Finished the OME install. I replaced the left outer tie rod end as well, which was a pain, had to cut a relief slot in it with the pneumatic cut off wheel... the tie rod was bad for a while now, which I knew... but man by the time I got to it, it was REALLY BAD. Like, I think it would break and leave me stranded or cause an accident bad. Then I take it for the alignment, because it's clearly off (mostly from the tie rod install, not the lift), but they can't do it as the right outer tie rod is too loose... I hadn't disconnected that one for the lift. Dangit. OK, so in the meantime, I think I can tweak the left tie rod adjustment to get it closer to where it should be (was) for now, do the right outer tie rod on Fri evening or early Sat morning.. drop it off at the alignment shop on my way to my kids birthday party, then pick it up later if no issues. Ugh.. if it's not one thing it's another. Oh, and I'm hoping it's from the one loose tie rod (and one tight, new one) and the off-alignment, but the steering is real squirrely.. The lift is nice, OME/Bilstein with Monroe load levelers out back.. not the smoothest thing out there, and it rides a bit rougher than I expected, but my tires may also be contributing to that. Up 3" in front, 3.5" in rear. Was roughly 18.0" all the way around, about 17.75" front left- before.
It will be really squirrely until you get alignment done Thats why we always did an alignment before giving back to friend/customer etc. Did a lift for a girl that came over from Chicago, she didn't want to wait and took off back towards home, got scared and came back and stayed the night LOL
Good to know, Tom! I'd have turned around too... I went about 5-10mph slower on my commute to work this morning... between tire noise and knowing the left toe is out, I didn't need to make the issue worse. I did notice that my upper balljoints are loose, not floppy bad, and the wheel doesn't move during the typical "balljoint test", but it's probably not long before it does. That means planning for upper control arms (JBA, of course). Interesting to note, as well... I did not need to do the ratchet strap trick for the clevis... on the right side, I did NOT disconnect the sway bar link (because it was stuck! lol), and I did not disconnect the tie rod end. Only the upper balljoint and brake caliper... put it all back together, wheels on, back on the ground under it's own weight, then hit the clevis fork pinch bolt with the impact. If the left side had gone like the right side, and I didn't need to do tie rod ends, the front could have been done in about 2 hours. Rear, without fighting the sway bar bolts (if they either came out nice or were cut/ground off), hour or less. Less if everything's been apart before, and not assembled and stuck together for 16 years. Glad it's done now...
New 245-65-17 tires on the 05 this morning Didn't get the ones I wanted, but found a set of Kumho Road Venture AT 51s for a pretty good price. Guy bought them for a Toyota something or other then it got totaled. Picked them up for 340 bucks, brand new , getting them mounted/ balanced was 40, so not too bad of a deal.
Yesterday I put in LED brake/reverse/turns/dome light and license plate . Did the resistors for the rear where my aftermarket tow wiring harness connects. Made it really easy actually because I was able to make all the connections on the piece that would be easy to remove and restore back to "factory" condition. Fronts I just tapped in right behind the blinker, both of my front turns had a red wire for the blinker signal and no white/orange at all(what manual says). Instead they had black white and red, both sides the same, and bumper driving light was attached to the white and black. I really haven't done much with factory wiring diagrams, but so far everything I have done the diagram wire color doesn't match actual wire colors. Soemtimes it is just 1 wire, others it is all wires.
Put the left front wheel bearing in that I got about 2 years ago. I bought the set because I was having abs issues and I traced it to the right front wire which solved the abs issue. The left one finally got noisy enough I figure I better replace it. Neither one ever felt loose
Installed a new Tri link on a 06 today, original at 153,000 miles Owner lives on a dirt road and have 10 lbs of dirt on me now :icon_rolleyes::waytogo: He said he'd been hearing some noise for almost a year, I threw the old one out and when I picked it up ball joint fell apart, he was lucky
When that ball joint goes, does the whole arm get replaced? I should take a look at mine this weekend.
Some people replace the ball joint and end bushings Personally I never had any luck doing it and just replace with a Mopar unit I tried cheaper tri-links and then bushings and only lasted 2-3 months PLUS a lot of times since the tri-link is so thin they bent when trying to press out the old ones
Last Saturday - oil change + filter. Right at 3,000 miles. For some reason I have not received notices of thread updates all week. Figured I'd been banned. I know when I was driving out of TwoBobs I was afraid I'd get pulled over for suspected DWI. I'm glad I made my alignment appointment down his way and not back here. I might still be on my way home. :icon_mrgreen:
Exactly right! If I hit a bump, it's like an old XJ with a bad steering bump shock.. it'll cause the wheel to dart one way or the other too! If I get the right outer tie rod end on tonight or tomorrow morning, I'll have it in tomorrow for an alignment. Should be good after that. I do know that I have not yet gotten used to having to use the grab handle and "hop" into the KJ. That's a new feeling.
The notices have been going into my Spam box - even after I added the email to my contacts list and told the morons to put those emails in my inbox. Driving me a bit (more) nuts.
I just checked, due to an unrelated missing email, and found all my notices there too. Yet when Mr. Sydney Malbuna the former Finance Minister of Nigeria tries to share his millions with me I manage to get those just fine.
I tried replacing the balljoint last time no joy, boomerang bent pressing the new one in easier to buy the whole thing Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
I've replaced the BJ and bushings in mine once, but I would not suggest it, or attempt it again. When it's time again I'll be going with the bolt on to link from jba. It's not much more than a new Mopar one.
I got my full lift done with extended bump stops front and rear, upper control arms, lower ball joints, rack and pinion and outer tie rod ends. Very thankful for my buddy that worked with me yesterday, and for all the help from this forum. Now to get the rest of it done so I can start driving it again.
Put new ball joints on the upper JBA A-arms. It was actually pretty easy. These look nicer than the ones that originally came on my JBA's.
I added more things to the to-do list. The rear glass switch has gone out. I can only open the glass with the keyfob. I also had some weird intermittent sounds coming from the rear passenger wheel area. No play in the axleshaft or pinion, but I did find a u joint to replace.
