The JK Build Begins!
Printed From: Rocket City Rock Crawlers
Category: General
Forum Name: General 4x4 Discussion
Forum Description: Tech Talk
URL: http://www.rocketcityrockcrawlers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6787
Printed Date: 26 March 2026 at 9:10pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: The JK Build Begins!
Posted By: Guests
Subject: The JK Build Begins!
Date Posted: 18 November 2009 at 4:21pm
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Ok, I have some pictures of the tires!!! Sooo, sweet!
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Replies:
Posted By: browning67
Date Posted: 19 November 2009 at 6:54pm
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awesome choice... you will love them. i wheeled with a guy that ran then at 30psi and they flexed just as much as mine with 10psi in them. he also said they didnt weigh that much. this true? ------------- 98 2door xj on krawlers -david |
Posted By: Tex62
Date Posted: 20 November 2009 at 11:55am
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Wow that's gonna be a big jk. How much lift will you need to clear them? ------------- Mike |
Posted By: browning67
Date Posted: 20 November 2009 at 6:45pm
prob around 4"-6" ------------- 98 2door xj on krawlers -david |
Tex62 wrote:Posted By: felipecj
Date Posted: 21 November 2009 at 12:00am
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JK's definitely have more room for bigger tires than TJ's do.
Your sig says 38's but these are 37's ??
When i saw your signature a couple weeks back, i guess when you posted the farewell to the tj, i was wondering if you had already built the jk or had already started. Either way good luck with that. Looking forward to seeing some more pics from the Colorado outback  ------------- 83 CJ7 2005 Honda 450R |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 21 November 2009 at 9:58am
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I am running 37" tires (the 38's i liked were wider than i wanted to go).
i will be running 4" Tereflex Long arm LCG lift.
I am actually back in town this week for thansgiving. Just got into winchester TN this morning.
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Posted By: erickpl
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 4:11am
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Jason, feel free to give me a buzz if you get down this way at all! Lunch on me! |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 04 December 2009 at 2:06pm
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Well, I now have most of my parts at the house and will begin the tear down of the JK this weekend. I am taking out the D44 axles this weekend and hope to start grinding off the brackets from the frame in prep for next weekends install of the new axles/lift!! Here are the parts I have so far... Tereflex 4" LCG Long arm lift. I am SHOCKED how huge the control arms are. The box with all 4 lower arms weighed 80lbs alone!!!
37x12.5xr17 MTRs w/Kevlar
And the guys at Dynatrac were kind enough to shoot me a few pictures of the building process of my axles. They are the ProRock 60's with 5.38 gears and ARB air lockers...They are not completed in these pictures but are close!! I was told I will get them delivered to Denver this coming thursday or friday (depending on completion etc...)
Looks like they tried several times to get the gear mesh just right
Man I can't wait!! |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 05 December 2009 at 5:21pm
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Here is a quote from a friend that was helping me out today...he posted this up on another board with some pictures of the progress. Thought everyone would like to see the progress. " Well....things got under way at Marine's house this afternoon after I got off of work. When I got to his garage, he had some work done as a start -- ABS sensors off on the rear, and the rotors drilled for the new lug pattern for the 60's.
Driveshaft coming off wasn't fun either -- air ratchet wouldn't even budge the bolts. There was enough lock-tite on those bolts for about 7 other Jeeps....but we got them with a little fancy leg torque.
Next we started in on the control arms...again they were on SUPER tight from the factory, but we managed. That is, until -- we got to the frame side upper control arm. The bolt holding it in was TOO LONG to come out. It kept hitting the muffler, and no way to get it out.
A quick introduction with the sawzall, and that bolt was gone. Front axle finally out --
I'm surprised on how much beefier some areas of the HP D44 on the JK is compared to the TJ D44. Anyways, poor Marine has a LONG way to go yet, but he'll get there." |
Posted By: Mike_LaMar
Date Posted: 06 December 2009 at 12:52pm
I saw some of this on another forum. Congats on the new Rubi. I had to move up to 4 doors too  ------------- 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, 4" Superlift Suspension, 37" Toyo MTs "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. - Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 06 December 2009 at 1:49pm
Well, congradulations!! how do you like your JK? I have really enjoyed mine in stock form over the summer. Can't wait to get this build done so I can take it on all the other trails I used to only do in the TJ but now I can carry the whole family and camping gear
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Posted By: Mike_LaMar
Date Posted: 06 December 2009 at 4:18pm
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The 4dr has been sooo much more user friendly than the two door I did have. I really miss my smallblock though. I'm probably gonna stick with the D44's to save some weight but I love what you've got going on!
Mike ------------- 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, 4" Superlift Suspension, 37" Toyo MTs "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. - Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Posted By: Tex62
Date Posted: 07 December 2009 at 12:55pm
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man go big or go home. lol
------------- Mike |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 11 December 2009 at 3:17am
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These two were shot form the back of Jeff's trailor...we got very creative in how we got this down out of the trailor!!
In the garage:
Now today I get to start working on removing the brackets and rear axle... |
Posted By: erickpl
Date Posted: 11 December 2009 at 3:33am
| OOH, axle porn! |
Posted By: yotabj
Date Posted: 11 December 2009 at 4:54am
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Very Nice, everything looks sweet, except for the last pic with that creepy doll waving at me
------------- 84 Truggy,39.5 Rockers,MRW BL,Dual ultimate crawler,30 spline Longs,114 wb,Stretched front 4.5",,22re,5.29's.."BLUETOY's HERO" |
Posted By: bluetoy
Date Posted: 11 December 2009 at 9:05am
It's Chucky !  ------------- TOYOTA FOUR WHEEL DRIVE................need I say more? |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 17 December 2009 at 12:43pm
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Here are a few picutres that were taken during the removal of the brackets (This job sucks)...I don't have a ton of pictures sorry!
Here is an assembled tire/wheel!! Man have I said I am excited?? |
Posted By: Tex62
Date Posted: 17 December 2009 at 12:53pm
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Looks sexy
------------- Mike |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 20 December 2009 at 1:30pm
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Some new updated pictures...hope everyone enjoys!! I am within an hour of being complete, although I have no idea how I am going to jack up the jeep high enough to get the tires mounted without the Jeep falling off the jack stands. I had a slight scare today as the weight shifted and I was literly sitting on one jack stand on one side with the jack on the other and the jeep was teetering back and forth (kind of scarry)...Anyway, here are some pictuers :-)
Sorry no pictures of moving the front axle...
All that I lack is getting a set of driveshafts (have to measure first), and get the front springs, brakes, and ABS stuff connected up and the axles are.......INSTALLED! |
Posted By: erickpl
Date Posted: 21 December 2009 at 4:40am
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Why not attach the wheels to the axle and roll it under the Jeep? :) Best Buy eh? :) hehehe Looking great Jason!!!!! |
Posted By: 94Blazer327
Date Posted: 21 December 2009 at 9:08am
Thats how I always do em.... ------------- www.DamnLocals4x4.com |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 21 December 2009 at 3:03pm
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Posted By: 94Blazer327
Date Posted: 21 December 2009 at 3:09pm
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I hears ya. You should really invest in some HD jack stands. They sure are handy .
Im spoiled , I pick the truck up by the tow hooks with the forklift and roll the rear/fronts out  ------------- www.DamnLocals4x4.com |
Posted By: browning67
Date Posted: 21 December 2009 at 6:24pm
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on the jk's i have always had to put the rear jackstands right in front of the rear bumper and slide the axle from the side of the jeep..... and to make it safer with out maxing your jackstands out... get some "cap" concrete blocks to raise your jackstands up. put your stock wheels and tires on to move it? anyways it looks great! i need to show my buddy your build up. ------------- 98 2door xj on krawlers -david |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 25 December 2009 at 9:44am
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Here are a couple of pictures of the jeep in the garage with the axles and tires installed... I need to get the rear trac bar installed (waiting on delivery) and install the shocks and driveshafts (have rear)... Enough takling, here are the pictures:
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Posted By: Tex62
Date Posted: 26 December 2009 at 12:44am
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Looks like time to mod that front bumper lol. Looks sharp man !
------------- Mike |
Posted By: unlblkrubi
Date Posted: 26 December 2009 at 1:20am
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Looks good, bet you can't wait to try it out. ------------- '18 Renegade Trailhawk '15 JKUR-Warn-AEV-Rigid-KC-ARB |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 26 December 2009 at 3:14am
I hope that the 5.38 gears are deep enough to pull me up the steep high elevation stuff.
Yes, I have to remove the bumpers as they rub, and I have to trim the stock rubicon rock slider as it will hit the rear tire.
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 12:35pm
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Well, I have offically driven the JK out of the garage and it actually fit!!! I think there was about 1/2" between the highest point on the JK and the top of the garage. There are a few things I need to do again, for starters my brakes are nearly non-existent so I will bleed those again in the morning. I only drove around my block due to only have 2wd (don't have front shaft yet) and having next to no brakes on ice is not fun :lol: Well, enough talk, here are the pictures!!
MAN it feels good to have it rolling under its own power again. I think there is something screwy with the ABS stuff as the light kept coming on and I didn't see the speedo move (although I didn't go very fast AT ALL). I think that may be because of the steering wheel not completely centered? |
Posted By: Tex62
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 12:47pm
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it looks sharp man !
------------- Mike |
Posted By: 94Blazer327
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 12:48pm
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I doubt its cause your wheel aint centered. Make sure your abs sensors are pushed all the way into the tone ring on the rotors.
May have to have the PCM flashed for the taller gear and tire changes to ever get it back right again.  ------------- www.DamnLocals4x4.com |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 08 January 2010 at 4:02pm
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Well, I spend about 3 - 3.5 hours at Aberle's shop today with my jeep and powerplant winch. They are an AWESOME bunch of folks and have a fantastic product. They made a few small updates to the bumper design and are working on the "new" generation of bumpers and I will be the first to own it!!!! They went ahead and lent me the current bumper to drive on for a week while they get the new design cast and painted/powedercoated.... I have sevearl pictures on my phone, i need to get them off my phone and onto my computer so I can post them up for everyone to see. I will tell you this front bumper has me very impressed! Their new rear bumper is truely a GREAT design as you only have to open the tailgate to get the whole thing opened. You don't have to undo a tire carrier and then open the tailgate. It is the highest clearance bumper I have seen to date. It also has the pin for the tire carier cast into the bumper instead of welded on so it is VERY strong!! I even got to watch them pour the metal into the castings for the bumper (VERY cool if you have never seen liquid metal at 1400 degrees). I also drove over to Front Range Driveline and my front driveshaft was made today. Those guys seem to be really stand up guys as well... The Jeep drives like a dream on the interstate. I do need to balance the tires at about 70 - 75 MPH it has a slight bounce in the tires but it is barely noticable. With the 5.38 gears the JK actually accellorated up C470 west towards I70 up the incline in 6th gear! Stock on 32's and 4.10 gears I had to down shift to 5th to hold speed....Although at 70MPH I am turing 3K RPM now so the motor is wound up a little tighter. So does anyone know where I can get a synthetic winch line cheap?? *Edit: Here are my cell phone pictures of the "mock up"
I know they took tons of pictures are are planning to post them up on JKOwners tonight. |
Posted By: unlblkrubi
Date Posted: 09 January 2010 at 12:52am
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That is a sharp bumper. Keep the pics coming. ------------- '18 Renegade Trailhawk '15 JKUR-Warn-AEV-Rigid-KC-ARB |
Posted By: 50Willys
Date Posted: 09 January 2010 at 2:16am
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Good looking bumber!! Is it one piece cast from aluminum? Execept for the bolt on tow loops.
------------- Bob S. '96 Cherokee, 4.0L w/Auto Trans & locked D44s '99 Dodge 2500 CTD Tow Rig |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 09 January 2010 at 3:20am
One of the guys/owners actually hooked up a forklift to a strap attached to the hoop and lifted the entire jeep off the ground by the hoop!! He showed me a video of him ramming a bolder at 10-15 MPH and it did nothing to the bumper. The video then showed him hitting a ~6" diameter tree at 20+ MPH and then backed off and there was NO damage...I was impressed to say the least. Coolest part is the bumer only weighs about 65lbs!!
Bumper information
http://www.aberleoffroad.com/jeep.html - http://www.aberleoffroad.com/jeep.html
casting process
http://www.aberleindustrialmanufacturing.com/aberleoffroad.html - http://www.aberleindustrialmanufacturing.com/aberleoffroad.html
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Posted By: RL-RRC
Date Posted: 09 January 2010 at 4:26am
I got some from here a few years back when I had an FJ40 and then just bought some last month. I had been really impressed with the quaility.
http://www.winchline.com/vtl_wl_cte.htm - http://www.winchline.com/vtl_wl_cte.htm ------------- 96 Lexus lx450 85 Toyota Truggy built by Don 69 FJ40 Chance favors the prepared! |
Posted By: cj8lvr
Date Posted: 12 January 2010 at 5:35pm
http://www.extremerocrigs.com/store/index.php/recovery/winch-accessories/winchline.html?SID=ena1a7eapr2ih2t9lkikltfat0 - http://www.extremerocrigs.com/store/index.php/recovery/winch-accessories/winchline.html?SID=ena1a7eapr2ih2t9lkikltfat0 ------------- ___/| [_\__\], l___l__L-O|||||O_ _()_)__()_)___()_) Jake White Owner of CartoTracks.com Trail Maps Past RCRC - VP Past Nat'l CJ-8 Scrambler Owners Association President |
Posted By: erickpl
Date Posted: 15 January 2010 at 1:59am
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jason, just a quick side note... how is hte cost of living there right now? Gas/gallon? Milk/gallon? |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 15 January 2010 at 2:18pm
Fuel is ~2.60/gall
Milk is ~ 2.50/gall
Tax rate when purchasing good (depending on county) is ~ 4.5 - 5 %
Land tax is slightly higher, and the houses are slightly more than huntsville however you get paid slightly more so it is a wash. I can tell you that utilities is next to nothing here!! I have a 2900 sq/ft house and to heat it with natural gas with the outside temps in the low teens has cost me ~ $180/month (not bad at all!!). I can water my yard every other day in the summer and my water bill is ~ $30-40/month..
I think the cost of living is equal to huntsville if not better than all things equal. The ONLY thing that is definitly more expensive is the cost of housing. My house was built in 1998 and is one of the "newer" houses in this area (littleton).
just as an FYI a nice house in huntsville when i sold mine went for about 100 per sq/ft and here it is more like ~ 120 to 140 sq/ft depending on location. The further west you go into the mtns the higher the price gets. you move east out towards AURORA the cheaper the houses get.
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Posted By: 74chevystepside
Date Posted: 15 January 2010 at 6:46pm
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so what did you do with your factory d44's? I wouldn't mind sliding a set of those under my sahara jk ------------- KJ4DDC 2009 Red Rock 4 door JK. All stock 1994 Blueish YJ 3" body lift and 33's WOOT |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 16 January 2010 at 1:11pm
I Sold them already sorry. |
Posted By: Mike_LaMar
Date Posted: 20 February 2010 at 5:48pm
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Jason,
Now that the "honeymoon" is over how is your teraflex lift riding? I've seen Poly's but their's is like 1.5x the price of Teraflex's. I have a 4" superlift now and it rides worse than my old blazer on leafs. Mike ------------- 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, 4" Superlift Suspension, 37" Toyo MTs "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. - Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 21 February 2010 at 7:55am
Couldn't be happier!! The long arms I think attribute most to the awesome ride, but this jeep rides as good as my old Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck did!
I have a friend locally that has the AEV 4.5" lift on his with a 5.7L Hemi and mine rides leaps and bounds better than the AEV kit does! Although I would love to have that hemi he has.
If you are contemplating a lift I would highly suggest the Tereflex. If you are not afraid to cut the brackets off the frame and can weld then I would suggest the LCG long arm kit and you will not be dissapointed!!!
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