It’s a jeep thing
Hello Rustlovers and welcome to The Free Model T!
Today we are once again talking about Cadillacs and Jeeps, horray! Feedback on the previous post has been unanimous. People want to see the holes in the hood of the Cadillac. Well Rustlovers ask and ye shal receive! 
To answer some FAQ, yes, I could have shortened the oil filler. Yes I could have re-routed the heater lines and cut a smaller hole. No, I’m not going to add any sort of scoop or cover. I LOVE the result. It is exactly what I had imagined and I’ve always wanted a car with the motor sticking out of the hood! The fact that it defiantly displays “DODGE RAM CUMMINS TURBO DIESEL” also tickles me several shades of pink.
There’s one more question a lot of people have asked: “Why?”. I don’t have a single reason why. The cadillac used to be my daily driver and I adore it. I’m recently Cummins obsessed. The car can handle the motor. I already had the motor. The 472 ci. V8 that came in it got 6 mpg and the first gen 12 valve will get 18. I’m simply in it for the love. It’s the car I want with the motor I want and that is “why” enough for me.
Onto other things. The death wobbly jeep. I hate the cringeworthy “It’s a jeep thing, you wouldn’t understand” attitude almost as much as I love jeeps. I’m sitting at the window of my favorite coffee house right now (where most of this silly blog gets written) and I can’t help but glance out at the jeep over and over. There’s something magnetic about jeeps. They have personality! Maybe that’s why they always seem to find a “parking buddy”.
There really is a Jeep thing you wouldn’t understand though. It’s called the death wobble and I’ve already described exactly what it is in a previous post. Well my death wobble is solved thanks to a new Rough Country forged adjustable trackbar. What is a track bar you ask? Imagine a tube cannecting one front tire to the other this is the axle and the car is connected to it with springs. If there were only springs the car would be very bouncy and the axle could move freely side to side and front to back. Four “control arms” are connected from the back of the axle and connect up to the body of the car to keep the axle from moving front to back. The trackbar connects from the driver’s sided the frame to the passenger side of the axle to provide side to side stability if it’s working. “IF”.
Unfortunately the factory trackbar is connected to the frame with a criminally small ball joint no bigger than that on a tie rod end. Ths ball joint can’t handle the side to side force of the weight of the entire front end of the vehicle. These side to side forces are only multiplied when the vehicle is lifted and if the TB is not adjustable then the higher you go the farther it will pull your axle toward the driver’s side.
The solution is simple! A beefy aftermarket adjustable TB with a bracket to convert the ball joint to a bushing or heim joint.
New trackbar left. Stock trackbar right.
The differences are obvious. Even thought the stock trackbar had been recently replaced it was completely loose at the ball joint allowing enough play for my death wobble.
Now I have one more car that I can drive to my new house instead of towing! Hooray!
Until next time Rustlovers, be safe and build something!!
