Triple-purpose JK Build

[hikingff77]

Power Windows in a Jeep????

Oh the humanity!!!

Nice jeep though. I think that if I can get away with having one again someday, that might just be my next toy.

 

[Zeero]

Yeah power windows....its great especially in the 4 door JK's.

I'm surprised that power windows surprise you.....they've been in the new JK Wranglers since 2006.

 

[jasonL_031]

damn thats a nice jk makes me think how long am i going to keep my 09 stock lol. giving me some bad bad ideas lol snorkle, ome lift, arb bumpers etc etc mmmmm i wonder how much of my tax rebate i could put on my jk lol.

what size tires are you running? 33s for the summer or 35s

again nice jeep

 

[Don-Key]

WOW! Awesome build.

The money spent could have bought a house with a garage, but what would be the fun in that? :sombrero:

 

[Outdoorsben]

Yeah power windows....its great especially in the 4 door JK's.

I'm surprised that power windows surprise you.....they've been in the new JK Wranglers since 2006.

2007 you mean. PW's were only on JK's. Personally I'm not fan of the PW at all but that's just my .02

Nice build I've followed it on the jk-forum.

 

[jsmoriss]

Thanks for the compliments guys!

The backup battery and control panel are in the Jeep. All that's left is to punch a few holes in the firewall for some battery bulkheads. I also have to take a few shots next time I remove the rear platform. It's a pretty nice install.

I also have a bunch of stuff that'll be installed in the next week or two...

Fox shocks (adjustable with reservoir), AEV rear diff skid, C2 gussets, new front & rear trackbar brackets, rear control arm skids, and rear axle shafts.

js.

 

[jsmoriss]

Monday and Tuesday were big days -- fixed a leaking seal on the front axle, welded a bunch of brackets, gussets, etc. Installed new shocks, stabilizer, and adjusted all related components like the trackbar and drag-link...

Gussets on the inner Cs and trackbar brace:

My bumpstops in the front are only 2", so I had to trim the trackbar brace a bit:

I can also bottom-out the shock, so I'll probably have to add a 3/8" spacer to those bumpstop extensions... My total articulation in the front is about 11". :victory:

Another shot of the front axle:

With the trackbar and drag-links mounted a little higher on the axle, I had to remove the sector shaft brace:

If I could trim that nut & bolt head by 1/4" or so, I think it would fit. I'll leave that for later though...

The rear shock mounts also got some skids and the rear trackbar mount was re-inforced as well:

Next is the rear axle -- new shafts and shocks.

js.

 

[dsy]

Looks awesome :Wow1: Have you had the jeep on a scale since all the mods? You have to be nearing 6500 - 7000 lbs when packed for a trip.

 

[jsmoriss]

Back to the garage for a complete oil change (engine, t-case, trans, diffs), so we removed the skids, and un-bolted the drive-shafts to grease them as well. We noticed the exhaust was running on the skid plate, so using a crowbar, we tweeked the hanger a bit to raise the exhaust. Here are some shots of the contact patch:

I also installed the AEV diff skid plate, and did some trimming to the Rock Hard gas tank skid. I already knew there was a clearance issue with Tom Wood's 1350 flange, so the trimming addressed both issues at the same time.

I also installed some Fox Shocks all around. I love 'em, but their compressed length is a little long. I'll have to increase my front bumpstop extensions from 2" to 2.5" and the rear ones from 2" to 2.75". I'm not too happy about this since I'm only running 33" tires...

Here are a few pictures of the shocks...

For the rear shocks, I'm thinking of bolting them on top of the mount instead of underneath, but I'm still working on how best to do that... Here's a picture of the mount:

js.

 

[jsmoriss]

Firewall Battery Bulkheads

I'm getting close (finally) to finishing the backup / trailer battery system. I'll get some shots of the panel etc. next time we take off the rear platform. Today I removed the inner passenger fender flare and drilled some holes for battery bulkheads. All that's left is to run the #2 cable inside and connect it. We'll probably do that next week-end. Here are some pics from under the fender flare (before re-installing the inner plastic mud guard)...

js.

 

[jsmoriss]

Remaining issues...

I often forget to mention some of the problems I face when doing all these upgrades. Some friends are running the first trail of the season this coming Saturday, and I have to miss out because of a few issues...

- I went and torqued the front upper control arm joint to 125 lbs instead of 75 lbs, and crushed the joint. The other side also has some play in the joint, so I'm changing both front upper control arms.

- I changed my shocks and now the front bumpstops are 1/2" too short, and the rear bumpstops are 3/4" too short. I have some JKS bumpstops on the way to fix this.

- My front swaybar links are also a tad short. I can make them longer, but instead will use some new tabs on the axle end. This'll change the angle of the swaybar links so the drag-link doesn't catch them when fully drooped.

- My rear end is looking a little low, so I ordered some new OME X-HD coils for the rear.

- My front passenger-side axle had a leak. This is a well known problem with the Superior axle shafts for the JK. The passenger side is a little narrower and uses an older TJ (Dana 30) seal. I changed the seal, buffed the axle shaft, added some grease, and an outer seal. The outer seal will prevent major failures, but will also hide any leak, so I'll have to check my diff fluid level more often. If the seal doesn't hold, I may have to buy some Alloy shafts instead.

- My 3rd brake light on the roof rack wasn't sealed well enough and now some LEDs are a little flaky. I bought a new one, sealed it up tight, and will install it shortly.

- I had a clearance issue with the Tom Woods flange on the rear diff and the Rock Hard gas tank skid. Some trimming of the skid plate took care of that.

Off the top of my head, that's about it...

js.

 

[jsmoriss]

I ran the #2 battery cable into the passenger side footwell. I still have to solder some terminals on the cables later this week, and connect them to the firewall bulkheads. I also ran the subwoofer wiring under the platform to relocate the subwoofer. While I had the platform up, I snapped a few shots...

js.

 

[jsmoriss]

I may have described the wiring of this panel a few posts back, but figured it was worth a recap...

There are two BICs (Battery Isolator/Combiner) from Hellroaring on this panel: A BIC-95300B for the backup battery, and a BIC-95150B for the 7-pin trailer plug power/battery wire. There's a switch on the center console that controls the 95300B, and there's another wire coming from the winch relay (switches a 220A solenoid for the winch) that grounds the 95150B when I turn on the winch. That way the winch can pull power from the starter and backup batteries (selectable), but not the trailer. There's also a relay on the panel that's triggered by the ignition, and provides power to a volt meter. The starter battery and 95300B/backup battery are fused on both ends of the #2 cable with 150A ANL fuses. They should handle 200A just fine for several minutes (400A at the winch, but 200A between the batteries). I've also mounted a 7 ignition circuit box to provide additional power (from the starter battery) to various accessories like a laptop, fridge, etc. There is absolutely nothing plugged into the backup battery. In the future, I'll probably add a few solar panels to the roof rack to help out the starter battery (both batteries are optima deep cycle).

The 95150B behaves as expected, but the 95300B was a bit of a surprise. There are some diodes which allow power to constantly flow from the starter battery to the backup battery, but not the other way. You can connect both batteries together (bypassing the diodes) or force a disconnect, but by default power will always be allowed to flow from the starter to the backup battery. If the backup battery is defective, it'll drain the starter battery. If I'd known, I would have chosen another BIC, or even two 95150B in parallel.

js.

 

[XXXpedition]

you know, i remember this threads first post...

you said this was your first vehicle!

that makes this build even more impressive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:victory:

one question from an old post: how did you fit those switches?
there's no space behind the panel... at least on mine (diesel)

 

[jsmoriss]

you know, i remember this threads first post...
you said this was your first vehicle!
that makes this build even more impressive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:victory:

Yup, first vehicle. I tend to be a little excessive in my hobbies... and this isn't our only hobby. You should see our homebrewery, underwater photography, and canoe camping setups. :-D

one question from an old post: how did you fit those switches?
there's no space behind the panel... at least on mine (diesel)

The panel is from CoolTech -- http://www.cooltechllc.com/jeep/jk_switch_mount.htm.

js.