Re: Philosoraptor's Canadian JP#90 Build
Posted: May 30th, 2017, 11:47 pm
Vic, I love the seats, just so damn comfy and look great. Sadly I had to pay money for that work, but I justified it. And no worries, every JP build that isn't lucky enough to start out with original pouches needs to get some of yours!
Leethallee, I don't think I could sell the alloys at the moment, haha, honestly depending on what airline you fly you'll be paying for baggage anyways haha. And by all means come on up, we have plenty of mountains! Some still have snow and we are starting our summer season strangely.
Anyways, yet another long overdue update on the Jeep things... Randomly I decided to GoPro video my driveshaft to see how much axle wrap and movement was going on. It wasn't all too bad, but I did discover a slight wobble from my passenger rear wheel, which was weird because I had no vibrations while driving. Ended up being the brake rotor not seating properly on the axle shaft hub. So instead of trying to salvage the used rotors they got replaced.
Next up I finally had some time and courage mustered to tackle to front axle spring over axle swap. Which meant I had to rip the entire thing out. Over the course of grinding the amount of metal that I was working with I caught a flake in the eye despite wearing a full face visor. Quick trip to the Emergency Room and the doc picking it out with a needle I was back working on the Jeep the next day. Lesson learnt; double up on eye protection. A good protractor, digital in my case, was paramount for lining things up with the new spring pads. It isn't too difficult, just line it up laterally then mirror the bottom mounts so you don't screw up your castor (at the sacrifice of a perfect pinion angle though). Tack things in, check many times, then go nuts with the welder. Also with the mounting pads which have multiple spring centre pins holes I choose to go with a modest 1" wheelbase stretch. New Synergy ball joints were added, my old ones were sloppy enough, investing on a proper ball joint tool made the job much easier than expected. However there were some hiccups, like trying to loosen the ball joint nuts and having them just spin the entire joint because the nut was rusted on. I didn't have to get the sawzall, but a neat trick I saw on YouTube where you jack up the axle under the knuckle to add tension was just enough to help loosen the nut.
So all in all it was a solid 3-4 days of work, doing everything as a one person crew. So it was rolling again. As you'll see in the pic below it looks super funny being super tall and only on 33 inch tires. Also compounding the funny look was the fact that I had to add a 1/2" leaf spring spacer as the new crossover steering tie rod was contacting the leafs. Had to use larger boomerangs in the rear and go back to a stock length shackle for the front to try and level things out. Also because this a what I believed would be a temporary ride height I am still running the stock front driveshaft, and so far it has held up and not exploded with the minimal spline engagement. And also because I didn't want to spend money on longer shocks at the moment I fabbed up some spacers for those as well, and those haven't exploded either under city and trail driving! Longer brake lines also required, so some hard lines were added to the stock and already extended soft lines. A new track bar axle side mount was also required to help clear my new steering setup, so I chose to simply make it out of beefy 3/8" flat bar and then weld. Jeep mods are a never ending process of changing one aspect and having to address many others.
Other random housekeeping items, had a weird vibration or rattle coming from what I thought was the dash. Wasted a lot of time digging around there to no avail, but then hit the google machine and people had commented that a worn hood stay rod would transfer vibes all the way to the cabin. After taking a look at the old original bracket and pivot and jiggling it around this confirmed that it did make noises. So I replaced the first quarter of the hood stay rod with a rod end spherical bearing and retained factory geometry. Why, because overkill! So far the vibes have disappeared, but I am sure more will surface on this 23 year old Jeep.
So then this happened. Was hanging out with my father talking shop and having a beer when he was insistent on checking Craigslist for some proper sized tires. Found a fresh ad locally posted a few hours earlier. The next day I had a set of 5 Goodyear MTRs with Kevlar in my possession for the price of what 2 would have cost new. The tread life was about 75% remaining which is unheard of, what a deal. 37x12.5x17 tires are damn big but I had to now reevaluate long term plans. I had a big Jeep camping/wheeling trip coming up and just had to get these mounted. So I got some steel rims and got them mounted. Some flex tests and light fender trimming for the rear had me good to go! The extra backspacing on the wheels (4.25" BS on a 17x9 rim) gave me some much needed stability as well. For a real mud terrain they ride quite civilized on the road and highway, they are louder but the traction gained is huge especially in the muck.
So next up came the big long weekend Jeepapalooza event which was a blast, tons of bbq, wheeling, sunshine, new friends, beer, and just an all around good time. Lots of cool Jeeps built in many different ways. On the last night after the big bbq, awards were handed out for most carnage, most modifications, and then all the attendees voted on their favourite Jeep. Lets just say the Jurassic love was strong, from the adults down to their children, to some of the more hardcore wheelers, everyone had a smile seeing the dinosaur mobile, so I got a trophy
So this is where JP90 is at now. Taking a look back, I managed to cross off some big goals. There are still many more to go and I have to think about where I wanna take things.
Oh and then I went to Portland and brought home a souvenir...
So now I have 2 Jeeps, I must be crazy 2006 Wrangler Unlimited, rolled over 100,000 miles on the way home, 6 speed manual with the venerable 4 litre powerplant (one that isn't burning or leaking oil too!), comfy marshmellowy coil springs, extra cargo space, longer more stable wheelbase, it was a no-brainer. As you can see, the original Sahara alloys made their way onto the LJ. Fitting 33s on stock suspension, with only some minor rubbing at full lock I can work with that for city mode.
I still love the Jurassic Jeep and it has a special place in my heart, but the YJ platform as a whole has limitations. I couldn't justify coilovers or a proper stretch and I was running out of room. So at the moment I will be running JP90 hard in the trails this summer as is, and slowly building the LJ to be a Long Arm lift (3-4" ideally), High Clearance fender, low Centre of Gravity build. At that time the built Ford 8.8 will get put on the LJ, then the Dana 44 from the LJ will get converted for leafs on the YJ. Once it is at that stage the 37s will get transferred over and the JP Jeep will get lowered onto the 33s and stock springs SOA to be the cruiser. For now that is the plan, but these are dynamic things.
Thanks for tuning in, happy Jeeping everyone!
Leethallee, I don't think I could sell the alloys at the moment, haha, honestly depending on what airline you fly you'll be paying for baggage anyways haha. And by all means come on up, we have plenty of mountains! Some still have snow and we are starting our summer season strangely.
Anyways, yet another long overdue update on the Jeep things... Randomly I decided to GoPro video my driveshaft to see how much axle wrap and movement was going on. It wasn't all too bad, but I did discover a slight wobble from my passenger rear wheel, which was weird because I had no vibrations while driving. Ended up being the brake rotor not seating properly on the axle shaft hub. So instead of trying to salvage the used rotors they got replaced.
Next up I finally had some time and courage mustered to tackle to front axle spring over axle swap. Which meant I had to rip the entire thing out. Over the course of grinding the amount of metal that I was working with I caught a flake in the eye despite wearing a full face visor. Quick trip to the Emergency Room and the doc picking it out with a needle I was back working on the Jeep the next day. Lesson learnt; double up on eye protection. A good protractor, digital in my case, was paramount for lining things up with the new spring pads. It isn't too difficult, just line it up laterally then mirror the bottom mounts so you don't screw up your castor (at the sacrifice of a perfect pinion angle though). Tack things in, check many times, then go nuts with the welder. Also with the mounting pads which have multiple spring centre pins holes I choose to go with a modest 1" wheelbase stretch. New Synergy ball joints were added, my old ones were sloppy enough, investing on a proper ball joint tool made the job much easier than expected. However there were some hiccups, like trying to loosen the ball joint nuts and having them just spin the entire joint because the nut was rusted on. I didn't have to get the sawzall, but a neat trick I saw on YouTube where you jack up the axle under the knuckle to add tension was just enough to help loosen the nut.
So all in all it was a solid 3-4 days of work, doing everything as a one person crew. So it was rolling again. As you'll see in the pic below it looks super funny being super tall and only on 33 inch tires. Also compounding the funny look was the fact that I had to add a 1/2" leaf spring spacer as the new crossover steering tie rod was contacting the leafs. Had to use larger boomerangs in the rear and go back to a stock length shackle for the front to try and level things out. Also because this a what I believed would be a temporary ride height I am still running the stock front driveshaft, and so far it has held up and not exploded with the minimal spline engagement. And also because I didn't want to spend money on longer shocks at the moment I fabbed up some spacers for those as well, and those haven't exploded either under city and trail driving! Longer brake lines also required, so some hard lines were added to the stock and already extended soft lines. A new track bar axle side mount was also required to help clear my new steering setup, so I chose to simply make it out of beefy 3/8" flat bar and then weld. Jeep mods are a never ending process of changing one aspect and having to address many others.
Other random housekeeping items, had a weird vibration or rattle coming from what I thought was the dash. Wasted a lot of time digging around there to no avail, but then hit the google machine and people had commented that a worn hood stay rod would transfer vibes all the way to the cabin. After taking a look at the old original bracket and pivot and jiggling it around this confirmed that it did make noises. So I replaced the first quarter of the hood stay rod with a rod end spherical bearing and retained factory geometry. Why, because overkill! So far the vibes have disappeared, but I am sure more will surface on this 23 year old Jeep.
So then this happened. Was hanging out with my father talking shop and having a beer when he was insistent on checking Craigslist for some proper sized tires. Found a fresh ad locally posted a few hours earlier. The next day I had a set of 5 Goodyear MTRs with Kevlar in my possession for the price of what 2 would have cost new. The tread life was about 75% remaining which is unheard of, what a deal. 37x12.5x17 tires are damn big but I had to now reevaluate long term plans. I had a big Jeep camping/wheeling trip coming up and just had to get these mounted. So I got some steel rims and got them mounted. Some flex tests and light fender trimming for the rear had me good to go! The extra backspacing on the wheels (4.25" BS on a 17x9 rim) gave me some much needed stability as well. For a real mud terrain they ride quite civilized on the road and highway, they are louder but the traction gained is huge especially in the muck.
So next up came the big long weekend Jeepapalooza event which was a blast, tons of bbq, wheeling, sunshine, new friends, beer, and just an all around good time. Lots of cool Jeeps built in many different ways. On the last night after the big bbq, awards were handed out for most carnage, most modifications, and then all the attendees voted on their favourite Jeep. Lets just say the Jurassic love was strong, from the adults down to their children, to some of the more hardcore wheelers, everyone had a smile seeing the dinosaur mobile, so I got a trophy
So this is where JP90 is at now. Taking a look back, I managed to cross off some big goals. There are still many more to go and I have to think about where I wanna take things.
Oh and then I went to Portland and brought home a souvenir...
So now I have 2 Jeeps, I must be crazy 2006 Wrangler Unlimited, rolled over 100,000 miles on the way home, 6 speed manual with the venerable 4 litre powerplant (one that isn't burning or leaking oil too!), comfy marshmellowy coil springs, extra cargo space, longer more stable wheelbase, it was a no-brainer. As you can see, the original Sahara alloys made their way onto the LJ. Fitting 33s on stock suspension, with only some minor rubbing at full lock I can work with that for city mode.
I still love the Jurassic Jeep and it has a special place in my heart, but the YJ platform as a whole has limitations. I couldn't justify coilovers or a proper stretch and I was running out of room. So at the moment I will be running JP90 hard in the trails this summer as is, and slowly building the LJ to be a Long Arm lift (3-4" ideally), High Clearance fender, low Centre of Gravity build. At that time the built Ford 8.8 will get put on the LJ, then the Dana 44 from the LJ will get converted for leafs on the YJ. Once it is at that stage the 37s will get transferred over and the JP Jeep will get lowered onto the 33s and stock springs SOA to be the cruiser. For now that is the plan, but these are dynamic things.
Thanks for tuning in, happy Jeeping everyone!