Family Truckster LJ build

Hokie_YJ

Hokie_YJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Location
Johnson City, TN
I picked this thing up about this time last year. Because when your single seat buggy has been sitting broken for going on 5 years and you have no time to work on it, the only logical thing to do is go buy another project to not have time to work on. I've missed having a streetable rig for years, and I'm a family man now so I needed something with room for car seats. I've always loved LJs, and have wanted one for a long time. The market on these thigs has really gone crazy lately, but I found this one at a decent enough deal that I felt like it was worth it.

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Currently it's your basic mildly built Jeep. 4.5" lift with 1.25" BL on 35s. 30/44 with 4.56 gears and a Spartan locker in the front and LSD in the rear. Most upgrades so far have been cosmetic stuff. But I already have a large pile of parts in the corner of the shop for a 3/4 link long arm, ton swap, and 40s. The goal is a rig capable enough to handle most trails, that I can still load the family up in for a day trip or jump in and drive it to work or around town any time I want.
 
The first thing on the list to do was to get rid of the red fenders. I didn't care for that look all. I wanted something different than the black that most do though. So I ended up going with satin charcoal gray Rustoleum spray paint on all the armor.


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After that was an Antirock front sway bar.


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I wasn't really a fan of the look of the rear bumper an tire carrier either. It was a match for the old front bumper, it actually seemed pretty sturdy and decent quality, I just prefer the clean back look and once I get this thing on 40s I won't be hauling around a spare anyway. I ran it all this past summer, but took advantage of the Black Friday sales and picked up some Motobilt tailgate armor and tag bracket and the Barnes4WD tail plate bumper. I also swapped out the tailgate hinges for the older '97-'02 style for the cleaner look.

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Just this past week I installed these PRP Enduro Elite seats on Genright seat brackets. Definitely not cheap, but a huge upgrade over the factory seats. My driver's seat was about shot anyway. I've got a bolt in harness bar and PRP harnesses here to put in, but I'm still debating on whether to put them in yet or not.

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That pretty much catches up to where I am now. Like I said I've got a single seat buggy sitting here that's been broken for almost 5 years. In that time I got married and had two kids, so shop time is a bit limited these days. I'm ever so slowly working on try to get the buggy sorted out too, but my main focus has been this LJ so the family can enjoy it too. I have most of the major stuff here for the axle swap minus the tires, but I don't want to tear it apart until I have everything ready to knock it out as quick as possible.

A little preview of what's coming:

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This will be the base of the suspension. It's a 3/4 link subframe kit designed by the guy who went by GTXRacer on Pirate back in the day. He designed and sold a few of these, but they never really took off. I was planning to get the Motobilt kit, but ran across one of these on Facebook for stupid cheap so I couldn't pass it up. I guess the popcorn welds on it may have something to do with the price, but it's all stuff that can be ground out and re-welded.

Jeep29.jpg



The plan for now is the axle swap with a small stretch staying on coil springs, with a swap to coilovers and more stretch down the road. And who knows if a LS might not find it's way under the hood one day.

Here's the parts list so far:
-05+ 60/10.5 w/5.38 gears Detroit front and factory Ford e-locker rear
-4.3 Atlas (this is an old case that still has the small front output, but I've talked to AA and the upgrade is still available)
-3.5" Rock Krawler triple rate springs
-Rock Krawler 1.25" rebuildable flex joints
-PSC big bore hydro assist kit
-Dirty Life Mesa beadlocks
 
I love a LJ. Your changes make that thing look so much better. I too miss a DD street jeep. A LJ is on the dream list for that duty. Put that kid in the shop. He looks old enough to hand you wrenches!
 
ghost said:
I love a LJ. Your changes make that thing look so much better. I too miss a DD street jeep. A LJ is on the dream list for that duty. Put that kid in the shop. He looks old enough to hand you wrenches!
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Thanks! I'm pretty happy with it so far. He'll be 4 in April, he is a pretty good helper. It's hard to get to the garage without him, even when I don't need his "help" lol. His little brother just turned 1 in December, it won't be too much longer they can both go down there with me. I work a rotating 12hr shift schedule, so a lot of my time off is through the week. Most of those days I'm home with them while my wife works, so just as the oldest was getting to the age that he could go with me without too much trouble little brother came along and now we have to wait until he's old enough to go. lol
 
Jody Treadway said:
I regeared that Jeep a few years ago. PO was a guy named Craig in the upstate of SC.
Solid rig man. He took care of it and wheeled it very lightly.
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Yeah I bought it from him last January, picked it up outside of Spartanburg. He had actually had the frame swapped because the original frame was shot. The new one is clean as can be, the only rust I've found in the whole Jeep is on the passenger rocker, and it's covered by the armor.
 
Hokie_YJ said:
Thanks! I'm pretty happy with it so far. He'll be 4 in April, he is a pretty good helper. It's hard to get to the garage without him, even when I don't need his "help" lol. His little brother just turned 1 in December, it won't be too much longer they can both go down there with me. I work a rotating 12hr shift schedule, so a lot of my time off is through the week. Most of those days I'm home with them while my wife works, so just as the oldest was getting to the age that he could go with me without too much trouble little brother came along and now we have to wait until he's old enough to go. lol
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Same ages as my boys, and they both follow me to the shop to do nothing lol. Sweet build!
 
JSJJ388 said:
Same ages as my boys, and they both follow me to the shop to do nothing lol. Sweet build!
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Thanks man! I figure by spring/summer it will be a little easier to get down there. We just moved a little over a year ago, so the shop is still unorganized and I don't have a good heat source figured out yet.
 
Hokie_YJ said:
Thanks man! I figure by spring/summer it will be a little easier to get down there. We just moved a little over a year ago, so the shop is still unorganized and I don't have a good heat source figured out yet.
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I was going to ask if you were still rocking the shop house.

Still rocking the stock rollbar inside or does it have a full cage? I have a solid harness bar in my rig, and have contemplated a removable one to make rear seat access easier.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
I was going to ask if you were still rocking the shop house.

Still rocking the stock rollbar inside or does it have a full cage? I have a solid harness bar in my rig, and have contemplated a removable one to make rear seat access easier.
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No, we sold it and moved in October of ‘21. It was ok with one kid, but when we got the surprise of a 2nd it was time to start looking. Lol. I downsized from a 30x55 shop to a 30x42, but gained a lift and a little better layout for working on vehicles so I was good with it. The old house was paid off, and I got almost double what I paid for it so we were able to buy a lot more house than we could normally afford.

Stock cage for now, the harness bar is a rockhard4x4 clamp on bar I bought off here a few weeks ago. It should be easy enough to remove for daily driving then throw it in for wheeling.

Once the build progresses I’ll probably do a Genright or similar cage kit. Maybe by then the boys will be out if car seats and I won’t have to climb back there to buckle them in anymore.
 
shawn said:
Yeah, you can usually move them into regular seats once they turn 14.
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Well ain’t I lucky, that’s approximately how long it will take me to finish this. :laughing:
 
Hokie_YJ said:
That pretty much catches up to where I am now. Like I said I've got a single seat buggy sitting here that's been broken for almost 5 years. In that time I got married and had two kids, so shop time is a bit limited these days. I'm ever so slowly working on try to get the buggy sorted out too, but my main focus has been this LJ so the family can enjoy it too. I have most of the major stuff here for the axle swap minus the tires, but I don't want to tear it apart until I have everything ready to knock it out as quick as possible.

A little preview of what's coming:

View attachment 390430
View attachment 390431

This will be the base of the suspension. It's a 3/4 link subframe kit designed by the guy who went by GTXRacer on Pirate back in the day. He designed and sold a few of these, but they never really took off. I was planning to get the Motobilt kit, but ran across one of these on Facebook for stupid cheap so I couldn't pass it up. I guess the popcorn welds on it may have something to do with the price, but it's all stuff that can be ground out and re-welded.

View attachment 390432


The plan for now is the axle swap with a small stretch staying on coil springs, with a swap to coilovers and more stretch down the road. And who knows if a LS might not find it's way under the hood one day.

Here's the parts list so far:
-05+ 60/10.5 w/5.38 gears Detroit front and factory Ford e-locker rear
-4.3 Atlas (this is an old case that still has the small front output, but I've talked to AA and the upgrade is still available)
-3.5" Rock Krawler triple rate springs
-Rock Krawler 1.25" rebuildable flex joints
-PSC big bore hydro assist kit
-Dirty Life Mesa beadlocks
Click to expand...
I think he went by cardinal 4x4 on Etsy for a while too
 
LJ is looking good! Good to see you on here again, I was wondering the other day if you were still wheeling or not, it's been a long time since the old 4cyl YJ and the 4x4 Grace days. If you decide to go wheeling sometime give me a shout, there's still a couple of us from the original group on the NC side that still wheel.
 
Shreddinlettuce said:
I think he went by cardinal 4x4 on Etsy for a while too
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I don’t remember the cardinal 4x4 name, but he did/still does sell some stuff under Duke Engineering Solutions. I’ve bought some air tool organization racks from him for the shop as well.
 
Pless said:
LJ is looking good! Good to see you on here again, I was wondering the other day if you were still wheeling or not, it's been a long time since the old 4cyl YJ and the 4x4 Grace days. If you decide to go wheeling sometime give me a shout, there's still a couple of us from the original group on the NC side that still wheel.
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Great to see your name again too man! I miss those days of wheeling with you guys like crazy! I would love to get together again. I talked to Johnny Sherman on the phone a couple years ago now I guess. My sister lives right across the interstate from the Harley dealership in Swannanoa so I’m over that way every now and then. I’m not far at all off I-26 in Johnson City if you’re ever passing through give me a yell.
 
Hokie_YJ said:
Great to see your name again too man! I miss those days of wheeling with you guys like crazy! I would love to get together again. I talked to Johnny Sherman on the phone a couple years ago now I guess. My sister lives right across the interstate from the Harley dealership in Swannanoa so I’m over that way every now and then. I’m not far at all off I-26 in Johnson City if you’re ever passing through give me a yell.
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I miss those days too, that was some good times. We tend to make a trip down to the farmers daughter ever now and again, I'll shout at you if were down that way. I saw Johnny a few months ago, he's still as wide open he always was. What's George into these days? Shoot me a PM if you don't want me cluttering up your build thread.
 
Good to see this getting along!

Haven't forgotten about the parts you were asking about. I just need to be in town to ship them. Hopefully I'll have a week around the house in early Feb.
 
Pless said:
I miss those days too, that was some good times. We tend to make a trip down to the farmers daughter ever now and again, I'll shout at you if were down that way. I saw Johnny a few months ago, he's still as wide open he always was. What's George into these days? Shoot me a PM if you don't want me cluttering up your build thread.
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Sounds good man! I haven’t seen George in a couple years now, but I still keep up with him on Facebook. He quit wheeling and got into building hot rods years ago. Then a couple years later he bought my old buggy, took it to Harlan, went through the lower rock garden one time, loaded it up and came home and decided he was too old for that shit. He sold it to Clint McDavid that had the purple blazer. Then he got really big into RC planes. The last time I was at his place he had probably 100 RC planes and helicopters hanging from the ceiling. He’s built a tiny house over on the hill where we used to play around and moved his daughter into his old house.
justjeepin86 said:
Looks much better with the changes you made. Pretty sure that grey is the same color my whole CYJ is painted.
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Thanks! The color is Rustoleum Satin Charcoal Gray. I’ve been half tempted to spray bomb the whole thing that color.
StretchASU said:
Good to see this getting along!

Haven't forgotten about the parts you were asking about. I just need to be in town to ship them. Hopefully I'll have a week around the house in early Feb.
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Thanks man! It’s no hurry on them, just try to gather up the parts still.
 
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