AndyZJ
07-11-2007, 10:31 PM
I've been snooping around here for a while now and just figured i'd finally introduce myself before making comments on threads of any importance. I'm 22 years old and live in Delaware. I've been wheeling for a while now. My family has always had Jeeps and my first GC was a hand me down from my dad when i was 17. I was a shitty 6 cylinder Limited. One night taking a cruise with some friends, i saw a small path through the grass. Well after a long night of the old "my 4wd will save me" method, i gave up and called the dad. He brought out his flatbed tow truck the next morning and popped me out. After driving to the shop with a Jeep covered in mud, i wanted more. So next i got a ZJ with a V8 5.2L (gas was cheaper). 3" Rancho lift and 31" BFG muds. That Jeep helped me learn alot of things about getting stuck, getting out, getting around things, and lots of lessons of offroading.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/Jeep2.jpg
Sadly after 2-3 years of wheeling this jeep, it couldn't last. I was coming home one night from Universal Technical Institute where i go to school. As i entered an intersection going about 45-50mph, an elderly man decided i wasn't there and made a left hand turn right in front of me. I struck him full force, t-boned in the passenger door. I went over him integra and rolled 3 times. Not wearing my seatbelt i was knocked out for 3 hours and woke up in the hospital with someone stitching my eye back together. The older man wasn't so fortunate. This is what my ZJ looked like after wards.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3282.jpg
Snapped the control arm brackets off the axle and exploded the Tcase.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3285.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3286.jpg
So when the insurance for the man came through with a check for $2500 for the wrecked ZJ, i decided i needed another ZJ to make me feel right at home driving again. So i purchased a '93 Limited V8 from a salvage auction for $600. My dad owns a junkyard and that's how we were able to get it so cheap at such a place. After months of body work to fix the rear from where it was hit, it was up in running order. Now for a lift. I was going to do short arm, but knowing i had money now and enough experience(i think) to move to the next level, i decided long arm. So the only one in my price range was Rusty's. :smt067Oh this will be fun to hear replies about. But don't worry i'll get back to that. I have had it now since January '07.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3301.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3302.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3307.jpg
These are when it was just done. Took all weekend to put it on at the shop. PITA! Also if anyone noticed, its all black with no badges. I love it that way.
I didn't really feel safe with the way Rusty's LA was bolted to the unibody i needed some reinforcement so i welded some 1/4" angle iron between the front and rear mounts.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/HPIM0696.jpg
This was actually a really good idea because i then heard horror stories about the brackets shifting and cracking the unibody and the drilled holes elongating and all kinds of stuff. So anyway i could stiffen it up was good until i came up with something else.
So then after thinking long and hard about how horrible a design that crossmember upfront was, i gathered up $300 and called up clayton's and bought a crossmember. I then began practicing welding alot with the Lincoln welder my dad uses all the time. Then a guy down the street was selling an old arc welder and it had higher amp output and was a new style of welding so my dad and i decided that might be cool. So i began practicing that art and when i was good and confident i welded the Clayton crossmember to my underbody. Thank god my dad had a yard full of Grands to practice unibody welding on. So after that i needed something to do with the side mounts left from the Rusty's kit.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3462.jpg
Cut them up!!
And make some reinforcements for the Clayton crossmember.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3468.jpg
And then welded that back up to the 1/4" angle iron running from there to the rear control arm bracket.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3469.jpg
And that is where i'm at now.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3347.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/Jeep2.jpg
Sadly after 2-3 years of wheeling this jeep, it couldn't last. I was coming home one night from Universal Technical Institute where i go to school. As i entered an intersection going about 45-50mph, an elderly man decided i wasn't there and made a left hand turn right in front of me. I struck him full force, t-boned in the passenger door. I went over him integra and rolled 3 times. Not wearing my seatbelt i was knocked out for 3 hours and woke up in the hospital with someone stitching my eye back together. The older man wasn't so fortunate. This is what my ZJ looked like after wards.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3282.jpg
Snapped the control arm brackets off the axle and exploded the Tcase.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3285.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3286.jpg
So when the insurance for the man came through with a check for $2500 for the wrecked ZJ, i decided i needed another ZJ to make me feel right at home driving again. So i purchased a '93 Limited V8 from a salvage auction for $600. My dad owns a junkyard and that's how we were able to get it so cheap at such a place. After months of body work to fix the rear from where it was hit, it was up in running order. Now for a lift. I was going to do short arm, but knowing i had money now and enough experience(i think) to move to the next level, i decided long arm. So the only one in my price range was Rusty's. :smt067Oh this will be fun to hear replies about. But don't worry i'll get back to that. I have had it now since January '07.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3301.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3302.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3307.jpg
These are when it was just done. Took all weekend to put it on at the shop. PITA! Also if anyone noticed, its all black with no badges. I love it that way.
I didn't really feel safe with the way Rusty's LA was bolted to the unibody i needed some reinforcement so i welded some 1/4" angle iron between the front and rear mounts.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/HPIM0696.jpg
This was actually a really good idea because i then heard horror stories about the brackets shifting and cracking the unibody and the drilled holes elongating and all kinds of stuff. So anyway i could stiffen it up was good until i came up with something else.
So then after thinking long and hard about how horrible a design that crossmember upfront was, i gathered up $300 and called up clayton's and bought a crossmember. I then began practicing welding alot with the Lincoln welder my dad uses all the time. Then a guy down the street was selling an old arc welder and it had higher amp output and was a new style of welding so my dad and i decided that might be cool. So i began practicing that art and when i was good and confident i welded the Clayton crossmember to my underbody. Thank god my dad had a yard full of Grands to practice unibody welding on. So after that i needed something to do with the side mounts left from the Rusty's kit.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3462.jpg
Cut them up!!
And make some reinforcements for the Clayton crossmember.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3468.jpg
And then welded that back up to the 1/4" angle iron running from there to the rear control arm bracket.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3469.jpg
And that is where i'm at now.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/AndyZJ/122_3347.jpg