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2005 LJ
Posted: Thu May 05, 2022 9:58 am
by tobyw
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Thu May 05, 2022 10:18 am
by tobyw
Ordinarily on a TJ-platform build, I start with rollcage upgrades and then build out the rest of it from there:
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Since this one isn't intended to be a dedicated off-roader, I'm going to leave any rollcage work for sometime down the road and instead focus on the suspension, recovery, and body protection aspects for now. With that said, I'm stuck in the supply chain nightmare waiting for the recovery portion of the build, but the suspension bits have started showing up on the porch so it's probably time to get started:
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The first order of business was to whip up and install my patented lower bump stops, complete with recessed threads be able to stack additional pucks if necessary to keep tires out of fenders. I also welded on a doubler plate for the track bar mounting bracket because the factory piece is tinfoil thin, but I didn't snap a good picture of that:
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Some quick trimming to the shock mounting bracket for control arm clearance at full droop:
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The minion decided she wanted to help, since it's her Jeep, so I put her to work assembling the adjustable control arms:
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And here we have the completed front installation:
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Hoping to get to the rear install this weekend...
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 10:30 am
by tobyw
Before leaving the front I added some 1" spacers to the lower shock mounts to allow a little bit of additional droop since the shocks are currently the limiting factor, and uptravel is limited by the bumpstops before the shocks bottomed out. There is now perfect harmony between shock uptravel and bumpstops, although the rest of the suspension does still have significantly more downtravel available... We may revisit shocks at a later date:
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The rear is just as simple as the front, with my world famous bumpstops, (4) adjustable control arms, and a riser bracket for the rear track bar. As with the front, uptravel is very well matched between the shock and bumptstop, but there is a lot more droop available than the shocks allow. I typically like to outboard the rear shocks on a TJ platform anyway, so again we may revisit shocks at a later date:
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Next up was a 1.25" body lift, which will ultimately pave the way for a high-clearance belly pan, but also provides some additional fender clearance without so much suspension lift as to cause funky control arm angles:
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And the final element for now is a 1" motor mount lift, again to help with the high-clearance belly pan. I've had these on the shelf for the better part of a decade, having won them in the raffle at the annual All-4-Fun event in Colorado some years back:
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With that, it was time to install the tires that I recently picked up from Screaming Toilet... The boy is currently taking automotive tech at Richland High, and they are encouraged to bring in their own projects for class work. So, I tasked him with mounting the new tires up on the factory wheels:
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A quick push of the broom to clean up the bomb that went off in the shop, and I backed it out for some quick shots as the sun was setting:
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Things are starting to take shape, visually at least, and there will be more to come as we start fabricating sliders, bumpers, and get the winch mounted up
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Wed May 11, 2022 11:30 am
by tobyw
Got tired of kicking the boxes around the shop so I installed the winch last night, even though I'm still waiting on the hawse fairlead to arrive
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If anyone is in the market for a budget winch (usually around $300 on Amazon), I would strongly recommend taking a look at these Smittybilt Gen 2 XRC units. This is the same winch I put on the boys' XJ and have been nothing but impressed with it, having already put it to significant use for not only recovery, but also pulling stumps around the pharm. It is extremely quiet, has a very reasonable line speed even under load, and the remote has a nifty magnet on the nose that allows you to lay it on the bumper/hood/fender and it won't fall off. Nice little touch...
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 8:44 am
by DougCampbell
Hey Toby - I am glad you found another one! I own your old LJ. I bought it from my father, he was the one who bought it from you. I have a couple of questions for you about your old LJ. Did you rebuild the engine or tranny? They are working great, but I don't have any background info. Also, do you remember if the gears you put in the rear were the "thick" variety or standard?
I am rebuilding the gearsets as they were not set up correctly and I need to order replacement ring and pinions. Any info you have would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
Doug Campbell
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 8:59 am
by tobyw
Hey Doug, glad to hear the old LJ is still around the area! I almost immediately regretted selling it...
Regarding the engine/trans/transfer case, I did nothing other than routine maintenance and the fabrication/installation of the second Sanden compressor for OBA. It always ran like a top and I never had a good enough reason to do anything.
As for the gears, that is troubling... While I farmed out the gear installation because I was short on time when I needed them done, I put many thousands of miles on them and never heard a whine or saw any signs of a bad setup? I changed the fluid at least twice that I can think of, and you probably noted the Lube-Locker gaskets on the covers which are awesome for that... Anyhow, the gearsets are just the standard thickness because the Eaton E-locker cases are ratio-specific, and the 4.88's that were installed use the 3.92+ carrier.
Let me know if you have any other questions. We'll have to get together one of these weekends and play with our LJ's in the woods
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 9:32 am
by DougCampbell
Thanks for the info. She still runs like a champ. Wheels great too! The lube lockers are great. When I popped the rear end open it was a pleasant surprise. I have replaced the radiator, added an sye kit and adams driveshafts. We just replaced the control arms with the Metalcloak double adjustable aluminum arms and Rockkrawler triple rate 3.5 inch springs. I have a rubicrawler on the way. She has done a lot of fun miles, and we have a bunch of trips to take with her too.
Unfortunately, I had a vibration around 70 and had a bad feeling about it so I opened her up. The shims are on the wrong side of the bearing caps, and the gearset is wearing wrong. I will fix her up right and get her back offroad again. I would love to go wheeling with you all.
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Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 12:31 pm
by tobyw
Definitely sounds like you are treating her right, pretty nice list of upgrades you have going!
We haven't done much of anything else to the "new" LJ, but I'm hoping to get started on cage work and rock sliders in the next few weeks... I have a spare ARB twin compressor so I'll probably take the easy route and just wire that in rather than another Sanden, although I do prefer the engine-driven compressors. Still have not decided what route to take for traction devices, but the reality is that most of the wheeling we do around here doesn't really require much more than a good limited slip, which it already has, so I might just invest in more 87-octane instead
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 6:39 pm
by DougCampbell
I like your idea for traction devices. The LS rear-end in these is really good. The arb compressor works well. I have had a few of them. I also like your use of the stock wheels. I went away from them and bought steelies. They are hard to balance and deal with. I am seriously considering going back.
If you don't mind, who did you have do the gears? I would stay away from them for sure.
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Thu May 11, 2023 6:08 am
by tobyw
He was a friend of a friend over in Kennewick, I can't even recall his name but he is/was big into drag racing and several people knew of him and also recommended him. I want to say his first name was Jeff but I have no idea what his last name was...
Seeing those shims working their way out is a little alarming. I never noticed that when changing fluids, almost makes me wonder if the cap bolts have backed off in torque or perhaps the axle housing took a big hit or something? Regardless, there technically isn't anything wrong with putting them outside the bearings, the end result is the same it's really just personal preference in terms of assembly. If you put them inside the bearings, you have to press the bearings off/on again to get the preload right, but if you put them outside like shown you have to juggle them and the carrier assembly when you slap it all into the case. I've done it both ways but in general prefer the put them on the outside because I despise pressing carrier bearings on/off
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2023 7:36 am
by tobyw
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2023 4:52 am
by tobyw
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2023 7:20 pm
by Roman
Sun is going down, get out there and get back to work!
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2023 6:47 am
by tobyw
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 12:03 pm
by tobyw
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2023 7:11 am
by tobyw
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2023 9:42 am
by tobyw
As mentioned before, one of the reasons behind installing the body lift was to allow room to stuff the drivetrain up a little higher and gain some much needed belly clearance. The "shovel", as the factory belly pan is often referred to, is among the worst factory design elements I've seen on a vehicle that is intended for off-road travel. Not only is it laughably low hanging, but the leading edge is actually folded downward which creates a nasty catch point. Further, the belly pan also acts as the transmission mount, so to service the transmission and/or transfer case, one first needs to independently support the transmission and then drop the belly pan, and then fight the whole mess when trying to line it all back for reassembly. If you've done it, you know the struggle is real...
There are a bevvy of aftermarket belly pan solutions, and I've actually used the one from Undercover Fabworks on a couple of different builds over the years (including my beloved 2004 LJ). This time, however, I really wanted to address the issue of separating the transmission mount from the belly pan, and quite frankly I just wanted to have something I could call my own:
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What I came up with is a Frankenstein version of the factory mounting plate, cut and glued back together to maintain the use of an OEM rubber mount, attached to a very simple 1-1/2" x 0.120" round tube crossmember that mounts to one of the factory belly pan frame holes. Simple, and effective.
Next up will be the skid plate, but I'm still marinating a couple of ideas on how that needs to smell...
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 4:59 am
by tobyw
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 7:44 am
by Roman
What are you doing for a sway bar now?
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 8:25 am
by tobyw
Roman wrote:What are you doing for a sway bar now?
Long term, the plan will be to correct the geometry enough, primarily the roll center via correcting the trac bar angles, to where a sway bar won't be necessary for what little street driving this will ever see. Additionally, I'll eventually get around to outboarding the rear shocks and modifying the front mounts to allow for the use of longer, higher quality shocks that will help a little more. In the short term, however, I will probably end up with another Anti-Rock...
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 8:36 am
by tobyw
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 7:40 am
by tobyw
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2024 6:53 am
by tobyw
For anyone looking to add a little functionality to the cavernous TJ center console, czek this out:
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It's a 3D printed tray that drops right in!! Genius!! I "installed" mine in last night as soon as I opened up the mailbox and found it waiting for me, so it was too dark to get any pictures but here is the idea:
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I have no affiliation with this company, but I'd highly recommend you give them a look if your in the market for such a thing:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1283104225 ... ecs-rv-2-1
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2024 7:29 pm
by Roman
Wow...
I may need a couple of those
Re: 2005 LJ
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2024 11:11 am
by tobyw
So there I was... staring at a perfectly good set of 39's just sitting on the shop floor... Next thing you know:
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A quick test drive revealed
massive fender contact at pretty much every point imaginable, to nobody's surprise I might add, but I just couldn't sleep knowing how good this
could be...
To make 39's fit, and work, on the LJ was likely going to be a pretty significant undertaking. Just how big I wasn't sure, but I simply had to at least do some investigation and ciphering. The first order of business was to drop the front springs out and cycle the suspension to see just how bad it really was. Turns out, it was pretty bad:
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A little bit of up-travel combined with a little bit of turning stuffed the tires directly into the fenders. Hard. So, options... We can add bump stops to prevent the tires from moving up and contacting the fenders; we can replace the fenders with something that allows more clearance; or perhaps some combination of these two things? Well, anyone that knows me is aware of the fact that I'm cheap. Buying aftermarket "hiline" fenders is out of the question. Building a set, however, is tempting... But, as it turns out, I like the looks of a factory TJ flare. What's a girl to do?
Jack up the factory fenders
The rear is pretty simple:
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The front, however, is a whole different ball game... But with some patience, a skinny wheel, and a whole lotta barf bags, it's doable:
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I present to you, an LJ on 39's:
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Obviously there is a TON of finish work left to do, but the bones are there