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Just another YJ build... My version

166K views 889 replies 63 participants last post by  bgredjeep 
#1 ·
Heres my shot at a build thread. i never took a lot of pics through the yrs but i will try to get everyone up to date. most of this build thread is from my build over on Wranglerboard.com

I bought my YJ when i was 16 yrs old. almost 9 yrs ago. she already had a 4" procomp lift and some 33" bfg mud terrains. that and the sweet 2" round bumpers were the only mods on it.

i ran that setup all through high school and thought i was on top of the world. my jeep could do anything. i added some lights and some bushwackers flares

when i was 19 i joined the military and moved to Virginia. with multiple deployments to Iraq and non-stop training my 3 yrs there i only wheeled ONCE on the east coast.

right before my only run out there i went out and bought a smittybilt tire carrier so i can have a spare for the trail ride. a couple months afterwards i bought a matching pro comp front bumper and got rid of my tube bumpers.

here i am in Gore, Va


and the new front bumper i bought


rear tire carrier


after 3 yrs on the east coast i begged and pleaded and got stationed in San Diego. once getting out here everthing pretty much went down hill.

within my first month here i bought a welder and started fabbing some stuff up.

my first project was my rock sliders




i wheeled a little around SD and back home in vegas some more then came another deployment. while on deployment i ordered a couple parts and went right to work installing them when i returned Dec 2010.

installed a Warn m8000 winch
 
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#635 ·
Doing a little update so you guys don't think I'm slacking. Been working on the rig slowly. Been busy as work.

got the overhead bars finished up as well as the rear B-C and C-C

A little B-C and C-C action



Overhead bars.



And you can see most of everything in this pic, although its a little dark



Next thing to work on is the shoulder harness bar and B pillar cross bracing.

That's all for now :cheers2:
 
#637 ·
More updates of course.

Started working on the B pillar cross bracing yesterday. I measured and cut the first piece of tube. Fit pretty good but I had one problem, One of my notches was a little off axis from the other. Instead of throwing away 5' of tube I decided to cut it, rotate it then sleeve it with 1.5x.250" DOM. I tried my hardest to splice it right where the other tube will meetup and form the X, That way it has more weld area and bracing.

first piece of cross bracing



the splice. This is the 2nd pass of weld



Then I cut and notched the next piece



And the last piece of the X



After that it was time to work on the shoulder harness bar. I put it at a height that you can either use the belts through the seat or over the seat. It falls in between the suggested 0-10 degrees below the shoulders.

First piece



Now comes the hard part. Because of the bend and how small the piece is it wouldnt fit in my notcher. That means I had to notch it by hand. I pulled out my trusty 4 1/2" Dewalt grinder. First piece took me about 2 hrs to get notched up. It was a lot of notching, fitting, more notching, more fitting ect. It was a very slow process but it paid off.

Passenger side piece



driver and passenger together. Second piece only took me about 30 minutes.



Then I tac'd them in place.



afterwards I backed it out of the garage so I can get a good look at everything and snag some pics. Here's some random pics I took.













Thats all for the day. I'm almost done adding tube. The only thing left to do is some gussets, windshield bars and some grab handles once they come in. I dont have a 1 1/4" die for my bender so I spent the $20 and ordered some from Jeeptubes.com. That was over 2 weeks ago and I still havent received any shipping details. I emailed the owner last week and said He's been having some personal issues going on. I can understand that but this is the 2nd time in only the 2 times ive ordered from them that I've had problems. Im pretty sure I'll never be ordering from them again. I hope I never have a need to either.

:cheers2:
 
#639 ·
Looks good man, i like the design, it looks strong and secure.

Should have called me; our new bender has 3/8" through 4" dies, and the new notcher has a nice tilting table. We could have knocked those little bars out in about 20 minutes.
 
#642 ·
Looks good man, i like the design, it looks strong and secure.

Should have called me; our new bender has 3/8" through 4" dies, and the new notcher has a nice tilting table. We could have knocked those little bars out in about 20 minutes.
If the grab handles dont show up by the time I pull the cage and get it all welded up I might have to take you up on that offer.
 
#643 ·
Just did something I was hoping I would never have to do...............................................
























































I just ordered a 1" Daystar BL. I really dont want a body lift but in order to use the 4 link brackets I have for the future 4 link kit i need to run a 1" BL. I figured I should install that now so I dont have to redo my cage frame tie-ins later on down the road. Also ordered some bushings for the frame tie ins. RuffStuff is having a 15% off sale this weekend.
 
#646 ·
Ohs noes!!! Not the body lift!

.

You are no longer my friend
I dont really have anything against a "small" body lift needed for clearances, but i already sit kinda high for a rig thats only on 35s. Now I'm adding a whole 1" on top of that. That's the part i dont like

You'll forgive after he links it I'm sure. Can't wait for those pics and GREAT work on the cage!!

Probably sent from my couch cause I'm broke
I think all will be forgiven when im linked haha
 
#649 ·
Ok Big props to Ruffstuff and Amazon.

I ordered my frame tie in bushings from Ruffstuff and the BL from Amazon on Sunday and they already showed up today. You cant beat 3 days for delivery.


On the other hand I'm still waiting on ANY INFO from Jeeptubes. I ordered my grab handles on July 2nd and still dont have them. :rtft:
 
#652 ·
Last weekend I went ahead and pulled the cage for final welding.

Naked jeep.



straight into the garage



Then I cut some 1.25x.120 DOM to use for my windshield bars



After that I fully welded the cage up

Heres a random weld.



Then I moved onto setting up my shoulder harnesses. I mounted up the seat and looked at how much i needed to cut them down. The harnesses that I ordered come with SUPER long should belts.



for the shoulders im going to go with the wrap around type for now. If i want to add tabs later on I can. I wanted to make sure my belts weren't sliding around on the bar though so this is what I came up with.

I picked up some 2" squared U bolts from TSC. Then I cut them down

2 cut next to 2 new ones



Then tac'd it in place



With harness cut down and retainer tac'd in



Then I did the same thing to the passenger side.

Overall view right now




That's all the progress on the cage for right now. Still need to notch 2 more gussets and get them welded in. Also waiting for a bikini top winshield channel to come in. Should be here monday.
 
#653 ·
In other news, I took a road trip to SC yesterday to pick up a new to me trailer. Thanks again Phil(phil1330) for the sweet trailer at a steal of a price.

The new trailer is a 2011 Lawrimore 18' + 2' Dovetail. Driveover fenders with 103" wide deck. This trailer should serve me well and has room for my rig to grow. :2thumbsup:

Onto some pics. I took these when I stopped for some dinner at South of the Border on the SC/NC boderline.




 
#654 ·
Nice trailer!!! Looks good behind the truck. We are gokngto need to test fit 2 jeeps onto that trailer......


I'm sorry your stopped at South of the border. Your guts are gonna be SCREAMIN for a few weeks now. Did you ride the big gorilla?
 
#655 ·
Nice trailer!!! Looks good behind the truck. We are gokngto need to test fit 2 jeeps onto that trailer......

I'm sorry your stopped at South of the border. Your guts are gonna be SCREAMIN for a few weeks now. Did you ride the big gorilla?
Haha I can tell you right now that 2 jeeps wont fit on the trailer.

Im sorry i stopped at SOTB as well. That place is a **** hole. My guts are fine though as all i ate was a hot dog. and no I didnt ride the gorilla :laugh:
 
#657 ·
We actually had a breakdown on 95 about 1/4 mile from there during a convoy up to LeJeune from Beaufort. We spent around 8 hours there while the mechs performed field surgery on a HMMWV. What a dump!!

We all got sick from eating the food. Should have taken a clue from the Senior enlisted eating MREs...


We will have to swing by and check out the jeep this week
 
#659 ·
So I wanted the option to run a bikini top while on the trail and not running a windshield. My solution was to just run a stock windshield channel, so I ordered up a Bestop windshield channel for $15 from Quadratec. I ordered it on thurs and it already showed up today. that means in was on my doorstep 2 days from the order. NICE!!! :thumbsup:

straight out of the package



I had to cut about 2" out of the middle so that it fits on my cage.

Next thing I did was tape it onto the cage and start marking where the mounting hardware will go



I picked up these little nutserts from USMCbuckwild.



So I started drilling the holes to fit the nutserts



After you get the holes drilled out to the right size, you use this nifty little tool to press the nutserts in and tighten them up. It works kind of like a rivet



Nutsert installed



I finished installing all of the nutserts and bolted the windshield channel on. Then I installed the bikini top to see how it turned out.






I think it turned out real good. Im surprised I dont see people doing this more often. When running a windshield all I have to do is loosen the bikini top straps and slide the while thing forward and mount it from the standard channel installed on the windshield frame.

:cheers2:
 
#662 ·
That is a good idea to run the extra channel. I'll look into doing that as well, but not sure how often I'll drop the windshield on mine.

All I've ever heard folks do is cuss at/about the nutserts. Why didn't you just drill and tap the roll bar itself?
 
#665 ·
I grabbed another tool, so hopefully this one will work properly. Let me know when you want to trade them out. I did a bunch of them on my roll bar and it was pretty flawless.
 
#666 ·
I shouldnt need it anymore. The that couple that I coudnt get because the tool issue i just tac'd in place. They shouldnt go anywhere.

On that note do you have a compressor I can borrow? If not Ill probably rent one. Im thinking about using a HVLP gun to paint my cage.
 
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