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ExWrench's Oddball Mods + Sneaky Stretch

109K views 208 replies 42 participants last post by  gt1guy 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey All,

If you haven't seen my clusterfook of a thread in the Welcome Room, you might want to check that out HERE

I'm finally getting off my ass (had time to spare, barely) to huck up some pics and a few words about the wierd crap I've done to my Rubicon.
I don't have the time to make a tech-worthy "build thread", but I do have time to show what I did differently . . . which is a lot of it.
There are 10 as-good ways to do anything I did here, and I'm sure there are a couple of better ones, but I'm happy with all I did, so :thefinger:

Enough bullshit and disclaimers - look at the pretty pictures, you monkeys!

Brand new, unmolested 2010 2 door 12 speed - it's never been close to that clean since.



Here's what it replaced. 2007 Access Cab TRD Offroad 4X4 Tacoma. Decided to ditch the Tacoma rather than SAS and 35s (which was next).


Did the "stubby" front bumper chop. Meh, fun waste of time.


Tried the Rugged Ridge mirror relocation brackets. Great on driver side, worthless on passenger side.
That shit's in the garden shed waiting to sell / give away.


Cut down the third brake light stalk to shine through the spare rim. Totally happy with this mod. Only replaced when building tire swing.


VHT brake caliper paint is pretty durable if you cure it at high heat. The oven was out of the question (I like being married).

But the barbecue worked fine - IR thermometer is great for verifying temperatures, soup cans make great risers.

My jerry can and cowl grille screen have also been through my Weber "curing oven". :D
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Jeep came from dealer with McGard locking lug nuts. What cheap pieces of shit!:flipoff:

Aluminum foil was to protect rim paint while I welded big-ass nuts onto the locking lugs after the "key" socket failed without impact.

Replaced with Gorilla locking lug set - totally happy with these. Every lug is a lock, and the key is an impact socket, not an art project.

Craftsman flex head 1/2" ratchet stores well and works fast. Bought a spare just for the Jeep - this purchase makes me happy every time I use it.

On the subject of factory stuff I threw away in disgust, the glove box was swapped for a Tuffy unit. Love this bit of tweeker resistance.


Other factory stuff I considered garbage were the fog lights, headlights, bumpers and horn. Bumpers were embarassing, horn was outright dangerous / useless.
Pair of Piaa sports horns (hi tone, lo tone) sounds like safety equipment, not a cutesy, bare-minimum money-saver for Chrysler.

Also visible in the pic above are Chrysler hood lock (good stuff), swaybar motor relocation (home-brewed), P/S cooler for hydraulic winch, MileMarker 9000# hydraulic winch, and KC fog lights.

I enjoy having Hood Lift gas springs on the hood. Did not enjoy that their brackets and instructions did not make a working assembly, and that I had to fudge it with washers.

I could mill spacers in 15 minutes for both sides and make this look trick. I leave it shitty looking out of spite.
I'm not vain - why make them look better than they chose to be? I'm over it. That's my Hood Lift story.
 
#3 · (Edited)
VHT brake caliper paint that's close to deep water blue and the barbecue curing oven make this modificatiion sneaky.

Made a screen out of expanded steel to keep crap out of the cowl. Works great. Also used removeable rivets in place of POS xmas tree rivets.

Zip-tie fix for hood flutter. Self-explanatory?


Bent some copper tubing to help cool air on the way from OBA compressor to manifold and tank.


Cut a wedge of 1-1/2" ABS pipe to angle air gage toward driver.


Desert racers' trick, or so I was told. Make a stand-off out of fuel hose and a zip tie. No vibration, no chafing, less than a buck.


I didn't want to lay on my back in snow, mud, or the mall parking lot to look up at my OBA tank drain as it pissed in my face.
So, I remoted it to behind the front bumper - I love this mod every time I use it. Easy to find, easy to operate.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Front Bumper

Kept the MileMarker hydraulic winch from my Toyota - offered to sell it at full price, because I would have bought it again new.
Front bumper started as 2" x 8" x .188" wall tubing. Winch is mounted to a single .188" wall, but mostly in compression.

Notice the sexy hole-saw corners and time consuming straight cuts. Guess who doesn't have a plasma cutter.

Spent a little time sculpting the shackle tabs. I think they look cooler, and sharp edges kill knees as well as paint jobs.


I stood the shackle tabs up for a few reasons:
  • to tie front wall of bumper to back wall where bolted to frame
  • to not bang my knees on them when dicking around under the hood
  • for the hell of it and because I had never seen it done before

Front wall of bumper is continuous - I pie-cut the back, bent it closed, and fully welded it inside and out before grinding.

3/16" plate for top of bumper. I chose 30 degrees for the bumper wings, and mirrored this on the top plate for symmetry.


Plate sitting on top of bumper attaches to top plate and back side of wing portion.


Duplicolor etching primer in a rattle can has not let me down yet.
Tab in foreground is to add a 9/16" grade 8 bolt in shear to the fight against the winch tearing the front bumper off.


I know, I know . . . no improvement over the factory bumper. Sorry. :thefinger:

Bumpers and sliders are painted with Duplicolor rattle can truck bed liner. Works OK, lasts OK.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Rear Bumper

Rear bumper also started out as 2x8x.188" wall tubing. All added plate is .188" thick as well.


Bumper brackets are 1/4" x 4" - I'm betting they will hang in for the duration.


Guess who still doesn't have a plasma cutter. Notice super sexy drill holes and jigsaw perfection. (Shackle tab hole).


Same as front bumper - cut a wedge, figure out how to bend it back together, weld the crap out of it, etc.
Also, I had to notch out and plate over the bottom center of bumper to drop it down over the trailer hitch a tiny bit to get the right height.


This is a contour gage. It doesn't cost much. This makes matching the body profile possible when cutting a top plate for the back bumper.


Still no plasma cutter. Enjoy the hacking, grinding and swearing while making room for tire swing spindle.


Here's something you won't see from anyone trying to be cost-competitive: recessed license plate well. I dig unique and functional. :D
 
#6 · (Edited)
Tire Swing, Take One

If you're going to build a linked tire swing, this could save you a fookload of headaches. I would have liked to read this before.

My work involves sweating over a few thousandths of an inch, so I like my fab time to be free-form and artistic. This was not the problem.


Transfering reading from magnetic protractor to layout on tubing. This also was not the problem.


Making a large plate out of smaller pieces of plate - still not the cause of any problems.


Drilled plate, installed on tailgate, and mocked up and tacked clevis for rod-end link to tire swing. Still no problem . . .


This MarthaFuquar right here was the problem! I didn't know any better, and my research pointed to this being a good idea.

I was using a single bumper on two inclined tabs to provide vertical support and a horizontal limit for the "loose" end of tire swing.
Ahh, the elegance of simplicity - until you figure out it's a SHIT design. Here's why: the body and frame move independently (if you wheel).
When the body and frame flexed, the spare tire/swing would bounce or rattle, and anything that rattles eventually costs time.
**** this design! :flipoff:
 
#7 · (Edited)
Tire Swing, Take Two

So we can agree that the single inclined limiter is a crap design, right? Here was the first step taken to remedy.

Add a strike plate to the top of the tailgate for bumpers to hit.


Add some bumpers to tire swing to hit strike plate at top of tailgate.


Ditch the bumper that I spent hours making trick little pocketed bracket and strike plate for.

This worked OK, but the tire swing was still not supported vertically on its "free" end, so I convinced myself it could fatigue the spindle eventually.
Also, I could convince myself that the tire swing might be able to flex up-and-down and fatigue, using my single bumper pair as a fulcrum.
I'm a pretty harsh critic when it comes to my own stuff. When my spare doesn't break loose and decapitate you, you're welcome. :D
 
#8 · (Edited)
Tire Swing - Third Time's a Charm

WTF is THAT?!! :eek:

This is the key to a tire swing about which I never stress. Specifically, this is a small block of HDPE, but other materials would be OK.

I cut all the art projects off the tire swing, extended the vertical tube, and plated the bottom.
Threaded into that bottom plate is a 1/2" SS carriage bolt with a head that I polished smooth.

Notice also in the picture above, I now have pairs of bumpers at the top and bottom of the strike plate on the tailgate.
Bumpers are adjusted to be coplanar. Adjusting rod-end link takes slack out of tire swing if needed.

Carriage bolt supports free end of tire swing, but does so on bumper which moves with frame, hence no fatigue of spindle. :D

I'm not at all saying to do this. However, I'm suggesting you skip the frustration of trying that other crap.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Maintenance Records, My Way

I used to do mobile service and fleet maintenance. Nothing is sacred, especially if I plan to keep it.


When I'm not throwing graffitti under my hood, I make purdy peetchurs about how to huck the tires around, as well as maintenance records.

Flip side of 5-tire rotation diagram has tire history.


Ziploc bag is a great way to preserve documents under dirty or wet conditions. This vehicle sees both of those conditions.
 
#10 · (Edited)
More Random Oddball Stuff . . .

Here are a few more things I'm pretty sure few others have done, maybe for good reason. Anyway, check this out:

Take an Altoids can, rip the lid off, put door edge guard on, glue rubber in bottom, and velcro to center console.
Voila! - the change cup that Chrysler should have put there!

Oh, I also cut a couple of inches off the shifter and drilled and tapped the end to put a Hurst t-handle on. That was "cool", but not good enough.
On a whim, I pulled the Hurst shift handle and threaded on a golf ball - LOVE this shifter! It's as perfect as the factory knob was idiotic.

Note to self: add shift handle to the list of crap Chrysler F'd up on when making this Jeep.

Made the foot plate of my HiLift jack a quick-release deal, and made a vertical receiver on back of back bumper.
Jack is below roofline for minimal wind- and branch-resistance.


PAINT YOUR FOOKIN' ROOF WHITE! This is the best 5 dollar modification I ever spent an hour to do. I only painted the top of the roof.
Most people never notice, and now there is no 140 degree air inside when Jeep has been parked in the sun.


Custom high-tech clearancing operation using advanced ball-peen technology (Tuffy rear deck was rubbing rear door. Door was easier to move.)


Inside rear door (tailgate) is a great place to put crap you don't want to dig for. I chose a flashlight, a Leatherman, a spare knife, and door prop.


Door prop plugs over one of the tire swing bumpers. It's just a piece of fuel hose, a copper fitting, and some heat shrink.

When I forget about it, it just folds over and shits itself out rather than denting or damaging anything.

Before I did my rear stretch (should be coming up real soon now . . . see below) I pre-ran the course:

Shown are 2-1/2 inch lift with 0 stretch, 2 inches, 4 inches, and 8 inches. 8 has relocated gas filler and fenders. All just MS Paint doodling.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Way back when, I added Poly Perf. tubes to stock Rubicon sliders/rails. This made it look cool, but made the rails that much more likely to fail.
So, i made some trick (I think) mounts that give me all the confidence I need.


At the same time, I made a retainer for the HiLift that won't let it slide out and collapse, but lets the jack articulate.


Also, the whole side of the Jeep always got shit on by the front tires,


so I made a filler panel - I LOVE THIS MOD!


Random: here's a 2.5" lift with 32s and 35s for comparison.


Random-er: cheap piece of shit Chinese vise I broke because it looked like a decent vise. Replaced with Ridgid brand vise made by Peddinghaus in Germany.


Shop tip: when you slit tubing lengthwise, it will close up, grab your cutting wheel, and piss in your Cheerios. I figured out a cool work-around.

Made 2 screw jacks out of 1/2" bolts and nuts, clamped against them in the vise, and cut the whole length in one shot with no drama. :D


OK, that gets most of the other crap out of the way - on to my "stock-ish" sneaky stretch. :bounce:
 
#12 · (Edited)
So I stretched it to 100" (99.75:flipoff:) at the rear only. I reworked the inner fenders with a heat gun and reused them.


From the back, it looks "stock" body-wise.


Bumpers, sliders, linked tire swing, jack and jerry can mounts are all my original stuff.


I'm on 35" MTR/K worn down to 34" right now. Will replace with same or 37" MTR/K when these wear out.

I cut the body to make room for 37s, because I know I won't be able to resist. :D

Didn't move upper coil buckets - no place to pull body. I moved upper bump stops back 4", welded on a new upper TB mount 6" behind stock,

and made shelves on the front of the axle to get the coils where I need them (and cut off old TB mount and unneeded crap).
Rear upper shock mounts are Poly Perf. "coilover mounts" weld-in crossmember - TOTALLY HAPPY with Synergy parts.
Rear upper arms are Currie JK rear upper arms I cut, slugged, sleeved, and welded.
Rear lower arms are Currie JK front lower arms to save me the fab hassle - this was enough of a pain in the ass as it was!


TB is Teraflex monster front and rear - I dig 'em. TB axle bracket is Teraflex, just because that's what I bought way back when.
One of the best bang-for-buck mods I did was to get the axle side of the rear track bar as high as possible.
I don't know yet if there's room to get the swaybar back in there, but I really don't miss it right now.

What made this possible was getting the muffler in front of the axle, and cutting the tailpipe off right before the track bar.
Soon, I'll probably try to get more muffler and tailpipe under the back now that I'm done moving shit around.
MBRP exhaust isn't quite obnoxious, but it still pisses me off from time to time.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Thanks. I appreciate the time you are putting into your build thread. People, check out Ringer's build thread if you have not already.
Nice work man, definitely a cool build. And let me guess, you're an engineer?
I just moved from my company's engineering department to be the Quality Assurance Manager.
I've been a laborer, mechanic, fabricator, field service manager, maintenance manager, CNC Programmer, and Manufacturing Engineer.
And I'm proud to be a badass with a push broom, hammer, or shovel. Nobody can bullshit me, so that's handy. :D
Looking good! What is next?
Thanks. The next "short list" is all fookin' expensive chit. Top pirorities would be RCVs up front, CroMo shafts out back, and Trail Ready beadlocks (5).
After that economic parking ticket, I would like to do hydro assist, a ProRock 44 Unlimited housing up front, 5.13's, another Woods D/S, and 37" MTR/Ks.
I think you should have saved yourself more placeholders :thefinger:
No shit. I wanted to grab a few more, but it looked ******* ridiculous before I started filling 'em in.
engineer or x military with all this ******* lingo!

you could have just put pictures up and got the same end result from us! :thefinger:

nice jeep bud!
Sorry, I was hoping the purty peechurs would make up for the articles. :thefinger:
Ya looks good, nice work
Thank you!

OK, I'm going to try to finish filling in the blanks.
Edit: I filled up the 2 blank posts I had reserved above. Tiltz was right - I should have reserved more.


Question: should I post one last time in my Welcome Room thread to link to this one, or is bumping that thread a dick move? :D
Dancin' Dan says it pains him when that gets bumped, but does anyone have a good reason not to?
 
#19 · (Edited)
Finished Off the Stretch

(Copied over from "that" thread)

I'm too fawkin' busy to do a build thread right now, so this'll have to do. Accept my sincere apology from the heart of my bottom. :thefinger:


I only planned to drive it as a front wheel drive for 2 days, but the local driveline shop said they couldn't re-tube the factory shaft. :flipoff:
Tom Wood's to the rescue. I hucked the new flanges and 1310 shaft in and corrected my pinion angle (eyeball guess at fab. time with no d/s was off by 3 degrees). Smooth at 80! :bounce:


Showing routing of brake line and hose for now. Track bar bracket is 6" back from stock spot. Bump stops back about 4".
Brake hose does not contact the track bar bracket, but a little fuel hose slit lengthwise and a few zip ties give me an extra layer of warm and fuzzy just in case.


These are the shelves for the lower coil mounts. I plan to add gussets underneath that straddle the brake cable, but it'll hang for now.


Other end of e-brake cables zip-tied up to bottom of crossmember (the big zip tie like the cops used to tie up your drunk cousin Bubba at the State Fair).


Detail of how I trimmed the flares. If I go to 37s, this part might get a little more sparse or wispy.


Here's the mismatch I faced for inner fender re-use. There's an area that wasn't flat, preventing this from being easy . . .


Patient 5 minutes of progressive heating followed by brutal 5 seconds of violent beating = inner fender with flat-ish enough profile.


Zip-tied inner fender back to hole drilled in the lip on the flare that the mounting clips go on.

And I now have a "stock-ish" JK with a ~100" wheelbase (99.75 :flipoff:).


I plan to pull fenders back off and hit fenderwells with a couple of coats of rattle can Duplicolor spray truck bed coating, then reassemble.

However, in this weather:








**** that.
 
#22 ·
Congrats on the stretch. I have contemplated the same techniques you have used. If you do not mind would you tell me why you moved the TB bracket 6" instead of 4", seems close to the shocks now. Since you did not move the coil positions it appears you could have actually moved less than 4" if the TB angle warranted it. What am I not seeing??

I'm positive you know this but the whole 99.75" thing can be fixed by just pushing the front out that sacred 0.25". Not sure your specs on the front by even on mine with a large sway bar disconnect skid and over sized steering linkage can be pushed out 0.75" pretty easy (these two are the first to come into contact with each other on my set-up without any other fab work).

Good job! :gluging:
 
#24 ·
Thank you. I moved TB bracket 6" because pinion angle correction put it 6" behind stock location. It is close to shocks, but I have a solid 1/4" of air at the closest point during suspension cycle.

I'm not hung up on numbers. The whole "99.75 :flipoff:" was for humor. I might push the front out a little, but my front bumper just clears true 35s (not KM2s) and I'm not sure I want to modify it.
Details of your stretch looks great. I think a lot of people don't realize that a small stretch or big stretch is basically the same amount of work.
Thanks, and :word:
What length bump stops are you running? I am running 1.5" bumps, an there is physically no way for the exhaust to do a post axle dump. Mine is going to be pre axle as well.
I have 3" of bump stop in the rear, left over from Teraflex 2.5" spring lift. When I have time, I will make 2.5" or 2" rear bump stop extensions to replace the 3" ones.
Yeah, I need to see if I can shoot over the axle on the passenger side, but the exhaust exit may be in its final location.
 
#23 ·
Details of your stretch looks great. I think a lot of people don't realize that a small stretch or big stretch is basically the same amount of work.
What length bump stops are you running? I am running 1.5" bumps, an there is physically no way for the exhaust to do a post axle dump. Mine is going to be pre axle as well.
 
#26 · (Edited)
More Pics, Monkeys!

Shop tip: plastic coffee (or bean dip) can lid makes a great template or paint mask. Useful garbage.
Holds up great to Sharpie or spray paint compared to cardboard, and you can scribe against it. :koolaid:
Fits in the recycling can just as well after you F it up. :D


Shop tip: aluminum foil is killer for masking large or odd areas.


Stretch detail: These are my lower coil mounts. Poly (Synergy) weld-on lower coil mounts I bought before the stretch bug bit me.
I just cut 'em flat and welded them onto the brackets I made out of a piece of 2x2 receiver stock I had lying around.


Here's how much droop I'm getting from Bilstein 5125s with Poly rear coilover mount bar up top and Poly lower coil mounts 2" above stock.


Coils now unseat at top (retained on bottom) so I got some Teraflex upper coil isolators with coil guides.
They work great, but I want to get longer springs because the last couple inches is "bullshit droop" with no sprung weight on axle.
Here's where coilovers would make the stretch easier: I want a specific (same) ride height from a longer spring. Research, trial, and error time.


CB antenna used to be mounted on tire swing near center. CB antenna could not coexist with open rear window and was over-constrained by spare tire.


Here's where it used to live (left side of top, already cut off - why make that shit over?)

Notice also, spare tire lowered 2" recently. Spare tire bracket to be welded in place once I buy my final wheels.

New location for CB antenna, right over center of rotation of tire swing. Plenty of room to bend the phook out of the way.


I'm missing a few months of pictures from when my phone died a while back, but I have more oddball shit to share. Just need to take new pics. :D
 
#27 ·
Check out poly's springs. The free length on them is longer than most, makes them very difficult to unseat. My old teraflex springs used to unseat every so often , can't get the poly's to unseat for the life of me, and they are a progressive spring so they ride much better and handle the weight of all my armor.
 
#30 · (Edited)
Thanks. Good to know. They were definitely on the short list. Maybe now they are the list.
ExWrench, I know you said you chose not to move the upper coil bucket back because you didn't want to lift the body.

I am planning on removing that crossmember entirely, but don't see removing the body as a necessity. Were you thinking that welding up the top side of the upper mount would require removing the body, or just that everything would be easier to access with the body removed?

I am thinking a long sawzall blade will do the trick.
Yeah, I'm sure you're right. I'm happy with what I did. Any more stretch and I would have needed a different solution.
Also, I wanted to do as much of the work as possible while not in contact with 32 degree concrete. It was fookin' freezin' here.
Wow, lots of food for thought here. Thanks for posting your mods up. (I've had my 2012 JKU for two weeks, it's time to make it mine, right?)
I strongly suggest you go wheel it before making any changes. You will better appreciate your purchase and your modifications.
In the picture below I had done diff. covers and welded rails onto the factory Rubicon slider-ish rail thingies. Otherwise stock.
 
#28 ·
ExWrench, I know you said you chose not to move the upper coil bucket back because you didn't want to lift the body.

I am planning on removing that crossmember entirely, but don't see removing the body as a necessity. Were you thinking that welding up the top side of the upper mount would require removing the body, or just that everything would be easier to access with the body removed?

I am thinking a long sawzall blade will do the trick.
 
#31 · (Edited)
More Chit to Consider

When the rear fully droops out, wheelbase is 2.5" shorter than at ride height.



Visual comparison: 2.5" lift (3" ft, 2" rr) vs stock height 2 door Rubicon


Color is off, but this gives you an idea of the coverage of my rock lights.


Brand new 35" MTR/K just clears the front bumper. I built this bumper to limit this Jeep to 35s.
Might modify front bumper for front stretch and/or 37s, or might stick with the plan. 37s are tempting. :bounce:


While we were airing up, my wife spotted wood chunks that got in the bead while aired down.
She said this proved that we need beadlocks. I love her very much. :D

We had to deflate the tire completely and use prybar and needle nose pliers to clean out debris. Sealed up fine.

Here is Poly rear upper coilover mount installed, before removal of Poly rear upper shock relocators (up 2, back 2.5).

 
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