2008 JKU "Argenta" Build Thread

For me the YJ was the most fun to wheel (though not necessarily the best or most comfortable wheeler!)… mine was a ‘95, so it had all the fit and feel of a CJ, but with just enough touch of modern (EFI) to be enjoyable on hills and in the mountains. The leaf spring suspension, manual trans, and simplicity of it all made for fun line picking and finding the balance point while hanging tires in the air! It was the wooden rollercoaster of the off-road world: just safe enough to not worry, just rough enough to kick your a$$ while you enjoyed it



The LJ and even the TJ were much better wheelers and much more comfortable at the same time. Better seats, better dash ergonomics, an A/C, coil springs, etc. certainly made it easier to convince the Mrs. to come for ridealongs.

Now the fun begins…






It’s a 2010 5.7 Hemi with ~108k miles. Ran strong when running, came out of a wrecked truck. The PO said it had a check engine light for cylinder 8 misfire, but it ran fine and had great compression.

I’ll pull the heads and give it a once over, likely replace the cam and lifters while I’m at it (maybe even drop in something with a little more zing). The engine came with everything, p/s, alternator, a/c, starter, PCM, harness, etc.

Got to working on getting the housing stripped down a bit and prepped for welding the truss. The first step was to matchmark the carrier caps to the housing, then remove the shafts and carrier:


After that, I turned my attention to removing the vent hose fitting. Note for anyone needing to do this, you’ll need to completely remove the adjusting collar as the hole is covered up (see red arrow):



A few quick whacks with a long punch and it popped right out:


The hole that the fitting is pressed into is just about perfectly sized for a 1/4” NPT fitting. I’m gonna run a 7/16” drill bit down just to clean up any edges, but it’s probably not required.


Should have this all done this week, which means I can weld the Artec truss in place this weekend.

Also this weekend, I’ll be picking up a brand new in box Gamechanger 3.5” lift kit from someone about 2 hours away (we are meeting halfway). I already have the 2.5” Dual Rate MetalCloak kit, but wanted to get the full set of arms and rear track bar, and a set of 3.5” springs. I was waiting on a Black Friday sale, but for $2000, this is basically the same $$ I would be spending, plus will let me save my 2.5” lift for Charlotte’s Jeep next year (which will also get my current axles with a fresh regear, and a set of 35”s).

Got the engine pulled off the trailer and started to get it prepped for a proper cleaning...


I ordered an engine stand from AutoZone.com, mainly because they offered free "next day" shipping and a 20% discount code. Of course, "next day" turned into "next, next day", so the stand won't arrive until tomorrow. In the meantime, I guess I'll stop by the hardware store and get some clean 3/8" Grade 8 hardware so I can get this mounted when the stand finally does arrive.


While I'm waiting to make the next step, I guess I should get back to working on my spigot installation at the front of the house. At least I'll have hot and cold water when I finally am able to get the power washer fired back up again...

Two hours of sweating pipes together and I finally have a spigot in the front of the house!!

Not only a spigot, but I plumbed both cold and hot water to it. My original plan was to install two spigots, but due to space issues on the exterior wall, I decided to simply run a single spigot with two water feeds. I can keep the cold water open, but when needed, can open the hot water supply and have 145° water right at the tap...

And let me tell you, it's amazing! Even just rinsing the motor with hot water got so much grime cleaned off. A few sprays with Simple Clean, followed by a proper power washing (also using the hot water!) and the motor is squeaky clean now! I'll wheel it to the back of the garage, pull all the plugs, spray in some fogging spray, and likely pull the intake. At that point, I'll wrap it in a tight bag and there it will sit until I'm done building the 14-Bolt and get the lift installed.


On Saturday, I made a trek up to Binghamton to meet the guy selling the 3.5" MC Gamechanger. Everything is complete and transaction went smooth... this will go on the storage rack, while I'll be pulling the current 2.5" Dual-Rate kit down and getting that installed in ~2 weeks. I'll be in Tampa this following week on a work trip, so nothing will be happening this week, but I may find a few minutes to order my 14 Bolt gears and install parts one evening.

tJKrider said:

Good solution!

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I had to keep the valves tucked under a crawl space area, but it's relatively easy to get to and they're protected from damage, so overall a good solution to get me what I didn't realize I needed so much in my life! Hot tap water from the hoses may be the best thing I ever thought of before... lol

I got back from my work trip to Tampa and decided to take a few days off of work to get the Metalcloak lift installed. First up was double-checking my inventory and then pre-setting the arm lengths according to the MC instructions:


New Crown bump stops since my fronts are totally missing and the rears are crumbling apart:


It took me a good bit of time to do the full install by myself, at least much more so than I thought it would. Truth be told I'm past the 40-year old mark and am slowing down a bit. Plus, I stopped a few times to run some other errands and get some stuff done around the house. I also spent a good bit of time cleaning up the frame and undercarriage. Here it is after some wire wheel and air needler work:


Nothing major again, but it did add at least 3 hours to the total install (for both front and rear) as I took my time and did a thorough powerwash and dry before applying rust-converting primer and paint. Aside from the two front brake lines (going into the hose) that did not want to rotate (I had to "twist off" the hose and reinstall the new MC hoses the same way!), the install went incredibly smooth.

The only major unexpected thing was when I was installing the springs. A lot of people say you can install these springs without a spring compressor. I didn't feel like disconnecting the speed sensor wiring (worrying about damaging it, given its age) or pulling/hanging the calipers, so the compressors certainly made life easier:


Thankfully there weren't any rust or corrosion issues that prevented disassembly. Overall, I got to the point of bleeding brakes and centering the steering wheel after about 11 hours of total work.


After the first test drive, I'm really happy with the set up! I no longer have to bite my teeth together to brace myself when coming up the driveway, or going down certain roads waiting for the suspension to bottom out. I was worried that the 2.5" springs were going to look like I skipped leg day too many times but overall I'm not upset with how it looks in the short term. The backspacing on these wheels help push the edge of the 285/75's out to the edge of the fender flare, and their slightly larger size helps a bit. It would look better with a set of 35"s slapped on there, but such is life She'll be wearing a set of 37-38"s soon enough (once I swap the axles this spring), though if I find a nice set of 35"s, I would consider doing a short-term swap (again, these wheels are likely going to my daughter's rig when I'm done with them).

tJKrider said:

I hear you. I probably have 10 years on you and just did all the shocks & springs on mine. I just took my time, didn't rush, or beat myself up. When I was younger I was quicker, but dumber in some ways too!

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Yeah, that’s really the only way to do it… I’ll probably set aside a week for the axle swap, spending a lot of time upfront getting the axles in so I can measure for driveshafts, then taking my time getting it all buttoned up, checking clearances, adjusting arm lengths, etc.

Thankfully I get unlimited vacation time, and being an Elder Millennial, I put it to use

Decided to check the toe and tweak the steering wheel centeredness:


Toe looked off a tad but was dead on with 1/4” toe-in so I didn’t touch it. I did a slight tweak on the drag link and the wheel is dead straight and drives perfectly centered down the road (on top of the crown of course).


The Mrs asked if I would run some errands, so I spent the better part of two hours driving around, up and down country roads, through town, over railroad tracks, and nearly everything in between.



The handling and ride are great. It will take some time to get used to how tight and responsive the suspension and steering are now. The worn bushings and sagging factory springs made for a supple, but unresponsive driving experience.



I picked up a new Duralast 34-DT battery to replace the economy brand battery in the Jeep now. It’s not acting up, but I don’t like how the terminals are crossed (the current battery has terminals on the opposite side that the factory Jeep terminals are), and I want to get my Warn Zeon 10S installed soon. I’ll keep the current battery on the trickle charger and have it as a backup through the winter months.

Been driving her around the past two days, including some highway trips. She’s smooth as butter, so smooth in fact my wife commented on how nice the ride is now (though she is back to complaining that I have a vehicle that she can’t get into… being 5’2” is tough with a Jeeper husband ).

I rechecked the torque on all the hardware and did my best to tighten up the locknuts on the control arms and track bars. I’m gonna order the crow’s feet from MetalCloak on their next sale weekend.

I got the new battery installed, though one of the accessory posts is stripped (it stripped while taking the nut off!), so it’s not in its final configuration at the moment but close.



I used the Made in the USA Moroso aluminum battery terminals and wow are these things nice!


With the new battery in place, I finally had a chance to install the Zeon 10S I had on the shelf. It needs a new hook, so it’s only lightly spooled at this point, but overall it fit great on the Red Rock bumper!


No work planned for this weekend as we have a trip to Buffalo to catch the Bills vs. Dolphins game on Sunday

tJKrider said:

Jealous! If I wanted to go see a Lions game now I think I'd have to sell the Jeep. Ticket prices are absolutely ridiculous.

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Most NFL and professional sports games are insane (throw in concert tickets as well). The Bills tickets we got are kind of nosebleed seats (b/c we decided too late in the summer if we were going to make a game this year or not b/c of my daughter’s schedule, and now she’s not coming anyways ) and they were still outrageous… Plus you then tack on $4,824 in “convenience and Ticketmaster” fees on top of it…

We went to see Weezer at Madison Square Garden a few weeks ago and while it was a killer concert, between the 4 tickets, convenience fees, Ticketmaster fees, parking, tolls, gas, food, drinks, and more, and I think it may have been cheaper to hire Weezer to do a private performance in our backyard!

The Bills game was awesome! Cool to say we got to see the longest field goal in franchise history, plus we had an awesome C5 fly-over to start the game (my son is a huge space and aviation fan and was losing his mind!!).

My back has been killing me, thanks to 11 hours of driving, coupled with sitting on crappy bench seats for 4 hours, plus some heavy house work the past two weekends. Still, that didn’t stop be from chugging along…


Found this low-mile 8HP70 about an hour away, so I went ahead and picked it up before WWIII breaks out later today

I need to spray and clean out the HVAC box again. The mouse poop/pee smell is gone thankfully but I’m still not getting great flow or a ton of heat. I found a few more shreds of paper on the floorboards, so I’m guessing some more material has loosened up and made its way down to where I can vac it out. It’s possible that the heater core needs a flush, so perhaps I’ll check that out later today too, if my back cooperates at least…

Boy getting these lugs off were a nightmare! Spray, clean, soak, spray, on and on for weeks now and I still had to bust out the MAPP torch…


Thankfully, none required the smoke wrench! I was able to pull the caliper mount bolts out fairly easily, so I got those off and ready to be core-swapped for a new set shortly.

In preparation for welding the tubes and bracketry this weekend, I picked up a set of used 33” tires to replace the worn set of 35”s that were on those 18” Dodge wheels I got a few weeks back.


For $180, I won’t complain as these Coopers have a lot of tread left and will make for a perfect set of rollers during the Hemi swap. They will also make for a good set to drive to the shop during my annual safety inspection each year

With any luck, ECGS will have some good sales soon and I’ll place the order for the gears, TrueTrac, and install kit and can be done with this axle, allowing me to then focus on the engine and trans swap…

Got this done today…

Despite cleaning the $hit out of this axle, and preheating it twice with a MAPP torch, my first pass on both sides had some porosity. With a distinct smell of oil, I suspect there was something deep in the junction that worked its way out.

I ground it clean, preheated once more, and hit again, this time laying down a nice bead. I wrapped it with a welding blanket and let it cool for 20-30 minutes to the point where it was still warm but able to be touched by hand.




My axle had a small step between the tube and housing, so not wanting to leave a stress point, I ended up doing 3 passes, letting it cool between each.




Some primer while it was still warm and she’s ready for the truss to be welded on this weekend!