Thursday, April 25, 2019

New Shoes...

I placed my order from Tire Rack on Tuesday 4/23 and my new wheels arrived on 4/24 at 5:00 pm!!! WOW, that was fast. They were mounted and balanced with TPMS sensors and all ready to be installed. Huge thanks to Julian at Tire Rack who helped me out! Must also offer quite a bit of love to my wife who has continued to support my crazy shopping for Great White the Jeep!
I did purchased 5 but the other was already installed before I remembered to take the picture!

Naturally, I immediately began installing them blind to the fact that we needed to meet our friends for dinner at 6:00 pm. Thankfully our friends are Jeep people as well and completely understood our arrival at 6:20...

Before
After
I was lucky to find a really great deal on the wheels, $2437.75 included:
  • Granite Alloy 17x8.5 Dark Metallic Bronze Rims (5 on clearance for $108.87 each)
  • Wrangler Duratrac 35x12.50x17 Tires (5 for $303.99 each)
  • TPMS sensors 
  • Mounting & Balancing
  • Lug Nuts
  • Delivered Next Day to my Door!


This is bringing me very close to the end of the goals I had for my Phase 1 build, only real remaining item is a rear bumper but I can wait on that for now...

The Journey is what counts, Adventure Awaits!

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Lifted - Finally!

I finally had some nice weather and was able to install the Rock Krawler Lift, Teraflex Falcon shocks and bump stops this past weekend. I am pretty excited and have already ordered my new wheels, 35 inch Wrangler Duratracs with Granite Alloy rims. Should have them today so will update shortly.
Pre-Lift

Scoring for the Rock Krawler Lift Kit install comes out to a 12 out of 15 so pretty good:

     Price - 2 ($669.72)
     Completeness of Directions - 2
     Completeness of parts/materials - 2
     Ease of Installation - 3
     Final Product - 3

Scoring for the Teraflex Falcon Nexus 2.1 Shocks install comes out to a 14 out of 15 so it's the best so far:

     Price - 2 ($597.64)
     Completeness of Directions - 3
     Completeness of parts/materials - 3
     Ease of Installation - 3
     Final Product - 3

Scoring for the Teraflex Bump Stops install comes out to a 15 out of 15 so it's the best so far:

     Price - 3 ($85.49)
     Completeness of Directions - 3
     Completeness of parts/materials - 3
     Ease of Installation - 3
     Final Product - 3

All installation directions are online And were provided by the manufacturer so that was great. I still have to say that I love the way Teraflex packages their products and includes really easy to understand instructions right on the packaging making them almost fool proof. The Rock Krawler instructions were almost as good but it did take me some searching and weeding through options to understand exactly what I needed to do. The Rock Krawler instructions cover several of their 2.5 lift kits under the Adventure Series so you need to skip the steps or add them in depending on which kit you purchased. It's not hard but I did something find myself into a step realizing a bit late that it did not apply to my kit. No harm, no foul though...
















Basically the steps are as follows:

  1. Start with the front of the vehicle. You will need jack stands and jacks to properly and safely lift the vehicle and support it throughout the various steps. PLEASE do not attempt this unless you know what you are doing and have the proper tools, you can either screw up your vehicle or severely injure yourself. Go to a licensed mechanic if you are not up to the task.
  2. Jack up your vehicle and remove the two front tires - make sure everything is safely supported.
  3. Disconnect the breather mounts
  4. Disconnect the right and left brake line mount.
  5. Disconnect the front cable for the electronic locker.
  6. With the Jeep safely supported by the jack stands. Begin to slowly lower the axle to release the pressure from the coil springs. Once it is low enough, the coil springs will come out.
  7. Remove and trash the old bump stops. They are simply pressed in and can be easily pulled out.
  8. Disconnect the Sway Bar links and trash the factory ones (you will use the factory rear sway bar links for the front once you get there) 
  9. Disconnect and remove the factory tie rod
  10. Save all factory nuts and bolts according to the directions from the kits.
  11. At this point, you have everything off of the Jeep that you are removing from the front and can start to replace with the new parts...
  12. Install the new coil springs and the new lower mounts (you need to reuse the upper mounts) on both sides.
  13. Install the new bump stops - they simply are pressed back up into the "cups" the old ones came out of.
  14. Install the new Falcon shocks - We trimmed a little of the inner fender plastic to make it easier to reach the bolts for installation.
  15. Pre-adjust the Tie Rod to the appropriate length (indicated on the back of the installation instructions that came with the kit) and install the new one. Torque is very important here as in many of the step so please make sure you read the directions and set everything properly to specifications.
  16. Reconnect the breather mounts
  17. Reconnect the right and left brake line mount.
  18. Reconnect the front cable for the electronic locker.
  19. Re-install the front wheels and lower the vehicle.
  20. Move to the back and make sure to properly jack up the rear of the vehicle and support it on the jack stands.
  21. Disconnect the rear E-Brakes and rerun the cables in front of the rear cross member to provide addition length.
  22. Disconnect the rear cable for the electronic locker.
  23. Remove the two rear wheels.
  24. Remove the rear bump stops from their cups.
  25. Remove the rear shocks
  26. Again, please retain the factory bolts and nuts referring to the directions for use.
  27. Loosen and remove the rear track bar from the axle end so you can install the adapter form the kit.
  28. Lower the rear axle and remove the rear springs.
  29. Remove the rear sway bar links and install these on the front of the Jeep.
  30. Install the new rear coil springs, using the supplied bottom shims/mounts (these are side specific) and reusing the tops.
  31. Install the new rear shocks.
  32. Install the new bump stops.
  33. Install the new sway bar links.
  34. Reconnect the rear track bar to the new bracket on the axle.
  35. Reconnect the rear E-Brakes and rerun the cables in front of the rear cross member to provide addition length.
  36. Reconnect the rear cable for the electronic locker.
Post Lift

The Journey is what counts, Adventure Awaits!

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

As Grandmaster Flash would say, "Let's get higher baby!"

Now that I got that tune stuck in your head, I just picked up new parts for my JLRU build...

Pretty excited to get this install moving, really hoping for some nice weather this weekend! I shopped local and the guys over at Globex Performance hooked me up, they gave me some great suggestions and the best price around including online. It's always worth checking out the local guy, they might be the one you need to count on in an emergency. Ask for Glen or Mike and tell them Dan from NJJA sent you...

Hear's the breakdown:
  • Rock Krawler Adventure Series Stock Mod 2.5" Lift Kit
  • Teraflex Falcon Series 2.1 Monotube Shock Kit
  • Teraflex 1959200 Falcon Performance Bump Stop Kit
This is the first time I "built" my own lift kit instead of just buying a complete set and I did it fir a couple reasons... Primarily, I wanted a lift kit that I could upgrade and adapt as my driving needs change over time. On my JKU, I installed the AEV 2.5 lift kit and while I loved the ride and the way the kit performed, you needed to completely replace it if you wanted to ever go higher. With this Rock Krawler kit, I can just add additional components as I go. Next, I would say my OCD took over, since I already had the Teraflex Steering Stabilizer (and really love the performance), I wanted to stick with Falcon and install their shocks. I would have really loved to install the Teraflex Falcon Series 3.3 Fast Adjust Piggyback Shock Kit but that was a bit out of my budget at this point. Finally, I chose the Teraflex bump stops as I really like the simplicity of the design.

Anyway, I will update one I get the installation done. I will take some before and after pictures as well as record the actual lift change once complete.

Now I just need to upgrade the tires and rear bumper to complete Phase 1 of my build...

The Journey is what counts, Adventure Awaits!