Flat Top
Member
Thanks, the pace it wearing me out but I will be ready for the Texas Exodus in September!
FlatTop Build
- Thread starter Flat Top
- Start date
Thanks, the pace it wearing me out but I will be ready for the Texas Exodus in September!
Flat Top
Member
So the bolt I cross threaded on the passenger side A-Pillar brace on the EVO cage has been a task. I've been trying to drill the damn thing out for a couple of weekends now. I have probably toasted 3-4 brand new drill bits as well as broke 2 screw extractors. The broken extractors are impossible to drill adding to the drill bit damage.
I finally decide to bite the bullet and pull the A-pillar bracket and hope there was enough bolt left to use a vice-grip on. I was able to pull the A-pilliar but only after prying the at the door surround/drill area in order to get the half inch of broken bolt out.
I could now at least get grip on the bolt but even with 10" vice grips and a 10" pipe wrench the bolt would not budge. I decided to drill the backside of the bolt out hoping that would relieve some of the pressure on the threads, success!
This guy is probably the worst cross thread I've ever had and cost me a good 4-5 hours of work. I almost drilled completely thru the bolt. I've re-taped the hole (it seems clean and tight at the original 3/8" -16) but need to get a replacement bolt, hopefully I will not need to step up a size and have an odd sized bolt here.
A secondary project for the weekend was moving my CB from between the tailgate and spare tire (a no-no apparently) to the EVO corners. There is a nice little tab and hole on the corners but if you already have the tire carrier the brackets make this impossible to use. I ended up opening up the corner hole as just a pass thru and mounting thru the tire carrier bracket. I had a grounding issue to work thru but all looks good now. SWR of 1.5 on 40 and 1 with both my Firesticks (4' and 2').
BTW, don't even bother...... :cheesy::cheesy:
I finally decide to bite the bullet and pull the A-pillar bracket and hope there was enough bolt left to use a vice-grip on. I was able to pull the A-pilliar but only after prying the at the door surround/drill area in order to get the half inch of broken bolt out.
I could now at least get grip on the bolt but even with 10" vice grips and a 10" pipe wrench the bolt would not budge. I decided to drill the backside of the bolt out hoping that would relieve some of the pressure on the threads, success!
This guy is probably the worst cross thread I've ever had and cost me a good 4-5 hours of work. I almost drilled completely thru the bolt. I've re-taped the hole (it seems clean and tight at the original 3/8" -16) but need to get a replacement bolt, hopefully I will not need to step up a size and have an odd sized bolt here.
A secondary project for the weekend was moving my CB from between the tailgate and spare tire (a no-no apparently) to the EVO corners. There is a nice little tab and hole on the corners but if you already have the tire carrier the brackets make this impossible to use. I ended up opening up the corner hole as just a pass thru and mounting thru the tire carrier bracket. I had a grounding issue to work thru but all looks good now. SWR of 1.5 on 40 and 1 with both my Firesticks (4' and 2').
BTW, don't even bother...... :cheesy::cheesy:
Last edited:
billallen
New member
Flat Top
Member
Summer of ABS Gremlins / Steering Crawl = Worn Castle Nut ???
For the past 4 months I've started to get the occasional traction control light that progressively turned into every trip with pulsing of the pedal during braking as well as a steady trac control light that would need the Jeep powered off to reset. Not surprisingly I also noticed a little steering wheel crawl the about 1 inch side to side depending upon what side of the roadway crown I was driving. I had tried to recenter the steering wheel as well as inspected the front end steering components but I could not figure it out. After a while I did not think the traction control light was related to the steering because I looked at everything(so I thought).
The Exodus trip aggravated the issue to a point where I was experiencing quite a bit of pucker just driving the Jeep.
After almost replacing all 4 ABS sensors, the local ORielly's was able to pull a C123C - Dynamic Sensor error while trying to determine which ABS sensor was out. I was just about to pull the trigger on the ~$200 dealer part when I gave the underside one more look. I happened to push up on the drag link from below and not just side to side. The passenger side tie rod from the drag link move up about 3/8 of an inch which introduced a small amount of play in the joint.
Turns out that when I install the RK flip kit when doing my lift that the castle nut I used on the tie rod joint was just barely larger than the insert used in the knuckle. Over time the shoulder of the nut the was keeping the joint and insert properly seated wore down and was allowing the tie rod to rise out of the knuckle. I did not see this before I assume because there was not enough pressure to cause the joint to rise up when moving the steering wheel back and forth while inspecting. The addition force of the moving wheels caused the joint to separate while drive to introduce the steering wheel offset and induce the gremlins. I replaced the castle nut with a wider one while also adding a washer to the prevent this from occurring again.
SO THAT'S HOW TIGHT THE STEERING WHEEL IS SUPPOSED TO FEEL!
Commute this AM was much easier driving with zero traction control lights or ABS pulse.
TLDNR - Worn shoulder of passenger tie rod castle nut on drag link caused traction control light, ABS pulsing and steering wheel crawl.
For the past 4 months I've started to get the occasional traction control light that progressively turned into every trip with pulsing of the pedal during braking as well as a steady trac control light that would need the Jeep powered off to reset. Not surprisingly I also noticed a little steering wheel crawl the about 1 inch side to side depending upon what side of the roadway crown I was driving. I had tried to recenter the steering wheel as well as inspected the front end steering components but I could not figure it out. After a while I did not think the traction control light was related to the steering because I looked at everything(so I thought).
The Exodus trip aggravated the issue to a point where I was experiencing quite a bit of pucker just driving the Jeep.
After almost replacing all 4 ABS sensors, the local ORielly's was able to pull a C123C - Dynamic Sensor error while trying to determine which ABS sensor was out. I was just about to pull the trigger on the ~$200 dealer part when I gave the underside one more look. I happened to push up on the drag link from below and not just side to side. The passenger side tie rod from the drag link move up about 3/8 of an inch which introduced a small amount of play in the joint.
Turns out that when I install the RK flip kit when doing my lift that the castle nut I used on the tie rod joint was just barely larger than the insert used in the knuckle. Over time the shoulder of the nut the was keeping the joint and insert properly seated wore down and was allowing the tie rod to rise out of the knuckle. I did not see this before I assume because there was not enough pressure to cause the joint to rise up when moving the steering wheel back and forth while inspecting. The addition force of the moving wheels caused the joint to separate while drive to introduce the steering wheel offset and induce the gremlins. I replaced the castle nut with a wider one while also adding a washer to the prevent this from occurring again.
SO THAT'S HOW TIGHT THE STEERING WHEEL IS SUPPOSED TO FEEL!
Commute this AM was much easier driving with zero traction control lights or ABS pulse.
TLDNR - Worn shoulder of passenger tie rod castle nut on drag link caused traction control light, ABS pulsing and steering wheel crawl.
Last edited:
GraniteCrystal
New member
Ha. Love that it was a $2 fix for a new nut. Glad you found it!
Flat Top
Member
Flat Top
Member
Busy fall with not much going on Jeep wise but I thought I'd catch up.
My niece asked to use my Jeep again for the Flatonia Czhilispiel parade in October. The other outgoing court members decide to ride in Jeeps as well so we had a nice contention of Jeep s representing.
Christmas is fast approaching so time for lights. New house so new lights but I've got the Jeep setup down, I just need to replace the rope lights with LEDs for next year so they don't trip the onboard inverter after 15 mins.
Hoping to get offload in 2018 fairly soon!
My niece asked to use my Jeep again for the Flatonia Czhilispiel parade in October. The other outgoing court members decide to ride in Jeeps as well so we had a nice contention of Jeep s representing.
Christmas is fast approaching so time for lights. New house so new lights but I've got the Jeep setup down, I just need to replace the rope lights with LEDs for next year so they don't trip the onboard inverter after 15 mins.
Hoping to get offload in 2018 fairly soon!
GraniteCrystal
New member
Love the lights!
Flat Top
Member
How does this happen??
I got to work this morning and discovered I forgot to replace the pins and retention clips in my EVO tire carrier. The bottom pin and clip were gone (hopefully it did not become a flying object for another driver) but the top pin and clip was still where I placed them after pulling last night. Mind you I have a 35 mile commute normally running 75 mph. Impressive.
Sometime you just get lucky.
I got to work this morning and discovered I forgot to replace the pins and retention clips in my EVO tire carrier. The bottom pin and clip were gone (hopefully it did not become a flying object for another driver) but the top pin and clip was still where I placed them after pulling last night. Mind you I have a 35 mile commute normally running 75 mph. Impressive.
Sometime you just get lucky.
Amrth
Member
Man that is crazy!
Absent minded as me as I guess.. off late I've left the front door wide open for a whole night of cold on my Jeep.. I don't remember how many pliers I've run on like this..
Flat Top
Member
Recent updates: been a bit busy on the Jeep. I'm still chasing down some looseness in the front end that triggers the traction control light.
Trouble spots were the drag link tie rod on the axle side, drivers side tie rod end and the axle side track bar heim joint.
Replaced the drag link tie rod end.
Decided instead of just replacing the tie rod ends I'd invest the $120+ into a new tie rod / heavy duty end setup. Went with the WFO 2" DOM setup, this thing is STOUT!
Ordered replacement heim from RK, still waiting on the correct misalignment spacer to complete.
Hit Wolf Caves (Mason, Tx) last weekend (2-23 to 2-25) with Benito, Mike_JK_Houston_711 and a few other jeeps. Spent the weekend trying to follow Issac and Mike with their 40s. Fantastic weekend at a great park with great weather and ever better people.
I pushed my rig farther than I ever have chasing down the 40s. My skid plates look they were actually used and the rear driveshaft got beat up nicely (Upgrade!).
Ordered a new Adams 1350 rear DS this past week while moteaux lent me his stock takeoff to run while waiting.
Trouble spots were the drag link tie rod on the axle side, drivers side tie rod end and the axle side track bar heim joint.
Replaced the drag link tie rod end.
Decided instead of just replacing the tie rod ends I'd invest the $120+ into a new tie rod / heavy duty end setup. Went with the WFO 2" DOM setup, this thing is STOUT!
Ordered replacement heim from RK, still waiting on the correct misalignment spacer to complete.
Hit Wolf Caves (Mason, Tx) last weekend (2-23 to 2-25) with Benito, Mike_JK_Houston_711 and a few other jeeps. Spent the weekend trying to follow Issac and Mike with their 40s. Fantastic weekend at a great park with great weather and ever better people.
I pushed my rig farther than I ever have chasing down the 40s. My skid plates look they were actually used and the rear driveshaft got beat up nicely (Upgrade!).
Ordered a new Adams 1350 rear DS this past week while moteaux lent me his stock takeoff to run while waiting.
Mike_JK_Houston_711
New member
Good times Tom! Everyone came away with some sort of issues to their rigs lol
Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
tdougherty81
New member
Flat Top
Member
Yep, one of the easiest upgrades I've done. I'd heard installing hood vents was a hair raising experience, whole bunch of cutting and so forth. It was a snap for me. :brows::brows:
Hopefully you can make the next trip.
Flat Top
Member
Yep, mine was minor compared to your panel buckle/door sag. Hopefully you can get that addressed.
Stotch
Caught the Bug
X2 The color matched louver looks great!
