93 ZJ Robot

[ILikeMud]

Sounds like your ready for GSO. I finally got the time off for it. Can't wait.

[SirFuego]

I took some pics tonight and I'll try to get some flex pics this weekend.

Credit all of the work to my buddy Eric, who did a kick ass job on my piece of junk (or the "White Elephant" as Eric calls it)...

Click the pic to make it bigger!

Front Bumper
What you cannot see is the 5x2 sleeved into the frame rail. It's all made of 1/4" plate and is beef! Kevins rad support was cut up to provide for some of the side and lower mounting holes. There are also gussets in the front skid to limit the chance of the bumper bending. It was designed for pure function and to keep the fugly robot lights exposed so they eventually get ripped off :P Also designed to maximize approach angle while trying to sit the winch low. The holes in the bumper provide for good airflow. I was driving it around quite a bit today and the temp sat right at 210 the whole time. The entire bumper is a single piece.


Rear Bumper
Designed to be very simple, to maximize departure angle. I don't really care about the rear quarter panel, so that really simplified the design. I had Eric angle the bumper a bit to help it slide better off of rocks. Sides of the bumper are also angled for the same reason. The bumper sleeves into the frame rails and also uses the stock hitch mounts. There is also angle iron that takes 4 bolts on each side for more mounting.

In the first pic, you can also see the 8.8 with the high clearance brackets (nothing is hanging below the axle tube) and Crane diff cover.

Front suspension/Steering
Inverted T with 1.5" dia 0.5" wall. Tie rod is also flipped for a couple extra inches of ground clearance. This of course required track bar mounts to be relocated. Steering is extremely tight and very stout.

You can also see the mini-truss on the HP30 and Crane lipless diff cover. Tubes were also welded to the housing. HP30 is geared to 4.10 and has an Aussie locker.

Front adjustable limit strap mounts. Rancho RSX shocks up front with the Daystar shock bumpstops as added insurance:

Lower limit strap mount and the Czech Republic hockey pucks used as bumpstops:


Tires
33x12.5 Trxus MT. They are pretty nice on the road. We'll see how I like them off road.


Other pics
I got the Clayton's Long arms and used 4.5" RE springs. I also got the Clayton's flat belly skid that is made of 1/4" plating and protects the tcase and catalytic convertor. The entire kit is extremely strong and I should be able to use the arms as "skids".

Rear triangulated shock mounts and rear axle limit strap mount. I went with the BBCS 11" shocks in the rear and 16" limit straps at all four corners.


Rear adjustable upper limit strap mount and the custom spring retainers:


Turbo City dual intake with Amsoil filters. Sure it sucks in hot air, but it frees up room in the engine bay for me to fit an air tank or extra battery in the future.


The passenger rear tire rubs slightly at full stuff. The front tires will rub on the back of the inner fender at full stuff and full steering lock as well. This should hopefully be resolved soon with some hammering.

Overall I am very impressed with everything. The Jeep tracks straight as an arrow down the road. Despite the lack of steering stabilizer up front, the ZJ still tracks straight forward after hitting a bump. Even at 4.5" lift the ZJ feels extremely stable on the road. I can't wait to beat on it off-road

[ILikeMud]

Awesome man.
You need a grill on there though and a stinger.

Can't wait to see that thing tearing up Greens in a few weeks.

[SirFuego]

I still need to cut up the stock grille and figure out how to mount it.

I don't like stingers and I think the winch should be protected enough by the bumper already.

[zj95]

looks awesome man.. good job

[jsteves]

Pics are too small. I don't like to clicky.

[jfowlzj95]

Yeah, that looks great. Nice work! haha mine kinda looks like that right now with just the headlights and nothing else.

[SirFuego]

I try to be nice to the dial-up folk, so I like to post thumbnails.

Here is a link to the gallery the pics are hosted on. You can just click through them at your leisure.
http://www.wnyoffroad.org/thegallery...?image_id=2337

Thanks for the good words, folks. Like I said before, my friend Eric is responsible for the fabwork.

[jsteves]

I try to be nice to the dial-up folk, so I like to post thumbnails.

Here is a link to the gallery the pics are hosted on. You can just click through them at your leisure.
http://www.wnyoffroad.com/thegallery...?image_id=2337

Thanks for the good words, folks. Like I said before, my friend Eric is responsible for the fabwork.

Mucho better.

[SirFuego]

I took the robot on a shakedown run this weekend (see the thread on Grand Slam Ontario for pics and videos) and she performed very well. From what I could tell, I had little to no rubbing on the tires (I don't see any evidence of rubbing on the body or tires either). I came down really hard on my rocker cutouts with the shitty welds a few times and there are no signs of fatigue -- but I would still recommend running unibody supports for anyone trying the same thing in the future.

I also blew another valve stem and just ran the tire at 0 psi for the rest of the ride and swapped on the spare when we got to a flat area on the main access road. This is the second time it happened and the Staun beadlock did its job very well.

I don't think much will get done on this rig until mid-July, but the current plans are to continue fixing the floorboards and either bedline or chassis saver/por 15 the floorboards. OBA will hopefully go in as well.

[SirFuego]

So yesterday I was stopped on a hill with the ZJ turned off. I put my foot on the brake and noticed that the radio turned on (ignition was in the "off" position). When I take my foot off of the pedal, the radio shuts off. When I use the brake with the ZJ on, I get a nice little "christmas-light-like" display across the text on the VIC. I was also told that the brake lights are extremely dim. I now have the joy of finding out where this stupid short is...

As for progress last week:
So last week I:
- Put heat wrap around my transmission tunnel. It's amazing how much that cooled things down inside the Jeep.
- Laid down some heat wrap and window flashing in the rear cargo area and put on a coat of herculiner as a test run for the rest of the floor. It seems to be holding up so far.
- Took my tire to get the valve stem fixed again
- Hit my robot lights off of a few trees and the housing sustained fixable dents, but the lights still keep ticking.
- Blew out another valve stem and needed to borrow a spare to limp home. Staun beadlocks pull through again.
- Buried my ZJ in the same mudpit that consumed me in December.

Good times.

[ILikeMud]

Those robot lights help you get through some tight spots it seems. Amazingly they are still alive.
Good luck finding the short man. I hate dealing with wiring.

[SirFuego]

Some wheeling pics this weekend. I have some minor rubbing issues in the front it seems, so I need to be more aggressive with the sledgehammer...

[jfowlzj95]

Says you have to log in to see the larger images.

[SirFuego]

OK I just removed the thumbnails then. They should work. If not, let me know.

[jfowlzj95]

Works good now, nice pics.

[SirFuego]

I have a couple panels welded in. A few more to go. I should be able to reuse the interior door handle with a little relocation...

[ILikeMud]

Nice man.
Gonna do the rears too?

[SirFuego]

Probably not going to do the rears since I see it being more of a pain than it's worth. I'm doing the front to help with visibility. My rear seats are rarely in and when they were in, they were almost always folded down. Cutting up the rears also makes it easier for all of my equipment to get covered in mud. Bottom line -- I can't really see enough gains that outweigh the losses in cutting up the rear doors.

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

Your rig is so busted, beaten, haggard, and just genuinely frightening. I love it!

[ILikeMud]

Very good point.

[SirFuego]

I went to a place just outside of Rochester called Whispering Pines this past weekend. The place is very stock friendly, but with the rain we've been getting the past couple weeks, it was really sloppy. I was trail leader and didn't really know where I was going, so I was unfortunately a guinea pig to see how difficult some of the muddy areas were. Since everyone here loves mud, here are some pics:

Tried an interesting hill climb rutted out by rigs with bigger than 33s:

Probably bouncing off of the rev limiter here:


No dice, so I tried another line by climbing the side of the hill:

My bumper works as a nice mud shovel.

The line swung my rear end over which wedged my rear quarter into the hillside and I was done.
Trying not to fall 4 or 5 feet into the mud:


Getting winched out with two winches simultaneously:


And being a guinea pig for another mud pit:


And someone else trying the same pit but with a different line:


The aftermath. Clean up was not fun:


Did I ever mention to anyone that I hate mud?

Here are all of the pics:
http://s536.photobucket.com/albums/f...afilter=images

[MUDDTRACKS]

strike a pose lmao This is a great pic

hope you didn't get hurt.

Looks like fun.

Everyone hates the mud but we all have to get dirty sometimes.

[slim616]

strike a pose lmao This is a great pic

hope you didn't get hurt.

Looks like fun.

Everyone hates the mud but we all have to get dirty sometimes.

I bet you use that move on the dance floor all the time

[SirFuego]

Oh yeah, that's only the most basic of my white-boy dance moves. The ladies love it!

There was about 4 or 5 foot drop off between where you see the dirt I'm standing on and the mud my rear tire is in. I was trying everything in my power to not fall backwards and not get smashed by my driver's door. That "dance move" was about the only way I could figure out how to accomplish both.