[gcjeeping]

Great deal on the 242, sorry to hear about all of the funerals...condolences.

Thanks, for the condolence.

Yeah I was surprised to see the TC in the yard. Snagged it quick. Now gotta see what I need to do to get it in.

 

[85IrocZ-28]

Hopefully it is a bolt in. I think it should be anyways, the ZJ's all have input swap issues. There is much less of that on the WJ's though.

 

[gcjeeping]

Hopefully it is a bolt in. I think it should be anyways, the ZJ's all have input swap issues. There is much less of that on the WJ's though.

I hope so too. I'll be doing it next week. Bought new joints for the V8 drive shaft since the old ones were bad.

I need to do some garage cleaning soon too. I have a ZJ 242, and will have 2 WJ 242s, 2 sets of ZJ tow hooks and 1 set of WJs. A couple sets of WJ cross rails and a set and a half of ZJ 5.9 emblems.

Picked up a sheet of 1/4 plate to make some skids and possibly a rear bumper.

It never ends with the Jeep. LOL

 

[gcjeeping]

Rebuilt the V8 rear drive shaft I got with my 242HD TC. Also replaced all the pads all the way round under lifetime warranty.

 

[gcjeeping]

Finally got around to swapping in the 242HD.

Wont bore everyone with details since TC swaps have been covered on here in detail.

Took about 4 hours to swap it including lunch. Had to swap out the input shafts which took about an hour. Everything looked good. Hardly anything on the magnets so that was good.

Had to swap out the studs from the LD to the HD that mount the TC because the HD were longer and you couldnt get a couple of the nuts on after you installed it.

Rebuilt the V8 drive shaft with greasable joints, wire wheeled it down and painted. It fit perfect after the TC was installed. Took it out for a spin when I was done. Got it up to 80 on the freeway with no vibes. Then to a field and ran it in all the TC selections and worked fine.

Here are some pics.

The TC's. You can see the longer input shaft on the V8 TC (the clean one on the left)

Tearing down

All put back together with input shafts swapped

Installed

Old 242LD with V8 shaft installed

 

[gcjeeping]

My WJ belly skid and trans mount build

Decided to ditch the YJ skid plate and build a new belly skid and trans support.

The skid is 1/4" plate with 2"x1" 1/4" U chanel and the trans support is 2"x4" 1/4".

2x4 cut to length and all holes drilled in it.

Notched out were trans mount goes since if I dont the top of it hits tunnel. Dropped it an 1 3/4" ish. The piece I cut out with the plasma I flipped over and welded in the cutout.

Welded U channel to front and back of trans mount to mount the skid too.

Cut Plate with plasma. Used the U channel as a guide.

Welded little lips on back of skid.

Pic of finished trans mount.

Mostly finished skid

Ended up having to cut a square out under the TC since it was hitting the skid. Cut a small square out. Welded 1/4" 1 1/2" angle iron to the front and rear of the opening. Then welded 1/4" plate between the angle iron and a smaller piece of 1/4" plate to that. So there is 1/2" right under the very bottom of the TC. Then added 1/4" uprights to support the sides.

There is 2 more U channel pieces running across the center and rear of the skid.

All said and done gained overall 4" of clearance.

Old TJ skid installed. It served its purpose well and got beat to hell.

 

[gcjeeping]

Wired up in cab winch control. Covered lighted safety power switch to turn it on and double throw switch to operate the winch. My winch already had a 4way trailer connector coming out of it from the factory for this purpose.

 

[gcjeeping]

Had some metal left over from my belly skid so I made a oil and trans pan skids. The oil pan skid looks likes AEV's. The Trans is custom.

I also welded in a drain plug and put one of those quick release drain plugs.

I had some dents in rust on my trans pan so after I drained it I pushed the dents out, wire wheeled the rust off, Welded the drain plug in, then primed/painted it.

Just gotta make diff guards and the bottom should be protected.



The Oil skid is bolted to the lower two flywheel shield bolts and and one on the side to existing threaded holes up on the side of the block. I notched out the part where I can get to the drain plug without removing the skid.

The trans pan skid sandwiches the brace I had already welded to the trans support I built before. Then it has a upright brace on the front that stops the front from getting pushed up.

And a couple more of the trans support and belly skid.

.

 

[gcjeeping]

Went to an estate sale on Wed in Columbus OH (a little over an hour away) and saw a couple LED light bars (3). They were 40" and have 80 LEDs. They looked just like the one I put on my friend wrangler that he got from Rigid Industries . There is no markings on them So I dont know who made them. They were tagged $400 each. No boxes, instructions just lights, switches and harnesses.

They wouldn't let me test them there so i was unsure about them. When I was leaving the guy that worked there said I could leave a bid on them and if they didn't sell I could get them for the bid. So I put in a bid on them of $200 each ($600 for all).

Well got a call a call this afternoon saying they accepted my bid on two of them and come and get them. Hauled my butt there and told the guy I wanted to test them before I paid and he let me. He said the third one went for $300. They both lit up and I handed him the money and off I went.

I'll have too see what the light output is tonight. They are petty heavy and seem well made with glass covering the LEDS. The have weather seal connectors and lighted switches. The housing is finned and appears to be cast aluminum as are the mounting legs.

Now if I can just find a high pinion 44 I'd be happy.:2thumbsup:

Here are some pics of them.

 

[85IrocZ-28]

That is going to be insanely bright, can't wait to see them on!

 

[gcjeeping]

Hopefully in the next couple days. I wanna build a new roof rack. I got a (used) new to me 1" die for my tube bender. So now I can make a custom one to fit them. Also tube fenders soon.

 

[gcjeeping]

Toyed with a-pillar light brackets.

20 min and walla.

 

[gcjeeping]

Ver 2

Cut it down 1/2" and added a front cover with a hole for wire or wire loom.

 

[gcjeeping]

So I built me a little roof rack for my new, to me, LED light bars.

It's made of 1" thin wall tube. $24 for the tube, $10 for the grating, a few cans of paint, bed liner, stop leak spray and misc nuts/bolts. Bending the tube.

Cutting some scrap diamond plate for the supports.

Upper and lower tubes welded together.

Cross braces cut and in and grating test fit.

Light bar test fit.

Roof supports, 4 each side. They sit in the roof channel. 1" x 1/8" bottoms with diamond plate uprights. I RTV'd them in and used a can of stop leak spray on the base and bolts to help seal them.

Test fit rack to roof supports.

Taped off roof. Bought plastic snap in plugs to fill the original roof rack holes. RTV'd them in. Then 2 coats of bed liner.

Ready to weld grating on

Grating welded in.

 

[gcjeeping]

Primed and painted.

Accessories added. Air horns, PA and ammo can from a 20MM UALS. Light bars and BU flood lights will go on after its on.

Roof rack all done and mounted with LED bars.

low beams- yeah they are dim because there is a thin film of dirt on them.

High beams.

1 LED bar.

2 led bars

 

[85IrocZ-28]

I dig the offroad lighting, yours look great!

 

[shawn.m]

How much we're the led lights?

 

[gcjeeping]

I dig the offroad lighting, yours look great!

Yeah they make a huge difference over the KC round ones I had up there before.

How much we're the led lights?

$200 each from an Estate sale.

 

[awwdude]

Nice Rack!

$200 = STEAL!!!! Wow, you scored huge there, well done. I had no idea LED light bars put out so much light. May have to keep my eyes out for a used set sometime.

 

[gcjeeping]

Spent a few hours putting mud on it. Then a few hours pressure washing the mud off it. Still gotta clean the inside. I hate mud.