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Not sure if I'm going to get roasted for this, but it said "introduce yourself" and etc soooo ..... here I go.
I have never been on a Forum before, but I keep being told that if I'm serious about my Jeep that I need to get on one and learn how to utilize it. So I guess if I have a question or something, I can search through forum topics and see if I can find an answer thats already been posted? Or, post a new thread if I don't see an answer already there?
June 2017 I brought my first ever Jeep home. Its always been my dream vehicle, but I've never "allowed" myself to get it because it just has always seemed impractical. A few "your kids wont remember your MPG saved" memes later, and I made up my mind that I was going to stop denying myself and I was just going to do it. Came home with a previously owned 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport. Gecko Green. 54k miles at pick-up. She had a 3.5 inch Pro Comp lift already on her, 33 inch Nitto Trail Grapplers hugging 18 inch XD Monster II wheels. All a bit fancy for my tastes - I took the plastic legs off to simplify them a bit. Her gears are (probably) either 4.1 or 4.56 - I have to do a few things to confirm. Those are guesses by using GPS speedometer, RPM reading, and the infamous gear ratio chart.
I don't claim much of her work yet. I did replace her rear track bar, and thought I did so with an upgraded bar. It is upgraded from stock, but not much from what I understand NOW. That was my first thing I did, and I was still majorly under-educated. But it works. I also just took her in to meet her new Primary Care Physician who will be her mechanic-for-life and got her a look over. Seems the previous owners and I have different views on how to do things... They did a lift and a winch, but everything else stayed stock. I now am going through and working out what needs to happen to get her "bones" strong and "right". My front Driveshaft is now removed and laying in my garage as it is dead due to a tear in the boot and the bad angles. A month or two of overtime and I will be having her entire front end redone. Aside from that, I have done only some cosmetic changes. I removed her stickers and replaced them with some custom designed palm trees. I have designed a hood decal but that is now on hold for the front end work. I changed her antenna to a stubby one, added front and rear grab bars, purchased a synthetic rope for the winch (it didnt have one at time of purchase), added purple accent pieces on the door handles, removed - primed - and painted the interior accent pieces purple, put on neoprene seat covers and a steering wheel cover, and got her a custom Tag - SALTYAF. She has a new soft-top sitting on my porch waiting for warmer weather (super good deal, mines on its last leg). I also had to re-tack the welds on my door gate because the tire/wheel is too big/heavy.
My plans are a stubby front bumper with stinger (brand undecided), full rear bumper (undecided), painted-to-match flat fenders (undecided), colorwerkz flow series LED headlights and fogs, Black Rhino Armory Gun Black 18x9.5 wheels, 35 inch tires (undecided), custom front driveshaft & etc (JeepHerders 4x4 work), tire carrier of some sort (completely undecided between a body carrier/basket or a heavy-duty hinge replacement - I don't want a swing away arm), alienshade bikini top, RGB rock lights and purple interior lights galore, hi-jack lift mounted probably on the hood, and some lower armor (not sure what its really called). And lots of other things, bars, stereo, cameras, etc etc etc.
She is my basically my preferred Daily Driver and she will be a beach bunny. I have an amazing Jeep Club locally and they are very active and we do a lot of trail rides, mud bogging, and clay slinging. She won't see much of rocks but The Appalachian Mountains are only 6 hours away and she will play a little one day. I can throw mud and play dirty with the best of them, but I will absolutely go home and clean the shit out of her right away. I hope to do as much of her maintenance as I can on my own. I've officially done my first EVER oil change and i've changed her front and back differential oil.... although I'm not sure if i used the right stuff. But hey. Its done. I didnt even know what a differential was until a couple months ago.
Anyway. Roast away. I have my two feelings locked up tight in a box so no worries there. Not sure what else to say or do here. I'm just bored and writing my life story for no one to read.
With your detail analogy, I'd say you know what you want and have a better sense of where everything should be, more so that some of those that have been on the forum for years.
Welcome to the forum. Looks like you're already enjoying your ownership experience and getting out using the thing. For newer owners especially, the forum can be a wealth of knowledge. With over a decade of experiences, there's not a lot that hasn't been covered from manufacturing issues, wear and tear items, upgrades, lift, cheap modifications.....it's all out there for your reading enjoyment. Sometimes just browsing through threads generates good ideas or provides nuggets of information to store in your mind for later. There are obviously several forums out there, but I always found JK-Forum to be the most useful to me. It's a nice mix of people with various backgrounds and with various builds.....a little more generally well-rounded than the other forums. If you need help and can't find the info you're looking for, don't feel shy about posting. People are happy to help and point you in the right direction. Just be careful if you ask for opinions.....LOL.
Couple notes:
I see you already pulled off that front drive shaft. Just know that it's perfectly fine having the boot over the splines ripped. That's not going to cause failure for a long time. What will happen with your height is the boot protecting the repezza joint at the TC side will rip, sling grease on the underside of the tub, dry the joint out, and that will cause failure. Just mentioning in case not having front DS is keeping you from having fun at the moment! You might also look at either 1) exhaust spacers or 2) rerouting your exhaust behind the cross member either with a custom job at a mom-and-pop muffler shop, or a y-pipe. That will give you more clearance for your front DS. An aftermarket shaft will provide additional clearance, but moving the exhaust can still be helpful.
Also, can't tell from that one picture.....do you have a raise rear TB bracket? I'm pretty sure the Pro Comp lift comes with one.....maybe it's just being hid by the tire in that picture. That rear TB isn't near as important as the front one, so I wouldn't worry about it not being upgraded to the best possible thing. The important thing back there is to raise the bracket on the axle side.....keeping the TB more level rather than at an angle helps with the roll center of the jeep. The real reason for having to "upgrade" the rear TB is typically to get an adjustable one....allowing you to perfectly center the axle under the jeep....moreso than beefy strength. The front one is much more important.
Do you have some form of caster correction up front? I think the Pro Comp lifts typically come with cam bolts. Hopefully you don't have those. If you don't have any caster correction (adjustable arms or control arm brackets), you might want to research that a bit. If you have cam bolts, you might want to research those too and pull em out. Food for thought.
Anyhow, welcome aboard. You Georgians must say "yawl"......here in Texas we say "ya'll"
I see you already pulled off that front drive shaft. Just know that it's perfectly fine having the boot over the splines ripped. That's not going to cause failure for a long time. What will happen with your height is the boot protecting the repezza joint at the TC side will rip, sling grease on the underside of the tub, dry the joint out, and that will cause failure. Just mentioning in case not having front DS is keeping you from having fun at the moment! You might also look at either 1) exhaust spacers or 2) rerouting your exhaust behind the cross member either with a custom job at a mom-and-pop muffler shop, or a y-pipe. That will give you more clearance for your front DS. An aftermarket shaft will provide additional clearance, but moving the exhaust can still be helpful.
The boot at the Transfer Case (I have to get use to these acronyms. I deal with them all day long, its an effort to add more) is the one that ripped. Probably was torn before I got the Jeep, and my playing ruined it further. She was diagnosed with a whole shitload of front end work that needs to be done, and so I am going to tackle the driveshaft, exhaust clearance, and front end shit all at the same time. Luckily its tax season and it wont be too painful nor will I have to wait too long to get it done.
Originally Posted by resharp001
Also, can't tell from that one picture.....do you have a raise rear TB bracket? I'm pretty sure the Pro Comp lift comes with one.....maybe it's just being hid by the tire in that picture. That rear TB isn't near as important as the front one, so I wouldn't worry about it not being upgraded to the best possible thing. The important thing back there is to raise the bracket on the axle side.....keeping the TB more level rather than at an angle helps with the roll center of the jeep. The real reason for having to "upgrade" the rear TB is typically to get an adjustable one....allowing you to perfectly center the axle under the jeep....moreso than beefy strength. The front one is much more important.
Do you have some form of caster correction up front? I think the Pro Comp lifts typically come with cam bolts. Hopefully you don't have those. If you don't have any caster correction (adjustable arms or control arm brackets), you might want to research that a bit. If you have cam bolts, you might want to research those too and pull em out. Food for thought.
Does TB = Track Bar? It took me about 30 minutes to come up with that guess so I hope its right. Its a slow morning for me. I did replace my rear track bar, and it was supposed to be with a double adjustable but the wrong thing came in and we were trying to evacuate for Irma. So I had to just go with it. I am not sure about a special bracket, how can I tell? Because here is the other issue I have. I am back to the drawing board on what kind of lift I have. I'm probably going to make a post and ask for help/opinions on it (dangerous, I know. but I can narrow it down possibly). I've been told so many different things and I keep finding out what the last thing I was told is not correct either. So I officially have NO CLUE what kind of lift I have. Maybe confirmation of a bracket or not a bracket will tell me if I have a Pro Comp? no clue.
As to the caster correction.. we are again out of my knowledge bank. I have just come across these words yesterday when asking my Jeep Club for brake replacement information. I literally have not done anything other than change a flat tire on my previous vehicles. My Jeep though .... I want to do as much as possible so I have a lot of learning to do that someone my age should probably already have an idea about. I will add this to the "stuff I know nothing about and need to know a lot about" file.
Originally Posted by resharp001
Anyhow, welcome aboard. You Georgians must say "yawl"......here in Texas we say "ya'll"
Well, I get a lot of flack from everyone (including my fellow Georgians) for how I type out "yawl". But its exactly how I say it, with a nice slow drawl. I hear "y'all" said a lot, and see it typed/written, and to me its a quicker word. clean. defined. not me. hahaha ; )
heh resharp001 reading it is one thing, actually hearing it said is another.
I promise if you heard me talk and him, or someone else who actually says "y'all" talk, you would surely hear the difference and be like, welp. okay. YAWL is a thing sometimes.
I Don't post much on here, but welcome. I'm actually moving from southern Cal to GA mid March. Looking forward to some southern wheeling! Perhaps see ya on the trail somewhere and Keep on having fun with your jeep!
Sorry for the acronyms. You’ll see them a lot on here just to save from typing.
TB= track bar
DL= drag link
TR = tie rod
TRE = tie rod ends
BJ = ball joints
CA = control arms
DS = drive shaft
Then you have common manufacturer abbreviations:
RK = Rock Krawler
MC = Metalcloak
TF = Teraflex
RE = Rubicon Express
RC = Rough Country
PC = Pro Comp
Y, that boot at the transfer case side is the most common issue (besides ripping the boot at the splines which is superficial). At that height, it’s best to just replace with a nice aftermarket drive shaft.
About the lift, it’s really hard for people to tell actual brands from pictures even, but what is easy to spot is if something is factory or not. You most likely have a pretty basic “lift” if you want to call it that….someone probably threw some springs and shocks on, with minimal extras….possibly an adjustable track bar up from and a bracket in the rear, with some drop brackets for the brakes.
Google has made it much harder to embed random pictures as examples recently. Ugh, frustrating for things like this…..If you’re looking at your rear axle, where the track bar bolts on, is there an additional bracket that bolts itself to the factory bracket, and then the track bar actually bolts to it? This is the factory location the rear TB bolts to –
Many kits will include a bracket that bolts to the factory spot, and actually raises the mount. By raising where the rear TB mounts, you level out the bar (rather than having it as a steeper angle), and that actually improves the roll center of the jeep. You feel that sort of thing in the handling when corning and such. If you don’t have a raised bracket there, you might just consider adding one.
Up front, caster is an important thing to wrap your head around. Link below will take you to a post in a thread that kinda lays caster out in peanut butter and jelly terms -
Your axle has 6* of caster built in to it…..or simply put, the C’s on the end of the axle are slanted back 6*. Your jeep came from the factory with 4.2* caster (your pinion was raised 1.8*, resulting in 4.2* caster). As the jeep is gets lifted, that whole axle assembly rotates forward (the C’s become more straight up and down and less leaned backwards). This might not seem like much, but small changes in caster have a big effect on your driving experience.
So, I go through that so you can check and see if you have any sort of caster correction on your jeep. I presume you don’t have adjustable control arms. You should be able to tell if the control arms holding the axle to the frame are factory. Are the arms a solid piece of metal, or do you see a way in which they can be shortened or lengthened? Do you see any control arm drop brackets? They would be on the frame side of the jeep, and hang down a bit below the frame, and be where the control arms bolt up. Like this –
If you don’t see any of those 3 things, then you have no caster correction installed on the jeep, and your caster is too low. Raising your caster back towards the factory spec would give you a much nicer ride, translating directly improved satisfaction with your jeep.
Anyhow, couple things to consider. It’s nice to see you eager to learn and use your jeep. None of this is rocket science, and there’s so much info out there. If you have the tools, you can do it all yourself. If you don’t have the tools, collect em along the way. The only thing necessary to accomplish anything is the desire to figure it out, and it appears you are well on your way.
02-05-2018, 09:37 AM
HEY YAWL from SE GA
