MoonyJohn's "Project Blue Moon" 2000 WJ

[Rangerwj]

that bumper is HUGE! but i really like how it looks. very nice looking dub

[MoonyJohn]

Yeah it is pretty big, but honestly I think it looks pretty good. For 650 you cant beat it. Here are some better pics of it, with the tire on it. Looks more proportional now







Made a stopper so it stops just at where I can open the hatch. He also made the swing out as short as possible just so its not hanging out so much when opened.



Drilled a hole, and welded a nut behind the bumper



Took a bolt, bent a piece of small tubing, and welded it onto it. Works well, but its not the fastest operation system





Clearance, could be closer but this still is pretty good.







Left the stock hitch, and made it where I could still use the hitch receiver, which is awesome cause I tow random stuff sometimes



Not too bad of a blind spot



I ended up taking out my 3/4" isolator in the front, this picture is before i took it out. In the rear it sagged a little more than an inch. So technically its sitting at 4.5" in the rear, and 6" in the front.





Still need to work on a license plate mount, im thinking just on the bumper, right below the swing out, and then getting some LED thing off kevinsoffroad or something

[Rangerwj]

ya man ur rig is looking pretty cool! im kinda surprised the fabricator didnt include some kind of quickly operated latch for the swing gate. another thing to watch out for is ur trailer connector out back. i cracked mine in half last fall. wonder if you could move it up so the bumper would take all the hits?

how you like the kevlars on the street?

[Jeep Whore]

I love the quadra drive badge.

looks good man.

[MoonyJohn]

ya man ur rig is looking pretty cool! im kinda surprised the fabricator didnt include some kind of quickly operated latch for the swing gate. another thing to watch out for is ur trailer connector out back. i cracked mine in half last fall. wonder if you could move it up so the bumper would take all the hits?

how you like the kevlars on the street?

I bet you could somehow, Ill have to take a gander at it here someday. It might just unscrew and I could tuck it up under there and get some double sided adhesive tape or something.

Im pretty impressed with a M/T and its road manners. Super quiet on the road, good traction, a little bumpy from the spaced lugs but they do good. In the rain I havent had a problem with them either, neither in the snow even aired at 35psi. When they are aired down to 15psi and in the snow they do pretty good, same in mud. I havent had them lower than 15psi though.

I love the quadra drive badge.

looks good man.

Whoa, dont get too excited there bubba.

[MoonyJohn]

Went out wheeling today, was a blast! Today was my first day wheeling it with the bumper on it, and man did that really earn its coin already. The first trail I went on I had a huge scrape that would have taken out my stock bumper if I still had it, and perhaps made body damage elsewhere. Ill get pictures of the damage later, the jeep is dirty now. But, I did manage to outwheel a 4runner locked f&r on 36" iroks, on a trail called "The Waterfall". My friend got video of me going up, I had my camera in the jeep so my bro didnt take pics. But, it was really nice to see what the jeep could do for once, I definitely went out of my normal comfort zone and started playing with rocks. Lets just say I might be doing axles soon, or in the distant future. Heres some pics of my rig, ill post up our other rigs after I get all mine up.

This is the trail I got my damage on, it was on the driver side rear bumper.

















Managed to find some snow, and I was the leader so I got up as far as I could and tried to winch myself out. Well, turns out the winch mount broke. It was the bumper, it wasnt a loose bolt, it was the winch itself. I dont know if you can see it good in these pics, but the side square pieces there that are the end caps for the line snapped at the bottom. The winch is rated for 8k, and I pulled out my buddies toyota which was in a huge rut, but somehow I managed to break it with my jeep alone and with snow?? WTF? Im gonna take the winch back, get my money back and buy a warn. Never planned on having my main recovery point break like this, it left a small dent on the front part of the bumper too. Its bullshit.







This is what I was stuck in, nothing major







We then hit firebreaker five to end the day

[MoonyJohn]

Heres a few pics of my co-workers rigs. The white toyota and the red YJ are my buddies, the 4runner is the toyotas friend.

Toyota: 39.5" Iroks w/ f&r lockers
4runner: 36" Iroks w/ f&r lockers
YJ: 37" Boggers w/ d44's f&r lockers















"Can opener" Trail.. double black diamond











Busted driveline, oops

[MoonyJohn]

Engine took a shit, going up to the moutain to go snowboarding and the lifters were clicking like mad. Check the oil dipstick and it was dry.. fml

Anyways, engine is getting a new rebuilt, should get it back saturday. For breaking it in, ive heard from the mechanic that I should drive 500 miles unsteady on the throttle, and then oil change to 10-30w and run that for a while until you can run synthetic at around 10k..

new rebuilt







How it sits

[1ABrian]

ok I counted 6 engines in the garage including the scrap heep and new heep motor. You do a lot of motor swaps on vehicles?

[Jeeptech01]

If I had to guess Id say it was at an engine shop.

[96RedZJ]

ok I counted 6 engines in the garage including the scrap heep and new heep motor. You do a lot of motor swaps on vehicles?

JF Thread stated it is his dads friends shop. He has the jeep back on the road again.

[MoonyJohn]

Just to update, I went to a 33" bfg a/t and loved them.. was getting really good gas mileage and was saving me a significant amount on the pump. Well, my brother in law who I trade my tires with originally said he didnt want the kevlars anymore cause he couldnt fit them and didnt want to trim (he drives an explorer, lol) so I took them back. Also installed some iceland flares, keep myself street legal and keep me from washing the jeep as much when I go wheeling and up to the mountain this winter. Heres some pics of the process for the flares. The rear trim job is hideous, but it works out for me so I could care less.

Mocked up







Got some matching patriot blue paint, layed 2 thin coats and then 1 heavy final coat.. used this clear spray paint. Worked out awesome!







Front mounted





Rest all on, with the 33's





Aside from the install, there was a jeep show and I scored an 801 on the RTI, not bad I suppose



Light wheeling





And with the 35's mounted up







Going wheeling tomorrow, just redid my rear bumpstops. Instead of 6", I cut them down to 4" and they seem to be the absolute perfect length. I have maybe an 1/8th of an inch or 1/4" until the tire touches the fender. Well see how it does.

[TrailTaxi]

hey bro love the rig got an odd question for you where did you get your fuel door cover iv been lookin for one in black but cant seem to find one

[MoonyJohn]

Got it off ebay, should still be up there..

Let me start off by saying something about the iceland flares.. the mounting on them absolutely sucks. The bolts that they have epoxied on there, or whatever kind of adhesive that is, is crap. Ive had 6 bolts atleast break off when I was tightening them down, and then I hit the flare on a rock yesterday and the flare is now shifted up and another broken bolt! Ridiculous. I pay for a $450 flare set and get something that doesnt even last 1 wheeling trip... I mean come on. Should get some sort of better way of mounting those on.

Anyways, heres some pictures. We had 9 in our group, and we ran into 2 JK's.. One guy was running 36psi in his tires, and he had well over 45k into his JK. He had a Hemi swap, and all axle work done and a custom paint job. Let just say money doesnt buy driving technique..

Heres his



And mine.. I let my brother drive the first easy half. Hes 14 and hes getting his permit soon so im just warming him up He did really good! Just hard on the throttle, and got close to clipping tree's when on the switchbacks





Firebreaker Five, standard trail I go on everytime. I was running 15psi







Came to the top of the trail head, was super windy, and misty. Was really cool weather actually.



And found a hill to stretch out on





All of the decent pics, nothing broke which was good

[1ABrian]

This is lookin awsome man. Love the flares. I like how it carries some bold lines yet conforms to the body that good. Kudos on an awsome build!!!

[MoonyJohn]

Yeah they match up well with the bumpers, though it kinda sucks losing width clearance, WJ's are already wide enough as it is..