Bradywgn71 798 Posted August 14, 2012 Mine is a late 02 (MAY if I remember correctly) and has the DC shaft (no CVs). I think it was a mid-late 02 production change. I think I read somewhere that it may have been installed only with the 4.7HO in 2002 but I may be wrong. MY GC is also Bright Silver which was a color added mid-year in Feb. 02. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 4,148 Posted August 15, 2012 Thanks K. I have already removed the washer bottle from the fender and am getting the ZJ bottle for under the hood. I've done a good amount of trimming so far and may need to do more. Waiting on my wheel spacers so I can see what other areas need the cut-off wheel and big hammer taken to them. Other than the pinch seam, did you have to hammer back the foot well area? Or did you move the axle forward a bit with your long arms? i banged the pinch seam flat against the footwell, but don't remember having to pound into the footwell any. the outside part of the fender is cut pretty far back past the footwell in the back. i had to bang the seam up front too and cut some of the metal that hangs down on the sides behind the bumper and a horizontal little shelf that sits behind the bumper too (just above the horns). i didn't have to move the horns. and yes, i do believe my axle is sitting pretty far forward from stock. here was when i had just cut my fenders and was running pretty bald 33's on 6", i was getting ready to go 35's and that was the reason for the major trim job, before that i had managed to run 33's on 4.5" with only trimming to the rear of the fender opening and to the bumper: here's what the 33's on 4.5" sat like, and you can see the minor trimming (i did have some pretty big bump-stop extensions to make this work): Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thatoneguyaz 0 Posted August 16, 2012 Can't wait to see more pictures. I need to do the trimming too but I don't know how lol. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dzJeepChic 2,565 Posted August 17, 2012 You gc guys should park together at the Cinders & have a conference... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 4,148 Posted August 17, 2012 Can't wait to see more pictures. I need to do the trimming too but I don't know how lol. Bradywgn71 - how did you trim yours? i mostly used a jig-saw, with some touch by a Dremel. i tried an air body saw, but it was a crappy one from Harbor Freight and didn't work well. i hear the easiest to use is an air or electric metal shear tool... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crgeorge 1 Posted August 17, 2012 Good start on your build. Cant wait to see more. Chad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bradywgn71 798 Posted August 17, 2012 I used a Harbor Freight angle grinder with 4 1/2" cutting discs. I trimmed off fender leaving about 3/4" from where I wanted it to fold. I cut notches up to where the fold would be. I then took vice grips and folded up all the tabs I cut. After I folded and hammered the edge, I took a feather disc on the grinder and smoothed it out. It ain't perfect but it was my first try. I don't think it turned out too bad. The rear is a pain as some of you know. Definitely harder to work with a double layer panel. I need to do some more sanding where the original paint cracked from folding the metal. It was hot and getting late, so I just smoothed the paint a bit with the feather disc and sprayed some silver paint on the fender to protect it. Here is a couple pictures of the passenger rear almost done. The "wrinkled" spot you see near the door was not caused by me. I actually ran into a bit of body filler and it got knocked off while folding the metal. Apparently, my WJ was in a bit of a fender bender at some point. It's really minor and I have filler to fix it when I have time. And a picture with the tire on showing how much space I have: You can see in the pictures above where the tire is rubbing the shock and coil bucket. In the front, it rubs the control arms and stabilizer bar. Wheel spacers and lift are on the way. I won't have the lift on by Cinders so, I'm going to try some cautious wheeling with 33s and no lift. Low center of gravity?? :cool: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bradywgn71 798 Posted September 6, 2012 My tools to get the job done: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bradywgn71 798 Posted September 6, 2012 Got my Spidertrax wheel spacers installed: My theory for the Cinders trip is, if you can stuff a 33" tire in your fender opening with a 4" lift you should be able to stuff that same tire into the same fender opening with no lift. I have trimmed and hammered quite a bit. I have removed the rear stabilizer bar. I'm not disconnecting the front bar since I don't have the disconnects installed yet. They barely clear... Curt roof rack installed: Had to install a 98 ZJ washer bottle after removing the original from the fenderwell. Less than $30 new, shipped from Rockauto. It's a tight fit. Saved me a trip and gas going to the salvage yard to look for one that wasn't old and crispy... Old cloudy chrome headlights had been polished numerous times... New reproduction 2003 Laredo headlights (black surrounds instead of chrome). I like them a lot better. I also installed 9011 and 9012 headlight bulbs to brighten things up at night. They only come with the 90 degree connector so I had to notch the bulb surround to get the wire connector attached. (sorry, no pics of the mod) Both motor mounts and the transmission mount were wasted: All new mounts installed. I thought the driver's side would be the worst one to do, so I did that one first. It was a tight space but not nearly as bad as doing the other side. There's one bolt on the passenger side that's behind the frame bracket ... Driver side in: Bolt that's hard to get to on passenger side. Look past the O2 sensor at the bolt facing the frame bracket. No room for a socket, barely enough room to get a wrench in there. Next to no room to swing the wrench: I got the new mount in there though: After doing the motor mounts, the trans mount was a piece of cake! Installed Kevin's Offroad rock rails: Installed a universal SpeedoDRD https://www.motomummy.com/store/product.php?productid=18212 to correct the speedometer being wrong from the now taller tires. It not only corrected the speedometer, it also corrected my transmission shift points which rely on the speed sensor signal to be correct. Thank you, theksmith, for posting about this inexpensive item for speedometer correction in your build thread http://offroadpassport.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5. See theksmith's build thread for pics of the install. It's a 4 wire hook up at the ABS module connector. Mounted my spare tire up top to get ready for the Cinders trip. Her's how she looks so far: Clayton 4.5" Long Arm, Bilstein shocks, Kevin's belly skid for Clayton lift, new spring isolators, JKS adjustable track bar and stabilizer bar disconnects are here and waiting to be installed. I still need to get a bottle of MIG gas so I can weld the lift brackets on. There wasn't enough time before the Cinders trip to get the lift on, besides it being obnoxiously hot in the garage. I needed to get it to a point where it could go on the trip. More to come... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
