JK: Budget CRD build

[Hoasco]

Gears are sorted after a lot of stuffing around. Front end went together really quick with the Trutrack. The back took some time, had issues getting the pinion out of the housing, had a 10 ton press but it couldn't quite do it. Ended up using a 40 ton press. Then once that was sorted we went to put everything back together and the left wheel bearing was shagged. Towed it home so I wasn't taking up space in my mates workshop, and got it fixed it this weekend.




Extended the front sway bar links 60mm with some bunnings spec tube.




Took it for a drive yesterday. New gearing is great on road, first gear gets the revs up and on boost a lot quicker. 5th gear is sitting on 2000rpm a 100kph, doesn't have to drop back a gear on hills now. Didn't notice a huge improvement offroad, the auto was pretty good for controlling wheel speed stock. Auto temps will probably be better off for it though.
The trutrack worked well, kept both front wheels driving most of the time. It has some push on tight corners under power, but seems easy enough to steer with. Need some more testing with it.
Also need to do something with the front sway bar, with the bottom of the links free and strapped up the tire is hitting it on compression and full lock. Maybe make some removable pins for the top and remove the link entirely off road.





Also picked up a poison spyder bonnet vent. Painted on some black hammer tone to hide the defects in it. The tooling used is in pretty poor condition, so you need to do a fair bit of prep work on it for painting.

[Hoasco]

Bonnet vent fitted. Can't say I'm too happy with it, but I guess you get what you pay for. The template provided is the wrong scale, its just enough smaller to make it not worth using. With the holes for the bonnet stops lined up the hoop doesn't quite fit in. On top of that, the supplied fasteners are shit. I stripped the allen head on two of the bolts. One of the bolts has no thread on it at all.

Anyway, it seems to be working, you can feel a decent amount of heat coming out of it when its warm. I think I will pull it off at some point though and remove some more metal and get it flowing better.

[Hoasco]

Not much to update, just been driving it.


Pulled the winch out for a service and to move the solenoid up into the engine bay. Going to get a slim line plate for the front, will mount it to the grill over the cutout for the old controller.

Also fitted a provent 200, just needs to be plumbed. I will be disabling EGR at some point. Going to replace the cooler lines, clean the cooler and intake manifold.

[Turismo07]

Love the budget build. I like to think mine is built on a budget, but looks like you a doing a much better job of than I have

[Hoasco]

Got some new tire's fitted, KM2 285/75R17. Little bit more height, but narrow enough to run on the stock offset. Had to trim a bit off the wings on the winch bar to clear. Might hit the swaybar at full lock/full compression but nothing sharp that will cut the tire up. Rears will rub when compressed on the inside, should be sweet though.

Also played with the front sway bar links, drivers side is bolted in permanently now. Passenger side has two quick release pins. I was having issues with clearance at full compression/lock with both ends removed and strapped to the chassis. Now the swaybar should just move out of the way.

[Turismo07]

Be careful of disconnecting only one side of the sway bar. When fully flexed it is possible (depending how much flex you have) that the side that is not connected will come into contact with things (swaybar moves down with full droop of the connected side while the axle is coming up to full compression).

I have found that the best place for the sway bar to sit when discoed is parallel with the ground. I have drilled a hole in the front face of the upper spring perch and just cable tie the sway bar on both sides to sit there, does not touch anything now.

[Hoasco]

No worries, ill keep an eye on it. I flexed it the best I could using an engine crane to check it, but couldn't get it on the bumps.