Gone Postal : Mail Jeep Build

[Mulishajoe]

Night out on the town and the mail jeep got mounted...

 

[95yjjeep]

Back at it again this weekend. My main goal was to get the transmission tunnel finished up.

First off, I couldn't find my c-clamps in the garage so I just made a home built make shift metal brake. It worked great. Basically, the bolts are welded to my welding table, then holes were cut in this random piece of strap rectangle tubing. That way you can slide the piece you want to bend in between the table edge and tubing, tighten the bolts down, bend the piece, loosen the bolts then voila! Bent piece of metal!

Gettin' it done! I made the front portion of the tunnel removable as well.

I welded nuts on the backside of the tabs I have on the underside of the tunnel so you can take the tunnel out with just one person and one hand.

Another.

All done with the seats back in. I took a test drive, what a difference the closed in tunnel made! Very happy with how it quietened down the cab and also prevented exhaust fumes from getting into the cab like before.

Another. You can see where the stainless hardware is bolted to the floor boards as well on each side so both pieces of the tunnel are self supporting. I figured that would prevent rattles and squeaks.

I took my buddy, Joe, for a test drive after I got it all back together and too much throttle, traction and locker made my short work of my driveshaft. This is a shot of me pulling the broken rear driveshaft so I could limp my jeep home using the front axle.

 

[Mulishajoe]

tunnel looks good but now how you gonna get the heat from the motor to keep you warm

 

[95yjjeep]

tunnel looks good but now how you gonna get the heat from the motor to keep you warm

Thanks Joe! Good point. I'm thinking about reusing the old side pop out vents that I cut from the original body. I may or may not. Haven't decided yet.

 

[TJcrawler97]

I took my buddy, Joe, for a test drive after I got it all back together and too much throttle, traction and locker made my short work of my driveshaft. This is a shot of me pulling the broken rear driveshaft so I could limp my jeep home using the front axle.

I have that affect on people! It was well worth it!

 

[95yjjeep]

I have that affect on people! It was well worth it!

Yes you do! Mental note...no more drives with Joe on board! It was worth the breakage! That thing will haul ass till about 60mph. I'm very happy with the power and gearing! I will say that my $9 rock lights were worth every penny. I could see great underneath the jeep to take the rear driveshaft out.

 

[95yjjeep]

Body work SUCKS! I've been doing bondo work on all the sheet metal I've added so I can lay some paint on it. I also welded and filled in the cowl area in front of the windshield since I don't have heat in my setup. That way my feet won't get wet.

I also changed my idea on the paint scheme. I'm now looking to do a patina style paint job. I am going to finish all the body work then lay down some grey primer, then a few colors, maybe white, red and then the final color as blue, then sand and modify the paint job so it looks weathered. Then once it's exactly how I want it, I'll put some clear over the whole jeep so it stays like that. I am going to pick up an air brush kit and have some fun with it. It'll be like an art project from college. Yes, I'm an artist at heart!

 

[95yjjeep]

Haven't done any work to the jeep lately. I drove it down to Uwharrie again last weekend to do a day trip with some friends. My jeep did great again. No issues at all. I gauged my fuel economy on my drive down to Uwharrie. My jeep averaged 19.7mpg on the way down going about 55-65mph. I was SHOCKED! I still need to get the engine tuned because it's running rich still. So that number should get even better!

Here are some shots of the group from the weekend.We didn't get too many photos. We were too busy burning up the trails.

My buddy Joe flexin' his choptop XJ.

Eric's sweet YJ.

My hoopty.

Another.

Dulin's XJ going up Dickey Bell.

Eric.

Then this happened. Joe's XJ tried to lay down and take a nap on Daniel trail. 2nd XJ we saw at Uwharrie with sheered steering box bolts from the day. MarsFab has a brace design he created to fix this issue. Can't wait to see that installed on it!

Best thing about Joe's broke XJ was the fact that he now owes me one because he used my tools, hardware and jack to get it off the trail and back on the trailer. haha!

All cleaned up and ready for the next trip.

 

[TJcrawler97]

thanks again chad for helping me out, I hate breaking. Not to mention I hate breaking on the most popular trail when its busy. it was still a blast

 

[jeepyjman]

i had a great time with yall! The mail jeep performed great! great fuel economy especially without overdrive

 

[95yjjeep]

thanks again chad for helping me out, I hate breaking. Not to mention I hate breaking on the most popular trail when its busy. it was still a blast

Heck yeah! It was fun.

i had a great time with yall! The mail jeep performed great! great fuel economy especially without overdrive

Thanks man! I did too. We need to do it again soon.

 

[95yjjeep]

I picked up this little jewel from Craigslist on Friday. The guy I bought it from didn't realize what he had. Lucky for me. Cleaned it up and mounted it over the weekend.

Mounted up minus the fairlead.

Cleaned up. Yeah I did wax it. I'm OCD like that!

All done. I painted the winch hook blue too. Kind of stupid because it'll get chipped up whenever I use it, but Oh well! I thought it looked good.

 

[95yjjeep]

Haven't updated the build lately so here is what I've been up to. I haven't done a ton with it lately since January & February are pretty busy at work usually. I still need to strip and sand the old paint down and throw some color on it. It's been too cold for that so I'll plan to do that in March hopefully. I haven't worked up the motivation to do that yet though. That is going to suck!

I called up the guys at Liquid Iron Industries and picked up a few more things. Some dimple dies and poly bumpstops. What a great bunch of guys to order from. Placed my order and had it at my door in 24-48hrs.

I never made bumpstops on my rig which it definitely needed because my steering was getting into the framerails. If that continues, I'll notch the frame a little bit. I pretty much set the bumpstops so they bottom out with the suspension and not the steering. I didn't want to lose any up travel due to steering interference. This is side #1. I wasn't too happy with these welds but whatever. I'll do better on the other 3. For my design, I welded a nut on the backside of the round plate to hold the bumpstop. Then welded it to a piece of 1.75" DOM tube. Then used my new dimple dies and put a few holes in a gusseted piece and welded it on also.

Then this happened...

So basically, I sold my 36" iroks. I have the wheels for sale also. My goal is to get some new black steelie 17s and some 37" MT/Rs if I can find any in stock and for a decent price. I thought about the 37" maxxis trep radials also but I think I'm leaning towards the MT/Rs. I've heard lots of good things about them and I'm hoping they'll last better on the road than the bias Iroks I had. I will say the Iroks were unbeatable in the rocky/muddy/southern terrain. I just want something that's a little more road friendly.

I've been watching KOH all week and I want to build a EMC KOH rig so bad! Maybe in the next year or two. Gotta dream I guess!

 

[95yjjeep]

Special delivery for my postal jeep today! I picked up a set of 37x12.50x17 Kevlar MT/Rs. I'm really excited about the new tires. I am ordering some 17x9 wheels tomorrow. Then hopefully within a week I can get them mounted, balanced and on there so I can see how much better it rides on the highway.

I rolled them next to my 37" irok radials and the MT/Rs look HUGE! I know they'll get shorter and wider once I mount them on a wheel, but these tires are still really really tall. I like it!

 

[95yjjeep]

Little update. The guys at Carpenter's Auto Service mounted and balanced my wheels and tires. Remind me to never buy steel wheels again. They sure are out of whack from the factory. They balanced them up properly, just took a lot more weights than my radial iroks on alloy wheels did. The front end is still off the ground. Just wanted to snap a few shots of the new tires on the jeep. I'm diggin' them so far. I'll let you all know what I think of them once I get them running down the road and down the trail.

 

[95yjjeep]

Not a huge update. I did get my tires on, cut the rear fenders a little more to accommodate the bigger tires, threw the new driveshaft in and drove it to the gym. The new tires are amazing on the road! Very impressed with the initial quietness and drivability versus the bias ply iroks I had. I'm not used to the narrower treads because I was unintentionally spinning tires at every red light. I'm basically getting the jeep ready for the Uwharrie Spring Jamboree that I'm heading to on Friday. I'll get some action shots this weekend hopefully.

Poser shot for you guys.

 

[Stuntman Autoworks]

This thing is awesome man been following it for a long time glad to see you get to wheel it, maybe I'll see it in person one day.

 

[JunKie BREWstir]

Very unique build. Looks great, good choices all the way through!

 

[Burleson]

Wow, I've been MIA as of late. My 4 boys and drag racing have kept me busy. Dude the postal jeep has come a long way. It's f'n sick! Great job bud. I think your concept and execution are totally on point. I still need to sneak away from the family and check that rig out in person. Keep it up!

 

[49erRider]

Any updates? Can't wait for paint.

 

[95yjjeep]

Thanks guys! I've been a little MIA lately. Quite a few life changes over the past six months. All things for the best though. I haven't done much to the jeep that is photo worthy over the past six months. I haven't even been in the garage much really. The jeep is still doing great. I've put almost 1000mi on it at this point. I am sending the PCM off to Wayne Hartwig next week to get it fully tuned properly. The original guy who flashed it for me did a half ass job I'm finding out so it runs like shit for 60 seconds on every start up because some of the emission sensors were not removed like they were supposed to. No worries. This should be fixed in a few weeks. I think my rear axle might be tweaked but I'm not 100% sure yet. It could be the cheap steelie wheels also?! I need to look that over. The clutch is a little catchy if it hasn't been driven in a few weeks so you have to pump it a little to start off. I may need to bleed that system again and see if that fixes it. Everything else is working great. I haven't started doing any paint work yet. I was waiting for the weather to break some so hopefully I'll start on it soon.

I did go to the Offroad Unlimited show in Kentucky a few months ago with the MarsFab guys. That was a kick ass time!

Before the Uwharrie Spring event I did build a tow point off of the back of the jeep. I hauled a trailer with my 4-wheeler on it all the way too and from URE. I was pretty happy about that.

New stance with 37s. Side view. Nice approach and departure angle. Still very happy with the overall setup.

Campsite.

Another poser shot.

Garage art.

Video from URE. Going up the Dickey Bell hill climb.

 

[95yjjeep]

Minor update: I finally shipped my PCM this morning so it can be tuned properly by Wayne Hartwig. I'm excited to see how the jeep runs once I get it back. Vroom Vroom!

 

[baby hulk]

Great meeting u today hopefully we can wheel together soon.

 

[jkray925]

How do you like those MTRs?

 

[rodney eppes]

I saw it at the Jamboree today, just didn't get a chance to check it out. COOL!