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

7 minute(s) of a 391 minute read

Well I'm glad I did a shake down run before heading straight to the hammers on New Years. The nasty POP sound was still happening when aired down and on the rocks. I got myself into a spot where I could reproduce the sound by turning left and right. Had Tate get in the drivers seat and turn the wheel while I got under and listened. It's coming from the stock track bar. The bushing is deflecting a TON and is somehow creating this violent pop sound at a certain point. The mounting hole is not wallowed out so I'm not sure how it's accomplishing the sound but I know it is and that kinda sucks! I now somehow have to acquire a MetalCloak track bar or something else by the 1st. Bleh! Other than that the Jeep felt great! Drove it to the trail a 100 miles round trip and it ran perfect down the road. Suspension seemed to cycle off-road very nice and freely compared to the radius arms. Overall i'm happy but wasn't ready to drop the money on the track bar right at Christmas. Oh well. Took some neat pics.

So after doing a little more track bar research, I have learned the factory bolt is an odd duck, and the torque spec is is either 40 or 60. Lol. Well I decided to go get an actual 10mm, 10.9 bolt, and torque it to it's maximum rated torque of 54 ft. lb. depending on what torque chart you read, lol. My bushing looks fine and although I know it's probably quite worn, I just can't logically figure out why a rubber bushing with a sleeve in it could make a popping sound unless the sleeve was moving within it's mount….. and the only way for that to happen would be lack of constraint…. the bolt either lose or holes wallowed out, so the actual cause of the pop has got to be related to it's method of mounting. The bad thing is that I can't really test it without actually being in a wheeling situation. It takes a bit of steering bind to induce the pop. I guess I'll air way down and try turning on the rough street, maybe next to the curb to simulate a bind. I have to say this factory track bar uses some puny hardware for such a critical component.

12-24-2013

First Xmas eve off on in 15 years! And this is the extent of my jeep activities.... A new 12.9 bolt for my track bar. Haha. Oh and I washed it, again. Ready for the hammers though! And white lightening got 3rd TJ of the year! Been a good day!

12-26-2013

Mostly just fire roads, and other mild trails.  

So I went and bought the track bar bushing. I think it's going to be a solid upgrade. It's MOOG brand, but it's an actual Clevite bushing so that's cool… and it's also dual collar or two stage… or something that the stock one was not. Anyhow it seems like it's going to be much stiffer.  

12-28-2013

Signed into myspace for the first time in years and saw the oldest photo I can find of my rig. I was hoping to see one with the grizzly wheels that were on it. This must have been just after I mounted up the new steelies.  

1-1-2014

Ok Art got some in the bucket....

1-3-2014

Fun little spot on Big Johnson. Patience is key.

Just a little Desert bashing…

A few more photos. Didn't take many yesterday. I had to conserve my phone battery to make sure we could get out with the GPS. My charger was left in the truck.  

1-4-2014

My friend who was riding shotgun in the YJ put together a little video. Came out pretty cool!

1-10-2014

Got my new drag link installed today. Just sticking with a stock one for the time being and throwing the old one under the rear seat for an emergency spare. Install went well, ghetto alignment done,  steering wheel centered. Ready for wheeling again.  

Pretty bent even after straightening it out enough to get going on aftershock. Haha

1-11-2014

mall power steering leak coming from the pressure sensor. I can't handle leaks of any kind or size so this is unacceptable! And I'm to late today in diagnosing it so it's got to wait till tomorrow. Damn. Well if anyone has a small unidentified power steering leak, that doesn't look like it's anywhere near the power steering pump check that sensor. Apparently the leak travels down the sensor wires to it's lowest point and drips there, or even worse keeps going down the wire into other sensors and possibly even your ECM! Mine had a low point below the throttle bodyand dripped there, but the wire is wet all the way up to the TPS. Beware….