Well. . .the Rubicon Taco'd my driver's side lower control arm. The passenger side doesn't look much better.
TJ Dave was kind enough to leave a set unattended in the back of his truck.
Then. . .when I told Jose of my plight, he informed me that 1" square tubing drops right inside the arms and you can stitch it in. That sounded like a great plan except that I'm fresh out of 1" square. and I'm impatient. and. . .the A D D.
So, I looked around my metal pile and found a chunk of what I think is 1 1/2" 3/16 bar stock, cut it in half, clamped it to the control arms to match the curve and welded it up.
So, now I have skidplates for my LCAs and they are boxed in. I wanted to make sure to document that fact here in case I need to do something with them when O goes to the crusher.
Tomorrow, I have to install them, a new drag link (long side), and a new driver's side leaf spring shackle along with a driver's side motor mount.
Beyond that, let me be perfectly clear about this. . .: !!: An XJ REALLY needs 4.5" of lift (in addition to a bunch of other shiz) to run the Rubicon.
Project/No Project
OldGreen wrote:... and a new driver's side leaf spring shackle ...
Dew tell... I don't remember seeing this one in our quick night 2 evaluation? I know I smoked both of mine because I neglected to cut off the extreee set of mounting holes and they hung lower than the spring eye
Yep, I've wheeled one of those, too...
Before and After. . .
For sale: One Z shaped drag link.
I'm guessing that those that say that a Stock Cherokee has its place are correct in some sense. . .but O has been destined for the crusher since I bought him. Heck, if I get 3 years out of a Jeep like this, I couldn't be happier. Let alone one that has wheeled all over the west coast.
Crack at the swaybar mount. My guess is that the impact that took out the draglink did this as well. Interestingly, the crack is only in the first layer of sheetmetal out of about a billion right here:
Ground it out, drilled the ends, welded it up and then stuck a chunk of 1/8" flat bar over it located by one of the swaybar bolts and burned that on as well. I SUCK at welding in general, but overhead is the devil.
The other XJ will have all of these things addressed before it leaves the pavement for the first time. . .
For sale: One Z shaped drag link.
I'm guessing that those that say that a Stock Cherokee has its place are correct in some sense. . .but O has been destined for the crusher since I bought him. Heck, if I get 3 years out of a Jeep like this, I couldn't be happier. Let alone one that has wheeled all over the west coast.
Crack at the swaybar mount. My guess is that the impact that took out the draglink did this as well. Interestingly, the crack is only in the first layer of sheetmetal out of about a billion right here:
Ground it out, drilled the ends, welded it up and then stuck a chunk of 1/8" flat bar over it located by one of the swaybar bolts and burned that on as well. I SUCK at welding in general, but overhead is the devil.
The other XJ will have all of these things addressed before it leaves the pavement for the first time. . .
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I am happy to report that the experiment was a success. The memories that were created driving Orville will last me and mine a lifetime. I can only hope that he, or at least his parts, continue to adventure in the back country for many years to come.
You might think that I am quick to get rid of a rig. . .but those of you that know me also know that I still have the Jeep that I took my driver's test in. This HURT. . .but it was time to move on to the next phase of the experiment.
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