LJ on Tons

87TPIYJ · Apr 7, 2020

Also remember the lower you the more trimming to the body will be required. I agree it didn't seem tall to begin with.

ridered3 · Apr 7, 2020

GlipGlop said:
Wired up a few of my RockShot rock lights from Highbeam off road just before a winter trip to AOP.

Digging the LJ build. Which lights did you use from Highbeam?

highbeamoffroad.net - highbeamoffroad Resources and Information.

highbeamoffroad.net is your first and best source for all of the information you’re looking for. From general topics to more of what you would expect to find here, highbeamoffroad.net has it all. We hope you find what you are searching for!

www.highbeamoffroad.net

Lil ugly · Apr 7, 2020

I think you want the half door cut so that you can rest your arm on it while in use. For keeping the lines etc you might make a hybrid door - cut the door as you plan then add some tube to the top so that you can use the door as an arm rest.

I would get rid of the y-link steering set up and go to full hiem joint cross over steering.

tcDawg · Apr 7, 2020

Lil ugly said:
I think you want the half door cut so that you can rest your arm on it while in use. For keeping the lines etc you might make a hybrid door - cut the door as you plan then add some tube to the top so that you can use the door as an arm rest.

I would get rid of the y-link steering set up and go to full hiem joint cross over steering.

maybe put a piece of tube diagonal in that door too, to keep that perfect rock out of your lap.

x2 on the heim joint steering.

ridered3 · Sep 22, 2020

Got any updates on the LJ?

GlipGlop · Sep 27, 2020

87TPIYJ said:
Also remember the lower you the more trimming to the body will be required. I agree it didn't seem tall to begin with.

Nothing a sawzall blade and a case of beer can't fix. I have the tendency to cut anything out of the way to make things fit and function properly

GlipGlop · Sep 27, 2020

ridered3 said:
Digging the LJ build. Which lights did you use from Highbeam?

highbeamoffroad.net - highbeamoffroad Resources and Information.

highbeamoffroad.net is your first and best source for all of the information you’re looking for. From general topics to more of what you would expect to find here, highbeamoffroad.net has it all. We hope you find what you are searching for!

www.highbeamoffroad.net

These highbeam lights I'm using for rock lights were a handful of their rock shots I believe. I only threw about 4 in for now to test them out in some locations and see what I liked and didn't like.

Pros:
They are insanely bright. even with only 4, my spotter was able to really see where tires and rocks were at night on obstacles. The ones out front were great for running and cutting headlights too so that my spotter had an easier time seeing the LJ. They can be put in so many spots too. Their versatility is nice.

Cons:
The wiring for them is delicate and can break away from the back of the threaded housing if not careful or if they are in spot your back seat puppy may reach over and paw when the LJ gets all sideways. The wires are also incredibly small gauge and that made it hard to hook them up onto a circuit.

Overall I love the lights and they are relatively cheap. You will probably see me reposition them in the near future to better protect the wiring and housings.

GlipGlop · Sep 27, 2020

Lil ugly said:
I think you want the half door cut so that you can rest your arm on it while in use. For keeping the lines etc you might make a hybrid door - cut the door as you plan then add some tube to the top so that you can use the door as an arm rest.

I would get rid of the y-link steering set up and go to full hiem joint cross over steering.

The cross over steering is in the works, unfortunately I just bought a new house so a lot of time has been dedicated to that and trying to get it to a more livable state. The LJ is currently on the backburner while I situate the house and the new two car garage!

adding a tube acutally sounds like what I may want. Originally I was planning to get some sheet metal and just create an 1" wide horizontal at the top of the half doors to lean on and then close in the interior of the door as well but a thin wall square tube along the tube edge with a diagonal inside like tcDawg suggested for rigidity may be exactly what I do.

GlipGlop · Sep 27, 2020

So like I said above, the LJ had to get placed on the backburner over the last few months while I bought a house, prepped to move, and then disappeared to the Grand Canyon for a month. The new house is taking up tons of time but, some nice things is I now have more garage space to work. I'm hoping that I will get a sub panel and some electrical laid into the garage soon to start up welding again and get those doors done. For now, here's a few small updates for the LJ.

I did manage to finish the cuts on the doors so they are officially skins as of right now. I really like how they came out and think they are fairly nice compared to stock doors. I elongated the lower portion of the door and made the kick up steeper. I was ok with this because I will never want to run uppers on these doors. If I want protection from the elements I will simply use the full doors. Here's a couple shots of the door on the LJ after and my not so great attempt at bending the kick up to match the lower portion of the door. There is also a shot here of the door I cut compared to a stock half door.

GlipGlop · Sep 28, 2020

With the doors at a good stopping point, I decided to strip the roll cage of the stock padding to prep for some additions. I also finally ditched the terrible safari tail light guards. Yes they have kept me from smashing a tail light many times but they have dented my body panels in the process. So It was time for some recessed lighting. I took the stock tail lights and recessed them into the body by creating a template (I can scan the template and upload or share if anyone is interested) and marked out where to cut. I kept the opening tight as possible and cut the plastic nipples for the screws off the back of the tail lights with a bandsaw. I used some longer sheet metal screws to secure the light into place. At some point when it gets back on the road I will need to come up withe a way to illuminate my license plate again.

GlipGlop · Sep 28, 2020

Crammed in this last minute project too before the move. I cut the front spring perches out and zipped in my new perches and towers. These are a set of Jeep TJ/LJ one ton swap, stock tower height perches from Artec. I bought them several months before and they sat on the shelf like all new parts do collecting dust. These perches are designed for one ton swaps with superduty axle truss kits from Artec. they push the perch and tower outboard further to eliminate the weird bow in the spring and angle in the shock caused by the differences in width. Unfortunately Artec stopped making these and I think they need to bring them back because they are the boom! I reused my bump stop collars and made some new bumpstops with thick wall tubing I had laying around. Shocks and springs also got a quick blast of rustoleum.

GlipGlop · Sep 28, 2020

Just before the move, I whipped up one more side project but this time it was for the Grand Canyon trip and hopefully to use for a pop up truck tent down the road when wheeling. A couple of low Profile crossbars made from .120 wall 1.25" square DOM. Easily carried my kayaks across the country and back while still having all the bed space for camping gear.

GlipGlop · Sep 28, 2020

The week before move out my buddy talked me into getting a weekend of wheeling in. So the LJ hit the trails at Gulches and I was not disappointed with the new spring perches and shock towers.

ridered3 · Sep 28, 2020

GlipGlop said:
These highbeam lights I'm using for rock lights were a handful of their rock shots I believe. I only threw about 4 in for now to test them out in some locations and see what I liked and didn't like.

Pros:
They are insanely bright. even with only 4, my spotter was able to really see where tires and rocks were at night on obstacles. The ones out front were great for running and cutting headlights too so that my spotter had an easier time seeing the LJ. They can be put in so many spots too. Their versatility is nice.

Cons:
The wiring for them is delicate and can break away from the back of the threaded housing if not careful or if they are in spot your back seat puppy may reach over and paw when the LJ gets all sideways. The wires are also incredibly small gauge and that made it hard to hook them up onto a circuit.

Overall I love the lights and they are relatively cheap. You will probably see me reposition them in the near future to better protect the wiring and housings.

Thanks for all the info related to the RokShots and for the update on the LJ!

Lil ugly · Sep 28, 2020

the motorcycle crowd uses bolts with LEDs in them for lighting up their license plates. I have used them on several tire carriers for that purpose and they work well. they are inexpensive and do double duty as a light and a bolt for holding the plate.

GlipGlop · Oct 14, 2020

Lil ugly said:
the motorcycle crowd uses bolts with LEDs in them for lighting up their license plates. I have used them on several tire carriers for that purpose and they work well. they are inexpensive and do double duty as a light and a bolt for holding the plate.

I had a couple of those license plate style lights on my bike but ultimately didn't like them because it was so difficult to set them up as a quick disconnect if I ever needed to remove the plate. When I sold the bike I ended up just cutting the wires to get the plate off.

Lil ugly · Oct 14, 2020

I think I wired mine up with bullet connectors. Now I would use a weatherpack connector

ridered3 · Dec 16, 2020

Got any updates on the one ton LJ?

GlipGlop · Dec 16, 2020

ridered3 said:
Got any updates on the one ton LJ?

It's got a leaky rear right tire? lol. No, unfortunately, with most of my time and energy being directed toward the new house the LJ has been on hold. Once I get the garage more user friendly I think I will start back into it. Most use it got recently was I used it to pull a tree of he roof of my house that had fallen during one of the tropical storms.

ridered3 · Dec 16, 2020

GlipGlop said:
It's got a leaky rear right tire? lol. No, unfortunately, with most of my time and energy being directed toward the new house the LJ has been on hold. Once I get the garage more user friendly I think I will start back into it. Most use it got recently was I used it to pull a tree of he roof of my house that had fallen during one of the tropical storms.

Ah gotcha. Least it got put to use other than as a yard ornament.