Project "do-over" - 5.9 lifted and wheeled.

[OverkillZJ]

This 5.9 was free to me. A friends radiator blew, mixing the coolant with the transmission fluid. I've put a lot of work into it fixing it up, and now it's up a little bit and wheelable.

I call it project "Do Over" since my 97 ZJ never should've become a buggy. I enjoy this kind of wheeling too much.

31.7" tires are on (some whaky metric thing), so's Kevin's 2.25" BB. The front shocks I was sent were 2" shorter than stock for some reason, I put on some stock Rubicon shocks I had laying around, which appear to be longer than the stock ZJ shocks and work out well. There's no bump stops at the moment, the cups were rusted to the posts, I used a grinder to cut them off. I didn't have any bump stop extensions anyway. Still, the tires don't make contact with the fenders or anywhere else, it works out perfectly since they're 9.5" wide. No sway bars rignt now either, links snapped in half when taking them off from age and rust. Will leave the rear off, and put disconnects on the front. It works great like this, but drives like a boat.


Pics of exploring the Connellsville area yesterday. I had google maps w/ the satellite overlay on, made it interesting seeing where I actually was.









Echo makes for a good wheelin' dog!


New shocks (wrong ones) compared to stock. Used Rubi shocks, seem to work great.

They would have limited flex a lot...

[rstrucks]

And so it begins.....

Looks like a cool place.

[paulkeith]

damn, nice. Looks tall, taller than mine, but I guess i'm on 1.75 instead of 2.25, and 31s instead of 31.7. Thanks for making me want to go taller already

I especially like these two:





Nice dog too!

[SirFuego]

I remember Connellsville vividly. Something about you telling me you made it up the ledge on 31s before and me breaking a control arm trying to make it up that ledge -- then almost getting my tow rig and trailer stuck in the snow at the trailhead. I was going to ask if you tried it, but I forgot they smoothed a lot of it out :-(

Looks good!

[OverkillZJ]

I took it up that ledge yesterday! No snow, though.

They did smooth a lot of it out, but then it looks like they wend back and dug it out for the better, again. Lots of hill climbs at the playground now, some steep enough I'd be afraid to try in the buggy (unless I was bored and wanted to endo.)

[dp96zj]

What happens when you rip off a UCA mount? Better go to claytons and an axle swap

Nah, just kidding, hopefully you can fight the urge and keep it relatively stock. Oh, and picking a niner up for free is BADASS! Very nice work getting that rig rehab'd back to being driveable.

[1fox2go]

Nice, future plans?

[OverkillZJ]

Plans = wheel it.

[slim616]

I thought they closed that place down. I remember being there around 01 or so and checking out those huge mine shafts and the overlook were all the locals would drive the cars off the cliff.

[OverkillZJ]

It depends on the area - it's huge, and has multiple owners. I was on a legal logging road. Mines are closed, were never really legal anyway since the road to it crosses gamelands.

[sasdranger]

I miss just driving around on relatively easy stuff and exploring too.. It doesn't help that there's not much of that shit down here but it seems to get harder the more capable your rig gets lol

[SirFuego]

So...hows this rig treatin' ya?

EDIT: Damn you! You beat me by a minute!

[OverkillZJ]

Hahaha. I'm convinced this vehicle is cursed. That's what PK told me when he gave it to me, too. I now believe him. This just reminded me how weak that unibody really is - I'd love an open top vehicle to wheel. Not sure what yet, just trimming the fat at the moment.

[Horus]

Nice rig. I've seen quite a few 5.9s around wheelin my area lately. They are slowly making their appearance on the trails.