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GTX's low rider TJ build

122K views 687 replies 82 participants last post by  offroader80 
#1 ·
GTX's low rider TJ build - now 4500 Ultra4 wannabe

***updated Dec 2015 - This has turned into a nearly full blown 4500 Ultra4 wannabe build!

The 1/2 ton version of the build is complete (I broke my D30 in half at the dunes) and moving onto one tons, see page 39 for 1 ton Eaton hybrid
***


For the fastest updates, follow me on Instagram: @jeeps4Trevin

I'm nearly finished with the first "phase" of things. I know a few of my buddies on here have wanted to see it so I'm posting up.

First up, background-

'97 TJ Sport
4.0/AX-15/NP231
LP D30 with 3.55s
D35 with 4.10s
Smittybuilt bumper
chrome EVERYWHERE
sagging 4" Skyjackoff lift
3" bodylift...yeah, wow

The good stuff:

Full banks stainless exhaust, the good kind of header and flowmaster
came with a HP30 with 4.10s
got a great deal on it
swapped in 4.0 with less miles and all is good
Alpine deck and 6.5s, Kicker 5 1/4s
Came with 35 MTRs in good shape on black steelies
Sold some of the crap for cash
hard top
hard doors too

The plan (old, see last pages)
long arms - done, with stretch
0-1" suspension lift, 1" body lift done
cage
8.8 swap done
HP30 swap done
4.10s done
locked on both ends done
RCV shafts done
SYE + CV done
35" Krawlers on alum rims done
warn upright winch done
high line fenders done
sliders
rear corner armor done
front and rear bumpers

I'll add more to the list and update as time and build goes on.

This belonged to a guy's wife. She just liked having a lifted Jeep to ride around in, didn't care about 4wd or anything like that. Can't blame her, it's a cool Jeep. The sound of the full exhaust is awesome!

Pics when I got her


Euro tails :laughing:


Pics now, page 45-



 
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#166 ·
I opened my door this afternoon to find this on my doorstep. UPS guy didn't even ring my doorbell.




I had to download the instructions so I didn't get it hooked up today. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have it up and running. I started on my press brake today. Wish I would have known my plasma cutter was upstairs on my porch since I was doing nothing but cutting all morning.


Then I took the tank out of the skid and scraped all the gunk off of it. Wow.


Made some cuts to clear the pumpkin. 8.8 cover is only about 3" deep so there was no point in making it more than 4" clearance. Need to grind out the welds and redo it tomorrow.
 
#170 ·
Probably :D I have some 10g I can plate the bottom. I might raise it 1" and put some plastic on the bottom if I wanna get crazy.

Atleast get an 03 and up skid
Meh. Considering I'm probably going to have a fuel cell down the road I'm not going to put that much effort into it right now. If I find one for cheap I'll snag it.

nice build, do you find that the mig is better for you? I too have the lincoln stick for now..
Thanks, I like MIG a lot! Selling my Lincoln now, no need for it with this machine. I need the space and the cash could buy more steel.
 
#173 ·
This skid is trashed. I'm not going to try to salvage it, I'll just upgrade. A local guy, about 3.5 hrs away, has a warn skid for cheap but I don't wan to drive 7 hrs. We'll see if I can get it somehow.


My plasma cutter didn't come with a swirl ring...not too happy about that but they're saying they'll send me one tomorrow. I kept working anyway using cut off discs and finished my press brake. Works great!



 
#174 ·
I also made my cardboard mockups for the 8.8 truss and link mounts. Pinion is at 14 degrees, truss at 0. They will be boxed and dimpled. 1/4" for everything except the dimple stuff which is 10g. Welding the short side tube and truss is going to be tricky but I'm going to tie it into the sway bar mount.



 
#175 ·
Dropped 5lbs of dry ice in the tank for anyone that wants to get rid of the fumes and excess gas easily.

Got the motor mount lift installed, it's from Rough Country. Not a bad piece of machined aluminum, the finish was great, everything lined up well, and the instructions were well written. Very happy with these right now.


Started removing the stock brackets too. I hated these on my first jeep...and I hate them even more now that I smacked my hand with a hammer. Ouch.


I took a break, I have a game soon. Tomorrow I'll have a little time start the crossmember. With the MML in place, I have the np435 flat and there's a little more clearance. I'll check it tomorrow and make sure it will work. Crossmember will be ~1.75 square tube, .250 wall.
 
#176 ·
Awesome work man, you look like you know what you're doing (even if you didn't I wouldn't be able to tell lol). Impressive to say the least. Keep at it :thumbsup:
 
#178 ·
Got my swirl ring finally and couldn't resist putting it in the torch and making some test cuts. One thing led to another, the girlfriend had homework to do, which meant she was currently disabled from giving me....let's just call it "attention". Yeah, that's what we'll call it. So I dove into the deep end of plasma cutting utopia.

First up were the axle tube ends of the truss plate. Tried a hole saw but 20 minutes of holding down the drill press handles only to get 1/2 way through caused me to give up and focus on other things until today:


Marked it for the bends


Still needs some minor trimming and clean up but damn it came out good


Next up were the upper link towers for the stock brackets. Normally this would be easy, but East Coast Gear Supply has beefy brackets that are welded inside and out...I didn't even want to take these off, but they're in the way and I want a clean look. I think the track bar mount would have hit the tub before the links anyway.


Finally, after 15 minutes I got it off. If I had to use cutoff discs this would have taken forever as I don't have a sawzall right now.


other side was much easier, 5 minutes max


Ahhh, that's what I like to see!


Mocked up. Turned out pretty good, I'll have great separation but it's still high clearance. There's a 1/4" gap between the pumpkin and the link bridge. Looks like my design works well, I might have to market these. What do you guys think?


 
#183 ·
I got started on the TJ again today. I mainly wanted to finish the crossmember and start on a few smaller side projects I needed if I had time.

First I wanted to know the angle of the frame. For anyone else wondering, it's about 9-10 degrees.


There's a couple different ways to do it but that one helped justify my measurements. I clamped the frame mounts in place then measured between the two outside edges to get the two inner fishmouth distances. If this doesn't make sense let me know and I can explain it further.

Then I cut the first side. Came out rough...lost some of my touch while I was away. Second one came out cleaner (pictured)



It fit pretty well. The gaps aren't perfect but I also don't have a notcher. It still came out good.


Measured more and more and more and more to get a final piece. I'll leave it tacked for now in case I make any changes.


You can see the angle here:


I also experimented with getting the front UCA mount done...but it didn't come out too well. Oh well, good learning I guess!
 
#184 ·
Picked up the Warn skid, previous owner cut out part of it already to clear his diff. Coincidentally it's the same portion I would have cut out anyway. Crappy pic but whatever-


I drew out the UCA mounts for the rear truss


Cut em out then tacked them together. This is a tip I picked up from Pirate


Started grinding them down


Cleaned them up so they're all the same


Then started drilling holes. I used a 9/16" hole saw since I didn't have a bit. Looks like I'll be buying one anyway because it grenaded after the 2nd hole. Completely smoothed out the hole saw


But the first set came out nice
 
#185 ·
I have a fantastic girlfriend :D



Today I had some time to start on the "new" skid. I had to take off some material in order to maintain clearance with the diff and then add material for the bump. I really hope I get 4-5" with this mod or I'll have to stretch the front more than I wanted. Oh and I got the plasma working a little better.


It would be a LOT easier if I had another 2K to blow on this budget. So far I think I'm less than $1500 into this phase of the build and I don't see myself spending more than another $500 to be back on the trail.
 
#188 ·
Do you mean with operation or with Longevity? Longevity forgot to send me a small piece that is required to even strike an arc so I couldn't use it at first. That was my only beef with them but they sent me a new one quickly and got everything sorted out. They seem to be a good company and have good customer support but only time will tell.

I hear rumors of a 3" front stretch............

Some really nice work going on here. I really like those workbenches too.
:rofl: Thanks! I really like how the workbenches came out. Feel free to copy the design if you want. If you need dimensions or help let me know because I kept track of their build.

Yeah 2-3" stretch. I really don't want to move the steering box but I'll do it if I need to. It all depends on how much stretch I can get out of the rear. If I can get 4-5" I will only need 2-3" in the front. If I only get 3" out of the back....well, the front box will have to be moved.
 
#190 ·
Thanks TJRHD! The stretch work should be too far ahead. If I get the Jeep on it's own weight again it will be easier to work on the drivetrain. So, for now, that's the plan.

Finally got some real time in the shop. At first it didn't feel like much got done but I actually made good progress today. Tomorrow I'd like to at least get part of the suspension mounts fabbed and mocked up.

Front upper arm U




Gave it some go fast juice just for kicks


Finished the rear upper link mounts but didn't snap pics. I somehow made my one and only flapper disc explode...right after I got back from the tool store and forgot to pickup another. Doh!


Then I started on the upper link towers...two more to go


The height of the towers will depend on how much room I have under the Jeep. I did start mocking up the Poly lower mounts but I'm not sure if I like how they're supposed to be mounted.


I got the tank warmed up and ready to mold for the modified skid


After


I used a cheap Harbor Freight heat gun that my dad passed down to me. I think in total it took me 45 minutes to heat it up and mold it. About 20 minutes of that time I just had the gun pointed at the tank while I worked on something else. Overall it was pretty easy and straight forward. I used the stock skid to mold it since I'm still working on the Warn skid. I had to graft 4 pieces together in order to make it fit correctly. It's nearly done, just need to grind down the welds and make it smooth. I'll post some finished pics when I get it all cleaned up.
 
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