My Mini Jeep Build

[JeepGeneral]

Mainly due to boredom at work, I figured why not start a thread detailing the changes to my Jeep in the next few weeks. It by all means is nothing hardcore, but something to make my long days go a little faster. Feel free to post any comments, suggestions, criticism, etc...

This is how it sits now, in the garage awaiting parts:



Out came the old bent HP30 housing. The Powertrax No-Slip and 4.88s are getting stuffed into a new housing trussed by Ralph (check out his new website www.rocreations.com) He also reinforced the control arm brackets with some skid plates, and I added some Superior alloy shafts. Pictures will follow as soon as the gears are set up.



Along with the new housing, I am replacing all the old RK control arms with RE arms. I was blowing out joints and breaking spacers each time I went out, hopefully I'll have better luck with the REs. The stock trackbar is getting replaced with an RE adjustable trackbar. I also swapped out the old Rusty's shocks for some Skyjacker Nitros I had laying around from a previous project.



I also upgraded to the Currie HD Steering setup, and let me tell you these rods are beefy. I couldn't believe how heavy they were when the brown Santa dropped them off. Now all I need to do is get the new parts out of the truck and onto the Jeep. My brother recently bought a TJ and will be buying my old rubber, so new tires are in order. I really want a set of 36" Iroks, but after seeing them on jdetar's sami they are a little too tall for me. I'll probably end up with some 35" TRXus wrapped around Pro Comp wheels. Hopefully I'll have more details and pics of the axle by Thursday this week.

Tom

[MF Steve!]

Make sure you get a good writeup...Danielle (Alley) (the rubicon destroyer) needs this steering!

[jeepxj3]

Currie's Steering setup is pretty sweet, I have seen it first hand.

I would invest a bit of money in some bumpper / steering box protection however...

[JeepGeneral]

I've never seen the RK steering that Danielle destroyed on the Rubi, but I can't imagine it is tougher than the Currie stuff (especially if she breaks it while mallcrawlin)

As far as I'm aware, none of the aftermarket steering box skids fit over the Durango box I swapped in a few months ago, and over the past 6 years I have never had a problem with the box contacting any rocks. That will probably wait until the next round of mods, or until I can talk Ralph into doing some tube work around the whole front clip.

I'm hoping to be done by the October camping run, I have a month so I should be fine.

[ArtCloud]

I saw you on the parkway this morning.

[JeepGeneral]

Haha, not unless the parkway runs through my garage! It hasn't moved in 2 weeks.

[ArtCloud]

Haha, not unless the parkway runs through my garage! It hasn't moved in 2 weeks.

Hah, I think your jeep has got a doppleganger. Saw the same color jeep this morning on the parkway west inbound with the same brushgaurd / light setup. I could have been seeing things though, I'm ussually not 100% awake until 20 minutes after I get to work in the morning! It looked like it had about an inch or so lift and 32 inchers give or take an inch on black steelies.

[gonecheenin]

"Drooool"



"Must call Currie Imediately!"

[OverkillZJ]

The Currie steering system is as beef as it gets while retaining stock handling (no dead spot like crossover). I ran it for 2 years and managed to bend it a little, but that was by using it as a skid plate

[RalphDogg]

please don't forget to add a new air cleaner to your list. i remember how muddy it looked at the badlands. your engine breathing

[JeepGeneral]

please don't forget to add a new air cleaner to your list. i remember how muddy it looked at the badlands. your engine breathing

Haha I had to take the airbox off to switch out the shocks. Good thing or I would have completely forgot to get a new one.

[muddeprived]

ohhh...those nitro shocks are gonna rattle your spine. Nitros aren't valved well for our light tj's.

[JeepGeneral]

Well I finally got my front axle back from the shop yesterday and was able to get some wrenching done after work last night.



Installing the Currie steering was real simple. It is easiest to bolt the tie rod and drag link together first. The hole in the TRE on the drag link for the cotter pin must line up with the slot in the recessed mount on the tie rod, or else you'll have to loosen the nut and line everything up again. Bending the cotter pin made it easy to get it though the slot. Everything else is simply bolt on. I bolted up the control arms and trackbar too while the axle is out of the vehicle.



I was able to snap some detailed shots of the truss Ralph built on the axle. It is solid steel mounted through the UCA mount, and is pretty heavy. He also welded some metal to the LCA skids to strengthen the mount and act as a skid plate. He trimmed them to allow the control arms to move freely.





The only problem I am seeing so far is a major one. The gears seem pretty tight to spin by hand, and when I put the shafts in they got even tighter to turn. I pulled the shafts this morning and checked the total rotating torque. It was right around 50 in/lb. The factory spec for the pinion bearing rotating torque is 15-35 in/lb, but I couldn't find specs for the total rotating torque after the ring gear is intalled. I assume it would be higher, but 50 in/lb seems high to me. I want to finish everything up tomorrow afternoon and need to be finished by Saturday, so hopefully I can find the specs or get the shop who set up the gears to loosen them up some for me.



Hopefully I will have more updates quickly!

Tom

[RalphDogg]

always keep in mind....send it to ralph while it's apart. you don't want to do it again.

[jeepxj3]

You get that sucker on the road yet? I wanna know how you like the Aussie on the road.

[JeepGeneral]

Yea, I got it back together in time for the camping run this past weekend. I've had the Powertrax No Slip for 2 or 3 years now with zero problems. It isn't too great in the snow in 4wd, but in 2wd you can't tell its there. It doesn't even click in 2wd anymore, but it's pretty well worn in.

A friend of mine has Aussies front and rear, and the quality isn't as high as the No Slip. He had to grind the front down to fit in the carrier without rubbing, and they are really loud and click all the time.

Offroad they kick ass.

[andrew2516]

Looks good...what size tires are those?

[JeepGeneral]

33" TSLs right now, soon to be 35" TRXus or 36" Iroks