Lonewolf's 1998 Jeep Wrangler Sport

[Lonewolf]

After driving it for a few months and researching more I decided I wanted to replace the stock skid plate with something better and clean up some loose ends from my original Atlas install. I was so excited to put it in I rushed a few things and those needed to be addressed. I went back and forth on the different skid plate options and decided on a aluminum UCF one. I wanted to raise the belly up a bit as well so i decided to go with a crossmember.

I ordered a universal crossmember kit from daves custom unlimited and tore everything back apart. I started with hammering the tub to make more space for the big atlas case and got it as high as I could get it. And also clocked it from 13 degrees to 7 degrees

@Alex01 was nice enough to lend me his skid plate so I could test fit it and decide what drop skid plate would work, and the 2 in drop fit perfectly

 

[Lonewolf]

now that I knew where the transmission/ transfer case would sit I started building the crossmember.

It was a ton of measuring and trimming but I was able to get it where I wanted it to sit

I tacked everything in and rechecked the skid plate clearance and then burned in the mounts and painted everything

 

[Lonewolf]

The next hurdle to tackle was the exhaust. I had unbolted everything to make room for the crossmember install so I figured I would take it to the professionals.

they quickly found there would be no way to reuse the stock huge cat and tuck it into the frame it stuck down too far and hit the frame or transmission

I ordered a new smaller cat and they had everything buttoned up the next day and I’m very happy with how it turned out.

 

[Alex01]

Turned out great!!!

I'd toss a zip tie on the rubber "site tube" on the atlas. It makes monitoring the fluid level much easier.

You can see it a bit in this photo. It hasn't moved from the day I installed.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Nice work. The Atlas looks good and tight up there.

 

[Lonewolf]

Turned out great!!!

I'd toss a zip tie on the rubber "site tube" on the atlas. It makes monitoring the fluid level much easier.

You can see it a bit in this photo. It hasn't moved from the day I installed.
View attachment 257469

That’s a great idea!

 

[Lonewolf]

So now that I had everything sitting where it needed to be I trimmed out the floor so the shifters could shift freely . The end result was bigger than I expected

I drove around one day and quickly realized I need to cover the hole around the shifters it was amazing how much heat comes through there. I riveted in some sheet metal to cover the large gaps

and then I replaced the shifter boot and bolted in the atlas shifter boot and filled in the extra space with aluminum tape

and the last thing was trimming the stock Console for clearance

hopefully my skid plates ship soon from UCF and I can get everything buttoned up

 

[Lonewolf]

The skids finally showed up and everything went together really well. I got the builder version of the skid so the the only holes drilled in it were the mounting holes. My break over angle is much better compared to the stock shovel and now everything is protected pretty well

 

[Alex01]

Is that really the same drop as mine? It looks way up there...

Looks great!!!

 

[Lonewolf]

Is that really the same drop as mine? It looks way up there...

Looks great!!!

Yea it said it was the 2in drop but I think maybe the angle isnt as steep so it looks shallower

 

[Lonewolf]

I wasn’t able to make the Slickrock run with everyone else last weekend but I snuck in a trip the week before. Everything worked great, I am super happy with the tummy tuck and the added protection of the beefier skids.

 

[Lonewolf]

I finally found some reasonably priced half doors because they were covered in bedliner. It look 5 or 6 coats of paint stripper to finally get it all cleaned up

after I got them all cleaned up they took a trip to @Alex01 house of paint and he made them match, and they turned out great! He also showed me how to switch the lock cylinder so it matched my ignition key

 

[02GreenTJ]

I finally found some reasonably priced half doors because they were covered in bedliner. It look 5 or 6 coats of paint stripper to finally get it all cleaned up
View attachment 271356

after I got them all cleaned up they took a trip to @Alex01 house of paint and he made them match, and they turned out great! He also showed me how to switch the lock cylinder so it matched my ignition key

View attachment 271358

Im another member of the @Alex01 half door paint club. Looks great

 

[Lonewolf]

After I had the half doors setup ,I wanted to have a full soft top instead of just a bikini top for the summer months when I have the hard top off. I decided on a rampage frameless mostly because it was cheap and the least amount of parts. I found the door surrounds on craigslist cheap didnt need anything else. I went in with low expectations, but I’m pretty happy with it so far

it’s pretty quiet on the freeway and keeps the kids happy with less wind, and I can remove the sides when I get to the trail

 

[Lonewolf]

A few weeks ago I ran Deer Valley from Hwy 4 to Hwy 88. Its a fun trail and was is definitely more challenging going this direction than the other way. It was a little busy because the NAXJA was having a annual club run. We had to wait through 2 traffic jams but other than that it was smooth sailing.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Beautiful run. Looks like great weather as well.

 

[Lonewolf]

Beautiful run. Looks like great weather as well.

Yea it was a good time , and I’m glad we were able to sneak the trip in before the fire shut everything down

 

[Lonewolf]

I have always been Leary of my super 35 even though I have no reason to be I’m always nervous I’ll break an axle and it will leave me stranded on a trail somewhere so I was always looking for a deal. I found a Dana 44 that was reasonable priced with a Detroit and 4.88. It just had a after market truss for a long arm that would need to be cut off but it also came with a Dana 30 with a ARB and 4.88 here is how they looked when I picked them up

 

[Lonewolf]

So while disassembling everything I found out that the Dana 30 is a high pinion with 30 spline axles , Yukon gears and a ARB. I got right to cutting off all the stuff off that I would be replacing with stock style brackets

 

[Lonewolf]

After cutting all the brackets off I looked at everything else I would need to order, one of the steering knuckles was stripped out , the ball joints were shot and the splines on the rear shafts were twisted

I ordered the spicer ball joints , a new remand knuckle and a set of Revolution axles for the rear.