Wheeling... parts... changes...

I finally had a chance to get out and do some real wheeling in the jeep.

Some friends and I headed up HLT and took a shot at Steve's Loop last week.

Friday we headed up HLT and hit some decent snow,

especially for this time of the year.

We slowly trudged our way to the top, 

with yours truly being the only to reach the summit.

Who said skinny tires are a bad thing?

They look a bit funny with 4" or more of lift,

but they really excel in the snow. 

I was also finally able to test the new shocks limits 

and see what they were capable of.

The jeep flexed out great up front,

out back still leaves me wanting more.

Eventually we'll get there.

Here are the HLT pictures.

The other jeep is my friend Kanin's YJ.

He was testing out his new rear axle and 37" tires.

In my last post I showed a picture of some WARN Rock Sliders I needed to install.

As you saw in the pictures above, 

they made their way onto the jeep.

I also had the chance to pick up some Smittybilt Rear Tube Fenders.

They are dirt cheap, and appear to be well made.

I do wish there were slight differences about them, 

but for a very small fraction of the price of the competition's fenders,

I can absolutely live with the few tiny issues.

I need to upgrade the hardware to grade 8.

I had to cut small sections of the jeep's body off. 

There were small sections that hung below the flares,

and I knew they get chewed up by rocks,

so I cut the body flush to the new flares.

It worked well and I guess I gained a bit more clearance.

Here are the slider and flare detail shots.

I also found myself in need of a location for my mag-light.

What better place than at your finger tips?

And finally, here are the Steve's Loop trail run pictures I mentioned earlier.

The trail isn't terribly difficult, 

but with open differentials, relatively small tires and a manual transmission,

the trail can give you plenty of headaches.

Overall, I was very pleased with how the jeep performed.

As you can see in the pictures, 

my open differentials made for an interesting day.

We made it through though, 

no one had any real damage 

and we all had a blast.

Thanks to Kanin for the pictures of me wheeling through the trail.

Wheeling through Steve's Loop helped me come a come a realization.

I want to go bigger,

both in tires and axles to handle those tires.

Steve's Loop isn't the hardest trail, but I was left wanting more clearance 

and I needed more help in the traction department.

I think I am going to go with 35x12.5x15 BFG KM2 tires,

and a Ford 8.8 rear axle, and a High Pinion Dana 30 front.

Those axles match very well and should be plenty strong for 35" tires.

I think that combination will serve my jeep very well.

I'll stick with 4.88 gears,

and won't add any more lift to the jeep. 

I already need to add a bit more bumpstops up front,

but the rear should be set.

I'll have to add wheel spacers as well,

and that will give me a better, and wider stance too.

Should be fun.

Shocks and tops...

The TJ came with a hard top and a 4" Fabtech lift. 

Turns out the hard top was actually a YJ hard top. 

It fit well on my TJ, but I have always preferred soft tops. 

They may be a bit less secure as far as tops go, 

but what jeep top really is secure? 

So I put it out there that I wanted to trade tops,

a straight up top for top trade.

Turns out a friend of mine had a soft top he wanted to get rid of.

He also had a bikini top, with rear deck cover and a windjammer too boot.

The top had a tear in it, 

but it was an easy enough fix.

I took a piece of black waterproof material,

designed for boat covers, 

and cut two patches out of it.

I bought some E6000 industrial glue, 

and spread it all over the bottom patch,

and stuck it to the torn area.

After that, I simply did the same for the top patch

and then sewed the two together, through the original top.

Problem solved.

Here is what the rest of the soft top looks like:

The other top I got in the deal,

is a combo bikini/tonneau/windjammer.

It will be the perfect top for summer.

from the interior:

The way these soft tops are made amazes me.

The thought and attention to detail is great.

Everything tucks in, or straps down 

and 99% of the elements are kept outside the rig.

I am extremely impressed.

I also picked up some longer travel shocks.

The ones on the rig weren't bad, 

but they were only around 8-9 inches of travel in front 

and about 7-8 inches in the rear.

The new Rubicon Express shocks are 11.5 inches up front

and around 10 inches out back. 

My goal was to get about 12 inches of travel, 

so these are pretty much there.

old vs. new

rear to front - left to right

Another advantage of these shocks is the specific valving.

They are designed with my exact jeep in mind 

and it shows in the smooth ride.

I don't have any flex pictures of the new shocks yet, 

those will come in a few days,

but I do have some old flex shots up on Hunter Lake Trail.

So far so good. 

Preliminary measurements show that the jeep's brake lines,

and the bumpstops should operate just fine with the new shocks.

Plus I got rid of the awful faded red on the old shocks.

Silver just works better for suspension components.

It goes nicely with the blue coils too. 

Finishes and upgrades...

Last time I posted about my JKS sway bar disconnects, 

I mentioned that they needed some sort of holder when disconnected.

I was rummaging through my spare nuts and bolts box the other day, 

and came across the perfect solution.

There were two matching bolts that came off my last jeep,

and they were about eight inches long, 

the bottom half of which was not threaded.

I decided to chop them to length with my cutoff wheel

and then drill a hole in the end to hold the retainer pin. 

Once done with that I welded them to the frame,

and the problem was solved.

Here are the new holders with the disconnects in the connected position.

You can see it poking out just below the bend in the sway bar.

Here it is in the upright position.

The next thing on the project list was trying to figure out a way to mount my axe and shovel.

On the last jeep, I used a few sets of Quick Fist Grips

to mount my axe, shovel, portable CO2 tank and flashlight.

I have two sets left that didn't go with Big Black when I sold it, 

so they were going back into duty on this new project.

The logical place to mount them was the rear tailgate.

Unfortunately, only the axle fits back there, 

the shovel is far too long and will need to be mounted somewhere else. 

That will have to wait until I figure out where that will be.

For now, here is how and where the axe is mounted.

I knew I needed some rear corner protection as well.

Since my rear bumper idea won't go all the way out to the edges of my rear corners,

I didn't want to come down hard on a boulder

and smash my rear panels up.

Enter Gen Right Shorty TJ Corner Guards.

I picked these bad boys up from Sam at SamCo Fabrication.

Sam and his shop are top of the line. 

He is a great guy with serious skills 

and races competitively in his custom, hand built, from the ground up Trophy Truck.

He knows his stuff and got me a ridiculous deal on these guards.

Thank you, Sam.

The install was nothing if not really simple.

All I had to do was remove the tail lights, rear license plate,

and driver side fuel filler housing.

All of those parts were used to hold the guards in place,

as well as a ton of rivets around the outer edges.

I decided to use larger rivets,  so I had to drill the holes out slightly, 

but other than that, they simply bolted on up. 

I think they turned out great

and they will add a ton of protection out back.

Overall I am very pleased with all the current mods so far.

I need to figure out what do do about rock sliders,

and get cracking on the rear bumper/crossmember build.

Not done yet...

After driving around in my jeep with the new bumper on it for about a week now,

I decided the bumper needed some attention. 

I love the functionality and look of the bumper, 

but the ends just kept screaming, "UNFINISHED!", at me.

So I went to work today to remedy the situation.

The passenger side of the bumper is easy as pie.

Just fit and weld the previously cut of end plate back in its rightful place.

The driver's side requires more work. 

In order for the plate to fit, there needs to be some grinding done to it.

There are a 3 bolts that holds the steering box in place, 

one of which, sits smack dab where the edge of the side plate runs.

I tried, very successfully I might add, to just cut the area out where the bolt would hit,

and it would have worked if the bumper didn't slide onto the front of the jeep's frame.

Without cutting a complete pathway through the side plate, 

so the bumper to slide back towards the jeep,

there would be no way to slide the bumper on. 

It will not slide on sideways, so the side plate would not fit around the problem bolt.

In the end I had to cut off more than I would have liked, 

but it will still add a lot of rigidity and strength to the bumper.

Not to mention it will give the bumper the much needed finished appearance I want.

the before shot:

(notice the plate in the picture is actually the passenger side)

(I forgot to take pictures before I started cutting, whoops)

As you can see in the picture above, 

the bolt sits right in the side plate's way.

You also can't tell, but in this picture, 

the side plate is a good inch away from sitting flush against the bumper.

The bolt was that much in the way.

the after shot:

As you can see in this picture above, 

the bolt is no longer an issue 

and it will definitely give the bumper a cleaner,

much more finished look.

Now it just needs to be welded, 

cleaned up, painted and bolted back on.

Front bumper changes...

The previous owner of my TJ made front and rear custom bumpers. 

Some things I liked about them, some things not so much (like the square stinger).

I met a guy that liked the front bumper I had and actually wanted to buy it, so I sold it to him and found myself in need of something new.

I know John Buzzell from my last jeep build, where he helped me get ridiculously good prices on Rubicon Express long arms, front track bar, and a few other small items. 

He said he had a JK (2007+) Wrangler front bumper from Poison Spyder Customs that he could cut me a crazy deal on. 

Being one to almost never pass up a great deal, I bought it and went abut seeing how to make it work on my TJ.

The bumper measured 1/4" more narrow than my front frame/crossmember so I knew I needed to cut any and all excess metal from the front end, and on top of that I still had to plasma cut off the bumper's side plates to get it to fit my front end. 

Enter Dr. Smash. Eric Bevans has a custom fabrication shop in Carson City, NV and he will build anything, seriously. He is a wizard of metal.

I contacted him to see if he could help me out and sure enough, he came through in spades. 

He cut the front plates off, chopped the inner gussets which were too long and basically made the bumper fit like a glove, and he did it all for free.

Thank you again, Eric!

Here is the bumper pre-surgery-

here are the inner gussets-

and here is the plate freed from the bumper-

After the bumper was made ready by Eric, I still needed to do a few minor things in order to make it all bolt down easily.

I mentioned before that the mounting is slightly different from TJ to JK, so I needed to widen the holes by about 1/4" each.

I had to drill them out and viola, it all fit. There are locations for 4 bolts to mount on top and 2 for the bottom, and this goes for the TJ and the JK.

The difference is that the upper rear mount holes for the JK (the ones nearest to the grill) are actually in the same location as one of the mounting holes for the TJ sway bar. 

I went ahead and ran the bolt through the sway bar mount and into the bumper. 

I did have to add a washer to the rear mounts of the sway bar to level it out, but it worked perfectly.

I still need to drill out 2 more holes in the top of the bumper to mount 2 more grade 8 bolts in the stock TJ bumper bolt locations, I just ran out of time today.

The 6 bolts holding it on will do for now though.

Eventually I will also weld back on the side plates for a cleaner and finished look and some added strength, but again, its current form will do for now.

the front end, basically done-

the bumper fit nicely with my existing steer box guard too-

and finally, a detail shot of the poison spyder cutout - a very, very nice touch I think-

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the build quality of the bumper. 

Poison Spyder Customs' attention to detail is amazing and the fit and finish is top notch. 

I highly recommend them for all your Jeep aftermarket needs.

Thanks again to Dr. Smash as well for his unparalleled service and help. 

Out with the old...

Jeep Wrangler TJ fenders are notorious for turning gray, fading, and some have even been known to peel and shed like a dog. Alas, my 13 year old fenders were no exception. They looked like they had pant spilled on them, maybe some razor blades tickled them, and like they might have had a mild case of leprosy. 

Lucky for me, my good friend Jason, was willing to donate to my cause. He hooked me up with a set of like new fenders off a 2006 TJ and I must say they made the jeep look a whole lot nicer and that it was a simple unbolt and bolt operation made it all that much better, well that and the fact that they were free. Thank you, Jason. 

I hope you enjoy your burritos. 

before pile:

new and improved:

Hooray.

First few...

I knew as soon as I picked up the jeep, some things had to change, mainly the front bumper. I don't mind doing something different to stand out from a crowd but there is a reason people do things a certain way and avoid trying something new. 

Point and case, front bumper stingers. 

Round = Right

Square = Silly

I decided to chop off the stinger and leave the front end with a cleaner stubby, square tube main bumper. I think it makes the jeep look totally different, much better and larger actually. The massive stinger and the skinny tires seemed to combine to make the jeep seem miniaturized. While I was at it, I figured I'd chop off the suspect recovery points as well, better safe than sorry.

before:

after:

The jeep came with sway bar disconnects, but for some reasons they had a really really strange design that I just wasn't a fan of, and on top of that, some hardware was missing. The jeep drove well enough without the sway bars connected, but I didn't want to risk a high speed lane change without them.

Enter the JKS quick disconnects. 

JKS says they invented the quick disconnect, no idea if it is true, but their design works, and works well. My only complaint is when they are disconnected, I have to find a way to tie them up and out of the way when off roading. There is no holder made for this design, but it is nothing a heavy duty rubber band won't fix for now.

Another item on my immediate fix agenda was the dirty and funky interior of the tub. 

Jeeps come with carpet from the factory, which I understand for every model except the Wranglers. Every CJ, YJ, TJ and eventually JK will surely have the carpet ripped out and tossed because of the filth that collects in it. That is part of the beauty and genius of the Wrangler design, the play and rinse interior. Get it dirty, rinse, repeat, which is much more complicated with stank nasty carpets in the way. 

I tore out the remaining carpets, and proceeded to cover the tub interior with do it yourself bedliner by Rustoleum. This stuff isn't as strong as Linex that you have to spray in ( at least not in the 2 coats I was willing to put on), but maybe it is if you have the patience to roll on 10 coats. 

the results 

(note the light dusting from recent off roading :P )

I think I'll keep the rear seat out as well. With a wife that startles when the jeep flexes in the least (like mall curb flex), and with children too young to really enjoy a hot day out on the trail, I figure I am OK without it in there for now.