High travel, high clearance & high octane, a streetable adventure LJ story

Half doors are rekeyed and on!

20200616_half-doors.jpg


20200616_half-doors-inside.jpg


One thought I had while keying them is that there's enough wafers inside to get at least 1 wafer to work with a key and that's probably all you really need for security. If somebody is trying to get in, more wafers aren't going to stop them.
 
Half doors are rekeyed and on!

View attachment 170595

View attachment 170596

One thought I had while keying them is that there's enough wafers inside to get at least 1 wafer to work with a key and that's probably all you really need for security. If somebody is trying to get in, more wafers aren't going to stop them.
You mean like if they wanted to reach in and unlock it from the inside?
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrDmoney
You mean like if they wanted to reach in and unlock it from the inside?

Yeah. If somebody is smart enough to try to break into a Jeep by picking the door lock (and not want to destructively cut a window as their first attempt), wouldn't they be smart enough to unzip a window?

It seems that spending the $15 on a rekeying wafer kit is just to get a warm fussy feeling that won't actually keep any bad guys out.
 
What'd you do for over the "jeep" impressions on the tub? Did it sit kind of weird?

After getting over a strange emotional attachment to keeping it and realizing it was only going to get damaged anyway if the panel actually has use, I popped it a couple of times with a soft-faced hammer.

The top of the panel needs to be cut down though. The windshield brackets sit at a different angle.
 
How do you feel about the drop down tailgate and getting things in/out with the spare in there? I've been contemplating doing exactly this to get rid of my swing out bumper.
 
How do you feel about the drop down tailgate and getting things in/out with the spare in there? I've been contemplating doing exactly this to get rid of my swing out bumper.

The tailgate needed a lot of work to make it fit as good as it does. Before putting the spare in the back the tailgate did get in the way of reaching in but now it's pretty much the same height as the spare and you can fold it up to reach in. Since the tire and fuel cell take up all of the floor space in the back it is nice being able to use the tailgate as a table for camping or working on the Jeep. Similarly to how the flat fenders somehow always become a table.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrDmoney
It was a crazy weekend! We wheeled so hard day and night and I continued to be amazed at how well my build handled and climbed. There was some stuff I'd never done before and it always felt familiar because the Jeep handled the same as it does on other obstacles and was always predictable. Even in off camber hill climbs bumping over ledges that claimed other Jeeps as victims I never felt that I found the limit of my Jeep's ability.

Saturday started out dry with a bunch of hill climbs with rocks, dirt and ledges. By early afternoon rain started pouring down and changed the trails to nasty. The consistency was like 3" of Crisco. At that point my Jeep 4.0L just couldn't keep the RPMs high enough on the big hills to clean the lugs in the MTRs and combined with a 2nd gear shift back into 1st half way up the hills it kept bogging down half way and I'd have to finish with a winch. Based on my previous trip into the UP I know that if I had the supercharger on it would have done better. I think after the LS swap I'll be able to keep the tires clean during wet climbs like that where wheel speed is so valuable and I'll have better control over when the transmission shifts. Because I didn't want to get my Jeep any muddier for the trip home, during the late afternoon and evening I rode passenger in a RZR Turbo.

I unfortunately don't have any pictures of my Jeep in action but others in our group did and will be sharing them. I did happen to take a before and after picture though!

20200620_before-wheeling.jpg


20200620_after-wheeling.jpg
 
Here's a video of many of the trails and hills we did last weekend. I think our group was having too much fun wheeling to take video of the climbs so I'm not sure if any videos of my Jeep will ever turn up.

 
Here's a video of many of the trails and hills we did last weekend. I think our group was having too much fun wheeling to take video of the climbs so I'm not sure if any videos of my Jeep will ever turn up.

That looks like a shit ton of fun! It's so cool seeing those custom rigs. As a teenager, I plan to build a buggy of some sort in the future when im older, but I don't even know where to start :LOL:
 
We did 95% of the trails/climbs in that video. Buggy not required ;)
Its not "required" but who wouldn't mind building one. Alot of trails I do wouldnt require your rig, but I wouldnt mind owning/building it ;)
 
I cleaned the mud off my Jeep and surveyed the damage:

20200627_mid-arm-bracket-dent.jpg


I can only figure a small rock found it's way on top of the johnny joint and got smashed into the bracket:
20200627_LCA-bracket-bent.jpg


The heat treated 4340 steering is still straight as day 1:
20200627_steering-scratch.jpg


The diff skids saw some action:
20200627_diff-skid.jpg


Just a little rock rash on the beadlocks:
20200627_beadlock-rash.jpg


I somehow got rash on the top side of the rear flare.
20200627_fender-rash.jpg


Something found the corner:
20200627_corner-guard.jpg


I had been thinking about color matching all of the armor to red like @Midnight LJR did and doing touch ups every now and again but I'm starting to think I might be better off leaving it raw aluminum.
 
I cleaned the mud off my Jeep and surveyed the damage:

View attachment 174017

I can only figure a small rock found it's way on top of the johnny joint and got smashed into the bracket:
View attachment 174018

The heat treated 4340 steering is still straight as day 1:
View attachment 174019

The diff skids saw some action:
View attachment 174020

Just a little rock rash on the beadlocks:
View attachment 174021

I somehow got rash on the top side of the rear flare.
View attachment 174022

Something found the corner:
View attachment 174023

I had been thinking about color matching all of the armor to red like @Midnight LJR did and doing touch ups every now and again but I'm starting to think I might be better off leaving it raw aluminum.
It may make more sense to vinyl wrap the aluminum or just paint the red parts to match the armor. Any paint on the armor would likely be ruined in short order. Either way, it looks awesome as it sits.
 
I cleaned the mud off my Jeep and surveyed the damage:

View attachment 174017

I can only figure a small rock found it's way on top of the johnny joint and got smashed into the bracket:
View attachment 174018

The heat treated 4340 steering is still straight as day 1:
View attachment 174019

The diff skids saw some action:
View attachment 174020

Just a little rock rash on the beadlocks:
View attachment 174021

I somehow got rash on the top side of the rear flare.
View attachment 174022

Something found the corner:
View attachment 174023

I had been thinking about color matching all of the armor to red like @Midnight LJR did and doing touch ups every now and again but I'm starting to think I might be better off leaving it raw aluminum.

Would love to see it color matched. But it looks great the way it is and I think you wheel a bit harder than I do so might not be worth it.🙂
 
I cleaned the mud off my Jeep and surveyed the damage:

View attachment 174017

I can only figure a small rock found it's way on top of the johnny joint and got smashed into the bracket:
View attachment 174018

The heat treated 4340 steering is still straight as day 1:
View attachment 174019

The diff skids saw some action:
View attachment 174020

Just a little rock rash on the beadlocks:
View attachment 174021

I somehow got rash on the top side of the rear flare.
View attachment 174022

Something found the corner:
View attachment 174023

I had been thinking about color matching all of the armor to red like @Midnight LJR did and doing touch ups every now and again but I'm starting to think I might be better off leaving it raw aluminum.
Personally I like the finished look, either paint or wrap
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nickgsjeep