Secondhand Tin Can.

[Keith1138]

Well I totally forgot to take pictures while I was working on the jeep today. I replaced the ac accumulator, compressors and condenser. My goal is to get functioning ac. My guage set and vacuum pump should be here tomorrow. I hope my system will hold a vacuum. I also went ahead and added another transmission cooler but instead it is for my power steering. That cylinder style one is garbage.

 

[Keith1138]

The ac system held a vacuum for over an hour. So I went ahead and filled it up. The jeeps vent temperature held right at 65-70 degrees. To me this is a little high in comparison to modern day vehicles but I don't know what a jeep cherokee usually is at.

 

[Keith1138]

Kairos last month claimed a ujoint, stub shaft and valve stem. Besides the carnage it was a great trip. Luckily I carry spare axle shafts in my tow rig. I was back up and wheeling in about 40 minutes. Would have been sooner but the Amazon special wheel bearing I had on my spare shaft had screwed up studs. I was actually very surprised that i have already slightly twisted the splines on my short side shaft. The stub was claimed by the ujoint spitting a cap even though the cap was tacked welded on. Once again a colby valve kept me from having to use my spare tire. If you don't have some I highly recommend getting some. They install from the outside of the wheel.

 

[Keith1138]

Tonight I got the yukon chromos installed and the front shocks. Hopefully the old ujoints were causing the catch I was having in my steering. I couldn't feel anything wrong with the old ujoints but it wasnt a constant catch just every once in awhile. I also found my track bar jam nut was loose again. So I got that tightened back up. I'm really excitied to get this thing back on the trail.

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Well yukons customer service sucks. I got someone on the phone when I first got back from kairos and asked about the warranty process and he said he will look into it since I bought them through Amazon. A few days later i sent an email with no response and never got a person on the phone again when I was calling to see if their warranty would cover the stub shaft and if not to order a new one. I ended up giving East Coast Gear Supply a call. I ordered their stub shaft and u joint with full circle clips this time. It arrived the next day. If I could go back in time I would have ordered East Coasts full kit instead of yukons.

 

[77GreenMachine]

I was gonna ask if you ran full circle clips. That makes a big difference.

This splines are made to twist to a degree. Usually won’t warranty just a twist.

As for ECGS, ALWAYS buy from them. Even if you gotta pay a little more cause they WILL stand behind it, and in a timely manner!

 

[Keith1138]

I was gonna ask if you ran full circle clips. That makes a big difference.

This splines are made to twist to a degree. Usually won’t warranty just a twist.

As for ECGS, ALWAYS buy from them. Even if you gotta pay a little more cause they WILL stand behind it, and in a timely manner!

If I knew what I know now that is one reason why I wouldnt get the yukon kit. It only comes with the c clips. I also didn't know that the yukons are machined to fit full circle clips untill I talked to ECGS. I also have the caps tack welded. I can't believe I spit a cap with them tack welded. When I was getting out of the jeep I was excepting to see the joint or ear completely broke because the caps were tacked.

 

[77GreenMachine]

If I knew what I know now that is one reason why I wouldnt get the yukon kit. It only comes with the c clips. I also didn't know that the yukons are machined to fit full circle clips untill I talked to ECGS. I also have the caps tack welded. I can't believe I spit a cap with them tack welded. When I was getting out of the jeep I was excepting to see the joint or ear completely broke because the caps were tacked.

I also used to loose caps welded. Once I went to full circle I never had that issue again.

Yukon is good stuff, you just wanna make sure you get it from a good distributor like East Coast so they can handle the warranty, and offer simple upgrades like the full circle clips.

 

[Keith1138]

I have decided I want to put a back seat back into the jeep. My only issue is I still want to carry a spare tire but I don't want to run a tire carrier. My idea so far is to mount the tire in the rear cargo area slightly angled. It looks like I will be able to fit up to a 37 angled. My plan is to make a holder that uses clamps to hold on to the cage that way I can remove it if I ever need to adjust it or carry cargo. The mount will also allow the tire to sit on the floor that way all of its weight isn't on the mount.


The strap was to keep it in place as I looked at clearances.

As for the seat I'm torn between using a cj style rear seat or just getting a cheap suspension seat. From the floor where the seat would mount to the headliner is only 35 inches. I have plenty of legroom sitting in the center with my back against the cage. Any idea or suggestions. The front of the seat would be about 5 inches farther back than the stock seat.

Please ignore the mess I just quickly pulled everything out. My spare tire and tote keep the driveshaft and stuff secure in the back when it's strapped down.

 

[77GreenMachine]

I’d put it on the roof personally.

 

[Keith1138]

I’d put it on the roof personally.

I've thought about putting it up there so the passengers can get better airflow. The seat might catch on some tree limbs every once in awhile.

I dont want my spare on the roof unless I'm camping out of the jeep for somereason and need to store gear inside. That's one reason why im planning on using some tube clamps for the tire holder. To me it's a major PITA to get the tire up and down from the roof. Plus all that extra weight up in the air.

 

[CasterTroy]

To me it's a major PITA to get the tire up and down from the roof. Plus all that extra weight up in the air.

How many times have you seen a flat on the trail? It's a HUUUUUGE PITA but so rare...it's not like you're an Indy car and you're trying to keep pit times down below 2 seconds

And as far as weight...your rig is 8700 pounds....having 110pounds of that higher up ain't gonna make a bit of difference

 

[Keith1138]

How many times have you seen a flat on the trail? It's a HUUUUUGE PITA but so rare...it's not like you're an Indy car and you're trying to keep put times down below 2 seconds

And as far as weight...your rig is 8700 pounds....having 110pounds of that higher up ain't gonna make a bit of difference

True I've only seen 1 flat on the trail that required a spare. Also the jeep won't fit in the garage with the spare up top.

 

[CasterTroy]

the jeep won't fit in the garage with the spare up top.

C'mon Keith..it's a shitb..........I mean XJ they're NEVER allowed inside a garage

They're relegated to the back yard..out if sight because shame

 

[Keith1138]

C'mon Keith..it's a shitb..........I mean XJ they're NEVER allowed inside a garage

They're relegated to the back yard..out if sight because shame

Shhhhhhh.... don't let everyone know where I park when I'm not having to work on it.

 

[NickMaul]

Why not a swing out tire carrier? The spindle and latch is pretty cheap from ruffstuff. I made mine out of 2x2 square tubing.

 

[77GreenMachine]

I can’t argue with the hassle of getting it down from up top, and not fitting inside. Except, in all my years I’ve only needed a spare on the trail twice, and the weight up top is negligible.

My favorite place for my spare is on my trailer.

 

[Keith1138]

Why not a swing out tire carrier? The spindle and latch is pretty cheap from ruffstuff. I made mine out of 2x2 square tubing.

View attachment 358150

I've thought about building one. I like how yours puts the tire up higher. How did you connect it to the jeep?

 

[NickMaul]

I've thought about building one. I like how yours puts the tire up higher. How did you connect it to the jeep?

Those vertical tubes came strait off of the OE trailer hitch. Just angled back a bit. Very sturdy. Too bad I sold it a while back...

 

[Keith1138]

Those vertical tubes came strait off of the OE trailer hitch. Just angled back a bit. Very sturdy. Too bad I sold it a while back...

Ah I see now. I might end up doing something similar for a bumper since my hitch is welded to my unibody stiffeners.

 

[No fries]

I've got custom a swing away that was on @Lurch830 Nissan years ago. you are welcome to it if you want to come pick it up from my scrap pile. The hinge (Spindle) is still good, latch is gone but you'd have to alter it to fit your XJ anyways. As far as the back seat, I'm interested in what you come up with. We have looked but never found a way to use anything but the stock seat without major roof or floor cutting to put in a "bucket seat " to gain enough head room. I'll see if I can get a picture of it, this weekend if you are interested.

 

[Keith1138]

I've got custom a swing away that was on @Lurch830 Nissan years ago. you are welcome to it if you want to come pick it up from my scrap pile. The hinge (Spindle) is still good, latch is gone but you'd have to alter it to fit your XJ anyways. As far as the back seat, I'm interested in what you come up with. We have looked but never found a way to use anything but the stock seat without major roof or floor cutting to put in a "bucket seat " to gain enough head room. I'll see if I can get a picture of it, this weekend if you are interested.

Thanks for the offer but I decided to go another route.

 

[Keith1138]

Well I decided to mount the tire inside. I like the "slick" look of not having a spare tire carrier or spare on top.

Luckily I messed up copping the tube Friday night for it which allowed me to realize that mounting it off set on the passenger side was dumb because if I turned around to back up I would just be looking at the tire. This allowed me to shift everything over and mount it on the drivers side.

I ended up doing two tubes to the mounting plate because one just made it seem extremely springy. I had a good amount of difficulty getting the second tube to sit touching the plate, main tube and the second tube clamp. On the third attempt I just got the gaps as small as I could and welded it. The two previous mess ups were from me trying to get them perfect. I used all scrap material I had laying around besides the tube clamps. Majority of the weight of the tire is still sitting on the floor board. The mount is just holding it in place.


As I was waiting on the paint to dry I went ahead and fixed my exhuast hanger that got tweaked at the ranch. The tail pipe was vibrating and rubbing on the leaf spring.


How the jeep is currently packed and how it will be packed with a back seat. I've decided to ditch the milk crate of fluids and just carry a quart of oil, trans, brake and power steering fluid under the seat. With a gallon of coolant behind the tire. Instead of a gallon of oil and trans fluid.

 

[Keith1138]

Well I'm in the final stage of getting this cj seat installed in my cherokee. I am able to fit in the center of it with my head just barely touching the headliner. Getting in and out is a little difficult but smaller people don't have a problem. Im mounting it so it still retains the fold and tumble feature. I'm going to mount the lap belt to the factory lap belt locations. The shoulder harness will obviously go to the cage. I will probably make a harness bar for the shoulder belts. Every bracket has sandwich plate on the other side of the tub so the bolts can't pull through.

I had an oops and drilled straight through my evap canister. Turns out the charcoal inside looks just like mouse poop.

 

[Keith1138]

So I got the seat fully mounted this morning. The lap belts are too short to mount from the factory seat belt bolts. I have not decided if I'm going to order longer harness or mount them differently. Some how the seat ended up about an inch and a half higher than when I mocked it up so anyone over 6 foot cant ride in the back seat.

 

[Keith1138]

I also got my vapor canister patched up and re-installed. Hopefully it doesn't throw a check engine light. Due to the sandwich plate for the seat I was only able to get two of three bolts in. So i may or may not have used 2 half inch zip ties to help secure it. #cherocar