97 LJ-ish build

usmc42

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Location
Jville
What's up my dudes?

New to the site, posting up my build progress as I slice through her and try to button her up.

I reside in J-ville if you didn't guess by my username. I have a 97 TJ that's been stretched body and frame 15" to duplicate an LJ.

Ground up she has a 60 front shaved 14b rear both narrowed slightly.

Long arms, single triangulated in the rear and 3 link up .

Working on highline fenders and front suspension now

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Was able to zip off the existing front hoops last night. The C/O's on there were 12" FOAs.

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Going on are these bad larry's:

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Also going on are highline fenders from TNT to keep it as low as possible while making room for these:

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Wasn't able to pass up the recent Pitbull sales and had to make a quick decision so hopefully 41.5" rockers fit under her.


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Spruced up the garage before I started the build.
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Put in a 20A machine circuit so I would stop popping the GFCI.
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Got this guy so I would stop shooting dust and sparks all over the garage from the abrasive. We'll see how long blades last.
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And his little friend for making small cuts in plate
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Looking good man. Cant wait to see more pictures. I used to live in Jville myself. Moved up to Va about 3 years ago. Im actice Navy.

I also have a YJ that I just got done stretching to LJ length running a HP KP 60 front and Eaton HO72 rear on 41.5" Pitbulls. I kept the front leaf spring and did a double triangulated 4 link rear with ORIs. I will probably link the front after my next deployment. I lost most of my pictures when Photobucket ate a bag of dicks but you can check out my build on JF. Project White Squid --- one ton YJ - Page 21 - JeepForum.com

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Dude that is sick. That's exactly the kind of stance I'm going for.

It's cool you have it doubled in the back. I'm still single triangulated in the rear and looking for a way to move the lower links in to get double triangulated

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How do you like the ORI's. Shitty to set up or what? I've seen so many different stories. Dudes either love or hate them.





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Did you buy the your TJ already stretched or did you do it yourself?

For the triangulated lowers I built a crossmember and link mounts myself. It was easier to fine tune it how I wanted. attached are a couple dirty pics. I tried to clean it up a little so you can see whats going on but its kinda hard to see.

As far as the ORIs I have no complaints with them. I've only had them out on one trip but compared to my old setup they are amazing. I went from 98" WB, SOA with D30 and 8.8 on 35s. With the rear SOA it felt like riding a bucking bronco. I damn near needed a kidney transplant after every trip. Now I'm on full width one tons with 113" WB and 4link with ORIs in the rear. It feels like riding on a cloud of titties for me. I set my lower pressure at like 90 PSI or whatever it is that ORI recommends as a starting point and left it at that. I believe as I get more seat time and I get my front working well with my rear I'll probably want to start tuning them a bit but right now theyre awesome as is.
 

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The guy I bought it from did the frame and body stretch, I am basically finishing it up.

Thats exactly the type of cross member I need. I was looking at genrights cross member minus the upper link mounts. I am hesitant to fab my own boxed member like you have but it's on the table. I was looking at ruffstuffs tube mounted link mount and maybe I could box in the tube to the frame. Thanks for the pics man. Your rig is very close to what I'm trying to build minus the leaf springs.


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Got some more work done tonight.

Cut off the body mounts and sliced up the rocker guards.

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Removed all the junk under the hood and fitted the highline fenders. Cut the hood 2.5" but still have some trimming.

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Polished up the shock mounts to get ready for bending some tube tomorrow.

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Trimmed the grill/radiator support to pull it forward a little

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After cycling the suspension for awhile I figured out the skid plate was limiting the down travel by holding up the DS. took me a minute to figure out.

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Going to trim the skid plate and cycle the front with the tires mounted tomorrow. After I get some measurements I'll be bending some tube for the new shock mounts.



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Nothing about the steering was working out. The drag link and tie rod were binding and the pitman arm was hitting the tie rod. So it all had to go. Had extra tube so all new linkages are done and everything works well for right now.


As you can see it was all messed up
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Got a sweet billet flat nascar pitman arm off eBay
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Before
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After
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Shaped up some new shock mounts
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And got all the steering mocked up. It cycles very nice
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Shaped some shock hoop perches
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Mocked up the shock hoops
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This is the boring stuff. Should have the front set up and start working on the back half soon.


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Dang man those boxes are smooth like soft serve!! Although I’m
not a Wrangler dude I’m digging where you are headed. Keep up the good work!!
 
Looking good man. I love what you did with the tool boxes. I think the white looks amazing. I fucking love a white/black combo color. I saw those boxes at Lowes too and thought they looked sweet. Cant wait to see what else you have coming for the Jeep. I have family down in NC. My wife is actually in Burgaw(right next to Wilmington) for the weekend.
 
'92 vegasYJ said:
Looking good man. I love what you did with the tool boxes. I think the white looks amazing. I fucking love a white/black combo color. I saw those boxes at Lowes too and thought they looked sweet. Cant wait to see what else you have coming for the Jeep. I have family down in NC. My wife is actually in Burgaw(right next to Wilmington) for the weekend.
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Yeah the Kobalt boxes actually aren't bad. Ball bearing soft close drawers and rubber mats in all the cabinets.

I'm not a fan of Burgaw NC. For some reason I always get tickets driving through Burgaw. Seriously the only tickets I've gotten in the past 10 years have been in that town.






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I was getting annoyed with the fender to tire clearance. The rear of the tires were hitting the fender while turning and the top of the tire was hitting the fender while flexing out the other side. I basically had a temper tantrum and cut the tube off the fender and made them flush with the body. This lets me keep the ride height a couple inches lower.

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Setting the ORI height is taking a lot fuckin longer than I thought it would. I finally got a good full bump on hard parts which is the drag link hitting the bottom of the frame.

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I'm happy with this since it was originally the tires and would have forced me to run a taller setting on the struts. Trying to keep it as low as possible.

Rear tire clearance at full steering bump
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Pitman arm clearance
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Tire hitting the lower link at full steering bump. This is fine with me and gives me plenty of steering angle left
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Everything is tucking nice so I can finally set the strut height. Thought I would be doing this a month ago.

Got some hoses made to make my dual fill nitrogen setup. I can't believe these cost like $350 online.

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Since this is a '97 frame/body there is a shit ton of rusty bolts. I decided to make my own penetrant instead of spending a buttload on aerokroil.

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That's all for now. I'm stoked I can finally set the shock hoop/strut height and finish up the front end.




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Any advice or tips on setting up these struts would be welcomed.

Basically at this point I've just found full bump and plan to back that off about 2" for the 1" internal bump stop and set the strut at this height. As it sits this gives me a decent ride height and about 5-6" of strut shaft showing.
 
Looking good. Its amazing how expensive it is piecing together a N2 setup. I have about $400 into my dual fill setup myself. I know its gotta be killin you having the Jeep in the garage with all this snow you've been getting. Mine was still disassembled the last 2 years we got snow. This year I got to play in it. Hopefully when I get back from deployment later this year your build will be done and we can go hit some parks.
 
Yeah it sucks, we only get snow like this once every 5 years. I still had a blast in my tow pig.


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