I occasionally glance at them after a failure from not reading the directions.
The Pickle LJ
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I occasionally glance at them after a failure from not reading the directions.
Thats a wrap on the Sterling Regear, a couple adjustments on the pattern, the crush sleeve eliminator showed up so got the preload set correct, re-checked pattern, everything was in spec. Backlash is at 13 thousandths, preload at 28 inch-lbs, and all is well. Fresh cover, fresh yoke, and a fresh set of gears. Started cleaning up the axle tubes as well, but thats going to be a job for when i can have the door open and im a softy when it gets below about 20 degrees 
too much dust in the air with the door shut.
Side note, some of my suspension components arrived today so I know what ill be aiming to get tackled all week!
too much dust in the air with the door shut.Side note, some of my suspension components arrived today so I know what ill be aiming to get tackled all week!
Made a little bit of headway this evening, got the rest of the axle tubes on the sterling cleaned up, got the Mercedes power steering box out of the jeep, and dug out the plasma to start cutting off the factory brackets off the front 60. Anybody have a picture of their 97-02 gearbox? Mine has a nub that makes contact on the frame and I wanna make sure there’s no holes there before I lop it off with a grinder.
Yessir the one on the front. Looks like it it is about 1/4-1/2” too tall and making contact with the round crossmember/brace (whatever you’d like to call it. Your psc nub looks smaller. Thinking about it now I guess I could have sent one of the old pictures with it circled
. Got the old axles sold today, guy is coming down from Moab to get em, so I’ll take a closer look when I get out there and make sure that’s where it’s making contact.
Yessir the one on the front. Looks like it it is about 1/4-1/2” too tall and making contact with the round crossmember/brace (whatever you’d like to call it. Your psc nub looks smaller. Thinking about it now I guess I could have sent one of the old pictures with it circled
View attachment 666557
You can shave a little off that nubbin but don't go nuts. I heat that tube up just where it makes contact and give it one good strike with a ball peen and it usually clears.
Dealers Choice.
LG
Update on El Picklé. Got 90% of the factory bracketry cut off of the front Dana 60, ordered some balljoint eliminators for the uppers, and new lower balljoints. Also ordered my lower shock mounts, and a couple other goodies to help get the axles cleaned up and tidy. Havent had a chance to take care of the powersteering clearance issue yet, appreciate the info though Lanzg, ill probably go with the torch and hammer method 
. Got the old axles and tires sold, so we are halfway to a set of beadlocks and tires lol. Unfortunately, even with safety glasses on a piece of metal managed to get into my eye and lodged itself so I had a visit to the eye doctor this morning to get some dremmeling done on the ole eyeball. 10/10 don't recommend getting metal shavings in your eye, i guess its goggles and face shield from here on. All that is left as far as cleaning up the axles go is to cut 2" off the driver side diff housing for mounting area, fill where i cut a little too deep, and polish up the tubes with my hand belt sander. After that I will start getting the truss, high steer and bracketry setup and the remaining parts cleaned and ready for welding.
. Got the old axles and tires sold, so we are halfway to a set of beadlocks and tires lol. Unfortunately, even with safety glasses on a piece of metal managed to get into my eye and lodged itself so I had a visit to the eye doctor this morning to get some dremmeling done on the ole eyeball. 10/10 don't recommend getting metal shavings in your eye, i guess its goggles and face shield from here on. All that is left as far as cleaning up the axles go is to cut 2" off the driver side diff housing for mounting area, fill where i cut a little too deep, and polish up the tubes with my hand belt sander. After that I will start getting the truss, high steer and bracketry setup and the remaining parts cleaned and ready for welding.
Update on El Picklé. Got 90% of the factory bracketry cut off of the front Dana 60, ordered some balljoint eliminators for the uppers, and new lower balljoints. Also ordered my lower shock mounts, and a couple other goodies to help get the axles cleaned up and tidy. Havent had a chance to take care of the powersteering clearance issue yet, appreciate the info though Lanzg, ill probably go with the torch and hammer method
View attachment 667470
Dang hope your eye is okay. Once I got a shard of metal in my eyeball and I used a magnet to get it out in my bathroom lol. Now I use a face shield + safety glasses. Can't see shit because I need actual glasses plus the layers of dirty plastic but its worth it.
I keep thinking you missed an opportunity to call it the PickLJ when I scroll by this thread
Yep all is well, they got it cleaned out, put a contact lens in it to protect it for the first 24 hours, and some eyedrops ill have to put in for the next few days, but cant even tell it happened now! I managed to get out the metal piece myself the night before but there was rust left behind that wouldnt come out, and eyes arent worth taking chances imo. Im right there with you as far as extra stuff goes, ordered myself a set of dewalt goggles and a new face shield haha. Gunna be looking like im ready for some dodgeball.
My license plate is super close to that! but that would have been more clever!
Now that the eyeball ordeal is out of the way 
I can get back to the current tasks. Today I started setting up the shops welder with gas, got some new swag coming for it since its only ever ran FluxCore, and some parts on it were looking a little worse for wear anyways.
After that I took another look at the power steering box mounts, and as it turns out i don't need to reshape the round bar at the front or cut the nub off the box, i just needed to move the rubber shroud out of the way by the radiator
. That being said i didn't have the right size hole saw handy to relocate the upper mounting sleeve, so I took that time to pull the steering input shaft and drill out the plastic bushing that holds it at the Mercedes box length. Since i had it apart anyways i took the opportunity to clean up the sleeve and get it adjusted to a "close enough" for now length until im ready to install the box all the way.
Jumping from part to part as always I decided the next step was to start tackling the middle section of the jeep, I pulled the factory skidplate for hopefully the LAST time, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at getting the frame mounts on, I glanced at the instructions. after more unsuccessful attempts I called the company and they told me I needed to remove the third cat, heatshield and most important to READ the instructions (My bad). Anyways after properly reading the instructions (they did in fact say what i was told lol) I was able to get the brackets mocked up, and mark where I needed to prep for welding. My welding supplies should get here tomorrow and I'm hoping to get those knocked out at least tomorrow night.
Finally since the lines running down the frame wont be accessible after welding, I went ahead and got the brakeline pulled off that some over eager grinder wielder nicked with a cutoff wheel and a new one of those coming as well. I coulda bought alot more cutoff wheels if whomever it was wouldnt have nicked that.
Anyways, Lots of small progress, cant wait to start putting parts back on this jeep
I can get back to the current tasks. Today I started setting up the shops welder with gas, got some new swag coming for it since its only ever ran FluxCore, and some parts on it were looking a little worse for wear anyways.After that I took another look at the power steering box mounts, and as it turns out i don't need to reshape the round bar at the front or cut the nub off the box, i just needed to move the rubber shroud out of the way by the radiator
. That being said i didn't have the right size hole saw handy to relocate the upper mounting sleeve, so I took that time to pull the steering input shaft and drill out the plastic bushing that holds it at the Mercedes box length. Since i had it apart anyways i took the opportunity to clean up the sleeve and get it adjusted to a "close enough" for now length until im ready to install the box all the way.Jumping from part to part as always I decided the next step was to start tackling the middle section of the jeep, I pulled the factory skidplate for hopefully the LAST time, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at getting the frame mounts on, I glanced at the instructions. after more unsuccessful attempts I called the company and they told me I needed to remove the third cat, heatshield and most important to READ the instructions (My bad). Anyways after properly reading the instructions (they did in fact say what i was told lol) I was able to get the brackets mocked up, and mark where I needed to prep for welding. My welding supplies should get here tomorrow and I'm hoping to get those knocked out at least tomorrow night.
Finally since the lines running down the frame wont be accessible after welding, I went ahead and got the brakeline pulled off that some over eager grinder wielder nicked with a cutoff wheel and a new one of those coming as well. I coulda bought alot more cutoff wheels if whomever it was wouldnt have nicked that.
Anyways, Lots of small progress, cant wait to start putting parts back on this jeep
Now that the eyeball ordeal is out of the way
After that I took another look at the power steering box mounts, and as it turns out i don't need to reshape the round bar at the front or cut the nub off the box, i just needed to move the rubber shroud out of the way by the radiator
View attachment 667704
Jumping from part to part as always I decided the next step was to start tackling the middle section of the jeep, I pulled the factory skidplate for hopefully the LAST time, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at getting the frame mounts on, I glanced at the instructions. after more unsuccessful attempts I called the company and they told me I needed to remove the third cat, heatshield and most important to READ the instructions (My bad). Anyways after properly reading the instructions (they did in fact say what i was told lol) I was able to get the brackets mocked up, and mark where I needed to prep for welding. My welding supplies should get here tomorrow and I'm hoping to get those knocked out at least tomorrow night.
View attachment 667705
Finally since the lines running down the frame wont be accessible after welding, I went ahead and got the brakeline pulled off that some over eager grinder wielder nicked with a cutoff wheel and a new one of those coming as well. I coulda bought alot more cutoff wheels if whomever it was wouldnt have nicked that.
Anyways, Lots of small progress, cant wait to start putting parts back on this jeep
Cool I'm interested in hearing how much nicer gas is than flux. I got a tank recently and haven't bothered to fill it and get non flux wire yet myself so maybe it'll be motivating
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