General Tech What did you work on Today?

[tv_larsen]

This last summer I reassembled and revived my long slumbering 1975 W200. A few months later the 440's cam sprocket bolt came loose and many bent valves were the result.

So I just finished reassembling it again. This time with new Edelbrock E-street aluminum heads, Summit SUM-6400 cam and timing chain, and dozens of other new parts.

I also installed a Borgeson steering shaft, ORD crossover steering, and rebuilt the power steering box.

 

[Gravy]

I'm about a little over halfway through insulating my garage roof: 140 linear feet so far.

I'd be done already if my rafters weren't so full of spare materials. Ha

 

[Gravy]

3/4 done with a tiny electric heater. It's almost balmy to me.

 

[zmotorsports]

I've been working on getting electrical sorted out in what I'm calling "shop build phase 1." Its consists of (5) double gang boxes of 110v outlets split between two breakers and (4) additional 220v outlets also split between two breakers. The 110 outlets are 48" above ground and the 220 outlets are 55" up.

Everyone knows that no matter how well you try and plan or organize a move crap just gets put everywhere anyway and thats what happened with us when we moved in 2 weeks ago. After some shuffling I was able to get both our cars in garages our first night at the house. (Really not that impressive...) After setting up some big costco shelves I was able to clear more space and start to organize a little.

Boxes mounted on the "phase 1 wall."

Second lumber rack up along with my finishing and nuts/bolts bin shelves.

Conduit in with wires and outlets partially installed.

Sub panel.

To finish this up I need covers for the 220v twist lock receptacles. Lowes had them for the range/dryer size outlets but those are too big. I can't find them on the HD website so rather than crossing my fingers that they will have them I may end up just going to an electrical supply house at lunch today. I bought all my outlets and breakers for this project (and phase 2 and 3) off amazon and saved about 50% while also getting a better quality product I think. The 110 outlets are commercial grade and I had wanted different colors to match the different circuits but didn't justify spending more for that.

Phase 2 is outlets in the ceiling for costco LED lights and an ambient air cleaner and phase 3 is to extend the outlets from phase 1 to the back and side walls as needed after using the shop for a while. I bought plenty of wire, conduit, and other supplies for both of these so I'll get phase 2 going sooner rather than later.

Congrats on the move Nate. I've been away for a while and didn't realize you were looking to move. Looks like a great place and look forward to seeing it progress.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

I've had this old Hazet Assistent tool "trolley" for a while. They've got a cult-like following from German auto and tool enthusiasts, which makes the carts and accessories pretty expensive.

The articulating lamps they make for these are pretty neat but the prices I'd find them for scared me away. Over the last year or so, I've seen two sell for about $700! I know they're rare and all... but that's rediculous.

So, me being me, I set out to find my own alternative. I built my own for about $90 total using a vintage Craftsman articulating lamp that was likely mounted to a lathe. I got some help from @BlueWolfFab with the adapter.

I documented it on my website if you'd like to see the what and how and such: https://tools365.net/hazet-assistent-lamp/

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Nice light Brent. Pretty cool having it mounted to your tool/work cart.

 

[zmotorsports]

I've been away for quite a while trying to get caught up on projects that my son and I had planned before we moved two years ago. This past year we went into "catch up" mode and finally got around to completing phase I of his new Jeep project. He sold his 2004 LJ a little over a year ago because he wanted to build another Grand Cherokee with a V8. He looked for about six months to find a fairly clean virgin WJ that no one had cut on or messed up. He found a very clean 2004 with the 4.7 V8 engine. It has some miles on it but overall a very clean Jeep to start with.

He then proceeded to get everything mechanically sound and in perfect running condition, changing all fluids, tune-up, etc. and then in July we threw it on the lift and cut all of the suspension out from under it in preparation for Phase I of his build. He wanted to upgrade the drivetrain and long-arm the suspension so we started with a clean slate as far as undercarriage goes. We added stiffeners to the uni-body frame rails although the WJ probably doesn't need them as the main structure of the WJ is much more stronger than its predecessor the ZJ.

We then found a rear 2016 JK Dana 44 axle with less than 100 miles on it and he wanted to use my front OEM Dana44 axle housing that I removed from my 2011 JKUR two years ago when I built my ProRock 44. We also built a triangulated 4-link rear suspension and a Y-link front suspension along with frame mounts. Limiting straps, Fox 2.0 shocks, 6.5" IRO coil springs and many one-off custom brackets were fabricated for the build. He also built a NP231 transfer case with Advance Adapters Extreme Duty SYE and Tom Woods 1310 double cardan driveshafts.

Once we got the Jeep completed we realized we couldn't hit that magic caster number without inducing some front driveshaft vibrations so we had to remove the front axle and clock the knuckles. We were somewhat expecting that when we built the front axle but I thought we could get lucky and be able to keep the pinion angle reasonable enough and still get at least 4 to 5 degrees of caster for handling but during road tests we just couldn't get there so rather than keep messing with it we just removed the front axle and put everything where it needed to be.

All in all for a 3+ month project getting the suspension and drivetrain phase completed I think it turned out pretty good and looks to be a nice clean build and something that should last him a long time. I think his next phase is going to be building bumpers, tire carrier and sliders. But that will have to hold off for another couple of weeks until I get mine done.

Here is what the shell looked like after removing the OEM suspension and axles.

Boxing plates in place and welded after fine tuning for fitment.

Just one of many late nights that we spent on this build over the latter part of summer and into fall.

Once the frame was boxed we focused on the rear axle.

Bare housing ready for welding.

Axle truss welded in place.

Welded upper suspension mounts for the triangulated 4-link.

I machined some 1”-14 tube adapters for my son’s rear suspension.

Calculated and bent the 2"x.250" DOM tubing. Definitely overkill for this build as far as tubing size and wall thickness.

Rear links welded and mocked into position one final time.

 

[zmotorsports]

Moving on to the front now and started on the front suspension mounting points for the frame.

We cut the four side plates then bolted them together for grinding to ensure they are all symmetrical.

Base plates, side plates and bolt hole reinforcement washers cut and ready for welding

Mocked up, bolted together and ready for final welding.

Welded.

Completed and ready to weld onto the frame.

Artec Industries raised track bar mount on the front axle and we moved the JK spring buckets inboard 1.4375" so the coil springs would be perpendicular and mate up to the WJ upper spring perches.

 

[zmotorsports]

Welded the front suspension mounts onto the frame rails that were built previously.

We turned out attention to beefing up the OEM WJ track bar frame mount and prepping the WJ pitman arm to accept the Teraflex HD drag link in which we installed in the flipped position to mate with the Reid knuckles.

Then finished welding the front suspension mounts to the frame rails.

While we had the room we removed the pitman arm to drill it out to accept a slightly larger drag link end. Set it up in the mill and drilled to accept the new tapered sleeve.

Welded and machined the tube adapters in preparation for building the front suspension links.

Positioned the front axle under the Jeep and mocked the tires into place.

Turned out attention to the transfer cases in which we had to swap input gears from the NP247 to the NP231.
The 247 turn apart and input removed.

Inputs torn apart and ready to swap.

 

[zmotorsports]

We then focused on building the lower links and fabricated the plates for the upper part of the Y-links.

All four cut and finished to the same size.

Mocked together with spacers.

Welded up the lower links.

Ready to bolt into position.

Passenger side bolted in and ready to cut the material for the upper part of the Y-link.

Driver’s side.

Next up was fabricating the track bar. Machined the tube adapter and welded it into the 1.5” x .250” wall DOM tubing. Root pass.

Cover (weave) pass.

My son machined an aluminum slug to use for mock-up so we didn’t have to press the bushing in and back out multiple times. Here it is ready to bolt in.

Track bar in position.

 

[zmotorsports]

We had machined the upper tubes for the front suspension to accept the tube adapters.

Mocked into position to tack weld.

Ready for final welding.

Gussets welded on.

Tube adapters second (weave) pass over root weld.

Upper links done.

Test fit.

While I was welding my son knocked out a couple of gussets for the Y-Link brackets.

Gussets welded in place.

Links all removed from the Jeep and ready to go off for powder coating.

I then decided to machine the components for the upper bumpstops.
I machined four 2” diameter tubes/spacers from DOM. I also machined four threaded bungs measuring .5” thick and pressed them in 1/4”. These are threaded to 7/16”-14 to accept a standard TJ bucket.

Threaded bungs welded into the spacers.

Bumpstop standoffs welded in place on the Jeep.

 

[zmotorsports]

Finished up transfer case while waiting for links to be powder coated.

Removed the blind bearing in the back half of the case.

Look at how much beefier the Advance Adapter’s SYE mainshaft is compared to the OEM.

Shaft assembly with mode selector installed and ready to slide into case.

Cases assembled after a small bead of sealant applied and fasteners torqued to specification. Pump on the back half awaiting the tail cone which I just applied a small bead of sealant.

Assembled other than front yolk, rear output flange and input seal.

Transfer case completed and ready to install in the Jeep.

After we bolted the transfer case in we started on the rear axle by getting all of the parts set out, cleaned, inspected and ready for installation. He is installing 4.56:1 gears and I wanted my son to build the axles so I supervised and assisted when needed.

Removed the pinion bearing to see what the factory shim thickness was. After measuring the .050” shim we set it aside for using on the initial setup. At .050” this was the thickest of the past half dozen or so Dana 44’s that I’ve done.

Time to get out the set-up bearings.

We pressed the ring gear onto the Eaton TrueTrac carrier at commenced to torque the ring gear bolts after applying red Loctite.

 

[zmotorsports]

After the ring gear was installed we heated the carrier bearings and installed them so they could cool before needing to handle the carrier. One of the things I was trying to reiterate to my son is thinking through the process to alleviate waiting time and to keep the work flowing. By getting the carrier ready and it cooling we could focus on the pinion.

Case spreader installed, housing cleaned and pinion races removed.

Time to get the assortment of shims standing by.

Ring gear painted with marking compound and ready for initial test.

Pinion way too deep with the pattern too close to the flank. Backlash was also a bit tight at .003”.

He took it all back apart and installed a .041” pinion shim that I had in my assortment.

That turned out to be the ticket. A slight alteration to the carrier side shim packs and it netted us exactly what we were after. Beautiful water pattern on both drive and coast sides with a backlash of .008”.

Engraved all of the specs on the ring gear. Ended up at 22 in/lbs of pinion bearing preload with an addition 8 in/lbs of carrier bearing preload after releasing the case spreader.

 

[zmotorsports]

Kartek limiting straps

My son prepped and painted the front axle so it can now be assembled and ready for installation.

Suspension links back from powder coater.

 

[zmotorsports]

Front axle assembled.

Housing cleaned.

Pressing the seals into the housing.

It took a total of four times together and apart before we got the correct pinion depth and pattern.

Final assembly with new bearings. Ended up @ .044” pinion shim, 25 in/lbs pinion preload, .008” backlash and plus 11 in/lbs of carrier preload.

My son installing the ARB differential cover and buttoning it up.

Axles at the ready for last mock-up.

Ten Factory chromoly axle shafts installed.

We bolted the suspension into the Jeep for the last mock-up before final assembly.

Next up was to weld in the upper mounts for the Kartek limiting straps. They will reside between the shock and the coils spring and allow enough droop yet stop about 1.5” before the shock reaches maximum extension.

Once the front straps were taken care of we moved around to the rear. We didn’t care for the orientation of the rear upper shock mounts nor the thin material they were made of. For a stock WJ with only a few inches of travel I’m sure they are adequate but with the amount of flex this Jeep now has I think it will be too weak.

We cut some upper shock mounts out of 1/4” mild steel after making cardboard templates. I love using my RotoKut cutters for projects like this. Perfectly round holes and clean cut. Just use plenty of cutting fluid and don’t force them, let the cutters eat and they cut through easily.

 

[Greg]

Dang Mike, impressive work and fabrication.... as always! Good to see you posting up on here again.

 

[zmotorsports]

Undercarriage prepped, painted and undercoated prior to final assembly.

Next step was to apply the Duplicolor Bedliner to the area that sparsely had undercoating,mainly the wheelwell areas.

Final assembly and little finishing touches.

We fabricated a small metal bracket that mounted to the passenger motor mount and then used an Adel clamp to hold the trans lines.

Overview of the driver’s side after paint, undercoat, bump-stop, limiting strap and steering gearbox all mounted and ready to accept the axle.

Passenger front.

Driver’s rear assembled. Axle installed, bump-stops, shocks and limiting straps.

Next on to the front axle. Ten Factory chromoly axle shafts at the ready.

 

[zmotorsports]

Reid Racing knuckles installed.

Axle shafts in place along with dust shields prior to the unit bearing.

SKF unit bearing and ABS sensor installed and torqued in place.

Teraflex Big Brake rotors installed.

Tires mocked into place.

Here she is sitting back down on its tires/wheels for the first time in nearly four months. We put a floor jack under the front to see just how much of a spacer we need to get everything where we want it. Looks like a 1” spacer will do the trick.

Next was to come up with some bump stops and rear spring retainers.
I cut the aluminum for the front bump-stops.

One down, one to go. These will require minimal machining.

While I had the bandsaw going I also went ahead and cut two pieces .625” thick from a chunk of 6” diameter 6061 that I had. The rear doesn’t require much of a lower bumpstop so we decided to machine some lower spring retainers and have them serve double duty as lower bumpstops.

These really put my horizontal bandsaw yo the test but it did a nice job. I don’t think it would cut much larger diameter than this.

While the saw was cutting I machined two smaller pieces measuring 2.850” which is the inside diameter of the bottom of the rear coil springs. These will serve as a spacer/spring locator for the rear springs.

Here they are sitting in place. They measure about .125” lower than the spring diameter so I will machine a small step in the top portion of the spring retainer.

Machining the step on the spring retainer. This step will measure the same 2.850” diameter by .125” deep. The outside of the spring retainer was taken down to 5” diameter from the original 6”.

Parts ready for test fitment before cutting the upper retainer. I used a piece of cardboard to test and mark for final trimming.

Parts complete and ready for final assembly. The top part will capture the lower spring coil and sit firmly against the spacer.

 

[zmotorsports]

Moving along to brake lines.

For brake lines we used an extended steel braided single line for an XJ (Cherokee) and ran it from the inside left framerail to the middle left rear axle truss where we drilled and tapped the truss to mount the “T” block. We then used extended rear brake lines for a JK/JKU and mounted the frame tabs on the truss outside corners. This will allow a nice low profile line to each caliper.

Next order of business was to get my 3/16” tubing bender out and my Mastercool flaring tool to form the rigid lines.

Left side rigid line complete.

Right side rigid line bent and forming the flair for the outside connection.

Right rear rigid line complete.

Front bumpstops being machined.

Then while I already had a messy lathe I machined the rear bump stops.

Rear bump stops installed on top of the spring retainers.

We then tackled connecting the emergency brakes and used the OEM brackets to secure them to the rear axle truss.
Next up was to cut the OEM wiring harness to the rear ABS sensors and solder on the new wires and connector. I ran the wires through some abrasive protection sheathing with some heat shrink at each end before plugging in the new JK ABS sensors.

Next ran them alongside the e-brake cables and secured them up and out of the way so they won’t snag on anything when off-road.

Rear end neatly buttoned up.

 

[zmotorsports]

Lastly we turned out attention to the exhaust. I picked up a 10” long piece of 2.5” tubing that was expanded on one end for a slip fit and after mocking up we determined where it needed to be cut and then welded the tube into the Magnaflow muffler. I also picked up a 30-degree bend that we could bologna cut.

While I was at NAPA picking up the exhaust tubing I also scrounged through their exhaust isolators and found one that I thought would work and made a mount for it.

We then mocked it up one last time to determine location of mounting rod for engagement into the isolator. It was then welded in place and time for final assembly.

Final installation. We put just enough preload into the isolator to pull it taught and called it good, then installed a stainless steel band clamp at the front just behind the cats.

Last item before road test was to bleed the brakes. Then we installed tires and wheels and backed it away from the lift under its own power for the first time in four months.

While it was sitting on the shop floor we went through and bounced the suspension a bit listening for any interferences then tightened all of the suspension fasteners.

Prior to backing it out if the shop we set the toe and adjusted the drag link to center the steering wheel.
Pictures outside the shop after returning from the first road test.

That pretty much completes my son's Phase I of his 2004 WJ that took us a little over 3 months to complete.

Sorry for the long posts and all of the pictures, it's been a hell of a past several months. We have a couple months left of projects then I hope we can relax and do some playing this year.

I was going to post pictures up of my project but I think I will post them on my 2011 JKUR build thread instead. Please check the latest upgrade to my 2011 Jeep out.

Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

Dang Mike, impressive work and fabrication.... as always! Good to see you posting up on here again.

Thank you Greg. I appreciate that. Don't know why I've been absent as I don't have a good excuse just haven't been on this forum for a while.

Excellent ! Man, the quality of your work is outstanding.

I need to get my hands on a tubing bender like that Ridgid, how do you like it?

Thank you Brent, I appreciate that. Funny, you've been absent from garagejournal and I've been absent from RME. Who'da thunk it?

As for the tubing benders, I really like them. I have several of the Rigid benders and they work well and seem to be of good quality. I've only had them about 5 or so years but they seem to be holding up well, although there was a year plus in there where I was too busy building new shop and putting yard in that I didn't use any of my tools.

Thanks again for the comments guys. Please check out my 2011 Jeep build thread as I will be posting up some pictures of my new project in there.

Mike