Expedition Build TJ

[mrblaine]

I'm in the process of assisting Lawrence with his conversion to an Expedition Rig taking into account as many factors as is remotely feasible.

During this process, we had occasion to deal with a Dropped RE Trackbar issue. It won't work with a 4" lift height because the bracket will run into the tie rod during articulation.

So, I opted for a Currie Trackbar due to it's simplicity and ease of install. But, I wanted the 5/8" bolt and Currie's 2.5" Johnny Joints use a 9/16's bolt.

So, I asked John if he had ever drilled any out for the larger bolt and it turns out they do for the JeepSpeed stuff.

Lawrence now has a Currie trackbar with a 5/8" bolt holding the frame end of the trackbar nicely in place.

This would make a good replacement for anyone who ruined the hole with the Currie 9/16" bolt or anyone who has drilled the mount out to 5/8" to run the standard RE trackbar.

[Lawrence]

So, I had been gathering parts for the past 8-10 months, and now the transformations have begun. To recap, here is the way the Jeep (‘04 Auto) was setup before the tinkering began:



35x12.5x17 Tires on 17x9 OMF beadlocks
D30 Front, 4.88 gears, ARB locker, 15” Vanco big brake kit
D44 Rear, 4.88 gears, ARB locker
Rubicon Express long arms
Front: 4.5” RE springs, ACOS, RE monotube shocks with reservoir
Rear: 5.5” RE springs, RE monotube shocks
RE Front adjustable track bar
RE Rear adjustable track bar
Currie HD steering
Currie Antirock
Body Armor rear bumper and tire carrier
Hanson Front bumper
Warn 9.5Ti winch
Durango 4x4 rockers
Various skids
And a bunch of fluffy stuff

Some items will be replaced by the following:
33x12.5x17 Tires
HP D30 Front, 4.88 gears, Super 30 kit with ARB locker, Vanco 16” big brake kit, Johnny Joints.
4” Currie springs, Rancho 9000XL shocks with on-board controller
Poly Performance rear outboarding kit
Currie Front adjustable track bar
ORO dual rate manual SwayLoc
Hanson rear bumper and stock tire carrier
Currie rock rails
Setrab transmission cooler with fan defeat switch and dual trans temp gauge.
Some more fluffy stuff

Rear Bumper:

A few months ago, the first thing to come off was the Body Armor rear bumper / tire carrier. While it is an OK unit that was on the TJ when I bought it, I had to consistently adjust it to keep it from rattling. It also put a nice bend in my tailgate, but most importantly, it was really heavy.

I ended up buying a Hanson rear bumper to match the front one I already had. It is a very nice unit, adjustable in height to cover unsightly gaps, and it comes with a really good bracket system that sandwiches the frame. The instructions suck, but after identifying all the parts, install was a breeze. This bumper will allow towing the Kimberley Kamper without any worries and its design will also allow us to be a little creative with some future projects, like a water-to-water heat exchanger (stay tuned for a future thread on this).

The stock carrier will be reused for the spare and it will be modified to keep the spare as close to the tailgate as possible while making sure it rests on the rear bumper to alleviate any stress on the tailgate.

Tires:

As mentioned in an earlier thread, I tested a set of 33s to see how the TJ would perform with the 4.88 gears and the 4-speed auto. I was fairly pleased with the results at that time.

I ended up selling my 35s and got a line on some 305/65/17 Pro-Comp Xtreme MTs. Although generally not a fan of anything Pro-Comp, I figured that at that price it was worth a shot. I haven’t taken them offroad yet, so I can’t comment too much.

Anyway, since having the 33s on, I am even happier with the performance results. The Jeep is a lot of fun to drive and, on grades, it pulls really hard without wanting to downshift. It is very responsive and the steering feel is a lot nicer.

Front suspension:

Last weekend, I went down to Blaine’s to find out he already had put the Currie springs and the Rancho’s up front. It looked great but the TJ’s rear end was now way up in the air with those RE 5.5” springs and shocks. So, it was my turn to work on the rear by taking the rear shocks and springs out and temporarily installing the Currie springs. Wow, what a difference, the TJ now has great proportions.

We also installed the on-board controller for the Rancho shocks. This is a nice looking unit and we made a bracket to position it on the lower part of the dash , just forward of the shifter. We stepped into Blaine’s alfresco paint booth, placed the part on the coat hanger hanging from the rope tied between two trees, and we used some black wrinkle finish paint on the bracket. If I remember well it was a Krylon brand type paint and it matched the Rancho unit very well. Now, by resting my forearm on the shifter, I can change the shocks settings from the comfort of the driver’s seat.

Tech Tip of the Day: If after drilling through the lower portion of your dash, you find yourself staring at a blinking “n0 FUSe” display on your odometer, you’ve probably hit the Accessories #2 wire. The other giveaway is that you don’t have the “key in the ignition” chime and your courtesy lights don’t work anymore. Guess how we found out . Pop the hood and replace the 10A fuse in the fuse box. If it holds, you’re good to go, if not, it’s time to take the dash apart and fix your boo-boo.

Rock rails:

When I bought the TJ, it had the Durango 4x4 rockers, and this transformation was the perfect excuse to get something different.

Blaine’s way of installing rock rails is way beyond what any normal person would do. If you blew the Jeep up, I’d be willing to bet that the only piece of body left, would be the one sandwiched between the rock rails and the aluminum backing plate. After asking me a bunch of nonsense questions like what is 3 & 3/8th minus 7/16th plus 5/8th divided by 1/16th (you guys have to start using the metric system, sheesh ), we drilled many holes, used a bunch of nutserts, preloaded each rock rail before bolting them into place, and used a 1/2” thick piece of aluminum as a backing plate. They were finally in place. The funny thing is that while torquing the hardware, it slightly bent the rock rail around the bolt head while the aluminum backing plate didn’t even flinch. Who says aluminum is not as strong as steel? My rock rails might look funny, but they are not going anywhere, period.

Front track bar:

Because of the RE drop bracket, there were going to be some clearance issues. We talked about a solution and I told Blaine to go for the Currie track bar. Since I had to go to work, Blaine installed the Currie adjustable track bar in place of the RE, see post above for his comments.


I apologize for the lack of pictures. I will take some next weekend and post them up.

[NAILER341]

sounds like a fun build, and a nice write up.
i'm looking forward to seeing it.

[Macgyver]

Hey sounds like a great project!

I just wanted to let you know that the Pro-Comp Extreme MT's have been holding up great on Heather's JK. We've been thrashing them for about 12,000miles, and lots of trails so far. The 3ply sidewalls are holding up great and the tread depth is holding nice too. The only thing we have managed to do to the tires is some chunking on the tread blocks in a few places, but I'm sure it has to do with running them on a 5400 lb JK.......... This wasn't my first choice of tires to go with, but Goodyear didn't have a 35 on a 17" wheel. I figured I would give them a shot. I had to have a 3-ply sidewall, and there wasn't much else to choose from except BFG which I have used before and didn't want on the JK. After wheeling these on the rocks and trails for sometime now, I'm really happy with them. Aside from JV where the JK hasn't gone yet, I would have to say that I am as happy with these as I am the MT/R's on my TJ. And I'm probably the last person who would have run a Pro-Comp on my Jeeps. Snow, Ice, Mud, Dirt, Rocks, Street, it's all been good!

You should be really happy with them! I'll keep you posted on our's

[Lawrence]

Thanks guys.

Quinn – Glad to hear about the Pro-Comp. I was having a hard time deciding between tires and I saw that Terry from All Pro Offroad was blowing out a virtually brand new set in the size I was looking for. I had heard that the Xtreme Mts were a decent tire, so I took the chance. I can’t wait to try them out. When the TJ is done, I plan on coming up to BB for a run or two, hopefully we can hook up and get some other folks to join to make it a fun day.

[Macgyver]

Originally Posted by Lawrence

Thanks guys.

Quinn – Glad to hear about the Pro-Comp. I was having a hard time deciding between tires and I saw that Terry from All Pro Offroad was blowing out a virtually brand new set in the size I was looking for. I had heard that the Xtreme Mts were a decent tire, so I took the chance. I can’t wait to try them out. When the TJ is done, I plan on coming up to BB for a run or two, hopefully we can hook up and get some other folks to join to make it a fun day.

Let me know when you are coming up. I'll go out with you, I've been having a blast up here. We have guys up here going out almost every weekend somewhere. I'm always looking for a good reason to go wheeling

[TJeeper]

Originally Posted by mrblaine

During this process, we had occasion to deal with a Dropped RE Trackbar issue. It won't work with a 4" lift height because the bracket will run into the tie rod during articulation

I'm having trouble picturing this. Are you saying when the driver's side is stuffed, the tie rod was hitting the drop bracket?

[Lawrence]

Originally Posted by TJeeper

I'm having trouble picturing this. Are you saying when the driver's side is stuffed, the tie rod was hitting the drop bracket?

Exactly. After switching to the Currie 4" springs, the distance between the drop bracket and the tie rod was smaller than the distance between the front bumpstops.

[mrblaine]

Originally Posted by TJeeper

I'm having trouble picturing this. Are you saying when the driver's side is stuffed, the tie rod was hitting the drop bracket?

The drop bracket mounts forward in it's entirety of the OEM trackbar mount. In fact, directly over the tie rod.

[TJeeper]

Originally Posted by mrblaine

The drop bracket mounts forward in it's entirety of the OEM trackbar mount. In fact, directly over the tie rod.

It seems like I've done so many mods over the years I forget things. I ran into this issue back when I flipped the tie rod. Currently on my Jeep the tie rod just clears the bracket (back in the stock location). I believe my front axle is bit too far forward though.

[Paradiddle]

Sounds great Lawrence!

I want a pic of that Rancho bracket - I need to put that controller in my TJ as well - much easier then crawling under there and turning knobs.

Jeff

[Lawrence]

Originally Posted by Paradiddle

Sounds great Lawrence!

I want a pic of that Rancho bracket - I need to put that controller in my TJ as well - much easier then crawling under there and turning knobs.

Jeff

Here is a quality picture for you.

[Macgyver]

Originally Posted by Paradiddle

Sounds great Lawrence!

I want a pic of that Rancho bracket - I need to put that controller in my TJ as well - much easier then crawling under there and turning knobs.

Jeff

Jeff, I think I have one of those rancho systems in the shed, if I can find it it's yours. You would need new air line for it. Otherwise I think it would be complete, I'll go check.

EDIT:::: I found the control panel with the gauges and buttons(9-way adj) and the little compressor. I'm missing the line and the little tube connectors. Like I said if you want it it's yours. Let me know.