Haha, ya I love the comments from the beginning of the thread. I can't believe that was back in '08, seems like yesterday I was building it.
Well since Ross did bump this, and it is my build thread, I'll post some updates for anyone that cares.
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April '09: [/size]
Bent the ARB bullbar on a few rocks one trip, then nearly ripped it off being recovered on the NAC snow run a few years ago. I took off the ARB and unbent it/cut it up to make it high clearance, add stronger mounts, and recess some IPF lights in it, but never got around to finishing it.
Glad there wasn't a winch in there, and couldn't fit one in now. (Can't tell, but the mounting locations were no longer flat or parallel)
Old, bent, enlarged mounts cut off,
What the new mounts were going to be. 1/4" steel with 3/4" tabs welded to it (not pictured) for adequate recovery points.
Clearanced and holes for the lights.
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May '09:[/size]
After completely disregarding my cooling system for the longest time, (I could open the petcock on the radiator fully and not a drip would pour out, > 1" thick layer of gunk in the bottom of overflow bottle, ran at ~220 every time and smelled like burning) my water pump finally gave up and started making bad noises. A complete system overhaul was in order, and I decided to replace my header that was cracked in multiple places.
Cooling system was replaced with all aluminum radiator, Flowkooler water pump, 195* thermostat, replaced all lines, and a ZJ fan clutch was added last summer. Now it runs at 195 on the highway all day long.
1 of 3 cracks. Replaced with APN header.
Seeing this prompted Brown Dog rubber motor mounts.
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Feb '10 - June '10 [/size]
Was down for a bunch of fixing and rework.
Brakes: Replaced front pads & rotors, as well as every hard and soft line.
Had enough of the very sh*tty braking I had with the rear D44 drums, so it was time to finally install the Explorer disc brakes I had sitting around. Calipers, brackets, e-brake hardware, pads from junkyards for $75. Redrilled new ZJ rotors for 5x5.5 pattern, and decided to buy new pads.
Teraflex spacer tacked to new Crown retaining plates for ease of installation (So glad I did this).
Final product
Adjustable Ball Joint
Also installed an adjustable ball joint sleeve to compensate for the bent inner C, that was causing the camber in the driver's side tire in the following picture. Needed to grind a little of the high steer arm for clearance.
Rear Axle
It was also time I replaced the bearings in the rear axle, I knew the pinion bearings were shot from all the noise that was going on after taking my foot off the gas. Really happy I got a master install kit, as I needed to replace every bearing, reset the pinion bearing preload, and carrier bearing preload.
When removing the carrier, I'm extremely lucky that I left one bearing cap bolt threaded in. All of a sudden the OX carrier and ring gear dislodged itself from the case and was half hanging out of the diff, the single bolt being the only thing keeping it from crushing me since I was laying under the diff.
Ya, that pinion looks sweet. Notice how far the bearing looks to be loose pushed out; I hadn't loosened the pinion nut yet.
Video of the play
.!.
