Dory 392XR Build (RIP/MIA)

[oceanblue2019]

Those look sweet. Gear oil goes great with white bread turkey sandwhiches and a glass of lemonade.

Also a little dab behind the ears drives the women wild.

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[Roky]

@BradyW , did you use rtv, or oem gasket, or something else on new diff covers ?

 

[BradyW]

@BradyW , did you use rtv, or oem gasket, or something else on new diff covers ?

Next Venture does their sealing surface machining after welding and states RTV is not needed. I’m reusing the OEM to see how it goes. No leaks in the first day which is a good start.

 

[BradyW]

Phase 4 Complete!
The Next Venture aluminum + UHMW skid plates arrived the third week of April from my Black Friday purchase. Their supplier for the UHMW plastic was back-ordered, which caused the delay. I've had great experiences with UHMW skinned skids from the UTV world so I did not want to give up that option. The exhaust system of the 392 has little to no protection and that was the primary reasoning behind the aftermarket skid system.

The skids come with no instructions. You get a low-resolution CAD image on the inside of the box but that's it. I recommend watching the Lite-Brite video on YouTube and look through the photos on the website for help.

Lifting the Jeep ~6" was sufficient for the install, plenty of room with a creeper.

Here are my tips from the installation.

• Drive the gas tank down to <10mi from empty.
• Strap up the front of the gas tank under the skid before removing the final bolts. Don't worry about getting the rear of the tank full strapped before dropping the skid, if you get your strap mostly ready you can finish it out after the skid plate is dropped.
• Install the gas tank skid plate after the new straps and cross members are bolted up.
• IMPORTANT! Install the transmission skid plate next and START at the FRONT of the skid so that the countersunk bolts are easy to align with the cross-member holes. You may need to hammer the rear of the transmission skid up the back cross member. If you start at the back and then try to align the front bolt holes you will LOSE!
• I had to grind a few random spots to get things to fit or to get holes to line up.
• After the transmission skid is on you can install the exhaust skid. Getting the transmission skid and the exhaust skid bolted together was a little tricky due to the holes not aligning, nothing grinders, drill bits, and hammers couldn't fix though.
• Install the oil pan skid straps to the jeep loosely before attaching them to the oil pan skid. I had to grind the passenger side strap down to fit into the motor mount slot. I had to use a 1/4" ratchet on the 13mm motor mount bolts. It was a pita getting them loose.
• If you are tired by the end of the main skid plate install save the muffler skid for another work session. It has quite a few bolts and took a couple of hours by itself.
• You will have extra bolts at the end of the process. I have no idea what they would be for as I'm confident there is a bolt everywhere there could be one.

My attempts to install the transmission skid from the rear to the front were a horrid failure. Front to back is the way to go to ensure the front bolts align with their holes.

My oldest helping tighten one of the final bolts.

Final install photos.

 

[MOTOR10]

It does look good!

 

[BDinTX]

That gives the underneath a stealth fighter look, very nice!

 

[BradyW]

I did very few modifications to Dory between May and December 2022. There were plenty of trips to the OHV parks but no major money spent, to my wife's relief!

However, on December 9th, 2022, Dory had a bad day! I backed into a tree while riding at Cross Bar Ranch in Davis, OK. Broke the rear glass and tailgate, the back panel of the roof, and a portion of the sky-one-touch fabric. I ended up cutting a tire sidewall the same morning. I felt sick, but I would have felt even sicker had I known it would take nearly four months to get all the damage fixed and parts in from back order!


Thankfully, I'm not an expert in hitting trees, but I think it hit right there on the upper driver's side...

Just a bit bent.

That's not going to buff out is it?

I made it to a paved parking lot before changing the ruined tire, which was a nice silver lining to the day, which ended in a 3hr drive home with a bit more wind noise than usual!

 

[BradyW]

What do you do when your JL Is in the shop for 4 months waiting on back-ordered Mopar parts? Buy an LJ Rubicon for your wife of course! We've named our new Jeep Betty (White). Betty is a 2005 TJ Rubicon Unlimited and she only had 28,000mi when we bought her. I flew out to Vegas and drove her home from Lake Havasu City.

Betty is in good mechanical shape, but the Jeep has been wheeled, and it has become a full secondary project of gradual improvements and replacements of worn parts. I need to start a build thread for Betty over on WrangerTJForum, but here is a one-post cliff notes version.

Betty on her first day home!

Things that made the 1200mi drive back to Texas more exciting than a pile-up of Brinks trucks:

• The Tie rod was bent and re-adjusted too long, resulting in 1/4" toe OUT! I'm not sure if you've ever driven a TJ with that much toe out before, but let me tell you they are ditch-seeking maniacs. Any and all road imperfections make the Jeep dart left and right.
• Tire pressure was close to 40psi. The old TJs are very lightweight and are dart-y at high tire pressure. 26-28psi on the highway makes for a more stable ride.
• The front pinion angle was 2 degrees ABOVE the driveline angle; this gave the Jeep little to no caster angle, possibly even a negative caster angle. Did I mention it was dart-y!?
• The dash dimmer blew a fuse in the middle of the night on a long stretch of road with no gas stations to buy replacements. The dash dimmer fuse also feeds the tail lights. So driving in the dark with no taillights and no dash lights!
• The 6yr old MT tires were very out of balance right at 60mph, it smoothed out a little above 65mph but...
• The Jeep had the original Rubicon 4.10 gears, which on a 190hp brick-shaped vehicle on 35" tires is nowhere near deep enough, not...even...close.
• The Tuffy security box in the back did not have weather stripping to keep it tightly closed, so it rattled loudly on every bump in the road. (Have you ever driven across I-40 in Arizona? Holy cow, that road is in bad shape!)
• Stock TJ brakes on 35" tires is a scary joke, not a funny joke.

Updates Made:

• Removed all non-OEM decals and put a black vinyl graphic on the hood to help with glare and cover damage to the clear coat left by 15yr old paper-based stickers.
• New Bestop Black Twill soft-top
• Speedometer corrector
• 7/8" bulb tubing installed on the Tuffy box, such wonderful silence now!
• New Tie-rod and correct toe-in adjustment.
• Black magic brake pads for front calipers. A huge improvement over stock, I may still do a Vanco big brake kit, but this made the Jeep safe to drive again.
• Adjusted the pinion angle to be 0.7 degrees less than the drive shaft. A 2.7-degree improvement in caster angle.
• Re-geared to 5.13's. HUGE improvement and made the Jeep significantly more enjoyable to drive when not in 4-Lo
• New wheels and the take of 35" KO2's from Dory.

New black twill Bestop installed.

1st-day Wheelin. Had the tire pressure way too high. Hood graphics removed.

New hood graphic installed.

Door entry area restoration.
Original

Restored:

Going topless for the first time for some suburban crawling.

My wife wheeling it at Northwest OHV, in Bridgeport TX.

Tire fitment verification.

Betty's current state. The 5.13 gears, balanced tires, correct alignment, and tire pressure has turned her into a downright pleasant Jeep to drive on the road. Off-road, she will go places the 392-XR cannot, so no complaints there! The slightly shorter wheelbase and thousands of pounds less weight are very enjoyable in the rocks and on the trails.

 

[BDinTX]

Fun write-up @BradyW , although that was a sad day for Dory. Those are nice looking wheels on Betty!

 

[BradyW]

On two separate wheeling occasions, I had steering system overheating warnings on the dash, resulting in limited power steering output until the system cooled down. In addition to being annoying and hard on components, I knew the system would not handle the upgrade to 37" tires well if it was already overheating with the stock 35" tires.

I decided to go with the Apex Steering Boost Kit. The performance improvement of this kit is fantastic and well worth the upgrade, even if staying on stock tires. With the boost kit operational, you can turn the wheels with the front differential locked with a similar effort to that with an open front diff. This pressure setting with the external oil cooler should be a factory mopar option. On a new Jeep, it'd be worth $1000 over stock, in my opinion.

For the kit installation, I dreaded removing the steering pump and felt confident about the oil cooler install. In reality, the pump removal and retrofit were not difficult. The 392 does not require removing or modifying any additional components from the engine bay; it is notably less involved than the 3.6L used in the instructions.

The oil cooler installation was a major PITA. Accessing the existing low-pressure line bracket bolts is nearly impossible. I got the whole kit installed in a day, but I was and still am angry at how much time it took to install something as simple as the cooler. After getting everything put back together the cooler was rubbing on the electronic sway bar disconnect and making a can-like popping sound. Some manual bending of the cooler fins fixed that issue!

Summary: Amazing performance, 100% worth it if you have overheating issues or have the front diff locked frequently. Poor access to mount the oil cooler, but doable.

Nothing like ripping the power steering pump out of a perfectly fine and warrantied vehicle.

Adjustable pressure valve installed.

Oil cooler location.

I also installed American Adventure Lab front inner fender liners at the same time as the steering boost kit. I chose these liners because they already had cutouts for my Fox 2.5 shocks. My passenger stock liner had been sucked into the tire and ripped apart. These liners are top-of-the-line quality. I've wheeled on them many times now without losing any 1/4 bolts. They are hard to photograph due to the light-absorbing nature of the powder coat. Not much else to say about them, they are great!

The liners are much darker than this in real life, this photo has been boosted to the max to attempt to show the liner itself.

 

[Bocephus]

On two separate wheeling occasions, I had steering system overheating warnings on the dash, resulting in limited power steering output until the system cooled down. In addition to being annoying and hard on components, I knew the system would not handle the upgrade to 37" tires well if it was already overheating with the stock 35" tires.

I decided to go with the Apex Steering Boost Kit. The performance improvement of this kit is fantastic and well worth the upgrade, even if staying on stock tires. With the boost kit operational, you can turn the wheels with the front differential locked with a similar effort to that with an open front diff. This pressure setting with the external oil cooler should be a factory mopar option. On a new Jeep, it'd be worth $1000 over stock, in my opinion.

For the kit installation, I dreaded removing the steering pump and felt confident about the oil cooler install. In reality, the pump removal and retrofit were not difficult. The 392 does not require removing or modifying any additional components from the engine bay; it is notably less involved than the 3.6L used in the instructions.

The oil cooler installation was a major PITA. Accessing the existing low-pressure line bracket bolts is nearly impossible. I got the whole kit installed in a day, but I was and still am angry at how much time it took to install something as simple as the cooler. After getting everything put back together the cooler was rubbing on the electronic sway bar disconnect and making a can-like popping sound. Some manual bending of the cooler fins fixed that issue!

Summary: Amazing performance, 100% worth it if you have overheating issues or have the front diff locked frequently. Poor access to mount the oil cooler, but doable.

Nothing like ripping the power steering pump out of a perfectly fine and warrantied vehicle.

Adjustable pressure valve installed.

Oil cooler location.

I also installed American Adventure Lab front inner fender liners at the same time as the steering boost kit. I chose these liners because they already had cutouts for my Fox 2.5 shocks. My passenger stock liner had been sucked into the tire and ripped apart. These liners are top-of-the-line quality. I've wheeled on them many times now without losing any 1/4 bolts. They are hard to photograph due to the light-absorbing nature of the powder coat. Not much else to say about them, they are great!

The liners are much darker than this in real life, this photo has been boosted to the max to attempt to show the liner itself.

This is good to know. I have been interested in the Apex steering kit, but reviews have been sparse and (seemingly) sponsored. I have 38s and no steering motor upgrades, very difficult to try and turn locked. Easy peasy unlocked. I have also had hot steering indicators a few times, but I recently checked and found that fluid was low, and so I’ve topped up and hope that fixes the issue.

those AAL inners look great. I almost never see these installed separate from chopped fenders or after market fenders. Looks great with the stock fenders!

 

[BradyW]

This is good to know. I have been interested in the Apex steering kit, but reviews have been sparse and (seemingly) sponsored. I have 38s and no steering motor upgrades, very difficult to try and turn locked. Easy peasy unlocked. I have also had hot steering indicators a few times, but I recently checked and found that fluid was low, and so I’ve topped up and hope that fixes the issue.

those AAL inners look great. I almost never see these installed separate from chopped fenders or after market fenders. Looks great with the stock fenders!

You’ll notice a huge benefit in steering power. I have a PSC hydro assist on my LJ and I prefer the feel of the JL with apex boost kit. You keep the stock steering feel, there is just more of it available when the lockers are engaged.

 

[cbriggs9742]

You’ll notice a huge benefit in steering power. I have a PSC hydro assist on my LJ and I prefer the feel of the JL with apex boost kit. You keep the stock steering feel, there is just more of it available when the lockers are engaged.

After installing the APEX, have you had anymore issues with the power steering overheating?

 

[BradyW]

After installing the APEX, have you had anymore issues with the power steering overheating?

I have not and I run the much heavier 37” Baja boss ATs now instead of the stock 315/70 KO2s . I believe the cooler provided with the kit does a good job of keeping temperatures under control. Adding a cooler without the Apex valve is a great idea if you don’t want/need the extra steering power. If you spend any time with the front locker engaged then I highly recommend the Apex kit, the Jeep steers significantly better with the locker engaged.

 

[cbriggs9742]

I have not and I run the much heavier 37” Baja boss ATs now instead of the stock 315/70 KO2s . I believe the cooler provided with the kit does a good job of keeping temperatures under control. Adding a cooler without the Apex valve is a great idea if you don’t want/need the extra steering power. If you spend any time with the front locker engaged then I highly recommend the Apex kit, the Jeep steers significantly better with the locker engaged.

Thanks man, I appreciate the help!

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