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Yota to Jeep....My build

27K views 267 replies 25 participants last post by  mike_bfdr 
#1 ·
97 TJ Build up...nothing to see here, move along!

Well I figure it is finally time to start a build thread to show off, get direction, bitach, hide, waste time, ect! :rofl: Being that this is my first jeep I figure I might as well have fun with it. Plan to build a fun, go anywhere jeep that is somewhat streetable. My last rig was a 1989 4Runner that I built up then sadly sold :( but times have changed and this past year was the right time to start throwing money at something without a pulse again :thumbsup:


The Rig as purchased
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sport
4.0L With AX-15, NP321 (147.xxx miles)
Danas 30/35 3.55 gear ratio
Flowmaster 40 Series
Doug Thorly header
K&N intake
4in Prochump lift (lower arms, springs, TC drop, horrible front track bar setup)
35x12.5-15 Falken Wildpeak A/T
Getto rigged spare tire carrier
Funky front bumper
Rubicon Stickers.....:hahaha:

When I bought my Jeep it had a few issues right off the bat. First I had a bad exhaust leak, couldn't hear the radio at highway speeds so my first goal was to find out the cause. Now the previous owner was clueless on the jeep but was guessing it was the header gasket. So with that as a starting point I popped the hood and started taking the motor apart. What I found was no gasket but the infamous cracked header. Called Doug Thorly headers and they said it was a known issue and I could wait 3 weeks and pay $150 for a new header :mad: so I had it welded up as a badaid and so far its held :rtft:


Couple days later the annual Off road expo came to down and I got to spend some cash on some goodies.
Picked up a set of Hella 5000 Rally for $50! 1in Daystar body lift $89 and complete Cobra CB with Firestick Antenna $110 Windshield brackets to mount the hellas $35
 
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#64 ·
Got the cage pulled out and welded up..Things are so much easier to weld outside the Jeep

I really love the way TJs look without the cage...only if I would die just driving to the trail I would so rock this.

Prettyn icy as the cage is sitting now,still lots of work to be done....I am beat!

Another side profile shot, looks like my rear end sits about 3/4 of a inch or so high since clocking the spring pearches. On a side note, currie should be dropping off my bumpstops in the AM!
 
#67 ·
Ok a little more of an update, man this thing is a lot of work. Tossing around the cage by myself is a real pain in the ars but it needs to get done. Got most of the cage welding done I think, need some opinions on any gussets or bracing for those who know more then I do. I do plan to in stall 5 point in the next few weeks, I am planning on running a tub from B to B just about the floor as my starting point for the seats. I will also be running a piece of tube from my A to B to stiffen the cage as well as a seat mount. After that I plan to get a harness bar from B to B then kinda X of that to add more structure.






 
#68 ·
Here is what I am thinking to complete my cage, again please let me know if any changes or additions should be made!



Black is how I plan to connect my seats to the cage, also help stiffen the cage.
Red will be the harness bar, thinking of ordering the one from Poly performance.
Blue would be the X addition to help reduce the crush factor of the B pillar.

Also note the frame will be frame supported via the A and C pillars :rtft:
 
#77 ·
Ok a little update...I am pretty dang beat, it's been a non stop over the last few days and it's taking it's toll on my body. Still pretty happy with my progress! Looks like my harness bar will be on Tuesday and my seats and harness will hopefully ship soon.

Finally got around to installing my bump stops, install went pretty easy and I can't wait to them them out!

All layout, pretty nice kit and I am looking forward to seeing how they bump out...I forgot to remove my springs and ensure that everything went well, gonna have to wait till I can flex it out!
This is what I am starting with....

So that's not going to work so let's start installing the bumps!

Getting them installed, went pretty smooth
 
#78 ·
Next was to finish up the cage and and install it , got everything I needed done today minus the C pillar mounts. I should be able to knock that out along with the dash tomorrow.


Cage was primed and painted, came out pretty nice and the install was pretty easy.

Since i will be installing my new seats I left some of the cage unprinted, this will allow quick work when welding them in! Replaced those dam n B pillars with some grade 8 hex head bolts, made the install way simpler!

Finally drilled out the A pillar mounts, goal was to get them tied into the frame.

Made some frame reinforcements out of some 4x6x1/4 strap, should hold up nice. Also had to fab up the bushing tabs which are also out of 1/4 steel, shouldnt have any issues with them in the event I have to use them.

Now from what I read that it's a pretty good idea to to sandwich a piece of DOM between the floorplates. In theory this should eliminate the false floor from collapsing In the event that I got rubber side up.

Had to drill out the hole, used a 2in hole saw so I count account for the welds.

Got them all burned in!


Also got the front bumper paint and mounted the lights...not sure how I feel out the lights.


View from the front, gotta figure out the hole rear view morrow thing.

Also spent some time getting my door molds fitted, nothing a little dermal can't get fit!


And here she sits now, hopefully I'm not soar to get the C pillars and dash nocked out.
 
#82 ·
Wow man it looks great! You do some nice work :2thumbsup:
I had a pair of hellas on my Taco and I wasn't happy with them at all. They were more like spot lights and had no light spread so they really didn't do anything.
I got my roof rack leds hooked up this weekend and they practically light up the whole neighborhood.
If you don't mind spending the money they are a great light and they only pull about half the amperage as the hellas. Plus they're pretty small so they won't stick out like a sore thumb

http://www.4wd.com/Jeep-Lighting-Je...t.aspx?t_c=14&t_s=448&t_pt=4242&t_pn=RIG20211
 
#87 ·
Well it's been a long long 3 day weekend for me, but got a lot done and she's driving again!

I have some small projects to get completed, need to finish the driver side C pillar tie-in. Passenger side took up much more time then I though and waking up late didn't help!

Drilled out the factory C pillar mounts and added some nice 9/16 hardware, I don't see this going anywhere....I just hope I never have to find out! (I see I didn't have the washers I place, I promise I have some 9/16 grade 8 washers)

Now I was going to just leave the bushing mounts square but I figured I might as well male it look nicer...not 100% sure these came out that nice lol

For the frame side mount I use a piece of 2x4x1/4 strap ontop of the frame then welded the DOM to that. Driver side is going to suck since I have the fuel lines to work around.
 
#88 ·
Since day light was running low I started to throw in the dash. I am crossing my fingers I don't need to remove it again to mount seats.

In the process of uninstalling and installing the dash I managed to scuff the steering bezel pretty good. Tried to paint it but that looked worse so I need to either strip it and start fresh or buy a new one.

While out driving I went to my local Jeep Gym and flexed the Jeep out to see how everything went. Looks like my rear bumps might be a tad short....I mean a tad! Also my from swap was still connected so no pointing fingers!

Little side shot! Over all pretty happy with it, just need to get my seats and locker in and I'm ready! Well now I think about it, I need to finish the wiring and Monsterline the tub....
 
#89 ·
Another late night innthe garage tonight, can't really say it was 100% productive....on the other hand I let my creative juices flow! First was to paint the inside my fender wells in the rear, the faded blue was not really working so I sprayed them down in black. Also pushed my rear axle out 1/4 on the driver side since it was a tad off after installing my coil buckets. Now the fun started, I know I am not the first to pull this mod off but that didn't matter. I installed my Easy button!!!!! After debating the location I think I selected the best and simplistic location....Enjoy!

First you need to pop the button apart, ai,ply pop off the black screw covers and remove the screws. After that pull it apart and remove the weights that make it heavier then it need to be, that's where I put the u bolts. Next simply drill the holes and install the u bolts, I added some loctight to ensure a nice strong hold.

As you can see its pretty tight so small nuts are a plus!
Start putting it back together, I put the zip tie in and wrenched the u bolts so it wouldn't wobble.

Once you put it all together you should end up with this!

Now put it where ever you decided would be best, in my case I put it out of the way attached to the cage.


Like I said it was a rather productive night in the garage! Also got a chance to add abottle opener, slapped it to the inside of my tire gate. Nice simple and refreshing mod I might say
 
#91 ·
AngryTJ said:
The build is coming out great man! :thumbsup:

How much of a pain was it to remove the torx bolts that hold the cage in?

Also Ive been tryin to get tips from a few guys, how did you cut the welds on the inside of the frame for the upper spring perch?
Thanks man, it's been a fun project so far! Took it out for its first drive with the cage and no real rattles at all!

Ahhh those torx! As you can see they got replaced as I HATE torx heads. I would recommends to PB blast then from under the jeep. The worst ones were the floor side bolts as they would start easy then tighten up as the exposed threads started to pass through. For those I used some channel locks, gloves, and lots of cursing for when the channel locks slipped. I didn't want to mess the threads up so I made due. I do recall busting out the welder for the last floor side and worked a nut to the bolt. That seamed to work best since the heat helped loosen it up. So my recommendations is weld a nut and make life easy!

For the spring perch I used a 4.5 angle grinder and a dremel. Made life semi easy, a big hammer and pry bar helped brake the hard to get welds.
 
#92 ·
Little up date as I have been super busy over the last few days :thumbdown: Put in another order for the Riddler rear diff cover for my 8.8 along with a new JKS track bar to finally correct this dam n offset issues :laugh:

Also heard from Zach at AtoZ that my seats will be in on Thursday :cheers2: Will be about a week or so till I can get them installed at this point. I need to head down to pick up a stick of 1.5 DOM to get them all nice and snug.

Had a nice little traction package on my door step waiting for me when I got home. Thanks again to baseline4x4.com for the great deal & fast shipping :2thumbsup:



I also plan on rewiring all of my accessories correctly since I plan to Mosterliner the tub. I can finally put a stop to that rats nest that was looming around my battery. Just need to grab some relays and wire and go to town :teehee:
 
#93 ·
Long overdue update, kinda good and kinda bad. Good news, got my seats, track bar, and diff cover in :thumbsup: Bad news, having to pull the cage again to weld he bottom of the seat mounts. I was rather foolish to think I was going to weld them with the cage in. Have some rather poor welds so I will need to grind them out, reweld and gusset the crap out of it :laugh:

I am on a 2 week count down till my trip so I really need to buckle down.

Seats look pretty good at first, then I really started to look them over and I am rather disappointed. I believe that Corbeau really needs to look at the QC as these should have never left the factory. First off the undersides were rather loose and looks to be thrown to together. The welds on the mounts had traces of porosity in welds :nono: some of the webbing on the inside of the seat was poking at the vinyl which was just begging to tear a hole in them. Also my favorite was the patch being sown on upside down :laugh:. Put a call in to Zach who then called Corbeau, it loooks like they will make it right which is all well and fine....but really :confused: If I was not on a time crunch and could do it over I would have went with Mastercraft :rtft:


With all that said I started to make some progress with the seat mounts.






I did get seats mounted and in their position....just forgot to take some photos :teehee:

The rest of the night was cussing as I would bend myself small enought to get the undersides of the seat mounts. About that time I figured I was going to have to tear down the dash and pull the cage :mad:. On the upside, I am getting pretty dang quick at removing the dash :2thumbsup:
 
#94 ·
The brown santa dropped off some goodies which I hope to have installed this week :cheers2:

Finally have a 3 wheel drive jeep again since the axle swap! Also get to toss that think 8.8 diff cover that was just begging to get punched.

Also get to finally center my rear axle as well, looked pretty stupid running off seat :rofl:

 
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