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Post by Srfnfly227 on Aug 5, 2011 8:16:49 GMT -5
I thought a list of the parts on the first page would be helpful for reference. I will do my best to update this when each part is installed: - Savvy 3" suspension lift (Installed July 23-24, 2011)- Rancho Adjustable Shocks (Installed July 23-24, 2011)- Currie Steering (Installed July 24, 2011)- Currie JJ Front Upper Housing (Installed driver side July 24, 2011, Passenger side welded July 27, 2011)- 255/85R16 Toyo MT (Installed July 27, 2011)- Tom Woods Driveshaft (Installed July 27, 2011)- SpeedoHealer from Blue Monkey Motorsports (Installed August 5, 2011)- Savvy BL/MML (Installed August 12, 2011)- Novak Cable Shifter (Installed August 22, 2011)- Savvy UnderArmor (Partially installed August 22, 2011, completed August 31,2011)- Spidertrax Wheel Spacers (Installed August 31, 2011)- Uniden Pro510XL CB Radio (Installed September 2, 2011)- Firestik II 4ft Antenna (Installed September 2, 2011)- Centric Brake Rotors with BlackMagic/Centric Pads I figure I will start this thread from the beginning and then eventually get to the build. I may as well have a little fun with where I've been. So I hope everyone enjoys the story. Here it goes: I guess there never really is a start to a person's Jeep story. I really have no idea when I first feel in love with the Wrangler, but I know I never thought I would have one. There just wasn't enough room to be practical for what I needed as a vehicle. Then all of the sudden, out came the Unlimited. It was perfect, but I really thought it looked a bit goofy. Thinking back on it, I am pretty sure it was just the stock size on the long body. It was just screaming to be bigger. Then finally, the Unlimited Rubicon was offered and I was sold. Of course I was was in college at the time, so it would have to wait. By the time I was in the financial position to pick one up, it was already 2006 and the JK had been announced. I waited it out through the summer and started shopping in the fall. I knew I wanted an unlimited with a manual transmission and couldn't find one within 100 miles of where I lived at the time. When I looked at home, I found a bunch at one of the dealerships about 15 minutes from my house. I went down to look and told the salesman what I was interested in. We went out on the lot, but came up empty on the first walk around. Then I asked why we kept walking past certain Jeeps and he explained that I had told him I didn't want the khaki top. I told him he was crazy, that top is grey :laugh: I had pictured "khaki" as the tan tops from years before. Boy was I wrong. And sure enough, I was in love. So over Veteran's Day weekend in 2006, I purchased my first Jeep. A brand new black/khaki 2006 Unlimited Rubicon with 37 miles on in. Sticker price was roughly $33,500 and I picked it up for $28,000. Not my first picture of her, but just about the only one I have with the hard top on Interior shot So as a happy new Jeep owner, I drove back to Philadelphia with every intention of doing some research and getting her lifted. Just about the time when I was going to pull the trigger on a lift, I decided it was time to take a new job. Good news was that I was moving back to Virginia Beach after 7 years of being away. Bad news was that I was taking a job that started me at a little less than 50% the pay that I was making before. Unfortunately, this put the Jeep mods on hold. Of course I was having fun with it her anyway so all was good. The family of a good friend of mine owned a farm out in central Virginia and we would go out every few months to have some fun on the trails. This left lots of clean up, but it was so worth it. Me enjoying the weekend The after fun picture. I hate mud Other than the visits to the farm, my Jeep was simply my daily driver. I wasn't exactly using the Rubicon for what it was truly capable of, but I didn't care. I was perfectly happy driving around with the top down and and the doors off whenever the weather was good. It was my beach Jeep and that long wheelbase no longer looked funny to me. Especially with my 9 foot surfboard strapped to the rollcage. Going surfing My parents driveway on a nice beach day: In the Spring of 2009, I finally decided to come up with a hard top lift. The LJ hard top is entirely too heavy. Lucky for me, my parents offered up their garage to be my storage spot. The ceiling is somewhere between 12-14 feet high so the top fits above the garage door. It takes a little time since I have to take down the door opener, but I only use the lift twice a year. Once in the fall to get the hard top up there, and once in the fall to get it back down. Nice and high: 90 degree PVC to help the rope make the turn: Good view of the routing of the ropes:
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Aug 5, 2011 8:18:55 GMT -5
That pretty much takes me up to September of 2009 when I went on my first organized event. My brother and I tailed each other to Oak Ridge Estate for the 2009 Virginia Annual Four Wheel Drive Association Trail Ride and Poker Run. He had been several years in a row, but I had always been working that weekend. I was insanely nervous, but had a blast. Rocks are a completely different experience and I'm hooked. It ended up being 200+ vehicles ready for some fun Me going up CJ5 A series at Z-Ditch Dropping in: Had to engage the lockers to get around the bottom corner. Stupid long wheelbase: Coming out. I was told that tire was about 6 inches off the ground: My brother's YJ Over the next year, I went to the farm a few times to play in the mud, but that was about it for offroading. I love living at the beach, but it leaves me with a minimum of a 3 hour drive to get to any serious wheeling. Even longer to get to Uwharrie or Rausch Creek so I'm lucky to get offroad more than 4 times a year. The 2010 Virginia annual at Oak Ridge was the next major event for me. My best friend had so much fun just riding along with me and my brother the year before that he built up his Dodge Raider (small lift, 33s, lockers) and joined us in 2010. My girlfriend at the time (fiance now) joined in my Jeep and my sister in law came with my brother. It was actually a lot of fun having the girls come with us. Stock flex: After the stock Liberty made it through, I couldn't exactly go around: Playing around on Turtle Rock: The Raider had some locker problems on the first day: And now my oops moment. I was overly concerned with my passenger side hugging the tree and forgot to watch the driver side tire. It slipped in. Surprisingly though, I had exactly zero damage from this. Not even a scratch on the flare: I had to wait as this became picture time for the whole group: And I was winched out: The Raider on Turtle Rock:
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Aug 5, 2011 8:19:20 GMT -5
This Spring, I decided it was finally time for the lift. I have done a lot of researching over 4 and half years and have changed my mind several times. At first, I was going to do a spacer lift, then an OME lift. At one point, I was set on JKS arms with Rubicon Express springs and a combination of other parts. Then came the Nth or Clayton long arm. Somewhere around a year and half ago, I came to a plan that really didn't change too much. I was going to buy the Currie 4" lift, but swap in 3" AEV springs. AZJeepNewbie ended up going this route, and his build thread solidified my decision. I just needed to get the money collected and decide on shocks.
Fast forward to this spring and a conversation that I had with Gerald. He told me he was soon to announce the Savvy/Currie 3" lift. Gerald and I put together a nice little package and next thing I new, he had my credit card number :rofl: That was May 2 and now that I have all the parts, the build is planned for July 22-25.
I'm sure I'll have lots of questions, so please don't go anywhere. Also, feel free to post up any advice ahead of time. I'm new at this and want to try to avoid as many mistakes as I can.
So here is the list of parts:
- Savvy 3" suspension lift - Savvy UnderArmor with Savvy BL/MML - Currie Steering - Rancho Adjustable Shocks - Currie JJ Front Upper Housing - Centric Brake Rotors with BlackMagic/Centric Pads - Novak Cable Shifter - Tom Woods Driveshaft - Spidertrax Wheel Spacers - SpeedoHealer from Blue MOnkey Motorsports - Uniden Pro510XL CB Radio - Firestik II 4ft Antenna - 255/85R16 Toyo MT
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Aug 5, 2011 8:19:53 GMT -5
Picking up some parts. It's days like that one that make me really happy to have an unlimited. UnderArmor all fit together. I wanted to know where stuff went before I was under the Jeep. I can not believe the imagination that must have gone in to designing this. MrBlaine is a genius :thumbsup:
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Aug 5, 2011 8:20:36 GMT -5
Well the lift install went ok over the weekend. We hit a few snags along the way, but found ways around most of them. The Jeep is currently sitting at Starr Motors in Suffolk, VA to have the tires installed, alignment completed, and the passenger side JJ Front Upper control arm mount welded on. So now it is recap time. We started working around 8AM on Saturday morning. We started by removing a few things on the front end. First to go was the front bumper, followed by the front sway bar, front springs, and front shocks. We decided to tackle the front control arms next. We started by removing both lowers. I honestly forget what we set the new arms to at this point. Lowers went in without any problems. Front uppers went on next. This of course led to a problem when we tried to get the old bushing out of the Driver's side axle end. We beat that thing stupid and it wouldn't budge, so out came the drill. We drilled out the rubber to gain access to cut the inside of the bushing. Once that was out, the new JJ went in. We reused the old bolt on the passenger's axle side bushing since I haven't gotten the Currie conversion installed yet. It was only driven that way for about 50 miles, as the Jeep is now at the shop. While taking a break from the upper housing, we decided to drill for the lower bumpstop. This turned out to be out first major snag. We made it through with a small bit, then tried to widen it out a bit. The drill bit caught, and snapped off in the whole. Oops. That took a little over an hour to sort out, but luckily, I had help with the install. 2 of my buddies took to the task of finishing the front bumpstops while I began working on the rear end.
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Aug 5, 2011 8:21:15 GMT -5
So while the front end was getting sorted out, I went to work on the rear. Got the springs and shocks out first and I believe we removed the stock track bar. Then we went to work on the control arms. I set the lengths as best I could. I think we had them at 16", but that seems a bit long when looking at the exposed thread on the arms. Currie recommends only having 3/4" on thread showing and I think mine are showing about 7/8". The shop is checking them with the tires on to make sure the 255s stuff without rubbing. Luckily I had a lot of help over the course of 2 days. All together, 7 people have their hand in this. 2 of us worked the entire time, 1 worked all but about 4 hours, and the others came and went when they had time. My brother ended up finishing all the electrical in the garage and that gave us air conditioning and lights. It was 100 degrees plus humidity so the garage door stayed down all day Sunday and we stayed much cooler. Next thing we new it was 10 at night and we decided to wrap things up. The rear trackbar bracket from Currie was the last thing we wanted to get on. My brother and I fought with it for about an hour before giving up on the last bolt. I have no idea who designed it, but at least one of the bolts is too long to fit around the others. We cut off the end of it to make it fit. The others were a pain also and it took 2 of us to get it all bolted together. My fingers are pretty skinny so I reached in with washers and nuts while my brother pushed in the bolts. It was a pain and we quit for the night with only the bolt that goes straight down to go. While I was doing that, the front end was finished. I was amazed. Turn your head for a few hours and all of the sudden the springs, shocks, track bar, and steering are installed.
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Aug 5, 2011 8:21:45 GMT -5
So now it is Sunday morning and we are thinking only a few hours to go. Unfortunately, a few hours turned in to 10. Things started off reasonably well. The control arms were in from the night before so we started off by finishing the rear track bar bracket. The one bolt that was left was the one that we had cut and we were having a real problem with getting it to thread on to the nut correctly. This was taken care off with a quick clean up of the threads right at the cut line. 5 minutes later, the bolt that we fought with for 45 minutes on Saturday night was snugged down tight. The rear bumpstops were next and at that point we remembered there was more drilling to be done. Since I had broken the bolt off in the front, I let my buddy drill the back. It went much quicker without having to drill through the steel pad the front end of the Rubicons have. Of course then we came across another problem. When doing the front, we noticed that the bolts supplied with the top bumpstop wouldn't thread in to the stock hole. Upon a closer inspection of the bolts, they were definitely a different thread. On the front end, we just reused the stock bolts and moved on. The rear bolts weren't long enough though so now we have a problem. A trip to the hardware store was made and we picked up bolts of the new length with the old thread size. I am assuming that this must just be a 2006 thing, but I find it a bit surprising that Currie wouldn't know about it. With the bumpstops now ready for install, we bolted up the shocks to check for length at compression. That is when we came across another problem. The Rancho shocks appear to be too short for the lift. These pictures were actually taken later (with the springs in and no weight on the axle), but you can see the fully extended shock compared to the mount. Full bump left plenty of exposed shaft, so we pressed on. Out of the box came 2 brand new Savvy 3" springs. Put them next to each other and again we started scratching our heads. No where that I know of are these springs designated left or right, but they are definitely different lengths. It is about a 1/4" difference. I forgot to mention this to Gerald so maybe he has some insight. At this point, we were getting well behind on our time frame so we pressed on. Springs went in, axle was jacked up a bit, and the shocks were connected. Tires went back on so we could drop the Jeep on to its on weight and set the track bar lengths. Somehow, both ends ended up perfectly centered, so we adjusted the track bars to fit and bolted them up. At this point, it was time to torque everything down, and this is where the next snag came. The stock passenger side track bar bolt is reused with the Currie bar provided in this kit. The directions indicate that this is a torx bolt, but that a stronger hex head bolt is available through Jeep. Mine had a hex bolt already, so we happily moved on thinking my Jeep came with the upgraded bolt. Started torquing to the recommended value and snap went the bolt :? Oh and when it snapped, the axle shifted about 3/4". This was a problem. The nut on this particular bolt is one of the nuts with the tab sticking off it to keep it from turning while you tighten it. Well the back half of the bolt was now locked in the nut. Nothing we could do freed it up so one friend made another hardware run, while the other 2 of us continued around the Jeep torquing all the bolts. When my buddy returned, we went to work on the new track bar bolt. Of course now we had to figure out how to get the Jeep back centered over the axle. Jumping on the bumper didn't shift it at all, but one of my friends had a different idea. He remembered reading at some point that turning the steering wheel would help. Since the weight was on the wheels at that point, we tried it and sure enough, it shifted the axle right over to where the bolt lined up. Took 30 seconds and the bolt was through. Unfortunately, we were using a normal nut on the back and had a really hard time tightening it down. We did our best, knowing that it was going to a dealer to get tires installed and an alignment so this was very temporary. With that bolt installed, the lift was complete. Time for a test drive. I hopped in the Jeep and 5 ft in to the test drive, I stopped and put her in to 4 wheel drive. As you can see, the driveway is a bit muddy. Well the mud wasn't the only reason for 4 wheel drive. The garage I was using all weekend is actually behind my sister's house. Construction of this little project started in October and things are finally coming to a close. That is why my brother was working on the electrical. Well the weekend before this, I was helping my brother in law dig a trench. This was because the city decided to tell them after building the garage that the new building was too close to the electric line to the house. They were told to move the garage or get the line buried. Line buried it is so the trench was dug. 27" deep and the mud was all over the driveway after the storms hit that weekend. Of course it was actually the trench across the driveway that was my concern.
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Aug 5, 2011 8:23:28 GMT -5
Well I got to drive it a little bit yesterday and today. All told I think I have about 50 miles on it since picking it up from the shop yesterday afternoon. I am extremely happy with how it turned out. There is so much less side to side sway, that it's hard to believe. I would love to see what it would be like with a full out board on the rear shocks. Maybe one day. For now, the Jeep tracks true down the road. I have had it to about 70 mph and it is completely vibe free, either from the drivetrain or the steering. In fact, the steering is incredible. I don't currently have a steering stabilizer installed, and the steering is much better than stock. The Currie parts work wonders!!! Now I just need to play with the tire pressure a bit. I am sure the shop over inflated at least a little bit. Some more pictures: The other Jeep is on 35s. I like my 33s
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2011 8:32:42 GMT -5
You've been busy! Looks good. That trench is nothing, I know a guy that needs a snorkel to get in to his garage if it rains.
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Aug 5, 2011 8:43:58 GMT -5
You've been busy! Looks good. That trench is nothing, I know a guy that needs a snorkel to get in to his garage if it rains. Thanks Keith. I love the way it sits and drives. Amazing difference over stock. Trench was nothing on the way out. Getting back there was fun though. Oh, and the 100 point turn I had to make so I could back in to the garage and after driving back there. And I have to give a HUGE Thank You to Joe and the rest of Starr Motors. They ordered the tires and then stored them for a month while I was waiting on the last few pieces to trickle in. Never gave me any crap about it. They also did a beautiful job on welding the Currie upper housing on the front axle. I honestly could not be any happier with there work and price. I will definitely be taking it back to them for anything I need in the future.
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Feb 21, 2012 15:57:11 GMT -5
Wow I didn't realize that I never finished this thread. First post is updated with parts that are on as of now. Here is the rest of the story and some pics from this years annual. Yesterday I got the Savvy BL and MML installed. Total time was about 5 hours and that included yet another run to the hardware store. The through bolt on the motor mounts are 18mm and both of my socket sets stop at 17mm. Figures :laugh: I am really happy with how this is turning out. The stance is great as is, but I can't wait to get the Spidertrax on next weekend and hopefully the UnderArmor on the following. The Virginia 4Wheel Drive Annual Trail Run is Labor Day weekend so I am getting in to a time crunch now. Before the BL: After the BL: It occurred to me that I really haven't updated pictures in while. Here are a few of different components. The Currie JJ Front Upper Housing: Driver's side: Passenger Side: Passenger Side Tire Coverage with 255s, Rubicon flares, and Moab rims without spacers: Driver's Side:
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Feb 21, 2012 15:58:22 GMT -5
Update on the Jeep since it has been a while. I spent a long time trying to get the UnderArmor on and came across a few issues that I wasn't expecting. I had contact with the fan and fan shroud (have found out that is normal). I redrilled the holes in the shroud and dropped it about 1/4". It clears now, but not by as much as I would like. I also have very solid contact at the tail pipe of the exhaust. My exhaust is being held up against the bottom of the frame. Even with disconnecting the rear 2 hangars, I have to pull down pretty hard on the tail pipe to get any space there. Little frustrating, but still very happy with how everything went together. My theory on why I have exhaust clearance problems is that the hangar on the transmission mount is just too high. The added length on the Unlimited causes the rear end to be raised too high. I can't back this up, but somehow I bet the TJ and the LJ have the same hangar. That leaves the tail end of the pipe lifting higher on an Unlimited since it is longer after the hangar. I could be completely wrong though and I know Blaine has said that the exhaust on TJs is one of the most inconsistent and frustrating things on a Jeep. Maybe I'm just unlucky.
All that said, I finally dropped the Jeep off at Starr Motors again. They did my tires and JJ Front Housing and I was very impressed with them. I would have loved to keep working on it myself, but I just flat out ran out of time. Hurricane Irene kept me from working on it the last few days and now I am away on a work trip till Thursday. I leave Friday afternoon for the trail ride so it was time to get a shop to finish things up. They are taking care of a few things:
- Adjust the Novak Cable Shifter. I currently can not get the Jeep to stay in 4LO. I know the jam nuts on the body bracket are still loose and I don't have tools that will fit in the spaces.
- Install Spidertrax
- Install steering stabilizer (they have it at the shop so may as well have them do it)
- Set rear pinion angle.
- Fix my exhaust clearance.
- Finish the installation of the Savvy UnderArmor. Including checking for adequate clearance above the transfer case (I dimpled, but maybe not enough) and mounting my locker pumps somewhere.
- Fix a rattle I have while in reverse. It sounds like it is metal on metal and from the front end somewhere, but it only happens in reverse. Not sure what I think that would be.
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Feb 21, 2012 15:59:32 GMT -5
I picked the Jeep up from Starr Motors in Suffolk, VA on Thursday September 1. I could not be happier with their work. They took care of all issues and came in way under what I was expecting to pay. I highly recommend this shop to anybody in the area.
I had them adjust the pinion angle by bringing in the lowers. I had them set pretty long and it was starting to look like I would have some clearance issues back there. Sure enough, they still had to trim the rear lower coil bucket. They contacted my shocks at full droop.
Exhaust was taken care of with a pry bar and adjusting the hangar right in front of the rear wheel. No more contact anywhere.
Reverse rattle was my exhaust hitting my front upper control arm mount/bolt/something. The adjustments they made also cleared that up.
The UnderArmor looks awesome and the locker pumps are now bolted to the rearmost crossmember and frame. Just two simple brackets and they are now up and out of the way. Looks great.
Wheeling trip went better than I could have imagined. The suspension improved the ride more than I can explain. I was so sick of the body sway whenever I hit a bump, and this smoothed it out almost completely. I always felt in control while on climbs, descents, and especially offcamber spots. I love the AntiRock Oh, and the clearance gained with the UA is unbelievable. I had people constantly commenting about how I drove over things without scraping at all. It was amazing after all those years of wheeling completely stock. That shovel sucked.
Sadly though, 2 of my Johnny Joints blew in the rear. Axle end of both rear uppers. Apparently they had a manufacturing defect around the time I got mine so Gerald is shipping me 2 new ones. It's annoying that I will have to fix it already, but I guess it could be worse.
I'm off to finally clean it out from the trip. Wheeled with the doors off so there is a bit of mud pretty much everywhere it can get. I'll get my after picture after I wash it and post that up. I'll also have the action shots as soon as I get the good ones from my buddies camera. Can't wait to see those.
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Feb 21, 2012 16:02:17 GMT -5
Here is the final stance. I am really happy with it. Just over 17 inches of belly clearance on 33s. After the Spidertrax. This is the Rubicon fender flare with 255/85 tires (33x10.5) on the stock Moab rim and a 1.25" wheel spacer. The tires are centered, it is just the angle the photos were taken from. The UnderArmor doesn't come with a provision for locker pumps, so I had Starr Motors make a very simple bracket. The pumps are almost in the stock location so there was no modification needed to hoses, wires, etc. I finally have a steering stabilizer. I'm also very happy with the Currie Steering. My brother and I made this CB antenna mount. It is a piece of aluminum cut down to fit behind the spare tire and bolted right to the stock spare tire carrier. I got a CB shop to tune it and got really good numbers. In fact, the owner of the shop was pretty impressed.
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Post by Srfnfly227 on Feb 21, 2012 16:03:04 GMT -5
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