2006 Rubicon Build After the Fact. Tons of pictures

[HavenInTheHills]

I have a little bit of time to kill today so I figured I would post a thread on the build up of my 2006 Rubicon. I bought it 3 years ago, bone stock, from a guy who's wife said 2 jeeps in their garage was too many. 6 speed, 4:10 gears, dana 44 axles, lockers, 4:1 reduction transfer case, hard top and stock doors. I had owned a 97 TJ and a 1990 YJ previous to this Jeep but this would be my first that I built myself.

The day I bought it.



Flexin it out a little in my front yard after I threw on some sway bar disconnects that my roommate had sitting in the garage.



First trip up Carveacre/Pancake Rock down the street from my house.



First things first, I cut down the stock front bumper to increase the approach angle. Cut the stock flares, as the Rubicon versions are a little overkill in my opinion and I built a cb antenna mount with some flat stock I had laying around.









After saving for a while and picking up some new and some used parts, it was time to lift her. Here are most of the parts. Rokmen Johnny Joint arms, Superlift 4" lift springs, Bilstein 4" lift Long arm shocks, OME steering stabilizer, the old Currie Steering box skid, Warn diff skids, Rokmen 1/2 inch body lift, currie bump stops, currie front trac bar and JKS rear trac bar with bracket.









The final lift height! At this point I still had not ditched the Hercules tires that came on it.



Next up it is time for some more armor. Bought this Rokmen belly up skid, this was the reason for the 1/2 inch body lift.



I gained about 2 1/2 inches of clearance.



I ordered a Flowmaster Super 10 muffler from Jegs and had it at my doorstep within 24 hours.





The JKS trac bar never aligned correctly and their customer service ended up being non existent so I ultimately sold it and went with a Teraflex unit instead with johnny joint type ends.



I sold the stock Moab rims and tires and got a smoking deal on some BFG 33/12.50r15 KM2s on 15x8 steelies with a 4.5 inch backspacing.



Took a trip to Big Bear for my birthday with my roommate, brother and friends.



A friend was selling his Garvin bumper tire rack combo for super cheap so I jumped on the deal. I added a Rokmen gas tank skid too, which also requires a half inch body lift.



Here is the first trip up the same trail near my house with the new suspension.



My family got me a Smittybilt winch for christmas. Also, the red Rubicons came with grey lettering on the decals so I had my friend cut me some black ones.

 

[HavenInTheHills]

After a lot of wheeling and highway driving, I realized the short arm setup wasn't going to work. The ride was way too jarring and the front axle tended to walk back under the chassis on climbs. It is time for long arms. Instead of buying a long arm upgrade, I decided to base mine off of the Rubicon Express belly pan. I bought johnny joints for the rod ends and mild steel for the arms. I am also using the clayton 3 link kit for the front instead of the traditional radius arm setup.









I ended up needing a new front trac bar so I went with the RE unit and welded it in place to keep it from loosening up all the time.

 

[HavenInTheHills]

I had read a lot about outboarding my rear shocks and relocating my spring perches and decided this would fix a few issues for me. This will not only increase the shock length that I can run, but by moving the shocks further outboard, they are able to dampen more effectively. I used the TNT shock towers which french into the frame. I ordered replacement spring perches from the Mopar collision center and after cutting off the old ones, welded the replacements on. This allows the springs to move in a vertical fashion instead of kinking due to the change in geometry from lifting the Jeep.



With the new shock location, the shock body would end up hitting the brake caliper on the upward travel so I ordered the black magic e-brake brackets and moved the calipers to the front of the axle.





Since I 3 linked the front, running without a sway bar was no longer an option and the disconnects are always causing me trouble. I added a Currie Anti Rock sway bar up front. It was a straight forward installation and it keeps my wheels on the ground as long as I have shock length left to droop.





The overall ride of the Jeep after the long arm, outboard and coil relocation was pretty astounding. I ended up driving over 2000 miles to the Redwoods and Oregon over the summer to visit my grandparents.

 

[HavenInTheHills]

Something I should have done first was finish the roll cage. I ordered the Blue Torch Fab Sport cage kit and for the money, it was a pretty good deal. The kit essentially finishes the front portion of the roll cage and comes pre notched including plate cage feet. I added some spreaders in the rear as well. Other than scraping out the gobs of seam sealer, it was a pretty fast install and I only had to clean up one notch.









I plan on building a full 1.75" tube cage later but this will do for now. Although I now have to add a seatbelt bar as I sold my stock seats and bought the new Mastercraft Rubicon Nomads. Again, a really easy install. I used the adapters that Mastercraft sells and the seats still have the ability to slide and tilt forward to allow people to get into the back.







So this is where it is as of now. I recently switched careers so savings were low. Soon I will be adding new Currie steering, new springs, shocks and a new carpet kit and in about 2 months I will be starting my expedition trailer build. I will have a build thread for that in the trailer section for all those interested. Hopefully you enjoy the pictures on here and I will try and have some new updates soon!

 

[loren85022]

Nice write up.


Sent from my iToaster

 

[fjatl]

Nice write up.

^^agreed...good stuff^^

 

[offroadaction]

Really nice rig... Looking forward to more updates.

 

[ih8philly]

Awesome build. Want to outboard my shocks for me? :bowdown:

 

[Mudicon]

Sweet build! I hope I am not disappointed in my decision to go with a short arm vs a long arm on my Rubi LJ. I did not feel the need for the extra flex since my lift is primarily for water and creek crossings on trails and not rock hopping. Nice write up and some great work.

 

[HavenInTheHills]

Thanks everybody. I hope to get the parts soon so I can get back out on the trail. The stock steering has had about as much abuse as it can take and it isn't really safe to drive at the moment.

Awesome build. Want to outboard my shocks for me? :bowdown:

Thanks! I unfortunately moved out of my home with the best garage I could ask for and into a condo. So unfortunately the only space I have to work in is in my dad's barn at his house. It is currently occupied by my Great Grandma's 1965 CJ5 that I picked up in Idaho over the summer and it will soon be moved outside and covered so I can start my trailer build. The CJ restoration will probably happen next year as it will be frame off.

 

[ih8philly]

Thanks everybody. I hope to get the parts soon so I can get back out on the trail. The stock steering has had about as much abuse as it can take and it isn't really safe to drive at the moment.

Thanks! I unfortunately moved out of my home with the best garage I could ask for and into a condo. So unfortunately the only space I have to work in is in my dad's barn at his house. It is currently occupied by my Great Grandma's 1965 CJ5 that I picked up in Idaho over the summer and it will soon be moved outside and covered so I can start my trailer build. The CJ restoration will probably happen next year as it will be frame off.

Well shoot. The shop that I frequent charges $2,400 to outboard. It is currently on my long-term list of mods to do. Everyone swears that the ride/performance is much much better after doing so.

 

[HavenInTheHills]

So I have been in the process of searching for a new home to buy with my girlfriend and money has been a little tight. I did manage to save a little bit of cash and purchased some new parts for the Jeep. I got a pretty good deal from a friend working at Off Road Warehouse on the Currie Correctlync Steering and found a "scratch n dent" deal from Rough Country online for a set of windshield mount LED bar brackets. I haven't found an LED bar that I like yet so the brackets will stay in the box for now but the steering is presenting some difficulties.



Here is a picture of the Currie Steering (above) compared to the Quadratec HD Replacement steering (below).



Close up of the Currie Steering. It is pretty much the equivalent of One Ton steering but without the hassle of reaming the knuckle and pitman arm for One Ton rod ends.



A tip to anybody who needs a drop pitman arm due to the relocation of their front trac bar. The stock pitman arm from an XJ Cherokee provides the correct amount of drop and doesn't cost nearly as much as a big name drop arm. This one cost me 17 bucks at a local drivetrain shop.



My stock chinese replacement steering was never really up to the par of the rock crawling I have put the Jeep though. I removed it without any effort. One of the rod ends almost fell out immediately after I loosened it. The problem however is in the removal of the stock pitman arm. I have tried every combination of PB Blaster, heating the arm with a torch, tapping with a hammer and using both a breaker bar and impact gun on a pitman arm puller. My Jeep has resided in California it's entire life and has virtually no rust so I thought this would be a moderately easy swap. I have now tightened the puller on, sprayed the arm once again with PB blaster and will check on it again tomorrow. I have been working on this for a week now and am running out of options as I am heading to Borrego Springs on June 14 for a friend's surprise bday party. Some others have had this problem as well and have resorted to cutting the arm off with a grinder. I hope it doesn't come to that but we will see I guess.

The culprit! http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/images/smilies/mad.gif