My "Hero" Blog

[CAJJ93XJ]

damn! those are sick :greensmok your rigs so clean

 

[l1kenother]

WOW make a 2nd pair and give me a price.

 

[Jeep450r]

Hahah thanks guys. Unfortunately there has been no more progress on those guys so far. Been busy with other stuff. They're on the agenda for this week assuming everything goes as planned.

I've wheeled slick rock about 4 times already this summer but only got pictures of one trip (thanks to Sam aka goodwilljeeper). On this trip we wheeled all the way through, pulled some tire going up the steps and almost rolled on the way down. Killer trip and I got to show Sam what wheeling is all about.


Following Sam on the way out of slick rock.

Playing around

Stopped at the creek to wander around

Then we caught up to some built rigs and fooled around at the little play area near the creek.

Started up the steps

Pulled a little tire

Then turned around a took a stupid line down. I teetered on two tires and then settled down onto 3. I almost went over and the guys watching from outside said they had no idea way kept me from going over lol. It was pretty cool

Instagram pic ftw

Of course pictures never do it justice.

Anyway, we made it home without any damage and had a great weekend!

 

[Jeep450r]

Next on the trip agenda was the Rubicon trail for my birthday weekend. I tweaked a few things here and there leading up to the trip but saved some stuff for last minute (lazy lazy).

I knew I needed an alignment after replacing all the heims in my steering (yay ruffstuff) so I threw it up on the alignment rack at work and found that both of my unit bearings were beyond shot.

No big deal, I picked up spare shafts with hubs at pick pull the day before. One 96 zj and one 99xj shaft.

Slapped 'em in

Three the brakes and tires back on and went to pull out of the garage and my drivers side tire is 100% locked up. Turns out the mounting surface of the 99 hub is different than that of 98's and older. It sucked my wheel into the rotor and locked the rotor in place.

So in the morning I got to autozone early and ended up leaving with a new hub before they were technically open. Was home by 7:45, slapped the hub on and was on my way to the rubicon by 8:15. Only a few hours behind schedule.

I had a great time on the trail but broke a few things.

Slashed a tire
Busted a ujoint
Busted another stinking ruffstuff joint (panhard this time)
Some other things I'm not remembering

Brought it home, tore it all apart and found my drivers side ball joints were shot and my pinion yoke has play in it (axle nut not tight enough? Bad pinion bearing?).

Slapped new spicer ball joints in it and grabbed a new junkyard shaft with a good ujoint. I'm going to get 2 new tires tomorrow hopefully. Replacing my 31" spare with my remaining good front 33 and putting two new 33's in the front. I also replaced both ruffstuff panhard joints under warranty.

Enough ranting and crappy story telling. Moar pics!

New hubby

Finally on the road

My only worthy picture from this trip. Poser pic of course.

I guess there's this picture too. But we won't talk about this one haha.

Yes that's the box. Yes that's coming down the bitch line (aka toyota rock). Yes I went through it on the way up.

Aaaaand how she sits now.

I know, I know. Not a very exciting trail report but I figured I would share. I hope you guys enjoy the pics!

 

[CAJJ93XJ]

how do you manage to keep your jeep this clean. I'm so tired of my beater

I think we should plan a little Fordyce trip before end of summer

 

[goodwilljeeper]

haha such a great trip man. btw definitely stole that insta for the books.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

You can run the later hub, but you also need the correct rotor. Better to keep it the same tho. I could use the 99up hhb if its cheap enough and works.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

so you sheared a RS hiem on the trackbar ? like sheared at the thread or the internals fell apart? what size hiem?

 

[Jeep450r]

Lol thanks jake. I don't know what the secret is haha

Jeremy ill contact you about the hub in a few

Jon, the ball and socket portion of the heim developed a bunch of play. The threads and bolt were fine. I could hear the joint clunking whenever I turned and if I rocked the jeep back and forth it would clunk. It was only the axle side joint but RS sent me 2 replacements.



And I'm really hoping the bad ball joints were he cause of my death wobble. Fingers are crossed. I'm heading out to pick up 2 new tires right now. The heep shall be rolling today!

 

[blondejoncherokee]

bad ball joints and bad hems on the trackbar would def cause DW.

Are you using 5/8 hiems on the trackbar too? or 3/4 or 7/8?

 

[Jeep450r]

It's like a 7/8x3/4 hiem. Should be more than plenty for my jeep.

Took er for a test drive and only got a small shimmy the whole time. Ill align it at work this week and I'm hoping it will go away.

I still need to address my pinion bearing. Either my yoke is loose or the bearing is shot. I'm afraid it's the latter of the two. My impact gun at home won't even make it budge so ill bring out the big gun (big Bertha) at work and see what I can do.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

an electric wont do it. put a piece of 4 foot of pipe on the breaker bar and crank on it while holding the yoke with a pipe wrench.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

wow . youre not the first person I've read about recently have issues with RS heims wearing out super fast. but then again you DD your jeep right? and when was the last time you changed them out? Pinion nut can come loose on their own, but since you have the carrier out, you could pull the pinion too and inspect the bearings for wear. I would consider torqueing it down and running it . I ran a 30 like that for year and it was still working fine to some extent. we also changed the pinion shims at the time, a year later I was still wearing through the gears and they lost all hardness. I just got used to changing silver gear oil after every run. How was the oil slinger? gear oil? chunks of metal in the diff?

 

[Jeep450r]

wow . youre not the first person I've read about recently have issues with RS heims wearing out super fast. but then again you DD your jeep right? and when was the last time you changed them out? Pinion nut can come loose on their own, but since you have the carrier out, you could pull the pinion too and inspect the bearings for wear. I would consider torqueing it down and running it . I ran a 30 like that for year and it was still working fine to some extent. we also changed the pinion shims at the time, a year later I was still wearing through the gears and they lost all hardness. I just got used to changing silver gear oil after every run. How was the oil slinger? gear oil? chunks of metal in the diff?

We've got a fairly powerful air impact gun at home that wouldn't budge it. I made a special tool to hold the yoke in place. But when I cranked it down with a breaker bar with a cheater bar on it I just bent the tool I made. I think a fat impact might do the trick.

Yeah I DD my jeep. I've had the heims for about a year and a half. I'd figure I have around 7k miles on them. Rough guesstimate.

As for the diff. I have it all put back together so I can drive it to work to use the gun and alignment rack. When I drain the fluid, the fluid is fairly clear but the drain plug magnet always has a good amount of fine graphite like metal paste on it. No chunks of metal.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

wow It sounds like youre giving it hell, ive never had that much of a problem torquing it down. Try the impact at work and see how that goes. otherwise consider some new pinion bearings and a new pinion nut. Only 7K on the hiems huh, thats not very long for normal driving, but you wheel a lot so the wheeling definetly wear em out faster.

 

[Jeep450r]

The torque spec is 200-220 ft lbs and it's just hard to get a 6ft breaker bar in there around my control arms and such. If tightening it down doesn't work ill just back it off enough so when I get home I can impact it off. Working on a lift will be much nicer lol


Back on the road!

For now bahaha

 

[Jeep450r]

Made some progress on my bumpstops today. I increased the angle of the bumpstop holder so it would actually hit my leaf spring plate when I flex out. I had to pull it outward just a tad.

Then I needed to cap the bumpstop itself. So I cut out a circle using my hole saw and some plate and then welded it to the end.

Cleaned it up.

And now I can bolt up my bumpstop piece.

Now I just need to figure out some gusseting and bracing and then I can buzz it all in.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

looks good Kevin!
nice work man.

 

[XJensen]

Looks like you could have saved a lot of time by just going to Hustler. :smoker:

 

[Jeep450r]

Thanks Jon!

And josh, I don't know exactly what you're trying to say lol. I blame it on me being tired haha (lame excuse. I just have no idea what you're talking about).