) and got it put in.


This evening I got the skid plate welded back together. I reinstalled it only to find that the metal strip I used now interferes slightly with the transmission crossmember. I'll have to take it back off and clearance it, but it's now one piece again, so that's going in the right direction. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics.




Checked the clearance of the knuckles and brake calipers against the new gussets. Everything clears and I retained full steering movement.

The calipers are close, but plenty enough clearance so I don't think it will ever be an issue.



Didn't even have to adjust the steering stops.



The remainder of the evening was going over everything and putting in new cotter pins. Boring, but necessary stuff.

eace:

 

[Ronbo]

I swore off of Jeeps that morning for like the 10th time in my life. That never seems to stick. :looney:

Welcome to the club....haha. Glad you're sticking with it, the pics and write-up are always enjoyable to read.

 

[Ghost]

Welcome to the club....haha. Glad you're sticking with it, the pics and write-up are always enjoyable to read.

x2 Mike! Most all my pictures these days are with the iPhone. No way I'm putting my greasy grubby hands on my nice digi!

 

[Georgia Mike]

Thanks guys. I figured the best thing for me to do at this point in life is to document all the work I've done to it. That way when I start thinking of selling it I can go back and look at the work it took to get it where it is. I think this one is coming up on a record for me; nearly two years of ownership!

I know it's not "extreme" by any stretch of the imagination; it's just an "average guy" sort of thing and maybe someone will get a little bit of use out of something I typed along the way.

So, on to the progress report....

My main goal last night was to simply fix the skid plate issue, and maybe figure out a good solution to stow my sway bar while off road. I hit a snag with the sway bar, but worked through it today.

I found the offending bit of material that was keeping me from fitting the skid plate all the way on (red arrow)


Fixed that with a few quick passes of the grinder


It was still a very tight fit, but I made it work and now it's back on for good (hopefully)


Then it was on to the sway bar. My intent was to fix the "falling down on the trails" issue I'd been plagued with from day one. Well, I didn't find a solution, but I discovered the cause. With the wheel turned full driver side, look how much interference there could possibly be if the tire were stuffed in the wheelwell (red arrow is pointed at the disconnect/end link)


So it appears that I will simply have to resort to taking the end links off when I go wheeling until I can come up with something that will both hold them up, and also keep them from making contact with the tire.

I remembered when I took the disconnect pins off the axles that one of them was pretty difficult to unthread from the nut. So when I tried to zip it back on with the impact, it locked down almost immediately. Turns out these pins are made from stainless, which is great for corrosion resistance, but any time you thread stainless hardware together, you must use anti-seize compound, or some sort of thread locker. Otherwise the metals will gall one another if torqued down hard. Once that happens you can FORGET getting them apart; just break out the Sawzall or your other favorite implement of destruction and get to cutting. Since no anti-seize had ever been put on them, I chose the Sawzall


So I found a piece of 3/4" scrap stainless in the metal bin at work, and made myself a replacement. And since it's my LEAST favorite thing to do on a lathe, I cheated and took the easy way out by just drilling and tapping the pin to use a 1/2" bolt instead. If I didn't know all the facts, I'd swear that whoever made that knock-off replacement knew what they were doing :dunce:



Like a glove....and it was free. Can't beat that :clap:

 

[TRCM]

Nice way to fix the issue......I like the pics & the way you document work...kinda making me think I need to get off my butt and get mine done

Maybe this is ghetto, but I have the factory end links, and all I do is unbolt the sway bar from the end links on both ends, leaving the end links attached to the axle, then I put the bushings/washer/nut back on to keep grit out of the threads.

I then swing the sway bar up, and I put a small ubolt upside down under the battery tray, and I use a clevis that goes thru the eye on the sway bar and around the ubolt, to hold it up.

Works great and cost nothing. Takes about 5 min to do both sides.

 

[Georgia Mike]

Nothing wrong with that. I'm all about cheap wheeling. My first set of "disconnects" were trailer hitch pins in the factory end links lol.

I almost forgot that I finally got the last frame tie-in plate put in. I made templates for the gussets/braces/kickers/whatever you wanna call them. Tomorrow evening I should have the whole time to myself, so HOPEFULLY I won't get sick or run out of shield gas and I can actually knock those out! That's all I think I'm gonna do to it until after the Gulches Labor Day ride. Then I have some real work to get done. I can only imagine how long it will take seeing as how it's taken me nearly a month to get these few small jobs done

 

[Georgia Mike]

It is with great shame that I post today's update, but I feel that to project an honest account of a build, I must shine a light on the good as well as the bad. I'll be totally honest and say that while the frame stiffeners welding job went as well as could be expected given the condition of my frame rails, my welds today were some of the worst I've done in a while. I've succumbed to the fact that an overhead, inside corner joint is my kryptonite and I am powerless to improve upon it. It didn't help matters that I went back over a couple of the welds and made them look gigantic. On the bright side, I do believe that the welds are strong and will hold in the event they're put to the test (especially after I tie the cage into the A, B, & C pillars) but good lawd those things are some kind of a boogery mess. I think I'll skip the spray paint on them and just head straight for the undercoating :looser:

It took me 2 hours to get the first leg made



Then as is usually the case, I got the remaining 3 made in another 2 hours




That's it for today. Go ahead. Laugh. I can take it. I laugh at me all the time :looney:

 

[PacificEd]

No laughing here. What you consider ugly is better than anything I could do.

Well done sir!

 

[Georgia Mike]

Thanks for all the votes of confidence, guys. At least it makes me feel a little more at ease that I won't wind up in the Pirate Booty Fab thread :laugh:

Got her all back together last night. I went over everything, and decided to give the whole thing a once over since I never think to do it. Everything looked good until I checked the t-case fluid....



Now call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure there's supposed to be some ATF in there I couldn't get my finger down past the chain, but it took nearly a full quart to top it off.


Luckily it very rarely saw much street use up to now, so it appears that I dodged a bullet there. After I got it all buttoned up, and all the fluids topped off, I took it for a drive. I'm sure that putting the sway bar back on made huge difference, but even when I did have it on it didn't drive this well. It had all sorts of pops and creaks while making turns before adding the stiffeners. Now they're all but gone. I was very surprised. It also seems to handle much better.

Got it home and had to take a couple of glamour shots of the old beauty



Now, let me give you guys a good piece of advice; if you plan on doing any wheeling in the rocks, do yourself a HUGE favor and at the very least install the center stiffeners. My frame rails were so beaten that the stiffeners barely fit, and it was a lot of work to get them to fit as well as I did.

If my advice isn't good enough for you, let these pictures do the talking, and go back to post #25 and look at the rails from underneath. These are the direct effects of wheeling with no stiffeners or cage......

Misaligned passenger front door. I'll have to shim the top hinge to get it realigned.


Hard to see it in the pic, but the gap is much bigger up top than at the bottom


Driver's rear door, again, the gap is hard to see in the pic but it's around 3/16"~1/4" wider up top than at the bottom.


Floors have spots in them where the metal has been pushed upward, up to 1/2" in one spot. I'm not certain the stiffeners would have totally stopped this from happening, but I do feel as though they would have helped spread the load out over a larger area and would have minimized the damage.




So that's all for now. Hopefully we'll be wheeling at Gulches next weekend. When I get back I'll start planning out the 2x6 rocker replacement. After that, I have got to address the driver's rear frame rail and do some pillar tie-ins for the cage. But for now, I like knowing that I have a whole week of not working on it ahead of me!

 

[Georgia Mike]

I CLEARLY remember saying there was no need to remove the pinion because the seal had never leaked




I know I can still replace it, but I'll have to take the driveshaft back off the pinion and I should've just done it while I had it all apart. Serves me right for being lazy!

 

[PacificEd]

That is how it goes sometimes. Of course that can also cause more trouble than you bargained for. Look at my thread that started out as a front suspension bushing upgrade that turned into a rear main replacement that turned into bad bearings and oil pump. It was fine before I touched it!

Darned if you do, darned if you don't.