What did you do to your TJ today?
- Thread starter LJRubiconGuy
- Start date
Got my front axle built and painted it today.
Did you make that axle stand? I have an old weight bench w/ my scrap metal, hmmm....
Picked up 5 steel wheels, 5 35x12.5x15 MTR Kevlar, one is brand new (he had it for a spare), one has 70%, thread the other three tires are 60% for $500. What's that saying "One man's trash is another man's treasure" (Yotam Ottolenghi Quote). I thought it was a good deal for four year old tires.
I did make it. It was an old piece of fitness equipment that was getting tossed out. I looked at it and realized I could make a great axle stand out of it. I can make it wider or narrower, and each arm goes up and down independently. I also have a tool tray that I can add to the side.
New gas cap cover to match the taillight covers and the sunshade. I am like Charlie from Always Sunny, ready to get all America all over everyone's ass.
On a roll here.
My 03 needed the pinion angle reset...realized I was at a crossroads ...CVC joint or motor mount lift .
Opted for CVC. Figured I'd keep the one I yanked for my other Rubis I'm buying and selling, as a back up.
So I had one built locally. They are using a one ton double cardan. This is way more than I had in mind...cost and size wise. So I'm committed.. Lord. I need to slow down...I'm pretty confident I could have dialed in the stocker and trying would have only been some effort. Learned a lot about the whole deal along the way, so I'm glad of that. What eats at me a little is I'm fairly sure it could all have been dialed in with the control arms ...but I'm getting pretty close to the gas tank skid at full flex with the track bar mount. The flex on my '03 is nuts. Rolling the pinion down seems to be a bad move, because I'm at the point the uppers are pulled in .
For the record, get double adjustable control arms if possible. Trust me.
My tribute to the Mopar RockCrawler front bumper is coming along well, Chris has seen preliminary pics and thinks it may work out to be ok. I'm ready to cut the front bumper and weld the loops on now. I'm calling it the "SkinCrawler" . Figure it will make a die hard purists' skin crawl. It's not a replica , just a nod to that great design.
Got new LED lights for the KC bar that runs above the winch...Tractor Supply has a good variety of nice led lights. The flush mount ones have wide flanges, the mounts are stout, the housings tight and strong ....really nice for the money and a lot of styles. I'm going with a 3.5 " round that has a thin red accent line in the lens for my Black/Red look on the RinoCon, which is also getting the above bumper mod. Pics will land when it's done.
I'd love to see pics of a wax to do an auxiliary light switch without drilling into the interior/dash if anyone has done that.
Also did deeper reaching lugs on my 03 rears...has anyone noticed shorter rear lugs on 03 Rubis?
My 03 needed the pinion angle reset...realized I was at a crossroads ...CVC joint or motor mount lift .
Opted for CVC. Figured I'd keep the one I yanked for my other Rubis I'm buying and selling, as a back up.
So I had one built locally. They are using a one ton double cardan. This is way more than I had in mind...cost and size wise. So I'm committed.. Lord. I need to slow down...I'm pretty confident I could have dialed in the stocker and trying would have only been some effort. Learned a lot about the whole deal along the way, so I'm glad of that. What eats at me a little is I'm fairly sure it could all have been dialed in with the control arms ...but I'm getting pretty close to the gas tank skid at full flex with the track bar mount. The flex on my '03 is nuts. Rolling the pinion down seems to be a bad move, because I'm at the point the uppers are pulled in .
For the record, get double adjustable control arms if possible. Trust me.
My tribute to the Mopar RockCrawler front bumper is coming along well, Chris has seen preliminary pics and thinks it may work out to be ok. I'm ready to cut the front bumper and weld the loops on now. I'm calling it the "SkinCrawler" . Figure it will make a die hard purists' skin crawl. It's not a replica , just a nod to that great design.
Got new LED lights for the KC bar that runs above the winch...Tractor Supply has a good variety of nice led lights. The flush mount ones have wide flanges, the mounts are stout, the housings tight and strong ....really nice for the money and a lot of styles. I'm going with a 3.5 " round that has a thin red accent line in the lens for my Black/Red look on the RinoCon, which is also getting the above bumper mod. Pics will land when it's done.
I'd love to see pics of a wax to do an auxiliary light switch without drilling into the interior/dash if anyone has done that.
Also did deeper reaching lugs on my 03 rears...has anyone noticed shorter rear lugs on 03 Rubis?
MountaineerTom
LJ Enthusiast, Retired USAF Weapons Loader
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
You could mount a small metal tab under the edge of the bottom of the dash using an existing screw. Then use a flush style switch or a regular old fashion rocker switch. Kind of like those switch kits from Quadratec that are used to turn the dome lights off when you have the doors off.
My ‘06 non-rubicon has short rear studs. I got some extended lug nuts from Amazon to use with my ProComp wheels. They don’t fit through the holes on my OEM Ravine wheels though.
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I was getting close to putting these in my basket on Amazon, then I got to thinking. LOL Yah, that's a bad thing sometimes. LOL Rainy season is going to begin soon and I am wondering how much water is going to drip on them from my shoes while getting in? Do you feel you could move them along the side fairly easy or is where you have them the only spot they will fit?
I even thought about maybe trying to put some sort of plastic over the speakers while it is raining. Could work I guess?
MountaineerTom
LJ Enthusiast, Retired USAF Weapons Loader
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
I was getting close to putting these in my basket on Amazon, then I got to thinking. LOL Yah, that's a bad thing sometimes. LOL Rainy season is going to begin soon and I am wondering how much water is going to drip on them from my shoes while getting in? Do you feel you could move them along the side fairly easy or is where you have them the only spot they will fit?
I even thought about maybe trying to put some sort of plastic over the speakers while it is raining. Could work I guess?
Are you worried about getting water on the speaker itself? If so, get marine speakers.
Yah, from the looks of the boxes and speakers, the water would drip right on the cones.
Never thought about marine speakers, LOL. Thanks, I will look into those.
They a
They designed for that spot so they can be screwed in. Pretty sure you could move them around and screw from the back. I used Polk DX speakers so they can get wet, not submerged but they are classified as a marine speaker.I was getting close to putting these in my basket on Amazon, then I got to thinking. LOL Yah, that's a bad thing sometimes. LOL Rainy season is going to begin soon and I am wondering how much water is going to drip on them from my shoes while getting in? Do you feel you could move them along the side fairly easy or is where you have them the only spot they will fit?
I even thought about maybe trying to put some sort of plastic over the speakers while it is raining. Could work I guess?
Finished up my battery tray refurb and paint, and I'm pretty sure I'm buying a winch tomorrow, will go see at 1300...
hardtailpan
TJ Enthusiast
Well, went to the locksmith in the city today. Piece of cake. Cut the second key, and programmed the first one. $64. Interesting data point, for my Jeep, they needed to cut a regular steel key (no chip) in order to program the new chipped key. Not sure why this was, but they said it had something to do with not having the PIN. Anyway, I was able to program my 3rd key myself. Finally this annoying task is completed.
The locksmith who programmed my second spare also did the same thing. I too was confused as to why it had to be done, but I guess it's a thing.
I finally found 100% stock PSB (bright silver metallic) half doors with the matching interior and I am beyond happy. Can’t wait to clean them up and try them on
hardtailpan
TJ Enthusiast
Nice!
Looks like they came with all the fixin's like mirrors and hinges.
It took me quite a while to source the same half doors.
If the doors have the mopar stickers still on them showing VIN then you can look up the details of the jeep they came off of.
https://fcacommunity.force.com/RAM/s/equipment-listing