bRIBEGuy's 2000 XJ

[bRIBEGuy]

I was feeling pretty good at this point, so I decided to tackle the steering stabilizer next.

Again, out came the pitman puller to pop off the 4 day PB Blaster soaked drag link pin. 

This did not go as smooth as I hoped.

I started cranking down on the puller, and after 2 or 3 minutes, all that was happening was the pin was bending and flaring.  Uh oh.  I opted to pause and take a look back at some info I had printed to make quadruple sure I wasn't screwing something up.  As I'm sitting on the back bumper, I'm suddenly greated with a Jeep shaking "BANG!", followed by the clanging of metal on concrete.

Well, it seems like leaving the pitman puller on under pressure worked, as the pin popped, allowing the puller to fall to the ground.

Sweet.

The rest was easy from there.

I love how beefy the OME damper looks compared to the OEM one.






First couple of drives have shown this to be a worthwhile mod.  Front steering feels much smoother then before.  Not that it's any surprise...........brand new OME damper vs. 242k on a stock unit.....LOL.

Next up: Skidplate.

[bRIBEGuy]

Well, after finnally finding some free time over Easter weekend, I was able to continue the Jeep build a bit.  Interesting stuff in the near future, but first up was fixing a leaking radiator.  My temporary "fix" of keeping a jug of coolant with me was starting to get old, so after a fair bit of research, I opted to upgrade a bit and pick up a Champion 3 row full aluminum rad.

 






Since I was pulling the rad anyway, I figured it was a good opportunity for some "piece of mind" preventative maintenance as well.

Getting started on Friday morning................






Started with draining the coolant, flushing the system, then reflushing the heater core.






After that, out came the old rad.  Third one this XJ has eaten in 245000km, amusingly.






Next up, new thermostat, thermostat housing, water pump, viscous fan coupler, all new hoses, and a new serpentine belt.






And then..............shiny time!

[bRIBEGuy]

Radiator is a 98% drop in fit.  The build in transmission fluid cooler uses different threaded attachments then the stock rad.  Luckily Champion includes two new threaded flares and elbows.  So I started by cutting off the old elbow for the upper hose with a dremel, ans mounting in the new one with a piece of hose.







Some mechanic had long ago chopped off the bottom quick connect, so for the lower mount I just slipped the new elbow into the existing hose.  Easy fo sheezy.

This of course is where I found out that the bottom elbow fouls with some metal when the rad goes in.  What metal you ask?  This metal......





I cut out a dime size piece with a dremel, wacked it a few times with a hammer, and hit it with some paint.  Problem fixed, and the rad slipped right in.






After that it was smooth sailing until I accidentally snapped my fan shroud in half.  Luckily Pooks garage of XJ saved the day, and before I knew it, I was rolling again.







Now to get back to rounding up parts for the fun stuff...................

 

To be continued............

[hps4evr]

where did you get the rad from??? looks good

[OnyxGrizzly]

sweet!

[bRIBEGuy]

where did you get the rad from???

I ordered it directly from Champion Radiators:

http://www.championradiators.com/

Quality seems good, reviews were positive, and the staff was helpful in answering my questions.  Oh ya, and it was cheap.  I think it worked out to be under $250 shipped!

[bRIBEGuy]

And so begins the next phase...................











 

[bRIBEGuy]

And new shoes.....

[apeman]

Now you just need a front skid..

[bRIBEGuy]

Now you just need a front skid..

Ha, already have one cleaned up, prepped, and ready to mount!

 

Mainly it'll be for aesthetics, and for a spot to mount the swaybar links too when disconnected.

Hopefully more updates this week................

[OnyxGrizzly]

A writeup or lots of pictures for the SYE would be awesome! I did a hack N tap but I still want to pull my case apart since my chain is stretched. And this would help a lot!

[bRIBEGuy]

A writeup or lots of pictures for the SYE would be awesome! I did a hack N tap but I still want to pull my case apart since my chain is stretched. And this would help a lot!

Here's my SYE write up:

1) Buy a NIB SYE kit from a local forum member.
2) Procrastinate about installing it for a year.
3) Finally get sick of driveline vibes and roll up your sleeves.
4) Pussy out, drive to Chanda, and let Frank work his magic.

Toss in an extra front XJ driveshaft to compete the package, and realize that life is good.

 

[bRIBEGuy]

For fear of this thread being deemed worthless for lack of pictures.....................update time!

Well, after a bunch of shop time, the XJ is a little bigger. 

Front: JKS ACOS, Detours shock extenders, Iron Rock adjustable upper & lower control arms, Iron Rock double Shear Track bar, Iron rock SS brake lines.







Rear: Rubicon Express 1.5" lift shackles, Detours shock extenders, Iron Rock SS Brake lines.






Add in some 1.25" Spidertrax wheel spacers, a set of five new 265/75R16 Goodyear Duratrac tires, and a few other little odds and ends, and it's starting to look pretty okay, IMO.











Interestingly, the 1.5" lift shackles netted virtually no lift in the back.  With the front HD OME springs, I was sitting at 1.75" of actual lift in the front, which the ACOS have now bumped to almost 3.5".  The OME 2" HD spring packs in the back had netted me almost 3" previously, and the longer shackles really only added maybe 1/2" to that.  Odd.  The good news, is that I quite like how it looks a bit lower, the bad news is that I chose the 32" tire size based on an assumed 4-4.5" of total lift.  With 3-3.5" of lift, now I'm thinking rubbing is gonna be a big issue.  Time to look at some massive bump-stops I guess................

[steveo xj]

time for some bushwaker flares then no promes lol

[bRIBEGuy]

Yup, most likely flares will be the next big thing on the list.  Though that'll have to wait a while......