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The Pirate Baboon


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Agreed. On the road would be total nightmare and on the trail still would be no fun at all. Speaking of which... it's on again. August 14th-16th will be another Gilbert trip. Iron Rock Offroad is having an appreciation day up there. Got it home last night and took another look at things underneath. The brake lines look fine, however the leaf springs got the big ugly "X" on cutting the mustard. Stress cracks... lots of them. I know Austin flexed this thing hard. As did I and the owner before Austin. I knew that they both had some inverted arch, but they look really sad close to the eyes on the main leaf. Probably fine on the road? Yup. Fine on the trail? Probably not. Measured up for some bump stops too being that there aren't any on the rear and the fronts have clearly always been too short. I've got a set of used springs that I'll be picking up tomorrow and I'm hoping that I can reuse the guts of the bastard packs and just move everything over to less abused mains. Otherwise, I also have a set of 2wd MJ springs, but I'd really prefer to LEAF those alone.  :rotf:

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What a busy day of wrestling with an axle and a fair amount of grown up language. The rear leafs were in terrible shape with stress cracks near the eyes. I found a set off of a '00 locally. Bushings were in great shape and no cracks to be found. Spent more time than it should've to get the front bolt out but I was happy enough to see the welds holding on the nut inside the frame. Got the springs out, new springs in, and started tear down to decide what was going to stay and what was going to go. I was reading around and found that people were getting consistent results with adding a stock main leaf to a pack to get 1.5" of lift. A bastard pack with a Dakota will give about 2.5". I didn't need all that much more than I already had, but a couple inches would be a plus. My new leaf order is now the main leaf, another main leaf with the eyes cut off, then the stock #2 leaf and #3, a mystery Dakota (?) leaf, and then everything followed up with the stock #4 and overload. Yup... seven leafs in each pack now. The axle was put back under it to find that I gained a little better than 3". I was shooting for 3" total over whatever was already there and figured that everything will sag a bit. Just for good measure, I wanted to throw another inch in the mix and I also wanted more overall ground clearance. U-bolt eliminators and raised shock mounts followed. Mocked up...

 

 

The elongated top spring plate is for a future bump stop. Measurements were taken on the old spring setup that I would benefit from a 6" bump stop to keep the fenders and tires happy. With the new setup, I'll need to re measure to see how close the spring comes to inverting, but here's what I'm thinking...

 

 

Sure, I could've removed factory bump stop on the frame, but after breaking the first bolt, I decided that I didn't want to deal with it. Drilling and welding and fighting with wrestling the axle out again... nope. Shouldn't matter if the frame comes down to a hard stop or if the axle goes up to a hard stop. The rubber is stock stops from a '85 Chevy one ton. These things are hard!... but they'll do. The brake lines need to routed better now, and I need to get longer bolts for the leaf springs, but everything got thrown together and snugged down to see how things ended up. It's got a little rake to it, but I still think it'll settle down.

 

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Ugh... another day of fighting with things. The front went fine minus the fact that I forgot to pick up a coil spring compressor. The axle has enough droop to it that I can push things a little farther with a bottle jack up to the frame so I lucked out there. All I needed was three inches to keep the tires from rubbing so I made these up...

 

 

The left side lower sway bar mount was in the way of easily getting the coil out. Being I already removed the right side and plated over the left side upper threaded holes, there really isn't a need for it anyhow. Gone.

 

Back to the rear... this is where things get ugly. I took it down the road a ways and flexed it around in a couple ditches. Got back home and was shocked with how my pinion angle looked. Way down from where it was! The springs did settle but I wasn't expecting to see this at all! I pulled everything apart again thinking that the old main leaf was tugging things around, so that got removed. I now have the main, stock #2, another stock #2, Dakota leaf, and then stock #3 and overload. Down to a six leaf pack now and I lost a half inch of lift which is fine. It helped my pinion angle some but not near enough. I'm off by 4*. Not up either so I can't just call it a win and follow it up with a hack and tap and then throw a stock front driveshaft back there. Nope... 4* down. I though about lowering my transmission cross member to clean up the angles, and about an inch would make things parallel. I can't stand to put spacers on top of an already custom crossmember though nor am I about to cut it all apart and start over. Same goes for the spring perches on the axle. I think my best option now is to take the leaf packs apart... again... and throw in a shim.  :wall:

 

In the end, I think it sits just about right though.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm off from my job at the school for the next four weeks. My shims came in to get my pinion angle where it belongs and there's a few little odd jobs I'd like to get done before the next rip up to Gilbert. Besides the Ape, I've got some things I need to do on the Eliminator along with a bathroom to gut and a garage sale up at the in-law's. That'll make for a few days on the Eliminator, probably at least a week and a half by myself for the bathroom, a few days away from home... time is going to slip by quickly just like any other "summer" I've had while working in education. As for today, bathroom materials took priority, but I managed to sneak in a couple hours on this.

 

The rear needed to get pulled apart... again. Not a huge deal since I don't have any u-bolts anymore. The springs settled some more since I last looked at it making the stance just about level from front to rear. Now with the shims in place, it's raised things slightly again. While things were apart, I cut apart the bump stop mounts and lowered everything by a couple inches. The new leaf springs are stiffer than the old ones and they don't flex as much. Still, I wanted to allow for flex should they decide to do so in the future.

 

 

Not crazy about the bright silver, but after one trip up to Gilbert no one will ever know. For this thing, I just grab whatever color I have on the shelf that needs finishing. Just wait until I don't have a choice but paint something purple! Anyhow, I put it through a couple ditches and the front suspension is doing all the work. I'm hoping the rear will loosen up some after a good exercise.

 

Next on the list is the AC. No... I really don't need it, but it's just another one of those things that doesn't work and it bugs me. Besides that, I need to figure out why the CB radio is kind of wonky. I've got another one that I pulled from my Eliminator along with the external speaker. Need to figure out what to do when I get around to pulling the factory air box out too. The cowl intake has been done for a while now... just haven't really wanted to pull the cover to take a picture of the completed setup. I guess ambition got the best of me today.

 

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Where's your MAP sensor? Or is that a 96 or higher XJ?

And why didn't you just turn your the valve cover elbow going to the cowl CAI 180* to get rid of all the 90* bends?

Does your cruise work?

 

I like to ask questions.   :yes:

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Where's your MAP sensor? Or is that a 96 or higher XJ?

 

'98.

 

And why didn't you just turn your the valve cover elbow going to the cowl CAI 180* to get rid of all the 90* bends?

 

Not sure what was up with the elbow, but mine has is like it's keyed to only go in one way. I don't mind the 90* loopty-loo.

 

Does your cruise work?

 

My cruise does work.

 

 

I like to ask questions.    :yes:

 

As do I.  :D

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THE AIR CONDITIONING WORKS!!!!  :banana: ... not that it makes a huge difference when the tube doors are on.  :shake: Still, nice having one more thing that didn't work working again. The factory air box got removed too. Tons of space for... something. One thing that found a home there was the PA speaker from my Eliminator.

 

 

Did it need it? Nope. It was sitting unused though. The rear window got more sticker power too to make sure that proper representation has been made.  :D

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yup! Still playing around with dialing in the new rear leafs and angles. I've got a bit of vibrations when I let off the gas though. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I need to drop my trans crossmember to easily make all my angles happy. Fortunately, I'm using this as an excuse to make up some frame stiffeners to create the drop instead of just throwing a spacers between the frame and the crossmember. The frame looks pretty sad so the stiffeners are a step in the right direction anyhow. Then to add to the snowball and being I need to remove the current sliders to plate the frame, I'll be cutting out what's left of the factory rockers to replace with 2"x6" tube. Should be able to get things done... probably.  :laughin:

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Almost finished today. It's done enough to put it down the road and back though and the vibes are all but gone. Everything got hit with some zinc enriched primer. Sealer and paint to follow tomorrow.

 

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I don't think I ever properly looked over the body on this thing before. BONDO?! What kind of jalopy did you trade me, Austin?!  :fs2:

 

 

:rotf:

 

Anyhow, ready for another round of rocks. Gilbert bound Friday morning.

 

 

The old sliders up on the roof are being gifted to a fellow XJ Jeeper. They're still very usable, but it'll take some work with a grinder to make them nice again. Otherwise, the mounts are nice yet and the rest of them can just be used as a template. Regardless, very happy to have them gone and proper tube rockers in place. Oh... note to self, with the newly added height in the rear, always put the high lift on the roof AFTER it's out of the garage.  :doh:

 

 

Tools are loaded, gear is yet to be packed, yet I'm already mentally more than ready to go.  :banana:

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What a marathon this weekend turned into.  :shake: Spending time with friends... working on the Jeep... road trip... By definition, this all works out to the perfect weekend. However, here's what actually happened...

 

We left Friday morning just about on time to meet up with another guy for the first leg of the drive. The plan was to drive up to Gilbert a bit of an indirect way but with the possibility of meeting up with another Jeep along the way. Well, we made it to our first stop off the interstate along with a giant white cloud. My first thought after seeing a dump truck along the side of the road was, "Hu! I bet that guy has some real issues!" Very soon after, I realized that the giant white cloud of smoke was actually coming from the underside of my Jeep. Bummer... fortunately, we were planning on stopping at my parent's place which was conveniently just over a mile away. I crawl under it... not good. Everything is drippy and burning on the exhaust! Goofy thing about it was that we couldn't tell what it was right away! Oil? Maybe... it's kind of brownish. Tranny fluid? Maybe... it doesn't smell like oil. There wasn't any loss of power from the engine or slipping from the transmission, but a decision needed to be made regardless. Diagnose, fix, and continue on or throw in the towel and call the weekend a fail? Everything cooled for a bit and was kinda-sorta wiped clean to address the situation. Transmission... and it's bad. Fluid wasn't even on the stick as it was hemorrhaging from inside the bellhousing. Not good... very not good. Time for an impromptu transmission swap.  :fs2:

 

 

My dad was finishing some interior doors at the time and he just hung about a garage stall's worth. Perfect timing, I guess. Pulled the trans... found a trans... got fluid and a filter... installed the trans... tested the trans (briefly)... cannonball it north about 200 miles. Sounds fun, right? Again... that whole "by definition" thing. This put us six hours late getting to camp. We rolled into camp around 10:00 at night then had a real fun time setting up tents. All this came down to the fact that this weekend was supposed to be all about wheeling and that's exactly what we planned to do.

 

 

Finally had the chance to go out on the trails with Austin. We've only been taking about it for a few years now. :yes:

 

 

Couldn't help but feel left out following two MJs on the trail. Really felt like I wasn't one of the cool kids for a while there.

 

 

Not even a couple hours into the day, we ran into more trouble. The guy in the Jurassic Park XJ got high centered real bad. I made a couple of attempts at the same ledge but the difference between myself and him was that he trailers his Jeep everywhere.

 

 

His dad came up from behind to try and give him a gentle tug off the rocks...

 

 

... and then some more unfortunate events occurred.

 

 

One custom crossmember, coming up!

 

 

He ended up being able to limp it back to camp but that was the end of his weekend as a driver. That meant that my family truckster of a station wagon was fully loaded for the remainder of the day. That's not to say that the rest of the day was without issues. They were minor, but issues none the less. Note to self... get leaf spring clamps to keep them from twisting around and hitting the inside of the tires.  :doh:

 

 

I'm sure there will be more pictures soon. Again, "by definition" it was a good weekend... and it mostly was. I'll take a bad weekend of wheeling over a week of work any time! We were happy enough, the Jeep was still running and able to get us home, and we're already planning for the next round.

 

 

... seems happy enough to be back home with his buddy the shed, anyhow.  :laughin:

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:clapping:  :clapping:  :clapping:  :clapping:  :clapping:

 

 

4k lbs of Jeep vs 4 little bolts.   I'll never understand why people will put loads of time/money into bumpers and rockers and still run a stock transmission crossmember. :dunno:   seems to me like it's just a matter of time before a rock or stump finds it. :doh:

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Glad to see you made it home safely. I had a blast wheeling you and your crew! Can't wait to do it again.... Maybe a fall colors trip?..

 

Absolutely! The group I was with is planning on Dresser in early October. Maybe looking into another event around Backus in late September? I might even be going down to Appleton this coming weekend. Just can't get enough lately, I guess.  :D

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