StarboardMs 2020 JLUR StingYay Build Thread

[Starboard M]

Here is a random post in the thread, not related to anything currently being talked about. But I took pictures of things which I thought were cool.

I am currently still on short arms, and while I can get some impressive flex for stock length arms, the coil springs would not unseat even at full droop.

Amazing, but creates headaches if you want to remove the coil. No one would normally remove and install the coils as much as I have in the last couple months, but I did buy this coil compressor and I have to say, its amazing.
SOOO much better and safer than the ones you can buy or rent from the local auto parts stores.

Not currently on Amazon, but it was $250ish?
https://www.amazon.com/OTC-6494-Clamshell-Spring-Compressor/dp/B0002SRHU6

I know, not needed, but I love a good random tool.



One other random thing, winch bumper. I had mentioned I modified a JCR winch plate to use with my bumper, but never really took good pictures. Well, as you saw above I had to take the winch off to do the PSC install, so I did take some pictures.

This captures a hole in the frame that I sleeved. So while not a simple bolt on, its using stock locations. Kinda. If you look at older pics of my bumper build this might make more sense. Or not.

Sponsored

 

[Starboard M]

Next up, my third spare tire carrier......

This is the Teraflex version, I have always wanted this one, but was scared due to tire size and bumper clearance. Its.... tight.

This is one of our dogs, Izzie. She was not happy I put her on the massive box.

Everything ready for install:

With a Motobilt rear bumper, and 37s, its a tight fit, but the tire does not hit the bumper. This is on the highest setting for this setup. I do think they sell a higher version, but this works for me.

(yes, the wheel "bolt" pattern is not strait on, and it does mess with your eyes. Or whatever you want to call the eight fake bolts around the center of the wheel)

(and yes, that is not touching!)

Not a crazy install, but the stock ish version I was running before looked terrible. Pushed the spare way to far off the body and the 3rd brake light looked silly. Simple install, simple updated look that I really like.

 

[Starboard M]

Some minor delays in getting updates posted, but we are getting there.

I have never actually had onboard air, and always mooched off other people. A future iteration of this build will have some air lockers, and having air would have helped quite a bit in the last couple months so I decided to buy the Grimm ARM mount that uses a stock 4XE cowl plug.

This is their cowl kit. Im glad the backing plate (bottom left in this picture is powder coated black, when I purchased this kit it was raw steel. Minor detail, but it made me happy to see.
https://www.grimmoffroad.com/Jeep-W...arge-Port-Air-Chuck-Conversion-Kit_p_138.html

Do note that this does not come with the quick disconnect, which is ARB’s 0740112 air hose coupling.
And another note, Grimm instructions are amazing, super easy to follow even when viewed on your phone.

Installed

And fully installed. Although, I actually did things sort of backwards and got this all installed, and THEN did the under hood bit.

And here is the second part of this whole contraption, again, from Grimm. This is the version that you can mount an sPod onto which I may be doing in the future.
https://www.grimmoffroad.com/Jeep-W...ompressor-sPOD-Mounting-Bracket-Kit_p_79.html
Note the ARB pump does not come with the kit

And much like the cowl portion, everything went together pretty smooth. Instructions were amazing, although for something like this its not super critical. Small hands would have been helpful at times getting lines run as it gets pretty tight in there after things start to go into place, but doable with my large ish hands.

I may end up trimming the far right of the underhood bracket off, as I will not be using that air chuck location, and as this is a high speed, low weight vehicle, every ounce counts.

Grimm does explicitly call out that there are only certain inner fender liners that work with this kit. I have Artec inner fenders on the front, and while not on the list I was hopeful they would work. They didnt.

I am not going to embarrass myself by posting the hackjob I did on them to fit. Its not terrible, and a little black duct tape and youll barely notice. I may end up changing my inner fenders eventually so this isnt all that big a deal right now.

Final thoughts on this install.
Quick and pretty easy.
For now I did not color match the cowl and I dont dislike it for the time being. I may end up getting it painted at a later date.
I am not going to add up all the parts to figure out total cost, but it was not cheap. Worth it vs the Milwaukee or Smittybilt air compressors I already have..... probably not. But damn its cool.
I also need to figure out a way how to get a car charging cord to attach so I can park in those nicely located EV parking spots at the front of the mall.

 

[Starboard M]

Another random post.

I have had the roof off my Jeep for several months, and just now put it back on. We had a fairly mild summer, not too hot and very little rain. Its been amazing and I have thoroughly enjoyed having the roof off and its been pretty useful as well.

This summer we redid some of our backyard, so some tools were rented and acquired. Amazing how easy it is to get large bulky items in without a roof on.

This was one of the first weekends after the roof came off. Tried to take the dogs for coffee, our old man was happy as a clam to stay put and chill (you can just make out his head on the drivers side looking out). Our younger dog did not understand, but did find the fenders nice to step on.
Im thinking next summer some sort of cargo net might be needed just to prevent a dog escape.

Picked my wife up at work one day, and had to park next to the fake Jeep.

And, the full body shot. These are older photos as steering, tire carrier and OBA cowl bits have all changed since then, but you get the jest of whats going on.

As I mentioned, we just put the top back on as we have had some rain, and I am really appreciating the Anchorman quote, "Im living in a glass case of emotion." Being inside with a roof and everything sucks!

 

[Starboard M]

We are back into the meat and potatos, and not posing at the mall.

Beaches love getting the shaft, so I got Yukon alloy shafts for the rear axle. I actually got one side almost a year ago from a Quadratec sale, and got the other from Amazon of all places.

Much like Legos, some assembly required. Amazon one came with the big bag of parts, Quadratech came in the bags. Its the same, but different. Interesting I guess?

You do have to press everything together, which for some reason I didnt realize. I thought they came assembled, clearly not.

So incase you didnt already know (at least on the Rubicon), the rear axle shafts are non C clip and simply held in by the retaining plate (and brakes I guess).
Remove the caliper, remove the rotor. Remove the 4 retainer nuts and the axle shaft will slide out. Well, it needs a little bit of help. If you dont have a slide hammer, flip the rotor over, install the lug nuts, and you have a slide hammer. Couple small whacks, out the axle comes.

Assembled minus lug studs.
Interesting note, my Harbor Freight 20 ton press did not have enough "length" to it, and I actually had to cut the bottom crossmember off to get the passenger side axle fully pressed together. I guess that side is fairly long. I will weld it all back together.... eventually (aka never, lets be honest).

I always hate installing lug studs, and while they do make special tools to get these done, I used the washer stack, lug nut and an impact gun to get them all in.

Slap that sucker back in, and boom. Im now fully (alloy) shafted. RCVs in the front and Yukon in the rear. I wanted the RCVs for the back, but the price was just not something I could justify. If I break these shafts, it might be one ton time.

Do note that these shafts were dual drilled to 5x5 and 5x5.5 so make sure you put the studs in the correct hole. There is a joke in there, but I wouldnt dream of saying something so rash.

And sad panda noises, only one of my axles came with a sticker, and the adhesive didnt make it stick to the shaft. How will the people on Instagram know I have these new shafts if I dont have the sticker?

 

[Starboard M]

Next couple updates are random, but important, working on finishing some much needed projects.

First up is the Motobilt belly pan/ X members/suspension.

As you have seen in previous posts I got the Motobilt front tcase crossmember in only to realize the motor skid would not fit without CONSIDERABLE exhaust rework. At that time my motivation was low, so that project basically stalled out.

Fast forward to now, I wired my garage for 220 and took/borrowed my old Miller 180 mig welder back from my dad. I now have a TIg and Mig AND 220 so I can weld some thicker metals.

First item to check off was the rear crossmember. This will eventually become the lower control arm mounts for the long arms I want to do in addition to being the skid plate mount.
The instructions say to weld the xmember in, and then weld the mounts, I chose to do it opposite so Im not welding mounts on under the Jeep which is also a PITA.

For some reason I didnt take any pictures, but here it is installed.

As mentioned, the exhaust needs to be fully modified, basically from the header/cat back. So the entire exhaust. But for now I do not want to do that for money, time and also uncertainty on suspension placement for next steps. So I am reusing most of the stock stuff.

This is the stock "mid pipe"? that runs down the drivers side frame rail. It also has a muffler/resonator in it. But, of course it hits the new rear x member. But, if you cut the stock rear hanger off, flip it 180*, and rotate the pipe around, it all fits!

Hanger is top left in this pic. Stock it goes the opposite way into that hanger bushing.
And the muffler thing you see in the back is ~120* rotated up from the stock location.
Basically cut, rotate and weld.

Next up we have rock sliders. As you might recall, I tried to build my own last year. That failed epically. So I bought a set from Hepta Mfg which I was basically basing my design off of. They were on backorder, and finally showed up.

Unfortunately I had them shipped to my parents house (who had my welder) so I could install them there. So I had to go grab them and come home. Who doesnt love a 6 hour round trip to collect parts. For fun, a picture of our dog using them as a comfortable head rest?

You know its going to be good when you see the Made in the USA and Heavy stickers! Shipping weight is 100lbs total, seems about right.

After buffing, cleaning and painting, I got the drivers side installed.

And, if you cherry pick my welds and ignore the terrible ones, I think the welds turned out rather well. Could be much better, but I have not Mig welded in ~10 years. They are getting better and better, but I will not be quitting my day job.

I hope to get the passenger side installed tomorrow, so the Jeep is a little wonky right now.



Next up, yet another update to the front suspension.
I decided to remove the Steer Smarts front trackbar, and replace it with a Rockjock unit.

This was due to clearance with the diff cover as well as my concern the hydro lines would be pinched with the adjuster thing the Steer Smarts bar uses.

Certainly a different design.

Thats a very odd shape.

The Steer Smarts version is clearly much bigger, but its bulky and clearance is flippin' tight so it had to go.

Should you (or I in the future) want to know, the Rockjock joint has 3" of threaded shank.

And while this is a photo with the old panhard bar in, you can see theres just a lot going on, in a very small space.

So that concludes our updates for now. Its currently Saturday night, and I hope to get a lot more done tomorrow.

List is:
Belly pan installed
Pass side rock slider welded on
Check front and rear diff fluid levels
Install rock lights
Rewire cowl lights and fog lights

Tow rig:
Oil change
Front and rear diff fluid plus front diff cover
Fog lights
.....
Profit?


Now, here you are wondering, but Johnny, you said tow rig, what does that have to do with anything?

Well, I am going to Moab in ~2 weeks.

And, thankfully I have a truck that can tow my Jeep hence the work on it. We use the truck to haul my wifes horses around, but I felt it needed a little love before the trip.

So, the (yet again) mad rush to get everything finished before a wheeling trip. Fun.....


So much fluid. Much wow.

Until tomorrows updates, this is where we sign off.

 

[Starboard M]

This past weekend the weather was fantastic (for the PNW fall) so I chose to do work that I couldnt do in my garage.

Which is maintenance on the tow rig.

Its a 2002 F350 4x4, long bed, quad cab dually. Its.... large. As I mentioned, we mainly use the truck to tow my wifes horses around, but we actually bought it many years ago to tow my Cherokee around.

While not needed, I decided to do front and rear diff fluid. Front I have never touched in the 10ish years we have had the truck. Rear needed a check as I pulled the rear shafts for brakes this summer, so I chose to replace them both.

Did a Ruffstuff diff cover and Lube Locker as I like the added protection just in case. Also, screw scrapping RTV off axles, hence the gasket.

Dana 60, stock fluid is 3 quarts of 80W-90. With the new cover, took closer to 4.

Rear was a drop the cover, and do fluid. It took ~4.5 quarts of 75W-140 with friction modifier.

Truck wasnt quite due for an oil change, but as the trip to Moab is ~1k miles one way, I did an oil change too.

Final task was to add Baja Designs SAE fog lights. The headlights on this truck SUCK, so anything I can do will help.

Pretty simple install, I did have to grind a bit on the cooling fins of the lights but nothing major.

And those lights on the light bar are what I refer to as Faja lights. They are el cheapo Amazon fake Bajas, AKA, Faja. I originally bought them for my lawn mower, but threw them on the truck for now (and they arnt even wired up yet).

Minus topping off fuel, and hooking the trailer up, tow rig is sorted.

 

[Starboard M]

I know, you came for Jeep updates, and you get a Ford.

Back into the garage on Sunday, again, the weather was abosuletly perfect, with the doors open and I knocked off a couple tasks I needed to do before getting the belly pan on.

1. The Motobilt kit comes with all hardware, but the 4.5" bolts they provide for the passenger side front crossmember were too short. They did not fit through the lock nuts fully. I have a feeling this was a holdover from their JK kits, and didnt update it.

Bonus view complete with racecar AN line compared to the crappy stock lines.

2. As mentioned earlier, I am still using some stock exhaust, with the "mid pipe" rotated or clocked around to clear everything.
This put the resonator/muffler/spark arrestor/thing a little close to the floor. While it has not caused issues, and I dont really know how hot it gets compared to the rest of the exhaust a little added heat shield seemed like a good thing to add just in case.

Cool It heat shield. This is their 12" long by 6" wide version with 4" clamps. I did have to run to Home Depot for new clamps as the resonator is much bigger than the clamps could do.

(I know it looks tight, but nothing hits or rattles around)

3. The Motobilt kit has some frame kickers that go from the rear xmember to the frame. These are important for the suspension, but as I am not using their mounts right now I only added the pass side. Drivers side would hit the exhaust.

4. I also broke down and ordered another phone mount. The one Ive been using mounts to the heater vent. Its worked just fine, but every time my wife drives she whacks it with her hands. The low mounting height is actually really nice but I wanted that vent back.

This is the 67 Designs mount which is expensive, but hopefully worth it.

I did choose to go with a Mag Mount which should be pretty trick to just plop the phone on vs a clamp style.

My S22 does not quite have enough grip to hold, so I have a case coming which should help that.

Final delivery was an ARB air chuck. Its nice, way too nice. But bling, so it will get me home. The packaging was something you would expect from an Apple product, I guess them trying to justify the cost to the consumer?

 

[Starboard M]

Final item to install was rock lights. These are 100% not needed for this trip, and this time would have been better spent doing other things but I really wanted to get them in before the belly pan goes on. The pan is huge, heavy, and a PITA to get all the bolts aligned to get it on.

I chose the KC Cyclones for the color, output and also their magnetic mounts. There are some other much more expensive kits, as well as some cheaper options, but with the wiring I think this was a pretty good deal.
(Pro tip, if you use the @Jeep Generation discount code, you, well, get a discount)

I did add an extra set of lights for a grand total of 8. Front and back of each axle.

The kit comes with six wires. 2 x 2.5m. 2 x 3.5m And 2 x 5m. The additional lights had an option for wire length, and I chose 3.5m. I should have gotten the 5m for my case.

Magnets installed.

And I feel like a dork, but the wiring was actually really nice stuff.

Each light has its own wire.

I ran the wiring to the drivers side and mounted the fuse panel on the sPod mount Im not currently using. These are switched using the factory switch panel. This made the wiring a little easier.

Each light having its own wire adds a whole bunch of extra wiring but I chose to use it for now. Eventually (prob never) I would like to rewire these off a single wiring harness but thats a project for another day.

The two rear lights are placed in front of the bumper and needed the 5m wires.
The pass side rear tire(front of tire) needed a 5m.
The drivers side rear tire(front of tire) needed a 3.5m
The pass side front tire(rear of tire) needed a 3.5m.
The drivers side front tire (rear of tire) needed a 2.5m (could have prob gone with a 1.75 or 2m)
Two fronts mounted under the front bumper both used 2.5.

The install instructions said it was a 1-2 hour install. I took almost 6 hours, but that was being VERY careful with the routing, using lots of zip ties and really trying to do a good job. It actually took me Sunday night, Monday night and a small portion of tonight (Tues) to get everything done.

As mentioned, total waste for this trip, took way too long, but its done and looks.... cool?

Final task for tonight was to get the belly pan in.

I usually HATE stickers, and usually my vehicles are debadged to some extent. The Rubicon stuff has grown on me, and I may keep it long term. But I am not one to put stickers all over the place.

With this big skid, I decided to add some stickers. I wont see them on a daily basis, and maybe it will look cool in a couple years?

Belly pan is back on, and mostly bolted in. I am going to try and reuse the Evo Protek engine skid I pulled off for this trip as I dont want to belly out on my tranny! That will be tomorrows task and then its just packing. I hope!

 

[BajaDesigns]

This past weekend the weather was fantastic (for the PNW fall) so I chose to do work that I couldnt do in my garage.

Which is maintenance on the tow rig.

Its a 2002 F350 4x4, long bed, quad cab dually. Its.... large. As I mentioned, we mainly use the truck to tow my wifes horses around, but we actually bought it many years ago to tow my Cherokee around.

While not needed, I decided to do front and rear diff fluid. Front I have never touched in the 10ish years we have had the truck. Rear needed a check as I pulled the rear shafts for brakes this summer, so I chose to replace them both.

Did a Ruffstuff diff cover and Lube Locker as I like the added protection just in case. Also, screw scrapping RTV off axles, hence the gasket.

Dana 60, stock fluid is 3 quarts of 80W-90. With the new cover, took closer to 4.

Rear was a drop the cover, and do fluid. It took ~4.5 quarts of 75W-140 with friction modifier.

Truck wasnt quite due for an oil change, but as the trip to Moab is ~1k miles one way, I did an oil change too.

Final task was to add Baja Designs SAE fog lights. The headlights on this truck SUCK, so anything I can do will help.

Pretty simple install, I did have to grind a bit on the cooling fins of the lights but nothing major.

And those lights on the light bar are what I refer to as Faja lights. They are el cheapo Amazon fake Bajas, AKA, Faja. I originally bought them for my lawn mower, but threw them on the truck for now (and they arnt even wired up yet).

Minus topping off fuel, and hooking the trailer up, tow rig is sorted.

Hey @Starboard M
The SAE looks great in the location you put them in. How are you enjoying our SAE? If you are ever looking to add some more AUX light on the rigs feel free to reach out and we can help you create a lighting page that suits you!

Best,
Bill

Bill Sonevongxay | Forum Sales & Support 
Email: [email protected] Phone: (760)560-2252

 

[Starboard M]

Hey @Starboard M
The SAE looks great in the location you put them in. How are you enjoying our SAE? If you are ever looking to add some more AUX light on the rigs feel free to reach out and we can help you create a lighting page that suits you!

Best,
Bill

Bill Sonevongxay | Forum Sales & Support 
Email: [email protected] Phone: (760)560-2252

I hate the SAEs.

Because they are brighter than my regular headlights.

But in reality, they are amazing. I got the amber color and they do a very good job complimenting my terrible headlights. However, while they are street legal, I have not been using them with oncoming traffic just because I dont want to be one of those Tacoma guys who run their fogs all the time (insert the Baja Designs Taco meme here).

And for the Jeep, if I still had a bumper that had fogs, I would 100% put in a set of these SAEs.


For the tow pig, I may need to install one of your new OnX6 10" hybrid (freakin) Laser light bars in between the fogs.

And, now that you announced the headlights at SEMA..... maybe the Jeep will get some new headlights? And sharks. With lasers? Nah, thats a crazy idea.





For a Jeep update, we did a week in Moab. Ran a good amount of trails, and had an absolute blast.
No breakages besides a tire sidewall.

It was a long ass week, but worth it. A week(ish) later and Im unpacking the truck and getting everything unpacked. I will post pictures later this week, but for now, you get nothing!
Except for this pic

 

[fasteddie760]

Nice build!

I am also having issues with the JL Rock Jock High steer. They raise the drag link 2.5" and the tie rod 2.75". Well that .25" is giving me all sorts of issues. The tie rod hits the drag link adjustment sleeve and it hits the drag link end link on the pitman arm. And that was at 2.5" bump stop.

I ended up taking the high steer knuckles off until I can get all this crap worked out. I'm not willing to add more bump stop. Unless your willing add A LOT of bump stop, don't get it. A waste of money imo.

Ed

 

[Starboard M]

Nice build!

I am also having issues with the JL Rock Jock High steer. They raise the drag link 2.5" and the tie rod 2.75". Well that .25" is giving me all sorts of issues. The tie rod hits the drag link adjustment sleeve and it hits the drag link end link on the pitman arm. And that was at 2.5" bump stop.

I ended up taking the high steer knuckles off until I can get all this crap worked out. I'm not willing to add more bump stop. Unless your willing add A LOT of bump stop, don't get it. A waste of money imo.

Ed

Ed, are you using the Currie steering? Odd that you are having that much interference as mine (now) clears just fine.

I will say, trying with a combination of stock steering, RPM steering and Currie steering, the final solution was the steering that the entire kit was designed around. Novel thought, I know.

The 1/4" difference should not matter I dont think, so Im really curious whats going on. Im bumped right when my tires hit the gutted fenders, so I would say Im not being limited by steering constraints.

The high steer is certainly not for the faint of heart, but IMO very worth it.

 

[Starboard M]

Well, I guess I never updated this thread. I have not done anything to the Jeep at all in the last 6 months, but its been wet and cold, and Im in a pause for the build.

But since Im a picture whore, I will post pictures of my Moab trip as it was just so much fun.

I got the Jeep buttoned up the evening before leaving. Per usual, Im always running late on builds and it was a mad scramble to get the Jeep done and everything packed up. We borrowed my parents neighbors trailer and hauled the Jeep to Moab. Nice knowing you can make it back home IF you break.

I usually see a big horse trailer in this truck, so it was cool to see my Jeep.

We made it half way and stayed in a hotel for the night. Yes, I did take up four parking spots, but there was tons of extra parking, and I wanted to make sure I could get out the next morning.

The weather looked to be pretty good for our entire time in Moab, so I did end up taking the top off. 10/10, highly recommend.

First day we did Poison Spider, this was litterally the first time my Jeep has been offroad besides dirt trails. Yes, Im a poseur.

I tried one of the optional lines and found the infamous smoke machine. Need to add a catch can one of these days.

And finally, das Crack. Honestly felt super stable. Droop is limited by my control arms hitting the axle side mounts, and bump stops are in the perfect stop to hit just as the tires make contact on the fenders.

Day one was honestly very nerve racking, took me a couple hours to relax and have fun. In theory the Jeep was fully capable, but you just never know. And doing a shake down run in Moab honestly wasnt smart, but whatever!

That night I took about 30 minutes and checked everything over, nuts, bolts, wiring. All in, great first day of Moab.

 

[Starboard M]

Day two was the first NAXJA sanctioned event, and we chose to do Cliffhanger. Couple scary ledges if you are afraid of heights. It is an "in and out trail," so the ledge does swap sides.

Had a ton of fun, second day was far more relaxing. Sadly, I did need a tug on two small bits. First was just a stupid line, and I got hung up on my belly pan. Second time was on those infamous stair steps. Again, belly pan.

That ended up being a pretty common theme for the week, but thats to be expected as I really dont have much lift. Im actually lower than most of the XJs on 35s, and a longer wheelbase, so that breakover angle was not my friend.

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