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picked this up for $1200 today. 96, aw4, 231, and 218k on the clock. everything works but the ac (needs condenser) the steering box and OFA leak. all the steering components are stock and beyond worn out, otherwise its pretty solid and runs great. interior is a lil rough but its all there. outside, well, shes UGLY BETTY
lift consists of a smorgasbord of parts from what i can tell: pro comp lowers, rear leafs and i think front shocks with extenders? rancho stabilizer, no name rear shocks with BPEs, and 2 inch coil spacers.
got it like this
20 min later. took off the trashed tires and put on my 31s i had laying around
random lift pics
its going to see a lot of dd duty but i plan on using it for hunting/camping/ weekend warrior type stuff as well. nothing hardcore. ive already got an 8.8, just needs the perches and shock mounts welded on. i have some rubicon 3.5 springs ill swap in along with a re track bar. for steering im looking into ruff stuffs y link kit with 1ton TREs and keep it UTK. for now ill probably throw the front bumper from my comanche on it and either try trading some stuff for 33s or just save the pennys
did a few things to ol ugly betty. first off 3 of the shocks were blown and i had like 10 rubicon express ones laying around so i ended up using shocks fro ma 5.5" lift up front, adn 4.5" in the rear. both sets were bout 11" travel if i remeber right. lots more droop now lol
then swapped out the front coil and spacer combo for re 3.5s, added a re 1600 trac bar, daystar extended bump stops, hdoffroad shackle relocators, and a rear bumper that i got in a trade some time ago (still need to pull the mj bumper or fab one for the front) i already had all these parts which was nice. it rides much better now. the ruffstuff steering kit showed up yesterday so ill get to fabing that soon too
installed a junk yard ac condenser but had to buy a new compressor discharge line. i had a factory electric fan so installed that as well. still need to pull a vacuum on the system to get any debris out/check for leaks then charge it. currently have most of the interior torn out to install a new stereo
pre condenser, forgot to snap an after
new coils, shocks, and bumps
quick bumper shots
when i swap in the 8.8 i want to lower the rear an inch or 2, its got some rake and id like it to sit flatter. there is a degree shim in there now that will get tossed and im going to ditch the overload spring too and see what happens
did some routine maintenance, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and OFA o rings. oh and i took out the over load spring to see how much it would drop the rear. i like it so far
OFA removal tool
then took ugly betty on her first road trip. went scouting for my deer hunt and she did HORRIBLE! could barely climb mountain passes unless i had the pedal almost to the floor and under part throttle cruising kept back/misfiring unless you mashed the go pedal, the rear main seal now leaks after i did the OFA o roings, and im thinking the auto is slipping?
so since i need a reliable daily, have hardly any extra cash right now, and have a solid stroker in the mj sitting at my disposal, looks like ugly betty"s getting stroked!!! at least temporarily till i rebuild the motor lol but im considering piecing together another stoker since it needs rebuilt anyway. stay tuned as i plan to have this accomplished within the next week or so
Last edited by wheelsaz08; 09-13-2016 at 09:22 PM.
did a lil investigating before i swapped the motors and found this
so the stroker is staying in the mj minus an o2 sensor lol ugly betty runs like a top again
got some work done on the bumper. a crappy shot of how itll look from the front
cutting brackets on the band saw at work
i used a scrap piece of the c channel to trace a pattern onto the brackets
fits like a glove
got to welding. the horizontal welds turned out nice but i tried the outer ones uphill and things got weird. still pretty new to the welding world though...
8.8 getting ready
d35 out. its an lsd but the cutch packs are worn to nothing
thats as far as i got. still need calipers, brake lines, upper shock mounts, and im going to replace all the leaf spring and shackle bushing while im in here
Got the rear drive shaft done minus the u joint retainers. It's a stock front shaft with the flange adapter.
Got the bushing pressed out of the pro comp springs only to find out they're smaller than the stock ones... So I'm going to make a bastard pack out of these and stock main springs from my first xj with urethane bushings.
Last post got me motivated. Bastard packs made. The procomps had 8.25" of free arch, stockers had 7" and the bastards have 9". We'll see how they sit when loaded. Decided against doing the bushing for now since the stock ones are still in good shape and I'm trying to get ugly Betty back on the road ASAP
got the perches burned, i mean boogered in the 8.8 last night. pics suck cause i lost my phone a couple weeks ago and am using the old iphone4 backup for now. welds still aint purdy. shot some paint on the bare metal. gonna hit the junkyard sunday for calipers and a zj prop valve. working 72 hours this week so progress isnt what id hoped
Got the 8.8 swap done minus shocks. Should be tackling that tomorrow morning. Also worked on the ruffstuff one ton steering. Couldn't get the damn pitman arm off to drill it out so I sprayed it with penetrating oil and it's soaking over night
My daughter loves jeeps too lol
Knuckle drilled
Insert welded. Ran out of c25 so I had you use fluxcore
Tie rod installed. Drag link needs to be welded and pitman are drilled for the insert
Also got the transfer case with sye and a new trams mount installed
Last edited by wheelsaz08; 09-28-2016 at 02:32 AM.
definitely dont like using this flux core wire, prefer gmaw, but got shock mounts welded. the axle ends came out pretty nice but the uppers werent fun... i couldnt find the shock bushing sleeves or id have the shocks mounted. the pitman arm gave me hell gettin it off too! but ill be drilling it for an insert and welding that tomorrow along with the drag link and ugly betty will be back on the road! hopefully ill get myself some gears for my birthday as well lol
shock mounts. re-purposed the stock mounts on the axle end. i know how bad the upper mount look. i hit em with a 4lb sledge and they didnt budge though...
tie rod. plenty of clearance
random pics
my cousin got me a new sign for the garage lol
Last edited by wheelsaz08; 10-01-2016 at 08:32 PM.
no more flux core! lol got rid of my 55cu/ft bottle and went with a 120 till i build a cart to handle a bigger one. this lil horbart sheetmetal ones seen better days
drilled out the pitman arm to 1" for an insert
insert welded
i think i burned through one of the tube inserts on my drag link. just enough to not allow the tie rod end to thread in more than the length of the threaded portion. so im trying to source a 7/8-18 left hand tap to see if i can chase the threads and cut through what ever its catching on. or if i cant find one, i already have a replacement insert on order
08-07-2016, 12:28 AM
jeep number 4, Ugly Betty
