Project Utility Vehicle

[Bigbike]

it was empty anyway

technicalities.

[iant333]

Well my Jeep has been sitting lifeless in my driveway for almost 2 month's but I finally got back to working on it a few days ago. Its been drivable for a week or so now, I needed a new steering box spacer for installing my Durango steering box and it took like a month to get in the mail.

- I retrimmed my rear fenders and welded the seams back together
- I welded my rocksliders in to replace my rockers
- Made some front bumper tie-ins and some LCA mount skids.
- Sold my JCR Tire Carrier Bumper and bought one of the regular JCR Bumpers.
- Installed some 760X u-joints

Started grinding my tan paint off in preparation for the Red, thats my final decision on color, I already bought the paint, its single stage I bought from NAPA. Should be painted and ready at the end of next week, just have to finish grinding the tan off, bondo the holes from my old bushwackers, prep and paint.


Sits like this as of this morning, that amount of grinding took 2 hours with my air grinder, should be done as long as it doesn't rain by tomorrow.




I also just ordered all this stuff yesterday.

Product Quantity Price/Ea Total
Rusty's Gear Special (D30/Chrysler 8.25 Combo) Gears: 456
Fixed Front Lower Control Arm (XJ,TJ)
Superior Heavy Duty 8.25 Chrysler 29 Spline Axle Shafts

Yeah i know nobody seems to like Rusty's control arms but they are basically the same thing as the Rough Country ones I have now except they use the stock bushings so they wont wear out in 3 weeks.

And I just ordered some TNT frame stiffeners. Should be putting those on soon too.

Im looking forward to having it finally done. I'm just gonna buy some Bilstein or OME Shocks and maybe a belly skid and that should be just about it for big purchases on it. Gotta start saving my money for stuff other than Jeep parts.

[Burton58]

red is a good choice! i miss my red one sooo much. looking good man

[HeavyMetal]

DO WORK

[Lawn Guyland]

[Pedro]

Yeah i know nobody seems to like Rusty's control arms but they are basically the same thing as the Rough Country ones I have now except they use the stock bushings so they wont wear out in 3 weeks.

I had Rustys adj. lowers on my Jeep, never had a problem with them. And I got them for 50 bucks. I couldnt believe the bushings weren't shot when I took them out since they were used for a few years since they started out on Burton's jeep.

Keep up the good work, although I still wish you kept the blue

[iant333]

I had Rustys adj. lowers on my Jeep, never had a problem with them. And I got them for 50 bucks. I couldnt believe the bushings weren't shot when I took them out since they were used for a few years since they started out on Burton's jeep.

Keep up the good work, although I still wish you kept the blue

I wish i kept the blue too, would have been a lot less work if I did.

[iant333]

Got a bunch more done.


Re-Trimmed front fenders.


Before



After. That chunk I took out on the bottom from trim #1 is bothering me but I dont think its worth buying a new fender over.



Took a pic of my weld job from the rocksliders. First time i've really ever welded anything, looks ok I think, especially for flux core and its more than strong enough, 3 big guys can stand on them and they dont complain. Plus I beefed up the bottom weld by welding a piece of 1/8th inch to the bottom as an intermediate piece so I didnt have to weld the sheetmetal right to the 1/4in slider.



Sanded the whole thing too and started on bondoing the Bushwacker screw holes.

Hopefully i'll have my gears and stiffeners installed by OER, might be the maiden voyage.

[Mike]

my rockers are similar to yours. After a few wheeling trips and hi lift jackings, they are starting to bend up.

[iant333]

my rockers are similar to yours. After a few wheeling trips and hi lift jackings, they are starting to bend up.

I think im gonna try to tie them in once my stiffeners are on.

Thats why I used the extra steel on the bottom, I figured they wouldnt be all too strong just being welded right to the sheetmetal. Ill hold off on the hi-lift use until then though I think.

If they really end up slowing me down i'll just chop the tube part off though.

[iant333]

Jeep ought to be red tommorow. Its sanded, masked and primed and ready for the first coat of paint.

Had a friend hep me most of the day, my grandmothers dog.




Invited a human buddy over to help for most of the day. Last time I ask an engineer in training to help, the dog was more useful. He seemed to be under the impression we were working on a show quality Ferrari or something. If it were up to him we would have been going over the bondo with a micrometer to check for runout and x-raying all my welds.

[iant333]

Ok its done, Paint took 2 days and a trip back to the Auto Parts store to complain that the paint was orange and not red and get new paint but the painting part is 100% done. It still looks a little on the orange side in the pics but in person its actually way deeper looking of a color. Mostly because I have a crap camera and bad lighting.

Gonna demask it tommorow and put on my JCR corners and in a few more days gonna bedline the rock rails and below the door creases.

Before:


After:



I'm really happy with it, its super smooth, like just as good as a factory paint job with no runs or rough spots or anything.

[WAD357]

lookin good mann... im tempted to do this to mine!

[iant333]

Got it unmasked and got my rear bumper on, cant wait to see it with the JCR corners and the bedlined bottom.

[Capt. Crunch]

looks good man