emptypockets

Took two months for these to come in, but here they are.





And this just because it cracks me up...


Guess I need to get my hardware for my beadlocks, finish painting them up, and get them mounted.

Brandonrcm

Come on Anthony, lets see some updates on this thing!

bubbarules1958

Nice build. I found one of these at pnp today.

emptypockets

Thanks man.

Brandon, you'll be happy to know I've ordered parts to get things moving along again. My plan is to have her ready for the Badlands trip at the end of October.

Just repainted the cage today, brush style, which was tedious but should last longer. I need to touch up the paint on the body too. I feel like she's an old battleship with the amount of times I have to go over her, lol.

emptypockets

Minor updates. Swapped in another 8.25 with 4.56 gears and swapped my old one into my buddies XJ. I still need to get the front swapped in, but waiting for my truss from Artec. Also swapping in 5.5" coils at that time.



Got my beadlocks all mounted and ready to go.











I couldn't wait till the truss came in, so I put them on Doom.





Got everything but my flex plate for the 3.4L swap. I know updates have been slow, but they'll be coming more frequently.

Brandonrcm

35s and beadlocks look friggin awesome

Outlaw Star

Think I'm gonna change your user name to something like Dr Doom. Lol (Jk, I won't do that)

emptypockets

Thanks man!

Muhahaha!

Outlaw Star

As Dr Doom once said "Ah, my greatest flaw, I surrounded myself with idiots." Lol

Lowrange2

I dig the built in anti coning on those locks. THey look like they'd work pretty well.

emptypockets

They actually work really well. One of the guys I wheel with has them on his ZJ and he's never had a problem with them. Can't beat seeing stuff in action prior to buying.


Little oil pan smacking action on the ZJ...

emptypockets

My old $100 bumper had seen it's fair share of abuse. It was cheap and did it's job just fine. However, when I had a chance to run a set of Ares Fabrication (http://aresfabrication.com/) prototype brackets that allow you to use their stubby JK bumper on a XJ, I wasn't passing that chance up!


The old trusty Rusty's bumper. Always the trooper, but...



Adios!



In order to run the brackets, I had to trim about 1/2" from the "frame" horns


Took out the DeWalt to make my cuts




Next, I used a socket and hammer to knock the flap over



Driver's side bracket installed






View from above



Bumper installed



Side view



To install a winch you need to do some more cutting. So off came the bumper and we trimmed the header panel down for the winch.






Next the grill needs to be cut to accommodate the winch



And there you go!








I pulled everything apart to paint the brackets up and I still have to install my fairlead mount. Eventually this will be tied into my cage. Looking forward to the final install!

Outlaw Star

Looks great.

emptypockets

Thanks man!

Just wanted to add that James at Ares is tweaking the design so that cutting won't be necessary to run a winch.

bubbarules1958

Nice