06 LJ Panda Build

[annihil8ted]

Working on the front end now, I've got a few questions. The upper control arms have bolts and bushings all facing the same way whereas all other lower ones and rear uppers are facing inwards. Is this correct? FSM says that all holes should face the inside but I have one where it doesn't have holes and both of my installed one have holes facing the same way

This is one of the arms installed

Another angle of the arm installed

Here's a photo of the leak I found in the condenser. Looks like somehow rubbing cut into it

 

[annihil8ted]

Got all the front arms in as well. What a PITA. Especially after one of the bolts seized to the arm. I’m surprised how well the jeep rode despite how bad the bushing got. I didn’t change out the front upper bearing that is separate from the arm but definitely need to do back and so it at some point.

 

[annihil8ted]

Took a little bit of a break to be out of town for a friend's wedding and other family events but now I'm back with some more updates!

Got around to installing all the shocks. I know the cover is ugly and dust/rust prone so at some point I'll probably cut them off but it's forecasted to be dry here for a while.

Night and day difference with the old and new shocks. Old ones were long dead ranchos and the new ones are no name FAPO P3 regular oil shocks. Running them for a few hundred miles on Dallas roads and I'll say they feel actually really good! The dampening and rebound is very refined, no sudden judders and going over bumps and imperfections in the road, they seem to eat it up no problem. The ability to dial in the softness is quite nice! I can definitely feel a difference between the 8 stops. 1 is the hardest and 8 is the softest and I'm currently running 6 front and rear with no load.

To be fair, I've always ran no name shocks so I don't have a good comparison to one of the community favorites like Ranchos or Black Max but I really do like these. We'll see how they do off road/overland in a couple of months. I know oil shocks can be prone to fatigue so I'm curious how these will hold up.

I've talked to the manufacture and they're planning on gas charged ones and even external reservoir ones later in the year. Based off of my experience so far, I'll give those other ones a go too.

If your eyes are keen, you'll see I also installed a clone Antirock. For about $100 all in, I couldn't pass giving it a try. They definitely stiffen up the front end and so far I'm pretty happy with setup. From 1 (hardest) to 5 (softest), I have them set at 2. I also have JKS disconnects too that I hope to be able to fabricate and use as linkages versus the ones you see above

I may have mentioned already but I've swapped out the steering dampener. That too was a pita where I had to cut the existing bolt but after putting in the new steering dampener, the steering felt immediately better.

You can also see where the last owner drilled another hole to relocate the track bar. Oddly enough, with the lift, I would have thought the axle would be pulled to the driver but it seems more to the passenger side. Hopefully this is just due to the hole being drilled too far over and not due to a warped frame. At any rate though, I have an adjustable track bar I plan on installing soon before I get my Currectlync to get everything sitting correctly.

Some other development, I got my hand on a hardtop for a pretty good price! It's not perfect, missing the rear glass and has a crack/hole in the ceiling but it's 95% there and I'm confident I can push the last bit to 100%. Here's a photo with the hard top fitted along with the rear glass installed

 

[Woodsman]

Very nice, always liked the lines of the LJ. How does it ride compared to a TJ? I would imagine the longer wheelbase of the LJ creates a smoother ride.

 

[annihil8ted]

Very nice, always liked the lines of the LJ. How does it ride compared to a TJ? I would imagine the longer wheelbase of the LJ creates a smoother ride.

Definitely feels smoother compared to my TJ. I am riding on larger wheels here, 33 on LJ vs 32 on TJ, but I think the difference is more than just wheel size. I'll know soon as I plan to swap the same wheels on the LJ (big wheels are too expensive ).

What made a huge difference was refreshing all the control arms and more so the control arms bushing. Even without replacing the two in the front axle, it feels way more smooth compared to before, no more rattling or clunking. I plan to go back and replace them when I can.

Another thing that made it smoother was after the added weight of the hardtop, it seems to ride over imperfections even easier now

 

[Woodsman]

Definitely feels smoother compared to my TJ. I am riding on larger wheels here, 33 on LJ vs 32 on TJ, but I think the difference is more than just wheel size. I'll know soon as I plan to swap the same wheels on the LJ (big wheels are too expensive ).

What made a huge difference was refreshing all the control arms and more so the control arms bushing. Even without replacing the two in the front axle, it feels way more smooth compared to before, no more rattling or clunking. I plan to go back and replace them when I can.

Another thing that made it smoother was after the added weight of the hardtop, it seems to ride over imperfections even easier now

Thank you for the feedback! I was originally looking for a TJ but now you have me rethinking that and should consider looking for a LJ.

 

[annihil8ted]

Thank you for the feedback! I was originally looking for a TJ but now you have me rethinking that and should consider looking for a LJ.

If you can find one and is within the budget, I would almost recommend the LJ over the TJ. The only major difference IMO is if you're hardcore wheeling, the LJ doesn't have as capable angles compared to the TJ due to the wheelbase

 

[annihil8ted]

While parts are coming in from RockAuto (which holy cow shipping is crazy), I wanted to get a game plan on the hardtop repair. Here's a couple of photos of the damage. I'm actually confused how it happened as the impact direction looks like it's from top down, outside in but most of the damage is on the interior instead of the exterior. I've confirmed with a little bit of water that the two holes are connected as water drips through.

The top I believe is easy enough to fix. I know the material is SMC but I'm wondering if I can achieve the same results with a fiberglass cloth and resin. Need to do some more reading on the forum on how to fix. Alternatively I wonder if I can just fill it in without needing a cloth for strength.

The inside/bottom is a little bit more tricky. I've tried to push the piece back in but it's quite stiff and somehow looks bigger than the hole behind it. Which makes me wonder should I trim it where it's smaller and then patch it up with cloth?

The outside, I care about how it looks but for the inside, I'm planning on painting it black and covering it with deadener/carpet. I have a vision where everywhere I go, I'll look for souvenir patches to attach to the ceiling. So because of that, it'll be covered so the repair on the inside can be "uglier". Any suggestions would be welcomed!

 

[annihil8ted]

Going to tackle the AC next as somehow the fan, radiator, and condenser weren't secured down and the movement over time has caused the radiator bracket to rub a hole in lines going into the condenser.

I already have a new condenser and accumulator as we as some PAG oil but I'm confused on how much oil to put in.

Given that mine is an 06, according to the service manual, it's saying I need to put in 6.1oz of PAG46 however how do I calculate what's in the system already? Do I have to take everything apart?

 

[annihil8ted]

Had an extra hour yesterday and decided to do the transmission mount swap. Visually inspecting before doing anything, everything looked good but after taking dropping the skid plate and taking off the mount, I could see that half of the rubber had detached from the mount and I could flex with my hands the old mount where as the new one was really stiff.

Threw the new one in, bolted everything back up, took it for a spin and wow, big difference!

For one, power seems more linear and more "instant". I'm guessing this is because less twisting and shifting is occurring. Gone is the clunk from stepping on the clutch too fast or clutching in after accelerating. Vibration seems to have gone down already too

There still is a little bit of a nose rise and drop in first gear but it's much more manageable now. I'm now curious to see if replacing the motor mounts; most of the rubber and bushing seems to be original so it's due for changing potentially anyways. Will check to see if the motor is moving before I go down this path though

 

[annihil8ted]

Been a minute since I've posted, life got really busy but I've been making progress on the side.

Finally got the AC fixed just in time for the high temps to hit! Blows cold and works great I replaced all the broken components, outsource the charging to an AC shop and while I have concerns that they didn't properly measure the amount of PAG oil, at least it's warranty for the next two years!

As of late, I started getting some intense death wobble so I've been trying to tackle the possible source.

The first to go was my track arm bushings. Was a huge pita but I actually got really lucky and the washers that adjust caster ended up being the perfect size to press them out.

I ended up going with a poly split bushing (yes I'm aware that this isn't the most ideal but this is a stop gap until I get my currentlync steering parts swapped in) and it majorly stiffened up the steering. There used to be some slop along with vibration but after the bushing change, most of it is gone.

Unfortunately I still had DW. So the next to go were the upper front control arm bushings on the axle. Also a huge pita but with a ball join press, I was able to get them out without too much fuss. They were replaced with the moog equivalent and after installing them, the ride further improved.

Until I hit death wobble. Any ideas on what I should check/replace next? All the bushings above were obvious as they showed signs of cracking but now I'm at lost.

Something I've noticed is there's about half an inch of slop in the steering wheel. It never feels free spinning but if I pull left or right a quarter an inch, it doesn't return to center

 

[Rickyd]

Spin your front tires and see if they have a bulge. Watch the rim and see if the bead surfaces spin true. Then go get them balanced correctly

 

[annihil8ted]

Spin your front tires and see if they have a bulge. Watch the rim and see if the bead surfaces spin true. Then go get them balanced correctly

Spun both and they are true to my eyes. I can take them in for balancing but how bad does balancing have to be to cause death wobble? When driving, all the way up to 80mph, I don't really feel any unbalanced vibration

 

[Rickyd]

Spun both and they are true to my eyes. I can take them in for balancing but how bad does balancing have to be to cause death wobble? When driving, all the way up to 80mph, I don't really feel any unbalanced vibration

Who can say how much tire vibration it would take to contribute to a loose front end shaking? It does though.

I had a bent rim and a slightly loose track bar that caused severe DW when hitting bumps on the freeway. I didn't notice a tire imbalance either

 

[annihil8ted]

Who can say how much tire vibration it would take to contribute to a loose front end shaking? It does though.

I had a bent rim and a slightly loose track bar that caused severe DW when hitting bumps on the freeway. I didn't notice a tire imbalance either

Took it to be balance but the guy mostly shifted the existing weights around. Said it wasn't too bad but I didn't see the actual process so I'm taking his word for it

Yeah that's the really odd thing, hitting bumps won't send it into a DW but a strong wind causes vibration that eventually evolves in DW. I've hit a few bumps trying to create DW and it wouldn't

After balancing, there's a little bit less but not really noticeable and I'm still getting DW :/

If I'm looking to replace parts (might be that time too anyways, a lot of the components look original) what would be next?

On other thing I've notices is my tie rod seems to flex a lot or a lot more than I would have imagined. if I put my foot to it and push, I can see the whole thing flex. The ends seem tight, not loose. I'm wondering if that flex in the tie rod is causing my tires to go out of phase once oscillations happen

 

[Rickyd]

Dry steering test,check ball joints,track bar and link joints. Unit bearings.

Rotate rear tires to front

 

[annihil8ted]

Rotate rear tires to front

This is a good idea, I can try that to rule out any wheel imbalance

Dry steering test isn't showing anything. I don't see any loose or shifting parts

Track bar has been replaced entirely

Link joints as in control arms? If so, those have all been freshly replaced along with the bushings on axle.

Steering linkages? Hmm it's possible but when I look, I don't see any slop. Should I attempt tightening the steering pump unit?

Unit bearing seems to be good still too, no noises on turns or anything

Ball joints could be replaced but when I do dry steering or jack up the wheel and push against it, I'm not seeing anything again

 

[annihil8ted]

Over the weekend, I want around replacing my front rotors and brakes. There's some etching on where the pad sits. I've seen this on at least 3-4 TJ/LJ brakes I've changed. Is this a big issue? I can foresee it binding and not applying pressure smoothly. The other odd thing is I'd say there was at least 50% of life left in the pads but braking felt super weaker. Not etching on the pad nor rotor surface so I'm at a loss why it almost feels glazed.

Once the job was finished, driving it around, it felt more stable. Braking is a lot more confident and I even got less vibrations in steering wheel but still getting death wobble. I can see less vibrations because the old rotors were rusted a good amount so maybe new rotors are much better balanced.

I then greased my upper ball joints because I noticed what looked like a gap between the boot and the lower surface. I added until the old grease purged out.

This had a much more profound effect on the death wobble I feel. Could it be possible my ball joints are shot? I'm currently at 155K and it looks original still. Also it looks like the previous owner may have done some decent amount of off roading too so I'm wondering if it's just due? How can I check?

With the passenger wheel in the air, I also noticed grabbing at 12 and 6 position, what could be the smallest amount of play. Need to check the driver side and also recheck the passenger side to be certain