We have started listing Hemi conversion parts for sale on our site. These pieces are either hard to find, or made by us specifically for this conversion.
We are also starting to do turn-key installs. Turn-key vehicles can be as simple as just a Hemi swap or as much as finding a vehicle and setting it up with lift, tires, wheels, seats, Hemi, etc. to your specs. Please call us at 800-954-0065 for information on turn-key set-ups
I have spent a lot of time researching headers for this swap. I have seen what other companies have used and I have talked to experts in the header/exhaust industry about this issue. The goal of this article is to explain the problems with all headers available for Hemis as they relate to the 07-08 Jeep Wranglers.
OEM 6.1 Header/Manifolds are a big step up in design and performance compared to a log style manifold that you would find on most vehicles. These headers wouldn’t be too bad for this conversion. What you will find is that the car version of the headers sticks out too far and will not fit between the frame, so those are out. The other option are the Grand Cherokee headers. Not only will the Grand Cherokee headers cost about a grand, but they won’t work wit the stock short arm set up. They should work with most long arm kits (like the Rubicon Express kit). If you are running short arms the passenger’s side collector will be right in your upper control arm mount. I have seen where other people have cut, sectioned and moved the mount. Personally, I don’t like moving and reusing the stock suspensions mounts because they are heavily engineered and modifying them could jeopardize the structural integrity. Finally, with any of these headers, they are relatively short tubed and do not have equal length tubes for all ports. The result is a high rpm power band and decreased performance.
5.7L shorty headers will work, but there are some problems. The passengers side collector is real close to the frame making the exhaust “interesting”. Also, the ports on a 5.7 and 6.1 are VERY different. See the picture to the side with the 6.1 exhaust gasket on a 5.7 header. That is a huge reduction in flow. Also, the shorty headers will move the power band even higher in the rpm range because of the tube lengths. Finally, the tubes are nowhere near equal lengths for each port, reducing performance.
Our decision was to custom make some templates for the longest tube headers possible in this application with as close to equal length tubes as possible. We will be producing and selling these headers just for the 5.7 and 6.1 Hemi JK conversions. Our headers will be designed to work with short arm suspensions as well as most long arm kits. Best of all, our headers will be the same price or less expensive than most of the alternatives.
Here is a look at the prototype for our new front bumper for the JK. It’s a super stubby bumper that mounts the Warn Power Plant winch as low as possible for maximum air flow in to the radiator.
We are still planning on making D-Ring mounts for the front that will attach to the mounting bolts and a small stinger/fairlead protector.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments area.
We are just wrapping up the installation of 5.13 gears front and rear and Auburn ECTED lockers front/rear in our 2007 X model Wranglers. The installation was straightforward, but there are some things you need to know before cracking those axle open.
Finding parts for your axles is about as easy as fiding wheels, they are out there, but not readily available at most places. We had to get several parts from the dealer. Here is a list:
We started with disassembling the rear axle. Our luck of quality continued with this vehicle with the studs being loose that retain the axle to the housing. After squeezing some vice grips in to hold the stud we removed the shaft and sent it to the dealership to have the retaining plate and studs replaced.
Next we removed the carrier and pinion. We used a Yukon bearing puller to remove the bearings from the carrier and pinion, they were all reusable. We were left with plain old carriers and gears from the stock Jeep, now it was time to start the fun exciting part.
To install the ring gears on the lockers we started a couple ring gear bolts in the gears partially and then used a press to press the ring gear the rest of the way on to the lockers. On the Dana 44 locker, we had to drill the ring gear bolt holes out to 7/16″ from 3/8″. We have been told that newer 2007 models use 1/2″ bolts, but you will only want to drill out to 7/16″, that way your new gears will work with the locker without spacers. If you are installing a locker with your stock gears, then drilling to 1/2″ is required. After that, we pressed the carrier bearings on to the locker. There are no shims that go between the locker and bearings, which is convenient.
Next, we transferred the stock pinion shim to our new pinion gear and pressed on the inner pinion bearing. The stock shim is always a good place to start; Both of our axles were within a couple thousandths of the origional shim thickness.
Our first test fit left the carrier bound up because of too little backlash. We ended up having to make a drastic change to the carrier shims to get the backlash acceptable. A few fittings later and we ran a pattern that looked good.
Side Note: We have confirmed with Superior that the patterns on some of these gears are reading really weird. Specifically, our front showed the pinion to be too deep on one side of the tooth and too shallow on the other. Superior said to set up the gears as best as possible and they have been performing quietly and without trouble.
On the rear, we chose to route the wire for the ECTED locker through the differential cover. We usually try to run the wire through the housing, but it wasn’t practical to drill the housing without removing the axle from the vehicle in this application. There is nothing wrong with routing the wire through the cover, it just requires extra effort to remove and replace the cover. Luckily, these axle all have drain and fill plugs, so removing the cover shouldn’t be required.
At the front end, we did more of the same removal. It’s worth noting, the front pinion yoke fits extremely tight. The front locker also does not use any carrier shims between the locker and bearings, so you can press those on right away. We had to remove the magnet to fit the ring gear on the locker, but the magnet only uses a slip fit, so that’s no big deal. Again, our backlash was at about .013 on the front, we adjusted the shims and got it to .006, which is acceptable. We did manage to detroy the oil slinger when removing the inner pinion race, so we had to wait a few days on our local dealer to order one in. Other than that, the install was easy. It’s amazing how much smaller and lighter the Dana 30 parts are compared to the Dana 44.
Wiring the Dana 30 locker was done with a hole in the housing. We drilled it right by the vent tube. We had to remove the sway bar link to give room for our drill, but this location worked great. It is recessed away from the main part of the housing, so there shouldn’t be much oil slung in that area and, like stated above, we like running the wires through the housing whenever possible.
Friction additive comes with the ECTED units. Make sure to use 80W90 NON-synthetic gear lube and add the additive at a rate of 3 onces of additive to 1 quart of oil. The rear diff should use about 2.25 quarts, the front should use about 1 quart. Auburn sends the additive in a bottle that contains more additive than needed.
Check back with us for performance reports!!!!
First off, Tuffy has always made the very best quality storage boxes that we have seen. Their fit and finish is always supreme. This new insert is no exception. It gives you a very secure spot to store stuff and a much more comfortable place to rest your arm (with a lot less static than the stock unit).
Check out the install…
Use a T-30 Torx wrench to remove the four larger bolts that hold the console in place. You can get to all of these bolts with the seats in the vehicle, you just need to move them forwards and backwards. (Our Jeep had the head broken off one of these bolts thanks to the fine assembly workers at the Jeep factory.) Then remove the ten T-20 screws on the sides of the console, again, they can all be accessed with the seats in the vehicle.
Next remove the four T-20 screws that hold the factory rear panel/cup holder on the console. Our version of the instructions weren’t real clear on this. You need to hold the sides of the console away to access these screws (see picture). After these four screws are out you will have to gently pull away at the edges of the rear panel. There are some plastic pegs that keep this on that you must pry the lip over. Be careful to not break the rear panel, because it is needed for the Tuffy insert.
Optional: Place the insert where it will be installed and start a couple of the new screws that hold it in place to get the placement of the console established. Next, we put the longer bolts through and used a permanent marker to mark where the holes need to be drilled for the 3/8″ bolts. After that, remove the insert and drill the holes. Note the location at the bottom of your tub. Both of our holes hit the edge of some metal for a body crossmember and landed on a very curved part. This made it difficult to install the bolts. This step is not necissary if you don’t want the insert to be extra secure.
Attach the factory rear panel to the Tuffy insert using the supplied screws and a 5/64″ allen head wrench. Be sure that the bottom hole where the tab of the cup holder goes over has clearance for the bolt to go through the tab on the cup holder. (See picture)We have ran Pit Bull Rockers on other vehicles, they are a great tire. One of the great features of a Rocker is the load ratings, you don’t have to worry about them on most vehicles. In addition, Pit Bull makes their tires a little wider than normal to give your vehicle an extra aggressive stance and more traction. Also, the tires make a much less annoying noise than something like a TSL. They still make noise, it just isn’t annoying. Oh yeah, did we mention that they ROCK off-road?!?
Here are the pics:
Breaking the PARADIGM!
Like it or not, the Jeep has 20s. We’ve sold hundreds of lifts and drove numerous lifted vehicles. You might think we are wrong for doing this, but we aren’t. There are many benefits to running 20 inch wheels on and off road.
Here are the on-road benefits:
Here are the off-road benefits:
Many people think that the wheels are more vulnerable to damage. They might be slightly more vulnerable, but we still have over 8 inches of sidewall all the way around, which is better than the stock tires and wheels. In addition, we went with an aluminum wheel so it can be repaired and the wheel is designed for off-road, so it has recessed valve stems that keep them protected.
About the wheels: These are 20×10, 4.5″ backspacing and dual drilled with both 5×5 and 5×4.5 lug patterns. From what I understand this is a new lug pattern for this wheel and we might have got the first set for a JK in the country. The size is perfect for running the 37×13.50×20 tires we have.
We selected the Superlift 4″ kit because of Superlift’s reputation for quality lifts and the value of the lift. The kit includes everything needed to lift the Jeep including shocks and an adjustable front track bar. Honestly, this is probably the easiest complete lift kit to install we have encountered. The only others that would be similar in difficulty would be a CJ lift if the stock bolts weren’t rusted.
We were concerned about vibrations and wobbles, but there are absolutely none. The longer control arms from the factory make lifting the JK a lot less problematic than the TJs were. Additionally, there is no drilling required with the front track bar to cause possible slop up there. Finally, the new steering setup is much better than the older Wranglers.
Read on to the next page to see our write-up on the installation of this kit and tips to make the install go smoother.
From time to time we have to give the Jeep to other people (for warranty service, cleaning, valet, or just loaning it out). Giving out your entire key ring with other car keys, house keys and flash drives is not a good idea. Also, if you ever loose a key it is more expensive to get a new key made when you only have one key, due to a different (dealer only) programming process that is required. We highly recommend getting a third key as a “valet” key.
Our local dealer wanted about $60 for a blank key and $35 to program a key, the local locksmith wanted to charge $35 to program any key we brought them as well. We got the key and had it cut for less than $30 total.
The following is the process to get yourself hooked up with a spare key for minimal cost. For this write up we will be using a Rock Key that works just like a factory key with the transponder, but looks and feels better. The Rock Key has the same type of transponder built in, so everything is 100% compatible with your stock Jeep.
Notes: (1) The key indicator light is a little red LED light on the far right side of the instrument cluster. (2) Our Jeep didn’t chime, but the key still programmed correctly.
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