Project Red Roof Inn

[Ted_Z]

This,

http://www.4xinnovations.com/Swing-O...bly_p_110.html

[fpkites]

Looks like it has a super sweet BMX bike handlebar condom too. That adds coolness points

[biggoofy]

This pile ready for GSW?

[BigDaveZJ]

All I need to do is load it on the trailer!

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[biggoofy]

doing way better than me lol

[BigDaveZJ]

I've temporarily scrapped the rear tire carrier. I think it's adding quite a bit of stress to my unibody. The rail was already collapsing in on the Clayton subframe on the passenger side and the tire carrier seemed to accelerate that process a bit. I put the rear section of the DB MetalWorx stiffeners on a couple months ago, and will need to fabricate something to help transfer some of the load from the stiffeners in the back to the Clayton mounts.

I also cracked open the 8.8 the other day, managed to lose 5 of the ring gear bolts again. It doesn't appear that there's any damage to the gears themselves, so I'm just going to put some new ring gear bolts and Loctite and run it.

[JohnBoulderCO]

When I ditched my rear tire carrier, the Jeep felt lighter. Having that weight hanging off the rear can’t be doing the unibody any good.

[DJJordache]

this brings up a good point.... at what tire size do you no longer carry a spare? I know a full tread BFG KO 35 can fit in the stock location, but why do so many not even have a full size spare besides they are a cheapass or dont want to carry it?
I understand the read carrier stress and was thinking of doing a rear carrier but probably wont due to what you both said above, and I like it inside and dont mind the space it takes inside

[BigDaveZJ]

I keep mine inside now, just like I did before I had it on the carrier. Having no interior panels/carpet in the back does make it easier to fit a 35 back there too. The type of wheeling I normally do, I'd never consider going out without a spare. If it's a buggy and the trail is only a mile or two away from your trailer, sure leave it at the trailer. But that's not something I'm willing to do when I could be 50 miles from pavement.

[Mtn WJ]

I was considering a rear tire carrier for some time, then with John's observations on weight and some new ones on unibody stress it seems I will bag the idea all together. I have mine flat in the rear cargo hatch since day one. I talk and talk about building something back there but still nothing done. Guess the PITA of pulling everything out on the trail to get to the tools under the spare is not bad enough to motivate me to finish my project.

[BigDaveZJ]

About the only way I would do a tire carrier on a unibody at this point is if I could hinge it at multiple points, and have them tied into some sort of cage. Basically have a hinge in the normal spot, but then also have one above the tail lights that ties directly into the cage, and have the latch be at the higher point on the other side too.

[Mtn WJ]

I was going to mount mine to the rear factory hitch, but if you do the match the hitch weight effect of the tire and carrier will be higher than the specs for the Jeep, especially when you consider the additional force from bouncing on trails etc.

[BigDaveZJ]

So I picked up a clicking noise in Moab in April, only got worse when we were out last week, like a lot worse. Basically when the suspension binds up like accelerating from a stop into a turn there's 1-3 LOUD clicks, and you can kind of feel it bind and then let go with the click/clang/bang. Originally, I thought it was my Aussie acting up, so I pulled the rear diff apart and everything with the Aussie looks good and is in spec. Next thought was jamb nuts and johnny joints, just got done doing all of those and it's still there. Pulled the rear driveshaft and drove it around and couldn't get it to do it. Still not conclusive as it was less than a mile. Joints in the rear driveshaft feel good, no skitch that I can detect which I could see causing this. I have not rebuilt the smaller johnny joints on the uppers, but they seem to be tight. If I can find my 8.8 spider gears I might throw those in to see if maybe it is actually the locker, but at this point I'm kinda running out of ideas and I'm not buying it that it's the rear driveshaft.

[fluxcap]

My front end had similar symptoms to that and it turned out to be the centering ball for the CV on the front drive shaft. I could not feel a problem with it by hand

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[BigDaveZJ]

Dropped off the driveshaft at Front Range Driveline today. The guy said the centering ball felt fine, but that the joints were definitely worn to the point where they could be causing the binding and clicking. They're going to go through the whole shaft and make sure. Can't complain too much, had that shaft built like 12 years ago.

[BigDaveZJ]

Put the shaft back in. Still freaking does it. Drained the t-case fluid, it didn't look great but not quite bad enough to be causing this much noise. A little silver in the fluid, but no chunks. On my test drive of roughly 3 miles, it made the noise no less than 15 times, so there SHOULD have been some chunks in there I would think? Still sounds like the locker to me. At this point I don't know if I should pull the t-case and inspect it better or swap out the Aussie for spider gears and see if that eliminates it.

[BigDaveZJ]

Ordered up a mini spool and will swap that out this weekend to see if it was the diff. Thought about just using spider gears but if it is the locker, at least I'm still locked with a mini spool.

[fluxcap]

Does it make the noise with the front drive shaft out? Both high and low range?

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[BigDaveZJ]

Did not make the noise with the front shaft still in, I haven't pulled the front shaft to try. It made the noise in 2Hi, 4Hi, and 4Lo with both shafts in. Noise really sounds and feels like it's coming from the back end.

[BigDaveZJ]

Pulled the locker out to put spiders in and all is well. Under closer inspection of the teeth on the locker, they were jacked up quite a bit. I'm guessing they got substantially worse while we were out in Moab as the frequency and severity of the noise got worse while I was out there. I was going to put the mini spool in, but forgot about the modified c-clips that it needs so I just put the regular spiders in.

Not sure what if I'm going to get another Aussie or something else at this point. A new gearset and rebuild wouldn't be the end of the world given the ring gear bolts almost backing out again, but I'm wondering how much it's worth dumping into the 8.8 at this point. I've been tempted to find some JK Rubi 44's and put those under to match Pam from a spare shafts and tire stand point.

[BigDaveZJ]

Here are the pics

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[BigDaveZJ]

No hard feelings against Aussie either, this thing is 10 years old.

[Ted_Z]

Did the sound go away with the stock spider gears installed?

[BigDaveZJ]

Went away completely.

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[BigDaveZJ]

So on the last test drive after pulling out the locker I got a mild case of DW. Nothing bad, but I can count on one hand the number of times I've gotten DW on my ZJ. Dove into it this afternoon, the pitman arm nut was loose and the pitman arm was flopping around a little bit. Figured that's probably what it was. Pulled the pillow blow on the IronMan4x4 brace apart and pulled the pitman arm. Cleaned things up a bit and torqued it all back up. When I originally installed the brace the pitman arm was rubbing on the brace itself, and I think that probably at least contributed to this so I ground the brace down a bit to give the pitman a bit more clearance.