YJ unlimited build

['92 Vegas YJ]

Ordered some new wheels yesterday for her. With the current wheels I cant even turn full driver or passenger without it hitting my springs. I already knew this though before hand so I was prepared. These wheels are only 8" wide with 4.25 backspacing and damn near no offset.

Almost 2 months ago I ordered some steel wheels from Summit and some DIY beadlocks from Total metal innovations. I received the beadlocks in a little over a week but the wheels were backordered. I was supposed to get them by June 30th but they never showed up. I called Summit on Monday and now they say they're still backordered for another 3 weeks. I was pretty pissed that summit didnt even call me to tell me this. Sooooo I said screw it and ordered up some Allied beadlocks. I dont have the time to do the DIY locks and will be happier in the long run I think. I already found someone to buy my brand new DIY locks that I havent even opened the box too yet.

Another way I decided to save some time was with my front fenders. There are a couple options I could have done. Im almost positive I will need to High line my hood but I really wont know until I get my new wheels mounted. So my options are: 1) reuse my old tube fenders that I built but rework them to be used as High lines. 2) Build new tube fenders. 3) buy some new fenders.

I chose option number 3. I bought some DIY highline fenders from C&C fab. It was a hard decision for me to buy something that I can easily make myself as I already have a bender, notcher, welder, bandsaw and so forth but it really just came down to time. I deploy early next year and I want this thing done and have time to enjoy it before I leave. With a busy work schedule and juggling the Jeep and family I think my time is worth more than I spent on the kit. I hope I'm happy with my decision.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Took her out for some more testing today. Brakes don't lock up anymore so it appears the mod to the proportioning valve I did was the trick. Here's a couple random pics from today.

And finally a family trip to Walmart. She drives good down all the residential streets. I havent been on any major roads yet. I take the back road to Walmart so that'll be another day

I have a wheeling trip roughly planned for the weekend of Aug 12. That gives me a month to get everything finished and get a good test in. There is a dealership in town that has an offroad course behind the shop that they throw events at a couple times a year that I can go to test it out. Mainly waiting on my wheels before I can do everything else to finish her up.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Did some good maintenance on the rig over the last couple weeks. I replaced my clutch, flywheel and slave cylinder as well an my rear main seal, oil pan gasket and valve cover gasket. I also did a fresh oil change on the engine and one on the transmission as well with some Royal Purple. I then mounted my new wheels and added about 12oz of airsoft BBs per tire for balancing. I leave tomorrow for a week of camping with the family then I have one week to finish up the rig before her maiden voyage/first trip. Wish me luck

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Whipped up a quick replacement tailgate. The reason for this is it extends a little past the body and allows my cooler to fit behind the fuel cell now.

Also ditched the factory steering for a PCS box and hydro assist.

threw my half doors on for the weekend trip planned. It's supposed to rain a bit so hopefully these will help.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

And now for the damage. Got some body damage on the passenger side, broke a driveshaft UJoint and took out the yoke on the driveshaft. Bent my leaf springs into "S's" and tweaked a front spring shackle. Everything on the jeep is scratched and gouged from sharp rocks but I loved every minute of it. A guy that went wheeling with us had a spare driveshaft that I borrowed the yoke off of to continue wheeling for the weekend. Also have some electrical demons now. I was smashed up against a tree really bad at one point and it crushed my hood so much that it shorted out against my battery. That caused the jeep to shut off and all the accessories to kick on. It took a while of trouble shooting to get it started and now my electrical system is acting funny. Need to dig in and figure out what's going on.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

You can see how bad the hood was when i got pressed up against that tree. I was on a hill sideways and no matter what direction i tried to go I just kept crabbing down the hill sideways in the tree more and more. We had to hammer out the hood before we could continue the trail to keep from shorting against my battery.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Since I've been back all I have done is backed the jeep off the trailer and into the garage. I got back last sunday and immediately left monday morning to go out to sea for the week. I am home for the weekend then go back out again on monday. After a long 20 months of working on the Jeep its time to take a break. Between work and the Jeep its really starting to take a toll on the family. I am happy I got to take her off road and I couldnt have asked for a better first trip out. She is an absolute beast on tons and 41.5's.

I already have a list of things that need to be addressed before I take her out again but I honestly don't know when I'll get to it.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Finally pulled her out of the garage yesterday and gave her a quick bath.

Little bit of scratches. You should see the underside hahah

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Spent a little time working on the Jeep today. Ive wanted to fix up the parts that broke on my last trip out and get it to where I can drive it around locally.

I ordered a new 1350 driveshaft slip yoke and 1350 U joint and threw that in. I also replaced my beat up and bent leaf springs with my old bastard pack springs that I used to run SOA in the rear. They should hold up a lot better than the stock ones.

While replacing the leaf springs my Wife and I noticed that the Daves custom unlimited leaf springs mounts appear to be tweaked a little. You can see it while looking at the jeep straight on and it was also a bear to get the old springs out of the mounts. Not only that but my Wife noticed one of their welds broke. I had to grind that down and throw a quick bead on it. Im really disappointed in the kit and also upset that I didnt just link the front to begin with. While I am deployed next year I think I'm gonna have my buddy 3 link it for me.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Nothing new with the YJ. Been gone a lot for work again. Only taken it out of the garage for afew small runs around the neighborhood and to taco bell.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Took advantage of some black friday sales and ordered the Barnes4wd 3 link kit the other day. It should be here tomorrow.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

couple randoms from my drives lately. Apparently I like to take pictures of the passenger side haha

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Went and played around yesterday at a local dealership that has a mini offroad course behind their shop. They put on a Toys for Tots event so I loaded up the Jeep, grabbed a toy and headed out. It'd been raining for 2 days straight so it was real muddy. Not really any pics of on the trail as I was enjoying cruising around and it was cold.

Before/after

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

After yesterday I am officially over leafs. A couple weeks ago I installed another set up leaf packs in the front. I used the wagoneer/bastard packs that I used to run on 35's. They lasted me numerous trips before so I figured I'd give them a try. Well I bent the spring packs again and have horrible front axle wrap. The only way to solve this and stay leaf spring front would be to install a traction bar up front. Instead of doing that I just bit the bullet and ordered a pair a Radflo 2.5" air shocks. That should be the final piece I need to link the front.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Still waiting on my air shocks to show up but in the meantime I built my highline fenders from CCfabs. Still needed a lot of cutting and fitting but overall a real nice product.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

finish sanded the hood after I welded it up and used some body filler to clean it up. Then the final installed pictures after I painted the hood.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Then my area of Va decided to get hit with 9" of snow. The only thing I can think of to do on a snow day is go terrorize the town. Had a blast romping through the neighborhood. Plan to get some time in again tomorrow.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Well my ADHD has gotten the best of me again. I really can't go any length of time without doing some sort of fab project. Ever since I finished the stretch on the Jeep I've been using a backpack tool bag from Lowes to store my trail tools in. It has a decent amount of storage, feels pretty rugged and has a waterproof rubber bottom to it. I've been storing it on the floorboard behind the passenger seat. The main problem with this is that's its a HUGE pain in the butt when I need to get anything out of it. lifting the 50-60lb bag up and over the side of the Jeep kills my shoulders.

Here is the bag I use
https://www.lowes.com/pd/AWP-HP-Poly...Bag/1000192167

I've wanted to build some type of storage basket for a while but it just hasn't been on the top of my priority list. Today while farting around in the garage I started taking some measurements and decided to start today.


I picked up a hitch basket on CL back in June with this project in mind. I specifically wanted a basket with high rails to keep stuff inside and a basket that would be easy to strap things down to it. I found the perfect one and it had never been used. I paid $50 for it.

After taking my measurements I figured out I needed to shorten the length by 24" and the width by about 12"


So I cut off 12" from each half to get the legth I wanted. Here you can see one side cut and the other side taped off ready to be cut.

I then welded the 2 halves back together. 24" narrower.

Took some measurements again and taped off where I need to cut to get the correct width.

Boom. cut and welded again.

before and after

Test fit. Like a glove.

The final thing I did today was use some of the square tubing that I cut out and welded it back in for reinforcement. I also welded the expanded metal down the middle to the reinforcement pieces.

I have some interlocking tube couplings from Barnes4wd that I plan on using to mount the basket to the cage. I want it removable so access the fuel cell.

http://www.barnes4wd.com/1-34-Interl...ing_p_700.html


Thats all for tonight. Might get this finished over the weekend. If not I'll get around to it soon enough.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Finished up the storage rack the other day.

Then i whipped up a quick center console. I picked up a 40mm ammo can as it is the perfect size for my setup. It fits perfectly width wise between my mastercraft seats and it doesnt sit too tall. With my old MK44 ammo can it sat a little too tall and I would smack my elbow every now and then.

I wanted some kind of pad for the top so I watched a couple youtube videos then headed to Joann fabric.

I used a combination of 3/4 plywood, 1.5" closed cell foam, 1/4" open cell foam and some vinyl. Im pretty happy with how it turned out.

during the week I also started collecting parts for a stereo upgrade. Ive been running some old Alpine CD deck and just the dash speakers for the last 10 years or so. I want to get a little more sound out of my stereo as well as more variety. One thing I didnt want to do though is spend $500 on a bunch of high end stereo equipment just for it to get ruined off road. So with that in mind I set out to find cheap things with good reviews :D

First thing I snagged was a new bluetooth receiver. This receiver is a marine grade one that is supposedly water resistant and has the ability to do bluetooth, aux, USB and and SD card. No CD slot. I was amazed at the size and weight difference with no CD hardware.

I also picked up a 10" sub from Crutchfield, a truck box for it to go in, an amp to power it and some new dash speakers. Still waiting on the amp and sub box to show up before I continue with the stereo upgrade.


In other news my Radflo air shocks showed up. These probably wont go on until I'm on deployment. I leave soon and dont have the time to link the front before I leave so a friend is going to do it for me while I'm gone.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Took the Jeep out for a cruise today. The arm rest on the center console was a nice addition to the interior. It sits at the perfect height to rest my arm on and the padding feels great.


I stopped and snagged a few photos on the cruise.

And heres a couple pictures of my subwoofer setup. Its kind of hard to see once I installed everything. the setup is just a truck box mounted behind the drivers seat, a 10" Jenson subwoofer and the amp mounted to the box. I built a splash guard for the amp so water/mud/snow wont spray or land directly on the connections.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Threw my tools in some bags and tried out the rack. Im digging it.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Spent the weekend getting things ready for Rausch Creek next weekend. I put all new tires on the trailer, greased the hubs and installed a truck tool box on the front. Also went over everything on the Jeep and ensured everything was still torqued to spec. I'll be heading out Friday after work. First time to Rausch so I'm excited to try a new park.


Cheesy pic of the trailer all ready to go.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Loaded up and ready for snow wheeling in Rausch Creek this weekend. Heading out after work on Friday but when I go to work tomorrow morning I wont get off until Friday afternoon.

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Well it seems I suck at getting pictures lately. Really, the group I wheel with just cruises through the trails and doesn't stop much. The only time we stop is if someone needs a fix or a quick winch. I like that we don't sit around and BS all day. We can do that when we get back to camp, If we drive 8 hrs to wheel we want to wheel.

With that being said I arrived at Rausch Creek Friday evening just in time to throw some burgers on the grill and hang out for the night. RC has a very strict rule of no wheeling at night so I had to wait til Saturday morning. We got up Saturday morning and were on the trails a little after 8 which is when your allowed to start riding. We rode all day Saturday until dark and only stopped at camp one time for about 10 minutes to eat a sandwich. We hit every black and red trail that was open. Jeep performed great except my steering. Throughout the day it got progressively worse and harder to steer. Its probably because I'm running hydro assist with a only a PCS box, stock pump and no cooler on 41.5" tires. I also bent the crap out of my tie rod. I had to rotate it so the bend was facing forward just to finish the trail.


Here are the couple pics that I have. Hopefully more will surface.

#saturdaysarefortheboys

And back home after a good weekend

 

['92 Vegas YJ]

Just checking in from Crete, Greece. Below are a couple pictures from Santorini, Greece.