Wildman's TJ is getting a face lift

[Wildman]

I cut the hook off mine and used a FID to make a new loop. I get it though, it can wait.

I really like my roller fairlead. I was ready to finally swap out to a hawse fairlead and had bought a Warn hawse fairlead when I got swayed back into using the roller fairlead. And Yes I know all I'd need to do is remove the thimble from my rope and sew in a new loop end.
I learned how to sew & make rope ganglines as a kid in AK and made all my own dog sled harnesses & assorted items.

Have you encountered any issues with pulling the rope out when it's stored like that? not much to pull on

I always wondered about this too. But one thing I've noticed is that free spooling on low profile winch compared to a 8274 is vastly different. Might be my imagination but I think it take a lot more effort to pull line on an upright winch.

 

[Apparition]

I always wondered about this too. But one thing I've noticed is that free spooling on low profile winch compared to a 8274 is vastly different. Might be my imagination but I think it take a lot more effort to pull line on an upright winch.

I've seen times where it takes a pretty good pull to get things feeding out. Never not been able to get a good grip on it though.

 

[Wildman]

I didn’t do anything to the angle on the under side of the skid


Man, that skid has been modified so many times it's tough to remember. I didn't do anything to the angle on the underside, it's still the 1" x .250 angle that came with it. That bent a few times, after which I added a 1.5" x .250 square tube on the top of the passenger side. There is no room to do the same on the driver's side. Despite my normal abuse, it has not bent yet.

View attachment 565790

Not that I didn't believe you but I had to look......

Here you'd pulled the angle off on the one side and trimmed it a little bit.

https://www.jeepforum.com/posts/39754929/
Then here you'd extended the angle.
https://www.jeepforum.com/posts/37288801/

So you'd never capped the angle like I did but DAMN you sure have modified that original skid... I do enjoy going back and looking at your original build thread.

 

[Wildman]

Once Hugh (@reddvltj )explained what his of drilling a hole in the bumper tube for my idea so my mind could understand it I liked it better than mine of wrapping the rebar around tube.
So I drilled the holes needed for this project. Here's the rebar before any trimming.

And then the thimble hanging on it.

Then after trimming the rebar to about where I wanted it. And the hose on it also. It'll be trimmed to fit better once I'm done.

All set and ready to burn it in.

 

[02GreenTJ]

Once Hugh (@reddvltj )explained what his of drilling a hole in the bumper tube for my idea so my mind could understand it I liked it better than mine of wrapping the rebar around tube.
So I drilled the holes needed for this project. Here's the rebar before any trimming.

View attachment 567975

And then the thimble hanging on it.

View attachment 567976

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Then after trimming the rebar to about where I wanted it. And the hose on it also. It'll be trimmed to fit better once I'm done.

View attachment 567978

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All set and ready to burn it in.

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Good Idea! I was planning on doing something similar on the top of my winch plate just haven't gotten around to it yet

 

[Wildman]

Finished product.

I trimmed the hose to get as close as possible.

I'm out of Black Steel It paint but as soon as I get some I'll repaint the area around the hook and the hook itself.

Edit: And I did a quick stress test on it to make sure that the lightbar wouldn't be hurt or the hook rip off if it was accidentally over tightened.

 

[Wildman]

The other reason I like a roller fairlead is mounting the front license plate.

MagLite clips

Mounted to a piece of metal with nutzerts for the license plate and the clips.

UPS dropped off the new top.

Hugh had given me a soft top for the Jeep but one of the windows was cracked. It was cheaper to just buy another top as opposed to just buying the windows.

New GMRS antenna cable arrived also.

And some hydo-assist tabs if I need to use the larger clamp.

 

[Wildman]

And of course the heim joint for the hydo-assist cylinder is coming via FedEx and they haven't delivered yet.

 

[Wildman]

Well the hard part is over with..... OK the harder part. Getting to the fuel filler and vent hose isn't fun either.
Ordinarily when I started the Hemi swap I'd installed a new pump o-ring. But I'd bought it off Amazon I think. When I'd pulled the tank again because I'd thought there was something wrong with the float sensor that o-ring was swelled up and no good. So I'd reused the original o-ring which was 28 years old. And it'd shrank a little bit from sitting. When I'd gone to the gas station and filled the Jeep up the tank had leaked when it got full.

This is what I found today.

So the o-ring had fallen down as I was tightening the collar. This time I ordered a o-ring from Quadratec. It was a MoPar part this time.

Tanks back in and all I need is to get do now is to get the filler hose and vent hose hooked up and clamps installed.

 

[Wildman]

Things went back together a lot fast than I'd expected. Guess since I've done this like 5 times now I'm just getting better at it.

It's still tight in there....

Then while I had the wheels off from dropping the tank I decided to try something. I still had the Eldorado calipers mounted on the rear axle so I decided to swap in the old calipers that used to be on the front axle. They are a JB6 caliper just like the Eldorado calipers. They just don't have the parking brake provision. And since I couldn't hook up the parking brakes like I'd originally planned there really wasn't a reason to keep them on the rear axle.
Now these other calipers I have sat on the front of the Jeep for those 10+ years it was parked & then have sat on the garage floor now for the past 4.5 years so I was a little leery as to if they'd even be any good. I truly expected the seals around the pistons to be bad and leak. But I threw them on the axle and was able to bleed the brakes and actually got better pedal than I've been able to with the Eldorado calipers.
So for right now I'll run these calipers but do plan on changing them out at some point just because they are so old and sat for so long. Put am very happy with the better brakes pedal I'm getting now.

 

[Wildman]

My Jeep hasn't looked like this in a long time.
The soft top brackets came in today so I put the top on.

Sunrider brackets.

Stock brackets

The plastic ends were broken but Hugh had given me a set of the aluminum ends. But the holes on the larger pins were off.

Drilled new holes.

Top is in other than the door windows. I've got slider windows and the new top I'd ordered came with soft windows.
My original ones are toast.

So here's how it's sitting tonight. Top can stretch out some.

And for everyone who remembers my messed up finger or fingernail it was finally time to trim off the dead portion.

My daughter wasn't thrilled about cutting it off but.....

Now to let it grow back..

 

[Wildman]

Got the drivers door window frame out of the stock window and found a little rust on it.
I'll clean it up and paint it again. Should be OK for another 27 years.

 

[Wildman]

Passenger side door window frame was rusted in the same area just not as bad.

 

[Wildman]

It's only 50⁰ in the garage right now so I'm hoping this paint will dry.. Just take longer than if it was 70⁰ or higher.

Another one of those things that is different between the BesTop and stock top.
The rear window bar brackets I have are smaller than the bar I have.

It still closes and works but I'll guess that bar will rattle driving down the road.

Got all the parts for the hydo-assist ram so time to start getting it mounted while the paint is drying.

 

[Wildman]

Been too many years since I'd done this before so I can't remember. Should this heim on the ram have a jam nut also?

Once mounted can it spin? I'll get one if needed.

 

[Wildman]

Here's what I've got so far. Yes I could use one of the other clamps but I was hoping to make this one work.

Tacked the ram mounts on.

My only clearance issues is with the bolt. If I changed it to a button head bolt I don't think it'd rub. And right now it's barely touching.

Clears the drag link

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Been too many years since I'd done this before so I can't remember. Should this heim on the ram have a jam nut also?

View attachment 568366

Once mounted can it spin? I'll get one if needed.

Yes, you want a jam nut there.

 

[Wildman]

Yes, you want a jam nut there.

Thanks Jeff. I thought I did but figured I'd ask before getting one.

 

[Wildman]

Once it cools off I'll mount it up and see how it works compared to the TMR clamp.

 

[JMT]

Another one of those things that is different between the BesTop and stock top.
The rear window bar brackets I have are smaller than the bar I have.

This is something I noticed last week. I had 3 sets of the rear window bar brackets and notice the difference sizes. Only the ones in the left are stock with the wider a lot for the bar.