Project OREO - 2006 LJ Overland and General Purpose Rig

mrchips

Adventurer
This is a great company, makes great products. I have there Rokmen Mercenary Bumper on my LJ, awesome.
Here is a link for their belly pan skid.

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Bigjerm

SE Expedition Society
The Undercover Fab is the skid most people have suggested to me, it's cheap and you don't need a body lift. Plain and simple. Added bonus is the improvement over the stock shovel.

It is cheap. I opted for the 1/2"... might be overkill but it has not dented yet! It fit just fine. I do have a 1" BL but didnt have the funds to do a full belly up and my stock skid was so beat and bent it was messing with the shift linkage.
 

Krytos

Adventurer
So. This is a pretty wordy post, if only to catch everyone up on the progress of my rig.

The good stuff:

The suspension setup I concocted turned out to be pretty excellent. It's equally capable on road at 75-80MPH as it is on the trail. I cannot say enough good things about the progressive AEV springs (which are no longer available, thanks AEV for abandoning the TJ/LJ!) and how they work in conjunction with the Bilstein shocks. The Currie control arms are a work of art, beefy without being excessive.

I have around 3,500 miles on this setup since I swapped it on. A lot of those miles were in some pretty serious (for Florida) trails, and it and the Jeep have performed excellently.

I have been let down in two areas. One is the open diffs, which tend to put a hamper on some of the fun out there. And the other is the stock belly pan, which hung me up on more than once on some wheeling me and my 4x4 club did before Jeep Beach in April. Both of those issues are being addressed as I'm ordering a UCF no lift skid as well as TNT Custom Guardian rock sliders (I spent a disturbing amount of time close to obstacles which would obliterate my rocker panels)

576064_10101858540626532_1209485705_n.jpgMy Jeep Looking Ridic.jpg62092_10101860914788692_306109984_n.jpg


I will also be running front and rear ARB lockers.

Since I'm going to be opening up the diffs anyway, I decided to re-gear (to 4.56) for my eventual jump to 35 inch tires, which should happen sometime before my overland trip across the U.S. next March. This trip (which is happening right after I take my Bar exam) will have a two week stopover in Moab, so I'm trying to get everything squared away before that. The front axle is getting swapped with a high-pinion Dana 30 out of a Cherokee for some added strength. I'm also running 35 spline RCVs up front for some more strength.

My steering is also weak point right now, so I'm going to be installing a Currie steering set up front to beef it up.

Continuing my motif of finding stupid lucky deals on Ebay/Craigslist, I scored a like new TJ Rubicon transfer case for $800, so I plan on dropping that in as well.

Out back, I'm still running the stock bumper. I've been looking for a solid bumper with a receiver that also has bumper/frame tie-ins, and I think I found on in the JCR rear bumper. I saved myself from having to find a tire carrier when I installed a Gr8tops Exogate tire carrier. I have probably 9,000 miles since I mounted it and it's still going strong with no signs of trouble. I make sure to keep it tight and greased.

Lighting wise, I was able to run HID headlights and fogs which do an amazing job of lighting up dark trails.

The nebulous/slightly bad stuff:

I've been having a slight overheating problem ever since I swapped my leaky radiator for a new one. I'm currently running around with a diagnostic tool plugged into the OBD port to get some real-time readings. Most of the time I hover around 207*F-211*F which isn't bad. Anytime my speed gets up there, or during other random times (really no rhyme or reason I can figure out right now) it'll rise to 213-218*F which is pretty hot. I'm trying to gather some more data before I try to troubleshoot this with my friends and mechanic.

Slightly more troubling but even more mysterious is the weird sounds I get out of my back end every now and again, usually when accelerating from a stop. Creaks and pops mostly. I've had these noises since I bought the Jeep and I can't really say they've gotten worse, but since I'm really trying to go over this thing with a fine tooth comb in anticipation of this trip, it's something I've started paying attention to.

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Whats left:

I took some water over the top of the hood in the week leading up to Jeep Beach, and It freaked me out a bit. I've been looking at a Snorkel as a result. Also, I'm looking to run high clearance fenders, probably by TNT Customs. I played with the idea of the roof rack and RTT, but it's both cost prohibitive and unnecessary for me right now, as well as the worst thing in the world for gas mileage and aerodynamics. I'm looking at just putting a sleep platform in the back of the Jeep for now and maybe setting up a trailer later in the future.
 
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Bigjerm

SE Expedition Society
Looks good. I ended up with the UCF no lift skid as well. I couldn't afford to do a complete SYE but I had bent the stock skid up so much it was messing with the shifters. I ended up getting a little over an inch of clearance and a nice flat piece that slides nicely. On the gears, curious why you choose 4.56 instead of 4.88?
 

Goul6891

New member
I've been having a slight overheating problem ever since I swapped my leaky radiator for a new one. I'm currently running around with a diagnostic tool plugged into the OBD port to get some real-time readings. Most of the time I hover around 207*F-211*F which isn't bad. Anytime my speed gets up there, or during other random times (really no rhyme or reason I can figure out right now) it'll rise to 213-218*F which is pretty hot. I'm trying to gather some more data before I try to troubleshoot this with my friends and mechanic.

I'm assuming you're still utilizing the stock electric temp sender for these exact readings?....I'm 99% positive the calibration on that part isn't ±1°, unless of course you've checked the calibration yourself in boiling water with a calibrated thermometer? 240°+ is shown as the danger zone for a reason. Hovering around the nominal 210° is perfectly fine. If it started climbing to 230° or more, somethings probably amiss.
 

SquareLJ

Observer
Our Jeeps are going to end up quite alike... I have all Currie control arms, track bars and steering. I have AEV's 4.5" springs sitting in the garage (though, I'm thinking about doing their 3" springs instead) for 35" tires. And we both have white LJ's with black parts everywhere.
 

Krytos

Adventurer
I have a Scanguage II plugged into the OBDII port and the absolute highest I've gotten is 220* after idling for a long time but it will also do that on the highway during prolonged periods of high speed (75mph, 2400-2600RPM). On the other end, It'll drop to around 204* on some occasions.

Part of me still thinks it's a bad fan clutch, so I'm gonna check that out after I'm done with finals.

I went with 4.56 over 4.88 purely because I do a lot of driving on the highway, more at 75 mph than 65 mph. I'm ok with it because I picked up a 4-1 Transfer Case out of a Rubicon, so I'll still have a pretty respectable crawl ratio.

I'm pretty sure I traced the creaks and pops out of my rear end to the spider gears. They should hold together until I install the ARBs and new ring and pinion if I refrain from any wheeling, or at least I'm praying they do.

Square, I'm a huge fan of your LJ, I also have the hood blackout at home, still waiting to be applied. How do you like the Bedrugs and the sport cage? Those are also on my list, but a bit farther in the future.
 

Bigjerm

SE Expedition Society
Good score on the Rubicon case. I have started a slow search for one. I am looking more for a lower crawl ratio but your reason makes perfect sense. Cant wait to see where it goes

sent from my dumb phone
 

KJP

New member
Just a thought (happened to me)... if you replaced your rad and then had temp issues - I'd suggest you may have a persistent air bubble in the system.
 

SquareLJ

Observer
Square, I'm a huge fan of your LJ, I also have the hood blackout at home, still waiting to be applied. How do you like the Bedrugs and the sport cage? Those are also on my list, but a bit farther in the future.

Thanks man. The BedRug is really nice. Once it's in, you have to make two holes for the center console but it isn't hard to do. The sport cage is kinda a pain in the butt to get on, but other than that, it's great.
 

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