This is my YJ as I bought it. Completely stock, Sahara, 4.0, 5spd, cruise, A/C, block heater, yada, yada, yada.
Check out the flex:
So I had the itch to lift my Jeep some, so I found some 2" lift shackles for my Jeep and added some 31x10.5 ATs. If I had to choose anyone point that I thought my Jeep looked its best, I'd say its right here, I love the 2" lift 31" tire look.
My first custom project for the Jeep was a hi-lift jack hood mount.
So after "wheeling" my Jeep through some puddles it was clear I need more lift and bigger tires. This my Jeep with the 2" lift shackles, a 4" RoughCountry lift, and a 3" body lift, with 33x12.50s on 15x10 wheels.
As a reminder if your Jeep is covered in wet mud when you get home at 1 AM, and its 20 degrees outside, if you lock your doors you won't be able to unlock them in the morning, luckly I had another vehicle to drive in the morning.
Rubbing 33s isn't a problem now, finally some real flex:
The next mod on the list was TJ Flares, flat fendering, and truck bed lining the tub. I ordered some used TJ Flares, and went to work.
TJ Flares installed, and flat fendered:
Truck bedliner prep work:
Truck bedliner completed:
So it was about this time that I decided locking the Dana35 was a good idea. I'm easy on the skinny pedal, why not? Yeah so the very first trip out, I destroyed the Dana35. Bad part is that it went just letting out the clutch nice and easy getting ready to do an obstacle, I wasn't even to any aggressive terrain yet. Worst part of it was that after 7 hours of calling and searching I find a new Dana35 shaft, only to find out I can't replace the shat as the carrier distorted and the center pin won't come out, so nothing short of torching the carrier open will get this axle apart.
So not wanting to repeat this expierence, I opted to the replace the Dana35 with a Ford 8.8. Since I was welding on perches, why not go SOA too at the same time? This is my Jeep SOA on 4" RoughCountry leafs, stock shackles and a 3" body lift, on 33" tires. In this picture you can just barely see that my wrap bar is on the wrong side too, lessons learned I guess.
After the broken axle expierence I realized how much I need a winch, so I added a Tabor 9000 pound winch.
Some SOA flex, finally clearing 33s:
I decided I wanted a new rear bumper and decided to build a new one:
Mrs.OhioYJ came up with the idea of capping the ends off with Pinions, one of them is from my Broken Dana35, the other is from the Dana30.
Hunting for a gas station to air up your tires really gets old, so after several recommendations for the PUMA unit I decided to add one to my Jeep. Intially I built a box to turn it on and off as I wished.
So I had decided I needed larger tires, and a front locker, which meant the 30 had to go, and I swapped in a Waggy 44, locked of course with a true high-steer setup with 1-ton tie-rod ends.
Well the Waggy44 was 6-lug, so I had to buy new rims, and they might as well be beadlocks right? 32-bolt, Allied Rock-a-thons, 15x10 4" backspace. Now the 8.8 needed to be converted to 6-lug as well, so might as well be with Moser Custom Alloy shafts, and since I had it apart, might as well throw in a locker.
All the axle work finally down, sitting on 36x12.50s.
With the new higher center of gravity I wanted a real roll cage. This was taken while I was removing the interior to start the roll cage add-ons.
Tacking new pieces in place:
Roll cage removed for final welding:
So it took Dave and I all weekend, but we got it done:
I guess my alternator had been through one too many mud puddles, so it got replaced with a 136 amp alternator from a V10 Dodge.
Next is one of my favorite mods, my rock sliders, 1/4" wall, welded directly to the frame.
My Jeep at this stage sort of reached a stopping point, and mods slowed down quite a bit, mainly I just wheeled and enjoyed it for a while:
So I had determined my shocks where a limiting factor on my rig, so after some thought I came up with a completely new idea. Actually filed for a patent on it too. My 13" travel ProComp shocks were limiting my travel, I need something longer, but that would still compress short enough so I didn't loose any compression, and dropping a bunch of cash on fancy longer travel shocks was not an option. So opted to use two shocks instead of one:
On the bottom of this picture is a 13" ProComp shock, fully extended next to my setup, the kicker though is my setup still compresses to the same length as the standard shock:
So I don't know why I put off the hand throttle mod for so long, it ended up only costing me $11. Its one of the most useful things I did to my Jeep:
I had joked around about building a new front bumper for quite a while, one with a big obnoxious stinger. I was really proud of how well the gear box skid turned out:
During final welding:
Oh yeah, thats a big stinger.
I decided it was time to really make use of that larger alternator and go to a dual battery setup. This is one mod that I thought would be quick and easy, let me be the first to say building a battery tray sucks, there are 11 mount points on the factory tray, putting them all back was a PITA.
My standard 5/16" winch cable was looking pretty rough, so I opted to replace it with some 3/8" cable:
I was getting tired of hitting my skid plate on things everytime I went wheeling, so I decided to remove the transfer case drop, pretty easy mod, I just removed it.
After putting this much work into my Jeep I wanted it to be rather difficult for someone to steal, so I opted to add in my own version of a kill switch. 100 ft. of wiring later this switch panel serves multiple purposes. To start my Jeep it takes two keys and a combination of switches, flip the wrong switches or don't have both keys the horn comes on and stays on. The switches also control accessories on the Jeep like the OBA.
I didn't think I'd ever add a cold air intake, it just seemed sort of ricer for a Jeep. However, after several good friends gaining gas mileage after doing it, I decided I'd try it. I can't just go buy something, for one thats exspensive, and two thats not my style. I decided to build my own out of 3" exhaust pipe and a deep well socket.
So I scored some new lights for my Jeep, and I had some new ideas. I added a light bar to the front of my bumper, and moved the winch solenoid under the hood.
Added a front license plate mount for my bumper, so I'm actually all legal now.
Two new KC's mounted:
Also added some 55-watt backup lights, which have proved to be very handy, even just as camp lights when necessary.
Also added some 55-watt dome lights, one for the front and one for the rear, finding stuff in the Jeep is no longer a problem at night.
To control the new lights, I added another switch panel, which also houses the winch remote hook-up now, much nicer to plug in the winch remote from inside the Jeep.
I had to cut the skid plate some as I found out when I removed the transfer case drop my front driveshaft no longer cleared the skid plate, oops.
I finally replaced my leaking cowl seal, so I decided to go ahead and put in a real radio. Just a cheapo Pioneer unit, but it plays MP3s.
Since I had the dash out anyways, figured I'd better go ahead and ditch the factory 4x6s, the radio sounds a lot better now.
I came across a really good deal for some 37" GoodYear MT/Rs, so I figured that was a good time to freshen up the beadlocks as well. The rings got a treatment of OD Green, the wheels where re-painted black, then both where clear coated.
Been thinking about doing it for a while now, finally took the plunge and painted the Jeep OD Green, complete with the invasion stars and "serial" numbers, to complete the WWII look.
