My '05 Rubicon Project

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For those of you not familiar with the other thread:

https://www.carolinafirearmsforum.com/index.php?threads/im-about-to-sell-this.39558/


I thought I'd start a new thread on my Jeep project. I've been taking my time replacing stuff under the hood, soaking parts in Goof Off rust remover, etc... while my front axle was out getting remanufactured.

It's been back for a couple of weeks now but I still haven't installed it. I'm about ready to once a new transmission mount arrives. Went through 3 drill bits drilling the holes for the nice Synergy 2 inch bump stops I installed.

I did quite a bit under the hood. The biggest thing was getting rid of the useless cold air intake that was on it. I was able to find a nice low mileage factory air box and crossover pipe.

The previous owner had the factory throttle body with a spacer. I got rid of that and put a B&K 62mm throttle body without the spacer.

My biggest concern during this entire project has been what I would run into when removing the skid plate/crossmember. These TJs are notorious for the nut inserts in the frame that the cross member bolts to breaking loose inside the frame.

Fortunately, this evening I got the plate down without having that issue to deal with. I found a real nice one on Ebay this past summer. The plate that came on this Jeep looked rough and had seen some big rocks in it's day.

Here are some pics including some before and after pics of the engine compartment.

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As soon as I get the front end put back together, I'm going to raise the back end and pull the rear diff and send it off. The entire front end with the exception of the sway bar, is new. That includes the axles, steering knuckles, wheel bearing hubs, brake calipers and rotors, upper and lower control arms, coil springs, Bilstein shocks, both driveshafts and all of the steering rods and track bar.

I'm going to do the same to the rear as well once I get back there.
 
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Where did you send your differentials off to? I’ve got a 2000 model that I’ve had for 14 years. My son drove it. I’ve got it back and I’m fixing it up for my grandson, he’s only 20 mos old so I’ve got time.
 
Where did you send your differentials off to? I’ve got a 2000 model that I’ve had for 14 years. My son drove it. I’ve got it back and I’m fixing it up for my grandson, he’s only 20 mos old so I’ve got time.


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Where did you send your differentials off to? I’ve got a 2000 model that I’ve had for 14 years. My son drove it. I’ve got it back and I’m fixing it up for my grandson, he’s only 20 mos old so I’ve got time.


If you look at the picture of the whole differential above in my first post, you'll notice that the ball joints and upper control arm bushings are already installed. I didn't know they did that on these Jeep diffs. I pressed out my old ball joints and bushings and bought new ones thinking I would need to install them when the unit came back. They not only installed them but they also tack welded the upper control arm bushings in place because they are always loose and move around after being pressed in the housing.

So if and when you decide to send off your front unit, just leave the ball joints and axle side control arm bushings in place. Be prepared to deal with the lower control arms. I had to leave the lower control arms connected to the axle housing and once I got it down and out from under the Jeep, I had to cut the majority of the arm off with a sawzall and then cut the cam bolts on each side in order to get the control arms off of the housing. Those cam bolts are just about impossible to remove and you risk messing up the control arm brackets trying to get the bolts out. It's much easier to just cut them out and replace the control arms.

Send me a PM whenever you decide to do it and I'll put you in contact with the right people out there to get you in the system.

Dave
 
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With the exception of waiting on a new windshield washer fluid bottle to arrive, I'm done with everything under the hood.

I just painted my replacement cross member/ skid plate. I got it from a wrecked 2003 Wrangler. It looks brand new now that it's painted.

The bracket for the locker compressors was in very rough shape. But after a couple of days soaking in rust remover and a little wire brush treatment, it cleaned up nicely and looks great after some paint.

The dealer I bought this Jeep from had already replaced the rear compressor so I went ahead and replaced the one for the front axle. It looked rough as well.

The next step is to install a new transmission mount and then start some rust removal on the frame rails where the cross member was mounted before installing it.

The frame rails look surprisingly good and most of what rust is on the frame is metal that came off of the old cross member. I scraped some off of the frame and the rails look in good shape. I'll paint everything and install a new front and rear driveshaft before putting the cross member back on.

Then it will be time to put the front end all back together.

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Whar was wrong with the factory front axle? I was thinking the rubicon came factory with Dana 44 axles baxk then.
 
Whar was wrong with the factory front axle? I was thinking the rubicon came factory with Dana 44 axles baxk then.


It does have Dana 44s. But this Jeep has seen many days on rock trails and I decided to get both axle housings remanufactured with a 4.56 ratio.

I'm glad I did. The front passenger side axle tube was discovered by the reman company to be slightly bent but they had the equipment to straighten it back to specs.

The powertrain is in good shape and everything works good. I just wanted to do the axles for peace of mind since they take a lot of abuse.
 
0110201353a_HDR.jpg Slowly moving along. Just finished descaling and painting the frame rails forward of the rear control arms. The rails looked rough at first glance but once I started the rust removal, they really weren't in bad shape at all and cleaned up nicely.

Just installed a new Adam's 1330 extreme duty front driveshaft and put the new locker pumps on their bracket, mounted it to the skid plate and installed that assembly yesterday evening.

I had already ran a tap through the skid plate nutserts up in the frame after spraying WD-40 up in the mounting holes and letting them soak for a few days.

The skid plate went on very easily. Normally they can be a PITA. I have a nice ATV lift that fit the bill perfectly when dealing with that skid plate.

I installed a new transmission mount while I had it all apart back there.

Now I'm ready to put the front end back together and start on the rear axle.

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I finally got around to reinstalling the front differential yesterday. It's all hooked up except for the sway bar links and the driveshaft. Once I get the new knuckles, axles, brakes, and steering components installed, I'll mount the tires and drop it down on the ground and install the track bar, center the diff to the chassis, torque the control arm and suspension component bolts, adjust the pinion angle and adjust drag link to center the steering wheel.


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This past Sunday I installed the new steering knuckles, dust covers, new axles on both sides, and new bearing hubs.

Getting ready to install the axle nuts, torque 'em down to 175 ft. lbs and install the cotter pins. Tomorrow if the weather is okay and I have time, I'll get the new brake components installed.

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I installed this special steering system. It will come in handy whenever I come upon a fork in the road or trail and I can't decide which way to go. Lol. :D


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Now I have an idea how my 33 inch BFG KM3s are gonna look along with the 2 inch spring lift. The front is now down on the ground with the Jeep supported by the springs. Everything looks good suspension wise. It turned out better than I could have hoped for.

The front is a little bare looking but once I get the back end torn out, built, and reinstalled, then I'll install the new track bar and steering components, adjust everything and torque it all to specs.

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That big wet spot in the first pic in my previous post is just water from a bucket I was using to support the old brake calipers..

I'll see if I can get a better pic of the side view.
 
Looking good Dave!
 
I forgot to post a pic of the new brakes mounted. I meant to post it right after the pic of the new wheel bearing hubs a few posts back:


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Just got the back diff down and out. To save time I just cut the upper control arms in half. Replacing the upper and lower ones anyway.

I did have to cut the bolt holding the track bar to the frame mount. No way of getting the bolt loose on the axle side without dropping the gas tank.

All of the brake lines and brake components, including parking brake stuff are getting replaced with new.

I'm pleased with how this project is coming along so far. As it looks now, the Jeep is going to have the perfect stance for my taste.

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Just went and pulled both front wheels and installed new JKS adjustable sway bar quick disconnects and two new front brake lines with brake line relocator brackets.

The relocator brackets really weren't necessary. Just for peace of mind. The rear lines don't need relocated or lengthened.

I'm going to wait until all four wheels are on the ground and reassess these front sway bar links. They are almost maxed out on adjustments and my lift is only 2 inches. These are supposed to be for 0" - 2" lift.

I'll probably end up putting these links on my son's Rubicon and getting some taller ones for this Jeep.

If that sway bar angle doesn't increase some more when all four wheels are on the ground, then I'm definitely going to get taller links.

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Chances are, when I get the back end finished and lower it down on all four wheels, I'll get the desired 10 degree positive inclination angle out of the sway bar.

But too many dang threads showing on those links which means the lower tube on each sway bar link is hollow with no threaded rod. Too sketchy for me to drive like that on the road.

I'll be ordering some new sway bar links in the morning.
 
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Moving right along. Just picked up the remanufactured rear diff a couple of days ago. I have to drop the fuel tank and clean up the back end of the body tub and do some rust removal just as I did on the front end before installing the differential.

I bought a new fuel tank skid plate and have all new brake lines, parking brake cables and adjuster, new coil springs, new control arms, new sway bar links, new axles, and complete new brake assemblies, including new backing plates.

I've still got the new front and rear track bars and steering components waiting to install after I get the rear diff back in it.

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Working my way back to the rear. I went ahead and bought a new Fuel Module since I had the fuel tank down. I got a new leather gear shifter boot and it was a royal PITA to install on the bracket that's under the plastic bezel. The only place on the planet that I could find a new leather boot was Etsy. No one else had one, not even Amazon.

When I took out the center console to replace the center parking brake cable, I noticed that some jack wagon had tore a hole in the floor pan gasket where the gear shifter connects to the transmission. So I ordered a new gasket. I knew the transmission had been replaced at one point and I guess the mechanic decided it was too time consuming to remove the shifter before dropping the transmission.:mad:

I soaked the parking brake actuator on the parking brake handle and the center brake cable mounting bracket in Goof Off Rust Remover Soak. That stuff does a good, albeit slow, job. After a day or so of soaking they came out looking brand new. I've got a new fuel tank skid plate, new filler tube, various fuel lines and vent hoses, and new tank straps. The old straps looked dangerous and ready to snap from rust.

I've been slowly working on the rust removal under the back end of the Jeep. That's the worst place for rust because all of the salt and crap up in PA gets thrown back there and gets trapped above the fuel tank and up inside the rear bumper. But the good news is that there are no rust holes and most of it is just surface corrosion. I've got a needle scaler and some flap wheels to use and I figure working on it off and on for a week or so I should have it ready to reassemble. I'm going to paint the entire underside black before I put it all back together.

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Can you believe someone would be so ignorant to do something like this?:eek:

The guy at the dealership told me that the previous owner, first owner before me, always had this Jeep serviced at the local Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealer up there in PA.

Maybe the transmission went out on it out of town somewhere and he only had access to some jack leg to get it back on the road. It's got a reman transmission in it so I'm assuming that it was at least an IGO that did the work.

However, I can't see an IGO doing this kind of work. Pathetic.

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Got the new floor pan gasket installed along with the new center brake cable and the parking brake assembly.

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Just got the center console back together with the new leather gear shifter boot. Now back underneath for some rust removal.

Waiting on a new gear shift knob to come in. The old one was tore up and didn't look good.

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I need to tuck the excess carpet back under the console on the passenger side. I must have missed that yesterday evening when I was working on it.
 
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Guessing you had some rust issues looking at the parts you replaced. I had a 2001 that I loved. It had about 275k on the odo and I know for fact that inline 6cyl will be around after the jeep is gone. Those are some awesome motors.
 
Guessing you had some rust issues looking at the parts you replaced. I had a 2001 that I loved. It had about 275k on the odo and I know for fact that inline 6cyl will be around after the jeep is gone. Those are some awesome motors.


Yep. Most of the rust is towards the rear but there were quite a few components that had rust and if replacements were available, like brake lines and bolts for example, then I replaced them with new. These TJs are weird in the sense that some parts you wouldn't think would be available are, and some you would think would be available, aren't available. The good news with this Jeep is there aren't any rust holes anywhere.

If I couldn't replace something due to unavailability, then I just restored it by soaking it in rust remover and grinding/polishing/painting it afterwards. You're right about the 4.0L, it is a great engine just as it's straight six predecessors were.
 
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The 2001 I had.

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The 2015 I bought last Sept (5,700 miles on the odometer, still doesn't have 10k on it yet) the guy that owned it had a ton of money, never drove it, had a stable of cars.
 
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Well, I finally finished cleaning up the back end. I used a needle scaler and a wire wheel on an angle grinder (I highly recommend against that method). The needle scaler did great getting the loose flaky stuff off. The wire wheel did good but is dangerous and if you like wires flying 100 feet away or impaling your forehead, then that's the ticket. Lol.

Good ole Rustoleum paint brushed on in most places and sprayed in a few tight spots. I couldn't get all of the rust of course but I managed to get a good bit. The fuel tank and the rear diff will cover most of where I painted back there.

I only work on this Jeep occasionally in case anyone is wondering why it's taking so long. I'm anal retentive anyway when it comes to projects such as this.

Now I'm finally ready to start putting her back together. The first item will be to install the new trailer hitch. That's first because I've already got the fender liners out so before I put them back on, I can wire the new hitch into the tail light wiring.

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I just installed the new stock bumper and trailer hitch yesterday evening and just now wired the hitch to the driver's side tail light harness.

The only problem I ran into was the lower driver's side bumper bolt hole in the frame rail was stripped out. Nothing a 27/64 drill bit and a 1/2 - 13 tap couldn't fix.

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Tomorrow I'll be dropping the transmission skid plate/cross member back down so I can remove the cat back exhaust and replace it with a new stock cat back system.

Not using the clamp for the muffler connection, I'd rather weld the tail pipe to the muffler.

Then I'll be ready to reinstall the fuel tank.

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Just installed my new OEM cat-back exhaust. I've never welded exhaust before so it was a lesson learned today.

I practiced on some exhaust pieces I bought at AutoZone. The chart on my little MIG welder called for a slow wire speed and a fairly low voltage. I got some good results when I turned the voltage up to the highest level and ran the speed up a notch or two.

I was running .025 wire because I was reading that size wire or around that size, was preferred. After doing this job, I'm thinking .030 wire is what it would have called for. Live and learn I reckon.

Before welding the tailpipe to the muffler, I made the mistake of turning down the voltage a little thinking I may run too hot. So I ended up with a not so pretty weld. But it's a dang exhaust pipe, the weld is solid and it won't leak any so I'm good.


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Finally got the fuel tank and skid plate installed. It has been a major PITA job. The original carriage bolts that support the fuel tank skid plate and the fuel tank have square shoulders that fit into square cutouts in the frame. 4 bolts in the rear frame cross member and 3 bolts in the middle rear cross member. Those square cutouts in the frame are "blind holes" when the fuel tank is installed. The three bolts at the front of the tank towards the front of the vehicle are blind even if the tank is down and out from the Jeep. The four bolts at the rear of the Jeep at the rear cross member are blind when the tank is being installed but are accessible when the tank is removed from the vehicle. In other words, the fuel tank support bolts at the front of the fuel tank cannot be reached from above unless the body of the Jeep is removed from the chassis.

When you purchase new carriage bolts, retainers, and flange nuts to reinstall the fuel tank and new skid plate, you soon discover that the original square
holes punched out in the cross members have become enlarged over the years therefore, making any of this work with OEM stuff not happening. The holes are still square but larger. As soon as you start to tighten the flange nuts, the square shoulder starts to climb up and out of the cutout in the frame and then starts spinning preventing the flange nut from getting tight. See the pictures below of the OEM carriage bolts, flange nuts, and retainers. Those retainers are supposed to hold the carriage bolts in place while the flange nuts are tightened. After many years and rust from bad weather, the square holes in the frame are too weak and enlarged to prevent the carriage bolts from climbing up and out of the hole and spinning in place.

The solution: Drill out the square holes to the proper circular size to accept Rivnuts. I drilled out all 7 holes to 11mm in order to receive 8mm rivnuts.

However, after installing the rivnuts, I tested each one by screwing an M8 - 1.25 bolt into each one. By doing so, I discovered that when you install a rivnut, before installing a bolt, you must tap the hole or else the threads of the rivnut and/or bolt will strip. Lesson learned the hard way. 2 rivnuts were stripped out and I had to drill two new holes and reinstall two rivnuts after figuring out that they needed tapped after install.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'll start installing the rear diff.

I'm looking forward to finishing this Jeep project without anymore major problems.

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OEM carriage bolt, nut, and retainer.

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M8 Rivnut:

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