LJ on Tons

jeeptj99 said:

Your screen name is hilarious. killer jeep to.

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Took some thinking and bouncing some screen names off the gf. Finally landed on this one which felt appropriate

Lil ugly said:

Nice write up and truly representing wheeling in its finest I must say. Guess all of us with shops and garages need to quit bitchin and just get to work.

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lol theres nothing quite like building a project as a broke college kid in your community parking lot. We were fortunate enough to have installed a 220v outlet close to the front door so the welder could get rolled out a ways into our "shop." I've since graduated and moved and now do most of my work in my single car garage but it can get cramped quick...

So the first trip enlightened me on a few different things about the LJ that needed to be address. First off, the steering is absolute crap and if any of you ever think "oH I'lL jUsT gEt OnE tOn TiE rOd EnDs".....DONT. For anything we would consider "one ton" (yea all you 14 bolt guys don't count) with 38"-42" tires the amount of play youll get from the TREs just isnt worth the headache. Maybe you're a believer but after several trips and running the Jeep down the road it just doesn't suit my style. Not to mention reaming knuckles is lame (especially when you F up). Just go buy a heim joint steering kit if you're too broke to affrod hydro like me. (Also hydro is currently overrated...until I burn up my mercedes box and pump ). Also note that I've got some wonky stuff going on in my steering to make it work so maybe that has something to do with it.

Second, The throw in my steering box can't seem to match the amount of throw the D60 knuckles can allow. Therefore I have a junk turning radius and am leaving nearly 1/4" to 1/2" of space between the knuckle and hard stop on the table. I've been thinking on how I want to address this and in the mean time I'm just waiting for an unlucky hit to the wheel that breaks my steering box...

Third, like I stated before, I learned there's a HUGE difference in flexing the rig out on jack stands vs on a ramp or on a trail. oops. I like to think I give "self clearancing" a whole new meaning..never would have guessed my frame had as much flex in it as it does. Unfortunately the front drive shaft paid the price when it got a little too friendly with my upper control arm mount. I've since taken a cutting wheel to the bracket and increased the clearance between though two.

Your LJ is turning out nice!
< That guy in the buggy can't drive for ****.
Glad you guys enjoyed the food.
I currently building axles for my LJ at the monent. I'll probably do a build thread as well.

A quick trip to Timberfalls and Gulches further confirmed the need for some more tweaking as well as left the Jeep with some more carnage Including a beaten Windshield frame, a tore up coolant overflow can and a sliced side wall....

For those of you that haven't been to Timberfalls, its a young park in GA. Unfortunately the LJ felt a tad bit over built for it. Still fun though


Here's the LJ running up the Waterfall backward in front wheel drive.


LJ cutting a new out line at the top of the falls. (this line had an undercut below the trees that swallowed the entire 38" falken. Still hopped up it though)


Timberfalls Carnage...it'll buff...right?

Some shots of the LJ failing at Gulches. Ate fenders, blew the radiator overflow and sliced the Falken....But hey, at least my brother's TJ with the rubi 44s killed it!


Couple shots of the brother's TJ doing more work than the LJ

RustyC said:

Your LJ is turning out nice!
< That guy in the buggy can't drive for ****.
Glad you guys enjoyed the food.
I currently building axles for my LJ at the monent. I'll probably do a build thread as well.

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I'm just out there fakin it til I make it man. Food was awesome. I think its time to get me an enclosed trailer! By the way, I still have a handful of photos of your rig from that Morris Mtn trip. I know its overdue but if you're interested let me know and I'll shoot them your way. Keep us updated on your LJ. I always like seeing how each one varies.

GlipGlop said:

I'm just out there fakin it til I make it man. By the way, I still have a handful of photos of your rig from that Morris Mtn trip. I know its overdue but if you're interested let me know and I'll shoot them your way.

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Just through them in the trail pics thread so we all can make fun of me.

Oops....So because I wasn't already up to my eyeballs in projects..this little gem followed me home.

About the same time the Bronco came home, I got the Durham Motorsports hood going on the LJ. Easy enough to do as long as you don't mind chopping your jeep up. Here's a couple photos of the hoods and the difference between the two fenders. I have yet to have a clearance problem with this hood and man does it look good.

I hated having the gaping hole in the side of the jeep from where the fuel filler neck used to go so I do some trimming and filling with the help of some old fender sheet metal. Unfortunately, now with the shorter neck, the back pressure on the pump nozzle seems to get to great and cuts the pump off continuously making for one heck of a headache at the gas station It's now on my list of things to fix.

I removed the neck, cut it down as shown and stuck it back into place and then added some sheet metal that didn't fill the gap, got mad, cut another piece from my other fender, warped it all with heat, got mad again, grinded it down and rattle canned it all....definitely a far cry from professional work but it matches most the rest of the LJ's wrinkled body panels. I see aluminum panels in the future.

Still having issues with your steering? What is the distance from the center line of your BJ's to the TRE? A waggy pitman arm is long 7.5" IIRC? It worked to get my steering back on my old set up. Only thing you may run into is interference with axle due to the longer arm.

Another option with for your steering is to switch to the old ford box. They are mounted on the outside of the frame. They work well on the jeeps with narrow frames, and allow you to run a longer steering link which gets rid of bump steer etc, and with a pitman arm like 87TPIYJ mentioned you can get full lock to lock turns on the 60. They are also fairly easy to tap for hydro assist.

Here's a few more things that have taken place in the past few months that I have yet to show or mention. The steering box was tilted upward to move my pitman arm out away from the track bar. Doing so actually allowed me to move my axle forward another inch and still have plenty of clearance. Any further and I would have ran out of threads on my heims. Yes the box is seriously high, and I'm not the biggest fan of it. It will most likely interfere with a bumper when that time comes so I may relocate it downward and keep the angle and instead trim the frame behind the spring and shock tower to allow the steering linkage to spin freely without contact. Its current position minimized the amount of fab work needed. Slightly trimmed the grill to fit as well. Currently lots of ideas bouncing around in my head as far as the front half goes.


Took some advice from 87TPIYJ and got a hold of a 1" drop Waggy pitman arm. here it is side by side with the one I have been running since the time my 2.5" lift kit was brand new. Also some comparison shots of the linkage set up and my new turning radius. The waggy arm gets me the full turning radius back from the Superduty axle. So much so that I will need to make some hard stop extensions to keep from scrubbing my tires on the lower control arms. Easy enough. I took my time with a reamer drill bit and got the appropriate sizing for the new pitman arm. say bye bye to the band-aid of a tapered insert. Unfortunately now the steering is much stiffer and as a result I think hydro assist will be in the LJ's future.

Wired up a few of my RockShot rock lights from Highbeam off road just before a winter trip to AOP. Felt it was time to be able to see under the LJ. I used existing holes in the tub over the wheels to do a little testing of positions to see what I like. Also, with the fog lights being long gone, I seemed that switch could temporarily be used for another set of lights. Found my switch for the fog lamps were being problematic and sensitive due to a worn down plastic tip inside the steering column housing. I grabbed a pen and used the ink tube cut to the correct length to fit over the tip and recreate the proper spacing. No more finicky switch!

I didnt go for a detailed write up as there are a handful of decent ones out there for anyone having a similar issue.


I'd say, that's not bad for only 4 lights. Still have 5 more ready for install sitting on the tool bench.

In no particular order (prior to the rock lights and waggy arm) I managed to step away from my mechanical fan and install a Taurus dual speed fan. This little upgrade is all thanks to two back to back trips to Gulches where 1) the mechanical fan wiped out my overflow canister and 2) the radiator detonated from too much pressure.


Problem. I now forget to turn the fan on.....a lot. Soooooo the low speed may get wired to the ignition. Otherwise this E fan rips and I love it for when I really start to beat on the LJ. Here's a couple shots and I will try to get a few more. I bought the fan new but picked up a spare fuse box and old Volvo fan relay from LKQ. Now I can add more to my stock box and quit using inline fuses(I feel much less like a rolling fire hazard).

Managed to get enough space between the water pump and the fan shroud.

Finally covered the gaping hole in my passenger fender left from when I was running the york compressor. It's a quick fix until I can source some aftermarket inners. Got a 1'x1' piece of 16ga sheet from Home Depot. Cheap and quick for sure. Here's the cardboard mock up.


Lastly, what's a trip to LKQ without a total impulse buy....

Got the hood back off finally and threw down a rattle can paint job. I got tired of looking at a grey hood. Now it matches...sorta. Just squint and turn your head sideways. Anyway, here's a few pictures from the process as well as my "spray booth"

Grabbed a set of stock TJ springs to test out what height I like. Here are the springs side by side with my Rancho 2.5" springs. Also some before and after pictures. May end up trying some 1.5" Old Man Emu springs out. I don't HAVE to go lower, the LJ is incredibly stable as is but low is what all the kids are doing these days. This also brought my attention to several interferences on the LJ that I plan to address regardless of the ride height. Some issues include the rear axle and tub floor interfering (move floor up?), steering is a little funny (sack up and go to a true crossover setup), and the upper front driver side CA gets a little too friendly with my lower radiator hose (may move the arm to passenger side to fix this). Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


Before


After


Before


After


Some of the issues I mentioned above

Decided to make a scrap yard run and before going felt it was finally time to gut these LKQ doors and haul that extra metal off as well. Should be a cool set of half doors without the door handle. Smooth paneling the whole length of the Jeep. I plan to add a latch on the inside to the exterior of the inside panel to open the door. Seeing as I'm gutting these doors and making them pretty much skins only (maybe 3/4" thick), they won't be able to accept upper halfs.



Opinions on the line chosen for the doors? I think the low part of the door is longer than a stock half door and this is because I wanted to try and avoid the stamped indentation of the full door for less work

looks plenty low before?

no uptravel is brutal...