Initial Lookover
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Initial Lookover
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I received the Jeep in early January 2006 and performed an initial inspection to see what I had to work with. The following are some of the more interesting things that I found. First up were the rear hangers on the front leaf springs. Apparently the leaf springs were replaced at some point and the correct size spring could not be located so some custom hangers were fabricated. Now these are fun to put the spring bolt in and out of due to the 1.25" hole that you have to put the lock washer, the nut, your fingers and a wrench in on the back of the frame. Oh and don't drop the nut or you will be chasing it down the boxed frame with a magnet on a stick.
Next up were the front lift blocks, enough said. Remember the springs not being for the Jeep, oh yea the spring bolt is 2" off center so another hole was drilled in the blocks so they became offset blocks as well to center the axle in the wheel well.
Next we have the steering setup. To get a longer draglink for a custom crossover setup a steering box was added to the outside of the frame rail in the drivers wheel well. Some interesting methods were used to mount the box and fill in the holes in the frame from the old box (that's a new use for fender washers). There are also some tire clearance issues as well.
Next is the drag link for the crossover. It is of the classic cut and weld tube together technique. The scary part is the clearance issues it has with the driver side leaf spring, you just hope you don't need to turn left sometimes I guess.
Next we come to the motor mounts. Granted this engine never came in this truck but a couple more bolts (or maybe some more weld?) could have been used. I like the spacer between the passenger mount and the frame because it wasn't long enough.
Finally we come to the transmission mount. I don't know on this one, I just don't know. Look for yourself.
Beyond these items, nearly every bolt on the truck was loose. The rear hangers for the front springs (pictured above) each only had one of the bolts tight in them and none of them had all four bolts. Another fun thing was both the upper and lower kingpin bearings on the passenger side had spit all of there needles and were just riding in the races, this resulted in the passenger wheel and tire leaning in and out around 3-4" as it decided. First step is going to be to do the shackle reversal in the front and remove the front blocks and then we will see what to move on to next.
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