Hey guys, this was a video from out last weekend out in October before we all ripped the rigs apart for the winters upgrades. Just thought I'd post it up for some fun watching! There'll be more next year! And if you are close to Vermont and have a rig you're more then welcome to join us for a weekend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHDNa...ature=youtu.be

 

Looks like a lot of fun. Maybe someday ill finish my CJ project.

 

Man, that looks like fun! The one with the orange/yellow hood is yours? I am trying to talk my dad into letting me keep his old bombed out Jeep Comanche after I get his new truck on the road for him. I doubt it will be anything that radical, but it should be a good foundation for a fun truck. He doesn't want to get rid of it and I think this is a way to keep it around and have some fun with it. The body is shot already (completely rusted out) but with 275k on it the engine still runs great! That 4.0 is a good one!

Thanks for the video!

 

Nope! The pink and black one is mine! With the cowboy hat on! The orange backhalfed YJ is a buddy of mines from mass.

 

What are you building?

 

That's right...I remember the "Wheelin' for the Cure" thread now. That's a pretty nasty looking gash in your spare tire!

 

Good memory! Yeah Crawling for a Cure is the pink sticker on the hood. The pink is SO faded now unfortunately... gotta redo it this winter hopefully.

I had a bad 2 weekends in a row with tires. I blew my main tsl so I put my spare on. The next weekend wheeling with the spare, I broke the top of a slate rock off while the tire was spinning up a climb. You can see the results. Then I for those videos I have a buddys SPANKED spare on and I couldnt go anywhere haha.

On the plus side tho my good tsl only had an inch or so cut in it so I got it vulcanized.

 

The orange rig there, his old rig was a Comanche on 35's and it wheeled AWESOME. The bed over hangs a good amount if you dont bob it so the body gets banged to hell but they are a great wheeling rig! If you can get it to wheel jump all over it! And then head on out to vt

 

What all have you done to your rig?

I used to know a guy that was really into wheeling with his Jeeps. He had F-150 axles under them to make them wider, e-lockers, the whole bit. I think he was able to get close to 36" of articulation out of it when he was done. It was a nice rig for sure. I would imagine you build them different for crawling than you do for just general wheeling. I would imagine better skid plates, cages, and more suspension travel are needed for serious crawling like you guys were doing there. How much can I reasonable expect with a mostly stock chassis? I'm on an extremely limited budget (as always) but I don't mind working my tail off!

 

A couple of years ago I had to sell my YJ that I'd redone. Nothing special, bought it with a bad frame, swapped frames, cut the fenders out, added CJ front clip, and lockers. It was a lot of fun but you know those stock YJ axles and they kept breaking. Anyway had to sell it and the kid that bought still drives by my house and it kills me!

Well now I'm out to do it right, albeit extremely slow. Bought a CJ rolling chassis, sold everything off of it. It's down to just a bare frame. I've been collecting parts for a while. I've got a Dana 60 and corp 14 with a Detroit locker in the 14 for it. On the engine stand is an AMC 304 and T18. I've got the wiring harness and all the little stuff, I really just need to get a complete tub and get my axles mounted and ill be in good shape, but everyone is real proud of clean tubs around here. Maybe someday. I've got a deal with the wife, if I graduate with a 3.5 or better, she buys me a tub, so I've got that going for me!

 

Honestly suspension wise in those videos. I have dana 44 axles. Front from a 78 Jeep wagoneer and rear from a 77 Scout II. The front has chevy calipers and ford hubs and rotors to keep the 5x5.5 bolt pattern. Both fully locked with chromoly shafts, high steer, 1 ton tie rod ends, rear disc conversion and 3/8 diff covers. So just the standard things. The suspension is simply Rubicon Express YJ(wrangler) 1.5" springs sprung over and the rears are 2.5" old man emu XJ(cherokee) springs flipped around to stretch the wheel base bringing the axle further back. With 2.5" Rubicon Express add a leafs to stiffen it up and make it level since the cage is so heavy. It articulates awesome!!

I have a 78 F350 dana 60 front and 79 chevy 14 bolt that are going in it this winter with some 39.5 Iroks. But all you need to do for your rig is spring over the springs (cant remember if paul had lift springs sprung over on his or not), some lunchbox lockers or mini spools and some 35's or 36's and that thing will go EVERYWHERE. It will blow your mind.. Then you slowly add the cage and winch etc.

The rest of the doodads are an 86 chevy 350 with a custom junkyard tbi system I built, wired and flashed my own chip, had an ax15 from an xj in it but I am swapping that to a gm th350 with an np231/dana300 doubler for transfer cases. Full cage, tube fenders, sliders, corbeau seats and 5 point harnesses, armor etc. The 44's had 4.88 gears in them with an aussie locker in the front and mini spool in the rear but the 1 tons will have 4.10s since im running the doubler and Im just going to weld them. The 14 bolt will have a rear disk conversion done on that as well. Brackets from http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/14BSRW.html and then you just run 79 or any of that era front brake stuff. Highsteer on the 60 front with full hydro steering also with complete chromo shafts. That sure hurt the wallet :/ Most of the parts are sitting in boxes at my shop.. just waiting for the new shafts to arrive then I'll start the transformation.

Check out
Jeep Cherokee & Comanche Forums - JeepForum.com

Cherokee Technical Forum - JeepForum.com

Also my clubs forum has a TON of very knowledgeable people. A couple are King of Hammers guys so they know there stuff.

General Public Discussion

 

Nice!! I dont know how the trails are up there! But if you are going to wheel it hard I wouldnt spend the money on a good tub because you end up with tube fenders and full armor/sliders anyways because you're always up against trees and rocks. But thats a great start! I've redone about 6 cj's and know them inside and out so if you ever have any questions on anything just pm and ill get you my number and you can pick my brain. Also if you can I'd HIGHLY recommend selling the 304 and finding an amc 360. The 360s have 2.02 heads and a bigger bore. MUCH BETTER ENGINE. But if you are set on the 304 it will do just fine. I've run both.

What year dana 60 are you using? the 78 and 79s have the 32" spring perch width so you can use this kit to outboard your springs to the correct width. The newer dana 60s have a 36" width which is doable but not common if you are running leafs because the springs have to be outboarded so far. If its being linked its fine.

Jeep Shackle Reverse System Kit w/2.5" CJ Springs for 76-86 Jeep CJ-5, CJ-7, CJ-8 from Mountain Off-Road (M.O.R.E.)

 

I like this thread! learning about a completely different topic! lol

And dang! Todd you didnt tell me/show me when I was there?! Although there was like a CRAP load of stuff in your brothers garage. lol and like 40x vehicles there.

 

Also Todd, if you are going to be wheeling that rig hard, the carbs dont do well. Keep an eye out for an 88-91 chevy pickup. If you are going to run the 304 find one with a 305. If you are gonna run the 360 find one with a 350 and pull the complete harness unbolted from the fire wall, computer and throttle body. I'll show you all the links with a step by step write up on how to convert your CJ to FI and I'll help you through it along with Bill(the guy who originally wrote it all. Hes brilliant) at binder planet.

This is DEFINITELY worth reading through! Just cause its awesome!
Step by step: Step By Step Real World Build Up!!!! STOP--READ FAQ FIRST - Binder Planet Forums

Any questions you have can be answered here. All the parts you need etc.
FUEL INJECTION FAQ--Start Here!!!!! - Binder Planet Forums

My thread from my first build on through the different projects with bills help.
Data Logging Help - Binder Planet Forums

 

Thanks for the references! I'm a member of JeepForum for an unrelated case (stupid piece of %&#! Liberty). I'm planning on starting on dad's new
Danger Ranger tonight. Provided things go as planned, we should (hopefully) have it on the road before the end of the weekend. It just needs a clutch and some other little things.