Rocky Mountain Billy Goat Build

Fortunately we aren’t here much longer, planning to get into a house once our lease expires in February- can’t come soon enough.

In Colorado?

Good call on buying a house. We bought out first house 3 years ago. I'm super happy we did. Now my rent can't keep going up like it was when we were renting.
 
OPDA arrived today, that’ll be a nice stressor off when I get that in this week.

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A lot of projects have been held up by wanting to fix my battery cables being too short. I finally ordered new cables from custombatterycables.com, hoping to have time to run those this weekend.

Then I can be on to my auxiliary fuse block, winch rerun, CB wrapup (direct to battery), LED cubes, etc.
 
I need to install my battery cables as well. I got new ones that I've been putting off for a while. My current ones aren't too short, just old and worn.

An auxiallry fuse block sounds like a good idea. Which one did you use? I have a ton of aftermarket stuff (transmission cooler, winch, amp, etc.), and a fuse block might be the cleaner way to do all of the installs instead of inline fuses.
 
I need to install my battery cables as well. I got new ones that I've been putting off for a while. My current ones aren't too short, just old and worn.

It kind of sucks to have to do basic stuff like this than get that $150 toward a life or some other function, but suring up my base to build on over the longer term.
 
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It kind of sucks to have to do basic stuff like this than get that $150 toward a life or some other function, but suring up my base to build on over the longer term.

Which auxiliary fuse box did you use? I have a ton of aftermarket stuff (transmission cooler, winch, amp, etc.), and a fuse block might be the cleaner way to do all of the installs instead of inline fuses.
 
Which auxiliary fuse box did you use? I have a ton of aftermarket stuff (transmission cooler, winch, amp, etc.), and a fuse block might be the cleaner way to do all of the installs instead of inline fuses.

I’m still early in the research, but I think I’m planning to do an 80A circuit breaker (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000THQ0CQ/) to a Blue Sea fuse block. To wire that in I’ll do another custom cables order to get the ends with lugs.
 
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I'll be curious to see how you end up doing it. This would ultimately be a good idea for me, given how many accessories I have with their own inline fuse.
 
Today I noticed a fun new noise and am pretty confident it's my front axle's passenger u-joint. My hope was to wait on my hubs and u-joints until I have a garage of my own in a month, but the mistress has again dictated my life :D

I figure I will just do both sides, and plan a "parking lot repair" tomorrow with:
  • Same day delivery from Amazon (as much as I am bittersweet on them) for the u-joints
  • Advanced Auto "free" U-Joint tool rental (refunded deposit of $150)
hopefully it goes as I expect...
 
My new garage has a decent number of cabinets so I spent some time unpacking and organizing upcoming work:

  1. Hubs
  2. U-Joints
  3. CPS (back up)
  4. Transmission Fluid Swap
  5. Diff fluid swap (front)
Under the cabinet will be the pull off bins (since the picture a 50cal ammo can and a basket of recovery gear to sort).

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This is in the “What did you do to your TJ today” thread, but to keep updates all together here.

Over the weekend I cleaned up my rear crossmember with some light sanding and rustoleum and installed the Dirtworx rear bumper, I love the look and rigidity. However I didn’t get the frame tie ins done yet, so that’s outstanding (I need to find a lower profile wrench).

In retrospect I should have waited to get pics until after the follow-up car wash.

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The Jeep has been neglected mostly since we were finally able to purchase a house. Fortunately the garage has enough vertical space to store my hard top - here’s my ghetto rig.

4 3/8x4” Eye Bolts
4 Locking Carabiners
2 pieces of 3/8 ropes cut with non-slip loops tied in the ends (where the carabiners join the rope to the eye bolt)
4 Locking Straps to help lift a few inches at a time in each corner

It took a bit (and a trip to Ace) to get the top up there as I dialed it in, but there are a few redundancies that hopefully up to 2 eye bolts could break (depending on which) and the top hopefully won’t tumble.

Not pictured is a ratchet strap I added afterward to provide a little pull inside to hopefully avoid a possible case of the filberglass arching out or otherwise deforming.

Now for more light in my garage...

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I picked up a steering skid from @tworley today and had some time tonight to sand it down and repaint it. It was in fine shape but I’m a little anal and would rather get it in as close to 100% as I can.

I don’t have the proper size heads for the bolts (or a second bolt), so hopefully I can get it installed tomorrow.

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While I was at it, I figured I’d start to clean up and paint the rockers:

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Tomorrow I’ll finish prepping the driver side and start the passenger.
 
Good build thread!

The skid looks brand new! IIRC I used a 5/16 bit to drill a hole then found a self tapping screw at ACE.
 
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Because I am an impatient child and wanted to burn some cash, I ordered the front springs and rancho 5000x. Hopefully that means 2.5" of lift within the next few weeks.

After that I want to get the BL, MML, and TC shifter cable done in prep for some level of a tummy tuck. I may start out with the Barnes skid to buy some time, but I will have to price out what a proper TT would cost before committing to that since I have the longer wheel base.
 
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I like your build.

I have those same MOPAR rock rails on my LJ now, but before that I had installed a set of the regular Rubicon diamond plate rocker guards. I found that the Rustoleum Textured Paint looked good on them and seemed to match the paint texture of my front and rear LOD bumpers. I used it to paint over the LOD logo and to paint and blend in the safety chain loop I had welded onto to bottom of the bumper. It's a light texture but not enough to hold a bunch of dirt and make it hard to clean up.

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I like your build.

I have those same MOPAR rock rails on my LJ now, but before that I had installed a set of the regular Rubicon diamond plate rocker guards. I found that the Rustoleum Textured Paint looked good on them and seemed to match the paint texture of my front and rear LOD bumpers. I used it to paint over the LOD logo and to paint and blend in the safety chain loop I had welded onto to bottom of the bumper. It's a light texture but not enough to hold a bunch of dirt and make it hard to clean up.

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I’ve been curious how that “textured” rustoleum looks, I may have to take a peak at that after I finish the base coat of the rust reformer. My rear bumper has the “bed liner” spray that I’ve been happy with.
 
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I’ve been happy with it. In that last pic you can just see lines, near the masked of lights, where I had it masked off last. I sprayed a couple more light coats over a bigger area to feather it in and you can’t tell a difference now.
 
I envy you two for those rock rails, I want a set of those for my LJ. Currently I have the regular rubicon ones. Where did you source them from?