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Project: How I feel MJs *should* have come from the factory


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Not turbines, I had the 5 spokes. I think they are 1" wider than stock steelies so maybe that is it. My 90 will be running stock steelies so maybe these arms were more important than I thought. :dunno:

 

nah i meant that I have the turbines on my truck, maybe they're less BS?

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The older MJ and XJ 5 spokes was 7" wide and had a flat outter lip so you could only balance it backside only (unless you wanted ugly stick-on weights on the outside). I'm not sure of the year, but the newer 5 spokes were 8" wide and had an outter weight lip. 8)

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Not turbines, I had the 5 spokes. I think they are 1" wider than stock steelies so maybe that is it. My 90 will be running stock steelies so maybe these arms were more important than I thought. :dunno:

 

 

 

Pete - nice looking Stock MJ jamminz.gif

 

I have these same 5 spokes that I'm running on the '89, and they rub on the LCA in a tight turn, I had one off today, and checked the Back set, and it was 5", and I do beleve they are 7" wide rims, I doubled checked a stock steel rim and the BS in 4.5", and now I know why they rub, have 235's on both.

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Pete - nice looking Stock MJ jamminz.gif

 

Yeah, I sorta miss how she used to look and drive. That was a big motivator for getting the 90. But I also wanted to add in those extra features I'd always desired in the 88, things like all-wheel-drive and 31" tires. :D

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Pete....about those LCA's.....

 

when you said you cut the "sleeve", did you mean the bushing that fits over the bolt, or the cup that holds the rubber part of the bushing in the arm? I was under the impression that there was alot more modifying that needed to be done than what you described (?) If it's as simple as cutting that small sleeve, I'll be a happy boy!

thx,

Jeff

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All I did was trim the ends of the bolt's sleeve. Don't know yet if that's all I need to do, but with the bit of trimming in the other places you see, it's all I had to do to make it fit. :D I saw an article from a guy who didn't cut anything to get them in his XJ, but we can't simple "bend" the lower control arm mounts on the body like he did.

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Cool, thanks for the info. I'm supposed to be acquiring a set of them from Jerry (tjbliley) soon to go under mine. Lemme know if you have any issues with them other than what you mentioned already.

 

Jeff

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Maybe the fact that it's lower than a 4wd but still with 30" tires? I feel it gives it a great look. :D

There will be some common features. I plan to take my favorite stuff from the red truck (like lining the rockers with poly bedliner and installing some tie down rails in the bed) and then add in the stuff I always wished for (like 31" tires).

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Not turbines, I had the 5 spokes. I think they are 1" wider than stock steelies so maybe that is it. My 90 will be running stock steelies so maybe these arms were more important than I thought. :dunno:

 

nah i meant that I have the turbines on my truck, maybe they're less BS?

 

NOPE, As far as I can tell, all Jeep rims (XJ, YJ, TJ any how) are the same BS, about 5.25.

 

Image Not Found

 

Like Pete, I can not say with certainty if my stops where altered in the past, but 31x10.5 did NOT hit the LCA's with the 10 spoke Jeep alloy rims. I switched to Trexus Swampers on the same rims and they hit, but only because of the design of the tread. there are large lugs on the sidewalls as most of you know.

 

 

CW

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Not turbines, I had the 5 spokes. I think they are 1" wider than stock steelies so maybe that is it. My 90 will be running stock steelies so maybe these arms were more important than I thought. :dunno:

 

 

 

Pete - nice looking Stock MJ jamminz.gif

 

I have these same 5 spokes that I'm running on the '89, and they rub on the LCA in a tight turn, I had one off today, and checked the Back set, and it was 5", and I do beleve they are 7" wide rims, I doubled checked a stock steel rim and the BS in 4.5", and now I know why they rub, have 235's on both.

 

FYI, Stock Steel FORD Ranger rims will fit PERFECTLY and have 3.75 BS. Its likely, someone measured incorrectly or has another MFGers rim if the BS is different.

 

All Jeep XJ, MJ, YJ, TJ rims I have seen have 5.25 BS.

Obviously I haven't seen all of them, but I have seen and measured many in the past twenty five years working on and driving jeeps.

 

BUT, this is JEEP we are speaking of, so my last comment is out the window, as when talking Jeep, anything is possible. :roll: :eek: :D

 

Image Not Found

 

CW

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CW - I measured the rims from the low side (flat) of the rim, not the high or outer edge as you showen in your picture, I measured wrong??

if so, that would make a 1/2" differance? Thanks for correcting me.

 

Thanks for that info on the Ford Ranger rims, I know this would give another option for replacement rims.

 

I changed out the steel stock rims, with mis match tires, to the 5 spoke with good tires to try to solve the DB problem, and yesterday, I did a 140 mile trip and NO DB at any speed, But I still need to get the front end alignment checked out. But other projects are on the forefront now.

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I changed out the steel stock rims, with mis match tires, to the 5 spoke with good tires to try to solve the DB problem, and yesterday, I did a 140 mile trip and NO DB at any speed, But I still need to get the front end alignment checked out. But other projects are on the forefront now.

 

Glad to hear!!

 

YES absolutely tars that are out of ballance or have broken belts can cause a situation very simular to DW!! One difference is you can almost always pin it down to a perticular speed.

Generally DW is not speed limited. its more something sets it off, like a pot hole or a dip in the road or a out of ballance tar.

 

When measuring BS you measure from the outer most edge to the wheel mounting surface or WMS.

 

Like I said before, its entirely consievable someone adjusted mine and Pete's stops sometime BEFORE we owned the vehicles.

 

PETE says: Given identical backspacing and wearing the same tires, a 7" wide rim would still move the tire 1/2" farther out than a 6" rim. Could make all the difference in the world.

 

EXCELLENT point Pete!!

:bowdown: Think about this, its a good example.

If your rim has 5" of BS it dosen't matter if its 6'', 7'', 8'' or even 10" wide, the width beyond the BS is OUT from the WMS!! Otherwise the BS would be MORE and we have already established it remains at 5", for this example..

 

CW

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I've changed the leaf pack slightly. The one MJ leaf has 2 retention bands on it so I'm swapping it with the Explorer counterpart. So now the pack goes

 

-MJ main

-Explorer main without eyes and the ends are now tapered

-Explorer

-MJ with the retention bands

-Explorer overload

 

Photos/measurements coming soon. I'm having a bit of an issue since I decided to go with the Explorer's larger bolt (doesn't fit in the axle's spring perch hole).

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I'm looking for a "controlled" ride. Just stiff enough to control wrap, control sway, and give me more load capacity. It's only one more leaf than stock, but I have absolutely no idea what it will be like. :dunno: I've got plenty of leafs lying around now, so I can keep fine-tuning.

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The Explorer leaf springs use a larger retention bolt (7/16") for the leafs and I decided to use that and drill out the MJ leafs to match. (bigger is better, right?) Of course, I didn't think about the fact that the heads of the larger socket cap bolts would not fit in the spring pad, nor will the nut pass through the shock pad. So instead of grinding down the grade 5 (strongest 7/16" I could find) socket head bolt and worrying about strength of what little would be left of the head, I grabbed some grade 8 hex heads and just nipped off the corners. Fits perfect! (I didn't even need to grab the head of the bolt when I installed it. Friction with the leaf held it just fine while I tightened the nut)

 

 

 

But this still didn't fix the fact that I didn't have any drill bits wider than 1/2". so instead of widening the shock pad hole, I just used a grade 8 washer and bolted the shock mount directly to the leafs.

Also, be aware that not all drill bits are capable of drilling through the tempered steel of a leaf spring. I used a regular ol' high speed steel bit (with cutting lubricant) and it went through the main leaf just fine, but it would not even make a scratch in the lower leaf (yes, I did grind away the rust first). So out came the expensive set (the ones I very rarely use, for fear of hurting them) and it handled the lower leaf without any drama. :D

Also note that I nipped the edges of the washer so that lower bolt plate thingy would fit up nice and snug.

 

 

Here are the leafs installed. Got 20.75" from bottom of flare to center of hub. The pack, as it sits now

--MJ main

--Exp main

--Exp #2

--MJ # 3

--Exp overload

 

 

Just a couple pics of what rust/time does to MJ main leafs where the bolt passes over them. I hate that this happens.

 

 

I've got leafs, yes I do...

 

I almost forgot to post this one up. The bolts were so rusted in the MJ leafs that they might as well have been welded in. I used my balljoint/Ujoint press again, but the bushing was just flexing without the bolt moving. So I dug around in my boxes-O-stuff and found the gold-colored spacer you see. The rusty bolt is seen on the right. On the left is the pusher bolt I used to push the rusty bolt all the way out (yes, I had to push hard the entire way). Pneumatic impact drivers rule! jamminz.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...

Brakelines are finished and bled! :D The big projects left are the floor and figuring out why the lights don't work right. (when I bought the truck the brake lights came on with the headlights and not with the brake pedal. Now I lost my turn indicators and brake lights altogether. All the grounds and sockets check out ok, but the fuse panel looks suspect. It's not in the greatest condition. :( )

Jeep on!

--Pete

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