Just another YJ build

spraypaintman said:
Nice frame mods! Are you liking the Lincoln 180?
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I love it. My welder experience is extremely limited though. I highly recommend it for anyone fooling around in their garage with a car/truck/Jeep project. So far I have welded as thick as 1/4" on the front bumper assembly of my Jeep with no problems. I have also welded some thin 0.070" while making a new battery mount and hold down on my sons go-cart. I have done it all using 035 flux wire. It took a couple of tries to get the heat and wire speed settings correct for the thin stuff.
 
Cool I'm going to have to get one of the 180 mig welders. I used to have the Lincoln 140 but it was barely strong enough to weld 3/16". Still a very good welder but I need more power! :rockon:
 
I little more progress on the front end.

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Monkeynono said:
What is the length of those shackles and where did you get them
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They are 7" eye to eye. My buddy cut them on the laser for me and I welded them together.
 
adamk said:
Did you ever figure out a shorter radiator? I'm in the process of redoing the front suspension on mine and, with the truss on the 60 going in, clearing with the radiator at bump is going to be an issue.
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I remembered your question yesterday when I started investigating radiators. Now that the grill is at least sitting in place, that is my next problem to solve. The stock radiator will absolutely not work. The bottom is only about 2" from the tie rod at ride height. Griffin has a lot of different universal size aluminum radiators on Summitracing.com. Unfortunately, there are a lot of negative reviews on those radiators. Several reviews people stated that they were on there 2nd or 3rd radiator due to cracks. I'm actually looking at maybe using an XJ radiator. They are about 11" x37". I've seen pictures of a TJ or YJ before with an XJ radiator. The radiator sticks out on the sides of the grill a couple of inches, but it works, and they are readily available from any parts store if I ever get in a bind while on a wheeling trip out in the middle of nowhere WV or KY etc.
 
drkelly said:
I remembered your question yesterday when I started investigating radiators. Now that the grill is at least sitting in place, that is my next problem to solve. The stock radiator will absolutely not work. The bottom is only about 2" from the tie rod at ride height. Griffin has a lot of different universal size aluminum radiators on Summitracing.com. Unfortunately, there are a lot of negative reviews on those radiators. Several reviews people stated that they were on there 2nd or 3rd radiator due to cracks. I'm actually looking at maybe using an XJ radiator. They are about 11" x37". I've seen pictures of a TJ or YJ before with an XJ radiator. The radiator sticks out on the sides of the grill a couple of inches, but it works, and they are readily available from any parts store if I ever get in a bind while on a wheeling trip out in the middle of nowhere WV or KY etc.
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I actually picked up one of those Griffin radiators. It’ll be going in in the coming weeks. I think the biggest thing to consider with the aluminum radiators is that they can’t be hard mounted. The frame will move/twist and crack one quickly if it is. I’m still working out the ideas in my head for mine but @Chris_Keziah put the same radiator I have in @Joe J. rig. It came out slick and I’m debating copying the mounts.
 
adamk said:
I actually picked up one of those Griffin radiators. It’ll be going in in the coming weeks. I think the biggest thing to consider with the aluminum radiators is that they can’t be hard mounted. The frame will move/twist and crack one quickly if it is. I’m still working out the ideas in my head for mine but @Chris_Keziah put the same radiator I have in @Joe J. rig. It came out slick and I’m debating copying the mounts.
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You’re right about not hard mounting it. @Curtis_H has his radiator mounted similar to Joe’s, as it sits in a piece of C channel with rubber isolating it and top bracket keeps it in place. Maybe if he gets time he can shoot some pics to help you both out.
 
77GreenMachine said:
You’re right about not hard mounting it. @Curtis_H has his radiator mounted similar to Joe’s, as it sits in a piece of C channel with rubber isolating it and top bracket keeps it in place. Maybe if he gets time he can shoot some pics to help you both out.
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here is a few pics how I mounted mine. The bottoms sits in a piece of channel lined with high temp rubber. Then the top uses another small section of channel to make a cap also lined with rubber. 2 bolts and radiator is out.

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Curtis_H said:
here is a few pics how I mounted mine. The bottoms sits in a piece of channel lined with high temp rubber. Then the top uses another small section of channel to make a cap also lined with rubber. 2 bolts and radiator is out.

View attachment 332099 View attachment 332100
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That definitely looks like the proper way to mount a radiator.

I looked on the Ron Davis website. There radiator combos are 7.5" thick. I only have 6.5" from the back of the grill to the ends of the water pump bolts. I will need to cut into the grill in order to make something like that fit. I have no problem doing that, but didn't initially think that was going to be necessary.
 
drkelly said:
That definitely looks like the proper way to mount a radiator.

I looked on the Ron Davis website. There radiator combos are 7.5" thick. I only have 6.5" from the back of the grill to the ends of the water pump bolts. I will need to cut into the grill in order to make something like that fit. I have no problem doing that, but didn't initially think that was going to be necessary.
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I have been very happy with it. It’s probably a little overkill for my stock 5.3 but it was one of their production radiators and it fit were I needed it to. My old cheap Cj v8 conversion radiator and junk yard fan did pretty well but was to tall and the front axle was going to hit after I linked it and lowered the ride height. Also on long hard rev limiter beat downs it would tend to get pretty hot. I have yet to see my rig get hot no matter how long I beat on it with this setup.
 
adamk said:
I actually picked up one of those Griffin radiators. It’ll be going in in the coming weeks. I think the biggest thing to consider with the aluminum radiators is that they can’t be hard mounted. The frame will move/twist and crack one quickly if it is. I’m still working out the ideas in my head for mine but @Chris_Keziah put the same radiator I have in @Joe J. rig. It came out slick and I’m debating copying the mounts.
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Did you buy the full combo, or just the radiator? The combo prices are really high, but I like the idea of just taking it out of the box and building mounts. I'm ready to drive this Jeep, and might be willing to pay for some time savings.

This is the one I was looking at:
Griffin UniversalFit ComboUnit Radiator Part Number: CU-26241-X for All Ford, Dodge Racer

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gri-cu-26241-x
 
drkelly said:
Did you buy the full combo, or just the radiator? The combo prices are really high, but I like the idea of just taking it out of the box and building mounts. I'm ready to drive this Jeep, and might be willing to pay for some time savings.

This is the one I was looking at:
Griffin UniversalFit ComboUnit Radiator Part Number: CU-26241-X for All Ford, Dodge Racer

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gri-cu-26241-x
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I have this exact same rad in my buggy with a stock 5.3.
I did make my shroud and used bigger fans than what griffin sells with the combo (12" high HP vs the medium HP 10").

It has no trouble whatsoever to keep up with cooling my shit in a trail ride application. At all.
 
Bebop said:
I have this exact same rad in my buggy with a stock 5.3.
I did make my shroud and used bigger fans than what griffin sells with the combo (12" high HP vs the medium HP 10").

It has no trouble whatsoever to keep up with cooling my shit in a trail ride application. At all.
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Awesome! It should definitely cool my 200k+ mile 4.0 then, LOL.
 
spraypaintman said:
Did you get a radiator for x-mas?:D
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Haha! No. I'm 97.63% sure that I want the one Bebop has, but I've been hem hawing around about ordering the full combo unit to save time, or just the radiator.
 
I got the grill mounted. I ended up cutting the stock mounting bracket off the bottom of the grill so I could raise the mount up a little over 1". I needed a little more room for the drag link. I had to build a custom bottom grill mount off the winch plate.
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