Rock STew/

[inVERt'D]

Yeah, looks sharp, Mike

[dirtman13]

Looks good. Nice work.

[Toolman]

Thanks for the kind words.
So yesterday I drove it around a bit and found the sway bar bolt was hitting the spring bucket at full compression and the antirock was skimming the sides of the grill. Bummer I didn't catch this when I was getting my exercise - I mean, exercising the suspension. Probably because the monster 1/2" bolt and nylock hanging off the link wasn't installed at the time. No biggy I just lowered the holes about 1" and that fixed the 2 problems I was having and then I was able to hit the dips at full speed and feel those poly urethane bump stops going to work loosening the filings in my teeth.

Hindsight :
By removing the tire carrier, front bumper and winch plate and cargo area storage unit, the jeep raised up quite a bit about 3"-4" in the rear , 2" in the front. I also picked up a set of used 37 " MTR's cheap and installed them on some TR Beadlocks I had left over from the buggy which raised it up another inch. I bought some used 3.5" RE springs from "Flatout" and installed them. I liked it low but that gave me 1.5" of up travel so I added 1" puck (need 4.5 RE springs in front) After reworking the track bar and sway bar mounts both frame and axle side for the high steer set up. I can say that I'm very pleased with it's road manners, The alignment is as close as I can get it with a tape measure and it coasts nice to the left on a flat road, crown road it drives straight. The tires and still need to be balanced. I'm liking the anti rock, although when I disconnected it I didn't notice much of a difference except going through a dip at an angle. The body is tied so tightly to the frame now that there is virtually no body roll going around a corner like before. The power steering isn't straining just making a simple U-turn like before which I thought with the bigger tires would make it strain worse. Nope. The stock pitman arm and high steer angles make good use of leverage. Force is traveling in a straight line. I still plan to install the Howe Hydro assist, I just need to accumulate a few more parts and really test out what I've done so far.
It was a lot of work but well worth it, and I love how it looks and drives.

I can't wait to get it out on the trail anyone ready next weekend ?

[Toolman]

Well I finally got the rig out to test it last weekend. My Dad flew in from Texas for my Bachelor party , and we all headed to JV and camped on Bessimer Mine Rd. We hit up Bullfrog to work out the bugs and make sure everything was happy, and it wasn't. So when I got back to camp I cut off the upper hole for the track bar mount on the axle and it was butter all day after that.


Life long friends



Brother Jon


MOTO CHAD


We did some shooting early Saturday morning WingerNut with .40 cal


My brother Jon, and my friend Chad were on Motorcycles, my friend Kevin in the passenger seat, and "WingerNut" in his bruised XJ headed off on a 10 mile jaunt from Bessimer Rd. to Means Dry Lake in search of some buggies doing their thing. I was surprised the lake bed had only 3 or 4 motorhomes on it. Anyway, we headed over to Chocolate Thunder because it was close and easily recognized in videos. Not wanting to disappoint my trusted band of dirtheads, I thought it was the only thing to do. So, as I gingerly pulled up to the gatekeeper, I told Kevin that if it eats me alive don't be surprised, I will back out and admit defeat. However it didn't.
I took the line to the left and the rear sunk in the sand like a stone in a pale of water, and the front was pinched under inside the boulder under sand. Nice. So I got out of that pretty easy backed up to try another line, I look hard right and there it is, I could see the line clear as day. Kevin thought we were done and backing up to get out of the sand bowl however I just lined myself up and popped right up and around slipping through the narrow pass my boatsides were clearing rocks as I respectfully zig zagged my way through the gate keeper. Figured if it's true what everyone says once your past the gate keeper the rest is a breeze and it really was. I didn't know which way to go and I didn't want to make any problems so I chose the easy lines to get out. Once we got up the 1st little section Kevin jumped out to check his shorts and try to film the carnage, but I kept under control and kept truckin'. Once I made it out I was ecstatic, the adrenalin was pumping for about an hour after words, my mods, ideas, and fab work all held up very well through the 20 miles of woops on the way there and back, and preformed flawlessly in the rocks. all weekend long.







The ANTIROCK is by far the best thing you can do for a TJ. It feels much more stable now, I wish I had broke down sooner and bought it a long time ago. Just had some bad advice when it came to suspension mods earlier on. I finally woke up and realized, if they were that bad, and didn't work why are they on every single rock crawler you see on the trail ? Well, Now I know why. Because they work, really good. Best bang for my buck. I'm ordering the rear Antirock for when I stretch it.

This picture was worth every minute of sweat that I put into the TJ , getting out there this weekend with my Dad in the Jeep on the rocks all crossed up. Priceless moment.





Dad relaxing in the desert, on the phone with Mom. I love it.




My trusted band of dirtheads


RE- cap mods

ANTIROCK- Not sure how I ever wheeled without it, guess I learned something new. The best thing you could do to a TJ.

BOATSIDES- I can feel how much tighter the body is to the chassis, ground clearance galore, I looked out and I was skimming right over those boulders. The old rockers would be folded under like boatsides by now

E Rated 37's and TR Beadlocks, 7 PSI what else can I say.

Teraflex HIGHSTEER- this is great upgrade. No steering dampener and I don't really need one turns 37's with ease.

If you've been on the fence for any of these mods, don't wait any longer.

[flatout]

Good to see you got it done and are happy. You made one mistake when you went to the Hammers you cant get the rush you get when you run these trails out of your mind and then you go crazy trying to make your rig ready to run them all. Go with us next time and we will take you on some even more exiting trails.

[inVERt'D]

Great to hear how well your mods and trip went, Mike. Great memories, no doubt!

[Tumbleweed13]

Looks like a great trip Mike. Wish I could of made it. Your jeep on a trailer, when did that happen? You can go to, 3 or 4 psi with those beadlocks. I run 8psi without locks. Can't wait til we can get together for a run.

[RAT]

Choc Thunder is a blast huh? Glad the build went well and everything is working as planned. Congrats!

[dirtman13]

Jeep looks great. Glad to see it performed well for you. Love the ball and chain shirts.

[Toolman]

Good to see you got it done and are happy. You made one mistake when you went to the Hammers you cant get the rush you get when you run these trails out of your mind and then you go crazy trying to make your rig ready to run them all. Go with us next time and we will take you on some even more exiting trails.

Thanks for the springs they're working out fine. I will take you up on your offer, anytime

Great to hear how well your mods and trip went, Mike. Great memories, no doubt!

Yes, I love it when a plan comes together. I have a lot to be grateful for. Thank you.

Looks like a great trip Mike. Wish I could of made it. Your jeep on a trailer, when did that happen? You can go to, 3 or 4 psi with those beadlocks. I run 8psi without locks. Can't wait til we can get together for a run.

Wish you could have made it Joe you were missed. I ran 8psi for the drive over there through the flats it's more fun, gets drifting nice around 45-50 on the lake beds . The trailer has been on the list since the inception of the van, I haven't had anywhere to put it yet so I borrowed Dave's trailer. (A condition I placed because he whoosed out) Just as soon as the circus is over it's back to wheeling again, so let's plan something for May, right now.

Choc Thunder is a blast huh? Glad the build went well and everything is working as planned. Congrats!

I enjoyed wheeling my Heep through there a great deal. Blast ? It could have been more dramatic.

Jeep looks great. Glad to see it performed well for you. Love the ball and chain shirts.

Thanks, that's my brother. I got a kick out of it. It's better than what I was thinking they were going to do. I seriously thought they'd bring some homebrew version of a real ball and chain and lock it to my ankle. That's why I brought the cut off wheel. I just got lucky and used it on the jeep instead.

[Toolman]

spool gun fun

I had some Aluminum to experiment with so I made something.

it allows me to carry the spare and store my soft uppers underneath. I can R&R spare without removing the unit. Used some 1/4 - 20 nutserts, with countersunk stainless. After the frame was in I needed to give it a grid but wanted to keep it light. Off to the metal store and i found some interesting expanded aluminum. ($40 hmmm at this time I'm thinking I paid $99 for a blow molded plastic rack)
anyway I dropped the coin and went home and messed it all up with the spool gun (learning so no close ups yet)

[curtis]

Very nice work. I need to do something like that one of these days.

[daniel_buck]

Same here! I'm thinking about moving my spare tire back onto the floor of the tub. I've kinda given up the idea of running with the back seat in very often.

How difficult is aluminum welding with the spool?

[aw12345]

How difficult is aluminum welding with the spool?

I do this every now and then at work, thicker stuff welds beautiful, thinner stuff is not so easy. Takes a lot of heat to make a nice bead, that sticks

[Toolman]

Thanks guys, My therapist said I could count on you all to pay me nice compliments about my little projects.

Well I'm learning about spray transfer, and it's interesting stuff. Not easy to make it look pretty consistently, but it bonds. I like working with aluminum and using my jig saw to make simple cuts rather than using the plasma cutter, grinder, etc, is way faster and easier to clean up.

Got some more goodies.

Popped on a stinger and some dog ears, took drive over to try it out on the 99¢ store loading dock. Here's some X UP for ya'll city slicker style.







Being that my fabrication started with car stereos and the half doors are just little speaker boxes waiting to go boom I HAD TO install some MB Quart 6.5" sub woofers



boom boom kinda ..