Posts by Jon

Hey all, tj is making a high pitch squeal under heavy load, accelerating hard up a hill or hard acceleration pulling a trailer. It started after I switched the transmission fluid to royal purple, so the past weekend I went back to the mopar stuff while replacing the trans mount. It got better, until I was pulling a trailer under load, the same squeal, high rpm, pedal down... Any ideas what to check? I'm not sure if the rpm speed under load is causing something to shift? Rear driveshaft was rebuilt about 6 months back, new motor mounts about 4 months back, and now new trans mount, so I'm not sure what could be shifting

any thoughts on JKS vs Teraflex? didn't see an RE option for less than 3.5 inches of lift

Getting an increasing death wobble these days, used to just be on braking, but started up when I hit a bump going about 40 today so I figure its time to look into it more. Recently replaced the lcas/bushings and put on a steering stabilizer, between the two fixing some other sloppyness down there, but I guess the next step is front end alignment and then track bar...

So, anyone know a shop in newark that does front end alignments on lifted jeeps? I read that the stock alignment specs aren't the same after lifting and to find someone that is aware of this

Second, recommendations for a front track bar? Jeep has about 3 inches of suspension lift. Adjustable I guess.. JKS seems to be the common solution but I wouldnt' mind spending less if it doesn't make a difference for my application

Thanks,
Jon

excellent... cause that's how it ended up going back in, turns out the passenger side wasn't any easier, but no more cracked motor mount

had to loosen the other side of the mount, finally got it, is there any reason why I shouldn't put the bolt back in the other direction?

Is there some trick to getting the bolt out of the drivers side motor mount? do I need to take something else off to have enough room? I don't remember having a problem the first time I put the mounts on, but I can't get the drivers side off

I was fixing something else and just noticed that one of my motor mounts just cracked by the outer bolt. Anyone else run into this with daystar mounts? It looks like they changed the design since I got these in 2007, but I've never seen something just crack like that

yeah its the crappy light, meter is reading as per the wiring diagram so that's good. I pulled the plug that looks like it goes to whatever the canister is - I guess something to do with the fuel lines? so maybe that tripped it? I'm going to reset and see what happens

I just looked at a pin layout, and I think it might just be the light, its only using 2 prongs - 1 and 4. which would be brake and right turn I think. I'll go check with a meter. In the mean time I'm now throwing a p1495 code, what is that canister in the back? Did I trip a code playing around in there?

soo plugging it in the passenger side, the right turn signal blinks, but the left doesn't. maybe its the crappy harbor freight light

ahh I found it, it was tucked way up inside there, thanks for the help!

I'm going to go take another look, do you see a plug with 3 leads back there as well? and was the plug under or on top of the canister?

Hey All,

I installed a hopkins trailer wiring harness on the rear drivers side connector under the mud flap because I didn't see a connector on the passenger side. The directions that came with the harness said to use the passenger side, but the only connector I could find over there was the plug for the taillight itself - 3 prong plug. I only have a harbor freight receiver light to test with.. it comes on when brake is applied, and it blinks for left turn signal, but nothing for right turn signal.

So question is, should I have a 4 prong plug on both driver and passenger side under the mud flaps? It sounds like half the jeeps work on the drivers and the other half work on passenger side, but I only see one connection to use - its a 2003 wrangler

Hey all,

I'm replacing the bushings in my lcas and just read that if I do them one at a time, I don't even have to jack the jeep up? just unbolt each lca one at a time, and replace with all four tires on the floor. Anyone go that route? no pressure on the lcas when the jeep is resting on the ground?

Thanks,
Jon

I'm pretty sure I must have caught some pins putting it back together because one of the caps is actually cracking on the end. So lesson learned I guess, pay attention to pins. It was so jammed up I couldn't get it back out, so dropped off the shaft this morning to get it dislodged. Give it another go on the front later I suppose.

Thanks again,
Jon

So I picked up the harbor freight u-joint c clamp and pulled the rear drive shaft. The old joint was shot and I finally got it out, but the new one seemed to have gotten all binded up when I was putting it in.. I guess one of the pins was off so I f'd it up pushing them together. so now I can't get it in or out. Is there some trick to pulling off the caps once you push the ujoint to one side or the other? because its too tight to even turn with vise grips. And just to be sure, Its a spicer 1310 series, is that the correct size to be using for a stock 2003 tj with a slip yoke?

thanks,
Jon

First off, thanks everyone for the help so far, whether its causing the noise or not, the rear u-joint is definitely bad, looks like one of the seals failed and I'm guessing its all rusted up inside.

the left front lca moves about an 1/8 inch at the top, but otherwise the bushings seem to be in ok shape all around, they should probably be replaced at some point. Both sides of the rear sway bar have play where they connect to the links. Not sure if there should be that much play in the back, the front is pretty tight.

I can't tell from looking at the rear drive shaft how it comes off, and I can't seem to find any write-ups about removing the rear, just the front. Anyone have a picture of what needs to be undone to get that off?

Thanks again,
Jon

yeah, checked a writeup, pulled it, drove around and still making noises at me. So I guess that leaves the rear drive shaft or something in the transfer case?

Turns out the rear is bad, just not the side I could see the first time I looked

Just checked the control arms, and the front left had maybe an 1/8 inch play, but everything else seemed to be pretty good except the rear sway bar was somewhat loose on both sides. Can't really tell if the joints have any rust so have to clean them up a bit first, but nothing seems particularly loose. Its sounding worse driving though, more metal on metal sounding and I'm getting vibration when accelerating.. Soo after detaching the front of the drive shaft, does the back just slide out?

basic skyjacker 2.5" suspension - springs and lcas - and 1" body lift. lcas probably have about 70K on them so the bushings are wearing a bit. have to check them and the u-joint for rust tonight.

So the sway is steering caused by worn bushings giving too much when load is added or removed from the driveshaft? Or a combination of bad bushing, bad joint?