The Red Dragon Build

[S/C-HD2002]

Using the Swith-Pro switch panel template, I laid out a bracket on a piece of 3/16" aluminum plate. It was cut and then bent in the press brake to fit in the recess location of the factory cigarette lighter.



I finally got around to installing my hand throttle as well.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

Since the GenRight Hi-Fenders only have the small front facing corner light/turn signal, I wanted to install JK turns in the grille. More than the function, I also liked the throwback look of round turn signal/park lights in the grille.

The holes were laid out and cut with a hole saw. I used the twist-lock method detailed on this forum. It has worked well so far.



As others have experienced with the front TJ lightning, the floating ground gets wonky with led lights. I didn't want to deal with the turn signal, corner light alternating dance, so I cut the light harness apart to isolate the two lights from each other.

The green wire (major) is your + turn signal wire, black/yellow (minor) is + park lamps, black is ground. I cut my factory harness and ran a clean power and ground to each light. The 3/4 LEDs in my Hi-Fender were wired as a true corner clearance/park lamp from the black/yellow wire and the JK turns/park lamps from the green wire. Both were run to the black ground wire.



All the running of clean power/ground or cutting and splicing was done in the factory signal/corner light harness. Once you strip this harness down, it becomes apparent what the factory did and why the stock lighting acts as it does.



I followed a clip I saw on YouTube from Muddy Beards 4x4 to solve the LED fast flash issue. The method involves cutting a section of the factory flasher circuit board. All seems to work well so far.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

I was thinking about this just now. Many of my vehicles have names, it's something we have done for a long time. The TJ's name comes from one of my favorite movies.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

I am willing to admit when I mess up. Here is a happy F-up that was not intended but worked out well in the end.

After I finished my front shock mounts I noticed my front coils would ever so slightly unseat at full extension. I planned around the 11 inch shocks to limit this. IIRC the RockJock CE-9132FP coils unseat at roughly 11.5 inches of down travel. It appeared I had unintentionally changed the shock down travel ratio and effectively made the shock act a touch longer with the (slight) angle it was mounted at. I ordered a set of JK coil isolators which are about a 1/4" thicker than the TJ ones. These added just enough height to slightly weight the coil at full extension and moved the shock up travel from 5.25" (up) to back to 5.5" (up) I planned originally.



While luck is never a good plan, sometimes it certainly helps!

 

[02GreenTJ]

This build is full of great info. I’m also in the middle of a jk swap so I will definitely be checking here for some ideas. Great work! I wish I had the patience to put detail into a thread like this.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

One goal for this build was to update it with auxiliary lighting. Traditionally I have not been a big night wheeler, thus the first build only had stock lighting for the majority of its existence.

This thought process was changed after an unintended, moonless, night exit on Holy Cross trail. Trying to pick lines through large boulder fields with a handheld Dewalt flashlight sucked (I did add Trucklite LED headlights immediately after this trip).

My goal was trying to find versatility and function in light placement without the appearance of gaudiness. I am not a big fan of monster light bars. I tried to find good deals on both eBay, Rigid, and Diode Dynamics (during their end of year sales). Lighting is ridiculously expensive and I did not have the appetite to pay even close to retail!

Here is what I ultimately came up with for this build...

I used Fluxor windshield hinge mounts. Big thumbs up to these mounts! I mounted 6" Rigid 360 Pro spots (white LED) with amber covers. These suckers are face melting bright.



Rigid D Series Side Shooter Pro floods (white LED) with amber covers for my ditch/corner lights. I fabbed aluminum brackets to attach these to my front bumper.



I cut a damaged roller fairlead and made a custom mount for a Rigid E-Series 10 inch Combo Spot/Flood (amber LED) with a clear cover. 1" aluminum spacers and 1/4-20 hardware bolted the bar to the bracket.



I used Procomp rocklight pods in white. These attached to the GenRight front inner fenders, inside the middle rocker body mount, and a custom aluminum bracket in the rear wheel well.



Savvy taillights were mounted.



I added tabs to my tire carrier to mount Diode Dynamics Stage Series 2" SAE/DOT Pro pods (white LED).



The final piece to my lighting puzzle was steering lights. I am on the fence about these being functional or a gimmick, but they do a good job of illuminating the direction the tires are pointing from a lower vantage point. I have big shoulders, flame away.



I am not a fan of cobbled together wiring or rat nests. Everything was wired using Deutsch connectors and heavy wall automotive PVC jacketed wiring. In many instances poly tube sleeves were added for additional protection. Everything was routed to the Switch-Pro power/ground bars located on top of my X2Power battery.

Looking back, I might have tipped towards the gaudy mark, but I will never hold a flashlight out the window again. This thing lights up like a spaceship now!

 

[S/C-HD2002]

This build is full of great info. I’m also in the middle of a jk swap so I will definitely be checking here for some ideas. Great work! I wish I had the patience to put detail into a thread like this.

Thank you! If there is anything I can help with, I'm glad to provide whatever assistance I can. Doing this build thread definitely reminded me why I never took the time to do it as I was going along (although it probably would've been easier!).

I now have a much better perspective of the amount of time many of the excellent builds on this site took to post about.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

Posting the picture of the rear rock lights reminded me I used U-Pol Raptor Liner in Flame Red (UP4868). This was used to coat my rear fender wells and under my corner and side armor.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

Looking at pictures I think that pretty much raps up when it rolled out of the shop. I missed my target date by about two months.

For whatever reason, one of my favorite parts of the build was the addition of these decals. When I first rolled it in the daylight, the side looked very plain to me.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

The maiden voyage was about 20 minutes to a buddies house for the fork lift test. I didn't die and nothing fell off. Check one and check two.

Everything seemed to play well together and there did not appear to be glaring issues that would cause problems going forward.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

Looking at that last large photo reminded me I swapped the corner lights for the Rigid D-SS lights (better side coverage). The Diode Dynamics were moved to the tire carrier as mentioned above.

 

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I found a close up of the gas filler in red powder. All the fitting and welding was worth it as it blended in pretty well. Its hardware was also swapped to Phillips head.



The mirrors as well.

 

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A few days after the Jeep was completed, it was driven to Spring Creek and put to work. It did well on both the trail and on the road.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

Here is my rendition of the relocated engine skid bracket for the Savvy three link. It is bent out of 1/4" plate and I mounted it on the inside of the frame horn for the engine mount. I wasn't sure how much room I would need and went as high as possible. Being as though the bracket was on the inside of the frame horn, I backed it up with a sandwich piece of 3/16 aluminum plate. It was all bolted together. Hopefully I shouldn't have made my stick out shorter. I guess time will tell.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

I mentioned this in another thread, but it probably would be well served to do it again.

When installing my JK axle, I went with a PSC box and a RockJock (TJ to JK) pitman arm. I checked both the sector shaft and pitman arm for burrs and both seemed to fit up well. When installed, I noticed the pitman arm seemed to engage a little lower on the sector shaft, but had full nut to thread engagement. The pitman arm was torqued and removed several times and it would not install any deeper.

When I returned home from the new build shake down run, it was apparent the lock washer had opened a bit (there was still tension on the nut and my paint marks still aligned). It looked like the pitman had moved up higher on the sector shaft. I retorqued the nut (with locktite) and was able to get an additional turn on the nut. After a second trail run, I noticed the lock washer had a tiny gap visable. I noted my paint witness marks were still aligned on both the lock and nut. This again indicated the pitman arm moved up the sector shaft. I reinstalled the lock, nut (blue locktite) and again was able to pull about another 1/4 turn to 185 ft/lbs.




After dealing with this twice, I am certain the RockJock pitman arm coating is the culprit. I am assuming the turning forces of the sector shaft splines to the pitman arm splines were enough to break the coating up and create a gap. This ultimately allowed the vertical movement of the pitman arm up the sector shaft.

I am fairly confident my pitman arm is fully seated now.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

A couple weeks later another trip to Spring Creek was planned. The TJ was driven to the trail, wheeled, and driven back home.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

The return home of my second trip showed the pitman arm had loosened again, albeit more slightly this time. It was tightened again as detailed above.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

Trying to make up for lost wheeling time in 2025, trip number three was planned. This time the TJ was hauled on a trailer to Holy Cross trail.

This gave me an opportunity to experiment with my "short haul" tow rig. I left the diesel at home and my 2013 Silverado put in work. When I bought this truck years ago it was supposed to be a winter beater. Like all my projects, it too, quickly got out of hand. Originally a W/T trim truck, I changed and upgraded a bunch of interior and exterior trim level components and changed a bunch of hard parts. The truck came with 80k on the clock, a 5.3, 3.08 gears and a 6L80. I found a great deal on a semi-float 9.5 14 bolt (with rear discs), added 3.73 gears, rear air bags, Fox struts and shocks, Denali 4 piston front big brakes, and 18 inch wheels. I managed expectations (it wasn't my diesel), but it performed quite well. The only change was to add a larger transmission cooler upon returning home from this trip.

Although Holy Cross was very wet, the TJ again did quite well on the trail. So far I was very happy with the build.

 

[S/C-HD2002]

Lighting up the night...

 

[S/C-HD2002]

Here is a random shot of the driver side Antirock attachment and Fox bump setup at ride height.

A second shot of the front steering components/trackbar at ride height. So far, everything seems to play very nicely when turning, driving, or flexing.

When I was looking under the Jeep yesterday, I was reminded I had used a flapper wheel to the front lower edge of the drag link forging on the pitman arm side. When the driver tire was full stuffed, the pitman arm forging was initially very close to hitting the tierod. The little bit of radius ground into it allows zero interference when fully stuffed and through the steering range of motion.