war pony

[redneckrollercoaster]

Guess it's time to put my crap in the right place. It's a 94 4.0 that was new to me in 07 and has been a slow process, as I have to garage-hop or roll around in gravel, but a house w/ a garage is in the works. The jeep started stock (we've been through all this before), went to a mild shortarm lift, tore the frame and ended up on 35's and clayton's with mild lp 44 axles under the front and back. The Jeep bug bites pretty hard so between day-to-day life w/ 2 kids and a wife I stay pretty poor...I do everything I can to the jeep with whatever's left, so it's kind of a mix of quality parts and budget modifications that take forever to happen. I pretty much run-what-i-brung till it breaks and upgrade when it does. Right now it's in the if-its-in-the-way-just-cut-it-off phase and the latest list of things to do is as follows:
1.Boatside rockers-12ft of2x4x3/16ths, a bunch of angle and some plate sitting in the back and in the driveway DONE
2.Add tranny cooler, run it with factory cooler, use jy tranny cooler for power-steering cooler DONE
3.SYE kit for 231 w/driveshaft because it's eating rear tcase seals
4.CAGE- had a close call, at least I make the kids get out before I get stupid...fucking Potato Salad took my man card and I want it back! Sat on my tip-point for like an hour before help arrived. I like interior cages for the lateral support but won't hit mine or kids' heads on exo. Keeps me up nights scheming and dreaming.DONE
5. Relocate rear upper spring perches so my springs aren't all arched and weird.
6.Fuel cell so I can move the rear axle back...or relocate stock tank if I get it on good authority that it's SAFE to do that (BUT THEN WHERE DO I PUT THE GIANT TOOLBOX?)
7.Plate frame as necessary
8.GET THE DAMN TIRE OFF THE ROOF(see 4) and while I'm at it...
9.Get a matching fullsize spare before its too late to rotate it through.
10.Rotate my inner c's to correct my castor to fix wandering issues
11.RCV waggy shafts (you know, when I get rich enough)
12.4.6 stroker (again, when I'm rich)
13. Get chromoly shafts made for the isuzu 44 in the back, or wait, screw that I want a Sterling 10.25!
14. Find elusive driver drop ford 60 to match if I have to total one of the boss's trucks to do it
When I bought it...
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..and the shortarm lift.
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And a few years later...
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And the start of the latest project, the rocker, slider thing
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[ATL ZJ]

congrats on your rig almost winning an oscar

[biggoofy]

Got pics of the drivers side wheel well stretch.

[redneckrollercoaster]

Got pics of the drivers side wheel well stretch.

I wasn't tearing tires on the driver side so I left it alone. Have enough clearance there for now from the factory because of the fuel filler lines.
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[redneckrollercoaster]

congrats on your rig almost winning an oscar

LOL or a DARWIN AWARD

[redneckrollercoaster]

Off to the shop.
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[redneckrollercoaster]

Got some new toys yesterday.
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Played around with some exhaust tubing and a 1/8th in tracbar mount. My first weld EVER. Not as ugly as I thought it would be

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And then came to the realization I should have practiced A LOT MORE...and the hole was supposed to line up elsewhere. lol it DID before I decided to trim the end down. Whoops.

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[CTeunuch]

Probably not a good project to learn how to weld.....

[redneckrollercoaster]

Probably not a good project to learn how to weld.....

Agreed...figured if I didn't burn through the exhaust tubing I wouldn't burn through the unibody and got overconfident...The guys who usually do my welding have been busy with their own stuff for like 3 months now. Just want to get this done someday... Welding vertical, sideways and upside-down is nowhere near as simple as sitting something on the ground in front of me. Lesson LEARNED. Thank GOD the welder only came with a teeny little spool of wire...

[redneckrollercoaster]

Got evil again today... I work 65+ hours a week as of late so when I have time I wanna get things done. All went well w/ my unqualified (to put it mildly) welding but the party ended when I got the gun too close to the work and the wire welded itself to the liner at where the work line leaves the welder. I tried to drill it out but ended up w/ a buncha broken drill bits and a hole in my hand for my efforts. It friggin sucks being a noob.
Anyhow, after I buy a new liner for my 6 work-hour-old welder (dumbass) the plan is to put four 2x2x3/16ths supports from the frame to the 2x4 rails and plate it with eighth inch plate to form a boatside after I cut out more low-hanging crap that's in the way and cut slots through the floorboard for the 2x2's.
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Since I couldn't finish hadda put the doors back on and lock her up as my jeep is also my GARAGE.
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[redneckrollercoaster]

And what type of holesaw do you folks use? I can't seem to find one that will drill more than three holes, even when using cutting oil. No, I don't have oxyacetylene- doesn't fit in my red shed lol.

[redneckrollercoaster]

Finally almost finished passenger side boatslider...what I've learned so far is I sure wish I had boxed the 'frame' somehow BEFORE the Clayton's went on, as it would have been much cleaner/easier to do so; and doing a project like this with just a grinder and cutoff discs instead of having a plasma or cutoff saw and a bench grinder is NOT FUN but it came out ok, didn't get a cutoff disc through the neck or anything. Welding without argon and on my back in gravel SUCKS. Welding doorsill to 3/16ths tube with fluxcore was not fun either, but I think I'll give myself a C+ on the whole project. Took a couple hours here, couple hours there as I had the time, so it took forever. Can't wait to start the other side...LOL
[IMG]Was going to run 4 supports, ended up with two with a crossbar.[/IMG]
[IMG]Have to patch around the support arms...[/IMG]
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[IMG]My friend from work with his arm in the cutoff zone.[/IMG]
[IMG]I need to trim the lower back corner as it interferes with the control arm.[/IMG]

[CTeunuch]

I feel you on welding sheetmetal with fluxcore, it's fucking miserable. At least there's plenty of hot spatter to give you some nice burns though. Progress looks good, keep it up!

[redneckrollercoaster]

I feel you on welding sheetmetal with fluxcore, it's fucking miserable. At least there's plenty of hot spatter to give you some nice burns though. Progress looks good, keep it up!

Thanks, man...yeah somehow I always end up with spatter/drip burns on the top of my feet- how the material gets all the way through my shoe and sock I have NO idea

[1ABrian]

LOL, same here on the foot burns but flying spatter is hot enough to burn through almost ANY clothing. Like a monkey, I was welding sitting and legs crossed. Spatter went through sock and into my ankle. All i could do was sit in pain because i couldn't get to it. I learned real quick. You ever see pics of guys welding bare foot? LOL
Nice job on your boatsides.

[redneckrollercoaster]

LOL, same here on the foot burns but flying spatter is hot enough to burn through almost ANY clothing. Like a monkey, I was welding sitting and legs crossed. Spatter went through sock and into my ankle. All i could do was sit in pain because i couldn't get to it. I learned real quick. You ever see pics of guys welding bare foot? LOL
Nice job on your boatsides.

Thanks man! Yeah, I did the crosslegged thing welding under the Jeep, too, same issue almost, then found some old carpet and use that to lay and kneel on now. It helps. I know it's flammable and if it gets wet it sucks for a bit, but it sure softens the gravel...

[redneckrollercoaster]

Got some time this week so now I'm fairly close to finished with the driver side boatslider dealie. Last weekend took the Jeep and my 500 dollar frankenquad up Lime Creek trail, a really mild trail...well my wife somehow managed to bust a 5125, so finally a bit of carnage. Funny it happened there, considering the trails and lines I've had this thing on to this point. Thinking about getting some stiffer parts-store monroes or the like for the rear...between my soft, front-to-rear swap springs and the bilsteins the thing kinda rode like an 80's waterbed was back there. Anyone ever go that route?
THIS IS THE EPITOME OF REDNECK...Homemade 4-wheeler on a homemade trailer behind a homemade Jeep lol
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The Carnage Queen of the creek-fishing outing
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[redneckrollercoaster]

Found someone to build me a cage. He's going to start it on tuesday, so I'll be busy stripping interior this weekend. I'm also going to pull my severely cracked windshield out as he is going to try and run the a-pillars through the dash. Have seen this done on a 97 on here, hoping it will work with a 94 dash. My question is, especially in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, will law-enforcement harass me if I have the sexy A-bars in the center of the windshield bars?

[redneckrollercoaster]

Some cage spy pix. Cage tied into boatsliders and 'frame', there will be a harness bar in the back for the kids as well, door bars will be added also. Went through dash fine, my hvac didn't work except through the center vents anyhow.
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[redneckrollercoaster]

Cage done for the most part, may end up converting from 6 points to 8 after I figure out what I'm gonna do in the back...thinking of doing a wj-esque type tank lift. In other words, instead of just putting a the tank or a cell in the cargo area I'd be cutting a hole in the floor and lifting tank between the unirails till it's level with bottom and building some kind of an enclosure over it, I don't know...then I can move the axle and spring-perches back a ways. Anyhow, Mike put in extra braces parallel to my slider supports for a better place for a and b pillars to land and put in some better welds on my frame plating. A-pillars went through the dash just fine after notching into my hvac duct on passenger side(never worked there anyway) and moving some electrical stuff to the side on driver side. No, it's not d.o.m., even though it's only 1&1/2, but I think it will serve my purposes just fine. The back legs land on plates with kickers going to the uniframe. Getting 5-point harnesses for Christmas and the father-in-law also gave us his old circle track harnesses, so everyone will be strapped in good. Getting in and out of the driver seat is annoying with door bars, but the extra bracing, especially considering we used hrew, is well worth the inconvenience. Grabbed a few pics after painting the bones today, will take some better ones when/if I put the interior back together. Think they're fuzzy cuz the lens fogged taking camera from house to outside, sorry. Again, the rear is not finished-that harness bar WILL be supported a bit more once I decide what's happening back there.
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[redneckrollercoaster]

What a pain in the ass! Thank God for braided wire wheels. Friggin' crap flings everywhere though![IMG][/IMG]

[PurpleZJ]

Looks good how much did the cagework cost you if you don't mind me asking?

[redneckrollercoaster]

Looks good how much did the cagework cost you if you don't mind me asking?

Guy has a lot of experience, has worked for a lot of fab shops, including wfo in cali and jimmy's 4x4 more locally, but as he is starting his own shop i THINK he gave me a pretty good deal...like a thousand dollars and a 30 pack of pbr. Was supposed to be 30/hr, think I got off easy...it's taken ME half a day just to patch one hole in the floor lmao. I am stoked with how the cage came out, especially at that price

[redneckrollercoaster]

Now if I can just get comfortable taking gnarlier lines...took it out last weekend but didn't really try anything I hadn't before as I was running with folks on dirtbikes and didn't think they could do much for me if shit got hairy.

[PurpleZJ]

Awesome that's not a bad price IMO, If it weren't a 13 hour drive I'd maybe have that guy do a cage in mine too lol