Deepwater Jeep

[Deepwater Jeepin]

I forgot to add that i have to do something about the 33's rubbing. I flexed it out in the creek bed tonight and not only was it rubbing on the floor boards but it was also rubbing on the front of the wheel well... im trimmed out pretty far. I was really not wanting to bump stop if i can help it and i want to stay with as low of a lift as possible... any suggestions.





If i have to bumpstop, where should i shop for these?

[XJcoupe]

Originally Posted by Deepwater Jeepin

I forgot to add that i have to do something about the 33's rubbing. I flexed it out in the creek bed tonight and not only was it rubbing on the floor boards but it was also rubbing on the front of the wheel well... im trimmed out pretty far. I was really not wanting to bump stop if i can help it and i want to stay with as low of a lift as possible... any suggestions.

Attachment 1773

Attachment 1774

If i have to bumpstop, where should i shop for these?

Bumpstops in your bottom of your coils will stop the rubbing, you can try 2 hockey pucks glued together, installed 1 at a time then stack the next, without removing the axle. use windsheild glue not sillicone. Another way is to go out and buy 2 cheep rubber mellets- cut the handles off, redrill, drop the axle, counter sink a bolt into the rubber, bolt to bottom of coil bucket.
now if you want to buy new aftermarket bumpstops, be willing to dishout the $$$ coin, these are a cheep fix that do work

[jfxj67]

Originally Posted by Deepwater Jeepin

Well the header is in, you can find a picture on the header tech thread.

The flares are done also... i Really like them, I would like to do an in depth thread on their installation, i took alot of pictures and i wish i knew
what i knew now before i started. Overall i think they turned out well.

Attachment 1770

Attachment 1771

Attachment 1772

Next project is painting.

I want to paint the jeep black down from the lower trim piece and the front and rear quarter panels below the body fold. I will just be undercoating it. I also want to take the front bumper off and repaint it because i really did a fast crappy job the first time and it needs redone. I thought about maybe putting a single coat of undercoating and then bedliner to give it a different look from the rest of the body. Any thoughts or advise, i have never auto-painted before? I will also get my fairlead mounted when the bumper comes off.

[jakeWI]

like i said in your pic album, those flares look great! glad you used all four rear tj flares.

[Deepwater Jeepin]

Well i started painting today with the help from my wife. (Working with my wife on the jeep made the whole project worth the effort) We sanded it down, wiped it with acetone, sanded and wiped it again, then rattle canned it with a few layers of undercoat.







I really should have gave the jeep a bath after christmas night wheeling and before i began painting. That fresh new paint and the dirty old paint really clashed but i know it will look better after an all around bath. I also cant decide if i want to keep the gas cap cover origional color or not, i figured i can paint it later if i decide i dont like it. Also, i am going to paint the flares, they look odd being a different color black then the new quarter panel black.

I also pulled off the winch and repainted the bumper, i threw a coat of truck bed liner on this... im going to mount the fairlead once im done.



One side almost done, now i need to do the other side and the front. My rear stock bumper took a good hit a while back, i might attempt beding it back out and painting it until i get an aftermarket replacment.

I have a question for everyone... not that it is painted, should i put a special wax or something on top of it to strengthen the paint to make it last longer. I would hate to come out of a mud hole or the car wash and be missing half my work because i should have done something i dident.

This is my first ever body work...

Thanks

[Deepwater Jeepin]

Well i finished painting and i finally got the hardware to mount my fairlead, so it's time to start another project... i will call it "beef". My ford 8.8 swap. The tubes on this thing are huge!



I picked it up from a guy off craigslist for a 145$ and it appears to be in decent condition just from looking at it. It came off a 1995 EB edition explorer. It has some funky third shock on it that was kind of cool, but it had to go. Another thing i thought was wierd, it has this connecter that is on the top of the housing.



Any idea what that thing is... ABS maybe??

Well i then removed the sway bar, brakes lines and e-brake cables. Im hoping to be able to re-use the brakelines and maybe even the e-brake cables when its ready to be put under.






I decided i was to tired to crack open the diff last night, so maybe within the next couple days i will get to take a look at it's insides. (I need to review 2000's build agian )

I will most likely have to put new brake pabs on it, the disks are a little rough looking, rusty. I figured i would remove the brake disks and put the sandpaper to them. (Hoping i can do without replacment) I have my shock mount brackets, and the leaf spring perches are in the mail.

Im going to wait on buying gears for it until i get a look at the carrier and axle shafts. (I wonder if the posi will be worth anything when it comes time to wheel)

I will keep my progress posted.

[ZackXJ]

nice man, keep it coming.

[riderxmjk]

nice xj cant wait to c wat comes next

[vipervenom182]

did u ever get that 8.8 opened up, what kinda shape was it in?

[Trailbound]

nice . any updates on your rig?

[wicked xj]

nice build

[Deepwater Jeepin]

No cool updates... i have very little time when school is in. Its taking almost a month to put in wheel bearings and new brake calipers. (Of course it would have helped if i found out they were all bad at the same time.) Feb 27th is this years first wheeling trip to Kansas Rocks, so i have to get the brakes done and get it bumpstopped THIS weekend. (Hockey pucks are already here)

Looks like im going to have a light homework load this weekend so i might even get the 8.8 opened up.

The week of March 15th is Spring break... im married so im going to the shop instead of Mexico.

The goal is to have the 8.8 in and re-geared to 4.56's

We will see.

[Deepwater Jeepin]

Ok, it was the night before the Frostbite trip and i my goal for the night was to pull the thermostat, (Read the Frostbite 2010 thread to see how that went ) and get a windshield washer tank working.

Since i cut the flares pretty heavy i had to relocate the washer tank because in the 97+ years it is mounted in the fender.



The 97+ is on the right. To try and relocate this long akward shaped thing neatly would be a pretty big feat, so i opted to install a tank from an earlier xj. The newer tanks come with two pumps, the older ones have only one and it is smaller.



So, i had to wollar out the hole in the old tank and use the seal that was on the newer tank. Well it leaked anyway, so i threw some form a gasket on it.

I capped one of the hoses with a small bolt, and sealed it up. The longer hose was sealed, the shorter one was used, along with the same pump and connector that as associated with it. Wrapped the un-needed wires up with electrical tape. (I currently have no left horn) I had to break off a couple of clips that hold the conduit to the engine bay in order to create enough slack for the hoses and connector to be able to reach the new tank that had to be mounted close to the master cylinder because you obviously cannot mount it on the lip where the hood comes down on.



I used some small self tapping screws to mount the tank, hooked it all up.... and its done, works perfect.

[Deepwater Jeepin]

I have been collecting parts throughout the first half of the semester, and now that spring break is here, lets see how much i can get done.

The to do list....

#1 Swap in the 8.8
#2 Re-gear to 4.56's (Attempting to get it done without taking it to a shop)
#3 (After the new gears go through their initial break-in...) Install aussie lockers front and back.
#4 Hopefully my Solid differential covers will get here before break is over.
#5 Delete clutch fan pully and find a second elec. fan
#6 Install rear bar pin eleminators, measure, and order new rear shocks.

It's a big list... lets see how far i can get into it.

[Deepwater Jeepin]

I decided to wheel it Saturday night with friends before tearing into it sunday. Which was a blast! However, somehow during the night, my camera case became... misplaced and it had my cable to connect it to the computer, so im sorry for no pictures.

I tore into the 8.8 Sunday.... after some more wheeling.

It started out so good, completly emptied the diff housing, cleaned it up, inspected it. I found a few metal chips that i still do not know what they came off of. The splines on the axle shafts look OK. The splines on the longer shaft are not quite as rigid as they are on the shorter shaft. I think they will be ok, but it still kind of bothers me.

Now we have run into our problem. I have a bearing puller, but not a large enough bearing puller. So i could not get the pinion bearing off the pinion. I found a guy in town that did it for free today though, and he had some really good advise for doing my mock up pinion installs so that i do not have to press and pull the new bearing each time for shim adjustment. I take a dremel to the inside of the old bearing so that it slides on and off fairly easy, and use that untill im getting an acceptable pattern.

Now i won't be able to dig into it again till probably Wednesday. Short period of time and such a long list.

I will be sure to edit and add pictures if my camera cable ever turnes up.