ZMotorSports 2011 JKUR Build Thread

I am new here but thought I would throw up some pictures of my latest Jeep build. It is not real time as I have owned it now for almost two years.

I bought the Jeep with only 3208 miles on the odometer and commenced building my "Dream Jeep". This is my daily driver and weekend wheeler.

On lift just before sitting it down with the 4" BDS Suspension Lift and 35" KM2 tires/ATX Crawl wheels.

Backed outside the shop after just barely sitting her on the ground with new lift and tires/wheels.

More to come as I dig through the pictures. Also pictured here is the Warn Rockcrawler bumper/Powerplant combination that I purchased used just to get me by until I could fabricated my own bumpers.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

The wife and I just returned from a Jeep/RV rally in Ouray CO so here are a few pictures from our trip.

Airing down at the beginning of Black Bear Pass on the first day.

Flexin' out on an extra credit near the top of Black Bear Pass.

Day two was Poughkeepsie Gulch and here we are stopped at Lake Como for lunch. What a beautiful little lake.

Here I am climbing the wall on the Poughkeepsie Gulch trail. Ole' girl walked right up it.

On another day we drove up to the Alta Lakes and sat on the shoreline for lunch. Here is our Jeep and some friends of our's Jeep parked at our lunch stop. It was a bit chilly that day but there were fish jumping about ten feet from shore while we sat and ate our lunch.

Overall a great week in Ouray with great friends.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

Lastly it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns. On the last day of the trip on Governor's Basin trail I developed a noise that sounded like a dust shield coming in contact with a rotor. That kind of scraping/grinding noise. For a moment I thought I merely had a rock in between the rotor and the shield because it went away. Then around another turn it came back so I knew it was not just a small rock.

I stopped and looked around and found that the OEM left upper control arm bracket had been torn free from the axle housing. The noise was indeed the dust shield contacting the brake rotor as the Jeep flexed some, the bolt from the bushing was bushing on the shield thus pushing it into the brake rotor.

We nursed it back to camp where I could more closely examine the carnage after first stopping by the car wash and cleaning as much of the undercarriage off as possible. When I arrived at camp I determined that as long as I was just flat-towing the Jeep home behind our coach and not putting power to the rear axle (you know ALL that Jeep power) that the right side should be adequate to hold the pinion angle properly. Basically my rear axle was three-linked on the tow home.

I removed the left rear upper control arm completely so it wouldn't interfere with anything for the 400 mile tow home. It appeared by the looks of it that I bet the one half of the mount (outside) broke off earlier in the week because there was a slight amount of rust starting to form on the break with the exception of the last 3/8" that was cleanly broken. The break seemed to be right on the factory weld and then it tore until it tore the remaining bolt hole in half which was the latest damage and also resulted in things shifting and allowing me to hear the noise.

At first I was bummed because it was in between two trails we had planned on running that day, so I headed back to camp while the remaining Jeeps ran the second trail. My wife and I talked about it on the way back to camp via the car wash and I told her it could have been much, much worse. It could have been on the first day rather than the last day of our trip. It also could have been a lower control arm mount which would have been much more troublesome than the upper mount. And lastly we were able to drive it off the trail and back to camp. Win, win, win as far as I was concerned.

We arrived home Saturday evening and without incident. The Jeep towed home just fine and yesterday I was able to really give her a good bath both topside and underside as well as got it on the lift in the shop so I can hopefully commence the work tomorrow night after work.

I will simply fabricate some better mounting brackets and weld them on in place of the weaker OEM brackets. That should solve that problem once and for all.
Looking up at the control arm mount prior to heading back to camp.

Left rear upper control arm removed so I could tow the Jeep home.

I will post up some progress pictures as I move forward with the repair.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

WOW! I didn't realize I have been away from this thread for a full year now.

This whole selling a house and shop, buying a new house and building a new shop really took its toll on me. Being without a shop for nine months now has flat SUCKED!!!

That is thankfully changing as I am getting my new shop arranged with my tools and equipment in it.

As far as Jeep activity, I am embarrassed to say that my Jeep hadn't been off the pavement for a full year. 2016's trip to Ouray in August was the last time it saw dirt or rocks until last week when we again went to Ouray. Felt good to get her off-road again.

A couple of minor things that I did in preparation for the trip after finally getting my final inspection on the shop done around the first of July.

A friend of ours gave us a grab handle for the wife's side of the Jeep. He didn't have the fasteners nor the required spacers but I told him not to worry, I know someone with a lathe.
Feels good to be making chips again with my machines, really good.

After turning to length and drilling the through hole I put them in the mill vise and used a 3/4" end mill to put a radius in the spacers.

Next up was a new component that seems to keep failing in the latch mechanism of my Mac's Tie Downs Black Box in the back of my Jeep Wrangler. I have gone through three of the OEM latches and Mac's has been good to warranty them but I would rather have parts that don't fail vs. a warranty.

I disassembled the latches and found the same part failed in each so I opted to machine a steel one rather than the cast aluminum component.
I grabbed some 1045 bar stock and went to town making chips.

Once I got the three diameters turned I put the part in a collet block and drilled the hole for the pin as well as machined the void for the handle relief.

Part out of the collet block to be turned around and machine the four flats on the minor diameter.

Completed.

Test fit in the pivot and ready for installation.

Now that the prototype is complete and I have all of the measurements down, I am going to machine another as I have a good friend who is experiencing the same issue.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Finished up the grab handle for the wife's side of the Jeep. After a quick test fit I realized I had to take .100" off the lengths of the longer of the two spacers as it was putting an odd angle on one of the fasteners.

After shortening the spacer it fell right into place.

Next I knocked out another of the latch parts for a friend's Black Box as he is experiencing the same thing. These two will be our test pieces.
Clamped in the collet block and ready to machine the flats.

Last flat being machined.

Two test pieces down and ready for some off-road testing.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

I never thought I would be able to have a shop where I could have two full-size vehicles end to end let alone two vehicles end to end another full-size vehicle in the next bay AND a fully implemented machine and fabrication section all in the same shop.

And my new ProRock 44 housing awaiting assembly.

Lots to do this weekend.

My son already has dibs on my OEM Dana 44 that has been sleeved and gusseted for his new project, a 2004 WJ.

Mike

 

[dutchman]

Yeah... that's basically my dream garage.

 

[zmotorsports]

Yeah... that's basically my dream garage.

Thanks.

Mine too.

Mike

 

[rholbrook]

Sure Mike, rub it in. I would call you an ass but know you are not.

 

[Herzog]

What a terrible shop.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the comments.

I liked my last shop but this one is one an entirely different scale.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

A little progress from Saturday.

I started building my ProRock 44. Great way to spend a Saturday, in the shop wrenching on Jeeps.
Steering, axle shafts, unit bearings and knuckles removed and ready to drop the axle.

My 5.38:1 gears look great after about 73k driven miles and another 22k~ish towed miles over the past six years.

OEM axle housing out from under the Jeep after dissembling it.

Test fitting the carrier in the new ProRock housing. These ProRock housing are the bomb but every one I have built seems to need the caps clearanced a bit to clear the carrier and/or the coil for the locker.

Pressing the bearings off of the pinion.

Pulling the carrier bearings.

Carrier bearings off and preparing to install the new bearings.

Bearing heater at the ready and my "set-up" bearings ready for use. I had to dig through some boxes in my basement to find my box of setup bearings. Boy will I be glad to have everything organized in the shop where I don't have to hunt for everything.

Case spreader installed and ready to start assembly.

Pinion cleaned and ready for mock-up. I am going to start with the same .041" pinion shim that I removed from my previous setup and see where it lands after painting up the gears.

More to come. Thanks for looking.

Mike

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[zmotorsports]

Few pictures from tonight's work. I was able to get the gears setup and ready for final assembly tomorrow night.

First attempt with same shims as my old housing. Pinion was a bit shallow.

Fifth time with drive and coast sides looking good. Ended up having to run about .005" more shims on pinion then carrier shims to get my backlash to .007".

My notes.

Only took me five times together and apart adjusting shim thicknesses until I landed on the correct combination.

Mike

 

[Bart]

Nice work and amazing shop.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice work and amazing shop.

Thanks Bart, I appreciate that.

Mike

 

[jeeper]

I wish someday to have the attention to detail and precision that you do. It's obvious that every thing you do and own is meticulously maintained.

 

[zmotorsports]

I wish someday to have the attention to detail and precision that you do. It's obvious that every thing you do and own is meticulously maintained.

Thank you, I am flattered by your comment.

It isn't easy but comes with time and patience. Sometimes my OCD is a bit more obvious than others and sometimes the OCD thing is more of a curse than a blessing.

Mike

 

[anderson750]

I love that you use a book to document the work you have done. I use a notebook to document everything I do on our race bikes. You can go back on any bike I have sold and see what the ring gap and crank clearances have been every time I have put a new top end in the bikes, plus when the oil was changed. I also document when I replace parts so that I can see how many hours things are lasting. Other things I document include the causes for engine failures or times I just plain screw something up. People have been shocked every time I sell one of our race bikes and it helps me get my asking price since they can see the bike has been well maintained.

 

[zmotorsports]

I love that you use a book to document the work you have done. I use a notebook to document everything I do on our race bikes. You can go back on any bike I have sold and see what the ring gap and crank clearances have been every time I have put a new top end in the bikes, plus when the oil was changed. I also document when I replace parts so that I can see how many hours things are lasting. Other things I document include the causes for engine failures or times I just plain screw something up. People have been shocked every time I sell one of our race bikes and it helps me get my asking price since they can see the bike has been well maintained.

Thank you. I keep copious notes on all my vehicles. I even went back to October 2011 when I built my Jeep axle last time and installed the 5.38:1 gears to compare shims and rotating torque prior to disassembly.

Like you I started many, many years ago with my race stuff. Mainly because I was also working on friends (and co-competitors) stuff in addition to my own and I had to write things down to keep track of everything, especially the differences one from another. I have books and books of detailed notes going back the past 20+ years I ran my performance business and will continue to do it even now that I closed my business down.

I also keep notes on all of our daily drivers, Harley's and motorcoach by mileage and date. I do this for similar reasons that you do, to watch for idiosyncrasies in parts for either failures or better, planned replacement. This way I can replace (or rebuild) components prior to them failing on the road if I have a history and/or pattern to follow.

One thing I miss from my old shop that I need to get installed in my new shop is my white board. I had a white board that I kept track of items that needed to be addressed on each vehicle as I became aware of them. From stupid little things like polishing the headlights on my truck to a major service on the wife's car that I know is coming up. I also find it helpful to budget accordingly when I know I have planned repairs coming up.

Funny thing is that when I sell a vehicle I hand over these notes to the new buyer and I have been surprised at how few people even give them a second glance, some even look at me like I'm crazy. I sold my wife's 2004 Altima that had just turned over 200k miles and looked like it drove off the assembly line. I had installed the OEM floor mats and everything just before selling it and I gave the notebook to the new buyer and breezed through it with him and he just tossed it on the floor of the truck like it was no big deal. I had every tire rotation, including recorded tread depths, if I turned brake rotors, every oil change, battery test or component replacement. I would find that information invaluable but most do not.

Glad to see I am not alone in my record keeping though.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Things haven't been progressing as quickly as I would have liked on this axle build and swap. I have had the gears done and the axle ready for installation since Tuesday but haven't been able to find the time to get much time in the shop this week.

All I was able to get done last night was to get the axle under the Jeep and installed ball joints, knuckles, swaybar links, driveshaft and electrical connections. Between tonight and tomorrow morning I plan on getting my RCV shafts rebuilt, install new unit bearings, install trac bar, steering components and finish everything up.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Greg]

Good call on the axle housing upgrade, Mike!

The new shop looks amazing... I'm impressed with all the room and the lift!