Rob's 97, nothing crazy

Rob Cote wrote:
Soo....when's the next trail ride? I missed the last one by like 8 hours.

NSJ Weekend - 08/15-16

Ryan McKee wrote: NSJ Weekend - 08/15-16

This intrigues me.

By the way Rob, don't know if you've ever seen this but Jp did a cool write-up on installing a retractable hood light from '90s Chevy/GMC trucks in TJs/XJs/WJs etc. My father and I have considered scouring the junkyards to put one in the YJ and my Cherokee.

Oh neat! I forgot those were a thing, but now that you mention it, I recall seeing them before. I always keep a flashlight in the Jeep anyway, so this probably won't be used much. I just figured since it's supposed to be there, I was on break, there's a junkyard across the street....why not make it work? So for free dollars, it's done.

Ryan, thanks for the info. I'll be there.

Here you go, suckas



Got the hood latches on finally. Gonna try and wire up the winch today. Make sure that hog still works.

Looks damn good man! What's the plan for rear fenders?

Ryan McKee wrote:Looks damn good man! What's the plan for rear fenders?

Thanks I'm happy with the front end but it makes the rear look weak. I'll probably eventually get these:



They don't necessarily match, but I still love them. I gotta find out if I can buy just the rears.

Anyway, the winch still works. Waiting on some heavy cable I ordered now so I can relocate the solenoids into the cabin. Been planning to do this for way too long, it's finally time. The front end looks a hell of a lot cleaner already, just by removing the box.

I relocated the winch solenoids next to the battery to clean up the front end a bit. For now, I still have to plug in at the solenoids and use a remote, but it's now functional with rerouted wiring. Next I'll be hard-wiring the switch to a spot on the dash. I'd desperately love to find a SPDT momentary ON/OFF/ON momentary switch that fits the OEM switch location in the center stack. Does such a switch exist? The only ones I could find were SPST ON/OFF type. Help?

I'm finally content with the exterior portion of this mod. I've been playing with various wire routing over a couple days. I think I'm gonna leave it like this. The boots over the terminals is a nice touch, too. Makes it much more "finished" in my opinion. Under-hood is pretty close, but not yet 100%. The switch is located in the dash. I used the existing rocker switch from the remote. I don't LOVE it, but it's good enough.





Just barely fit. From driver's POV, you can't see it.

So I got all my wires laid out. I still have to wrap them, and probably secure them with some more wire ties, just to ensure they don't chafe. But here they are:



And I got everything properly terminated at the solenoids. I'm content with the mounting, I just kind of wish I could still use a cover over them. But they've been submerged and doused with salt since being on the front end of the jeep, and they show hardly any corrosion, so I think they'll be fine.



And lastly, here it is all buttoned up:



Almost wish this thing had a battery cover now.

Looking good Rob,, under the hood looks great and it's alot cleaner up at the winch with out that solenoid box
, keep up the good work!

Thanks Mark! At this point I think the only thing I could do better is synthetic line and a solid fairlead. But I can't justify the cost now. Plus there's plenty of other stuff to take care of within the Jeep before that. Like carpet. I think that's next. I've never had carpet in a Jeep what's that like?

Having carpet is great, the floor doesn't get hot is summer and it keeps in the heat in cold weather.
My jeep seems to be a water magnet so i am constantly taking the front carpet set out.

Anyone have experience with this product: http://www.quadratec.com/products/14051_8000.htm

Rob Cote wrote:

Ryan McKee wrote:Looks damn good man! What's the plan for rear fenders?

Thanks I'm happy with the front end but it makes the rear look weak. I'll probably eventually get these:




They don't necessarily match, but I still love them. I gotta find out if I can buy just the rears.

Anyway, the winch still works. Waiting on some heavy cable I ordered now so I can relocate the solenoids into the cabin. Been planning to do this for way too long, it's finally time. The front end looks a hell of a lot cleaner already, just by removing the box.

I believe my buddy Dave is going to be swapping over to flat flares, he has those ones you posted about, maybe he would give you a deal on them

Rjcinelli wrote:I believe my buddy Dave is going to be swapping over to flat flares, he has those ones you posted about, maybe he would give you a deal on them

Excellent! could you put us in touch please?

Looks really good man.

Thanks buddy! I'm pretty happy with it so far.

So I recently discovered this things actually a 99, not a 98.

Also, I was cruising into work this morning with the doors off. Some guy yelled over and tried to buy it off me while I was driving down Rt. 1.

How much did he offer?!

No offer because I shut him down. It's too fun to sell right now.

I replaced the factory control arms with some tubular adjustable ones with polyurethane bushings and spherical ball joints. I dunno what brand they are, but they were given to me for free dollars. They sucked to put in. But now instead of jiggling and rattling and shaking the front end just squeaks over bumps so I guess that's better.

Also new calipers pads and rotors up front because one of my calipers seized.

Ready for OFR.

Here's a shot of the "new" control arms



No idea what brand they are. But they're beef. I just took them all apart, cleaned and greased everything, reassembled and painted them. The old bushings were so beat holy crap these made a world of difference in the solidity of the front end.

I also finally got around to trimming back the console the extra 1/4" I needed so the shifter doesn't hit the CB

So on the frame end of the lower control arms, I have a small amount of play between the bolt and the sleeve in the bushing. Has anyone encountered this before? Everything was smooth for a few days, but now that the suspension has cycled a bunch I think the frame bracket and the control arm have probably worn just a slight bit of room between themselves and it allows the control arm to move in there. I'm not worried it'll fall out because the hardware is still tight, but it makes a clunk, most notably when hitting the brakes while reversing. It's annoying. And it causes a slight vibration when cornering at speed.

Trouble is, I don't know the brand of these, so I'm not sure how to buy a new bushing and/or sleeve. Presumably it's an off-the-shelf poly bushing, but I'm not really sure. And I don't really feel like experimenting til I find the right one.

I've got the same thing going on except it's the upper arms, and it's at the axle side (but honestly probably both ends because it's the factory arms). I get the same clunk and other various squeak noises around turns, and a decent vibe at 45 mph.

Your best bet (and it may not be a quick process) is to scour the interwebs to find a photo of your control arms and determine their brand that way. From there you can determine what bushings you need and go about replacing them. It's not the most exact science but I've been able to pin down parts like that; luckily Jeeple like to post lots of photos of upgrades and brag about the brands they chose.

THOOPY3 wrote:I've got the same thing going on except it's the upper arms, and it's at the axle side (but honestly probably both ends because it's the factory arms). I get the same clunk and other various squeak noises around turns, and a decent vibe at 45 mph.

Your best bet (and it may not be a quick process) is to scour the interwebs to find a photo of your control arms and determine their brand that way. From there you can determine what bushings you need and go about replacing them. It's not the most exact science but I've been able to pin down parts like that; luckily Jeeple like to post lots of photos of upgrades and brag about the brands they chose.

Bogus. I've tried that for a little bit with minimal success. But you are probably right that it's not going to be a quick process. The major concern I have with this method is that it's perhaps an older revision or something, so if I think I have the right brand, I may wrong myself by confirming with images from that manufacturer. If that makes sense. But I'll definitely keep trying.