Nate's 2002 TJ, Not so simple anymore by gst95dsm

15 minute(s) of a 391 minute read

As luck would have it..... amazingly a check for $750 showed up today from a supplemental insurance policy (he race's BMX, and Karts, rides Dirt bikes) we have on my son from when he broke his arm last year, out of the blue, that we had totally written off thinking we didn't have the correct documentation or that it did not qualify. My wife knowing that I'm chomping at the bit to get some front axles and that I don't want to charge anything during this house fiasco and that we need a good cash supply right now said here ya go! So add that to my already saved $200 and I'm all set. Now I just really have to make the decision. Uhg.... HELP!!!!! Gspup.... now I REALLY do need that quote buddy. If I don't get RCV's, Yukon is very appealing to me.... they are local so any warranty issues could be solved immediately. Hmmm... long night of research ahead. And I guess my rig won't be put back together this week... might as well wait till I get everything now. Feeling very grateful right now. We pay a lot into insuring his safety and that we'll be able to account for any accidents, but this little kick back came at a good time. I know there's a zillion RCV vs. Chromo threads.... but if anyone wants to throw in their opinion right here I'd appreciate it.

So I'm looking a little closer at the Yukon's.... and I think Beasley may have misinterpreted the warranty a bit.  

"This warranty is not transferable to another party, "No questions asked" replacement for FIRST warranty return, however, Yukon reserves the right to either replace or refund the purchase price after the first warranty claim."

So basically they are protecting themselves from people running bad set ups. And that's just smart business. And not saying that after one break they are done with you. Thats how I took it at least.

Finished up this little gem today before work.... came out pretty nice I think. Some good welding practice for sure. I've got this, and my ball joints to press in tomorrow, and the final axle decision. Also going to order the unit bearing from Rock auto. No way am I going to slap new axles into old unit bearings.

3-19-2013

Holy ****! That's expensive.... Never looked into these. In shock!

http://eastcoastgearsupply.com/i-117...-u-joints.html

So.......



Haha... and... got my pretty new ball joints pressed in.



I bought them from Dave's Offroad Supply on Pirate. I bought my Racelines through him and he was great to work with and the cheapest. I hit him up for a quote this morning... he replied, price was good. I paid him, he set up a pick up at Yukon... and bam. Now I gotta assemble them. I'm two timken Unit bearings away from being able to put this thing back together. So off to Rock Auto website I go.

Thanks for the Plate GSPUP... added to the wall! That's a cool plate!

Here we have two assembled axles.... I gotta say I botched the U-joint install on the first one I did and I'm not happy! It'll be ok, It just pisses me off! I distorted the dust covers pretty bad on two ends.   I was being a complete dumb dumb and while I pressed in the first cap, let the jointjust sit there instead of pushing it up into the cap as far as it would go. So it put a little pressure on the dust shield and jacked it up a little. I'm not worried about it, just irritating. The second one went on like butter after I started paying attention! They are pretty though.

Thrashed for a couple hours and the front end is together, went back together real nice. Everything torqued to spec and ready to go. I'm thinking shake down run on Saturday at my little play spot. Only thing left to do is put on the rear diff cover tomorrow. I didn't feel like playing with the Ultra Black tonight. I did notice the old axles slid right out of the unit bearings and the new ones did not slide right in, it took me tightening the hub nut down to "pull" them in, I can only imagine when it comes times to remove them the fight they'll give. I'm curious if Beasley's new Superiors are like that or not. I'm pretty satisfied with the work. I desperately needed a refresher course on solid axle front end overhaul.  

3-20-2013

Isn't it cute. I think I actually miss my little plastic fill plug. So this is what a super high clearance diff looks like folks..... yep, pretty awesome stuff!  



I'm a little, just slightly tweaked out cause the top edge of the diff cover and edge of the Savvy GTS currently want to occupy the same space during suspension travel.... not so good. I'm hoping with a little massaging with the grinder they can find a happy place because the axle isn't moving forward nor will the pinion angle be altered to accommodate this little guy.... I'd just assume sell it and re-install the stock one. Although I think I can make it work. I don't see how in the world people put big diff cover's on though.... maybe I just have my axle back as far as I absolutely can have it. This diff cover was not much taller than stock, but on the top edge it is much broader whereas the factory one is round. Oh wells.... stuff aint always gonna play well together.

3-21-2013

I'm claiming victory over that damn diff cover. After a lot of grinding, and some more grinding.... and some more. And some more on the GTS, and then loosening the GTS and using a pry bar and then retightening it to get that extra 1/16th in. I finally have clearance. Unfortunately I ground a hole in the damn thing haha. So I'm taking it off..... gonna add some material from the inside, make it pretty again and this ordeal will be over. WOW.... sometimes it's the easy things.

3-22-2013

Got that layer of dust cleaned off it.... nice day today, now a long day of work ahead.   Lookin clean though I think.

3-23-2013

Well today went well. I shook the Jeep down pretty hard. Took some new lines at my little play spot. There's some pretty big boy rocks here, and trouble to get into if you're not careful. I was alone so I didn't do anything stupid but I did challenge myself. A lot of these photos are posed with no one in the jeep obviously, I was spotting myself (with the help of my son, and teaching my son) through some new lines so whenever I'd make it to the next stopping point which was usually one he'd yell... "that looks cool", we'd talk a bit about the next line, and shoot some photos. It was fun and his level of knowledge about how the rig is going to react and what I need to do is getting pretty good.  

The Jeep felt great. No issues, I think those new diff covers were rock magnets though, I pounded that front one several times and the rear was also hit. The extra confidence in the front axles felt good!





This ledge is always a good test if things are working good.... walked it easier than I ever have.





My head got sunburned haha.













Oopsie!





I ended up not making this line, the R/R needed to also come up and caused a WAY tippy situation, I probably could have driven through it, but with just me and my son there I decided to back out.







Good times!

3-28-2013

After almost 4 years this is the only part I've replaced on this little guy.... countless pulls. Never a hiccup. One of those few time's where I feel like I got more than I paid for.

For vanities sake.... the California sun has taken it's toll on my solenoidcover.



I thought about moving the solenoid under hood, since I rarely use the controller.... now that I have an in cab switch. But this will do for another few years I'm sure. haha.... pretty exciting install tonight!  Does look a lot better.

4-1-2013

Not a Jeep mod, but something I've wanted for while and one I wanted for the Moab trip. I'm NOT a small electronics person at all anymore. I actually kind of loath the complexity of it all, even when it's "supposed" to be easy and everyone can manage I still get bored very quickly with it all. But I think I'll enjoy having this around. I have to say the integrated Wi-Fi connectivity between it and my phone is what sealed the deal. Being able to have it mounted some cool place on my rig, and being able to turn it on and off, switch from camera to video, and access all menu functions in a MUCH easier to use format than the camera itself AND to be able to see what the camera see's on my phone is pretty badass.   The $199 price point for the entry level unit is also a winner in my book. I do NOT need any more clarity, resolution or speed than that. A 32gig micro SD and I'm all done besides a couple mounts I'm going to get.



I've got a little sideways suspension test video uploading haha....

Here's a crooked video, I thought I'd be able to rotate it, but I'm not that smart I guess. This is just a field by my house that someone dumped some big piles of dirt some time ago that now has some field grass on it. Flexed it out pretty good though. The clarity to me is amazing, ease of use also is good enough to keep me from wanting to throw it...... so far.  

I notice at 2:14 in my video, I'm fairly flexed out and turned to the right some, and the brake line is actually a little more snug than I'd like. Hmmmm.... I thought I was good there. I lowered the factory line and while during a full cycle there seemed to be plenty I guess I never turned the wheel and checked..... duh!!! Looks like some fancy brake lines may be in order.

4-2-2013

I just redid BOTH diff cover gaskets, Geez I must have been slipping because I swear I've never had one leak before and this time they BOTH were leaking. I'm also suspecting that It may have been a bad tube of Ultra Black, somehow.... It seemed really dry when I pulled the diff covers off. Interesting. Oh well, this time I used

This stuff is always good to me....and is much less of a mess.

4-3-2013

Going to watch this on Saturday! Excited.... should be fun.

4-4-2013

Strange exhaust leak popped up all of the sudden yesterday..... seems to be coming from the manifold. Just redid that sucker last year. Annoyed! The first bolt on the top was completely gone. I put one in and snugged the rest of them and the leak persists. I wonder if I just simply finally blew out the gasket and the bolts been gone for a while. We shall see tomorrow, it's either that or the manifold cracked.  

4-5-2013

My fun for the day. Looks like the leak was coming from where the bolt was missing, no surprise there. Hopefully it's quiet again after I replace the gasket.  

4-5-2013

Success.... wheeww. I don't really like the combo intake/exhaust manifold crap. Oh well it's all cleaned up and ready for more. Took the time to replace the serpentine belt also. It was at least 6 years old. I'll throw the old one in the action packer as a spare.