The life story of...

[chadsmeltzer]

Timmay!
(yes, Timmay)

I got it at the end of 2006, bone stock with 24,000 miles.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/Picture086.jpg
Quickly fixed that...
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/Picture104.jpg

Some pictures over the first few months I had it...
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/Picture122.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/Picture148.jpg
Then Herculiner...
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/Picture035.jpg
New tires, 31x10.5x15 TrXus M/T, new wheels, light bar...
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/9months018.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/snow011.jpg

It was rubbing the fenders so I ended up getting a 1.25" body lift...
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/100_0349.jpg

Then a 3" suspension lift, netting around 4" for a total of around 5" of lift.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/beforeafter.jpg

[chadsmeltzer]

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/DSC_0334.jpg

That led to the front driveshaft hitting the skidplate and the rear one being to steep. That ended with a belly up skid, SYE and new rear driveshaft.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/tummytuck064.jpg

Then a JCR Pre-Runner bumper and Mile Marker winch, which was crap and was returned.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/IMG_0156.jpg

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/5-18-08025.jpg

Then blew the spider gears, so I went with an OX locker and Superior shafts that I got for an amazing deal.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/gears015.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/takingout021.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/done001.jpg


Then I found a great deal on a ViAir Compressor
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/5-18-08024.jpg
It was great for filling up tires and occasional tool use, but I had some extra space so...
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/buildup/5-18-08028.jpg


I have also been in the 4th of July parade the last few years...
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/Picture164.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/4th%20of%20July/stuff019.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/4th%20of%20July/028.jpg

[chadsmeltzer]

Since then I got a Viper alarm/remote start. Detroit EZ locker in the front
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/Jeep/5.jpg

I got sick of the Ox locker so I swapping in a Ford 8.8 with limited slip. JCR did the mounts on it, then Josh and I did the rest.

For a short time I also had some 35x14.5x16 boggers on it, which led to a broken track bar.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/Jeep/Picture082.jpg
Somewhere in there I also got AtoZ rock sliders, got rid of the lightbar and put them on the windshield, broke a lot of parts, and a SuperWinch EPi9000s.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/MnG%2012-13-09/DSC_0029.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/Jeep/DSC_0466.jpg

[chadsmeltzer]

Got new tires, 35x12.5x15 MT/R with Kevlar
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs088.snc4/35782_445623830259_712340259_6408198_7035402_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs079.snc4/35324_444985630259_712340259_6387519_5543114_n.jpg


And just put on a ZJ V8 tierod, which is much beefier. Stock is hollow tubing and the ZJ is solid, it's also .12" larger. Then the TRE is almost .5" thicker.
Not my picture, but same thing...
http://stu-offroad.com/steering/zjtie/tie-1.jpg

[achipnachair]

New tires look great.

[chadsmeltzer]

new tie rod
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs019.snc4/34303_447902055259_712340259_6464261_973633_n.jpg

[chadsmeltzer]

Almost 1,000 miles on the new tires and just like everything else with my Jeep, it defies logic.
My gas mileage has improved by about 3 MPG going from 31s to 35s. That is after calculating how much the speedo is off, which is right around 20%.

[thesherp]

I got the same if not better with the 33's than the 31's. When my KM2's ware out I'm getting the kevlar's as well.

[lowridinpontiac]

after having the kevlars on my truck i think they are the only way to go!

[chadsmeltzer]

after having the kevlars on my truck i think they are the only way to go!

I love them so far, others have commented that it rides better now also.

[chadsmeltzer]

Added a transmission temp gauge last night, normally around 120 on the highway and around 140 on back roads. It did get up to about 190, but that was pulling a heavy trailer (heavier then I should be towing) on some hilly winding roads.

[havensov]

How hard was the transmission temp gauge to install? Been thinking of adding one when I add my trany cooler.

[chadsmeltzer]

The sensor was easy, finding a spot for the gauge is the harder part. The only issue is the sensor grounds through itself, but I placed it in a rubber line. I had to solder a wire to the "T" that I used to splice the line and then ground that.
I still haven't actually mounted the gauge, it's just sitting on the 4wd lever until I get a holesaw for it, probably tonight.

[chadsmeltzer]

Just added some 5000k HID headlights and then some LED's to the inside.

HOLY BRIGHT!

Drove by a lot of cars and nobody flashed me, and I hardly even needed the brights (which are also HID and could light up a runway).

Install was a pain, lots of wires and nowhere to mount the ballast. The wires all had connectors on them though, so that helped a lot. I guess other then the ballast and the lights not really meant for a TJ, it went well.

[lowridinpontiac]

yeah the HID's are sweet i've got 8k's in mine or i should say were in mine. I never had to use my fog lights or brights.

[chadsmeltzer]

4 link is in. I haven't done anything other then drive it home yet, but I like it so far.

I almost met somebody with the baddest YJ ever...

[chadsmeltzer]

I may or may not be the proud owner of a high pinion D44...:thumbup:

[ArcticCat843]

that sucks.....now i have even more to catch up on!

[chadsmeltzer]

that sucks.....now i have even more to catch up on!

I'm still playing catch up from your XJ.

I don't have it yet, he is going to weld on the mounts for me then I'm going to figure it out from there. Not really sure what I plan to do other then 5.13s. I will probably end up with an Aussie, unless I find a deal like you did. I have no idea what to do about steering, I will have to see the axle and go from there. It will probably be a couple months before it's under my Jeep unfortunately. Hopefully my D30 lasts that long.

I'm really really hoping I can get 15s to fit, I really don't want to buy new tires. I can deal with buying new wheels for the bolt pattern, but tires for 16's are like 70 more a tire for the same thing, no way that is happening.

[ArcticCat843]

the problem i had with 16s on my d44 was the steering. I had JCR one ton set up in the stock forf location (under the knuckle and everything) i think that if you where todo some kinda high steer and have the knuckles machined and stuff then you might be ok but idk for sure. Like i said, i ended up with a 1/4 inch spacer on mine then they ground down the tie rod end a ton and when i drove it the rim would flex enough that it still rubbed. So i had to grind on it even more.

I bet we could build you some steering tho. I mean its not that hard we would just have to buy a drill and tap and then a reamer bit. might be a handy thing to have in the future aswell

[chadsmeltzer]

I don't know if it has flat top knuckles or not, but I don't believe it does. If so, I will probably end up with a stock steering setup, just stronger.

[ArcticCat843]

As far as i can remember ford never came with flat top knuckles. Only chevy did. I think you can get some chevy outer knuckles and bolt them on your ford 44 tho. ORRRR you can have them machined flat and the buy some high steer arms. Turns out i have machining next session too. Just saying, i wouldnt mind having a set to practice on lol

[ArcticCat843]

http://lansing.craigslist.org/pts/2029429102.html

[lowridinpontiac]

you should just go straight to 1 ton axles then you won't have to worry about upgrading your axles ever again.

[chadsmeltzer]

Another wheel bearing bit the dust. I'm trying to get it replaced under warranty because I put them on in June.

Also got a Banks Monster muffler put on today. I wanted a tailpipe made but couldn't find a shop to do it, they all said it was too hard. So now I still have a turndown after the muffler. The Banks muffler is pretty quiet, hopefully it get's a little louder. It pretty much sounds stock right now.

[lowridinpontiac]

a good exhaust guy is hard to find when it comes to good custom work, I ended having to cut my tailpipe off at the muffler too cuz of clearance issues with the suspension, so looks like i'm gonna be redoing my exhaust again with true duals from the headers back with turndowns.

[chadsmeltzer]

Added some Polk db521's to the roll bar and waiting for adapter plated to put them in the dash too. They sound much better, along with some polyfil I put in over the summer. They even have enough bass to rattle the roll bar lights, which I need to do something about now.


Oh, and the MTR's SUCK on ice. My TrXus M/T's did much better. It took 1.5 hours to get to work and 2 hours to get home from work last week in the snow/ice. I have driven my TJ in snow and ice plenty to know how bad TJ's are as it is, but these tires suck. I took a couple bags of cement from work that got wet and it helped a little. I may be needing new tires soon, and might look around again for something different. We will see how they do the next few weeks.

[chadsmeltzer]

I replaced a ujoint today that was cursed. I spent a day and a half just trying to remove one ujoint. Almost an entire bottle of Liquid Wrench, torched forever, and lots of use of an impact and jumping on a breaker bar. Then it only took 15 minutes from the time I had it apart to the time the wheel was back on.

[lowridinpontiac]

yeah the lugs on the mtr's are too big for snow and ice, i think the duratracs would be a better choice for all season tires, my brother is running them on his cherokee and says they do pretty good.

[chadsmeltzer]

I don't think they make Duratracs in a 35.

[chadsmeltzer]

Replaced my class 2 hitch with a class 5 hitch today...
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/Jeep/YnJldy9zaGFyZWQvZm1nci9NeSBBbGJ1bXMvNjc2QTA0Nzcuan Bn.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/Jeep/YnJldy9zaGFyZWQvZm1nci9NeSBBbGJ1bXMvNjc2QTA0ODAuan Bn.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/Jeep/YnJldy9zaGFyZWQvZm1nci9NeSBBbGJ1bXMvNjc2QTA0ODEuan Bn.jpg

[Hueschen17]

cool looks good but what are u going to pull with it?

[chadsmeltzer]

cool looks good but what are u going to pull with it?

The main reason was to be able to use it for recovery, using a shackle. But for work I needed to be able to use a 2 5/16th ball for trailers I'm always moving around. I don't tow the big ones down the road, but it's SO much nicer using my TJ to maneuver trailers through yards then a 4 door long bed dually.



That, and I think my Jeep was embarrassed having such a small hitch.:tongue:

[chadsmeltzer]

Today I added a second transmission temp sensor and a switch so I can see the hot and cool side of my trans temps (before and after cooling) with one gauge.

[havensov]

Today I added a second transmission temp sensor and a switch so I can see the hot and cool side of my trans temps (before and after cooling) with one gauge.

Nice! how easy was it?

[chadsmeltzer]

About as easy as post 12 and 13:tongueout:

How hard was the transmission temp gauge to install? Been thinking of adding one when I add my trany cooler.


The sensor was easy, finding a spot for the gauge is the harder part. The only issue is the sensor grounds through itself, but I placed it in a rubber line. I had to solder a wire to the "T" that I used to splice the line and then ground that.
I still haven't actually mounted the gauge, it's just sitting on the 4wd lever until I get a holesaw for it, probably tonight.


It's pretty easy. Sensor has one wire coming off it and the gauge has power, sensor, light, light ground. The rubber hoses on the transmission are 3/8 ID and I ran them into a T with hose barbs and the sensor is 1/8" NPT, so I used a 1/4" NPT adapter into the other side of the T. Probably took an hour but I was doing 15 other things at the same time.

To add the second sensor, I hooked up the T the same but the two sensor wires run into a SPDT switch with one wire going from the switch to the gauge. Pretty easy I thought.

[chadsmeltzer]

So I think I cracked my radiator. It's leaking coolant and I can't see any leaks on anything else. It's hard to tell with the radiator because the fan is blowing it around, but I think the cold snow hitting the hot radiator cracked it somewhere.

[ArcticCat843]

Might as well do a stroker swap while you have that out! I have a block ill sell you! cheap if you pull it out! lol

[chadsmeltzer]

New radiator is in, all aluminum and TIG welded. I'm glad I only spent $130 on it, because if I spent $500 I would have sent it back. It wasn't in the best shape and I had to sorta make it work, I guess you get what you pay for. At least it works.

I picked a terrible day to flush a coolant system and work underneath it. Everything was frozen over except was landed on me. I'm freezing now.

[chadsmeltzer]

Not really sure how I did it but I was just greasing things up and noticed my upper ball joint seal squished out. The ball joint appears to be fine, but now I will have to replace it. Also, when I busted the shaft I broke the zerk fitting on the lower ball joint so I should probably replace that too. Just more money wasted that should go towards the D44.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/IMAG0046.jpg?t=1303858923

[chadsmeltzer]

And I can't get my winch to work. It has power and ground, but then it started to hail so I quit messing with it.

[ArcticCat843]

I would call superwinch i think they stand behind them pretty good.
Oh and you should just sell the 44, get some alloy shafts and call it good....

[chadsmeltzer]

I would call superwinch i think they stand behind them pretty good.
Oh and you should just sell the 44, get some alloy shafts and call it good....

If I didn't go with the D44, I would still get another 30 housing. I really want at least 5.13 gears though. I don't know what to do, but that is the last thing I thought you would say. I figured you would have posted a link to a Portal axle or something.

I emailed superwinch a couple times when I first got it and never got a response, then I just forgot about the issues. I should have called in the first place, this winch has had issues since day one.

Can I borrow one of those rims you have, I want to see how close a 15 is to fitting. That is my biggest hold up right now.

[ArcticCat843]

They are still sitting in the same spot, you can barrow them anytime.


Oh and i guess it would depend on how close you are to getting it done. But portals are cool too lol

[chadsmeltzer]

You suck with planting ideas in my head. I just made a spreadsheet HPD44 vs HPD30.

D30 is winning by a lot.

[ArcticCat843]

Still will never be as strong....Plus 5.13s.....

[chadsmeltzer]

Still will never be as strong....Plus 5.13s.....

Didn't you just say do the 30?
:juggle:

[ArcticCat843]

i have no idea what your talking about..... lol

[chadsmeltzer]

Replaced the ball joints today. It helps a lot when you try to press them out the correct way, it took me a while to figure out why it wouldn't move. It is also wise to have a grease gun handy, mine was an hour away so now I have to pull the shaft again (3rd time in a week) so I can grease the lower ball joint.

[ArcticCat843]

at least your going to get good at it lol

[chadsmeltzer]

at least your going to get good at it lol

I already know the bolt sizes and torque spec for every bolt you remove to do it. I bet I can pull the shaft and replace it in 10 minutes easy. I forgot to get a jack so I am just going to lift my jeep with the pettibone.

[chadsmeltzer]

So i decided to get up early to pull the axle shaft, 40 minutes from walking out the door pulling and replacing it, and walking back in the door. That's using a factory bottle jack in a gravel driveway at 6am, I think that's pretty good.

[havensov]

Nice, airtools?

[chadsmeltzer]

Nice, airtools?

Stock lug wrench, 2 sockets, one wrench, and a torque wrench.

And the porch light was on so I could see.

[ArcticCat843]

Let's see

3/4 to take the wheel off

36mm? For the axle nut

13mm 12 point for the caliber and the unit bearing?

Torgue specs are Like 35 on the caliper I think 65 on the unit bearing 120 on the axle nut and 100 on the lugs.

Am close? At one time I knew it all too but It been a while lol

[chadsmeltzer]

Let's see

3/4 to take the wheel off

36mm? For the axle nut

13mm 12 point for the caliber and the unit bearing?

Torgue specs are Like 35 on the caliper I think 65 on the unit bearing 120 on the axle nut and 100 on the lugs.

Am close? At one time I knew it all too but It been a while lol

Close, calipers are 1/2". Torque specs are 10 on the caliper, 75 on the unit bearing, and the axle nut is 175. You don't have to pull the axle nut to pull the shaft though.

[chadsmeltzer]

I needed to add a 7 pin trailer connector and wanted to keep the 4 pin without using an adapter. I found one that did both, but it was too big to mount anywhere. The only place it fit was below the hitch but I would rip that off right away. I decided to pull the bumper off and sink the connector inside it. I think it turned out pretty good, now I just need to find a brake controller.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/IMAG0067.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/IMAG0078.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/IMAG0079.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/IMAG0082.jpg

I was surprised how well my TJ towed this trailer, although I will never go down the highway with it. I don't think I could even reach highway speed with it.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/chadsmeltzer/IMAG0062.jpg

[chadsmeltzer]

I was annoyed by the rear coils being bent from the pinion angle. Instead of being like this " l ", they looked like this " ) " from the side. Well I got some brackets to move the frame side and because the coils were bent so much, when I straightened them up it lifted the back of the Jeep a lot. It now makes the 35s look pretty small. Even with my drop hitch I can't hookup to a tool trailer because the back of the trailer hits the ground. I do love that I have a ton more uptravel though. I also cut the inner fenders so the tires can take advantage of the flex. It rides so much better now because it doesn't bottom out so fast.