[gribbles]

Alright I have had this Jeep for 2 1/2 years now, didnt do a thing with it for the first year and a half that I had it. Finally wheeled it a year ago last month and haven't looked back, here is a picture of her the first time I laid eyes on her



Man she was cute then, so clean, innocent....anyways here are some in between shots

first wheelin trip to the Badlands

[gribbles]

my buddies and I did the body lift and the budget boost ourselves, it took about 20 hours to do with 4 guys that had no clue what we were doing and barely had the ability to do a brake job, we also went through 2 cases of this


here is how she sat after all of that, I believe this was the first wheeling trip after the lift was on.

This was all on a 2.25" budget boost with LJ coils and a 1" body lift. The rear was sitting higher than the front, had some serious rake, you can't tell in this pic because I was aired down. I got the LJ coils for free, so don't believe it when ppl try to tell you rubicon LJ coils are longer, cus they arent, just a whole helluva lot stiffer, but it did give me an extra inch in the rear

[gribbles]

I did a ton of wheeling this past summer, and quite a bit to the jeep




I acquired my Dana 44 this summer and it has been a slow build on it, it has pretty much been at a stand still since September or so. I got it for $400 it has 3.73s and the spider gears are shot in it, but for the price, and the fact that I will be regearing this spring definitely made it worth it



you can see the busted spider gears




re painting




mine and my buddy Rods (hotrod_hooligan) D44 he rebuilt for his XJ

I don't have any finished shots, but it looks just like the one with the silver diff cover, we used the same paint.

As the axle sits right now I have all of the brackets for the zj disc brake swap I am doing. I have a front Rubicon locker that will be going in this, along with the regear to 4.88s

[gribbles]

I also got inspired this summer and decided to paint my stock canyon rims, I am pretty happy with how they look, but I will be repainting them this spring



This fall I got pretty lucky and one of my buddies smashed in both of his fenders on his old TJ, it was his last wheeling trip before he sold it to his dad so he could get an LJ Rubicon. Well he decided that he would just put some tube fenders on it, but his dad didn't want them, because he didn't think he would be able to sell it as easily, so I offered to swap my fenders on to his jeep, have our buddy paint them, I would pay for the paint and give him some cash to make up the difference, well, being the great friend that he is, he said all I would have to do is, buy the paint, buy him a hi-lift, and do the swap. So total cost of my Poison Spider tube fenders $120 He bought them used, so I had some grinding to do to get some rust off, and to repaint them, but it was definitely worth it. This is how she sits as of now, as you can see I also cut the bumper



I have also swapped out the front LJ coils for some V8 ZJ coils in the front, took out the stock isolator and left the 2.25" spacer in, I have about 3.25" of suspension lift and a 1" bl, and plenty of room for 35s with the tube fenders Once that D44 gets in and I get new control arms I will be lowering the jeep about 1/2" and putting 35s on it

[gribbles]

I have to re phrase that about doing the fender swap myself, Rod (hotrod_hooligan) helped out just as much, if not more than I did, he did an amazing job on the other jeep, with all the prep and painting that he did on my old fenders to match the slate blue of the other TJ they were going on, and staying up with me until 4 am to get my tubes on, I can't thank the guy enough! Thanks Rod!

[gribbles]

Here are some pictures that I found of the fender swap:

getting the tube fenders cleaned up


the self etching primer


painting


taking off 4 fenders and then putting them back on AND painting the tube fenders all in one evening was a complete PITA



the locker for the 44

[Imped]

Wow, it's so weird seeing that thing stock. I need to do one of these....

[gribbles]

and this is how she sits today, man it'll look good with some 35s

[RockRodHooligan]

Originally Posted by gribbles

I have to re phrase that about doing the fender swap myself, Rod (hotrod_hooligan) helped out just as much, if not more than I did, he did an amazing job on the other jeep, with all the prep and painting that he did on my old fenders to match the slate blue of the other TJ they were going on, and staying up with me until 4 am to get my tubes on, I can't thank the guy enough! Thanks Rod!

Nice save there man, and I thought it was 5am, IDK I was kinda delirious at that point.

No, really I had a lot of fun, besides you know the only reason I did that was so I could guilt trip you into working on some ridiculous mod for my Jeep
I think you know where this is going....

[gribbles]

haha well, let me know...I've got 40 hrs of paid time off to burn before the end of March, I think we could do some damage with that...or fix some damage

[jeepbro's]

nice to see a set of canyons painted like that, i considered painting mine like that but didn't know how they'd look, still thinking about it tho

[GregB_00XJ]

Nice build and nice photo essay on it too. Good job bro'

[gribbles]

Originally Posted by jeepbro's

nice to see a set of canyons painted like that, i considered painting mine like that but didn't know how they'd look, still thinking about it tho

Ya, I love the look of them, I hope that I can still use them when I get my 35s, but we'll see. i am gonna repaint them this spring, make them darker, and put a metric ton of clear coat on them, they suck big time to clean.

Originally Posted by Gman_VIMB

Nice build and nice photo essay on it too. Good job bro'

thanks man

I am going wheeling tomorrow I will try and get some videos up here

[jeepbro's]

so putting more clear on will help them clean better?

my only problem right now with my rims is that on one of them the factory clear is starting to come off the rim at the edge, so its like the rim is coated in thick plastic but under it is collecting dirt so i'm gonna have to switch my tires from that rim to my spare since its still new then repaint them. And i agree just a little darker would look really sweet. I'll probably do it this spring or summer...man there is jut never enough time for jeeps being in college!

[gribbles]

Originally Posted by jeepbro's

so putting more clear on will help them clean better?

my only problem right now with my rims is that on one of them the factory clear is starting to come off the rim at the edge, so its like the rim is coated in thick plastic but under it is collecting dirt so i'm gonna have to switch my tires from that rim to my spare since its still new then repaint them. And i agree just a little darker would look really sweet. I'll probably do it this spring or summer...man there is jut never enough time for jeeps being in college!

Ya, I hear ya. The first year and a half I had the jeep I was in college, it was all stock except for a new top.

Putting more clear on them will make them more glazed, which will make them smoother and therefore easier to clean. The biggest thing is the prepping, sand the hell out of them, I will be re sanding and everything once it warms up, I painted these things 2 days before a wheeling trip, kind of last minute. they were a ton darker when I finished, but with wheeling and cleaning them, some paint has come off The biggest PITA is masking off the rim...it sucks to get it to look that good. But like everything, do it right the first time and you wont have to re do it, live and learn, right