Building an E-Ticket ride - 06 LJ

[Wildman]

In my experience, when several suspension parts are done at the same time, it is hard to remember what got torqued properly without marking the nuts and bolts with a paint marker or equivalent. Can’t tell you how many times I “thought” I torqued everything until a loose part while driving told me I didn’t. I always mark nuts and bolts now.

If I hadn't had other issues I wouldn't have found out I'd forgotten to tighten my front driveshaft bolts on the flange (t-case) side. And if they'd worked loose anymore I could have damaged my t-case or broken the bolts.

I just bought paint markers to paint my bolts.

Yes. I did everything all at once. Lift, axles, body lift, all mods. Everything was tight when I left for Moab but 1300 miles on a trailer then 3 days of wheeling literally shook my rig apart on the 4th day. I really should have used thread locker instead of anti seize and also checked everything after some initial use.

Doing everything at once can make it that much harder to do catch things. Also anti-seize should only be used on certain parts. Since you're in the rust belt it's hard to not to want to coat everything.

I'd ask some of the more experienced folks on what to use and on which parts.

 

[E-Ticket]

In my experience, when several suspension parts are done at the same time, it is hard to remember what got torqued properly without marking the nuts and bolts with a paint marker or equivalent. Can’t tell you how many times I “thought” I torqued everything until a loose part while driving told me I didn’t. I always mark nuts and bolts now.

Good shout Jason, will do!

 

[E-Ticket]

If I hadn't had other issues I wouldn't have found out I'd forgotten to tighten my front driveshaft bolts on the flange (t-case) side. And if they'd worked loose anymore I could have damaged my t-case or broken the bolts.

I just bought paint markers to paint my bolts.



Doing everything at once can make it that much harder to do catch things. Also anti-seize should only be used on certain parts. Since you're in the rust belt it's hard to not to want to coat everything.

I'd ask some of the more experienced folks on what to use and on which parts.

Thanks Rick. My rig will not see any salted roads and my days in the rust belt are numbered, heading out to the dry heat of Arizona in the next year sometime. Will mark key bolts and nuts once I get my suspension alignment back where I need it to be.

Edit - I think I got spooked by all of the nightmare stuck bolts seen on this forum and went to town with anti-seize. However, my rig is rust free and should stay that way so it backfired on me. Best to use some low strength thread locker and of course close surveillance.

 

[Wildman]

Thanks Rick. My rig will not see any salted roads and my days in the rust belt are numbered, heading out to the dry heat of Arizona in the next year sometime. Will mark key bolts and nuts once I get my suspension alignment back where I need it to be.

Edit - I think I got spooked by all of the nightmare stuck bolts seen on this forum and went to town with anti-seize. However, my rig is rust free and should stay that way so it backfired on me. Best to use some low strength thread locker and of course close surveillance.

If you're moving soon then COOL & congrats... And to AZ to boot....

Things like body mount bolts & the 6 center skid bolts you want anti-seize on if I remember some of the discussions correctly. This was for everyone but I'd have to try and find this discussion to verify.

 

[E-Ticket]

If you're moving soon then COOL & congrats... And to AZ to boot....

Things like body mount bolts & the 6 center skid bolts you want anti-seize on if I remember some of the discussions correctly. This was for everyone but I'd have to try and find this discussion to verify.

That's exactly what I did and all of them came loose!

 

[Wildman]

That's exactly what I did and all of them came loose!

DAMN....

 

[E-Ticket]

More findings now that I got the Jeep up on the lift and removed the skids.

Need more clearance under the front driveshaft at the top of the Savvy cross member:

Need more clearance under SYE at the top of the Savvy skid rear brace. It was eating away at the SYE:

The front track bar was contacting the front axle housing:

Fixed with a flap disk:

The front track bar is rubbing on the front differential cover. This was visible in Moab, likely hit the cover with flap disk to shave some material off as per @taylormade73 suggestion.

My rear driver side anti rock tab is bent, but the weld held:

Even worse is the front passenger tab:

The directions for the front say to go outside at the top and inside at the bottom with the fittings but when on a lift at full droop the axle swings over quite a bit, pushing / pulling the tabs over.

The rear is opposite, fittings inside on the top and outside on the bottom.

One I get my alignment right I will likely bend them straight while on the ground. I may need a gusset if this continues.

Got the correct size bolt back in the front track bar to axle connection. It required opening up the slot for the flag nut so I could get a fine thread grade 8 locking nut up in there.

The engine skid pushed up out of the way of the interference with the front drive shaft. It is slotted up front at the mounting bracket. Will have to play with that to avoid a repeat.

That’s about. I will check torque on everything I touched before it leave the shop again.

 

[Apparition]

More findings now that I got the Jeep up on the lift and removed the skids.

Need more clearance under the front driveshaft at the top of the Savvy cross member:

View attachment 616563

Need more clearance under SYE at the top of the Savvy skid rear brace. It was eating away at the SYE:

View attachment 616565

The front track bat was contacting the front axle housing:

View attachment 616559

View attachment 616560

Fixed with a flap disk:

View attachment 616564

The front track bar is rubbing on the front differential cover. This was visible in Moab, likely hit the cover with flap disk to shave some material off as per @taylormade73 suggestion.

View attachment 616557

View attachment 616558

My rear driver side anti rock tab is bent, but the weld held:

View attachment 616562

Even worse is the front passenger tab:

View attachment 616554

The directions for the front say to go outside at the top and inside at the bottom with the fittings but when on a lift at full droop the axle swings over quite a bit, pushing / pulling the tabs over.

The rear is opposite, fittings inside on the top and outside on the bottom.

One I get my alignment right I will likely bend them straight while on the ground. I may need a gusset if this continues.

Got the correct size bolt back in the front track bar to axle connection. It required opening up the slot for the flag nut so I could get a fine thread grade 8 locking nut up in there.

View attachment 616555

View attachment 616556

The engine skid pushed up out of the way of the interference with the front drive shaft. It is slotted up front at the mounting bracket. Will have to play with that to about a repeat.

View attachment 616561That’s about. I will check torque on everything I touched before it leave the shop again.

When I added my rubicrawler everything sat lower so I had interferences that didn’t exist prior. I added a half inch aluminum spacer on top of the savvy trans bracket to raise everything up which eliminated that interference. As a bonus, the vibes I had prior to the rubicrawler were gone after it.

 

[E-Ticket]

When I added my rubicrawler everything sat lower so I had interferences that didn’t exist prior. I added a half inch aluminum spacer on top of the savvy trans bracket to raise everything up which eliminated that interference. As a bonus, the vibes I had prior to the rubicrawler were gone after it.

Great idea, thanks Ryan. I just had another look and seems I have plenty of space above the TC to do the same. Less trimming that way. I am going to pull the Savvy transmission mount anyways to add weld to it, so good time to add a spacer.

 

[E-Ticket]

Today I spent more time on my front axle adjustment and I’ve discovered a fairly major issue.

My passenger side UCA bracket bolt hole is oblong and the bolt is able to move maybe 1/8” along the axis.

The hole was not damaged prior to the Moab trip. I suspect the damage was due to the driver UCA jam nuts coming loose, relieving the load on that side and putting all the load into the passenger side UCA which remained tight.

I don’t see an easy fix for this as the inner hole close to the frame has tight access and I doubt I could get in there to weld in a thick washer, for example.

I know I can but a replacement bracket, which will be a fair amount of work to swap in. I hesitate to put the same thin metal bracket in as this one failed, but the question is: did it fail because of the uneven loading, or did it fail because one got a heavy Currie Dana 44 axle and stronger control arms that impart higher loads on the brackets that they can’t handle?

If the latter, others would be having the same issue.

I am tempted to use this situation as an excuse to expedite going to a mid arm given that I will already be doing 25% of the frame side work. Would be a shame to get only 4 days of wheeling on the RJ control arms but maybe I can Frankenstein together some new mid arms with my existing JJ’s.

On the axle side, no off the shelf mid arms will accommodate my Currie axles with pre fabricated truss/bridges, so would need to piece it together or over purchase stuff I don’t need. I know there is a bridge available for the Currie Dana 60, but I’ve yet to see anyone with a truss or bridge on the Currie front HP Dana 44. Maybe my Google fu is failing me so appreciate anyone who can give me a steer on an existing solution.

Happy to get any ideas / thoughts from the peanut gallery on a good solution.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Today I spent more time on my front axle adjustment and I’ve discovered a fairly major issue.

My passenger side UCA bracket bolt hole is oblong and the bolt is able to move maybe 1/8” along the axis.

View attachment 620234

View attachment 620235

The hole was not damaged prior to the Moab trip. I suspect the damage was due to the driver UCA jam nuts coming loose, relieving the load on that side and putting all the load into the passenger side UCA which remained tight.

I don’t see an easy fix for this as the inner hole close to the frame has tight access and I doubt I could get in there to weld in a thick washer, for example.

I know I can but a replacement bracket, which will be a fair amount of work to swap in. I hesitate to put the same thin metal bracket in as this one failed, but the question is: did it fail because of the uneven loading, or did it fail because one got a heavy Currie Dana 44 axle and stronger control arms that impart higher loads on the brackets that they can’t handle?

If the latter, others would be having the same issue.

I am tempted to use this situation as an excuse to expedite going to a mid arm given that I will already be doing 25% of the frame side work. Would be a shame to get only 4 days of wheeling on the RJ control arms but maybe I can Frankenstein together some new mid arms with my existing JJ’s.

On the axle side, no off the shelf mid arms will accommodate my Currie axles with pre fabricated truss/bridges, so would need to piece it together or over purchase stuff I don’t need. I know there is a bridge available for the Currie Dana 60, but I’ve yet to see anyone with a truss or bridge on the Currie front HP Dana 44. Maybe my Google fu is failing me so appreciate anyone who can give me a steer on an existing solution.

Happy to get any ideas / thoughts from the peanut gallery on a good solution.

The easy fix is to simply torque it down to spec, and it will not move. That will buy you all the time you need to decide on the mid-arm.

 

[E-Ticket]

The easy fix is to simply torque it down to spec, and it will not move. That will buy you all the time you need to decide on the mid

I like the cost of that idea. I did just that as well as marked all of my jam but too. If only I could free hand a straight line. Oh and applied liberal amounts of thread locker, maybe too much...

 

[NashvilleTJ]

I like the cost of that idea. I did just that as well as marked all of my jam but too. If only I could free hand a straight line.

View attachment 620238

What's the purpose of the zerk fitting on the bolt? On a Johnny Joint the outer casing rotates around the ball, the ball does not rotate around the bolt. It seems to me the hole in the bolt for the zerk fitting would only make the bolt weaker.

 

[E-Ticket]

From the Rock Jock site, basically to allow another grease path to the JJ:

RockJock's Greasable Bolts have been a staple in our Johnny Joint product line since it’s inception in 1996! These bolts are used in many applications to grease Johnny Joint rod ends from the inside out (when the joint is equipped with an internally greasable pivot ball). Additionally, these bolt are used in leaf spring shackles, leaf spring main eye bushings as well as many, many other universal applications!
All greasable bolts start out as a high quality grade 8 bolt, are rifle drilled to the center of the length of the bolt, cross drilled to allow the grease to escape and are fitted with a zerk fitting on their head for easy maintenance.

 

[taylormade73]

The easy fix is to simply torque it down to spec, and it will not move. That will buy you all the time you need to decide on the mid-arm.

This

 

[NashvilleTJ]

From the Rock Jock site, basically to allow another grease path to the JJ:

RockJock's Greasable Bolts have been a staple in our Johnny Joint product line since it’s inception in 1996! These bolts are used in many applications to grease Johnny Joint rod ends from the inside out (when the joint is equipped with an internally greasable pivot ball). Additionally, these bolt are used in leaf spring shackles, leaf spring main eye bushings as well as many, many other universal applications!
All greasable bolts start out as a high quality grade 8 bolt, are rifle drilled to the center of the length of the bolt, cross drilled to allow the grease to escape and are fitted with a zerk fitting on their head for easy maintenance.

Thanks for that - interesting. I was not aware they had this version of the ball. I wonder if it works better than the external grease port?

 

[taylormade73]

Today I spent more time on my front axle adjustment and I’ve discovered a fairly major issue.

My passenger side UCA bracket bolt hole is oblong and the bolt is able to move maybe 1/8” along the axis.

View attachment 620234

View attachment 620235

The hole was not damaged prior to the Moab trip. I suspect the damage was due to the driver UCA jam nuts coming loose, relieving the load on that side and putting all the load into the passenger side UCA which remained tight.

I don’t see an easy fix for this as the inner hole close to the frame has tight access and I doubt I could get in there to weld in a thick washer, for example.

I know I can but a replacement bracket, which will be a fair amount of work to swap in. I hesitate to put the same thin metal bracket in as this one failed, but the question is: did it fail because of the uneven loading, or did it fail because one got a heavy Currie Dana 44 axle and stronger control arms that impart higher loads on the brackets that they can’t handle?

If the latter, others would be having the same issue.

I am tempted to use this situation as an excuse to expedite going to a mid arm given that I will already be doing 25% of the frame side work. Would be a shame to get only 4 days of wheeling on the RJ control arms but maybe I can Frankenstein together some new mid arms with my existing JJ’s.

On the axle side, no off the shelf mid arms will accommodate my Currie axles with pre fabricated truss/bridges, so would need to piece it together or over purchase stuff I don’t need. I know there is a bridge available for the Currie Dana 60, but I’ve yet to see anyone with a truss or bridge on the Currie front HP Dana 44. Maybe my Google fu is failing me so appreciate anyone who can give me a steer on an existing solution.

Happy to get any ideas / thoughts from the peanut gallery on a good solution.

FIY, if an oblong (wallowed out) hole were an issue, some stock TJ axles wouldn’t have them and eccentric bolts and washers to adjust pinion angle and caster. Like Jeff said, the clamping force of a properly torqued bolt prevents movement, not the bolt hole (providing there is enough faying surface).

 

[E-Ticket]

FIY, if an oblong (wallowed out) hole were an issue, some stock TJ axles wouldn’t have them and eccentric bolts and washers to adjust pinion angle and caster. Like Jeff said, the clamping force of a properly torqued bolt prevents movement, not the bolt hole (providing there is enough faying surface).

Great point Jason. I did notice one of the grade 8 washers was missing under the locking nut on the passenger side and put one in...maybe that contributed as only the area of the nut and not the washer was clamping on the bracket.

 

[E-Ticket]

Thanks for that - interesting. I was not aware they had this version of the ball. I wonder if it works better than the external grease port?

The installation instructions call for lightly greasing both fittings on each joint.

 

[Apparition]

Thanks for that - interesting. I was not aware they had this version of the ball. I wonder if it works better than the external grease port?

My understanding, from what I’ve read, is that neither work all that well.