Number7 87 Posted October 19, 2009 Wow you do great work K. The rig is sick! Good thing your carport is tall. George:cool: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 4,019 Posted October 19, 2009 can't take any credit for these latest mods, i took apart and put back together the t-case, but that's about it... Tom Woods made the SYE, and Absolute Offroad installed the new springs and dialed in all the new angles on everything as well as had a local shop make the new driveshafts... not sure which place they used, but they are nice looking and are .188 wall heavy duty tubing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LSRGreg 0 Posted October 21, 2009 do your clayton coils sit taller in the back? mine did..i had to add a spacer to the front to level it out. Lookin good! G- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 4,019 Posted October 21, 2009 do your clayton coils sit taller in the back? mine did..i had to add a spacer to the front to level it out. Lookin good! G- funny you ask, i had a 3/4 spacer from kevinz and an extra spring isolation piece in the rear in order to level out the teraflex coils when loaded with my spare tire and tools in the rear... so now with these springs my butt is way taller... i'm going to remove the extra stuff and then with all the weight in the rear i think it will sit level... untill i add your bumper to the front anyway :) where did you get your front spacer? and do you still have some bumpers from your first run sitting around? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LSRGreg 0 Posted October 21, 2009 i put on a 2" budget boost spacer i found at rusty's offroad. With the bumper and winch, it sits level now. Even before the bumper my front end was low. I think the bumper dropped it about 3/4 of an inch or so. We have been selling 3-4 of them per month. We are building up a couple for stock now, so we should have a couple ready in a week or 2. But usually by the time they are finished, they are spoken for. Thanks! G- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 4,019 Posted October 28, 2009 had a shop re-gear the rear-end and that completely got rid of the gear whine noise, not what i wanted to spend money on, but it was driving me crazy! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 4,019 Posted October 29, 2009 favorite rig pics from FJ last weekend: oops, slid off my line onto the diff Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 4,019 Posted October 29, 2009 and forgot to post my fav rig pics from the canyonlands trip too: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 4,019 Posted November 16, 2009 so yesterday i spent the day at Number7's house with him helping me weld up my rack.. i started with a Rola rack and extension. it's a very inexpensive rack, yet pretty tough. I already had someone weld the extension in permanently quite a while ago (with them just screwed in, it flexed too much for my liking). once welded solid though, it made a extremely stout and great looking rack. the only problem at that point was that the factory crossbars and rail system has tons of movement in it and never felt very secure to me. also, the Rola attachments to the factory crossbars were kind of wimpy and would allow the rack to slide from side to side sometimes when off-camber and fully loaded with tire/fuel cans/etc. the first step was to remove all the factory stuff. next i laid down some 1/8 thick by about 1" wide steel in place of the factory rails, drilled it for the factory attachment holes, rounded off the end corners and got some new stainless steel screws and washers to fasten it to the factory thread-serts. i used only 1/8 thick so it would lay down nice and match the curve of the roof without putting lots of stress on the thread-serts. these pieces really will just need to spread the load of the rack more than any other structural purpose. then i put the rack up there, got it all lined up and started cutting the "feet" for it - 0.25" thick by about 1.5" wide steel. i then tried to get it all tack-welded into place before taking it to george for the real welding. i got some of it tacked, but i've never welded before and even my tack welds weren't holding worth a crap. later george told me that the harbor freight welder i had came with crap wire and he let me play with his welder and indeed i was able to make some decent welds in no time (now i can't wait to go buy some better wire and start practicing welding!) here's the first front "foot" tacked into place: and george tacking the other feet into place (we used a wet blanket to keep the spatters off the paint, mostly): taken off the jeep in order to finish welding: the tubing on the rack itself was kinda thin, so george talked me into adding some gussets that tied the feet to more surface area of the rack. i'm glad he did, they came out nice and i'm sure added tons more strength... now i'll never worry about the feet tearing off the thin tube: view from the front looks great: and here's some other shots of the nearly finished product: i still need to fab up a hi-lift carrier on one side and a shovel & axe carrier on the other side, and maybe add some light tabs, etc. and then prep and paint. thanks tons to George for all the help constructing this! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZJones 0 Posted November 16, 2009 The roof rack looks outstanding. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
