Clifford: dzJeepChic's '92 XJ [ongoing project]

[Number7 89]

So far I installed JCR 1 ton steering. (huge pain in the butt!) Relocated the trac bar mount, shortend the trac bar, and installed axle tube seals. George:cool:

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

George started this part of the project by removing the stock steering linkage, track-bar, steering-stabilizer shock, and sway-bar brackets.

 

This sucker's coming off:

 

 

Gone. . .

 

 

This shows how much he had to grind off to maintain turning radius. The Tie-rod, at full turn, still hit the coil buckets even after a lot of grinding on both coil buckets and some of the spring:

 

 

Here's the 1st piece of the new track-bar brackets:

 

 

This piece went next:

 

 

Same thing different view:

 

 

This shows the re-inforcement tab welded into place:

 

 

This is the new Track-Bar bracket from TNT, George had to weld in shims because it was too wide for our track bar:

 

 

Here it is tacked in:

 

 

Continued

V

V

V

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

Then he had to take 4" out of the Rock-Krawler track-bar length:

 

 

 

 

It's solid steel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

He sleeved it with steel tubing and welded it:

 

 

Viola!

 

 

He had to add to the steering stops to keep the drag link from hitting the coil buckets (even after all that grinding!):

 

 

Here's the finished install of the JCR Offroad 1 - Ton Steering Over-the-Knuckle:

 

 

After he got the steering all dialed in, George marked the jam nuts with 'Loosen' arrows because he said it was confusing to get it dialed in. He recommends doing this if you install JCR Steering.

 

 

He says that the install was more difficult than he had anticipated. Both knuckles had to be drilled and reamed from the top. Thanks to theksmith for the use of his reamer tool. The pitman arm had to be taken to a machine shop and drilled by a carbide bit -a regular drill & drill press just smoked. After the surface-hardened steel was drilled away it was easy to ream. The kit came raw steel and had to be painted. Aligning the front-end was a lot harder than with factory steering.

 

 

Continued

V

V

V

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

And then George was on to installing a Warn Free-Spin Hub Conversion Kit. This kit allows the front wheels to spin freely while on the highway, saving wear and tear on the front drive shaft and U-Joints, AND gasoline! The first step was to take off the stub shafts and replace them with the new Warn stub shafts:

 

 

Here they are installed:

 

 

He cleaned out the axle tubes with a stick & a rag wrapped around it, kind of like a gun barrel:

 

 

George installed new Superior axle tube seals:

 

 

Axles and seals installed:

 

 

 

 

He put the spindles on (whoops, had to take them back off because the rotor shields go in first!):

The new rotors, hubs and wheel studs that had be be assembled prior to installation (the reason the kit comes with new rotors is the inside diameter is machined larger to fit the new hubs).

New Inner & Outer bearings:

Here's everything assembled; ready for wheels!

Finished:

Not quite finished yet - there's still more to do!

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

We were loading up for The Cinders today and decided to see if Clifford fits on the trailer. Loading him felt much different than loading Number 7; I could feel his weight pushing the truck forward while the front tires were on the ramps. He just walked up though, no need to throttle.

 

 

When Number 7 is on the trailer, his front tires touch the white square tubing shown here, and his rear tires are cradled in the back by an angle iron (next picture). Clifford is only a little bit longer wheelbase, and the angle iron can be adjusted back, so it's a nice fit. We let a lot of air out of the front tires and then he fit even better.

 

 

 

We had some concern that even if the wheelbase was a good fit that the overhang including the spare would be too much, but it's really not bad at all.

 

 

Some random shots:

 

 

 

Whee!

 

 

 

Clifford looks really good on the white trailer behind the white truck!

 

 

So I unloaded him & we aired up his front tires & put him in the garage. When Number 7 hopped up on the trailer I could see the look of disappointment in Clifford's face; I just hope he doesn't take it out on the Prius while we're gone.

 

d

[K7VZ 19]

I know I talked to you and you showed me how you strap the front axle down, but I still don't see any straps on the rear axle. Do you not strap the rear down?

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

I know I talked to you and you showed me how you strap the front axle down, but I still don't see any straps on the rear axle. Do you not strap the rear down?

 

Usually we strap both front & rear down with the straps I showed you. When we took Clifford for a ride we only strapped the front for the short spin around the block. d

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

Clifford is hosting his 1st Sleep-over. :: They grow up so fast . . .

 

 

Already best buds:

 

 

I had to give the Prius a sleeping pill - the feeling of being ganged up on was too much. d

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

Yesterday was Clifford's shakedown run. We ran Sunflower Mine Trail for the 2nd Annual Samdog Memorial with 40+ other rigs! Clifford ran great, here are a few pics of us along the trail:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm impressed by how well Clifford got through everything and how easy it is to drive an automatic through rock gardens and up hill. He's just sort of a tank - point & go. d

[scottL 185]

super clean & flex-hee D; pictures look great! i notice the spring dangling in the 2nd one down. i like where you put the spitfire sticker too; it matches just like i thought it would. really looking forward to picking up blue from the sleep over.