06 H3's Squeakin H3 Build

[JPaul]

Very nice. I'm just hoping to get my IFS back in before winter hits for real. Moved into our new house up in northern Utah and just picked up the pumpkin yesterday. Of course now it's freezing and my garage is full of boxes.

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[4speedfunk]

How bout some pix of the front sway bar?

 

[06 H3]

Update: I got the hummer done and running. It was with a lot of BS but it went on it's maiden voyage.

Here it is all mounted up with coilovers, air bumps, etc.

Flexing out each side to get limit straps set.

Getting the engine bay back together.

Battery was a tight fit

Trying to get organized, I love these action packers!

I built a new intake for it, I don't have pics of that right now.

Then the drama started, I went out to test drive it and had HORRENDOUS noises. It was the rear output that was making the noise. After pulling the rear output atleast 3 times I finally found that the little needle bearings that are the pilot to the rear output were not in the case! Because I had the 205 laying around so long waiting for the doubler I had it sitting for so long I must have forgot to put those 15 little needle bearings in. What a pain....So I got that back together and made the noise MUCH better but still noise was present.

I then found out I had an old style ring gear and a new style planetary. Wonderful....This is why your best to get a donor case and not mix/match these parts. So out came the entire t case again to swap in a old style planetary. I still needed a skid plate and a lot of little odds and ends so I decided to not bring the hummer to so cal for thanksgiving even though I got it driving.

Went to hammers to spot, spectate and hangout with friends but definitely missed squeaky.

Made a DIY 20lb powertank for under $250 which was sweet!

Got home and got back to working on her and finished it up. I then had a 2 way plane ticket for this past weekend because the plan was to fly in for 2 hammer trips with my buddy before his wife had their first baby. I cancelled the boise to so cal flight and kept the so cal to boise flight home. I hopped in the hummer and drove 840 miles to hammers after putting a whopping 17 miles on her at home. Crazy or stupidity, you pick.

Started to hit some bad weather on the way through Wells, NV.

Eastern Nevada is DESOLATE. Man, breaking down in NV has got to be a scary nightmare. I took the 93 all the way down to Vegas.

Stopped in Vegas to say hi to my Toyota friends.

They are down for six shooter knuckles on one and a 3 link on the other.

Hit another milestone

Got to hammers and just messed around in the desert for 30 minutes or so testing the new suspension. It is leaps and bounds BETTER! Much less body roll, the true 6in of uptravel is very welcomed in the desert and overall very happy with initial impressions.

Went to sleep to tackle Sledgehammer in the morning.

Sledge is a tough trail for me, It seems to be that one trail that just ****s me everytime. I never got the plaque, when I almost had it I broke a shaft climbing it, or winch but this time, I got it! No rock stacking just a few attempts and got it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ6M4Nr17H8

After the plaque that big boulder moved under my tire and caused this

The tight left turn I should have gotten my first try, I had the right line and literally just stopped and backed up, pure stupidity on my part. This damn trail is my nemesis but I am glad I am finally up the plaque unassisted.

Then we went up "3rd canyon of sledge" it was very steep and loose but fun!

I dented my tie rod bad and my ram...damn it!

After that we went exploring and down a sand hill to bloody mary and that's when things got bad. First off the damn doubler started popping out of gear, didn't matter if it was high or low range. Then I realized my computer was going hay wire since it wouldn't recognize I was in low range.

I still had the encoder motor plugged in but it wouldnt go into low range. The encoder motor was attached to the back of the factory case. I would let it shift even though nothing is attached to it and go into low. I think the encoder motor coincidentally died after pulling my old case. So with no real way to be shifting gears I dealt with the computer going haywire and literally had to winch HUNDREDS of feet out of this sand hill. It took hours and it sucked really bad. After that we got back to camp and the weather sucked, feeling pist off and not wanting to deal with weather we left to head to my buddy's house about 90 miles away. On the way to his house the damn doubler kept popping out of low. eventually we just towed it to his place. My plan was to leave it there anyway and fly home and come back in January for another run and then KOH, then drive it back. Now I am going to pull the case the weekend I go back.

I spoke with Behemoth and he thinks it's one or two things, the snap ring for the front input let loose and is allowing it to walk in the housing or we found out I have the narrower width bearing when I need the wide double row bearing which is 4mm thicker and allowing the case to walk around. THIS IS WHY I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN A DONOR CASE instead of mixing and matching but I got a super good free deal which was cool and appealing but now I know. The reason we don't think its the shifter is because when you hold the lever with your hand and let it run in neutral you feel like the shifter hub is walking back and forth. I was told the input snap rings stretch and since I had to swap the planetary's I had that in and out a couple times. So when I fly to my buddy's in January I will bring the right bearing and a new snap ring. I will ship him a new DIY Tie rod to weld up and a new ram so she's ready for KOH. I will wire in a switch to ground out the 4wd signal to the PCM so this computer stops freaking out. Probably easier then doing a new VSS in the back of the trans or something.

After those struggles I felt defeated and angry. I felt like my rig is too big, heavy and dumb for the hammers and I should build a late 80's square body S10 since they are little and light but after a good night sleep I am ready to keep pushing the big rig! The last time I felt that way was when I was stock and broke a tie rod and questioned should I sell the H3 and buy a jeep. Luckily both times a good night sleep will snap me out of those thoughts. It’s just a shakedown run that had some issues, it comes with a shakedown run especially when you’re a building a rig not many others build.

The key takeaways were driving 840 miles successfully, getting the plaque on sledge and a new suspension that feels MUCH better.

 

[JPaul]

Awesome work dude. Yeah, I've gotten to the point where I understand it's better to spend the extra money and do it right the first time rather than hack something together to "make do" because it usually comes back to bite you.

We got my wife a new car so now I mostly drive her old one while my H3 is sitting in the garage waiting for me to finish redoing the entire steering and getting the rebuilt front diff back in correctly. It's made it so much nicer to not be tempted to cobble it back together just because I need to get it back on the road the next day.

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[06 H3]

Update: I left my rig down south for about a month as I went to NY for Christmas and was traveling for work. I went down last weekend, pulled the case and found out I have a bad planetary. I did notice when I put it in but didn't think it was an issue, it had some play in the case and got worse with the wrong bearing in there. Got it all swapped out and I am hoping and praying it's fixed! I will be heading down for KOH and have 130 mile drive, I guess I will find out then I also swapped out my ram assist cylinder because it was bent and did yet another new tie rod since that's like the 7th one I have bent. I had issues with the aluminum one I did but eventually I will go back to that route.
My big issue: I installed a doubler transfer case. 1:1, 1.96:1, 2.72:1, 5.33:1. Its actually not an issue, it’s a badass setup that will greatly improve capability! It does causes issues, but I know they can be overcome.

My VSS is in a similar position to factory, it’s in the tail housing of the transfer case. Most guys that have done LS swaps in their jeeps have this issue too so to remedy it they put the VSS in the tailhousing of the trans so it always reads 1:1. I don’t want to do that, gotta pull the trans apart, drill and tap the tailhousing, etc. It isn’t a big deal if your doing it during the swap but to pull it all back out is a pain. The issue occurs that the VSS is seeing reduction in the tailhousing because the tcase is in low but the computer thinks it’s in 4 high. It freaks the **** out and cuts power, shifts weird, almost like a limp mode.

My original plan was to just bolt the encoder motor off the frame rail, push the 4low button so the computer knows it’s in 4low and we move on. Well I got too excited and drove it around and broke my encoder motor because I didn’t mount it. I kind of forgot that I left it on a skid plate and it bounced around. Instead of buying a new encoder motor to play dumb I want to actually fix it with a real solution.

So I hit the interwebs and found there is a 4low signal (I’ll post the wiring diagram) how it works is the encoder motor has wiring that goes to the TCCM (transfer case control module) behind the glove box. It then has an output that goes to the pcm that says “hey pcm! I’m in 4 low” then an output/input class 2 data wire that goes to the DIC, from what I understand it illuminates the lights and shows your 4 low button lighting up, your traction control off and stabilitrac off on the DIC and the traction light on the dash.

So to trigger the pcm 4 low signal it needs to be grounded out, so I bought a 2 prong switch, tapped into the wire between the TCCM and PCM and ground it out.
So I flip the switch and nothing on the dash lights up. I figured that may be the case. Since I tapped into the 4low switch in front of the tccm so it can’t trigger the DIC so my question is, does the pcm see a 4 low signal and cut out stabilitrac and traction control too but doesn’t illuminate it because the ground is after the TCCM? Or does it tell the pcm “use your 4 low shift tables” but leave traction control and stabilitrac engaged? I hope it disables it but doesn’t illuminate because I don’t want that crap on when in low range and the factory shuts it off in low range anyways.

With all that said, I would like to get the lights to illuminate when it’s all said and done so it looks factory but for next week I just need it to work whether the lights show up or not. I will be doing 3 days of backdoor KOH recovery. Rolling rigs over, and extracting broken ones out after the race. Then multiple days of wheeling.
On another unrelated note, I did install a RADesigns mini rail shifter and TCC lockup. Since I have so many options hearing wise now I want to be able to start in any gear. I tapped into the TCM wiring with a on/on 6 prong switch. It allows factory control like a stock H3 with the toggle down and in the up position it gives me full manual control. If I want to start in 4th gear, I can start in 4th, it’s like a full manual valve body but still retains OE functions! Then for TCC lock up I have a on/off/on 3 prong switch. Toggle down is factory torque converter lock up, toggle in the middle is TC lock up is off, toggle up is TC lock up when I want it to. The more control I have when wheeling the better. Then flip both the switches to factory and it will allow any one to drive it like a normal vehicle.

 

[3Hummers]

Chris, when are you opening your own custom fab shop?

 

[amrg]

Are you still running the 4l60? I recall reading that shifting gears with the torque converter locked doesnt do well for the trans, esp at WOT. However you can program the truck to lock in 2nd gear when you hold it, but you need hptuners to do that.

 

[06 H3]

I’m getting better at welding but I gotta get better still. Maybe CJ is ready to hang it up. He’s told me he’s ready to go sailing full time soon

 

[06 H3]

Are you still running the 4l60? I recall reading that shifting gears with the torque converter locked doesnt do well for the trans, esp at WOT. However you can program the truck to lock in 2nd gear when you hold it, but you need hptuners to do that.

Yes. I won’t shift with the trans locked. This setup is super trick. It has tiny micro switches inside the shifter. It has 3 wires, one is a 12v ground (since the TCM wires have a hot wire. Then other 2 engage solenoids. So engaging 2 at the same time, 1 or the other or neither puts it in gear. I’ll make a diagram. Hold on.

 

[06 H3]

 

[3Hummers]

Don't you just love CAD drawings?

 

[06 H3]

Don't you just love CAD drawings?

I do! I need to learn CAD. I do enjoy diagrams and drawings and letting a laser do the cutting.

 

[06 H3]

Day 0: I call it day zero because I got to the lakebed Satuday night around 6:30pm. I flew in late Friday night, stayed at my fiancé's parents house, they dropped me off at my buddy's place Saturday morning to finish some stuff I didn't get finished the weekend before, packed up and drove 110 miles to the lakebed. I flew in the weekend before to do some work on the hummer. It was a bad idea to install coilovers and a doubler t case, put 11 test miles on it and use my shakedown as a run 850 miles from home late December. The plan was to leave it there but not work on it! So I had some shakedown run issues I had to fix. Saturday night was the volunteer meeting. It was uneventful. The Hummer was FULL!

Day 1: Sunday morning, backdoor recovery for the UTV race.

It was a busy day! We didn't keep track but we were told we dealt with 70 rollovers! We had the Hummer at the bottom and my buddy's first gen Toyota pick up at the top.
The drag and then flip over move...

We dealt with armchair spectators saying you suck! I have done a ton of recoveries and its different when racing. Getting cars out of the way so others can pass, keeping yourself out of the way, pulling in a way to keep the rope away from the driver in case of failure and the skinned roof's limit your access points. Anyways we got the job done.

Day 2: We went to hammertown to check it out since there were no races that day. Saw dirthead Dave's old Hilux.

Then ran spooner's canyon and outer limits.

Everything was fine on Spooner's but about 40% up Outer Limits my buddy broke what we thought was a front shaft. We pull it and see no damage but change it anyways. While changing it a UTV is driving down outer limits and almost rolled into his truck knocking off the jack.
We got it swapped out and 100 ft later takes out a rear R&P. We also learn the front locker is broken, not the shaft. So with 1 wheel drive it's time to turn around and get back to camp. As we are turning him around an older guy is walking down the trail saying they need help. He is in a JK and his buddy is in an LJ and accidentally got lost and came down outer limits. His buddy has a bad heart and he's inexperienced and they need help. So we help and get them off the trail. They did almost roll once or twice. While we get them off the trail my buddy is winching and we learn the previous owner didn't fully weld the front bumper on and used super thin tubing! So naturally it ripped off the frame....we eventually get off the trail and I tow him back to camp around 11:30pm.

 

[06 H3]

Tuesday Day 3: We go into full repair mode, we need his rig on backdoor by tomorrow at 8AM. We need a front locker, bumper fixed and rear R&P.
We hit the road to Corona and bought all the parts at Yotamasters. They were super cool and helpful. We stop at Home Depot to get stuff for a makeshift tent in case the wind is bad and we stopped at carquest since my PS pump started to feel weak.

We got back at 6pm due to traffic and not leaving until 10 or so.

So we get pizza delivered to the lakebed at our campsite by 5 dollar pizza which was super cool and got to work by 7pm.

Started with bumper repairs, we FULLY welded everything since the previous owner didn't and we added tube gussets to strengthen it a good amount.

My premier power welder came in handy this trip! (click the image for the video)

We got that fixed and then tore apart the rear end. Luckily our other buddy was on his way out and brought us all the diff tools we needed.

Nothing like doing a legit gear install in the desert on a lifetime plastic table at 3:30AM!

Doing out best with what we have and the time we have.

Here's me freezing my ass off!

We got done by 4:45AM and he had a good safe bumper and a rear end back together. The locker will get done another time... Time for bed and to be ready rolling out to backdoor for recovery around 7:15AM

I also forgot to mention I installed some lap belts on the lakebed! I wanted to for years. I was sick and tired of the factory belts locking up on me on the trail. I mounted them off the factory seat bolt holes. I will use them off road and the factory belts on road.

Day 4: was uneventful, we had 4 rollover recoveries in the EMC race and I had to go recover a broken car at the top of Resolution.

We wanted to pull him a certain way, he didn't want us to. He insisted and sure enough my buddy broke a front D60 stub shaft pulling him backwards uphill in reverse. It was nice of him to NOT offer to replace it! Especially since we were out there doing it for free.....

 

[06 H3]

Day 5: was about trying to get as much rest as we could even though we couldn't. We spent the morning tracking down parts to replace the broken stub shaft on the 4runner. We did that at the BFG garage tent.

Then my other buddy went to run wrecking ball and took our a rear driveshaft, he came back to camp and by looking at the failure he was overextending his rear driveline. So off to hammertown to buy limit straps and then to the BFG tent to weld on tabs so do limit straps to stop over extending the driveline.

We then installed my buddy's front locker in the Toyota and I changed the PS pump since why not do another repair.

We tried to get to bed early since we had another long day doing recovery the next day.

Day 6 Friday: The EMC race, we split our groups into 2 so we can do half day shifts, 7:30AM to 2ish then 2 to 10pm-ish. I took the 2nd shift to try and get some sleep since I spent all day doing repairs, the day before doing recovery and the day before that more repairs! I showed up in time for the new first time KOH winner to be just a mile or two from the finish when he rolled over at backdoor! We hustled and got him recovered and he ended up winning KOH 2020!

Day 7: A wheeling day! We got a late start to the morning but went wheeling at Aftershock.

We wanted to do Hwy 19/20 too but with 8 rigs and some more repairs we only ran aftershock.

(another video, click the image) 500 ft into the trail the 4runner snaps his track bar bracket off the axle. So out comes the on board premier power welder again

Climbing big rocks...

The hummer was acting like it wasn't in low range, I thought it was the TC going bad...I will get more on that later.

We continue on the trail and get to the last waterfall and my buddy smacks his slip yoke portion on the driveshaft and snaps it in two. Out comes the welder again....It did get him off the trail! The last waterfall was fun! We get back to camp and enjoy dinner and the campfire.

 

[06 H3]

Day 8: We end up running jackhammer. I did install a RADesigns rail shifter before I left and thought maybe my issue was coming from that. I spent the morning going back to stock wiring for the trans. It didn't fix it.

We end up running jackhammer regardless and the Hummer did great, I didn't pull cable and did really well.

Here I am at the plaque

At the mailbox after the trail....so many Toyotas!

After a fun day on the trail we go back to camp and I mess with the shifters and trans and realize I had a bent shifter and manually shifting it by hand wasn't getting in low range. I ran all of jackhammer AND aftershock in 1.96:1. That explains why I overheated the **** out of my trans!

It was fun and taught me about momentum so it all worked out...

I pack up and sleep in my buddy's 5th wheel so I can start the hummer and hit the road early.

Day 9: At 5 am I go to start the hummer, dead battery. Jump it...alternator is charging at 18v! I run to orielly in my buddy's tow rig and get there 10 min before they open, they let me in and I grab an alternator and a battery in case a dead cell is causing the issue. Sure enough the alt. fixed it. I changed it in 15 min since I was rushing and didn't get the belt on all the way and tore it a tad. DAMN IT!! I throw on the spare and find out its in worse shape. I leave the lakebed and 20 miles down the road it throws the belt....I pull over, winch myself off the road and go back to the slightly torn one. Thankfully a fellow off roader came by and helped!

So after changing it I go to the local Hwy 247 ACE hardware store that posts here every year for KOH. They had a bolt I needed for my brake caliper which was great! I hit the road and stop in Barstow to get new belts and do a fluid check. I hit the road and realize I lost my wallet! I felt I would NEVER make it out of town!!! I go back 10 miles before finding it hidden in the car.

So I turn back around and stop for lunch on the 395 since I didn't have dinner the night before or ate all day due to the crap going on.
I trek on and after 850 miles I make it home under my own power at 2:10AM Tuesday morning!!!!!
Home safe and sound.

What a week, it was a fun week! Lots of work and I am more tired then when I showed up. Between our group...
track bar bracket
bumper
rear R&P
front locker
alternator
front stub shaft
power steering pump
2 rear driveshafts
1 front driveshaft
75ish plus recoveries at backdoor.

 

[Zach]

Damn! Wee one! You still continue to impress me. Awesome job! Glad you’re doing good and having fun. I might think about doing a trail with you, but way way way less challenging [emoji39]

 

[JPaul]

That's some hardcore stuff right there mate! You need to come to Moab in April so that you can take it easy for a while!

 

[rascole]

I agree, take Squeaky to Moab for some rest.

 

[06 H3]

Damn! Wee one! You still continue to impress me. Awesome job! Glad you’re doing good and having fun. I might think about doing a trail with you, but way way way less challenging [emoji39]

Thanks Zach! I hope all is well on your end. Anytime you want to go wheeling let me know We need a moab reunion!

That's some hardcore stuff right there mate! You need to come to Moab in April so that you can take it easy for a while!

I agree, take Squeaky to Moab for some rest.

I am going to try and make moab work.

 

[scoreh3]

Looking at your week of volunteering I would say a beer and a nap would be my top priority. But then again, I’m old and you’re young. Looks like you had a great time and did a Lot of great work out there.

 

[06 H3]

Time to bump this....

I got home from KOH tired and put the Hummer away for a week or so. With a list of things to do it was time to get to work.

I had bad outside tire wear on the passenger front and on the way home from KOH I had the truck pulling to the passenger. I had to keep correcting it.

I pulled the kingpin bushings and springs.

The springs may have been ok, it was tough to tell, the bushing openings was closer together on the bottom then top and the detent on it was ground off. I replaced the bushings and ditched the springs for Crane's poly spring eliminator.

Pulled the rear diff cover. I haven't looked inside in about 3.5 years. I figured it was time to just check in on things, everything was perfect, so it went back together.

rebuilt a currie johnny joint, I found a D60 hub socket and a socket with some all thread work really well!

Pulled the 205 doubler AGAIN, since it had crappy fork bushings in it from the thrash down in so cal and added a site tube.

I also repacked my D60 wheel bearings since I haven't touched those in over a year or more.

So just general maintenance stuff for the most part.

then COVID-19 happened and my travel for work stopped. I had plans to go wheeling this particular weekend and did anyways regardless of COVID-19 so I got to go wheeling in Idaho for the first time!

 

[06 H3]

The joke with my wheeling group of buddies is that squeaky is the big bitch since I wheel with jeep TJ's, and Toyota's. Then one buddy got into an FJ80 that he cut the back off of and "big bitch mafia" became a thing.

Anyways, when I met up with this group I quickly realized I am average bitch or even little bitch. Any rig near my size was on 44's or bigger. Any buggy was on 39-42's and then there was a TJ and a Toyota on 37s and 38s.

First trail had no issues, 2nd trail is a down and back up trail. I had issues going down, as I was crawling down and a rock slipped and I almost rolled.

2nd trail

I think this is the rock that I slipped off of.

then on the way back up I kept popping out of low range in my doubler box. :mad3:

Chris Bowman of Bowman Trans was there and realized the shifter cable throw was barely enough and the shifter design had enough play to let it out. We disconnected the shifter cable, ditched the shift lever, got it in low and kept moving. More on that later.

 

[06 H3]

Then we ran a 3rd trail, aired up and went home. It was a fun day! It was cool to see such big rigs, one on 54's, one on 50's, one on 44's one or two on 42's. The more I go out the more I am glad I have the cage and bumpers set up the way I do. If I get body damage I get body damage, I have before but I also don't go looking for it either and the cage saved the grille, the cage saved the body multiple times.

On the way home the doubler kept popping out of gear.

The doubler was leaking fluid, got hot and took out the shift fork bushings, at this point I just about had it. I spoke to Chris Bowman and sent the 205 off to him.

I guess the 205 doubler isn't as cool as an Eaton HO72. That thing was 60 something years old, I threw it in with factory 5.14s and ran it with no issues for years. This ****ing thing was just problem after problem.

Bowman could see my frustrations with it on the trail and said he would fix it up if I wanted him to. I normally and have in the past had issues with a component and continue to mess with it until I figure it out myself. I was just burnt out on it and he has built many 205 doublers for big mountain havoc style rigs that have triple the horsepower and tires in the 60+in range. I was burnt out on it and sent it to him.

I'll be honest, it was a combo of things. I made mistakes,, I threw it together quick, multiple times and in non ideal sitautions, so there were some things that were my fault, there were also other things that were questionable about behemoth that amplified things that were not ideal on my end. Other setups with tighter tolerances wouldn't have cared, then also the 205 was in need of a rebuild, unlike my HO72. :grinpimp:

Anyways, he went through it with me and I learned a good amount.

I put it back in the rig, he recommended I make a bracket to stop flex between the t case and the trans tailhousing because they are known to crack, so I did that. He also recommended I ditch the rear poly mount I have off the rear output and go to rubber since I have an OE rubber mount at the trans.

(ignore the poly mount, that was just to prop it up off the floor for the picture)

I ended up leaving the rear poly mount for now. I test drove it and it leaked from the shifter shaft, I found out an o-ring was missing, that fixed it, then it had a slow leak from the shifter housing bolts, I pulled those out, put sealant on them, put them back in and will test drive it after it cures for 24 hours.

Let's hope this stupidity is behind me. My most hated modification on my rig so far has been the 205 doubler, it kills mpg, no I don't care about mpg, I care about range when driving 500+ miles to a trail or wheeling event and my range took a decent hit with this gear driven case, then obviously all the issues I have had.

Bowman redesigned the shifter arm to it cant have play in it, he filed and cleaned up a lot of things in the shift fork to tighten up tolerances as well. HOPEFULLY THIS IS THE END!

 

[06 H3]

So I am working from home during COVID-19 and we aren't doing stuff on the weekends so plenty of work is being done. I also travel for work quite a bit and now that I am home every night the Hummer is getting attention and I am doing projects that have been put off to the side. I knew this year I would get these projects done since the past few years have been crazy moving 2 times and 2 UA's but now the projects are getting done at an accelerated rate.

Wiring:
I had the blue seas system for about 6 years. It was great but it needed to be redone. I still had wiring in there from my roof rack days with the lights up top and wiring for my rear 10 bolt e locker I ditched many many years ago. I had bought 2 trigger controllers a 2-3 years ago. which are wirelessly controlled switches so no switches have to go through the cab.

I can also control it with an app on my phone! I got my rock lights rewired up so that was nice too. I am so happy with it and it was MUCH needed.


Rear Suspension:
I was on my second set of factory shackles, they are 3.5in from bolt hole to bolt hole, the shortest I could find was 4in so I bought those and figured I would deal with 1/4in lift.

I also replaced my rear shocks since I snapped a shock shaft on the last run. I just got generic Bilsteins for now but I would like to get some nice shocks at some point.

Finally got my shifter knobs!

Steering:
I had wallowed out the factory knuckle holes, the large end of the taper is larger then the 5/8 bolt so I think that probably made it worse over the years. I got weld washers and put them in top and bottom.

Since I put in a new tie rod down in so cal (during the KOH thrash) I had my steering pull to the passenger side (which was the side that had the bad outside tire wear) so I made an alignment tool like Bleepin Jeep

I made the holes a tad larger hoping that it would fit 8x170 since my brother had SD60 axles.

above is what I copied. I think it made a big difference in accuracy compared to 2 people holding a tape measure from outside of the tire to outside of the tire.

I noticed I had way too much toe-in and may have caused that outside tire wear but only caused it on one side? I realigned it and now it's pulling to the right. My steering wheel isn't perfectly centered so maybe its the box trying to go back to center. I will find alignment between the 2 measurements I had from then and now and adjust the drag link.

Doubler:
I hear the doublers like to puke fluid (according to Chris) so I added a catch can on the firewall so anything that pukes out will run back in when parked.