The Systematic Upgrade Continues

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

Last we spoke I was attempting to create a build thread and how this all came about. So here's a quick refresher.

In 2016, the wife tells me that Jeep is going to be making a truck and we couldn't wait. But after learning it wasn't going to the type of truck we're interested in. We broke down and special ordered a last run 2017 jeep wrangler unlimited sport.

This was to be a basic jeep wrangler but with a couple deliberate extras we wanted within the vehicle. Take note that we ordered the wrangler with factory half doors cause our last wrangler had full metal doors and we got tired of taking those things off with nowhere to store them. it's much easier now just to lift off the top half of the doors. With leg and back issue, I didn't want a manual transmission. So the 5 speed automatic transmission was add to the build. One key feature not seen in the image is that I wanted the jeep re-geared to the 3.73 ratio.

We contacted several dealership in an attempt to have this delivered. but it seem none of those dealership wanted our money. I recall one dealership where I walked out of the show room screaming "WTH No One Wants Our Money" needless to say, several salesmen came running out pleading with us. The issue was, none of those dealerships wanted to sell of that jeep under our terms. We finally locate a dealership willing to sell us our special order wrangler under our terms and conditions.

We handed over $10,000 cash had the jeep financed for the at 4.9% through the credit union. The salesman said the jeep would take 6-8 weeks for delivery. But in less than 16 days the jeep arrived as we ordered it.

This is our story..

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

Once we had the jeep in hand, we drove to PA and back just to get a feel of the handling. Two things developed on that trip that made us realize we're going to have to start on this build and soon.

The jeep was bouncy as hell, all over the road and the crappy thin 31'' tires didn't help matters. So new shocks we're to be ordered. Along with this, we felt that we needed a suspension upgrade and not necessarily a lift. We selected a triple rate coil spring kit that was suppose to stiffen up the ride.

Once the shocks & lift kit arrived.. the wife liked the color of the shocks so well, that we had the triple rate coil spring powder coated the same color. Word of warning here. Some coil spring manufactures warn against re-powder coating their products. But our powder coater (which we've used for more than 10 years) knows what he's doing.

In order to have the coil powder coated we drove 5 hours to their shop in PA.

Once there, we selected the gold color that matched the gold color of the TJM shocks. One of the 4 bottles at the end of the top shelf. It was the middle of winter so we prob wouldn't see our coils powder coated anytime soon. But while in PA, we drove to another vendor location, where I had a surprise waiting in their show room for the wife. She always liked the Rubicon hard Rock wheels. So I ordered a set. However, I didn't examine all of the wheels before leaving for home. it was getting dark and rain was setting in.

Once home, I took time to examine the wheels and wouldn't you know it, the last wheel had damage. Seems someone dropped the wheel on the outer edge and just powder coated over it. Took me 2 weeks to have the exchange follow through. Oddly, those wheels sat in our basement for 1 year till we decided what tires we wanted.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

Around March, we get a call saying out Coil Springs were completed and sent to our installers. Time to pack up and head out to out installers. It was time for the lift kit. New re-powder coated coil springs, new gold color shocks and a few other components made up the kit. The installation at the shop took 5 hours. They gave us a loaner jeep to drive around town. But I was too excited and wanted to see the installation progress. We arrive about 40mins before the install was to be completed. I did see the jeep on the alignment rack at that time.

The moment of truth, The jeep was only suppose to have been lifted 1.5 inches.. but when the jeep rolled off the alignment rack, we couldn't believe it. The general manger said we gain 2.75 inches. Now this was going to look silly for another year driving around on those 16'' x 31'' tires.

But we ran into an issue while test driving the jeep around the lot. when the jeep would flex over humps, we could hear a knocking sound from the front end. Turns out the supplied sway links were too long. In order to correct the dealership mounted a set of the rear links on the front of the jeep till we could get the issue looked at.

What impressed us the most is how well the gold accents set off the jeep.

Note on the left side of the coils, the very long sway bar end link..

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

1 year passed and drove the jeep everywhere.. Hated the flex on these tires and they had to go. Once I watched the jeep drive around a curve and I could see these tires flexing so bad I thought they would pop off the rims. We had the rims, now for the tires. We selected the Nitto Ridge Grapplers 17'' x 34'' Load E. There's some debate as to if we should have went load C, D o E I'm perfectly happy with the Load E tires.

We drove to NTB in Bel Air Maryland to have these wheels & tires installed on the jeep.

During the installation, I had them install a set of the Standard brand TPMS (Clones) so no programming was needed. The Jeep was coming together very well.. Until a few weeks after all this was installed.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

One morning in April we wanted to drive to western Maryland for breakfast. We just happen to have selected a road where BGE (our gas and electric) though to rip to shreds. We drove over a dislodged steel plate in the road.. the bad dip and 45MPH took out our drag Link, Tie Rod, sway bar end links and our shocks. But there was also hidden damage I couldn't see and I've always suspected it was the track bar.

So we had to order parts which I was going to replace at a later date, earlier than expected..

Turning to RockAuto, I ordered the Moog pre-assembled drag link/tie rod along with 2 new rear sway links for the front. Again turning to the shop that had installed the lift kit, we drove 5 hours with damaged steering. Later a discrepancy occurred when the shop thought best to have a "noob" tech perform the installation of these components. This inferior installation left my steering at 6° to the left and the dash was lighting up like crazy. What ever that shop did, lost creditably with us and we never looked back.

The following morning, we took the jeep to Firestone Westminster, Maryland. There, the general manager a devout motor head knew exactly what the issue was. because of his diligence, we contacted Jeepcares show them the proof that the previous shop botched out installation. Jeepcares later refund our money.

Side Note; The jeep has never been the same after hitting that trench and no one can isolate what the issue is. But as I said earlier, I've always felt it was the track bar.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

We've been driving the Jeep for 3 3/4 years and it was time for our annual fall travel to nowhere in particular. We selected Cody Wyoming as our destination this year. This drive would take us north close to Canada's boarder then due west to and through Montana. Mind you I/we don't like driving major highways. back roads are slower but with the drive. Typically driving 10 hours a day, this would have to be pushed up because something happen along the way.

We made it to Cody Wyoming. Our Plan was to get to South Dakota badlands Oct 1 for the harvest Moon. One thing I hated about this drive, is if you've live in the plan states, the wind was hell. I had to fight to keep the jeep on the road. What made things worse, was that the year old Drag Link, Tie Rod & Sway Links happen to start to fail. The jeep was drifting all over the road. I'm like what else will go wrong.. and it did. We had to apply the brakes a few times and hard. This locked up the rear passenger side Brake. The worse part, 1 week before we started the trip, we took the jeep to NTB where they rotated the tires. Damned if they didn't they over tighten the lugs we couldn't remove the rear wheel. Had to call triple A and even they couldn't remove the rear wheel.

Our trip was getting worse by the minute.. But there was light at the end of the tunnel. it was our hopes to have stopped in Cherokee N.C. but we had to take a side road to my nephew's house where he just so happen to have a shop. Called the night before and he said, get new brake pads, new rotor and brake fluid.

I didn't get any pics of the brake install he did, but when he took the rear pads out, they were like paper thin and the rotor was all chewed up. I did allow him to test drive the jeep after the installations and he drove around on their land back behind their house.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

We've done a lot of things to the jeep over the years, removed the factory soft top, installed a new Rampage half top, Added Powertank drop brackets, Re,move the carpeting, Added K&N air filter, over just try to keep it clean. But over the last week the jeep is seriously drifting more. I did some searching and contacted a few shops about this issue.

There will be some debate as to what I'm about to tell you and don't let anyone tell you this is is "OK" to drive the jeep this way. It isn't. The drag link & tie rod ball joints are shot. That trip we took 2 weeks ago, damaged the joints beyond repair. One clue is if you crawl under your jeep and hold the drag link rod or the tie rod and twist and it feel loose on the joints, then chances are those ball joints are shot. The joints have lost their rigidity and it's not safe to drive the jeep like this. Allowing this issue to continue will bring on the death wobble. So we're going to do something about this.

Come mid-Nov we're having a new shop install these..

Metalcloak 1 ton Drag Link & Tie rod, furthermore we're also be adding the Metalcloak track bar and we're not done yet.. later we'll be adding the metalcloak control arms as we've just learn our caster angle is off. So both upper and lower control arms will be adjustable. We're only a few weeks away from adding more gold accents.

Stay tuned..

#GoldMember

 

[Whitesandstitan]

The addiction is real...


Looks good, keep it coming!

 

[Chris]

Keep it coming! Surprisingly that gold powder coat looks really good with the exterior color. I think you've found a great accent color there as long as you don't overdo it.

Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

Whitesandstitan

Appreciate the "real" comment and yes it's going to get very real in a few weeks. No, the jeep is not going to see any major off road action. I'll leave the to youngsters. I'm just looking for a better suspension and will withstand the test of time and not have to deal with having to install new steering components every 2 or 3 years.

Chris

We're not going to Heep it, but it will have more gold/zinc accents under the jeep than our neighbors teeth. I am concerned as to over doing it, with golden drag link, tie rod, track bar, upper and lower control arms (front & rear) so I'm going to change it up and avoid the gold sway links as well as the gold shocks. I'm just looking for heavy duty components no matter what color they are.

With the installation just around the corner, I'll replace the Bilstein damper with another damper of the same make. Then I've not been happy with the rear sway link mounted on the front of the jeep. Even at 8.5 inchs theses link continue to hit the frame when driving over humps etc. I've looked into the factory short links, but this would drop the way bar too far into the negative. Right now, the longer rear link mounted on the front is more than 7% positive. I believe this is due to the years of driving as the coil springs have finally settled.

In order to correct the sway links or place them in an acceptable comfortable range. I've looked into adjustable links. But again, most of these are already set to 8 or 8.5 inched and I want to avoid this. The issue is I selected a 1.5 lift, but once on the jeep we're in a odd ball range lift height. So I'll have to jerry rig components to get things the way I need them.

I've selected the Teraflex 4'' center link with rod ends.

These have been set to a short link range as compared to other links. I'll be adjusting these links to something around 7 - 7.5 inches which will bring the link angle down or within the Positive / negative range. Plus without all the clunky hardware. So not everything being installed on the jeep will have a gold or zinc tint to it. The Bilstein dampers is silver also.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

I've been really disappointed in the TJM shocks. This makes the third time we've had to replace them. What does one expect for 28.00 ea. Although we're not able to put an extreme amount of money into shocks I've had to locate something at least better than the TJM shocks. At some point between the first Metalcloak installation and the control arms later, we'll be adding these shocks.

These are the 2.0 Teraflex Falcon shocks and nope they aren't going to be gold/zinc either. But they are nearly the same color of the jeep. but on the other hand, there's always a chance I might just have the decals removed and have the shock tubes wrapped gold..

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

With the jeep getting older, it's time to start thinking about adding newer/upgraded parts. With the recent rear brake issues, I've selected the Powerstop extreme hauling/off road brake pads & rotor's package from Summit racing.

I've had an account through summitracing since the 80's during my days with the SCCA. So instead of ordering the parts online and having them shipped to our home, We're going to take a trip to the Bristol, TN, Pick up the parts and a new (red) sway bar assembly kit for my nephew's 82 Malibu as payment for installing the new Powerstop system. Then head over to Cherokee for a long weekend with the family. Last we were there, I over heard my nephew say he wishes he could do something with his pegboard setup. So we'll prob stop off at his local home depot and grab a few sheets of pegboard and some of the accessory pig kits for him also. We'll prob do this around Thanksgiving.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

In order to find out and correct NTB blunder when over tightening the wheels lugs, had the wife help be today by jumping on the 4 point lug wrench. Once in a while I'll remove the wheels just to clean them. I did so today, cause the last time under the jeep. I noticed some of the grease from the drag link/tie rod had splurted out onto the inner wheel and was attaching brake dust.

The jeep turned 68K miles today and 2 weeks ago, we put exactly 6030 miles while on our vacation. The tires have only been on the jeep for less than 2 years and have approx 30K miles on them. We're very pleased with the ride and performance of the Nitto Ridge Grapplers, Though I have my regrets with the actual width of the tire.

The wheels have been "OK" at 17 x 8.5 with an offset of +10 so they do stick out slightly. I guess if I had to do it all over again, I would have selected something made by AEV.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

The MoreRyde Reinforced tailgate hinges have been doing very well also and I'll be doing a write up about the installation of these hinges very soon.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

last year about this time of the year, Our factory battery decided to give up on us. Though we were able to jump the battery as we wanted to at least wait till the following Sat to drive up to advance auto for a replacement. But come Sat morning.. the battery just couldn't do it. While the wife called triple A I jumped in the friends truck as we drove up to Advance Auto.

Just two weeks before my wife said: "I'm surprised you haven't already replaced the factory battery with the Optima battery yet" I think she jinx the system. So while I was buying the Optima Yellow top, triple A was testing the system just to make sure there wasn't any hidden issue with the electrical system. Once home yanked out the old battery and mounted in the new Optima.

While in the engine bay, I removed a couple of plastic crap things I've been meaning to do anyway. The plastic molded engine cover a couple of molding and the front air dam. When I take the jeep into Valvoline for an oil change, even the tech there says, it's one of the cleanest engine bays they've ever seen.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

In order to reduce the amount of junk we didn't want on the jeep during the special order process, We selected not to have any of the Sirius radio or Uconenct navigation as we decided to add our own stuff later. We've been driving with the Offline Maps and Navigation app while using a Samsung Tab A. The wife has been the navigator ever since.

If anyone who knows us, we don't drive the main roads and try to in part drive the back roads with less crows etc. Since using this app, it's actually been learning our driving habits and selecting route nearly perfect for us. Often this means ending up on a gravel road, or worse case, a road or bridge has been closed and the app never picked up on it.

Although we have a starting point and an end point, the entire route between the two locations is completely made up as we drive. The tablet fits perfectly on the passenger side grab handle in plan sight of the navigator. There's only been a few times when the app stopped working. But for the most part this app has been working flawless for us for at least 5 years of driving.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

last spring, I had this idea and contact a sail maker shop on the eastern shore. We drove several hours to get to the shop, only to be told they wouldn't be willing to help us. My thought was, jeep has always designed the factory half door uppers where as when you unzip the windows, the clear of tinted window flops down in your lap. I'll never understand why jeep designed the windows this way. My thought was to have someone re-seam the windows so that they zipped up not down to be opened. This would allow for the windows to be rolled up instead of laying in your lap.

This isn't off the table just yet as out old factory uppers are showing signs or age and we may opt to buy new then deconstruct the old ones just to find out how these fit together.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

The wife tells me she wants to get back into camping and I'm not sure my back is going to handle it. After our adventure to Cody Wyoming, trailers are out of the question, so is the roof top tent as I'm not able to crawl up a ladder.

One thing that did come to mind is this type of setup:

So I contacted the company who manufactures these drop in camper conversions only to be told.. we're looking at $45,000 worth of work. A welded aluminum frame with a fitted vinyl/plastic outer shell. I said there has to be an easier/better way.

I've know this fellow for a very long time, even remember playing in the shop when we were kids.. Fiberglass got in our cloths, hair and we scratched for weeks afterward. I email him and he's taken over his fathers business. With the pandemic, he is struggling and finds time to mold items for amusement parks etc.

I submitted my idea of a drop in camper conversion without all the storage boxed, kitchen or bathroom We just wanted an open floor plan without any clutter. he worked something up based on some measurements I took of the jeep. According to him, his design would mount to areas of the jeep as some of the roll cage would have to be removed in order to do so. His version would cost half that of the above conversion.

Because we have half doors, I wanted more space for the drop in camper, so One would remove the second row half door uppers and extend the camper shell. Although this is a pipe dream, don't be surprised if I start posting images of this camper shell being built. We're suppose to take a drive down to his shop in the near future.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

As part of my weird way of thinking, I wanted to buy (2) 36'' hi-lift jacks and mount these on both sides of the jeep.

Most would ask, why 2 jacks? and why so short? method to my madness I guess. None the less I purchase 2 sets of the EAG side door brackets which allowed em to remove the hinges and find time to repaint them like I did the tailgate hinges.

After repainting both sides of the jeep and designing a better shim to place between the door and bracket, I was ready to mount the Black/gold 36'' hi-lift jack on our jeep.

if you don't have a hi-lift on or in your jeep, be prepared to be followed even hounded by the police. because our "black" jacks were mounted on the outside of the jeep, Police routinely followed us for several days. later I learn those who do not know what a hi-lift is, would call the police say we have some sort of machine gun mounted on our jeep and this was not the first time we've been followed or hounded because of this.

I didn't give up mounting the jacks because of the police, I gave up, because the jacks were too heavy, not knowing that the drag link etc was failing anyway. I ended up selling the jacks, but later contacted Hi-lift them selves and purchase just the black jack rod and mount just the rod support on the jeep. Only 20.00 buck, I'll be ordering the second black rod in a few weeks.

These jacks are just too heavy for me to lift anymore and I'm perfectly happy with my 2 ton floor jack in the jeep 24/7, But hell let the idiots think I have machine guns mounted to the jeep, this way they'll keep the hell away from us.

 

[Mr. Bi-Polar]

One of the best things we've ever done for the jeep was get rid of the factory soft top and invest in the Rampage half top. Although we've recently developed a small leak on the drivers side and this is only because I didn't re-seat the header seals, the half top have never leaked before this and is extremely well made with rubberized seams/seals.