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Zjrog's turn

6K views 25 replies 11 participants last post by  zjrog 
#1 ·
Well, I bought this 95 Upcountry ZJ just over 2 years ago. It was exactly what I was looking for except the color. I can love with black... The aftermarket wheels are OK, but will change when I get wear out the BFG 235/75-15s...

Took it for its first run a few months later...

Lowrider of the bunch, headed for a nice little trail called Rattlesnake. No pics of me on trail that day. And I did take a couple legal bypasses.

Then ran Vindicator. I have a thread here about that. http://www.nagca.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26265 In that thread I mention 31s and 2" lift... I've been saying that for sometime now.

Next had a good run up to Jacob City with some friends...


About this time my wife's health took a downturn and wheeling became non-existant.
During this time I fought DW troubles and replaced all the tierod ends and draglink. And had an alignment, rebalanced the BFGs twice. Turned out one of the wheels wouldn't stay tight. So a different set of tires and wheels became available. I got some no-name 30" ATs on factory steel wheels for cheap. Really cheap.


As my wife's health improved I went on a couple of easy rides locally. But I don't take my camera out in the rain much. But when I was invited for a snow run, I had to go...

And a thread for it... http://www.nagca.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29918

Not much wheeling until summer, and we made a trip up American Fork Canyon where we tried to reach Forest Lake. Too much snow kept the lifted big tire rigs from making it. I made it through a bit of the snow, but turned back.

 
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#2 ·
So I decided it was time for improvements. I had collected control arms and coil spacers, bought new bushings for the control arms and waited. In the meantime, I bought a set of rockcrawler style wheels and some 31" tires, both for cheap. And picked up a D30 Lockright for real cheap. And I spent time rebuilding both my son's Ranger and my daughter's XJ. A good friend applied the paint to both in my garage... I'll not dwell on the XJs other problems...


So after getting the 31s on, the Miller Motorsports Park opened their offroad course for a freebie weekend. I scraped and rubbed the transfer case skid all over the place. Even got stuck on it.

Need to see if I can get that skid tucked up better...

While fixing my daughters XJ, she was driving my ZJ. Now that her XJ is done, and my ZJ is back home, I decided to finally pull the trigger on the BB lift.






Suddenly, the Ranger doesn't look so big anymore. I have more work to do on the ZJ, replace front axle U joints, add the Lockright, replace the rear wheel bearings and seals, another hingepin, fix a wiring harness in the drivers door and probably something I'm forgetting.

But its a start...
 
#8 ·
Thanks, been on here for some time, but never felt the rig was worht showing off in stock trim. No real plans to go bigger. I've said from the first trip up Rattlesnake, 2" lift, 31" tires and armor is all I need. Well, got the lift and the tires, now I need armor. Rig has 165,000 miles under it, 20k by me. Full tow package, so the 3.73 gearing is sufficient for my needs. And includes the Trashlock LSD. I know the locker in the front will help offroad, I just hope it doesn't kill my onroad manners when it snows. Hoping that using the fulltime when its slick on the roads will keep me out of trouble with it. I drive a mountain pass to work (Cody, you should know Johnson's Pass in the West Desert...), so hopingthe locker isn't too obnoxious.

What I didn't mention was I lengthened the swaybar links, and am making them quick disconnect. I'll do pics and write something for that. Added longer front shocks. Need to do the same for the rear too.
 
#10 · (Edited)
TTB will be gone soon. The parts XJ parked behind the Ranger is donating its HP D30 soon. So yes, dodo... Lots of great places to wheel and I am WAY behind. But now I hope to catch up.

Oh, the Ranger... Bought with the baja fenders and Skyjacker 6" lift. Replaced the lift with Tuff Country brackets and extended radius arms. Cab swap, custom motor mounts and shock towers, Full rehab ground up. I think we touched every single nut and bolt...
 
#11 · (Edited)
Well, a little update...

The week after the lift, I replaced the Ujoints in the axle. Really tough to drive the originals out, even with a friends Harbor Freight 12 ton press. It was kind of scary everytime the old caps POPPED loose.

Installed the Lockright, only to find it was munged up. Wouldn't release at all, and in less than 200 yards of driving it, I broke all 4 pins. Nice. So, took it back out. In the process of either the locker install or the Ujoint install, I developed a new noise. Speed associated, went faster as I drove faster, couldn't hear it below 10 MPH. Figured I'd screwed up my left unit bearing. Or I had noisy Ujoints.

Well, the noise didn't change with over 100 miles, so I believed the unti bearing was the issue. Changed it yesterday. And, no change. So now, folks tell me the Ujoints shouldn't make noise, and I start thinking maybe I messed up backlash or preload on the D30. But went wheeling today anyway.



When on the trail, we were going slow and never heard the noise. And when we got back on pavement, the noise was GREATLY diminished. Perhaps, the Ujoints are settling in. I'm going to just not think about it for now and see what happens after the next trip next weekend. Perhaps, the noise will be gone.

I got another Lockright used, that looks better and was working fine when removed. But, I think I'll wait until spring time now to try another install.
 
#12 ·
Great shot, got any more pics of your trip? Where does the noise sound like it is coming from? You changed the driveshaft u joints or the axle shaft joints?
 
#14 ·
Holy heavy bumper!
Is that so you can lift it out of a jam with a helicopter?
 
#15 ·
It is 136 pounds.The hinge gets in the way of the hatch by 3/4". So I will have to remove it. At $100 it was tough to pass up. And it needs a lot of cleanup anyway. A friend of mne is giving me a spindle type hinge, so I think I'm going to move the swing to the driver's side. I also need to add some plates to fill in the sides.

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I'vegot quite the stash of goodies. The 4" springs are for the ZJ, I have 6" and 4" XJ springs as well. Not pictured, the rear adjustable swaybar, the replacement rear axle (noisy pinion bearings) Also the front lower long arms from a TJ, that I need to fab a crossmember for, and add some tabs to use some adjustable front uppers as radius arms. THe odd short arms are just for illustration purposes

I need a front bumper to offset the weight of the rear bumper, so keeping my eyes out. I'm CHEAP.

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I do have a Detours USA Backbone for ZJ, but I lost half of the mounting plates. My original thought was to fab a bumper around it. Still might. Either way, I really want to make whatever I build for this towbar. Yet another freebie.And you never know, it just might be handy.

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Along with everything I've collected, that includes these sliders from a TJ Unlimited (LJ). Just need to fab the mounts.

But, all this waits. I had my right knee replaced yesterday. My left was replaced 10 years ago next month.

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And of course, it may be time for new lighting front and rear.
 
#18 ·
I'll start with this pic...
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Engine mounts, transmission mount, transmission cooler lines, power steering hoses, oil filter adapter O-rings, oil pan and valve cover gaskets, rear main seal. I need the ZJ to stop leaking as much as possible. Also in the pic are longer brake hoses for the front, they are for a Chevy truck, but longer than stock Jeep. And inexpensive. I used these before on my son's 90 Ranger project.

I will then move to suspension... Shocks with bar pin eliminators, I will re-use the front upper adjustable Teraflex arms, I have replacement bushings for them, and upper control axle end bushings. Rear adjustable upper arms, and adjustable rear trackbar. I'll mention the Skyjacker adjustable lowers in a different pic. On the far left is a pair of 1/2" plates for the frame tie in for a front bumper. More on that in a separate post.

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I had refurbished two of these control arms, but this one, the ball is too rusted and would destroy the softer parts. I might replace the complete joints. And I'm missing one, just one misalignment spacer. So, plan B...

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Plan B, are these Rough Country arms. Last summer I got a mostly complete Rough Country 4" kit for n obscenely low price, uninstalled. Mostly complete, except the front arms were missing and the swaybar disconnects were missing. I will run these lowers up front. And use the 4" RC springs.

Just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit more before putting the ZJ on jack stands.

I have an issue sometimes, with escalating a project. And not always for the better. So I dialed back what I want to do until next year perhaps. 4.10s, Chrysler 8.25 rear axle, HP D30 with 89 knuckles and big brake kit. And I still like the idea of a stroker build. But just not this year.

Stop the leaks, go 2" higher, depends on how much the 2" pucks compressed in 12 years. And then bumpers. That ought to be enough for one year.
 
#20 · (Edited)
OK, an update. Oil pan and trans pan gaskets have been replaced, the oil filter adapter O rings swapped, new engine mounts. Power steering hoses, and the little elbow hoses at the external trans cooler swapped out too New PCVs and grommets even, and rear main seal, again. Leaks a lot less now.

I was going to swap in some suspension bits, but my wife fell and broke her left knee a month ago. My free time has been occupied since, with her in an acute rehab facility. But she came home last week, so I have had a little time to get back on things.

I had a bit of good luck, picked up a rebranded Poison Spyder JK front bumper and skid plate for $100. Never installed...
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It was very very wide, 71", to cover the front fender flares on JKs. So, I cut it down a bit.
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I clamped the bumper in place to see how it looked. I like it. I did need to cut some off the ends though. And the skid plate will match to a radiator support I want to fab next.

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And filled the cut area with some 1/4" plate. Still need to cap the ends. I need to do more welding to finish it. (I have a welder, I'm NOT a welder, I'm a good grinder though) I picked up a pair of 1/2" plates for the frame rail tie ins. As soon as I figure how much to cut them down, I'll weld on some plates to mount the JK bumper.

I hope to start swapping suspension stuff soon. Replacing the Upcountry springs and 2" spacers with Rough Country 4" springs and using Zone shocks for a JK (with Teraflex stickers on them). I'll keep the Teraflex front upper control amrs I have, and use the Rough Country adjustable lowers for the front, for now. And keep the Rubicon Express front adjustable trackbar. The rear is getting some Amazon rear upper adjustable arms that look a lot like Core. Skyjacker adjustable rear lowers will be used and what I think is a Rough Country rear adjustable track bar. Time to slim down that pile of parts I've collected.
 

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#21 ·
Fought with my welder, had some feed issues. Seems I forgot I had used .045 wire for my last project, it was a free roll from a friend, and never changed it back. I put in a new roll and all is well. But I worry I damaged the liner, so there will be some replacement soon.

Back to the fun stuff.

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I took my time, this time, with my templates for the end caps. I still may cut the bottom edge parallel to the top.


I have some cleanup still to do, and I'm not sure how much to do, as I seem to make it worse as I go. Hoping some POR15 and roll on bedliner will fill these spaces. I know my welds aren't pretty, but know I got heat through the metal.


Bumper turned out to be 60" wide after I squared off the ends. This gives a little room to add some round tube later to cover the fenders, as soon as a friend can help me bend some tube. Undecided about removing the American Fastbacks plate, but I probably will and weld the rivet holes up. I did grab some LED fog lights for a JK to put in the bumper. I'll wire them in as my factory fogs. Giving lot of thought into adding a trail camera in the front under that branding plate. I may add a tube over the top later as well. Overall, it was an ambitious project for me, and I'm happy. No, it's not prefect, but my ZJ isn't a show piece anyway.

Next up, back to the JK rear bumper.


Bought some flush mount LEDs for back up lighting. Unusre if I want them inboard of the tow hooks.

Or cut and fill the "X"s on the bumper. I've been giving a lot of thought to how to finish the ends to fit the odd shape of the ZJ, and thinking some plate and tube will suffice. I do still need to fab frame tie ins for the rear.

And I HOPE to get material to mount the LJ rock sliders I've had for years. I have some 2" square hitch tube, just like they are made from, to extend them 6" to better fit my ZJ, but not sure I will.

That's all I have for now.
 

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#22 · (Edited)
I put the bumpers on temporary hold, and pulled out the Rocky Road Outfitters LJ sliders. I got them a few years ago, and never really got around to them. They are just a little short for the ZJ, so I needed to "stretch" them.

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I had originally measured for an 8" extension, but thought 6" would be better. Instead, I settled on 7".

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I cut off the angled end, added 7"of the same 2" receiver hitch tube as the sliders. Then, welded them in and welded the angled end on as well. I do need to do more cleaning them up and do the other side tomorrow.

I took a little extra time to make sure I cut the right end off each slider so they would match. The extended ends will face the front of the ZJ. I had considered splitting the difference and adding 3 1/2" to each end, but that would double the work, and I'm lazy and didn't think it would look good.
 
#23 ·
I am so jealous, all those different trails, around here there is none, there are some creeks that people ride, but it's illegal to be in them, but at midnight who's going to catch you? I would love to have just one good trail. I don't want to mud ride, I don't mind some mud, but I just prefer an offroad trail. But anyway, the truck looks good. You keep having fun.
 
#24 ·
I filled in the X holes and opened them up as needed to fit the flush mount LEDs.
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I spent a fair amount of time removing the rust best as I could. Rust prevention primer and paint, the bed liner will come in time.

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Picked up rear bumper mounts from Affordable Offroad. Very reasonably priced.

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I had little issue removing the factory bumper cover, bumper and mounting brackets. I did use a cutoff wheel to remove the flanged bolts the brackets used. I was careful with the direction of the sparks and well aware of the gas tank. I did mount the new mounts with the flanges outboard at first. But the D ring tabs inside the rear bumper would have been in the way of a flat surface to weld to.

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I didn't upload any pics of the 1/4" plate I cut and drilled to weld to the bumper and bolt to the mounts. The width is very good. I still have to decide how to cover the sides better, get my LEDs mounted. The mounts are welded to the insde face and under the top of the bumper. Lots of surface welded with the plates. There is about 3/4" between the bumper and bottom of the hatch.

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I am not going to be able to use the original hinge pin for the tire carrier swingout. I'm considering using the original swing as a receiver hitch carrier.

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I have 2" receiver tube, and 3"x5"x1/4" wall tube. I should look for some smaller, lighter tube for this. But this is what I have on hand at present. Ai need to think about cutting the left end off the swing. Just thinking right now. Lots of thoughts, nothing concrete yet.

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The bumper is upside down in this pic. I'm looking at a way to add strength to the receiver hitch, the angle material with the holes, bolts to the rear crossmember of the JK Wranglers. I'm thinking about 3"x2"x1/4" angle I have on hand, welded between the mounting plates I welded to the bumper and bolted to the frame mounts. I have other ideas, but that seems the best, simplest. The bumper mount plates are welded about 1 3/4" inside the D ring tabs on the inside of the bumper.

Yes, a lot of words for little work. But I'm happy for a $100 bumper.
 
#25 ·
Kind of like I can't finish an single project before getting involved in the next...

I finally got off the fence, and will be going long arm/radius arm on the front. I'll be using existing Tuff Country long arms I've had on hand for years. They were for a TJ.

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The upper arm is just for illustration. I will be using my existing adjustable front upper with new bushings.

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I bought these tabs from my local fab shop, Midnight4x4.com in Salt Lake City. I chose these because they do wrap around the Tuff Country arms.



Plenty of meat to weld to the Tuff Country arms. Under the arms, inside the top, and I will add a gusset between the tabs, and countoured to the arm and fully welded in. I'll tack these together but have a friend that is a much better welder finish them for me. I also ordered the long arm transmission crossmember from Rough Country. Decent deal. And I just didn't feel like fabbing my own.

I also ordered the double shear track bar bracket from Rubicon Express. I've had the Rubicon Express front track bar for 11 years. I used a 1 ton Chevy tie rod end in place of the factory end. Since I decided to do long arms, the tie rod end wouldn't have had the travel I think.

And finally got my front bumper primed and coated. It's been cold, so I used my diesel heater to warm my garage and the bumper and primer and coating.
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Used Rustoleum Truck Bed Liner and coated the front bumper I sprayed a bit thick over the welds, so it was still wet. It still shows where I changed the bumper, but I'm happy so far. I need to mount the LED fog lights and prep the wiring harnesses to plug in to the factory fog harness.
 

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#26 ·
Finally getting back to this. Rough 18 months... My wife of 39 years passed a year ago May... As much as that sucks, she is no longer in pain or struggling.

Last September I bought the vehicle she wanted, a Gladiator. What a marvelous machine. But, the ZJ is better suited for a lot of things I want to do. Narrower, shorter wheelbase...
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So. Back on the ZJ!
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