The Karma Bucket

[Magilla]

for cheap bpes you can use xj rear sway bar mounts the ones that go on the spring plate

[Burton58]

for cheap bpes you can use xj rear sway bar mounts the ones that go on the spring plate

did it yesterday, they work great

[bucketokarma]

Thanks

[bucketokarma]

Sooo... My bumper came in a few days ago. I couldn't wait so I laid out all the parts to look at what I would be working with.



Then I refused to wait any longer, and decided to remove my front bumper. The bottom two bolts were stock and came out in the normal way (a good tug to break it free and then smooth sailing). Trying to take the top bolts out was a different story. On the first page I think I mentioned that I got some tow hooks from Tractor Supply Company, I needed hardware to instal the hooks too, and they came with bolts, so I figured "sweet".... CHEAP BOLTS! every one of them broke! I do not have the skills, tools, or patience necessary, to get them out without destroying the threading in the frame (needed in order to mount the bumper). So for three days my jeep sat like this:








I talked to my old man, and he said he would help/teach me how to get the bolts out, but not much more (my dad is of the mindset of "Teach a man to fish" vs. "Give a man a fish"). Chris also came by to help, so we all went out to my dads place to get the jobs done.
So, many hours later, we got the front two bolts out through the heat/cool/heat/extractor bit/cool/twist method.... but we ended up needing to chisel the other two out while red hot. They were welded with rust so much that there was no way to separate them, even after we chisled them out with the nutserts still attached. We ended up welding two nuts together and using those in place of the nutserts we had to remove.
We then needed to remove the winch from the steel plate that came of the XJ (Warn M8000). Not too much of a problem, the previous owner welded one of the bolts to the plate on the underside. Not a problem, we just used a surface grinder and ground the bolt off, then got a replacement bolt.

Just a pic of the winch still on the plate:


The rest of the assembly and fitment of the bumper was perfect. If it weren't for my use of cheap bolts for my first tow hooks, this job would have been from box to completely installed in under two and a half hours, and I'm not mechanically inclined at all!
The bumper lined up with everything, and the instructions were easy enough that my wife understood them (she generally doesn't understand much about vehicular maintenance). All said and done, with eight bolts holding directly on to the frame, and everything tight and snug, this bumper is not going anywhere!

The finished product:





I'll get a couple "Before/after" pics of it in my usual parking spot with a real camera shortly.

[HeavyMetal]

now thats a nice tj

[Pedro]

now thats a nice tj

X2, I wish mine looked that nice

[Lawn Guyland]

awesome!

[Buffalo Phil]

I fucking APPROVE. Welcome back.

[ninetysix-ex-jay]

Love how clean it is

[CumminsJeep]

Fuckin nice dude

[bucketokarma]

I'm still unpacking and trying to get used to life in the real world right now, but I just got a box containing 8 heavy duty control arms

My LCA mount sounds like it's it's getting worse, so I'm trying to see what I need to do about fixing that as well as my axle-side trackbar mount before getting the control arms installed, and spending the money I don't really have on the trackbar/bracket combo.

Will get pics of entire set of control arms when I get time to do my before/after pic of the jeep with the bumper. I have to clear my camera first. I'll also take some pics of the mounts that are fucked-up.
I am going to be looking for some help when it comes to the welding of metals for the mounts, so the question is; is there someone here that might be able to build the mounts out of some plate, or would I need to make the purchase of them?


Thanks..... and it's good to be back

[bucketokarma]

Caleb and I worked on two out of eight of the control arms yesterday. W decided to start with the front lowers to see if maybe the clanking was just my stock arms, or bad bushings... Turns out that it is in fact my LCA mounts. My driver side mount is bent and a wallowed, allowing the bolt to move when the vic pitches forward or back, and also while flexing. Mounts are an order...

The new LCAs, however (for some reason) have eliminated my 30-45mph wobble, making me happy, and for some reason seem to give me a firmer ride (I'm guessing because of the bushings being so worn on my stock LCAs).... I like so far, hopefully we can get the other six in soon, and get the mounts replaced as well...

[#DEZERTDAD]

Lookin gewd!

[SupermanIce-J]

That is a beautiful tj man. sweet stuffs!

[Henchman]

FUCK YEAH 4CYL! Hows the 4.88s and 33s?