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Lo2aY's Chinook TJ

63K views 266 replies 54 participants last post by  autotrader 
#1 ·
Welcome to yet another build thread!

This Jeep is the first I have owned. Bought new in August of 2001. it was the Jeep I wanted since I was a little boy. I love this thing more than anything with gears in it. I'm being really carful with what i'm doing as I plan on using it in a lot of places and also be able to go back words to stock which will probably happen later. My little brother used the TJ for sometime and really abused the Jeep. so a lot of parts need to be replaced.

Here's what she looked like 2 years in to her life





aftermath after playing with a Nissan Patrol in the mud



Here's what Chinook looked like when I saw her this Feb. ( I haven't seen her in over a year before this picture).

The night I got there



I did not like how it drove. it had a really bad death wobble, so I pulled the rear axle apart and found that my spider gears where toast!! also rear bearings needed to be replaced. all the bushings for the arms and all the steering parts. and finally front ball joints were so bad I don't have to put any pressure on it and it would just fall.

Not too bad for a 10 year old TJ with 250K+ miles



Here's a shot of the interior



Rust free


Here's a shot of what was a (year old) set of tires. the Jeep was parked for over a year. and well,, summer decided that the tires should not be used again :( at 130F+ I don't blame any tire going bad! :mad:



I got a new set of sand tires for it. those Shaheen tires are good sand tires. their very light.

parts acquired for drivetrain rebuild





teardown begins





basically replaced spider gears and bearings in the rear.. the ring and pinion also need to be replaced but I want to put 4:10s in it. so I decided to live with that until my parts show up. a stupid mistake I had to learn the hard way was that I miss installed the rear axles. I thought they were the same size for both sides. as I was tightening the retaining plate. I noticed that one side was a lot harder to bolt up vs the other side.. checked the other side, and I noticed it had some play in the shaft (in-out) pulled both sides out.

Hard to see here but I actually stressed the steal and couldn't find a replacement part for it anywhere. (Jeeps are not popular vehicles in the Gulf region). so I had to flatten it back and just wait until I get a new one from my lovely US of A.



Moving to the front.

I had no issues with installing stuff except for ball joints. I had to work with what I had since I couldn't access any tool stores at 11pm and had work the next day. this was my solution to popping balljoints out.



no pictures to the new ones in.. but I basically had to make sure the were level and used a flat wood on top and then hammered them down or up. checked my "Cs" and play. and found no issues! I do need to get proper tools for this.

went out with some friends and played in the desert!











Next to a friend's Scout. there's only two in the country and both were with us lol.. we did roll the Scout in this run so this picture was after the rollover.. no real damage was done.. it rolled on soft sand.. so the sand basically formed to the truck lol



Saw this guy and had to take a picture with it the next day



After that I drove off to Dubai which was 1000+KM

Leaving my house (replaced the trailer to a single setup)



Half way there



Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics of the Jeep while I was there. I was to busy catching up with friends for a few days. here we are on our way back, dad decided to load the bike. he got tired from all the wind and sand flying at him.



To be Continued...
 
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#166 ·
Your Jeep collection is awesome! Saw both the JK and the LJ at HCP4X4 couple years back at the open house. ( the wife and I are actually in one of the pictures you posted in your LJ build thread of the show). Both rigs were steller man! Now adding a J8 and a Brute plus the TJ, your making me jealous! My wife thought I was crazy for wanting another Jeep when I already had two... But if I had the means my garage would look like yours. All the jeeps look sweet man, keep up the killer work!
 
#169 ·
Thanks guys!!

Brute project is coming after 2 big events.

I'm putting together the first ever Jeep Jamboree in Saudi for Jeep.

Getting married in late August.

Still need to get a donor TJ for the brute. not many TJs running around here in Saudi. they're very hard to come by.

I'm also considering a JK frame. It's stronger has a lot of accessories over TJ stuff.


Luai
 
#172 ·
Hey Thanks!

According to Dave from AEV, the Brute fits really well on a JKU frame! I will just have to make my own body mounts for it. I'm going to keep it a single cab. I have this thought about extending the cab just a little for extra room. but then the top will have to be modified and i'm not really sure we have good fiberglass shops here.

Still in the back burner. I take notes when I have time

Jambo will be great. I'll post some pics when it's done

Pre-Run in two weeks :2thumbsup:
 
#175 ·
There are two ways about this. If you want to register it as a newer truck then you will need a working 2007+ Jeep wrangler unlimited and TJ body from the scrapyards.

The other way is to get JKU chassis and place under a working TJ Jeep. Then you should change the frame # in registration. This will be harder to do in my opinion but can be done. I have seen multiple jk frames in Sharjah scrapyards. Clean ones run for aed4000.

Sorry for the hijack.. :eek:
 
#178 ·
Still here. Not much work has been done to Chinook. a lot of work on friends Jeeps and building a big badass truck.

Sand dunes aren't really my thing. but we had a lot of fun.
Those pics are from Friday.











 
#180 ·
Absolutely!

Here are some more from this past weekend















That's all for this weekend
 
#182 ·
I don't know what your talking about Matt :D

Do you still have those 60s? I might want to buy them from you :D

I'm shipping Chinook and the J8 to the US sometime soon for some mall crawling

Hope your doing well :cheers2:
 
#185 ·
The Jeep Jamboree was a big success! It was a great event and everyone loved it. Note that this was a media ONLY event. Really needed the exposure on the offroad segment on this side of the world. The guys from Chrysler loved it and we will have the second one in October. It will be available for all Jeep owners. Enjoy this shot by our camera man Abed who flew all the way from Lebanon to cover this event.

More pics soon

Image uploading. Refresh page to view


Image uploading. Refresh page to view
 
#187 ·
yeah! that would be great!
Not sure about the legal situation with modded jeeps crossing the border to KSA?
(ahhemm ... I am not sure if removing my corvette fuel rail covers from my small V8 will be enough ... lol)
And visa will eventually become interesting too ... they have business visit, Hajj/umrah and transit.
 
#189 ·
You guys are welcome. As for the modded vehicles, you guys are lucky. Saudi government doesn't really care for modded vehicles unless it's causing noise like the exhaust too loud.

I'm waiting for the press release to post pics. bare with me
 
#190 ·
Matt, I just read the thread over again.

This is what I built







EGO was used as a support vehicle on the Jamboree :thumbsup:
 
#193 ·
Actually. Its not that bad. It drives real nice and the owner wants to use it on the Dunes. I took it out after installing the suspension, and it does really well on the dunes. Those are 37s
 
#194 ·
Not really. I built it for a friend of mine
 
#196 ·
Two more.. i'm working on the images right now





Chinook has 34" tires in the pics above for scale reference
 
#197 ·
Has anyone removed the dash completely? I need to get an AC system in my J8 and am stuck with the aluminum behind the plastic dash.
 

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