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skyj eccentric build

254K views 2K replies 72 participants last post by  Randonexplosion 
#1 ·
Ok, so I have decided to start a build thread. Here is a little history of my jeep and how we came to be. I have loved jeeps ever since I was a small child our first family jeep was a 1984 Cj7. It was what I learned to drive a standard transmission in. My father and I had a blast exploring the mountains around our family ranch. Fast forward a few years and my parents sold it. Later on after high school my dad had moved away to Green Bay and always regretted selling the jeep so we set out to find another one. $200 later and we had a rusted out 1972 cj5 I spent almost every free hour I had working on that jeep we pulled the blown motor and swapped in a running one we bought off a news paper ad for $75 even though almost nothing worked right on it my dad and I had a blast working on it together.
here are some pics


Well as life would happen I grew up and moved away, three years later my dad sold that cj5 to fund a yj project he purchased which led up to me desperately wanting a jeep again. I begged my wife to allow me to sell my truck so I could purchase a jeep. She gladly accepted :kiss:(although she now sorely regrets saying that). In the summer of 2008 I purchased my 1990 jeep wrangler sight unseen from a KSL ad in Ogden UT. My awesome brother-in-law test drove it for me and checked it out. Later that week he drove it up to me over the 4th of July week. I was instantly in Love with my new purchase. I though it was so bada** and that it could do anything. I had already thought my knowledge of jeeps was sufficient and that I had made a sound purchase. Then the want to customize with off-road capabilities and with the hours and hours of research on here and Pirate4x4. I learned so many things I wanted to start trying all these awesome mods. Then my wife smacked me in the face with reality! :rtft:With a mortgage and 3 boys to feed my jeep budget was slim, but I was determined to have to a jeep capable of traversing Montana mountains and Moab slick rock. So a new jeep was born. Most of the stuff I will be explaining in the next few posts will have already been done I will try to get my thread caught up to where I am as of today, hopefully in chronological order.
Specs of jeep when purchased:
1990 jeep wrangler Laredo.
Engine: nuttered 4.2L
Transmission: stock Ax15
Transfer case: stock Np231
Suspension: 1.5 rough country lift 1" shackles
2" body lift
Transfer case drop
Front Axle: Dana 30, 3.07 gears
Rear Axle: Dana 35, 3.07 gears
Tires: Bald 33x12.50x15 wild country MT
Wheels AR steel 15x8
OK enough introductions!! On with the jeep build and pics

Picture from the day I bought it. july 2008

June 2012
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Most recent May 2013
 
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#1,058 ·
Im happy with the MORE bracket I just put on. I havent found anything good to flex on yet to check frame clearance on the DL tho. I bought it all used and I think their Heims are a little chincy, one of them already has some play in it. Good thing zac sent me spares. I guess we will see how it holds up.
The single shear on the driver side seems plenty strong and the rest is double. Finding the right thickness washers on the double shear side is the challenge, one of mine is too small I added a machine washer as a shim for now to make it tight.
 
#1,059 ·
Yeah the BTF bracket should be perfect it will make my draglink perfectly parallel. and with my stretch it will solve the slight binding issue I had with the stock y-link. Im sure I will have to notch my frame it will be close
 
#1,060 ·
Finally pulled the trigger on the BTF bracket been calling every 1/2hr since they opened and no answer all morning till now. It was worth the free shipping and 15% off. Should be here next Tuesday.
 
#1,061 ·
Sweet! I cant even describe how much better the steering feels with x-over than it did with inverted T crap. Mine wasnt even all that bad of an angle, still night and day. Hoping she holds up a little better offroad and not moan and groan so much, not to mention tie rod roll
 
#1,062 ·
It will be night and day I'm sure, my wife may even drive it now. Can't wait to get wrenching on the jeep again. I've had material to build sliders and install my hawse fairlead and wire my winch back up since November but I worked out of town all month and didnt do anything on the weekend's but hunt and hang with fam. Jan/Feb is my mash rebuild months, funny how it always works out no sport for my kids to play and weather sucks bad enough to not want to be outside so into the man Cave I go.
 
#1,063 ·
Got tired of strapping the snowboard to the spare and not being able to haul anymore gear. So I built a rack to haul 4 boards and two sets of ski. Welded a 4" piece of 1"1/2" square tube to the tire mount with 1"1/4 square to slip inside it.

Now I have an accessory mount for other various things I build.



The rack is all made of 1" x 1"x1/4" wall which is a little overkill but I had it lying around. I didn't take many pics cause I was busy. I plan to add more to it but for now it will get mine and my kids gear up to the hill. The best part... all the steel was free just my time and some welding wire.




 
#1,066 ·
Thanks Steal away. I plan to add to it. maybe a cooler rack for summer wheeling? the possibilities are endless :cheers:
 
#1,067 ·
One last pic for the night still needs paint and end caps but it will work for now.
 
#1,068 ·
My BTF bracket will be here on Thursday and my Ruffstuff order is still "pending" they've had my money for a week I ordered that **** on last wed and they still haven't shipped it yet. Hope they get it out soon. I understand with the holidays things may be a little slow. Anybody else have troubles with Ruffstuff taking forever to get their package out?
 
#1,069 ·
I always get my stuff from Ruffstuff quickly. My upper coil buckets came in yesterday and I ordered them New Year's eve.
 
#1,070 ·
Yeah I ordered mine on new year eve too and they got my money but haven't even processed my order according to my history on their site. Im a gonna call them
 
#1,072 ·
Its been in the negatives all last week, but today its showing 36 right now so we got a heat wave lol. When I built that snowboard rack it was -16 outside and my heater was cranking overtime to keep me warm in the garage at 45*.
 
#1,073 ·
Talked to ruffstuff just as I expected they had so many orders come in that its taking them a while to process it all. You must of been one of the lucky ones randon.
 
#1,075 ·
Haha I guess so. Not with my Artec order though, it says it is still processing and I cant get anyone on the phone :rantscream:
 
#1,076 ·
I guess I can't complain to much I ordered some hi side tool boxes for my truck from carid.com on dec 8th and they still aren't here yet.
 
#1,077 ·
Home with sick kids and my BTF crossover bracket showed up.
This thing is sure beef!!

I noticed its not welded on the bottom side which Im sure doesnt hinder its performance but I will probably finish it up before I install it.


After looking this thing over its not overly complicated it's all cnc cut out, but a person (aka cheapskate) could easily make one simliar to this with a cutoff wheel, vise and a decent 5/8 drill bit.
 
#1,078 ·
jeez, make sure you put more air in the tires on that side of the jeep :D

thing looks like a wacky piece of art, I'm sure it'll make mroe sense once it's mounted :cheers:
 
#1,082 ·
Just set it on there for now. Looks like only about 3" of uptravel and I'll be hitting the frame so may have to notch it. We shall see when I get it all built
 
#1,084 ·
Haha I wonder how the MORE and btf bracket compare in height to each other either way, if I get it done soon we have a few snow piles around town that are big enough to flex on. I had fun on one at work the other day :thumbsup: it was 6 ft tall with a 3ft step up and I crawled right up it. had the neighbor boy in the back seat, caught him by surprise and he grabbed the roll bar in a death grip.

Btw I was commenting in your thread on waggy springs lol
 
#1,086 ·
I didnt realize with the MORE that you tapped 3 bolts into the knuckle. What size did you use? My btf only has two and no literature came with it on what size to use?
 
#1,087 ·
Come home to a package from Ruffstuff on my door step. Opened it up......

Man this setup is sure beef... oh whats that?....Oh wait what? Oh I'm missing a left hand 3/4 heim, jam nut, and tube insert. So I call up ruffstuff, no questions asked he walks over grabs one while I'm on the phone with him and some stickers and some drink cozzies, puts them in a box, Says it will go to the post office tonight and get it on its way. STELLAR SERVICE DUDE!!
Cant say enough how nice he was on the phone and took care of me. Man with my luck lately with online ordering I'm happy to do business with them again.
 
#1,088 ·
That's awesome. That's why I continue to do business with them. My order still hasn't shipped from Artec :laugh:
 
#1,090 ·
Laziness I guess? I couldn't find a wj knuckle close by or within a reasonable price plus new brakes, calipers, and the hub spacers and wasnt sure the calipers would clear my wheels etc.. it just wasn't in the cards. It was lookin like close to $600 bucks to do the wj swap. With the heims and bracket it came to $300 so half the cost. The local junk yard wanted $150 per knuckle and wasnt a guarantee it would have good brakes on it. I gave up trying to find a deal on some. And the tereflex knuckle is $$$$ So laziness lol.
 
#1,091 ·
So I took a chance and bought a little hobart airforce 250ci plasma cutter for $50 today. It doesn't work the guy says it was working one day then he plugged it in the next and nothing.... so I opened it up to learn a little something about it. I Was hoping it was just a bad power switch but I checked that and power in power out so..... then I follow power it looks like everything has power just not working...did some online research and most say if the electrode and tip are not in contact the machine wont work??? there isnt much online about problems with these little cutter, everyone who has one likes it for cutting sheetmetal. Its no cutting monster its only rated at 1/4" max but nothing on my jeep is thicker than that and hell it was cheap and I had $50 burning a hole in my pocket. Lol anybody have anything to check or should i just buy all new consumables cup swirl ring and tip and see if it powers up?? I plan to check with the local hobart dealer and see if they have any ideas.
 
#1,093 ·
So I may be getting started on my steering tomorrow after work my heim from Ruffstuff is at my local post office and ready for delivery tomorrow dan shipped it out priority! I called him at 3:30 and It left cali post office at 5:30 talk about exceptional service!! I just need to figure out what size to tap that knuckle to for the bolts.
 
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