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05 LJ Rubi LS Swap and the kitchen sink

63K views 429 replies 20 participants last post by  inline6 
front end work on the LJ is all but done, well except for some hose routing and wiring. Waiting till the front clip is on to complete that. The current BL is making that hard to complete.

Time to get the rear suspension done and then on to the TT and cable shifter. Once all that is done, I will remove the 3" BL and go down to 1-1.25 BL depending on what the TT will allow me to do.

I also finally ordered shocks, hope I have everything figured out correct. But at the end of the day, running stockish suspension setup, so should be fine. Bumpstops will be my friend. I need to get this together so I can get something done on the JKU.

Hoping to drive it in early 2020. But that may be wishful thinking.

Apparently I don't have a tow pig thread on here. I was gonna make one, but didn't. Its back in the garage now waiting to be finished as well. Too many vehicles and to many projects.

I had to move 2 vehicles into car capsules to keep critters away from them, grrrrr. Think of them as bouncy houses for vehicles. I have the TJR in one and the M3 in the other. Sideways pics rule.

I need to get rid of some vehicles, but project vehicles need to get done first. Catch 22

What kind of covers are those? Would they last in the intense Southern Sun? UV destroys everything here.
 
thanks @mac

I have looked at that stuff, and having hydro done. Kinda gave up on the yard this year. It has come in fairly well, but overall will hit it again this spring. I put out some annual rye and its been coming up great. Just trying to do soil erosion control.

I have forgotten what and how much I posted about the yard project. I could get another whole thread about it. I was going to do French drains, but while digging around I found another foundation on the property. Its basically a mirror of the house. The water was blocked from leaving by the foundation...

The rain

The foundation

The tractor, cheaper than the labor to look at my water issues


Now to get some food, feed the cats and get out the welder...
If I were you, I'd bring the tractor down here so I can take care of it for you till you need it. It'll be safe from theft!
 
I bought a Kubota L2900 (~30 HP) about 1998 to use on our 2.5 acres in Florida. Brought it to our ranch here in Texas and it was just too small for the property so I sold it in 2018 for about $18K - bought it for $20K. So I lost some money on the deal (more than $2K figuring in inflation and the opportunity cost of money) but show me a run of the mill car that can hold its value that much over 25 years!

By the way, my Kubota was a great and reliable machine. I was going to replace it with a much larger model but found a good deal on a cab Deere.
My dogs like Deere!
 
it was drivers to communicate with the ECM and stuff. Windows 11 didn't work and I could not find any other drivers. It was a day of googling it and reading forums. Could not find a mention of it, so downgraded to 10 and all was good.

The software ran, but could not talk to the device...
Probably still a driver issue. Sometimes rather than using the drivers windows want you to use, you have to check to see if there are specific drivers for your device. I'm sure you know this, figured I'd mention since I have run into problems like this before, and it can take time following the rabbit trails. Maybe get in touch with the manufacturer and see what they suggest or know.
We don't want to get into the wiring part yet.
 
I try to have a large selection of bolts on hand as well. It's the fine thread ones that typically get me. if I think about it, I'll keep notes of what bolt sizes are used on the jeep and only cary those. Ha, that will never happen.

On the brakes, no booster. The LS with the CAM probably won't get me enough vacuum at idle. I looked at doing a hydro boost, and actually bought one that may be for sale soon... But ended up going all manual brakes, the pedal has a 10:1 ratio vs 5-7 or so, so should have good feel. If it does not work all that good, I'll do something else. But for now all manual.

Just laid out the electrical parts that need to go in the jeep, it's a box of parts larger than a laundry basket. Should be fun time figuring all that out.

Off to work.
You need an aircraft electrician friend. :)
 
On the brakes, I should be good with the manual or non assisted brakes. The brake lever is set up with more leverage than the normal brake lever, 10:1 vs 7:1 or lower. This was the recommendation and seemed like a good choice. The other reason for manual was just packaging. The more stuff up there on the firewall the more interference with other things like the engine, shock hoop, and all the rest.

@FLLJ , the electric one is interesting, but yep not sure I need to spend more cash there either. But if needed a decent choice. Not sure I want another thing to plum, mount and eire up.


Lots of time with the wire harness diagram last night. I re drew everything and re imagined where things were goin to go. It's been an interesting part of the project and almost as much of a rabbit hole and the 3 link calculator. Hoping I have picked up good tips from all the reading and YouTube videos I have done. Should get that flushed out this morning, get some measurements, then figure out what I don't have and make an order. This will be mostly heat shrink tubing and boots. I don't need more of this than I need. The tubing starts at over 2 bucks a foot to over 8 bucks. Then the boots start at 12 or so. I really don't need a spool of that stuff around, they start at 400 or so. Not that I won't have rolls of wire sitting around, but that is a bit more useful than this very specific heat shrink tubing. Besides the tubing, I need to make sure I have all the connectors as well. I will probably go and plug everything in and mount what ever other sensors that are not mounted now to make sure. Basically one big electrical mock up. Most of the harness may need to wait to be built until I determine the number of wires in the route and the amount of heat shrink needed to do that section. Basically how big will the bundle be and can I slip the heat shrink over the bundle for said shrinkage.

A subset of the heat shrink tubing description
Specially formulated for optimum high-temperature fluid resistance, and long term heat resistance. Resistant to aviation and diesel fuels, hydraulic fluids and lubricating oils.
It is also well suited for the demands of motorsport cable harnesses.


This was a great watch and series of videos on the harness process

In another video he goes on to build a 13K harness, I am not gong there. But it is an interesting rabbit hole, enjoy if you have time and enjoy that kind of stuff.
I like electrical/mechanical things. I find enjoyment in it. I was a non-beer drinking, non-complaining, doer, not a watcher aircraft electrician on B-52's, 135 aircraft, F-16's, and, A-10's.
Marine stores have good heat shrink, and heat shrinkable terminals/connectors etc. at reasonable prices. I usually buy my stuff at online marine stores. West Marine is a rip-off. I also only drink specific British beer, not American swill. :)
 
I used to get my supplies here (formerly GenuineDealz) not sure how they are now with the name change. Quick look showed US made. :unsure:
I used them also, they had good prices when I used them.
 
Pretty! Are you going to put the high heat, abrasion resistant, expandable braid over it? The twisting of the wire will help with cross-talk, if it were to be an issue. :) I had to forget a lot of aircraft electrical techniques when I stopped working aircraft. My original harnesses would look nice, and professional, but very much over done. Did you run any extra wiring in the harnesses for just in case incidents, or needs?
My AF AFSC was 42399 or 2A696 now, but I have left those days well behind, and rarely look to the sky when I hear a jet.
 
I just looked up the shrink. It says flexible, how flexible is it? Is it as flexible as the expandable braided sleeve?
 
@Wildrat, my enlisted career AFSC was 45456 that changed to 2A656. Once commissioned that all changed 13S then 13N.

I really appreciate the extra effort on the wiring seen here. :cool:
So it looks like they had an afsc change after the 423XX to the current. So you were acft elctro/enviro tech. When did you go in the service, some time in the mid 80s t0 90?
Hmm, maybe they had made the change to 454xx. I seem to vaguely remember the change toward the end of my time.
 
It just hit me. Raychem products were one of the things the AF taught me in high reliability soldering school. I don't know why they called the school that, because those wafer connectors were iffy in my mind. They worked great, but if who ever soldered them did not pay attention you would get intermittent connections, which was a nightmare to find. Ask me how I know? What's worse, it came from GD.
 
The F-16 used Kapton wiring, very lightweight, flexible, and durable unless the Kapton insulation gets scratched or cut.
Are you going to use the shrink with the sealant already in it? It's like the heat shrink terminals, and splices with the sealant. Do not use any RTV which smells like vinegar, it will cause corrosion on electrical connectors, but you likely know this.
 
I've done more work on the yard than the jeep lately. Hope to get a days worth of worn on it today.
I need to work on my yard, but it is a swamp at the moment. As for my Jeep, I've been thinking about putting a transceiver of some sort back in it, likely a CB, and maybe a 2M. I also need to repair my rear locker hose, and put the pins back in one of the locker pumps. One of the pups removed them for me.
Are you going to put small profile cameras on the Jeep, so you can catch all the action, and other interesting things to post here, so us Agoraphobic types can live vicariously through you?
 
@Wildrat I have a GMRS radio that will be going in. it's probably over kill with 50 watts, but it's what I talked myself into. Seems this is the current trend, GMRS vs CB.

I have thought about a video system, but also looking at another grand. I am sure I could do it cheaper but have not put much thought into it. I would have enough power going to the corners to power cameras, but have not taken into consideration video feeds back. The dash has a place for an iPad mini, I think I could use it as a hub and do wireless, but would need to figure that out as well. Yes I would like to have some video capabilities. But just handing a couple go pros may be the ticket as well. So not sure and that would be another analysis paralysis thing for me to think about.
The cameras are definitely something not to worry with now as long as you have power, and video cable running somewhat thought out for the system when the time comes. You can think on it while you are sleeping. Get her running, bugs worked out, then worry with the niceties.
 
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