Grabber Blue Eliminator

[jeff351]

Cool build. Nice attention to detail there!

[Parei_doll_ia]

I bought some new wheels and 265/75r16 Falken Wildpeaks, I've never been a fan of American Racing's big center caps, so I made a prototype cap that should make these wheels look a lot like the 10 hole Eliminator wheels. I stuck it in the AR wheels that I have currently since they should have the same center bore dimensions. They also work as hub centric rings. 

 

I also fixed the paper gasket on the headers that I never should have installed, replaced it with a multi layer steel one. In preparation for moving to California, I re installed the egr tube by using some metric adapters and a 12" flexible gas line. It was still failing closed loop sometimes, so I added an AEM AFR gauge and sent the 5v output to the REM to send that to the ECU to replicate the narrow band signal. I'm still cleaning up the wiring for that, but seems to be working.

 

I also put a 48" UWS toolbox in. I centered it to still have good access to the tie downs. 

 

[Parei_doll_ia]

New wheels in, also finished 1 of the center caps in ABS

 

And a picture outside loaded down with 600lbs of scrap

[MiNi Beast]

Looking good. 

[JimiGibbs]

Looks GREAT!!!!!

[scguy]

Wow, man, that looks top notch! Love the wheels and center caps. 

[Blade]

Great looking wheels and center caps. Love that grabber blue, nice looking truck!

[OldSch88L]

Nice craftmanship, and I really love the stance on that truck!!! On a side note, on that front end picture of your truck, are these Hella 450s or 550? I want some of those as well for my truck but I can't decide size-wise between the 450 or 550...

[Parei_doll_ia]

7 hours ago, OldSch88L said:

Nice craftmanship, and I really love the stance on that truck!!! On a side note, on that front end picture of your truck, are these Hella 450s or 550? I want some of those as well for my truck but I can't decide size-wise between the 450 or 550...

Comet 550s with the yellow fog beam, I really like them

[Parei_doll_ia]

It's been a while, I guess I should update this.

 

New Spectra tank, the Carter pump I got from rock auto didn't look like it would fit too well so I kept the old pump since nothing seems wrong with it, but I did replace the upper line on the pump and it fixed the pressure leakdown that would lose ~20psi within a few seconds of the pump priming. I'll keep the Carter as a spare, I could make it work, but didn't want to hack up the sending unit. 

I found a 100 amp alternator on sale at Summit for $53 a while back, so I threw that one in and I'll keep the old as a spare.

 

I'm starting to transfer and organize all of my tools from the garage into my truck box, still haven't found a good place to put the spare axles or my compressor setup. It doesn't fit too well in the box, my original thought was to put the 450C in the engine bay where the coolant reservoir used to be, but there's not enough room with the shelf installed. I think I may be able to put them under the bed above the muffler? We'll see.

 

The truck has been wandering a bit more on the highway since the lift, not to where it feels dangerous, but not exactly something I want to deal with all the way to San Diego. 1st up was a bigger sway bar, I ended up taking one out of a WJ. Some searches showed it being installed with drilling holes and welding, but I found some Energy Suspension 30mm mounts intended for a TJ aftermarket bar for $30. I took the bumper off to put a bolt in the hole that's already there in the frame, and put the rear bolt in the front swaybar hole. I also had to trim the fender brace. Fits pretty well, and makes up for the added length of the bar arms. It helped a little, but I feel like my box needs adjusting as well. I think the box might have taken a beating while flat towed maybe? idk. I pulled a ZJ box from the yard, and bought a brace and spacer from Kevinsoffroad. I'm still waiting on the brace, I probably should have gotten the spacer from somewhere else if I'd known the wait for the brace would be over a month. 

 

When doing the lift, I lost a 17mm socket in the UCA pocket. I thought I lost it for good in the frame, but one day I happened to look in the LCA pocket and...

 

I bought a tailgate retainer from a JT, flattened and cut it down a little, installed with a bolt that not many people have the tool to remove, should at least keep the dumber criminals at bay.

 

I bought a Honda Grom, it's small enough that I can fit it in the bed with the gate closed, even with the box. I'm going to add a tie down point here I think, to keep the strap pressure off of the aluminum box for the 2300 mile trip.

 

My phone takes pretty good night pictures

[Pete M]

some good upgrades there  

 

I ended up finding my missing socket when I sliced off the lower mounts.   

[500 MJ]

Great job on the truck so far, digging the mods you've done! 

[Parei_doll_ia]

The mods seem to never end with me. Doesn't help that I'm sitting around for 2 months with nothing to do before I start this job.

 

I knew I was forgetting something from this month, and it was also probably the most successful - I added an external trans cooler. Since I put the gauge in, I've been seeing temps around 210, so it would probably not be enough cooling for towing. From some searching, everyone seems to install Hayden 678, but it look to be discontinued on Summit's site. I looked for coolers with the same-ish dimensions, and found Hayden 698, which looks pretty much the same as 678, but has a thermal bypass in it. I bypassed the stock trans heater cooler, and re-used both of the quick connect lines since I just replaced them when I did the rad. I haven't seen temps above 180 so far, and the thermal bypass eliminates the need for the stock cooler in cold climates. The engine seems to run slightly cooler now too. 

 

[Pete M]

no Jeep is ever "finished".  there's always another upgrade or repair on the horizon.   

[Parei_doll_ia]

The last few things before I tow a U-Haul across the country:

 

Finally got the box brace in from KOR, it looks good, and installs in minutes. Cleaned up the ZJ box and adjusted it on the bench, then removed the old box and found one of the universals on the intermediate shaft had a bit of play in it. Summit had them in stock, so I changed that out and the steering is great now. No more wandering on the highway, and the steering isn't way over boosted anymore.

 

Finally tackled the AC, pulled all the lines out and freed the stuck line nuts in a jar of Evaporust. The condenser got some of the vanes broken off because I had to remove it with the lines still attached, so I replaced that too. It isn't the Spectra one that's parallel flow (couldn't get it in time/only on Amazon that I try to avoid), but a new tube and fin should still have better efficiency at rejecting heat than the old corroded one.

I don't know the history of this compressor other than it seems like the truck was just filled with r134 without replacing any seals or even the drier, so I replaced the compressor too. Summit has a Vintage Air SD508 that is a genuine Sanden compressor (SD5H14), it just has the wrong cylinder head and a 7 groove pulley instead of 6. I swapped the head, torqued it per the manual, and it works great. It does pull the belt about 0.125" closer to the engine, so I ended up swapping  back to the 6 groove after I charged the system. I also had to use the old clutch since the pulleys are different diameters. It held vacuum overnight, so I definitely fixed the leak that it had before. I really didn't want to have to pull the dash to change the evaporator. Charged with 30oz of r134 and I'm getting about 46 degree air out of the vents, now I won't get heat stroke from driving through Arizona.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/VTA-04808-VMA

 

I also raised the shackles from the lowest hole to the tallest one, since it seems like the springs have settled now, and to add a little rake for towing. I have about 1" of rake now.

[Parei_doll_ia]

Just got done taking a 5x8 Uhaul across the country. All that time I spent on the ac, and when I needed it the most (Oklahoma) it was overloading the cooling system so I couldn't use it. Spent a lot of time around 222-226 degrees but it made it. I ended up wrapping a 7lb bag of ice with a towel in OK and holding it in my lap for cooling. It was 105F out, and I could barely keep it at 60 in the 80 limit. The mountain in between El Centro and San Diego was the only time I ever had to stop because the needle went into the red.

 

I entered Uranus in Missouri 

 

Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo 

 

I came across this sign at a rest stop in NM

 

Stopped at the nuclear weapon museum in Albuquerque 

 

At the top of the mountain in Flagstaff 

 

Waiting for the truck to cool down in the mountains on I-8 

[Pete M]

I wonder if pulling the grille would help at all? 

[Parei_doll_ia]

On 7/15/2022 at 7:41 PM, Pete M said:

I wonder if pulling the grille would help at all? 

Not really. I was pulling at its limit in high temperatures, there's no real way around it getting hot. I wasn't the only one having trouble on that mountain either. (It goes from sea level to 4200ft in just a few miles, 110F on one side and 70F on the other) Now that I'm unloaded, it drives like normal around 200 and the ac works great. I don't want to do this again though 

[MiNi Beast]

But it did it. 

[Parei_doll_ia]

If you're coming here from the Cars and Bids auction: Don't ask questions about the truck here, ask them on the auction page and I will answer them there. My DMs are also closed here until the end of the auction.

 

These are two threads I have made here that are also useful to understand some of the modifications to the truck. The 1st one is a write up that I made for the O2 sensor, and the 2nd explains how I repaired the EGR tube.