OP
Arizona Rock Crawling Daily Driver
- Thread starter starkey480
- Start date
I'm betting that puts a smile on your face. And, an even bigger one once you wheel it!
OP
Heck yeah! I been dreaming of this setup for years now. Finally becoming reality!
Best part is you have learned from the best and done the work with your own hands. Will give a lot of joy on top of seeing the improved performance.
OP
Let me tell you it was quite a bit of work and head scratching, especially for my first time doing it all. I bet the second time would be twice as fast.
All I have left is some little things.
-Hook up and bleed brakes
- fill up the diff
- Wire up another ARB solenoid and switch panel
- have fun
OP
Oh it looks like you got the bug on quality tools. I have been a mechanic for my whole life and have tons of tools. 15 years ago I got a maintenance job on the waterfront and got used to using the tools on hand as you are frequently on a ladder or up on a large machine or out in the field trying to get a machine back to work to finish loading or unloading a ship. I carried a set of thes and a 5 in one screwdriver. Here is one more for your Jeep kit. Small crescent wrench with 1 1/2” jaw opening. Maybe a little redundant but useful also.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001I70C34/?tag=wranglerorg-20
OP
Done. More pics and thoughts later. Finished half an hour before I have to coach!
OP
Yeah just took it for a spin. Super smooth but it was also a new road lol. Don’t have time to go test it more
Well done! Jeep looks great.
Will wait for your "lessons learned from the process" lecture
This is one of the reasons I struggle with a TJ vs LJ. Where I wheel, a TJ built like this can run almost every trail. A similar built LJ will have to work much harder, and drag more. Very nicely done!
That's why LJ's should be built bigger
It's kind of difficult to bend them around trees, but rear steer would help!
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/lets-talk-about-rear-steer.38118/
OP
Thanks Rich! It is certainly starting to look and feel like my dream Jeep.
OP
I’ll start with brakes. I made a loop with the oem hardline on the frame to shorten it enough to mount on the midarm bracket. I welded a tab on the midarm mount and converted the 3/8 inverted flare to -3AN braided flex line to run down the control arm.
The flex line runs to a T block that then converts back to 3/8 inverted flare. I did this so I could reuse all the oem axle brake lines to keep the cost and time of the project down. I just bolted it down to the truss and mounted the breather separately.
The calipers are flipped using Blaine’s wizard brackets. I reused the oem axle hard lines and flex line to caliper. I oriented them and clamped them down with a P clip to the shock mount so that the hard line stays below the level of the collapsed shock. With the stock UCA brackets out of the way, there is plenty of slack in the hard lines to make this work.
The flex line runs to a T block that then converts back to 3/8 inverted flare. I did this so I could reuse all the oem axle brake lines to keep the cost and time of the project down. I just bolted it down to the truss and mounted the breather separately.
The calipers are flipped using Blaine’s wizard brackets. I reused the oem axle hard lines and flex line to caliper. I oriented them and clamped them down with a P clip to the shock mount so that the hard line stays below the level of the collapsed shock. With the stock UCA brackets out of the way, there is plenty of slack in the hard lines to make this work.
OP
For the fuel lines, they normally run right where the midarm bracket is. I mounted them to the frame with self drilling/tapping screws and P clamps. 3 was all it took.
