360 Degrees Of Gen-right Tj Armor

[Twitchy]

So where to start, well this is my first stab at a thread of average size. I will openly admit that I live in a condo, have no garage, nor the mechanical know how to do the majority of the work I would like to do. I've started, thanks to this website and some excellent members, begun to do basic plug and play work on my jeep and minor electrical. I hope that in the future I will be able to tackle larger projects on my own. To my credit I do an extreme amount of research of products, methods of assembly, what goes well with what, all wrapped around what has been a four year journey prior to starting on modifications to my 2004 Jeep TJ Sahara.

The first mods came in March of this year and included suspension, wheels and tires, body lift. Followed by the generic "get ready to wheel" bolt-ons we all need to get out and play.

My goal with this project has always been a capable Jeep when offroad, but yet a 100% daily driver, A vehicle that can get dirty yet still pull up in front of a nice restaurant and I can exit in style, yes that means a partial pavement princess LOL.

Big thanks goes out to NATIONAL 4 WHEEL DRIVE in Calgary, Alberta, they do all the major work on my rig and have provided a level of customer support and mechanical prowess that is second to none (Viking Soft Top caliber) So here we go, just a little tour of my toy and where she stands at the moment with the current upgrades

For those only interested in pictures, they can be found on the following pages;
PAGE 1: unpainted parts being mocked on the jeep.
PAGE 4 & 5: Parts painted and disassembled, plus the cutouts for the tube fender LED lights.
PAGE 6: Night time shots of the tube fender LED lights and the rear 3 brake light (LED)
PAGE 7 & 8: Finished daytime shots of all parts and the complete Jeep
PAGE 8: Rear Stinger/Tire Carrier folded down and lowering & raising instructions
PAGE 11: Suspension flexing and wheel stuff (on the trail & the RTI ramp)

So what happens when ya take your already lifted 2004 TJ Sahara and decided it just doesn't seem to look exactly finished, it has that I'm unfinished look????



WEll, you decide to add a set of Gen-Right rock sliders w/step, Gen-Right rear corners with 6" flare, Gen-Right 6" Tube Fenders up front, throw on a Gen-right steering box skid just for kicks and don't forget you decide to surround your spare DC-1 Black wheel and Procomp XTerrain with a Gen-Right Stinger tire carrier.

I drove 6 hours to Calgary and back home today to get these pre-paint pics for me and all of you so I hope ya enjoy.

Here is a shot of the whole assembly from the rear left, its almost a shame to paint over that sweet raw metal



Ahh, the pre-powdercoated rock sliders are quite stylish, these are the ones with the step, I like the idea of the step, but honestly the whole step thing is there for all the short people I know, cause at 6'5" I dont need them



The rear corners fit perfectly except for the top right drivers sider corner at the bend, easy enough for the boys to fix though...



For now the corners are bolt on, next year I have some axle plans, so this method works for now, the flares are being mocked up for the eventual 40's that I will run. These are the 6" flares but the 35x12.5" still protrude a bit, but in Alberta that's cool...

[spyder6]

wicked!

are you getting them painted up in your body color or just rattle can?

[Twitchy]

The front tube fenders are equally nice looking and although it took me time to get use to the double bevel look, I'm quite at home with them now.....
Here they are from the front


and from the side. I really like how the tube fenders really open everything up without sacrificing any under hood placement of parts (i.e. CAI, fuse box, etc.)




The gusset, there for reinforcement purposes also serves as placement for the Gen-right side marker replacements, but I have another idea which I'll get to later on for side markers. The hole you see in the gusset now will be filled in for a smooth look and finish

[Twitchy]

Originally Posted by spyder6

wicked!

are you getting them painted up in your body color or just rattle can?

Hey Spyder, I was going to do the powder coating thing once the mock up was done, but since I plan on a full axle, front and back, overhaul next January, I have decided to simply get the guys at National to do a quality primer and black top coat to last the winter.

Hang on Spyder we got about 20 more pics coming, hehe

[Twitchy]

Im definitely not a welder by trade, although I've watched alot of pipe line welding in my time, but I much prefer the look of the welds from Gen-Right over examples I've seen from the competitor. These are the external welds on the down slope of the passenger side front tube fender


Here is a shot of the welds on the interior side of the front tube fenders, driver side, I simply love the room I'm gonna have under there. Plus I appreciate the thick, strong look that the tuber fenders give


Back to the rear, note the down angle on the rear flares, at first I thought they were going to be pretty much flat, but I'm much happier seeing them on an angle...


The sliders require the removal of the body mounts for a solid mounting and appear to fit quite nicely, the line up well as your looking down the long axis of the vehicle, in respect to the width of the front and rear flares....you can sort of see it here....


However, as it stands now the slider clearly are designed to sit flush with the stock plastic flares because at the moment there is a slight gap at the front between the slider and the tube flare, its noticeable in this pic, but shouldn't be to bad once painted to match.....


The back end covers the full length across the rear corners as seen here just beneath and behind the rear flare....


more to come.......

[KKiowaTJ]

So far the pic's i see are great. I really like the rear stinger, Herd an seem some good things come from them. This is gonna be a sick build when you are done

[stoneyredneck]

sweet rig man, can't wait to see the finished product.

[Colorado Jeepin]

I need those tube fenders Nice rig.

[KKiowaTJ]

Originally Posted by Colorado Jeepin

I need those tube fenders Nice rig.

X3..... They look great, And good craftsmanship.

[Twitchy]

A note on the corners and sliders, I did not order the backing liner for these items, instead they are simply going to add a bead of caulking just below the top line, when everything gets welded on next year I'll clean up underneath. The fuel filler required some trimming to fit the rear flares....


But it will not be noticeable once painted and again, when the axles get swapped and I stretch the wheelbase, the filler will move backside anyways.

The rear tire carrier is a nice little unit here it is from the side, sorry for the blur, I twitched when I snapped the shutter on my Nikon....


From behind you can the basic layout, it comes with reinforcements on the inside of the tub just behind the roll bar. There will be excessive weight on this unit but thats ok, I like the idea of the fold down carrier. Although my hi lift jack currently resides on the front stock bumper, they will weld to more tabs on the carrier and thats where the jack will sit, but not where the demo jack is in this picture....


Here is a close up of one of the upper bushing attachments for the rear stinger carrier....


And this one of the lower attachment.....


The lower bushing in the picture above is attached to Gen-Right's cross member brace, which is bolt through to the reverse side, Gen-right suggests that you need to lower the gas tank to get the brace bolts in but they got it in without the drop (saving labor $$$ where I can) Note also that in the lower half of the picture I got to keep my hide-a-hitch for trailering. But more importantly the shackle the guys welded on for me, this is permanent and a nice ad-on

[Twitchy]

What really made me happy is that Gen-Right now ships the rear stinger fully welded, which although is a PITA of a big box with UPS, definitely saves time for install.

So for those wondering, I already have the ORO LED taillights, and they will mount up nicely to the rear corners since the holes are already there. The license plate will move to the middle of the rear stinger and bolt to the welded tabs. For the third brake light, I already use the ORO license plate LED light/3rd brake light concoction so I can finally get rid of the horribly ugly stock unit. That also cleans up the tailgate which has been nagging on me for a while.

So 3 days from now the final mock up, removal, paint job and reinstall should be done and then I can post final pictures of the completed job, especially the front side markers which are going to be totally sweet ( a stolen idea, go figure! LOL)

[Twitchy]

Originally Posted by KKiowaTJ

So far the pic's i see are great. I really like the rear stinger, Herd an seem some good things come from them. This is gonna be a sick build when you are done

Thanks lots KKiowaTj, ya I like Gen-Right, the price point was decent and the timeline worked really well from order to delivery, everything showed up as one even though I ordered over a two week period.

The driveline is the next point of attack, but Im still finalizing specifics, but the core parts have been selected

[RnEmOvr]

looks great, but why in your 1st pic does it look like you have a 2' gap between tires and flares?

[john NC]

looking great so far, gen-right definitely makes so beefy products

i really like that rear stinger as well, the price isn't too much more than the rear bumper/tire carrier combos and it probably weighs a lot less. i wonder if they could add rear quarter panel guards to it, hmmmm

[Twitchy]

Originally Posted by rnemovr

looks great, but why in your 1st pic does it look like you have a 2' gap between tires and flares?

Well if you mean the very first picture, the one in my parking lot that's just the way she sits after the 6" long arm lift and the 1" body lift, plus the picture is taken at a slight angle. I do know that when I come out of the liquor store with a 24 of bottle beer the case of beer will sit on top of the tire without coming near the body