jeeponrock
October 18th, 2007, 12:09 pm
Well I've been meaning to do this for about a decade now. I've probably started this write-up a dozen times over the years but I never really seemed to get time to do it right. I still don't have the time but the motivation and insomnia are there so I'm going to take advantage :D
Like most people I've done my build up in stages. As I broke stuff I tried to upgrade and as my fab skills improved, so did my Jeep. Unlike other project threads you may have read, I'm giving you a bit of the history.
Ever since I can remember I have loved Jeeps. I think it was the old war movies that got me hooked. I loved the military Jeeps and always wanted one (finally got one too but that's another thread). I had been wheeling a few times with my brother and when I finally had some cash I bought my first Jeep. Way back in September of '93 I bought a 1982 Jeep CJ7 off one of the local Jeep dealers. I didn't really know anything about Jeeps at the time but I knew it looked cool and I knew I had to have it. If I knew then what I know now, I would have kept looking. The previous owner was a hack and I spent years trying to fix his mistakes.
The only mods were a homemade 2" body lift, 31" muds, chrome nerf bars, and cheap plastic bucket seats. The drive train was stock (AMC258 6cyl, T5, Dana300, AMC20/Dana 30, 3.31 gears) and it had been heavily used offroad. It had a bad valve cover leak (if you ever dealt with a 258 and a plastic valve cover you know what I mean) but it seemed OK otherwise. I learned to wheel in this thing and did a lot of trails.
This is a shot of the me on the Clear Creek trail back in '94.
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/tripodstock.jpg
A year or so later the motor was tired and the syncros went on the tranny. As I was looking for a new T5, a buddy pulled the motor on his camaro and offered it to me for free. So began the first major project. In went a Chev 350 and a TH350 auto. Never did get the front driveshaft in (had clearance problems with the tranny pan) but I still offroaded it and spanked many a car at the stoplights.
The motor swap took the better part of two years to do.
Tip #1 - Despite all your best planning, motor swaps always cost 2-3x more than you budget for.
Tip #2 - Starting a family and starting a major project never works out. You only have time and money for one of these choices and if you want to keep the twig and berries attached you had better hope you make the right choice. :-)
Thankfully my daughter inherited my sense of adventure. She loved going offroad and especially loved the early spring or late fall trips above the snow line for that snowball fight with dad. Here's a shot of her kicking back and enjoying the ferry over to Maple Ridge on a trip to Stave Lake
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/copilot2.jpg
Not long after I got the Jeep back on the road I spun a wheel hub on the passenger rear two piece axle shaft and had to swap in a set of one piece shafts. This kicked off the next major project and in went an SM465 4spd, a set of Moser one piece shafts, a Rancho 2.5" lift, a set of 33" TSLs and a front driveshaft :-)
On Blue Mountain - the "Waterfall" obstacle for you old timers
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/pigletonwaterfallbfsoa.jpg
And at Cleavage Rock during Rock Crawl '98
http://bc4x4.com/tr/1998/irc98/ed5.jpg
Wheeling was a passion for me but after running that first Rock Crawl I was blown away by the killer trails there and I knew I needed lockers and better gearing in order to do the tougher trails. To make matter worse my brother bought a big beast of a truck. He bought a '77 Chevy Blazer (or at least that's what it said on the registration papers). It used a Chevy Blazer frame, had a pickup cab, a very heavy and ugly steel flat deck, and 1 ton running gear. He then bought lockers and 38.5" TSLs for it. The first time I saw it perform offroad (it chewed up and spat out the local mud hole) I named it SuperPig. Tread Lightly isn't something that comes to mind when you see it. It was a beast and did more stuff in 2wd than I could do in 4wd. I had to go bigger. :D
I tracked down a narrowed Dana 60 rear with a set of 35 spline semi float shafts and had a custom D44 front housing made to match. In went a set of ARBs, some 4.56 gears, and a set of 36" TSLs. I also went SOA and made some other minor changes. The end result was a great setup. Capable, flexy, and more than enough Jeep to tackle what BC has to offer.
This is a shot of my Jeep (after the swap) and my brothers truck.
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/pigletonpig.jpg
Unfortunately I never know when to leave things alone. I like to build as much as I like to wheel. Everyone had a SOA Jeep or something similar. I wanted something different. I wanted more flex.
I saw some cool pics online from a small company named Avalanche Engineering. They were starting to get popular on the 'net and had just released the first 1/4 elliptical kit I'd ever seen. I liked what I saw so I ended up with a set of spring packs, some links and a few rod ends. Since I couldn't really weld (I still can't really but I can fool some people now) a buddy of mine put it in for me and I was blown away with the results.
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/rearflex.jpg
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/sidefflex.jpg
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/jon.jpg
I definitely liked the new suspension but unfortunately the link geometry was off and I ended up with some rear steer and too much antisquat. It was unstable on downhills and it got spooky on sidehills.
This was more driver error than anything but you get the idea...
http://bc4x4.com/tr/2000/rc00/rip/rcrip-7.jpg
The video was even better. http://bc4x4.com/video/riproll-2.avi
Pam provided the commentary for the video. She's a pro but I think that was the first time she saw a roll. My better half Lynn was with me that trip. This was the first time I'd taken her offroad. This was the first trail of the day and the first major obstacle. Believe it or not once we got it back up-right and loaded the broken glass in the back, she climbed back in and wheeled the rest of the weekend with me :cool:
The roll sparked a new build up. I swapped a new tub in, built a new cage, and tweaked the suspension a little. About the same time I finished this round of mods, Lynn declared she would rather have her own Jeep than deal with my driving again….
Tip #3 - You get a bit more freedom to do what you want when your significant other has her own rig. Unfortunately you quickly learn that any free time you had for upgrades on your rig is now spent maintaining two rigs instead.
So we picked up another CJ for her. After wheeling it a bit and remembering why I hated stock gearing so much we decided it was time to build hers. So being the intelligent, opportunistic offroad nut I am I saw a chance to upgrade here. It wasn't going to be much different building new axles and stuff for me than it was to build new stuff for her. Why not swap my running gear into her Jeep and put new stuff in mine? Now keep in mind, I had maybe 2 or 3 trips on my Jeep at the time. I had taken almost two years to get it back on the road after the roll. The old timers here gave me all kinds of abuse but all I could see was one ton running gear and 42s :redneck
Lynn's Jeep turned out pretty damn nice. TBI350/SM465/D300/D44/D60/SOA,ARBs. It's done some pretty tough trails and it's a perfect vehicle for her. It will keep her busy for a few years yet.
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/Lynnsjeep.jpg
So that brings us to my current project. As you can see this has been a long time coming (almost 15 years now). I've seen a couple different motors, three trannys, four suspension setups, three different axle setups, 31" tires, 33" tires, and 36" tires. It was time for something big. I've always liked the looks of a full body rig and I knew I wanted big tires. So a little wheelbase stretch and 42's were the goal here. When I started this thing in 2004 (yeah maybe by now you understand some of the jokes around the project names) this setup was in. Since then the trend has moved to small lightweight stuff or big block beasts with rockwells. Well one of those is next :p
So here is the current spec…
- Vortech 8100 / SM465 Westers Garage tune on the 8.1L - est 400HP
- NP203/NP205 with NWF Triple Sticks. 32 spline outputs on the 205.
- Front axle is a reverse cut D60 (housing assembled and shaved by OTT) with 5.13 gears and an ARB
- Rear is a 14 bolt with a Detroit and 5.13s. Drum brakes for now but discs going in soon.
- Front suspension is SOA with waggy 44044's
- Rear is 4 linked with 4" TJ coils
- Tub stretched 11" behind the door (looks like a bobbed CJ8)
- Family cage (TBD)
- Custom front fenders (TBD)
- '96 S Blazer gas tank with a TJ filler neck
- Dual pass Ron Davis Aluminum CJ conversion rad.
- Warn 12K winch in the front, 10K winch in the rear
- And a few other odds and ends.
I'll start posting up the pics this weekend.
Oh and a word of warning. My projects are a balance of form, function, and time. More often than not function and time win out over form. In other words I have very little time to work on this thing so when I do I focus on making sure it will work and very little effort is spent on making it pretty.
Like most people I've done my build up in stages. As I broke stuff I tried to upgrade and as my fab skills improved, so did my Jeep. Unlike other project threads you may have read, I'm giving you a bit of the history.
Ever since I can remember I have loved Jeeps. I think it was the old war movies that got me hooked. I loved the military Jeeps and always wanted one (finally got one too but that's another thread). I had been wheeling a few times with my brother and when I finally had some cash I bought my first Jeep. Way back in September of '93 I bought a 1982 Jeep CJ7 off one of the local Jeep dealers. I didn't really know anything about Jeeps at the time but I knew it looked cool and I knew I had to have it. If I knew then what I know now, I would have kept looking. The previous owner was a hack and I spent years trying to fix his mistakes.
The only mods were a homemade 2" body lift, 31" muds, chrome nerf bars, and cheap plastic bucket seats. The drive train was stock (AMC258 6cyl, T5, Dana300, AMC20/Dana 30, 3.31 gears) and it had been heavily used offroad. It had a bad valve cover leak (if you ever dealt with a 258 and a plastic valve cover you know what I mean) but it seemed OK otherwise. I learned to wheel in this thing and did a lot of trails.
This is a shot of the me on the Clear Creek trail back in '94.
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/tripodstock.jpg
A year or so later the motor was tired and the syncros went on the tranny. As I was looking for a new T5, a buddy pulled the motor on his camaro and offered it to me for free. So began the first major project. In went a Chev 350 and a TH350 auto. Never did get the front driveshaft in (had clearance problems with the tranny pan) but I still offroaded it and spanked many a car at the stoplights.
The motor swap took the better part of two years to do.
Tip #1 - Despite all your best planning, motor swaps always cost 2-3x more than you budget for.
Tip #2 - Starting a family and starting a major project never works out. You only have time and money for one of these choices and if you want to keep the twig and berries attached you had better hope you make the right choice. :-)
Thankfully my daughter inherited my sense of adventure. She loved going offroad and especially loved the early spring or late fall trips above the snow line for that snowball fight with dad. Here's a shot of her kicking back and enjoying the ferry over to Maple Ridge on a trip to Stave Lake
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/copilot2.jpg
Not long after I got the Jeep back on the road I spun a wheel hub on the passenger rear two piece axle shaft and had to swap in a set of one piece shafts. This kicked off the next major project and in went an SM465 4spd, a set of Moser one piece shafts, a Rancho 2.5" lift, a set of 33" TSLs and a front driveshaft :-)
On Blue Mountain - the "Waterfall" obstacle for you old timers
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/pigletonwaterfallbfsoa.jpg
And at Cleavage Rock during Rock Crawl '98
http://bc4x4.com/tr/1998/irc98/ed5.jpg
Wheeling was a passion for me but after running that first Rock Crawl I was blown away by the killer trails there and I knew I needed lockers and better gearing in order to do the tougher trails. To make matter worse my brother bought a big beast of a truck. He bought a '77 Chevy Blazer (or at least that's what it said on the registration papers). It used a Chevy Blazer frame, had a pickup cab, a very heavy and ugly steel flat deck, and 1 ton running gear. He then bought lockers and 38.5" TSLs for it. The first time I saw it perform offroad (it chewed up and spat out the local mud hole) I named it SuperPig. Tread Lightly isn't something that comes to mind when you see it. It was a beast and did more stuff in 2wd than I could do in 4wd. I had to go bigger. :D
I tracked down a narrowed Dana 60 rear with a set of 35 spline semi float shafts and had a custom D44 front housing made to match. In went a set of ARBs, some 4.56 gears, and a set of 36" TSLs. I also went SOA and made some other minor changes. The end result was a great setup. Capable, flexy, and more than enough Jeep to tackle what BC has to offer.
This is a shot of my Jeep (after the swap) and my brothers truck.
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/pigletonpig.jpg
Unfortunately I never know when to leave things alone. I like to build as much as I like to wheel. Everyone had a SOA Jeep or something similar. I wanted something different. I wanted more flex.
I saw some cool pics online from a small company named Avalanche Engineering. They were starting to get popular on the 'net and had just released the first 1/4 elliptical kit I'd ever seen. I liked what I saw so I ended up with a set of spring packs, some links and a few rod ends. Since I couldn't really weld (I still can't really but I can fool some people now) a buddy of mine put it in for me and I was blown away with the results.
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/rearflex.jpg
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/sidefflex.jpg
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/jon.jpg
I definitely liked the new suspension but unfortunately the link geometry was off and I ended up with some rear steer and too much antisquat. It was unstable on downhills and it got spooky on sidehills.
This was more driver error than anything but you get the idea...
http://bc4x4.com/tr/2000/rc00/rip/rcrip-7.jpg
The video was even better. http://bc4x4.com/video/riproll-2.avi
Pam provided the commentary for the video. She's a pro but I think that was the first time she saw a roll. My better half Lynn was with me that trip. This was the first time I'd taken her offroad. This was the first trail of the day and the first major obstacle. Believe it or not once we got it back up-right and loaded the broken glass in the back, she climbed back in and wheeled the rest of the weekend with me :cool:
The roll sparked a new build up. I swapped a new tub in, built a new cage, and tweaked the suspension a little. About the same time I finished this round of mods, Lynn declared she would rather have her own Jeep than deal with my driving again….
Tip #3 - You get a bit more freedom to do what you want when your significant other has her own rig. Unfortunately you quickly learn that any free time you had for upgrades on your rig is now spent maintaining two rigs instead.
So we picked up another CJ for her. After wheeling it a bit and remembering why I hated stock gearing so much we decided it was time to build hers. So being the intelligent, opportunistic offroad nut I am I saw a chance to upgrade here. It wasn't going to be much different building new axles and stuff for me than it was to build new stuff for her. Why not swap my running gear into her Jeep and put new stuff in mine? Now keep in mind, I had maybe 2 or 3 trips on my Jeep at the time. I had taken almost two years to get it back on the road after the roll. The old timers here gave me all kinds of abuse but all I could see was one ton running gear and 42s :redneck
Lynn's Jeep turned out pretty damn nice. TBI350/SM465/D300/D44/D60/SOA,ARBs. It's done some pretty tough trails and it's a perfect vehicle for her. It will keep her busy for a few years yet.
http://www3.telus.net/jeeponrock/pics/Lynnsjeep.jpg
So that brings us to my current project. As you can see this has been a long time coming (almost 15 years now). I've seen a couple different motors, three trannys, four suspension setups, three different axle setups, 31" tires, 33" tires, and 36" tires. It was time for something big. I've always liked the looks of a full body rig and I knew I wanted big tires. So a little wheelbase stretch and 42's were the goal here. When I started this thing in 2004 (yeah maybe by now you understand some of the jokes around the project names) this setup was in. Since then the trend has moved to small lightweight stuff or big block beasts with rockwells. Well one of those is next :p
So here is the current spec…
- Vortech 8100 / SM465 Westers Garage tune on the 8.1L - est 400HP
- NP203/NP205 with NWF Triple Sticks. 32 spline outputs on the 205.
- Front axle is a reverse cut D60 (housing assembled and shaved by OTT) with 5.13 gears and an ARB
- Rear is a 14 bolt with a Detroit and 5.13s. Drum brakes for now but discs going in soon.
- Front suspension is SOA with waggy 44044's
- Rear is 4 linked with 4" TJ coils
- Tub stretched 11" behind the door (looks like a bobbed CJ8)
- Family cage (TBD)
- Custom front fenders (TBD)
- '96 S Blazer gas tank with a TJ filler neck
- Dual pass Ron Davis Aluminum CJ conversion rad.
- Warn 12K winch in the front, 10K winch in the rear
- And a few other odds and ends.
I'll start posting up the pics this weekend.
Oh and a word of warning. My projects are a balance of form, function, and time. More often than not function and time win out over form. In other words I have very little time to work on this thing so when I do I focus on making sure it will work and very little effort is spent on making it pretty.