20 years of incrementalism or Blackjacks 98 SE
- Thread starter Blackjack
- Start date
One thing I cannot find original pics of are my winter treads. In 2005 knowing that even siped TSLs are not the best for ice I studded a set of 33x9.5 BFG ATs mounted to factory Jeep steel wheels. They actually looked right at home with the factory flares but like a clown car once I was forced to run the Warn flares. A couple years ago I traded into some aluminum wheels that pushed the tires out far enough to eliminate a fair amount of the clownliness. One thing I learned is that the tread compound on the narrow BFGs are much harder than their normal counterparts so they are not as effective as I would like when the temps get below 0F. But they also wear like iron so there is that.
No real changes in 2008 but in 2009 Warn decided that I should give an Endurance 12.0 a try. https://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/129-0902-electric-warn-winch-endurance-12/ I think that they were surprised in the resurgance in 8274 restorations after I posted my build on Pirate. I put it through its paces and while it has a little more bottom end grunt and faster no load then most 12k winches, it does not have the same speed curve my 8.7AK does.
Not much changed until 2011 when it was time to retire the half top to make room for a rear seat for the kiddos. So I put a Rampage top that I got from Thor at Viking. That also meant losing the rack and third brake light/antenna mount. 3/4 inch LEDs were becoming a thing so I put one in the spare tire carrier. I also converted to an Ecco LED flood for a backup light.
2019 saw the retirement of the TSLs. In and effort to save weight and some rolling resistance some 35x12.5 BFG KM3s on some AR61 wheels I traded some winch labor for. I had also roasted a rear axle bearing during breakup sliding into a ice berm so knew it was a good excuse for some new Revolution shafts. I had ordered their 1541H shafts and was surprised to have 4340 ones show up.
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It was time to finally deal with the front upper control arms. The clevites in the HP30 were toast and the only arms I had not changed so far were the front uppers and they were showing signs of fatigue. So because I do not like doing things the easy way I decided to replace the axle bushings with Johnny Joints but instead of the easy to install kit I decided to use two press in versions and mimic something I saw Blaine do with my twist on it. I made a sleeve and pressed the JJ body into the sheet metal mount and then welded it in place. If you choose to do it this way and I would not unless you are hard headed do not make the error I did. I pressed the JJ in like you would the clevite but what I should have done was grind the outer lip off and press it in the other way. Not the end of the world but it would have been better.
While the 2.5 gets a bad rap on the road there is one distinct advantage is does have like its older brethren. There is no engine weight over the front axle. This means that the front to rear weight distribution and center of gravity are better for climbing. Jason Bunch saw this and when Tri County built a competition crawler they used a 4 popper. Anyway that long segway is just to show what I did with the front upper arms. I scored a set of RE uppers for dirt so I figured why not. What I did not figure on is that they do not adjust even short enough to make it to stock length. So I tried to make them shorter to no real change. I modded their hourglass bushing to accept grease and threw it on. Of course I lost caster and while the grease made the bushing rotate better there was no improvement in side shift. So I fixed both problems by the only logical way and that was a JJ. Ordered up them and two RE threaded barrels and a little weld and paint and all was better.
2019 also saw the return of the 8.7AK and the better half got me new plates. 2019 was also the hottest year on the Kenai I could remember so it was nice to be able to take advantage of the frameless top. The frameless may not be the best choice for up here as it is rarely warm enough to be able to put it together without putting a buddy heater inside to heat it up. And this is my second one of these as I do not and will not own a hard top.
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Since installing the Nth lift I have been running sans front sway bar. I never worried about it much but I scored a used Antirock and on it went. I also added a second spring isolator to increase the up travel a touch and JKS bar pin eliminators to the OMEs as I was tired of the stupid snap ring bar pin. It also recovered a half inch of shock travel I had lost with the extra .75 inch of bumpstop spacing I am running. I am still undecided on the extra spacer as I lost some rake but will know more once I am loaded for a longer trip.
Winter 2019-2020 I decided more light up front would be nice. So I added Grote Trilliant 26 3000 lumen spots (more of an extended range flood) on the windshield with Crown brackets. The bolts Crown provided are poo so I swapped them for stainless. On the bumper are 7 inch LED driving lights using 16 three watt Osram LEDs. They put out just under 4000 lumens each and have a pretty decent beam pattern
I was gifted a HoodLift and while I would not necessarily run out and buy one they are ok piece of kit. I loosened the clips for the pivot balls on the hood side to make them easy to release so I can still tilt the hood all the way back. Another friend found me a GM hood light and bolted that up as well.
Brianj5600
TJ Expert
Cool thread! I have found some of my lost pictures that appeared with an internet image search of my screen name. Wildman image search brings up a lot of images. Blackjack returned only a few, but if you used a different screen name it may turn up some.
Only place I really posted about the Jeep was AK4x4 so no surprise nothing shows. Funny enough is that the evil Canadians that own Pirate 4x4 have my winch pics on Instagram now.
Well it’s definitely been a while since I have done much to the SE. 2021 like for many was a mess and did not lend itself to getting a lot accomplished. But winter is here and along with working on the shop it is time to get working on things again.
Since it warmed up to the 20s I was able to leave momma’s Explorer outside and let things warm up and put the clown tires on. While I had it in the shop I changed out the backup light for a Grote Trilliant 26 3000 lumen flood. This matches the pillar lights I put on except being full flood.
Since it warmed up to the 20s I was able to leave momma’s Explorer outside and let things warm up and put the clown tires on. While I had it in the shop I changed out the backup light for a Grote Trilliant 26 3000 lumen flood. This matches the pillar lights I put on except being full flood.
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Here are white wall shots of old versus new. The Ecco I am replacing had a bit more of a hotspot where the Grote is a true flood. So I lost a bit of depth but gained a lot of width which I think will be more beneficial.
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