Jack's "new" 2006 LJ Rubicon

[Jim K in PA]

I haven't inspected my OPDA yet, have to look into it. I DID get the Laughing Monkey about a week after I brought her home, had no idea what it could be and I was a little miffed about it. I was spraying lubricant all over the place in the front to try and narrow it down. Finally searched the forums and voila. I took it apart and just ended up cleaning up and re-greasing the center ball. It was all in good shape, just getting dried up. It was easy work, except the four flange bolts are a real PITA if you don't remove the skid.

"Laughing Monkey" is the OPDA noise when the grease dries out in the upper bushing.

"Angry Sparrows" is the sound made by the centering ball in the front drive shaft, or the DS ujoint(s).

Gotta keep the technical terms clear! :lol:

 

[locrwln]

"Laughing Monkey" is the OPDA noise when the grease dries out in the upper bushing.

"Angry Sparrows" is the sound made by the centering ball in the front drive shaft, or the DS ujoint(s).

Gotta keep the technical terms clear! :lol:

That makes more sense, I couldn't figure out what the "four flange bolts" he mentioned were.

Angry Sparrows/Laughing Monkey - Gotta love it.

Jack

 

[UpTheCreek]

Couldn't understand the confusion until I went back to re-read my post. Sorry about that, fellas! Seems I got my ave/simian terms all goofed up!

 

[locrwln]

Did a little fix to the Jeep Friday night, I installed a speedometer correction kit. I really hate inaccurate speedometers and with mine having the 33's, it was reading 3mph slow at 60 and that got exponentially worse as the speed increased. The install went pretty quick, you could do it in the 15 minutes that they say, but that wouldn't include safe routing and securing. Once I got the install right, it was time for the programming. That took my electronic challenged brain a few tries before we found success. Speedometer is dead on with my GPS now.

http://www.bluemonkeymotorsports.com/products_ht.html

The other thing I did was a garage alignment. The steering didn't quite feel right (slight pulling to the right and a shudder/shimmy at ~45mph), so when my wife got home from dinner, I had her hold the tape measure and we set it at 1/8" toe in, straightened the steering wheel and called it good.

Saturday morning we drove to San Francisco. The steering was perfect and tracked great. I do still have to readjust the steering wheel slightly, but its not too bad.

MPG report:
From Reno to just before Vellejo: 17.5mpg (cruise control set at 70mph)

Filled up and continued into the city, drove around some and about 30 minutes of idling to get into the hotel parking (traffic was a mess), we left on Sunday and fought a side and headwind most of the way back and of course we had to climb the Sierra's so we averaged 14.5mpg on the return.

Can't complain though, it pulled the mountains with no problem, I drove up and over both directions at 70 mph. It was a great SF vehicle and I would do it again. Did I mention that I love this thing?? :wings:

Jack

 

[Redline]

snip...

MPG report:
From Reno to just before Vellejo: 17.5mpg (cruise control set at 70mph)
snip...

Very good and realistic MPG.

 

[UpTheCreek]

Did a little fix to the Jeep Friday night, I installed a speedometer correction kit. I really hate inaccurate speedometers and with mine having the 33's, it was reading 3mph slow at 60 and that got exponentially worse as the speed increased. The install went pretty quick, you could do it in the 15 minutes that they say, but that wouldn't include safe routing and securing. Once I got the install right, it was time for the programming. That took my electronic challenged brain a few tries before we found success. Speedometer is dead on with my GPS now.

http://www.bluemonkeymotorsports.com/products_ht.html

The other thing I did was a garage alignment. The steering didn't quite feel right (slight pulling to the right and a shudder/shimmy at ~45mph), so when my wife got home from dinner, I had her hold the tape measure and we set it at 1/8" toe in, straightened the steering wheel and called it good.

Saturday morning we drove to San Francisco. The steering was perfect and tracked great. I do still have to readjust the steering wheel slightly, but its not too bad.

MPG report:
From Reno to just before Vellejo: 17.5mpg (cruise control set at 70mph)

Filled up and continued into the city, drove around some and about 30 minutes of idling to get into the hotel parking (traffic was a mess), we left on Sunday and fought a side and headwind most of the way back and of course we had to climb the Sierra's so we averaged 14.5mpg on the return.

Can't complain though, it pulled the mountains with no problem, I drove up and over both directions at 70 mph. It was a great SF vehicle and I would do it again. Did I mention that I love this thing?? :wings:

Jack

That's great, Jack. I haven't taken a trip in mine yet, but ours are almost identical as far as the mechanicals go. I can't imagine I am doing any better than 14 or 15 mpg around town with my 33 BFG AT's, buit as you know it's hard to calculate without the speedo correction. Mine are 16's but that shouldn't change our comparison, I reckon. It always feels like it's struggling. I was going to get that speedohealer too but I believe I am going back to stock size tires. Very impressed with your 17.5 mpg! Oh, and I love mine too! :wings:

Howard
KK4CHM

 

[UpTheCreek]

Oh, just wanted to mention that it's funny you had that 45 mph shimmy as mine did too when I brought it home. Also pulled to the right! I measured the alignment and it was right on, so I thought I'd try rotating the tires. They have some miles on them and thought perhaps one was out of balance. Jacked it up and pulled off the first wheel. Being my first Wrangler and not too familiar, I discovered wheel spacers on it. Checked the torque on the bolts, just for grins and discovered most were not very tight. But I don't like them anyway, so I removed them and put them away. Shimmy and pull completely eliminated. Could be they were not on there very tight but no matter, I am not putting them back on. But I did have a tire rub at full lock turn. Fixed that with a washer on each steering stop.

Do you have any rubbing issues with your 33's? Have you looked to see if you have any washers on your steering stops by chance? Just curious as we both have 2" spacer lifts.

Howard

 

[locrwln]

Very good and realistic MPG.

I thought so. Prior to the speedo fix, with driving it around in the horrific wind we had a couple of weeks ago, I swear it was down to about 10-11 mpg range. I am happy with 17. I didn't buy it for the gas mileage, but it's nice that it gets somewhat decent mileage.

That's great, Jack. I haven't taken a trip in mine yet, but ours are almost identical as far as the mechanicals go. I can't imagine I am doing any better than 14 or 15 mpg around town with my 33 BFG AT's, buit as you know it's hard to calculate without the speedo correction. Mine are 16's but that shouldn't change our comparison, I reckon. It always feels like it's struggling. I was going to get that speedohealer too but I believe I am going back to stock size tires. Very impressed with your 17.5 mpg! Oh, and I love mine too! :wings:

Howard
KK4CHM

Yeah, I would say based on my limited experience with it, 14-15mpg sounds about right for around town. I know a lot of people on jeepforum complain about their's being sluggish as well. I'm not saying mine is a powerhouse, but it feels adequate even with the larger tires. My previous 80 series Landcruiser felt sluggish in every sense of the word, plus it got about 12mpg with me driving it and about 10 when my wife drove it. But then she expected it to have the power that my Duramax or her G37 has and tries to drive them all that way.

Oh, just wanted to mention that it's funny you had that 45 mph shimmy as mine did too when I brought it home. Also pulled to the right! I measured the alignment and it was right on, so I thought I'd try rotating the tires. They have some miles on them and thought perhaps one was out of balance. Jacked it up and pulled off the first wheel. Being my first Wrangler and not too familiar, I discovered wheel spacers on it. Checked the torque on the bolts, just for grins and discovered most were not very tight. But I don't like them anyway, so I removed them and put them away. Shimmy and pull completely eliminated. Could be they were not on there very tight but no matter, I am not putting them back on. But I did have a tire rub at full lock turn. Fixed that with a washer on each steering stop.

Do you have any rubbing issues with your 33's? Have you looked to see if you have any washers on your steering stops by chance? Just curious as we both have 2" spacer lifts.

Howard

Loose spacers is kind of scary. Mine has aftermarket rims, so no need for the spacer(s) and I don't have any rubbing. It seems they are all a little different and some are definitely sensitive to various factors. On the trip to SF and back, I am pretty sure I hit every kind of paved surface out there and it never shimmied or gave me any indication of a problem; whereas before, even of the smoothest section around here, I would experience a "deceleration" shimmy and sometimes as it was accelerating. Haven't felt it since my "alignment."

Jack

 

[1stDeuce]

It's not the perfect option for everyone, but the tire size on a Rubicon can be programmed by a dealer in about 3 minutes. Even if you had to give them $50, it's cheaper than any speed compensator that I know of. Of course, you're ahead with a compensator if you change tire sizes a few times and pay each time to have the speedo corrected. I believe most aftermarket programmers will correct the tire size on the Rubi's too.

My early TJ, which is now running a Rubi case, is stuck where it is... Luckily, it works out just about right for a tall 33" tire, so I'm only reading about 2% fast with my worn 285's. Gets me better (actual) gas mileage, as I tend to put it on 70 and leave it, and that's really only 68...

I do love the plug and play speed calibrator though... I was going to get a dakota digital unit and put it behind the glovebox, but I've got better things to do.
C

 

[locrwln]

My buddy Will and I did an impromtu trail run today to "test" out a local trail called Steven's Loop. Will had never done the trail and was curious. Took us about 1.5 hours from air down to air up. Both of us on 33's.






Just a little carnage on the Jeep.


Good times and a good test of the Jeep.

Jack

 

[Redline]

Good work...the beginning of the end for the OE bumper

 

[locrwln]

No kidding.

Jack

 

[1stDeuce]

I destroyed my "milk cartons" long long ago, but just kept stomping them back into place for a long time. I found a mopar "rock crawler" rear bumper on CL and I'm running that now, but I need to add some tow points and a hitch. Shame that the front bumper looks so good w/o endcaps, but the rear looks completely awkward.
Nice to be out wheeling I'm sure!!
C

 

[locrwln]

I destroyed my "milk cartons" long long ago, but just kept stomping them back into place for a long time. I found a mopar "rock crawler" rear bumper on CL and I'm running that now, but I need to add some tow points and a hitch. Shame that the front bumper looks so good w/o endcaps, but the rear looks completely awkward.
Nice to be out wheeling I'm sure!!
C

Yeah, I took the front ones off and like you thought that looks ok. I removed a rear one and thought it looked like crap, so I put it back on. Looks like I will be removing it after all. I am keeping my eyes peeled for a bumper on CL, but I'm not holding my breath.

Jack

 

[mike3081]

My 05...

Love the LJ. Bought mine from a good friend, took me 3 years of hassling him but he finally caved.

I think its the perfect size/wheelbase. Could not be happier, you made a great choice!