2008 JKU "Argenta" Build Thread

If my handle and avatar look familiar, you've probably seen some of my other stuff on the various other Wrangler Forums and pages. If you haven't, and if you've got some time to kill, feel free to look around the links in my signature...



I've put it off for a while but finally decided that a SWB Jeep just won't cut it anymore. Even my most recent Jeep, an LJ - shown above - was simply too crammed for daily life with kids, work, play, and more. During a recent trip back from football practice with my son and his two buddies, it dawned on my just how fast kids grow (even when we know the cliche!). What also dawned on my was how small the LJ is, even though when I first got it, it felt like a minivan compared to the TJ/YJ. Anyway, long story somewhat shorter, I got an offer for it that was too good to pass up and decided to sell.

Left with the need to replace it, I was up in the air about what to get. I was looking at getting a new Ram Rebel or Power Wagon, hoping that CJDR would bring back a 0% interest rate again to help with their massive overstock inventory. Either one would be a smart, "practical" decision, since we also live up in the country and having a pick-up is handy for a number of reasons. However, both the Rebel and Power Wagon don't have much of a "fun" factor, at least not like a Wrangler does. Last year we got my daughter a JKU when she got her license, and since then I've been warming up to the JKU platform. Getting the "itch" to replace the LJ was growing strong and I did some late night looking around on Marketplace and found a good option that would allow me to address the thing I disliked most about the JKU - the lack of power.



Meet Argenta, my high-mile (209,000 at the time of purchase!), bright-silver, 2008 JKU. Originally from Florida, with zero rot and just some mild surface rust, it seemed like a killer option for me to have a little fun with a new build, while getting the space and practicality I needed.




Other than a small dent in the driver front fender, and the absolutely filthy interior, the Jeep was in good overall condition for being 16 years old. For $6500, it was certainly below market by about $2500 (locally at least). Here are some clean-up shots from the day I brought it home...


This filth was just from the driver's door that I wiped clean so my arms and shirt wouldn't get stained... I don't know how some people live to be honest!


The seats... oh the seats. I don't know what the stains are from but they were disgusting. The saving grace with this Jeep was that despite the lack of cleaning, there weren't any atrocious smells. It smelled, well like a normal car.


Some pre-treat spray (just diluted carpet cleaner inside a pump sprayer), a light brush, and hit with my Bissell, and the stains mostly came out.


The previous owner didn't own it for long, only about 3 months, originally for his wife, who soon learned she was pregnant after getting the Jeep. She had little interest in it beforehand, and once learning of the pending bundle of joy, lost any shred she may have had remaining. The PO put a few dollars into it as there were some new parts installed (the rear driver side caliper for example). Still, even with the work performed (just enough to get it to pass the annual safety inspection), the rear brakes were grinding a bit, the dash had a TPMS light on, and the "Change Oil Soon" reminder was blinking on the info panel. Still, even with that, I know from the test drive and cold start up that the motor and trans were in decent overall condition and that any work to make it road worthy would be simple...

As I mapped out my build plan, I had to address some basic stuff to get her road worthy as school was about to start up for the year. The front brakes were easy enough. I threw these silly spacers in the trash and swapped the heavily warped "racecar" rotors out for some new Duralast Gold rotors from AutoZone (yay for 20% discount codes and free next-day shipping!).



With some fresh grease and pads, the braking wobble went away completely. I turkey-bastered the brake fluid reservoir and put fresh DOT 3 inside, then proceeded to bleed the front until fresh fluid came through. After that, I turned my sites to the rear. These required a little more work, but was easy enough. I bled the rears until the fluid ran clear, then did the front once again and the brakes feel absolutely outstanding and are whisper quiet.


In a stroke a good luck, I found a guy not too far away selling a set of Rubi Recon take-off wheels with near-new Cooper Discoverer AT3 - the same tires my wife has been running on her Grand Cherokee for a few years. These are excellent in the snow an as you can see in the photo, really helpful for our driveway. For $600 they were a good deal and fit well into my "Phase 1" plans - they even came with brand new TPMS sensors. The seller also had a bunch of stock components - all low-mile take offs from his Recon build. He let me pick through what I wanted and I got a replacement set of UCAs to replace mine for pennies - win!!! On the same day, I met a lady who had a set of take-off Rubi rock rails for $100. I figured if nothing else, the Rubi rails was better than leaving the surprisingly sharp and rusting remains of previously installed steps.


It's amazing what some decent looking wheels and Rubi rails will do. Turns this from an old lady/man/mom car into something that isn't totally embarrassing in the parking lot...

I just recently replaced my daughter's garbage Kenwood headunit with an Alpine iX-W670 and Alpine backup camera. I liked it so much I went ahead and ordered one for mine as well. While the dash was apart, I replaced the broken HVAC control panel with an OEM Mopar one I found on eBay:


Next up was the non-functional horn. When I first brought it home, the horn only worked when the alarm was going off, and it was a junk "air horn" style that sounded like it had a squeak toy stuck down the pipe. After ripping that out and replacing with a low-tone "highway blaster" from AutoZone, I attempted to start diagnosing why the horn didn't beep when I pressed the horn button. Starting at the top and working down, the logical step was to make sure the fuses were first good, then check to see if the switch was working. Thanks to YouTube, I figured out how to remove the horn pad/airbag and lo and behold, as soon as I did, I quickly realized the likely culprit. The white wire was broken off and resting above the connector. A quick $90 on Amazon got me a Mopar replacement and all is well...

Floppy broken button:


New, now completely functional horn switch. A $94 but a necessary evil. I wish I could get the keyless entry going next, but looks like I'll need to dig into that a tad more.


I had this rattle/squeak in the front bumper area that was from the bumper itself. I have no idea what was rattling inside it (the fog lamps checked out fine and bolts were tight) but ended up picking up a cheap RedRock Attack Stubby bumper off of XT for next to nothing. It's not my "long term option", as I'll likely go with a frame-chop option at some point, but it will help with my short-term plans of getting me through the winter...




In another late-night perusing of Facebook Marketplace, I found a guy selling an aftermarket flat black grille. I've always liked the Willy's style flat-black grille and this thing was ~2 miles away. For $50, I gave it a shot. It came with LED turn signals and some funky grill inserts, but thankfully those were easy to remove and swap out.

Although my original reasons for getting the JKU were due to size and space requirements, this Jeep is one that will ultimately be my daily driver. Additionally, the Jeep is what I'll rely on for both family adventures, as well as a weekend warrior (being it on the trails or hunting cabin). I don't anticipate extreme rock crawling, though do intend to hit up the tougher trails in nearby parks and states, and would like to regularly hit up Rausch Creek Off Road Park (seeing how it's only 1.5 hours away).

I hemmed and hawed a little bit, first about what exactly I needed, and then about what I wanted. Ultimately, I settled on the following build plan:

• V8 power - the 3.8L and even the 3.6L is underpowered and always felt sluggish to me, even on stock sized tires. A Hemi swap is something I have some experience with and make a lot of sense in a JKU. Although I am considering a 392 swap, the 5.7L VVT Truck Hemi has a lot of benefits (fit, accessory layout, cheaper, etc.) and with some basic bolt-in goodies, can make an easy and reliable 450hp.
• Modern Auto Transmission - lazy transmissions are worse than underpowered engines. A ZF 8-speed mated to the Hemi is essentially a "gift from the gods" as it was described to me by a friend with a 6.2/ZF combo in his JKU (also on tons).
• 37"-38" tires - should add enough ground clearance while still being able to park inside the garage at the house, as well as the airport terminal (I travel a bit for work still)
• Overbuilt - this has always been a long-time build approach, regardless of purpose, mainly because "I have to drive this home". Overbuilt also often adds to reliability, see below...
• Reliable - if I am not confident enough to drive the Jeep across the country to Moab, I'm doing something wrong. Reliable to me also means reduced maintenance intervals. I simply don't have time to be pulling apart control arm joints 4-5 times per year for greasing and cleaning. I also spend a good amount of time off-road by myself, so being also to reliably "self recover" is part of this as well.
• Street friendly handling/manners - for sanity and in case the Mrs. needs to drive it for any reason. I'm a big believer in "as low as possible, as high as necessary". Good steering feel, no wobbles, brakes that work, stuff like that.
• Ability to keep the Jeep "mostly" inspection friendly - PA requires annual "safety inspections", one requirement being that the tire thread is completely covered by the flare/fender. No one will bother me in my local area, but driving to some of the off-road parks can attract unwanted attention from local law enforcement, so best to squeak under the radar when you can.

You could probably describe the build as "overland inspired", though you for sure won't find a MAXTRAX board on the roof or a fridge in the back (at least not one permanently mounted!). With the above in mind, I've started collecting parts to make it happen. I found what I believe to be the last remaining "Mopar Performance" D60 crate front axle in the U.S.

For the price that Jegs got this for me, I literally couldn't build a SD60 of equal performance. The MP60 is the same exact axle as the UD60, except it says "Jeep" on the diff cover, instead of "Dana". Heck, for an almost $4500 price difference between the MP60 and UD60, it could be powdercoated pink and say "Powder Puff" for all I care!


Some people aren't huge fans of the UD/MP60 axle, some due to historical QC problems (loose spindle nuts and poor welds being the most common), though for my application it made the most sense overall. The 69" WMS keeps me wide enough to run common 37-38" tire widths with ease, while still keeping the rig reasonable narrow and tires under the flares. The brakes are OEM Ram 3500 parts and the speed sensors are OEM Jeep.



For the rear, I originally ordered what I thought (and what Jegs said!) was the last remaining Mopar Performance D60 in the country, but after having my ETA bumped back for 6 weeks, the order was finally cancelled as Jegs was told by their distributor that there weren't any options left. Not the end of the world, as 14B/10.5" AAM axles are easy enough to build, though I do wish an e-locker was an option.

I sourced the least rusty 10.5AAM I could find and made the trip down to pick it up. The axles have gone up in $$ a bit (used to find them for $80 on "half price Tuesdays" at the Pick-N-Pull places), but such is life. At $450, it was still a cheap option. One thing I miss about AZ was that nothing had scale on it at all. This has a bit that I'll need to deal with, but should still be manageable.


A few minutes with the grinder and carbide saw blade, and the brackets were off (which knocked a bunch of scale off in the process!).


I ground down all the bracket welds and got more of the scale and rust off. I have a needle scaler coming this weekend to get the rest of the scale on the center chunk. I wasn't able to get the bolts out of the diff cover as they had rusted round, and the ones I was able to get out have AMPLE amounts of Red Loctite on them for some reason. What type of psycho uses Red Loctite on the diff cover?!?!?! Anyway, a trip to the hardware store to pick up some 9/16" nuts gave me enough tries to get the stuck bolts off with the old "weld-on-a-nut" trick.


Gears look good (factory 4.10's) and what I think is a Gov-Loc. I'm going to brake clean the inside of the housing out, pull the shafts, and strip the hubs. From there I'll run a tap down each of the diff cover bolt holes and then finish cleaning up the housing and tubes to make it "weld ready" - which reminds me, I need to pick up some weld-thru primer...


In preparation for the original MP60 rear, I ordered the requisite extended e-brake cables from Mopar. Now that I'm going with the 14B, I had to figure out an alternative. I know a few places sell aftermarket cables, but honestly I have never- EVER - had good luck with non-OEM cables. They're too big, too small, too long, too short, and just not up to the quality of OEM. As a result, I set out to find an alternative.

After looking at some photos and specs, it looks like the UD/MP60 rear axle shares many parts with the Ram 2500/3500 AAM 10.5", which itself shares a lot of commonality with the newer GM "14 Bolt" AAM 10.5" axles. As I got to thinking about how I'd possibly adapt the Mopar extended brake cables for the UD60 rear to the 14B, I think that solution will be much easier than anticipated.

Here's the GM-style parking brake lever (left) and Ram/Dodge style (right):


They're basically identical except for the eyelet portion. Since the Mopar brake cables utilize the rod + eyelet style ends, I think this should allow me to run OEM cables just like I would with the MP60 rear.

In preparation of the work, I also picked up a brand-new Miller 211. I was undecided on what to do for welder. I found a few okay deals on Marketplace, but nothing close by and the one that was, the guy sold the welder out from under me even though we had already made plans to meet up later in the day. Getting frustrated, I checked the local Airgas shop nearby and they had two brand-new 211's on the shelf, one of which was being offered with a discounted Spoolmate 100 spool gun. They have their "Build with Blue" rebate program going on, so the extra $500 savings put me over the edge to make the decision. I was considering a bigger option, particularly the Miller 252, but having used a 211 before to build axles and engine brackets, it's perfect for what I need and will allow me to tuck it away in the corner of the shop without getting in the way too much. It's also small enough for me to carry it in the basement for some future renovation projects as well.


I'm still a little undecided on what to do for traction aid in the 14B. The rock guy in my says to throw in a Detroit and call it a day. The practical guy who drives it daily, including in the snow, says to go with a TrueTrac. Then there's the guy in the middle that says to go with an ARB. While I do generally love selectable diffs, I'm not a huge fan of the ARB, particularly since my front axle is an e-locker. The extra wiring, air lines, finding a home for the compressor, and more just seems like a pain in the a$$ for the very small benefit it may give me in my use.

tJKrider said:

Welcome and, wow, you've made some great progress already! Can't wait until you get around to addressing this statement!!

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Thanks!

The plan is to find a decent 5.7L Truck Hemi with matching ZF trans to start. From there, if I want a little more, I would build up a core 5.7L or move up to a tuned 392. The reason I want to start with a 5.7 is that all the truck accessories tend to fit better in a JK application, plus I have a lot of experience with the 5.7 truck motors (it's what I used with my TJ-6 build, pictured below):

tJKrider said:

I'm partial to e-lockers myself but that is what I have had in past (and current) trucks. I've never had a true-trac in a truck, but have in a street/track car and it performed nicely in both environments...

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When I was building my TJ-6, I also built a 93' RamCharger as a rescue truck. It was on 37"s, tons, and a had a built 408 stroker motor (about 475hp/550 ft lbs). The TrueTrac in the back was a godsend on the road and had great road manners. I also ran a F8.8/D30 combo in my YJ for a while and it did well, up until you lift a tire...

I picked up a cheap set of 18" 4th Gen Ram 2500 wheels with 35" tires on it. They're bald as can be, but hold air and will work for rollers in the garage. A quick hit with the power washer and they are actually nicer looking than I thought. I wouldn't be opposed to eventually picking up a set of 37" A/T tires for winter and running them on these wheels, assuming they clear everything nicely.


I just recently rewired and redid the sheetrock in the garage, so when the MP60 was dropped off, I left it in the crate tucked in the corner. Now the crate has been getting in the way and I wanted to be able to tuck it in another area where the crate became problematic.

I'm gonna make a few wood/plywood "cradles" this weekend for both the MP60 and AAM10.5 so that I can move them around and work on them as needed, but still be able to wheel them to the back of the garage for storage once complete.

My Artec truss comes today and I'm probably going to order the gearset and related parts this weekend. I figured it was a good a time as any to start cleaning up the housing and prep the tubes some more. One thing I did not miss about the east coast is rust and scale. The tubes are mostly clean, though I do need to pick up a portable belt sander to get them smooth and ready for the truss.

The housing on the other hand needed a bit more attention...


About an hour of work with the needle scaler and ball-peen hammer and it's mostly ready for some rust converting paint (the photo below was about halfway through the clean-up). I need to hit up a few more spots and get the flap disc out to get the fin edges nice and clean...


I ordered a new welding cart for the Miller 211 and that should arrive today. I also ordered a 14-50 NEMA to a 6-50 NEMA extension cord, so I can start laying some practice beads. Once I'm happy that it's working as it should, I'll come back to the axle and get the tubes welded to the center chunk. From what I've been told by those that have done it and do it often, the AAM centers take to MIG welding well, as long as you preheat it a bit and then let it cool a little slow (either with some help from the MAPP torch or a welding blanket). Everyone seems to also recommend doing the full circumference at one time, this way it heats and cools as one massive piece.

tJKrider said:

What is your paint of choice - POR, Rust Bullet, Eastwood? Something else?

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I’ve had really good luck with the Restoleum Rust Converting Black primer, followed by VHT Chassis Epoxy. I’ve used that combo on axles, suspension, and more and have never had an issue, even after moving back to snowy, salt-covered winter roads.

I have used the Eastwood Internal Frame Coating on my LJ and after 3 years of use, didn’t have a single flake on the inside of the frame, so that would be my go-to for internal coatings.

In this instance, I’ll use the rust converting primer on the center chunk, then SBE Galvanizing Zinc “Weld Thru” primer on the tubes. This will give some galvanic protection to the base metal around the weld area, but will still accept the VHT Chassis Epoxy when finished.

As I go through with suspension swaps, engine swap, and more, I’ll do a thorough degrease and coating with 3M Profession Gold Line Undercoating. Same as with the Eastwood, this has never given me an issue and I’ve been using this for 25+ years (since my time working at a body shop in the summers during high school).

I spent a little more time cleaning up the AAM 10.5" housing, with both the needle scaler and chisel. I got down to where the housing was pitted and nothing was flaking off. It's not pretty, but it's still plenty solid. When the tubes and truss are all welded up, I may come back and fill in some pits (with JB Weld) to help keep salt and grime out of them - and rust from forming!).


After a quick first-pass degreasing, I went back to work with the flap disc, cleaning up some of the "ribs", smoothing out a few nicks and burrs, while also smoothing out the transitions in some areas. Once finished, I hit the rear again with some Super Clean degreaser and the power washer.


A quick hit with some compressed air and a little time in the sun got it dry enough to hit with some Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer:


Again, not pretty but fine for what I need:



I still need to work on the tubes, so that is this week's project next steps. I'll get them sanded down a bit, then will fill in some of the gouges with the welder that I left by my unhandy work with the angle grinder (while I was getting the factory brackets cut off). It will be a good opportunity to get the feel of the Miller 211 in action on thick metal and see how she holds a puddle.


At that point, I'll come back and clean up the rest of the tubes, wire wheel the tube-to-center chunk area to bare metal, degrease again, and hit with galvanizing weld-thru primer. I need to build a support dolly for this axle so that I can easily rotate it around as I'm welding up the tubes. Once I get those done, I can start working on prepping for the Artec truss and bracketry (which just arrived yesterday).

1o1Proof said:

Welding cart looks nice.
I think the axles are looking great, they don’t need to be perfect if you’re going to use them. You are going to use them…right?

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It's quite functional too - the drawers are much better than a traditional welding cart with open shelves. The drawers allow me to stick gloves, spare parts and rolls, etc. in there without worry of getting covered in dust and grime.

And yes, no one installs tons to not use them (unless it's a SEMA build). If I wanted 37-38"s for show, I'd do what 95% of those running them would do - simply slap them on stock 3.73-geared D30/D44 combo and then complain about the lack of power

Got the Artec truss/swap kit unboxed, lightly scuffed, and primed...


Also got the tubes cleaned up...


And primed... I also spent some time cleaning the joint between the tube and housing. We are going to take a trip up to Watkins Glen this weekend and swing by a college on the way home, so I won't have time to get the tubes welded this weekend, but at least it will be ready for me next week.


I'm shocked that the Artec kit has ZERO instructions or guidance on how to install. I mean, it's a truss, so not the most complicated thing in the world, but at least a simple one pager with any "good to knows" would be nice.

While the weather is nice, but getting cold fast, I decided it was also time to take a break from the axle work to get the heater box cleaned out. A few weeks back, I finally turned the heat on and the distinct smell of mouse pee/poop came out. I stuck my inspection camera down there and found just one area where they must have settled, right at the bottom next to the heater core:


I watched a video of a guy on YouTube that had the same issue and used a drill to make an access hole in the side of the heater box that facilitates cleanout.

I used a carbine 1" hole saw and it worked great, albeit VERY close to the evap core (so be careful if you ever do this, or step down to 3/4" saw).



Using long tweezers, an old AR-15 chamber brush on a pistol cleaning rod, and a Shop-Vac with an old rubber garden hose (the black thing sticking up from the lower right corner in the image above) piece taped to the outside let me get everything out and cleaned. Now I need to spray some cleaned and deodorizer inside there and seal up the box before winter.

The front banging going over bumps is getting old and also more prominent. I'm gonna have to swap out the shocks as the bushings are heavily compressed and nearly gone. The jounce bumpers in the front are also missing, I think because of the heavy spring sag - based on what I've seen online, this is about 1.25" of sag.


Rather than waste money on short-term shocks, I'm just planning on installing my 2.5" MetalCloak Dual Rate kit with Rocksports in the next few weeks. I was toying with the idea of getting some decently priced 33"s to throw on after the lift so it doesn't look like I skipped leg day, and I finally got lucky. I found a real nice set of wheels and barely used tires about 10 miles away.

I got all 5 for $1000 - the tires have less than 1000 miles, there are even some "nubs" on the tread blocks. The guy even threw in some brand new polished splined lug nuts and the TPMS sensors are brand new. I can sell the Recon wheels and tires I bought for $700 or so, so for $300, these will work well until spring time rolls around. And if I get lucky and my daughter isn't able to take her Jeep to school next year, I'll throw them on her Islander!


They look good, albeit a little "stuffed" inside the wheel wells, but they ride nice and quiet, even compared to the Coopers I have been running.

Danarch said:

Just caught this. Too bad about the LJ. I know what you mean, we have five kids but now the youngest is 17. Given that we sold the family Suburban and picked up a one owner LJR, love that thing. Almost lost it to someone else, but the seller kept his word. It’s my DD while my 17 drives around the JKUR. I just like LJR so much given my choice when Jeeping it’s the LJ, just so much fun. Then again maybe it reminds me more of my YJ I had for 10 years

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The fun factor of the LJ is indeed what made it hard to sell, though nothing beats my old YJ for all-around fun when wheeling.

That said, I'm enjoying the JKU a lot and the added space has been almost immeasurably helpful these past few weeks. Aside from a teenage boy who's been growing like a weed, I've got a fairly busy side business going on (photography). With lots of games and teams to cover, not having to borrow the Mrs. WK2 or my daughter's Islander has made scheduling of things much easier on everyone.

With the rear seat down and folded, I was BARELY able to bring my flash gear and backdrops to a shoot with the LJ (I often had stands resting against the windows in the rear!). Now, I can load up everything and still keep the "skinny" rear seat upright. Even my "easy" shoots (simple game coverage) is much easier, as I just dump everything in my expandable cart, and then load the cart right up in the back without having to break it down. It makes things just that much smoother for me, and eliminates the risk of dropping/leaving something behind. Other tasks, even simple ones like loading up on mulch at Home Depot, are so much easier.