Spanky's YJ

In waiting for a full day to free up for a full axle swap and rear rebuild, we tackled a temporary exhaust fix. (Future Rob: Ended up going back to an exhaust shop to weld in something new from the front pipe back after WindRock. Yes, I swear, when teh exhaust shop installed it properly I put a new cat back in). This allowed me to get the engine skid in place.

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Front install and rear gear replace day. So excited. Talk about a different beast. It can get out of it's own way. Instead of doing 70mph in 4th gear at like 2100RPM, I'm now doing 70mph in 5th gear at 2500RPM. So much more usable. Can't wait to get some crawling in. I've cut m crawl speed in half.

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After 200 miles of break in I'm going to change the fluid and install a Metal Cloak front diff cover.

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Bought myself a JKS 9800 Adjustable Track bar. So far been really pleased. I loosen the bolt so it flexes while wheelin', then tighten back up and have better street driveability.

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Us pushing and pulling on the front pipe, cracked the stock exhaust manifold. I'm angry now, cause I leave for Windrock in a couple days. What a pain to replace. lol Installed the Banks header. STOUT piece. Hated the coin dropped, but really nice. Banks Torque Tube Header 51327

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Change diff fluid before heading out to WindRock and installed the front Diff Cover from MetalCloak.

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Had an EPIC trip to WindRock. We wheeled (on trail) 28 hours over a 40 hours period. It rained so much. At one point we looked at the map and realized we had done 1000' of a multi mile trail, in 5 hours. LOL. Nobody cared. We were having a blast. Night wheeling, day wheeling. Dry and wet wheeling. We had all kinds of fun. The new gears and LSD's worked perfectly and were so worth the effort. I normally hate doing that much work before a big event. For once, I pulled it off. Will try and never do that again. Ha.

I'm trying to remember all the trails we did.
16, 2, 22, 1, 43, 42, G6

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You did quite a lot today! 😜

A lot of good stuff. I am interested in that engine skid. I have a 4.0 in the Scrambler and have that TJ head pipe that goes around the front of the oil pan. And I am looking for a good engine skid before I bash up the oil pan. Can you tell me where the skid attaches, so I can see if it will work on my frankenstein?
 
You did quite a lot today! 😜

A lot of good stuff. I am interested in that engine skid. I have a 4.0 in the Scrambler and have that TJ head pipe that goes around the front of the oil pan. And I am looking for a good engine skid before I bash up the oil pan. Can you tell me where the skid attaches, so I can see if it will work on my frankenstein?
I bought the UnderCoverFabWorks transfer case and engine skid. The back of the engine skid you drill and bolt where it lands on the transfer case skid. The front mounts on bars that come down from the underside of the engine mount standoffs. They were a pain to be honest. Had to drill those holes too. However, the effort was worth it. Banged them all a few times really good and they hold up great. Turtled a few times with no damage too.
 
I bought the UnderCoverFabWorks transfer case and engine skid. The back of the engine skid you drill and bolt where it lands on the transfer case skid. The front mounts on bars that come down from the underside of the engine mount standoffs. They were a pain to be honest. Had to drill those holes too. However, the effort was worth it. Banged them all a few times really good and they hold up great. Turtled a few times with no damage too.
Thanks. Sounds like as long as I have a 4.0, the skid should work. And then make it fit to my Barnes trans skid.
 
Learned a lot coming back from WindRock, but one of the biggest ones was my 48" Hi-Lift wasn't going to cut it. lol Luckily we didn't pull it out much, but ended up in situations where I know 48" wasn't enough. Bought a 60" and mounted it on the hood. I wanted to put it back inside, but the little YJ isn't quite large enough for that.

I know I need to repaint the hood at least, but honestly, I really love the patina.

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Got the exhaust redone from the front pipe back, including a new CAT. She really....purrrrrrsssss. bda bum
 
Had noticed the rear was sagging quite a bit. Looking at the rear spring it almost looked flat. My goal here is to replace the Rough Country kit bit by bit. First up, replace the Rough Country 3.5" lift leaf springs with 3.5" BDS leaf springs. Ordered the same spring for all 4 corners. They are considered "heavy duty" for the rear. With the bigger tires and steel bumper, it was worth it. BDS-004352. Went to the local truck spring place and had them make me new UBolts.

Took before and after measurements. Swapping 3.5" springs for 3.5" spring netted me 3/4" in the front and 1 7/8" in the rear. Yes, almost 2 inches in the rear. Make sense as there is another leaf involved now. I also understand that things will settle a bit. (future Rob: SOOOO worth the upgrade. Rides so much better, as smooth as any all leaf spring vehicle I've ever been in). Now it sits nice and level.

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I have always been worried about ripping the side open like a tin can while wheelin' due to the factory steps. Ordered and installed a set of Metal Cloak sliders. (Future Rob: wish I had powder coated. I have since added the fenders and had them powder coated. Finish is folding up better than my paint. I will have to go back brush paint to get better coverage after clean up, then spray again). Tried something interesting, don't know if it will work, but used a rubber coating on the inside where it mounts to the body. Hoping to preemptively prevent any squeaking. (Future Rob: no squeaking, but don't' know how it's holding up.)

Since installing it has changed my wheelin' styple completely. Nice to go into things and not have to worry about ripping things open. The confidence I have in my rig on the rocks now has changed significantly.


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Driver side seat belt was REALLY showing its age. Even had a small tear. I had tried to find new belts, but all the ones I tried were junk and didnt' latch well. Found a review for Seatbelt Solutions seat belts that said they were like factory. Ordered a front set and rear set. They were right. OEM quality. I am impressed.

The rears weren't the right one, but Morris 4x4 took care of getting it right.

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