Alex01 Silver Sport Build Thread

No kidding. Maybe @Chris will send your freshly powder coated control arms by then.

I was seriously just thinking about that today... My stuff is in there being powder coated with his as well. Pretty sure it's been almost a month now! He said they were backed up, but this is the longest it's ever taken I think.

I guess he should have just skipped on the powder coat and had me send him the arms in raw aluminum, haha.
 
I was seriously just thinking about that today... My stuff is in there being powder coated with his as well. Pretty sure it's been almost a month now! He said they were backed up, but this is the longest it's ever taken I think.

I guess he should have just skipped on the powder coat and had me send him the arms in raw aluminum, haha.

Yeah you dropped them off November 30th. Not that we’re counting or anything ;). That’s an insane amount of time hah I guess the more you know.
 
Yeah you dropped them off November 30th. Not that we’re counting or anything ;). That’s an insane amount of time hah I guess the more you know.

Is it November 30th? Wow... So he told me 4-weeks when I originally dropped them off.

I don't want to be that pesky, annoying customer. But if I don't hear from them by Monday, I'm going to swing by and see if I can get a realistic ETA. Last time I was there, they were on the pallet ready to go in for sand blasting.
 
Is it November 30th? Wow... So he told me 4-weeks when I originally dropped them off.

I don't want to be that pesky, annoying customer. But if I don't hear from them by Monday, I'm going to swing by and see if I can get a realistic ETA. Last time I was there, they were on the pallet ready to go in for sand blasting.
Maybe he will give you a discount. Applied to the bumper of course. :p:meparto:
 
Maybe he will give you a discount. Applied to the bumper of course. :p:meparto:

I had them powder coat my Rokmen skids and they had it done in 1-day, literally.

Then I had him do another part, and it took 5 weeks! It's really hit and miss with these guys. They do a damn good job though.
 
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From the insistence of a certain member with a crazy low mileage Black LJR I have finally decided to create my own build thread.

Some back story on the jeep and my jeep ownership. I bought my first jeep when I was in college. It was a red 1987 Yj with a 4 banger and 3.07 gearing I picked up for $1,800. As the price would suggest it wasn't perfect but it that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. By fixing all the things that went wrong with the YJ I really learned how to work on cars and developed a passion for the wrangler. I never did anything crazy with the YJ, a few fire roads and poser shots but nothing much else. View attachment 68323

Now let's fast forward to 2014. I had recently sold the YJ for 4k and wanted to get TJ. I had always liked the looks of the round headlights and wanted a change. This was still well before I joined this or any other forum and I really didn't know what to look for in a jeep. All I knew was I didn't want another 4 banger and I wanted a manual.
So, after looking at a few jeeps I finally stumbled upon the one I own today. It was a 6 cylinder, manual, and less then 100k miles. The downside was that I had a dana 35 rear and 3.07 gearing and 32 x 11.5 cracked tires. When I took it on the test drive, I expected it to be a dog from everything I read about online about the 3.07 gearing. To my surprise this thing flew. Mind you my base of comparison was a YJ with 3.07 gearing a 4 cylinder and 33 x 12.5 inch tires. I was shocked I could go 80 on the freeway with a wrangler and knew at that moment that this would be the one I took home. After talking with the owner, we settled on just shy of 10k. The owner was moving to France in a few weeks so we made a deal that he would get it smogged and the oil changed before we met back up in 2 weeks to exchange title and money.

I finally picked up my jeep on September 13, 2014 which also happens to be my birthday.
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Here is the first ever picture of my jeep and finding this photo actually inspired me to actually start a build thread.
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Here is the jeep once I got it back to my parents house.

Next came time for mods.

Still not knowing tons about TJ's and not using a forum for guidance I bought a 3.5 inch Rubicon Express super flex lift with adjustable uppers and lowers. This lift would be complimented with 33x10.5 bfg tires and procomp wheels. I completed the lift at the shop my friend worked at on a Saturday sometime in December of 2014. At some point around this time I also added Warn front and rear bumpers.
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I believe this photo is right after I installed the lights and the SYE.

I knew at this point that my goal was to tackle the Rubicon trail and I was going to build this jeep to be able to tackle it. So, I started having the debate every person with a Dana 35 and 3.07 has. Do I upgrade the 35 or swap a 44? I started pricing out upgrades / gearing while also keeping my eye on craigslist. To my surprise someone was selling a set of Rubicon axles F/R for $2200 including pumps. I rented a u haul trailer and picked them up.

Out with the old.
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In with the new. (to me)
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Wow. 4.11 vs 3.07. What a difference I could spin the tires in first if I wanted to :p. One of the biggest things I noticed though was my crawl ratio. It became so much better. Now I was able to throw the jeep into low and not need to mess with the clutch nearly as much.

The next mod I added was the sliders. I went with rockhard 4x4. View attachment 68340

At this point my jeep stayed in this configuration for a few years. I started upgrading things like the sub, dual switch panel, bed-liner, upgraded headlight/trail lights, 3rd brake light.

View attachment 68341

Build phase 2 started at this point. The wife and I recently bought a house so I was no longer scared of spending money in the event we needed to come up with more for a down or unforeseen problems.
I was ready to move to 35's since I had all the supporting mods to do so.
View attachment 68342Antirock is also installed at this point.
Next came the flat fenders, winch, and 4.88 regear.View attachment 68343
View attachment 68344

We are finally up to the present. I am currently installing MC fenders Front and rear. I went with the overline 6 inch system. View attachment 68345

I also recently installed rear trail lights. View attachment 68346
 
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Got some work done on the jeep tonight. @tomtaylz and I had a trackbar installation party. We got my new mc trackbar installed and installed the new sliders. Along with some goodies on his jeep. Photos to follow

Also, I ordered Curry 4 inch springs to insure my springs wont unseat at full bump. Hopefully they will come in early in the week or I will be installing next week. Also ordered some 3 inch bump stops for the front until I can raise my mounts roughly 2 inches.
 
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When you get it sorted out come on up and we'll weld up those mounts.
That would be awesome. Once the springs come in I'll measure the compressed length and figure out the exact height needed.
 
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That would be awesome. Once the springs come in I'll measure the compressed length and figure out the exact height needed.

If you can figure out what height you need I can scrounge up the appropriate pipe diameter and cap the tops, drill the holes and have them ready to weld on the top of the perches. Don't forget to account for the bushings.
 
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If you can figure out what height you need I can scrounge up the appropriate pipe diameter and cap the tops, drill the holes and have them ready to weld on the top of the perches. Don't forget to account for the bushings.
Will do. Shocks are 16 inchs fully compressed with bushing. 14.5 was the total space I had without a shock. @bobthetj03 and @jjvw am I correct to assume the mount would need to be moved 1.75 inches up (.25 added so the shock doesnt bottom out) ? I'm still playing a bit of the interface game with the tb but much less invasive.

I'm going to try and pull the bottom arms to see of it helps. My pinion looks a bit low anyways so I probably need to do the adjustment anyways.
 
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Rubicon express 3.5 inch springs are out and currie 4 inch are in. I took measurements before and after from the ground to the fender and surprisingly I did gain .5 inches. I always thought the RE springs ran long but I guess all springs run equally long. (Or dead on) I only drove it for a short 5 minute trip so I'll measure again after a tank or two to see how they settle.

Also got the arb back in. I was thinking I would need to fab up a mount but it fit right back where I had it. I only needed to drill 1 extra hole.
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