"Take 92" - YJ Link kit from Motobilt with Nines

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did one more test on rear to make sure everything clears and flexes well

back

side

tire clears shock at full compression

other side

then I started to clean up front frame and get ready to make shock hoops

 

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well only got a short time in garage tonight so I bent up the front shock hoops and made the mounting tabs.. need to make axle side tabs and front shocks can go in.

and that is one sharp bit, thanks to my Drill Doctor .. for all the people that say they hate them, mine works great and is a life saver

drivers side

passenger side

 

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slowly working on it

mounted front shocks tonight.. tried to charge them but I could not get them correct so I will mess with them in a day or two when I get a chance to go back in garage

 

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well another hour in the shop :)

stretching her legs

the a few measurements and cuts and here is how the fuel cell will sit..I am making a skid plate and mounts for it to be nice and secure and also making a top so no fuel smells get into cab area, then I will make storage tie downs for the top and I may just mount some ammo cans

showing it flat with bottom of frame

looking up from bottom

tall ammo can.. I have shorter ones also

 

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trying to get the fuel cell in and all connected

used my old XJ skid and cut it down to make it work for what I was going for.

I was going for a flat bottom skid that is level with the rear crossmember

Set the fuel cell in to check and make sure all is good

and the last thing was to set the PSC steering ram in place and start to mess with the location

 

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spent about 1hr in garage messing with fuel system.. I got the main line and return line done, just need to wire up fuel pump and finish breather line

 

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the fuel cell is in and bolted down and all lines connected and power has been run except the sending unit on fuel cell.. I need to now pull off hold down straps and paint them and reinstall them

started working on ARTEC hydro steering mount.. I bought the universal DIY one and cut it to fit around housing

 

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well this is how life goes.. I get a little time in garage and BAM I am out of welding gas :( and of course I am low on wire..

all dressed up and no gas to use..

I did some of the bracing either tacked or half welded in before running out of gas

ram mounts

decent heat on welds

 

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it's good to have freinds in the same hobby.. I borrowed my buddy JOhns welding tank and finished the front ram mount and all bracing.

with ram installed

 

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well only thing left to do is add trac bar and the front is finally done

the rear fuel cell is all wired, and all lines connected so I put 5 gallons in fuel cell and hooked up battery to test it and BAM nothing.. no power to anythign in jeep so now I need to check all the fuses etc. :(

 

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Been working on the trac bar.. got the passenger side done and installed.. also picked up all the new soft brake lines and some tube to finish trac bar.. hope to have all that on and done this weekend

 

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well like a lot of things it takes longer then planned.. had to travel for work a bunch with kept me out of the garage..

but I did get a little time tonight and got the rear brake lines done.
Thanks for ECGS for my new lines

 

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Well I have been know to build things over kill and I guess you can say this is one of those times.. I did it because I had half the parts already so I figure why not save some money and make it even stronger. well then of course I screwed up and did not measure twice I guess because the dang trac bar was short.. so last night I cut it in half and made it longer.. atleast this part I will never have to worry about breaking on me :)

showing cut in half and the sluig and spacer I made

spacer welded to sleeve

showing how overkill this is

all done just need to paint and install

 

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well painted the trac bar and it is finally in and done

 

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I cut some holes for rear tail lights and also started on the fill neck for the fuel cell so we can fill it up from outside the jeep and not have to open the back every time

tail lights

inside the tub hole for filler neck

from outside

the last thing is I have been trying to decide on a rear fender.. just to help keep a little dirt out of the kids when they are riding in the back seats

so I held up the stock YJ fenders and I think I kind of like them.. what do you guys think?
I know lots have done TJ fenders or even tub fenders but I kind of like the idea of keeping the outside Yj..ish

flares on backwards to get an idea

flares on correct

 

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well got the filler tube in place.. the middle clamp is just to see if the crease will come out or not

outside

inside the fender well

 

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well I am happy to say I got in some shop time today..

I ordered some parts last week from Barnes4wd and I got them all smoothed and painted today.. so soon I will have rear bumper on and new rock sliders.. ( pics to come later )

I also bent up some tub and made my shock tower brace and got that in.. so once the rest of my PSC stuff shows up I will get that on ASAP and after that it is all down hill :)

yes I will need to spin air intake over the engine..

 

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Just wanted to send a big thank you to Randal, Doug, Craig And John for the help today

We got rock rails on, rear bumper on, Transfer case shifter mount made. Shock tower support tabs made and tacked on. New power steering pump installed. Reservoir pump bracket made and reservoir mounted. All hydro lines made and on except the line to cooler And brace that goes from shock tower to tower cut and painted ready to go on.
Next is to finish the Welding and paint everything fill fluids the. Start making driveshafts.
Making progress

new pump

orbital

Reservoir

orbital mount ( ned to fix brake lines)

rock rail

rear bumper

 

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well I have been trying to get this done so I can make it to my clubs fall wheeling/camping trip which is in two weeks.

- I finally got all the correct bolts for control arms, shocks, etc and they are all in and tightened down.
- front fenders are back on
- tires are on with all lugs nuts finally
- installed air cleaner
- got my rear drive shaft back ( I learned to make sure you measure twice.. I told the driver shaft place exactly 1 inch to long.. so I had to cut it up and shorten it.. I bet it is not balanced anymore )
- added rear frame brace for limit strap ( rear has way to much droop for the shaft )
- welded in exhaust cat, which will be enough for this trip

and I am happy to say I moved the jeep 3 feet forward and backwards and then I learned my brakes SUCK.. so I am gonna replace the master with dodge 1 tom to see if that helps

 

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Well been busy trying to get this damn thing done

ordered a two piece bearing kit from wide open and make the first driveshaft, not the prettiest but it is straight and works great

took and old shaft I had and cut it down. I also sent the yoke to east coast gear supply and they machined it down to fit inside a 2" tube.. fit perfect

here is shaft all welded up

had to press out bearing so I could weld the bracket on and then press it all back together.

here is shaft installed

after that I installed the moto bilt skid plate so it is ready to rock

 

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well good news is I found the issue.. it was the rear passenger caliper.. the calipers came with the rear axle and what I found was the previous owner drilled and tapped the bleeder screw.. so i am pretty sure it was not holding pressure.

replaced caliper and we now have brakes..

so great day when you finally get to drive it around the block

and when the shop is finally empty even better

 

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Well now I waiting on some parts for this weekends first trail ride.. so I figured why not wire up some stuff.. so I started wiring up the ARB compressor and also the 50" light bar I had.

here is light bar mounted

and what a pissser.. it has some lights that dont work :(

 

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well good news is I started jeep to get full 12 volt power and all the lights work now.. thanks to Dan @motobilt for the heads up

 

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trying to get a few last minute things done before this weekend..

I took an old rusty CJ tailgate, cut the rust off the bottom and welded up a new bottom and back bracing and put it on YJ tonight.. I am happy with it
and yes it opens and has a cable to keep it flat when open to make lunch sandwiches for the kids]

 

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WOW what a weekend..

Thanks MotoBilt for a great 4 link kit

Took the kids and the jeep out to out clubs fall bash and had a blast..

The jeep did great with only issue the rear air shocks settled a little but nothing some nitrogen could not fix when we got back to camp.

here is the jeep at camp

here is our camp

I joined the "easy" group because I had the kids and did not want to push it to hard on the first trail ride. but I could have done the hard as it walked everything i tried with no issues..

My son enjoying the ride ( he kept saying this is AWESOME )

stopped for lunch

when we got back to camp we had some field games and I got a pic testing the flex on the rti ramp.. I ran out of rear shock or it could have kept going..so hopefully I will get some good pics of it really rock crawling on next trip out with just the guys

even won one of the field games with the jeep :)

 

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well nothing to huge going on but I did take the jeep out for a ride this weekend and I could not go over 35mph without the jeep wanting to go all over the road :(

so got it home and found out my toe in was all messed up.. here is how I fixed it by myself. attach a piece of wood to outside of each tire and that worked.

then I started to work on my ARB switch mounts.. the one thing I have learned from others is when wheeling if you can see the switches you forget if they are on or off.. so I sat in my drivers seat and looked around for the best location that I could reach when strapped in with my harness and here is what I came up with..

 

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happy to say we took the jeep out again this past weekend and it worked great.. climbed with no issues and road great on the trails.. I did fry the E2000 Fuel pump but once replaced it was back to driving fine again

buddy took a video ( not sure why he did slow mo) but hey atleast it proves it was on the trails :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XERAMflRuSo

 

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well took the jeep out and was part of the local Christmas parade here in Raleigh.. did a little tire stacking and had some fun.. the kids loved it..

the downfall was my arb compressor shorted a wire and i started to have smoke coming out of the dash :( so now I need to rewire the entire compressor ( that stinks )

 

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still have a list of stuff to do to get it where I really want it to be and if all goes well over this winter I can get all those things done before spring..

storage, fuel tank filler tube redone, fuel cell cover, some wiring, new windshield, and maybe even paint it..

 

[kushKrawlin]

HOLY ****!! Man you work fast!that could possibly be the fastest build thread I have ever read! Seriously though how long have you been working on it just curious.: