Project ACCUAIR

So... for those of you who are wondering what's going on with this Jeep, we picked it up from the gear shop on Thursday of last week. As would be expected, they reminded me about proper break-in procedure but also the following reminder card on the rear view mirror.
20221220094745-b84bc4ff.jpg


Obviously, they put gear oil in the differential and being that they were clear across town, the first two 15 minute heat cycles were easy enough to do. The first 15 minutes, we drove across the city and made a stop for breakfast. Easily an hour stop and then the second 15 minutes were done driving back to our place in Boulder City. There, we let it rest for another hour.

Being that each heat cycle should be done with mild driving with varying speeds and ideally, with speeds under 65 mph, we decided to do the remaining 3 heat cycles by taking a long drive along Lake Mead.
20221220094748-0ec86c2a.jpg


The speed limit there is just 50 mph and it's windy so that would get us to change our speed a lot and it has tons of places to pull over where we could let things cool off and go for a hike up canyons, just like this.
20221220094941-bdc23456.jpg

20221220094959-f2c2d188.jpg

20221220095023-37431771.jpg


After our nice hour long hike, we continued our way along the lake and made our next heat cycle stop (number 4) at a place that we wouldn't have been able to drive out to, just a year ago... maybe less.
20221220094628-54f88afa.jpg


It really is hard to believe just how low the water level is out in Lake Mead right now.
20221220094654-8bd58d12.jpg


Tons... and I mean tons of fresh water mollusk shells can be found everywhere.
20221220094702-61b0b436.jpg


Once again, we hiked around the lake for about an hour and then continued our way along the lake. And, after about 15 minutes of driving, we made our 5th and final heat cycle stop here.
20221220094752-59cb300c.jpg


So much cool stuff to see and fun rocks to hike around.
20221220094826-4fb1d0ef.jpg

20221220094833-0dcb4109.jpg

20221220094841-dae151c4.jpg

20221220094902-2b61e5e0.jpg

20221220094854-47ba6b6b.jpg

20221220094829-3e1d626f.jpg


With all our heat cycles out of the way, it was time to just add on some miles. Ideally, 500-1000 is what you'd want of still, mild driving only, without all the stops. Fortunately, the drive to the end of the lake and back would add on about 200 miles to the 40 we did earlier in the morning.

With that said, there was ONE thing that was really bugging me the whole day. Although the drive was significantly quieter than it was before, now that the gears weren't howling anymore, I could still hear a sound that was just bugging me. Although it was faint, it was clearly coming from the transmission tunnel and could be heard the loudest if you put your ear close to the cup holders. Sounds like this is typically caused by something in the drive train and in the past, I have found it to be caused by something like a dust shield that was bent or a carrier bearing that was starting to go bad. Long story short and being that I didn't want to be responsible for anything that may have been done wrong, we took the Jeep back to the shop just before they closed and had them give things a look. And, while they couldn't see what would be causing the rear driveline to be causing the noise we were hearing at a glance, they did notice this on the front shaft...
20221220094933-c2ccc17a.jpg


Needless to say, we left the Jeep with them. After talking to ACCUAIR, they gave the greenlight to upgrade the front and rear shafts to 1350s and the shop will be double checking everything else to see what's causing the sound.

Anyway, that's where we're at with things.
 
So... for those of you who are wondering what's going on with this Jeep, we picked it up from the gear shop on Thursday of last week. As would be expected, they reminded me about proper break-in procedure but also the following reminder card on the rear view mirror.
20221220094745-b84bc4ff.jpg


Obviously, they put gear oil in the differential and being that they were clear across town, the first two 15 minute heat cycles were easy enough to do. The first 15 minutes, we drove across the city and made a stop for breakfast. Easily an hour stop and then the second 15 minutes were done driving back to our place in Boulder City. There, we let it rest for another hour.

Being that each heat cycle should be done with mild driving with varying speeds and ideally, with speeds under 65 mph, we decided to do the remaining 3 heat cycles by taking a long drive along Lake Mead.
20221220094748-0ec86c2a.jpg


The speed limit there is just 50 mph and it's windy so that would get us to change our speed a lot and it has tons of places to pull over where we could let things cool off and go for a hike up canyons, just like this.
20221220094941-bdc23456.jpg

20221220094959-f2c2d188.jpg

20221220095023-37431771.jpg


After our nice hour long hike, we continued our way along the lake and made our next heat cycle stop (number 4) at a place that we wouldn't have been able to drive out to, just a year ago... maybe less.
20221220094628-54f88afa.jpg


It really is hard to believe just how low the water level is out in Lake Mead right now.
20221220094654-8bd58d12.jpg


Tons... and I mean tons of fresh water mollusk shells can be found everywhere.
20221220094702-61b0b436.jpg


Once again, we hiked around the lake for about an hour and then continued our way along the lake. And, after about 15 minutes of driving, we made our 5th and final heat cycle stop here.
20221220094752-59cb300c.jpg


So much cool stuff to see and fun rocks to hike around.
20221220094826-4fb1d0ef.jpg

20221220094833-0dcb4109.jpg

20221220094841-dae151c4.jpg

20221220094902-2b61e5e0.jpg

20221220094854-47ba6b6b.jpg

20221220094829-3e1d626f.jpg


With all our heat cycles out of the way, it was time to just add on some miles. Ideally, 500-1000 is what you'd want of still, mild driving only, without all the stops. Fortunately, the drive to the end of the lake and back would add on about 200 miles to the 40 we did earlier in the morning.

With that said, there was ONE thing that was really bugging me the whole day. Although the drive was significantly quieter than it was before, now that the gears weren't howling anymore, I could still hear a sound that was just bugging me. Although it was faint, it was clearly coming from the transmission tunnel and could be heard the loudest if you put your ear close to the cup holders. Sounds like this is typically caused by something in the drive train and in the past, I have found it to be caused by something like a dust shield that was bent or a carrier bearing that was starting to go bad. Long story short and being that I didn't want to be responsible for anything that may have been done wrong, we took the Jeep back to the shop just before they closed and had them give things a look. And, while they couldn't see what would be causing the rear driveline to be causing the noise we were hearing at a glance, they did notice this on the front shaft...
20221220094933-c2ccc17a.jpg


Needless to say, we left the Jeep with them. After talking to ACCUAIR, they gave the greenlight to upgrade the front and rear shafts to 1350s and the shop will be double checking everything else to see what's causing the sound.

Anyway, that's where we're at with things.
Man those flange bolts are chewed up inside, somebody's gonna be getting a couple of those things out with vice grips.
 
So... for those of you who are wondering what's going on with this Jeep, we picked it up from the gear shop on Thursday of last week. As would be expected, they reminded me about proper break-in procedure but also the following reminder card on the rear view mirror.
20221220094745-b84bc4ff.jpg


Obviously, they put gear oil in the differential and being that they were clear across town, the first two 15 minute heat cycles were easy enough to do. The first 15 minutes, we drove across the city and made a stop for breakfast. Easily an hour stop and then the second 15 minutes were done driving back to our place in Boulder City. There, we let it rest for another hour.

Being that each heat cycle should be done with mild driving with varying speeds and ideally, with speeds under 65 mph, we decided to do the remaining 3 heat cycles by taking a long drive along Lake Mead.
20221220094748-0ec86c2a.jpg


The speed limit there is just 50 mph and it's windy so that would get us to change our speed a lot and it has tons of places to pull over where we could let things cool off and go for a hike up canyons, just like this.
20221220094941-bdc23456.jpg

20221220094959-f2c2d188.jpg

20221220095023-37431771.jpg


After our nice hour long hike, we continued our way along the lake and made our next heat cycle stop (number 4) at a place that we wouldn't have been able to drive out to, just a year ago... maybe less.
20221220094628-54f88afa.jpg


It really is hard to believe just how low the water level is out in Lake Mead right now.
20221220094654-8bd58d12.jpg


Tons... and I mean tons of fresh water mollusk shells can be found everywhere.
20221220094702-61b0b436.jpg


Once again, we hiked around the lake for about an hour and then continued our way along the lake. And, after about 15 minutes of driving, we made our 5th and final heat cycle stop here.
20221220094752-59cb300c.jpg


So much cool stuff to see and fun rocks to hike around.
20221220094826-4fb1d0ef.jpg

20221220094833-0dcb4109.jpg

20221220094841-dae151c4.jpg

20221220094902-2b61e5e0.jpg

20221220094854-47ba6b6b.jpg

20221220094829-3e1d626f.jpg


With all our heat cycles out of the way, it was time to just add on some miles. Ideally, 500-1000 is what you'd want of still, mild driving only, without all the stops. Fortunately, the drive to the end of the lake and back would add on about 200 miles to the 40 we did earlier in the morning.

With that said, there was ONE thing that was really bugging me the whole day. Although the drive was significantly quieter than it was before, now that the gears weren't howling anymore, I could still hear a sound that was just bugging me. Although it was faint, it was clearly coming from the transmission tunnel and could be heard the loudest if you put your ear close to the cup holders. Sounds like this is typically caused by something in the drive train and in the past, I have found it to be caused by something like a dust shield that was bent or a carrier bearing that was starting to go bad. Long story short and being that I didn't want to be responsible for anything that may have been done wrong, we took the Jeep back to the shop just before they closed and had them give things a look. And, while they couldn't see what would be causing the rear driveline to be causing the noise we were hearing at a glance, they did notice this on the front shaft...
20221220094933-c2ccc17a.jpg


Needless to say, we left the Jeep with them. After talking to ACCUAIR, they gave the greenlight to upgrade the front and rear shafts to 1350s and the shop will be double checking everything else to see what's causing the sound.

Anyway, that's where we're at with things.
Oh man, another bit of bad luck with this Jeep! One less thing to worry about though. You think that has to do with its constantly changing ride height?
 
Could be a new business for you, bring your Jeep to Eddie, and he’ll work out all the kinks for you lol. In all seriousness, that’s not a bad way to spend gear break in, but sucks you can’t test this thing the way you want to, just yet.
 
Man those flange bolts are chewed up inside, somebody's gonna be getting a couple of those things out with vice grips.
I don't know why but yeah, someone really did a number on them.
Oh man, another bit of bad luck with this Jeep! One less thing to worry about though. You think that has to do with its constantly changing ride height?
So, the JT like the JL has FAD and so the shaft isn't spinning during normal use. That's normally what causes damage like this. That said, I do know this Jeep was tested hard in Moab and at 4.5" of lift, the CV boot would have been in a constant state of pinch during that time and that probably took it out. But, it is entirely possible that the shop who did the original gear work damaged it too.
 
Could be a new business for you, bring your Jeep to Eddie, and he’ll work out all the kinks for you lol. In all seriousness, that’s not a bad way to spend gear break in, but sucks you can’t test this thing the way you want to, just yet.
LOL - now there's an idea!! The break in was actually relaxing and a lot of fun. I could see myself doing this all the time, just for that. Super eager to get this thing fixed and soon so that I can really get out and test it.
 
Glad the gears are feeling good but man super lame on the driveshaft. I'm definitely not surprised though especially if it was wheeled with anything over 3.5" of lift. But at least you are identifying some issues for them. If they don't already, probably a good idea for them to recommend a new front DS with their kits, at least the front at minimum. But at least you are now getting some 1350's :cool:
 
Glad the gears are feeling good but man super lame on the driveshaft. I'm definitely not surprised though especially if it was wheeled with anything over 3.5" of lift. But at least you are identifying some issues for them. If they don't already, probably a good idea for them to recommend a new front DS with their kits, at least the front at minimum. But at least you are now getting some 1350's :cool:
I don't think they did already recommend a new front shaft but I think they will be now. (y)
 
Lake mead. See any dead people with ankle weights? Lol.

will be great when you can get this thing offroad. That said, you’ve driven enough street miles with countless Jeeps/lifts, how’s it comparing in the street miles you’ve driven thus far?
 

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I have only wheeled in the thick woods of Maine, deep mud trenches of Michigan's Drummond Island, through the slick and thick trees of Washington and forested trails of Colorado, California, South Dakota and more and in that limited time, I can say that I have NEVER had a renegade stick get caught up in my coils. I mean... ever or even close or even seen it. But then, I am new to this Jeep thing and clearly have more to learn.
well BOB has! He flies planes you know.
 
I don't remember if this question was asked, and no I didn't go back and read all the posts so I apologize if it was covered.

Will this set up work with aftermarket axles without a lot of fabrication? Or will mounting points need to be added?
 
I don't remember if this question was asked, and no I didn't go back and read all the posts so I apologize if it was covered.

Will this set up work with aftermarket axles without a lot of fabrication? Or will mounting points need to be added?
If it mounts to the coil bucket it would be the same.
 
Lake mead. See any dead people with ankle weights? Lol.

will be great when you can get this thing offroad. That said, you’ve driven enough street miles with countless Jeeps/lifts, how’s it comparing in the street miles you’ve driven thus far?
So, I've put on over 1000 miles on it on road and have actually done stretches of desert trails as well as flexing on some rocks. What I can tell you is that the ride both on and off road is actually pretty nice. The air struts feel just as comfortable as coils if not more so when compared to some that I've tested over the years. The shocks do a great job of dampening as well.
 
I don't remember if this question was asked, and no I didn't go back and read all the posts so I apologize if it was covered.

Will this set up work with aftermarket axles without a lot of fabrication? Or will mounting points need to be added?
The kit is designed to be a bolt on system utilizing factory points. So long as the aftermarket axle is made for a JL or JT, it will not need any modifications to make it work.
If it mounts to the coil bucket it would be the same.
This ^^^
 
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