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Another ZJ guy

530 views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  FrozenZJ 
#1 ·
Hey all,

Gotten enough info off of here so I figured I would pay some of it back.

Got a '98 ZJ with a 5.5" lift and 35"s. Three link in the front and a four link in the back. Shaved 8.8 rear and an HP30 front. Did all of the work myself over the years.

Just moved to El Paso, TX from Idaho so I'm getting used to no snow and lots of sand!



Shipped it down here. The Porche got covered in road grim while the jeep sat on the upper rack didnt have any

 
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#6 ·
I got asked about my bumpers and fender flares so here is the stuff:

I ran a tube bumper for years and it was just fine. After a while I decided I wanted a little cleaner look and I wanted to tuck the winch in more and out of the way. I also wanted to be able to run 37" tires with a 5.5 lift so one thing led to another.....

Here is an old pic of the tube bumper. It got the job done.



I don't have pics of the build (hard drive crashed) but here are the after.

I cut out the stock front cross member thing so I could tuck the winch back in towards the radiator. This is a common XJ trick and I wanted to do the same thing. I also reinforced the frame rail things with 1/8" all the way around and back about 6 inches or so. the front bumper bolts go all the way through and the rear two to some welded nuts. The part that goes into the frame is 4x2" 3/16.

I built a new radiator support and cut up a piece of aluminum and drilled some holes to get some better airflow to the radiator as the winch took up some room. I had to clock the controls on the winch to the front and I pulled the cruise control off and thats where the winch selenoids went. I bought a wireless controller for the winch and its good to go. The lights in the rounds holes were hooked to the factory fog light wiring.

It keeps everything pretty tight and I added a hoop to protect the grill and winch



 
#7 ·
I always like the look of tube fenders and there are a few people that have pulled them off and made them look good. I think I got most of the way there. I went through about three different types of bends and such until I ended up here. Its bolted to the front bumper, welded to the side rockers (3/16" box replacement) and there are two more pieces of tube that connect to the frame rail things that is under the front fender. I also filled in the gap with 14 guage to keep gunk out of the fenders and door jambs. There are a few drain holes for water that does get in there.

I cut the fenders to fit and you can see where I missed the front drivers fender in the back. I had a different bend there at first and had cut the fender to match. One of these days I'll hit the boneyard and fix that. the other side is pretty tight.

I also did a mini tub on the inner fenders. I went up to right under the battery tray on the passenger side and matched it on the other side. I pulled and got rid of the factory vacuum box that sits under there.

35's stuff up in there pretty good but I still have some work to fit 37" tires. Its still real tight behind the tire.







On some angles it looks kinda weird to me but I'm not changing it now!

 
#9 ·
On the rear bumper, I was getting ready to move from Idaho to Texas and I needed to get it done like right now. So it doesn't look that great on the ends but oh well. I might go back and clean it up when I build a tire carrier. Or not.

Anyway I did drop the gas tank and plate inside, out, and under with 1/8" to help things out. I used the two stock rear holes on the bottom and made two new ones on the side. Should be plenty strong. I cut the lower corners off the hatch to get a little more surface area for a tire carrier mount but still keep things tucked up high.



 
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