93 ZJ Robot

[SirFuego]

Since my buddy is rocking his winter ATs right now, he let me borrow his 33" Baja Claws (well...305/70/16 = 32.8x12x16). They work on the road, but once I get some articulation, they will rub, so I still need to do more trimming. But I think I can get them to work. I know people have done 33s on a BB before, but here are more pics.

Before putting them on, I pounded the crap out of the pinch seam in the front. The tires clear at full turn lock. They only rub on my sway bar link holders, but I've been planning to relocate them or rig up something else for them.


Full steering lock:


There is some sheetmetal underneath the head lights that will probably rub when they are stuffed, so that has got to go.

The rear was a tight fit. They are fine for road driving, but I can pretty much guarantee they would rub on the rocker at full droop.



So I trimmed the one side and it definitely freed up some room (yeah, I know I suck with the angle grinder). I might need to do some trimming in the rear, but I'll have to see how far back the axle goes when the rear is stuffed.



Here are some pics showing the whole piece of junk:

[KDUB]

So is Buffalo close to where Anthony (I Like Mud) lives? The reason I ask is because it looks like he may have helped you with your fender trimming. Just clean it up with the grinder and it'll be alright.

[SirFuego]

Haha, he is actually fairly close but haven't yet met him in person. I do remember that post about his fender trimming. I literally just cut the fenders and called it a day. I'm sure some more grinder work will make them better.

[SirFuego]

More fun with the sawzall...

[DJJordache]

holy crap is rust damage like this on all the vehicles up there?

[SirFuego]

It's not uncommon, though it's pretty obvious that I don't take much care of my Jeep body-wise. They use so much salt in the winter that it just eats away at the metal. Buying a "rust-free" vehicle locally only means that you can't see the rust. I know I had rust below the tailgate and on the rear fender, but it looked clean other than that. Only when the cladding and carpet came off did I realize how bad it was.

The only truly "rust-free" older Jeeps I've seen up here were ones that were fixed up or were originally from the south.

[ILikeMud]

My fender trimming was worse.

I'll be on Grand Island the weekend of Dec 15th btw.

[SirFuego]

Oh yeah? Heading across the border like every other Canadian? Going to visit rockhardmj?

Let me know if you wanna head out for a drink or two (or three or four or...).

[ILikeMud]

Gf's company's Christmas Party (aka an all expense paid drunk ass weekend).

I'll let you know man. I've got the time off but I dunno if the gf is going since she's supposed to fly home (to the parents) that weekend.

[SirFuego]

A trip to Rausch Creek fell through, but still got a chance to play this weekend:
Getting up the short side of a ledge:

Going down the rock garden:

Going up the rock garden:


On top of the world:

[ILikeMud]

Where abouts is that trail man?

Might have to head down to NY State to wheel sometime.

[SirFuego]

The trails are somewhat near Pittsburgh. I grew up just outside of Pittsburgh so the major family holidays are normally spent down there. I wish we had stuff like this around Buffalo.

[jfowlzj95]

Man your rig has taken some serious abuse.

[SirFuego]

Went wheeling over a buddy's place a couple weeks ago. Passenger side headlight housing fell out again and was crushed by the tire.

So I figured it'd be a good first welding project for me. Just need to drill mounting holes, wire everything up (I can't find my wire stripper, arrrgh!), and paint up the housing. Gonna drill oblong holes in the three mounting brackets so I can vertically and horizontally aim the headlights.

It's far from perfect, but so is my Jeep, so I guess works

Here's the current status...



Quick question -- The red wire for the headlight is for the low beams and the red/purple is for the high beams, right?

[ILikeMud]

Nice man. I'd like to do something like that with my crappy stock headlights. Can't wait to see what it looks like.

I checked the Hayne's manual but I can't confirm the wiring diagram as the ones in it SUCK.

[ZachJ]

Quick question -- The red wire for the headlight is for the low beams and the red/purple is for the high beams, right?

I think that it is the opposite, purple/ red for low and red for high.

[SirFuego]

Can't wait to see what it looks like.

Got driver's side mounted. Battery on my drill ran out before I could finish drilling the mounting holes on the passenger side. So I propped the housing up on some boxes for a mock up...

I think that it is the opposite, purple/ red for low and red for high.

Yeah, you're right. I was sans multimeter until today and that verified it for me.

[2jeepsforus]

Jared, are those pretty bright? They look to be a lot better than the stockers...


Dave

[ILikeMud]

Yea, definitely bright.

Not sure on the over all look though.

[SirFuego]

Not sure on the over all look though.

I'm not sure I really like it either. It might have to do with the light placement or possibly the skeleton-y look. I'll probably stick with it until I break it, because it's different (at least with respect to other ZJs in my area -- I know others on here have used round headlights) and it was my first project with the welder. I need headlights since I want to keep this thing street legal (plus night wheeling is always fun) and have more important things to worry about than looks.

Those are just $9 TJ headlights from AutoZone.

[SirFuego]

Looking at my rockers, the B pillar is still intact. The parts of the A and C pillars that run into the unibody "frame" are still intact as well. I know these have all taken a beating.

So my plan is to cut out the rockers a bit differently than everyone else seems to be doing. Since the pillars seem like they can take a pretty good beating, why not notch the tubing such that it can be welded directly to the pillars? If my theory is correct, there should not be a need to run steel tubing to the unibody. I would of course weld the rockers in other places similar to what others have done. Then probably take out the caulk gun and silicone around the exposed areas to hopefully prevent rust from forming.

In my searches, I really wasn't able to find anyone that welded directly to the pillars. Everyone just seems to notch around them. But perhaps I'm missing something? Any thoughts on this matter?

[SirFuego]

OK so after cutting out the driver's side rocker panel, the bottom of the A pillar is almost non existent from rust and the bottom of the B pillar is rusted pretty badly, so I have a slight change in plans.

Cut the A and B pillars so that the tubing lays flush below them (thus not needing to notch out the tubing) and weld the top of the tubing directly to the bottom of the A and B pillars. I might run a vertical support to the C pillar as well. Tubing would also be welded to the body.

Not sure quite yet how good or dumb this idea is, but it seems to make sense in my head -- assuming that the pillars are strong enough to take the abuse. Hopefully I'll get something accomplished with this soon.

[MoonWorks]

Your shits getting worse looks as we speak. Have fun kicking the crap out of it and keep up the shitty fab work. lol

[ILikeMud]

OK so after cutting out the driver's side rocker panel, the bottom of the A pillar is almost non existent from rust and the bottom of the B pillar is rusted pretty badly, so I have a slight change in plans.

Cut the A and B pillars so that the tubing lays flush below them (thus not needing to notch out the tubing) and weld the top of the tubing directly to the bottom of the A and B pillars. I might run a vertical support to the C pillar as well. Tubing would also be welded to the body.

Not sure quite yet how good or dumb this idea is, but it seems to make sense in my head -- assuming that the pillars are strong enough to take the abuse. Hopefully I'll get something accomplished with this soon.

As long as it's all tied in, I see no issues.
Kris or Matt would no more then me though.

[SirFuego]

Finally remembered my memory card reader from work, so here are some pics.

First, the installed fugly robot lights...




Now onto the rockers.

This is what my driver's side rocker looked like before


This is what the inside of the rocker panel should look like (zj95maxx's rig):


This is what mine looks like now (gotta love the holes in the floorboard right now). All of the dirt on the ground is from inside my rocker panel. Ugh, I hate mud.

Trimmed B Pillar:


Trimmed A pillar:


A mockup of the steel tubing sitting on jack stands. I was too lazy to put the shims under the tubing to get the top flush with the pillars, but I have verified that the tubing will be flush against the pillars so they can be welded to the tubing.





The gap between the doors and tubing measures almost exacly an inch, so I will weld in some metal after I get everything welded in place. i didn't get a pic, but the 2x5 sits just below the floorboard and will also be welded directly to the body behind the rocker panel. Stock ZJ rockers are about 2-3" inches below the floor boards. Mine were so mangled that they were already flush the the floorboard. So I'm not really gaining much ground clearance than what I had, but it's definitely going to have more ground clearance than stock.

Next step is to paint the inner rocker panel, weld on caps to the tubing, and paint up the tubing. Paint will then be grinded out where it will be welded.