- Joined
- Mar 10, 2005
- Location
- Hooterville (24171)
My brother "Tater" has owned this CJ7 for the better part 22 years... initially a DD, occasional light wheeler, and turning now dedicated wheeler.
In 2003, he was in a pretty bad wreck with it... basically a glancing blow from the cowl forward on the pass. side from a van doing 60mph... the CJ did a "gainer w/ full twist" and dumped him on the asphalt. This left the Jeep pretty much totaled and him with a fractured vertebrae in his neck.
After a few months of mending (both he & the Jeep) were moving under their own power again. It took a few new & used parts to fix the CJ, some of which came from NC4x4'ers. Since the hood & fenders were smoked, he cut the outer fenders and attached them to the hood = instant clearance.
That was pretty much it until last year. Somehow, folks on the trail got the impression he didn't actually have a rig of own and was just a mediocre spotter/navi-guesser while riding with me!
Before the holidays, he had Slade & company yank the putrid 2.73 gears in favor of some 4.56s & a spool for the M20 (already had a set of Superior 1pc axles). Last month, he (finally) finished a YJ spring swap on the front. Fast forward to 2 weekends ago when it progressed a bit further, when he drug it W-S (cause I'm too lazy to haul all my equipment to HIS house in GSO!) and we started about 120 manhours (yes, that includes several standing beside of it drinking beer! )... The front floorpan was 70% toast, so we cut out the bad and dropped a combination of JCWhipMe replacement panels and some 16ga. sheetmetal in...
And after a good priming, we laid down a coat of rattlecan bedliner on it
I melted the winch mount components together and while I was melting the floorpans, he finished the mount with some rattlecan gloss. We got it mounted up, but found the cables between the winch & controller to be lacking (his future homework!)
Next, we turned to the cage. He'd had some front tube parts (from the now defunct "Cheese Werx") for at least 3-4 years, so we tweaked it a bit and got it welded to the OEM b-hoop. In the rear, we used a set of Commando rear legs cut down to fit the shorter space, also welded to the b-hoop. YES! We're gonna tie it into the frame!
We're gonna take a break from the work this weekend and start back on it after Mothers Day. Hopefully, the SOA conversion & MC2100 swap will go smoother than the rest!
Cheers Bro! I love ya!
In 2003, he was in a pretty bad wreck with it... basically a glancing blow from the cowl forward on the pass. side from a van doing 60mph... the CJ did a "gainer w/ full twist" and dumped him on the asphalt. This left the Jeep pretty much totaled and him with a fractured vertebrae in his neck.
After a few months of mending (both he & the Jeep) were moving under their own power again. It took a few new & used parts to fix the CJ, some of which came from NC4x4'ers. Since the hood & fenders were smoked, he cut the outer fenders and attached them to the hood = instant clearance.
That was pretty much it until last year. Somehow, folks on the trail got the impression he didn't actually have a rig of own and was just a mediocre spotter/navi-guesser while riding with me!
Before the holidays, he had Slade & company yank the putrid 2.73 gears in favor of some 4.56s & a spool for the M20 (already had a set of Superior 1pc axles). Last month, he (finally) finished a YJ spring swap on the front. Fast forward to 2 weekends ago when it progressed a bit further, when he drug it W-S (cause I'm too lazy to haul all my equipment to HIS house in GSO!) and we started about 120 manhours (yes, that includes several standing beside of it drinking beer! )... The front floorpan was 70% toast, so we cut out the bad and dropped a combination of JCWhipMe replacement panels and some 16ga. sheetmetal in...
And after a good priming, we laid down a coat of rattlecan bedliner on it
I melted the winch mount components together and while I was melting the floorpans, he finished the mount with some rattlecan gloss. We got it mounted up, but found the cables between the winch & controller to be lacking (his future homework!)
Next, we turned to the cage. He'd had some front tube parts (from the now defunct "Cheese Werx") for at least 3-4 years, so we tweaked it a bit and got it welded to the OEM b-hoop. In the rear, we used a set of Commando rear legs cut down to fit the shorter space, also welded to the b-hoop. YES! We're gonna tie it into the frame!
We're gonna take a break from the work this weekend and start back on it after Mothers Day. Hopefully, the SOA conversion & MC2100 swap will go smoother than the rest!
Cheers Bro! I love ya!
