05 Flame Red TJ Build

The Al armor was bent.
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I straightened it.
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I put this setup together so I could pull the tub out where it should be rather than beating on it. Worked really well. I still need to flatten the top rail a bit.

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I also installed the backing plate. That would have helped if I’d done it before the flop.

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JMT said:
The Al armor was bent.
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I straightened it.
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I put this setup together so I could pull the tub out where it should be rather than beating on it. Worked really well. I still need to flatten the top rail a bit.

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I also installed the backing plate. That would have helped if I’d done it before the flop.

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Nice work, Dude. Like nuttin’ ever happenned…
 
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NashvilleTJ said:
Nice work, Dude. Like nuttin’ ever happenned…
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After I paint it will look better than before. Im amazed I got away with such little damage, especially the door. The A-Pillar armor will be here in a few days. Then it will all be perfect.

I hope yours turns out. It’ll be interesting to see how you fix them. The grill looks like it might be easier than the tailgate. The devil is a wicked climb. It sounded like your rig died on the climb.
 
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I’ve been working on the GR front fenders and rear corners that @Alex01 and I installed in Moab. There were several things to fix/finish.

On Saturday night we mounted the driver side fender to the factory inner. We didn’t realize initially how much of the spare battery tray needs to be cut out. If I were starting over I’d literally cut a 2”x3” rectangle out of the corner and be done with that interference. This is because the non-HiLine GR fenders do give you a little more room back than factory fenders. It’s nothing worth bragging about, but it does take a lot of cutting wheel and BFH action to get there. The other thing we didn’t realize was you need to bend the mounting bracket under the battery tray 20* back for those two bolts. Finally, you have to trim a good portion off the hood latch bracket so the fender doesn’t interfere as you push it back so the seam is flush at the firewall.

Of course, to do this the sliders have to come off. On and off a several times and I’ve gotten pretty adept at that! Of course, we didn’t get all that done that night, so we had to improvise. They held up fine during the flop, so no big deal, but now that side is all fixed. The factory fender just needs something to fill some of the gaps due to cutting so you can weaken it enough to beat it back.

We did the passenger side on Monday and it went much easier even though we had to deal with the battery. We got it right the first time, but didn’t have time to mess with the side markers on both sides and I had to fix them when I got home.

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Monday afternoon we started the GR corner armor. It’s pretty straightforward. Just clamp it to the tub and start drilling out your holes for nutserts. I brought a couple of aluminum backing plates for the top edge. They were about 3” too long and I didn’t have a saw to cut them down, so we left that for when I got home. I would regret that after the flop. It would have spread out the load.

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As it turned out I had a crease in the tub rail and the armor was curved. Still, the armor was installed just in time and mitigated worse damage. I had great help from @NashvilleTJ and the Bronco dudes getting me back on all 4’s. The 4.0 started right up. I burned oil in the cylinders for about 10 minutes and it cleared up. Some oil leakage in the engine bay and diff fluid out the gas filler tube area. All good now. Still had a lot of work to do to make other little things right since GR rear fenders we’re waiting for me at home.

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JMT said:
I’ve been working on the GR front fenders and rear corners that @Alex01 and I installed in Moab. There were several things to fix/finish.

On Saturday night we mounted the driver side fender to the factory inner. We didn’t realize initially how much of the spare battery tray needs to be cut out. If I were starting over I’d literally cut a 2”x3” rectangle out of the corner and be done with that interference. This is because the non-HiLine GR fenders do give you a little more room back than factory fenders. It’s nothing worth bragging about, but it does take a lot of cutting wheel and BFH action to get there. The other thing we didn’t realize was you need to bend the mounting bracket under the battery tray 20* back for those two bolts. Finally, you have to trim a good portion off the hood latch bracket so the fender doesn’t interfere as you push it back so the seam is flush at the firewall.

Of course, to do this the sliders have to come off. On and off a several times and I’ve gotten pretty adept at that! Of course, we didn’t get all that done that night, so we had to improvise. They held up fine during the flop, so no big deal, but now that side is all fixed. The factory fender just needs something to fill some of the gaps due to cutting so you can weaken it enough to beat it back.

We did the passenger side on Monday and it went much easier even though we had to deal with the battery. We got it right the first time, but didn’t have time to mess with the side markers on both sides and I had to fix them when I got home.

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It's a good thing you installed the fronts before I do so I can get you to help me install mine. 😉
 
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Something went haywire with the tailight wiring and I kept blowing the 20A fuse that controls the brake lights. I still have something going on there. The fuse isn't blowing, but when I hit the brakes they don't get brighter. They actually get dimmer. 🤔 Good enough for now. At least it changes and will draw attention. The other issue was the evap canister. We didn't have time to remove all that to put the 4.5" light back in properly, so we just pushed it in as best we could. It wasn't perfectly flush, but it wasn't going anywhere. When I got home I removed the canister and got it all done proper. I recently relocated the license plate to the tailgate, and when I was in their I forgot to wire up the license plate light, so it looks like I will have to go back in. 🙄
 
I know I've already posted some of these pics, so most of this is for the install notes to help anyone who has to do all this, but pics seemed appropriate in the context of the project.

I had to install the rear fenders on the corner armor that were waiting for me back home. I wanted to use nutserts for easy removal. Some of the holes didn't line up on the used corner armor, so I used the holes I could and drilled new holes for what I couldn't. The old holes are hidden mostly, so no big deal.
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They use 1/4-20 allen head bolts. It's very difficult to get an allen head tool in between the tube fender and two of the bolts, so I replaced them all with stainless hex heads. Much easier.
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Had to remove the sliders again for the nutsert where the fender mounts on the slider. While I worked on the sliders I added another nutsert on the backing plate right under the Jeep emblem. This pulled it closer to the body. I also drilled the hole on the GR front fender and used a bolt and nut that is easily accessible. Had to trim the slider to fit around the GR front fender (did a quick cut in Moab, but made it better at home).

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Lots of little painting jobs to cover all the bare steel from cutting fenders, battery trays, and sliders. I was going to paint the sliders silver, but I like the black, and it's easier to touch up. For now the sliders are done, but I'd still like to weld some 3/16" plate in front of the foremost body mount and behind the rearmost body mount to protect those areas. @Longwhitejeep has rightly pointed out that deficiency of the JCR sliders.

It looks pretty good, but there's too much silver, so I have more painting to do. I want to paint the corner armor body match Flame Red (this is what @NashvilleTJ has done too, and I noticed how good his looked in person in Moab). I've used Rustoleum Sunrise Red for the rear tailgate armor, and I'm 90% happy with it, but it's a tint too orange and I'm hoping to find something that is dead on. Painting is fun...when it turns out good.
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I did sustain some small scrapes on the roll cage. The padding was on, but it’s ripped up on that corner. I removed it, probably permanently for the center bar and rear. I’ll keep it for the front bars. They keep the Spidershade tighter and quiet onroad.

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kiwi said:
Not sure if you’ve seen this stuff before, but i’ve used their paints a few times and they spray nicely
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Not the cheapest, but worth it imo
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Yeah, I’ve tried it. The shade was not good with the Flame Red. It was dead on for the Patriot Blue. I’m looking at R&E Paint Supply. I talked to them. You spray it on a sample card and then if it doesn’t match you just show them and the’ll refund your money. I talked to Gabbie, so this is Gabbie’s Guarantee.
 
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JMT said:
Yeah, I’ve tried it. The shade was not good with the Flame Red. It was dead on for the Patriot Blue. I’m looking at R&E Paint Supply. I talked to them. You spray it on a sample card and then if it doesn’t match you just show them and the’ll refund your money. I talked to Gabbie, so this is Gabbie’s Guarantee.
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I've got paint equipment that you can borrow. Do it the body shop way....
 
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