'22 JLR 2.0T build progress/wheeling thread

[yokramer]

Alright, August '25 - got back out for a relaxing wheeling trip. No wild trails, just a good time with the top and doors off.

Slapped together a few time lapses:

Really sad I couldnt make this one before I left.

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[Remorseless]

After the August wheeling trip I discovered that the cuts on the Grimm liners were too tight to the Fox hoses and were just starting to abrade them. Got ahead of it with some friction tape on the hoses:

A little foam rubber tape where a panel was rubbing a fitting on the hose:

And some rubber edging in a few places:

Also did the adult thing and used a P clamp and M5 rivnut to tie the shock hose to the inner liner instead of zip ties:

All told came out pretty good

 

[Remorseless]

And finally, Sep '25 - got the first of the control arms from last year put in (front LCAs on the JL). Added just about 1/8" of length to them for additional caster. Tracks straighter now, but it's also introduced a touch of bump steer for whatever reason. Keeping an eye on it to see if I want to shorten the arms as I had zero before I lengthened them, but it's also not bad at all. Time will tell if it worsens or anything.

Also, kiddo's finally old enough that I can look forward to having a use for the rear seat:

Green Jeep days going to daycare are fun. Hoping to get her out on the trail a couple times next season once we get settled in after her sister comes this fall.

 

[Remorseless]

Really sad I couldnt make this one before I left.

That's alright, I'll get the fam out west at some point. Really wanna get the girls traveling and that will definitely involve Jeeping.

 

[gek]

After the August wheeling trip I discovered that the cuts on the Grimm liners were too tight to the Fox hoses and were just starting to abrade them. Got ahead of it with some friction tape on the hoses:

A little foam rubber tape where a panel was rubbing a fitting on the hose:

And some rubber edging in a few places:

Also did the adult thing and used a P clamp and M5 rivnut to tie the shock hose to the inner liner instead of zip ties:

All told came out pretty good

What tape did you put on your hoses? I found a couple spots mine were rubbing and thought about wrapping them.

 

[Roky]

After the August wheeling trip I discovered that the cuts on the Grimm liners were too tight to the Fox hoses and were just starting to abrade them. Got ahead of it with some friction tape on the hoses:

A little foam rubber tape where a panel was rubbing a fitting on the hose:

And some rubber edging in a few places:

Also did the adult thing and used a P clamp and M5 rivnut to tie the shock hose to the inner liner instead of zip ties:

All told came out pretty good

Keep an eye right here,

depending on how much articulation you have the shock will contact the coil housing….i had to trim the fat a bit there……

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/crystal-rubi-build….61821/post-2401929

 

[Remorseless]

What tape did you put on your hoses? I found a couple spots mine were rubbing and thought about wrapping them.

3M Temflex Cotton Friction Tape 1755, 3/4 in x 60 ft, Black, 1 Roll: Electrical Tape: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Definitely not designed as a hose wrap, but I wanted something that was just kind of thick and tacky. Sticks mostly just to itself. General use is for wire loom protection.

 

[Remorseless]

Keep an eye right here,

depending on how much articulation you have the shock will contact the coil housing….i had to trim the fat a bit there……

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/crystal-rubi-build….61821/post-2401929

Thanks Roky, I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[Remorseless]

Alright, so while I was out I did manage to get some work done on the Jeep. First, back in November, I ended up needing to cut away some more of the Grimm liners to clear the resi hoses on the shocks. Camera makes it look tighter than it actually is:

Far as I can tell no rubbing anymore, but keeping an eye on it. Also got all the arms swapped over to the JKS adjustable arms with Clevite bushings. Interestingly did find out that the fixed length arms that came out had just about had the bushings wrenched out of them in under 10k mi. If the same happens with the adjustable arms I may have to swap to a flex end for the rear, at a minimum at the frame side - assumption is that the shock extended length is long enough that when flexed out on the trail the side load is wrecking the bushings. Gonna rebuild the fixed arms so I can bully @Sean L into lifting.

Anyway, here's some shitty pics of the arms:

Another side note about this - did the Synergy Mfg upgraded bolt pack with the arm swap and if anyone out there wants to do this - keep your stock flag nuts for the trackbars. The Synergy flag nuts are soft as butter and bent instead of catching on the trackbar tower in the rear. Their trackbar bolts fit the OE flag nuts for the trackbar just fine.

 

[Remorseless]

Next project I got to hit was the Next Venture 7000 series skids for the JT and the Metalcloak flip step rock rails. Ran into some issues with both of these, so that was fun.

First up, the NV skids: they're pricey but it's a nice kit. Here it is kind of mocked up on my workshop floor:

So first thing that was kind of a pain in the ass was getting everything assembled prior to install - mainly in the instructions or lack thereof. Their instructions are in YouTube video format, but there are big differences between their pre-prod JLU unit they assemble and their full-prod JT unit - both in terms of rolling changes made to parts and just by virtue of my kit being for JT and their only video being for JLU.

Anyway, got it figured out, was slower going than I would have liked since I'm staring at pictures on their site and looking at their video for the pre-prod JLU SKU, but got it figured out. Then realized I was missing one of the fastener cap washers that protects the gas tank from the nuts and bolts that hold the skid together. Tyler at Next Venture got me sorted there and sent me one. After it arrived the next week (UPS is slow, not NV's fault), got to installing it.

Got the gas tank skid pulled:

Getting the strap at the front of the tank that holds the tank to the skid loose was a pain, really needed to reef on the "hook" end with a prybar, but it eventually popped off.

Everything from there on went smooth until I hit the engine skid. You gotta swap out the inner-most motor mount bolt that holds the motor mount bracket to the frame bracket and it's a royal pain to access on the 3.6. Ended up needing about 2 feet of extensions and a wobbly on a 3/8" ratchet (small 13mm bolt head with wicked thread locker, gotta do by hand to keep stuff from breaking) and needed to pull the dipstick tube off the engine and move it out the way.

Anyway, got that squared away eventually and then the last hurdle I had (no pics, too much rage) was that I had to put a nutsert in the frame to locate a bracket for the t-case skid and said nutsert is half hex and indexes into a hex-shaped hole in the frame. I had to call Next Venture again to figure out WTF with a part change for a crossmember tie in bracket (part in my kit was NOTHING like the pre-prod part in their video) and they sent me videos on both that part and the new nutsert for the t-case skid. Wish this was just in a PDF, but I digress. Anyway, damned hex body on the nutsert rounded off instead of grabbing the frame and had to wait on Amazon to send me some M10 hex body nutserts so I could get one in. Skids came out nice:

 

[Remorseless]

The last project I hit was the Metalcloak rails on the truck. They ship in two pieces for the main rail body, I'm assuming since the JT is like 6 counties long:

Should have been a straightforward install - bolt em together, put up against the truck, drill out the pinch seam holes, bolt them to the truck. But alas, hit snags here too.

You see, Jeep uses two 10mm bolts into rivnuts captured by the pinch seam to hold the outer fender sheet metal on. Metalclok says you can drill these out to upgrade the hardware to their provided hardware (two labeled Optional below):

Problem is, for the second optional one, Metalcloak doesn't actually give you the necessary access hole in the body of the rock rail that they give you for every single other bolt hole. So.... you can't actually upgrade the hardware there unless you've got 14" long fingers made of a surprisingly sturdy jello that can root around inside the body of the rock rail to hold a nylock nut in place. Figured that one out AFTER I drilled out the factory rivnut. So... M8 rivnut to the rescue:

Didn't make this mistake on the other side.

Once on they look good and feel sturdy enough - the truck's the family vehicle, needed a step but with some more protection for when I get it out to follow the JL around.

 

[shagles]

Damn Glenn, balling out on paternity leave! Did you get all the cabinets finished too??

 

[Remorseless]

Damn Glenn, balling out on paternity leave! Did you get all the cabinets finished too??

Finished those last winter! I guess I only get shit done when it's cold and miserable out.

The truck was all in the last 2 weeks of leave though, we hired someone to help watch the baby for 3 months until we can get her a little older and into daycare. JL I did an hour here and an hour there for like a month.

 

[shagles]

Finished those last winter! I guess I only get shit done when it's cold and miserable out.

The truck was all in the last 2 weeks of leave though, we hired someone to help watch the baby for 3 months until we can get her a little older and into daycare. JL I did an hour here and an hour there for like a month.

Ah nice. Smart move on the short term nanny. Wish we'd done that. I might have gotten decent sleep occasionally in the first 5 months...

 

[Remorseless]

Ah nice. Smart move on the short term nanny. Wish we'd done that. I might have gotten decent sleep occasionally in the first 5 months...

Man I wish we were financially able to do it long term. Postponed the truck parts for like a year so we could save up for this 3 month stint (all while watching the prices going up and up and up), but it's definitely very nice to avoid sending a 3 month old straight into the petri dish.

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