Project "Big Red Jeep"

[ajmorell]

It's sad how much alike our suspension set-ups are.

[fpkites]

I've been lucky not to have had DW real bad on this setup. Now comes the expensive shit though. Arms, front locker, eventually axles....this shit never ends

[ajmorell]

I've been lucky not to have had DW real bad on this setup. Now comes the expensive shit though. Arms, front locker, eventually axles....this shit never ends

Tell me about it. I have 4 of the 8 adj. arms sitting in my bedroom, and will be ordering the 4 rears here in the next week or so probably. I also have already bought an 8.8 and will be buying a HP30 from a kid up at school when classes start up in Sept.

[fpkites]

You've got a pretty good head start one then Andy...scraped the bottom of the barrel getting trackbar bushings

[nierace]

fpkites,

You have a nice grand....for a zeeee jay

[ajmorell]

You've got a pretty good head start one then Andy...scraped the bottom of the barrel getting trackbar bushings

Yeah well, I'm about in the same place. I bought the axle, but I'm too poor to do anything with it..... There is multiple other things I need before I start investing money in gears and lockers for it....like a t-case & gas skid

[fpkites]

fpkites,

You have a nice grand....for a zeeee jay

Well thanks there Nicky

[fpkites]

Ordered the shtuff for my Taurus fan swap today - should see it in a few weeks. Damn tired of having this luxo-cruiser and not being able to run the AC on the trail

[fpkites]

Finally got my KOR steering brace installed today. I was back and forth with Kevin for 3 weeks or so because it wasn't lining up right. Turned out I got a brace that was about 1/8" shorter than his regular design - Kev says he thinks it was an issue with his new welding monkey. He had me dremel out the mounts a little bit to make it fit.

Got it bolted up today, and now I feel much better about cranking the wheel on the trail

As always, I fully recommend anything coming out of Kevins Offroad. His sliders have saved my ass more times than I can count, TC skid and radiator support have stopped me from doing something stupid. The man is a genius.

[fpkites]

Radiator number 2 in less than a year just went in. CSF from Radiator Barn started separating on me at the driver side tank. Called up RB, they sent me an advance replacement, and swapped it in today. Man, ZJ radiators are a pain in the ass. Everything buttoned up good except for the nut/clip thing on the passenger side. Fawker got stolen by a gremlin or something. Left that one bolt out until I can drop by the stealership to grab a new clip.

Still waiting on my Taurus fan controller...4 weeks out, so should see it soon I hope.

[fpkites]

Taurus fan controller showed up when I was in Callaway, NE for a kite festival Labor Day weekend (don't it fuckin' figure?). The weekend after, I was camping with the family, so yesterday (9-15-07)was the day to do the swap. It was another of those totally fucked up installs that everything that can go wrong will, along with some extra shit.

Anyway, DC Controls Taurus fan control box is in and working, for the most part. As soon as I get this: http://www.mallcrawlin.com/forum/sho...601#post160601 figured out, I'll do a full writeup on the install. So far (idling in the driveway, running to Vatozone to shove the "fan clutch kit" up the parts monkey's ass), this thing kicks ass. Dash gauge won't go above 210, and I had to jump the AC switch lead (on the DCC box) to get it to even want to go past 50% speed...it was keeping (dash gauge) engine temp under control just fine, but the air conditioning sucked rocks. When I supplied 12v to that lead, fan kicked up, and my ancient-ass AC started blowing colder than it has in years.

Bottom line, Ford Taurus 2-speed 3.8L radiator fan kicks freaking ass!

[Green Mountain ZJ]

Going up another inch to clear the 32s a little better (3.5" is the bare minimum to clear that size tire without fairly significant gutting), intend to do that before GSW. Needs a rear adjustable trackbar to kick that axle back where it's supposed to be, and I'll hopefully be putting adjustable arms on it soon.

It never ends...I won't be done for a looooong time...if ever

Nice Jeep. Those wheels must have some wicked offset though. I had 32 with 2.5" of lift on the stock rims and cleared fine. I was actually wishing I had gone with some 33x10.5 on some stock steelies. Good luck with the build.

[fpkites]

Thanks for the compliment - rims are Cragar 15x8 Soft-8s with 4" backspacing. They keep those 32x11.50s nice and far away from the suspension components. Haven't trimmed any metal yet, just the bumper cover and fender liners. Passenger liner is on a highway somewhere, driver will probably get ripped out soon

[fpkites]

Guess I haven't touched my build thread in a long damn time.

Since then, I blew up my stock CV driveshaft at Twin Cone, then went to Colorado A&P and raped an XJ just as I promised. Ted_Z had a front yoke, so I got that from him for the cost of a 12-pack of Coors Light. We popped it in using his garage.

JSteves sold me his old KOR trackbar conversion, so now I'm pimping yet another Kevins product. RE extended brake lines are in the plan, but the stockers are being whores and not letting the old ones loose. Might have to vise grip the flare nut on the hardline side, but I'm keeping that as a last resort.

[BigDaveZJ]

Have you tried using a flare wrench yet?

[fpkites]

Yup, 3/8" flare wrench is trying to round the head. I've got it soaking with Amsoil MP right now, thinking maybe the fittings are seized. I'll give it a few more shots of MP before I resort to mashing it with vise grips. I really don't want to pull out the vise grips

[BigDaveZJ]

Sure it's not metric??

[fpkites]

Fairly positive - I tried 8-11, and they just didn't feel right. 3/8" felt more snug when I had my box wrenches on it, and as soon as I felt even a tinge of slip, I went to Vatozone for flare wrenches.

Combining Amsoil MP with PB Blaster now - I wonder if I'll see pink elephants?

[BigDaveZJ]

Add a little brake cleaner and you've got a nice little automotive cocktail there!

I seem to remember using 10mm on mine, couldn't say for sure though.

[fpkites]

I used brake cleaner to make it shiny already...any more might make fireworks

10mm was wayyyy too big - massive amounts of slop...almost felt like I could round a corner with my kid wrenching on it. 3/8" still feels right, 9mm won't even get close to the edges of the flare nut.

Going to soak it tonight using my Amsoil/PB cocktail, then make another attempt tomorrow. If it's not moving, I'll give it some MAPP to heat it up a bit, then maybe I'll use the vise grips.

I truly hate using vise grips on anything though - way too easy to FUBAR stuff using those bitches. I basically use them to 1. lock my retarded husky in her crate, and 2. Fuck shit up

[grandmaster]

I've been lucky not to have had DW real bad on this setup. Now comes the expensive shit though. Arms, front locker, eventually axles....this shit never ends

I feel ya man. Mine is coming along too, its about at the stage yours is, maybe just a tiny further. I will post up some pictures as soon as I find some time.

[CanadaDry]

Guess I haven't touched my build thread in a long damn time.

Since then, I blew up my stock CV driveshaft at Twin Cone, then went to Colorado A&P and raped an XJ just as I promised. Ted_Z had a front yoke, so I got that from him for the cost of a 12-pack of Coors Light. We popped it in using his garage.

JSteves sold me his old KOR trackbar conversion, so now I'm pimping yet another Kevins product. RE extended brake lines are in the plan, but the stockers are being whores and not letting the old ones loose. Might have to vise grip the flare nut on the hardline side, but I'm keeping that as a last resort.

Fack I had problems with that nut on the Hard line too, I just decided to take it in to get done plus I hate doing brakes anyway. Good luck to you though I would swear that nut is made out of lead it rounds so easily.

[fpkites]

Project brake lines is officially postponed - we had 70s and sun yesterday, now it's snowing like a motherfucker. Colorado baby, oh yeah!

[slim616]

I had the same problem with my brake lines. It took two weeks of soaking with wd/40 before it broke loose with the 3/8 wrench. After the first week I was able to get the caliber off by spinning the whole caliber and hose line. Then the second week was just to get the fitting to brake loose from the metal line/flare. The key with them is take your time and keep spraying it.

[jsteves]

I used an old pair of vice grips that had the teeth worn smooth...I know, I know. But hey it worked and for once I didn't fuck up the bolt.

The track bar conversion go on smooth?