Finally introducing myself after months of lurking lol. Been a big advocate of Jeeps forever. After building multiple XJ's, a couple WJ's I finally stepped up and graduated to a WK. By far my favorite Jeep thus far. About a month ago I picked up a '05 Hemi WK, QDII Limited. Front struts were blown, EGR was bad, the only fluid that was routinely changed was the engine oil, some light body damage, bad ball joints, and brakes. All that being said for the price I really couldn't pass it up, knowing that it was going to be "upgraded" ASAP. After doing a tune up, changing the EGR valve, new PCV, cleaning the TB, changing tranny filters and fluid, and all the other fluids I got around to modding it some. First was the Volant CAI, then the Gibson CB. Just got around to doing the OME HD and changing out the ball joints(all 4, pain in the a$$). Just added the Flashpaq and am quite amazed with the difference in throttle response and shift points alone on the 87 tune. I'm waiting on some JBA UCA's(GF's XK is getting my stock UCA's w/fresh bj's since her bushings are squeeking to beat hell after a RC 2"). Also am going ahead w/the patent pending "Omelet lift" with spacers front and rear. Big thanks to Omelet btw for all the help via PM's, dude knows his stuff!
As for the name, the gf likes to name all the vehicles and when it came time to name this one she flat out said, " It's Oscar, cause it looks like it crawled out of a trash can!" Bahahaha! Couldn't argue with that. On to the pics!!
Stock
GF removing the front valance
pinch weld taken care of
Installing the OME HD
Right after
New 285/70/17 Duratracs, 1.25" spacers, and side skirts removed
Picked up the wheels from my buddy this past weekend. Decided to strip the old paint from when I first painted them a couple years back and throw some new coats on it. Hours of grinding, 2 coats primer, 4 coats color, and 3 coats clear later they're on and looking good! Also included a pic of the rim he destroyed when he hit the bridge imbankment.
Broken rim
I've been kind of slacking on the build thread updates. I ended up using the hot wrench on the radiator support(after removing the washer fluid tank and bumper), and using a scissor jack to push the support back down into place. Then I had to heat and reform the drivers side skid mount. Strong and back to stock shape. Still need to truss the supports though. Oh and I recently replaced yet another steering rack. I did abuse the steering up north pretty hard lol. Thank God for lifetime warranty.
Bumper off and getting ready to tackle the supports. Didn't take any midway or after shots as ny hands were coated in iron ore.
Looks great! I love the argent painted Moabs. How did you strip them? I see you said grinding? Did you grind off the paint? When i painted an old set of aluminum wheels i used air craft stripper and the paint came off down to bare aluminum like it was never there. When i painted my 16" moabs black i spent about an hour per wheel scuffing them with scotch brite pads and cleaning up trail damage with a dremel. Once there was no gloss left i just went straight to paint. No primmer. I used Rustoleum High Performance Enamel in gloss black. 3 coats each and 3 coats clear. Was rugged as hell.
Any way everything looks great.
You said the Duratracs are quiet. Compared to what? Whats yours opinion of quiet? Can i hear the tires over my exhaust or radio? I like a nice quiet AT humm going down the road, basically a BFG AT humm.
Ive had Old style GY MT/Rs and Cooper Discoverer STTs and BFG MT (old style) and BFG AT K/Os. The BFG ATs were the quietest, the Coopers were quite quiet, the MT/Rs were loud as hell and the BFG MTs sounded like super swampers.
Whats yours opinion of quiet? Can i hear the tires over my exhaust or radio? I like a nice quiet AT humm going down the road.
Since this was the second time I was painting them I used the aircraft stripper to get most of the old paint off then used a coarse followed by a fine wire wheel. Used 2 coats filler primer, 4 coats Rustoleum gunmetal wheel paint, and 3 coats clear.
The duratracs have a gentle hum. Nothing like a MT at all. Very quiet and can be drowned out by the radio easily.
Took a long sweeping turn today and heard a clunk and felt a bit of a shift. Got out to find that the drivers side quick disco pin had snapped. Now i did bash this one up pretty good while wheeling last month on some rocks and pounded it straight again. Thinking I may have caused a stress fracture and the stress of the vehicle roll in the turn caused it to snap. Luckily though through heating the A arm around the broken piece and then rapidly cooling it with freeze-off I was able to extract the broken piece of the pin with a fluted easy out. Now to see if i can get it warrantied, buy a new one, or just run without it as the body doesn't roll all that much more with it off.
On a side note, here's the email he sent shortly after he warranty of the pin.
" I will also inform you that I just spoke with my head engineer.
There is a reason we do not offer that kit for the WK. It is known to break the lower post on that application, we were never able to get it to last, even through multiple designs. From now on I will no longer be able to warranty that part for you because it is not intended for that application. I’ll be a nice guy this once though!!
I will warn you, through our extensive testing we found the pins won’t last. I expect this problem to continue."
After waiting for what seemed like forever for the Rear Guard 2 to come out and searching for an older model, luck would have it and I purchased AcidCold's rear skid(Thanks again Carlos!). Coincedently right after I received the skid 4Xguard got the new ones in stock, haha! Go figure!
Here's how she looked when I got it. Rusty and 2 coats of paint to get through.