Rusty762

My goal with this project is to build a reliable rig (Overlander/Expedition style) I can drive long distances to a trail or to explore new areas and back again comfortably, I want to try to keep the vehicle as light as possible. I have had some trailer queens (2 FJ 40's, 69 Bronco) and non trailer queens, two Toyota trucks (84 xCab, 84 4 Runner) that I drove regularly to Moab and Panamint Valley but want a capable rig that can tackle the trails and get me home safely without the need of a tow vehicle and trailer. This is not a DD and is only going to be used for exploring and wheeling. To quote Sundowner "the Jeep is the four-wheeled backpack of my life", well said my friend I could not agree more!

A little background on myself, I grew up in the Sierras and graduated college with a degree in forestry and recreation. I was a wildland firefighter for the US Forest Service for 12 years and spent another 7 years as a backcountry LE officer, my job was to manage the OHV trails on the Sierra National Forest. My patrol rig was a 1993 Jeep Wrangler, it started off stock and slowly I was able to add air lockers, atlas case, 33's, 4" lift, etc.. My job (in addition to trail maintenance and LE) was to drive the network of OHV trails on our forest which includes Swamp lake, Red lake, Coyote lake, mirror lake and the famous Dusy-Ershim trail to name a few. Every week for 7 years I drove one of the many trails on our two forest (Sierra and Kings River districts), it was a cool job and I miss the Clubs, trails and people I met but like any job there came a day I decided to do something different. I sold my trail rig and got involved in a new sport technical diving, that was 12 years ago and the last time I was wheeling...

Monterey is a small town, I usually commute on a bicycle and I have not needed a vehicle since I have lived here. Lat year I started looking for a trail rig and narrowed the search down to an 05-06 Unlimited or Rubicon Unlimited. After 3 months of searching Cali, I found one 4 hours north of me with only 10,000 miles so I hitched a ride to the dealer for an inspection and ended up driving home my new project.

Here she is bone stock, I have some big plans for her just need to start gathering parts. I am out of the country quite a bit for business so she is going to have to sit for a couple months or more before the undressing begins...

Here is a picture from about 3 years ago, most of the images from my original build thread on Jeep forum are gone thanks to Photo bucket. During the pandemic I decided to install a Rock Jock 60 in the front to match the 60 in the rear and have bigger brakes, locking hubs and piece of mind when driving to Moab or Colorado. The jeeps been under the knife for the last couple years with parts supply issues with Currie and some other circumstances. I just started working on it again last weekend and will post pics as I finish her up.

Long story short, the rig now has 40,000 miles. I stretched the rear 4", 14" king coilovers, Genright tank, built the cage and have driven her to Moab and all over California wheeling. Last 3 years she has been down with the front end out and Currie not able to deliver some parts she was in a friends shop until recently. Trailered her to my cousins shop where we got a long list of upgrades done. Found some of the old pics cutting her up and the slow process of collecting the parts to do the stretch and fit 37's while keeping her as low as possible...

Could not find the pics of cutting out all the stock suspension, notching the frame for the coilovers, Rockjock 60 for the rear and other fun stuff. First time out took my dad who helped me with the build on one of our favorite trails (Swamp Lake) where I spent most weekends with my family wheeling in my dads 75 FJ 40.

This was one of the trails I patrolled weekly while working for the US Forest Service.

Next trail run was one that I managed for 7 years (Dusy Ershim) while working for the US Forest Service, its a special trail only open for a short time and only trail in the US that lets you drive a jeep through the John Muir Wilderness. We would spend 6-8 weeks building bridges over creeks and wet areas, falling trees to keep people from going around hard spots and building restrooms and tables at the lakes and campsites. Its 31 miles and I prefer to spend 5 days as its pretty technical in places.

Couple years later made it out to Moab, started in Saint George and spent two weeks driving and filming all the way to Moab. Had planned to run a bunch of trails in Moab and film but first day out on Hells Revenge had some of the stock welds on the beefed up 44 front axle crack, was able to borrow a welder but Cliffhanger and the other trails we planned to film would have to wait.

Trip to Big Sur before she went under the knife for the 60 frontend to my favorite camp site. The first shot is a bridge on the original old coast Highway 1 that starts before the Bixby bridge and comes out at Big Sur, lots of history and a fun drive if you have not been down Highway 1. The campsite is quite a ways south of Big Sur, not much of a technical trail but the view is amazing and there are no other campsites around. I just learned last week that this has now been closed by the BLM as during the Pandemic kids were partying up there and totally trashed the area, left trash everywhere and basically ruined it for the rest of us.....

So the front end is in, it was quite a process with lack of parts available. The longer 8" PSC ram is interesting on the highway than the previous kit I had from Blackmagic, I don't want to say its jittery but it takes some getting use to. Off road its awesome you can turn in the rocks with one finger... The other issue I was having before the front axle swap was the 42Rle transmission overheating, I installed the Derale with fan but was still having issues on long grades or climbs. I saw the Sertrab cooler that Mr Blaine uses and installed that below the PSC cooler for the hydro assist.

Finished the Sertrab cooler install, new lines to the Derale cooler. Buttoned the front end up for a drive around the block. Then came back and had my cousing follow me in his jeep, got on the freeway up to 75mph, smooth as can be, hydro is sensitive but will not take long to get used to.

Next day we drove a couple blocks over to a friends house where there is an RTI ramp, wanted to check travel with the new 60 up front and make sure nothing was rubbing, check bumps, etc.. All good, two weeks to our Annual Rubicon trip

I have had a spare tire for about 4 years now just sitting in the garage taking up space and collecting dust. I never wanted to hang it off the rear, too much weight and changes the way the rig handles off road. I had always thought about standing it upright behind the drivers seat like the old pickup trucks used to do. We took some measurements and got out the cutting wheels, the lower storage deck in my roll cage would have to go but I had other plans as my ARB fridge lid would not clear the top storage rack so I wanted to lower the rear rack and I have a side slide that will let it slide out the passenger side so you can open the lid all the way. We used a piece of 2" receiver to make a secure mount to the cage to hold the spare. The spare rolls out the back with the tailgate down, I lost some bed space but love how it came out.

Our group went in a day before we could join them, we ended up catching up with them at Soupbowl. Jeep worked great the whole trip, large group this time but the weather was Beautiful and spent days in the lake just chilling...

Ran Coyote lake a couple of weeks ago, had some rain and snow, lightning and thunder.

IPerkWVU said:

nice rig, that first job you had sounds like a dream for most of us!

Click to expand...

Thanks, lots of work to do this winter still ! It was pretty awesome and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity. I burned out driving those trails everyday for close to 10 years, just needed a little break

The GateKeeper at the entrance to Coyote lake trail.

Thanks Tworley, here is a POV perspective of going up the Gatekeeper...