2005 Rubicon LJ

[jscusmcvet]

Got front springs and shocks on this evening. Too darn tired to do any more so tomorrow holds at least the rest of the lift. We'll see about the locker relocation and the belly up.

Install went good. No pics since I left the camera down in the house. Had my big helper (who you see in my avatar) spinning wrenches... getting in his blood early.

Assuming I finish the lift tomorrow, I think we'll work on Ann a bit to head to either Uwharrie or to the Sandhills Game lands for a little exploring.

John

 

[jscusmcvet]

Finished lift this morning. All went well. A few pics:

My new method for installing lift springs when working on my own. Used the stock bottle jack between the axle and frame and forced them apart. Made the install easy.



Finished product.

Test drive went great. Really like the small lift as far as stance and handling. Belly up tomorrow or next weekend.

John

 

[dumprat]

I had the rough country 2.5 in my 05 unlimited. Worked good and the ride was super. Only one problem was the load capacity on the rear was very low. With my small trailer hooked on thee rear would bottom out on the bumpers on the shocks. It looked like the shocks were too long and the springs too soft.

I have since upgraded the front and rear to 4" springs, but still have the rough country shocks. Rides awesome, I will be buying new front shocks and relocating the rear mounts to work with the 2.5" lift shocks.

 

[jscusmcvet]

I will definitely keep an eye on it when I hook up the trailer. Thanks for the heads up.

John

 

[jscusmcvet]

First road trip with the new springs and shocks today. Headed to Boone, NC to pick up my son from App State wrestling camp. Jeep rode great. I was really very happy with ride.

Also got to stop in and ride some of my favorite MTB trails at Kerr Resevoir in North Wilkesboro. Rode all of Overmountain Victory Trail and Shiners Run... What is great about these trails is that they are just plain fun. Honestly, not challenging, just swoopy, flowy fun. Rode my singlespeed On One Summer Season and had the trails to myself. Loved it. Jonah had a great time at wrestling camp also.

John

 

[jscusmcvet]

Reolcated locker pumps and added belly skid this morning. Locker relocation went fine. Took me a while because this kind of thing is not my forte. Thanks for all the suggestions earlier. I located them on the inner fenderwell as you can see in the picture below. This leaves my tray next to it open for future?

Belly skid is a model that I had for my 2003 Rubicon. It was manufactured by Rock Krawler, but they do not make it anymore. Clearance gain is 1" or so (from 12" to 13" in my case). The skid is a hefty 1/4" steel and "hides" the tranny mount bolts providing a smooth underbelly. In it's previous life it spent many hours pounding rocks with the 2003 Rubi scraping along as we crawled all over the east coast. Should be light duty this time around, but gives nice peace of mind.

For those of you doing a similar project when you have to remove the xfer case skid and do it alone, I just rolled down windows and used ratchet straps through the cab and under the transmission. Held the guts in place while I switched out skids.

 

[jscusmcvet]

Had to make a few adjustments to belly up skid. Things I should have done going in, but forgot.

I had a terrible rattle and some drivetrain noise, not vibration but noise that did not sit well with me. Last night put the jeep back in the barn and took a few important steps.

1) I loosened the transmission mounting nuts
2) I loosened the six xfer case skid bolts
3) Started Jeep and drove out of the barn and a few yards, then back in.

This helps, IMO, align everything in it's best situation. I forgot to do this when I put the skid on over the weekend.

I could see where the catalytic converter and the muffler contacted the heat shield in a couple spots. This of course, resonated the sound of the exhaust through the whole tub. so...

4) I used the crowbar to push the heat shield up a bit and the exhaust down a bit. Did not take much.
5) Before tightening down the whole set up, I added a washer in between the skid plate and frame at each location.

Seems to have done the trick. We'll see how it does at hwy speeds this morning.

John

 

[Bigjerm]

I had the same issue along with my exhaust hitting my front upper control arm. To get it all lined up I removed the exhaust hanger that is connected to the transmission mount. Then I cut the hanger in half and put a bolt through existing holes on the bracket. All rattles are gone!

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[jscusmcvet]

Excellent work BigJerm. So far it looks like my crowbar fix worked. I may back up and replicate your fix on a free (!) weekend...

I still had a bit of rivetrain noise but I think I am satisfied with how it sits right now. Meanwhile, the bracket part I needed in order to mount my Skid Row Engine skid.

Ann, little Joe and I are going camping this weekend, so it will have to wait.

 

[Bigjerm]

If you do I will warn it is a tight fit! I ended up having the use a floor jack to jack the transmission way up so I could get the exhaust hanger back on and bolt the trans mount back on the transmission. Then when I lowered it back into place it was good to go. It did drop the muffler down some which for you isn't a big deal. I'll eventually tear it up on a rock and will head to an exhaust shop to weld up a new smaller muffler.


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[jscusmcvet]

I'll eventually tear it up on a rock and will head to an exhaust shop to weld up a new smaller muffler.

Is it wrong to hope for this? I think not... more like a challenge...

John

 

[Bigjerm]

Is it wrong to hope for this? I think not... more like a challenge...

John

If I do it you will stand a good chance as well. You said from your skid to ground is 13", mine is 14". I will be in Harlan, KY next month and it could be a long ride home with a jacked up muffler!

 

[jscusmcvet]

I have not been to Harlan yet and would like to at some point. My longest ride home was from Tellico (RIP) about 6 hours with 2 broken rear shocks. Boing boing boing... By that time, after 4 days of great wheeling on some of the best trails in the east and camping, inlcuding some great trail repairs to mine and others... I was just happy to get home.

John

 

[Bigjerm]

Harlan is about like Tellico, or the only park close to what Tellico was that I have seen. Trails are not so narrow so you can turn around some places unlike Tellico!

 

[jscusmcvet]

Took the family camping this past weekend. It was my first trip pulling the pop up with the LJ. Our Pop up is a small rockwood, with no AC, no built in sotve, etc, so light at about 1100# empty. Thankfully Ann does not overpack, so we are not pulling a bunch of weight.

Jeep pulled the camper amazingly well. Much better than the TJ. We split time on the road between 2 lane and 4 lane (or larger) We stayed at Fort Hamby which is a park operated by the Corps of Engineers.

http://www.reserveamerica.com/campgroundDetails.do?subTabIndex=0&&contractCode=nrso&parkCode=hamb

As campgrounds go it was very nice, quiet and roomy. Met the needs of our trip as this was kind of a shakedown with the LJ. Little Joe loved the swim beach and the playground and slept like a log.

Notes from towing with the LJ:
Very comfortable at 60 - 65mph in 5th gear. That speed and gear combo had me spinning just under 3000 rpm. Jeep seemed to like that spot and trailer was very compliant at that speed. I drive a bit like a granny anyway, so I do not mind the people passing me... even with the every now and then - bird flip in my direction. It might bother me if I had feelings, but no worries there

We averaged 12mpg both going up and coming back. I was happy with that. Our summer is quickly drawing to a close, with Jonah's (older son) high school football season right around the corner. We'll be looking at overnights and day trips until Novemeber. Go Patriots!

John