My "new" dream Scrambler

[MrBeep]

Thats good news anyhow.

If I put any hood down, HARD RULE is I either put the hood propin place or close it and don't take my hand off it unless it is latched down. I know me and that would be my results. Happy everything else is still in one piece.

 

[AK-RWC]

Thats good news anyhow.

If I put any hood down, HARD RULE is I either put the hood propin place or close it and don't take my hand off it unless it is latched down. I know me and that would be my results. Happy everything else is still in one piece.

My buddy (who had a CJ-7 for many years) both opened and closed it. He still feels incredibly bad. I also need to re-epoxy the rear view mirror back to the glass since it got knocked loose.

 

[AK-RWC]

Replacement hood acquired:

My buddy (who forgot the catches) has access to a sandblaster, so he's going to prep it and hit it with primer. I still need to come up with the cash to get it painted, and find a shop to do it. The place where I had all the other parts done is gone now.

 

[bigwalton]

I cringed when you said it was someone else's fault, that just sucks. I was at a photoshoot for work last week and a guy kicked over a $43k camera that smashed. All I could think was how bad he must have felt.

 

[AK-RWC]

I swapped the bent/sagged Old Man Emu springs in the front with some RE 1430s last year since the 90-mile inverted-shackle incident bent the left side, combined with the general sagging made it so driving over speed-bumps would make the spring contact my tie-rod. (Yeah, I know I need high-steer, but that's another $1000 I don't have at the moment.)

The rear springs were similarly in sad shape. The add-a-leaf and anti-wrap pads weren't enough to save them from axle-wrap. The run I went on in May (where I opened up the engine a little bit on some glacial flats) really illustrated to me how bad my wrap was; I'm lucky I didn't break a u-joint.

So Amazon to the rescue with another set of RE 1430s for the rear. I pulled the tired OME rear springs (their "heavy duty" springs, with their AAL) yesterday, but then 5.9L ZJ projects kept me from finishing. It's obvious how much they've sagged when next to the RE packs:

I'm going to pull two leaves from each of these to bolster the RE springs. And then build an anti-wrap device before it goes back on the street.

 

[Bad Karma]

nevermind u-joints, you are lucky you didnt break the output shaft on the Dana 300!! That's what happened to me when I didnt finish the torque arm and went wheeling. (stock 4.2L)

 

[AK-RWC]

Finally got a garage day. Pounded the hood straight, and assembled the custom rear leaf packs.

 

[AK-RWC]

Since putting in the new rear springs, I haven't wanted to drive it since I'm still trying to find the time to build a traction bar. It's biggest trips have been in and out of the garage to make room to work on my wife's 5.9L ZJ, and to help another new friend with a CJ-7.

Two weekends ago, a group fell through the ice at the Knik River Public Use Area. There were a couple ice shelves, and the group had been running on an intermediate shelf, in water only hub-deep or so. They came up to an "open" area that was right next to dry trail. The lead XJ on 33"s stopped to allow a bigger XJ on 38"s come around and take the first "dip" into the open water to see how bad it was for the "small" XJ and a new JK Unlimited on 35"s. As the bigger XJ came by the smaller XJ, there was too much weight for the shelf to support the smaller XJ, and it broke through at all four corners to a lower shelf, with water hydro-locking the engine (despite the snorkel) and coming up to the level of the windows. The bigger XJ was able to get in front to attempt a rescue, but then it's rear end broke through. In the struggle, it ultimately ended up all the way on the very bottom, with water coming halfway up its windshield. The JK positioned to try to extract the smaller XJ, and broke through its right front tire, sucking water into the engine. A stock TJ and a stock ZJ (both owners with no wheeling experience and who didn't know the area) skirted the long way around and were able to get to dry land. They got a fire going, got everyone safely to land (they all sank within 5' of a cut-bank), and with a weak cell phone signal got a crew stirred for a rescue.

I was planning on taking the Scrambler because of the emergency situation and because it sits so much higher than my wife's 5.9L, which was a factor considering the water issues. As I was doing my pre-flight inspection, checking fluid levels, airing the tires, and getting gear, I noticed that my left front shackle was inverted. "Odd." I looked at the spring and it wasn't bent. "WTF?" And then I realized that my shackle hanger was no longer attached to the frame. "Seriously, WTF is going on?" The spring was resting directly on the frame, and had rubbed away all of the POR-15 coating in that area. I jacked up the bumper to see what happened, and could clearly tell that one bolt had sheared from the shackle hanger, and the other had backed out.

In looking back through my photos, it's evident that at least in August, all was well, and I've only driven it maybe 5 miles since then, back an forth to grab parts a couple times when working on the ZJ and my friend's CJ-7. I used Grade 8 bolts and lock-washers.

Ultimately we took the ZJ out for the rescue, and made sure everyone was warm and safe; we just picked very careful lines going out and coming back.

So on Sunday I started working on the Scrambler. Also, my wife is gone for 10 days of field work, so I FINALLY get some garage time that doesn't involve her daily driver! (But something in the t-case is making noise in 4-high, so I may be rebuilding an NP231 soon.) I extracted the sheared bold with an easy-out and found perfect threads inside the frame, so I cleaned everything up, did my POR Marine-Clean and Metal-Ready, and have put down two coats of POR-15 in the damaged area. I also inspected the right-side shackle hanger and discovered that it was also loose! Both bolts have backed out a couple turns. My plan is to reinstall them with blue Lock-Tite, and torque them to spec rather than "just get 'em tight." Since it's been . . . almost 7 years!!! since I installed those hangers, I'm honestly not even sure if I torqued them down to begin with.

With any luck, I might even start working on my traction bar this Saturday!

I still have no idea exactly what caused them to back out though.

 

[AK-RWC]

Shackle hangers re-attached with blue Lock-Tite, and torqued to 75 ft-lbs. I'll keep a better eye on them from here on out.

On another note, while working on the shackles, I got a brilliant idea for mounting my bump-stops. I couldn't find any clean-looking extended CJ bump stops in the aftermarket. I liked the old Rancho ones, but they aren't in production anymore. What's worse is that at least for the front stops, the TDK frame has a bend RIGHT AT THE STOP that you have to deal with.

Circa 2011, I'd ordered some DayStar bump stops. I don't recall if they were generic or fit a particular full-size application, but I liked them because they were longer. They arrived and I figured I'd fab up some kind of adapter...eventually. They don't bolt up to the CJ frame at all because the spacing for the bolt holes is over an inch off.

Then it hit me: there is more steel embedded in the center of the stop. By drilling through it, and using a stud, I could bolt them directly to the frame! Eureka!

As you can see, I did have to bend the plate at the back edge to get it to match the frame contour. Clamping it in the vice and smacking it with the hammer worked surprisingly well.

Same technique for the rears. Since I re-used my SUA skid-plate-style spring plates, it gave me a nice flat spot for the stops to contact after I trimmed the u-bolts. I didn't bother with the fronts because I don't thing it'll hit them due to the rear offset of the stop. I'll trim later if it's an issue.

Now, what to do with the pesky fronts? No simple solution. Welding was in order.

I'll get them installed tomorrow after the final coats are dry. And hopefully get some time on the traction bar before the game.

 

[Bad Karma]

I LIKE IT!!! I havent run bump stops on my TDK frame because of this.

 

[AK-RWC]

I LIKE IT!!! I havent run bump stops on my TDK frame because of this.

I'm glad I'm not the only one in that boat! I saw someone who took the baby stock snubbers and bent the tab to bolt them on, but it's just not that easy when dealing with extended stops.

 

[AK-RWC]

I finished the paint, bolted the plates back on, and trimmed the u-bolt ends. Then I took it to grab a coffee and flexed on a snowbank to see if I got the contact pad spaced correctly:

I felt a tire lift and didn't want to go any further than this. None of the stops touched, but they're at least in the correct spots:

 

[AK-RWC]

I'm so excited! Kane just hooked me up with RuffStuff linkage (pic from the RuffStuff website):

He cut it for his Scout axle, but since he's still using CJ Dana 30 knuckles, the kit didn't work for him:
https://www.cj-8.com/forum/showthread.php?42050-Man-i-opened-up-another-can-of-worms&highlight=
https://www.cj-8.com/forum/showthread.php?30069-Kane-s-Project-CJ8-SS&highlight=
Many thanks to Kane for the second major component of my steering! This means I actually might be able to have the high-steer finished this summer since the only components left are to have the Chevy knuckles machined, and buy the arms. Woot!!! I'm thinking that it might be cost effective to just send the knuckles down to PartsMike (even though Mike sold the business) for machining, arm installation, and Spicer ball-joint installation.

Also, I finished the rough draft of my traction bar, and completely bolted it on. Everything fit, and I'm reasonably confident it will work. I need to grind some of my uglier welds and generally clean it up for paint, and then paint it. No pics because I'm actually thinking about patenting the design.

 

[AK-RWC]

1. Final coat of paint is curing on my traction bar components. Final tally: I created 8 separate components that bolt together. Wheeling trip is scheduled for 4/26 to test the system.

2. The RuffStuff steering kit arrived safely, well packed. Many thanks to Kane! This thing is pure beef!

3. I still haven't built the rear bumper, so to at least strengthen my OEM CJ tow hitch, I ordered the inner/outer frame tie-in brackets for $50 from Ground Pounder Fab's eBay store:

Obviously I'll still be able to use these when I finally build my rear bumper/carrier. But that won't happen until the following are done: NP231 is rebuilt with SYE and driveshaft for my wife's 5.9L ZJ (I have a couple maintenance items on it to address too), I build some kind of a storage/speaker box for the rear of the ZJ, I finish the high-steer for the Scrambler. One of these days I need to build storage/speaker boxes for the Scrambler too.

4. I have a lead on a used TrailGear hydro-assist ram and lines!

5. I still haven't heard back from PartsMike. I sent them an email requesting a quote on machining my knuckles, installing Spicer ball-joints, drilling holes for the Scout spindles, and installing high-steer arms. Anybody who's reading this dealt with the new owners lately?

 

[jims chop shop]

Congrats AK ,awesome jeep
Hope my commando turns out that capable

 

[AK-RWC]

Went wheeling on Sunday to test out the traction bar. It worked flawlessly! Not sure how/if it impacted articulation, but the Jeep definitely "feels" tighter in the rear end, and it launches absolutely straight:

I still need to get it in a more controlled situation to test flex, but so far I'm happy; it didn't seem to handle any differently on the trail, except that the rear-end absolutely hooked-up when I stood on the gas. I'd dumped it in a mud hole once before with the old springs, and we could hear the u-joint binding up from the axle-wrap. No more funny noises! And the traction-bar didn't seem to hit anything either. I think this is a mission-accomplished. Watch for the patent after a little more testing.



And then further down the trail, this happened:

That tire had a slow leak from the bead to begin with, and I think I must have just hit something right and caused it to burp a little more air, and then it lost the bead. I was trying to get it a little more out of the muck, but was at least happy to get that rim up and out onto the grass to change the tire. Speaking of which, I'd just picked my spare back up from my buddy the night before this trip! Thank God I had it with me!

When I was changing the tire I noticed this. After I got the tire sorted, I wanted to reposition to a better spot to try to straighten it, but that was a miserable failure and just bent the draglink worse. Best part: I didn't have my Hi-Lift with me since I'd rebuilt it and painted it to match my wife's 5.9L ZJ, so it was on her roof-rack. (Plus I wanted to buy myself a taller Hi-Lift for the Scrambler anyway.)

Thankfully one of my friend's offered to sacrifice his jack handle. We had to drill a series of holes to shorten it since nobody had a saw, but we made it work, and I drove all the way home like this, including on the highway at 85 mph. Straight as an arrow on the road!

What's better is that I have the RuffStuff 1.5" DOM sitting in the garage, so I'm not even the least bit upset about the steering! But I do owe somebody a new handle.

Safely back home.

 

[AK-RWC]

3. I still haven't built the rear bumper, so to at least strengthen my OEM CJ tow hitch, I ordered the inner/outer frame tie-in brackets for $50 from Ground Pounder Fab's eBay store:

Obviously I'll still be able to use these when I finally build my rear bumper/carrier.

ALSO: Major shout-out to Ground Pounder Fab. The brackets arrived and are pure beef! There was a bit of a mix-up, but GPF's customer service was OUSTANDING! Above and beyond the call of duty!

 

[Polarfire]

Nice trail fix! Rarely is fix good enough to handle highway driving!

 

[AK-RWC]

Wait; what's happening???

 

[AK-RWC]

I still don't have rims, but while cleaning the garage after rebuilding my wife's NP231, I rolled these out and decided it was a good photo-op: