Basslicks

Got rid of the trim a while ago as you can see from the pictures... but the front fender was a little bent up. So I pulled the flare off and went to town. While I had it off, I went ahead and sanded and prepped for painting the lower rockers. I got one side done and then ADD kicked in... yes it's still like that.











Straightened it out though...



Mostly



I discovered that once the XJ fenders are bent... it's very hard to get them back in shape. Stupid thin gage sheet metal.

Basslicks

Here's a better shot of the multi-tap I put in...



Stupid lever button for the e-brake broke... still haven't fixed it.



Here's the almost useless cupholder... oh yeah, I almost forgot about that little toy cherokee that I found.

Basslicks

Found a nice lookin' jeep to park next to one day...



Flash forward a couple months - decided to up the ante to the sound system a little bit... 400w x 4 channels. I plan on making this the amplifier for the door speakers, but for now it will be for the sub. 40 bucks on propertyroom.com

Basslicks

My leaf springs were shot. So I went to the junkyard to get another set. While I was there, I grabbed a gauge cluster, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and a set of yakima roof cross bars. Ended up dropping about 90 bucks for everything. I was really stoked about the Yakimas... stupid things are like 200 dollars brand new and I got them for 20 bucks.











I got lazy on the paint prep for the springs... that's why they look crappy. Turns out the "new" springs sagged almost as bad as the "old" springs... just didn't have the negative arch that the originals did. Oh well.... what really sucks is that I didn't know that the OEM springs had more arch on the driver's side... I accidentally put that one on the passenger side. Gangsta lean XJ is what I wound up with - yup.

I've got another set in my garage waiting to go in along with another set of coils.... all four corners look relatively new this time... leafs have a 7.5-8" free arch and the coils are about 18" long.... so I believe I'm good to go this time.

The leafs waiting to go in still have factory paint on them. They have some rust on them too, but it appears to be because of sitting in the dirt... the shackles have algae growing on them too. I took the shackles off and that's when I measured the arch. Both of the shackle bolts broke loose pretty easily. So that was some good news.









Not sure if I'm going to go ahead and throw them in or wait until I can get a set of dakota springs from the JY to make a bastard pack.

Basslicks

Random picture time...



If you know the Ocala National Forest, you know that's the Sharpe's Ferry Bridge. One of the oldest landmarks in the county. It's a single-lane steel truss bridge that they decided was just too old to adequately support traffic anymore. So the brought a crane out, lifted it up, widened the road to 2-lanes and made a concrete pier bridge going across the Ocklawaha river on hwy 314. I originally didn't know what the fate of the bridge was so I just had to get a picture of it. They ended up cutting it up and making it a part of the new bridge... they made a pedestrian walk and scenic viewing area out of it - perfect for fishing off of too. I was really happy when I found that out.

Basslicks

Alright, maybe I shouldn't have named it slow n' steady... 'cause right now you're reading it thinkin' things are going quick... unless you've kept up with the dates on the pictures so far. It's going somewhere though... just kinda slowly.

I had a Yakima bike rack bar for the bed of a pickup and it had bike fork blocks on it and the bar was round... my new Yakima crossbars were also round so I figured I could probably take off the blocks and put them on the crossbars.

Eureka! So I loaded up the bike and some poles and headed off to a local lake for some fun. The lake is off a bike trail that's why I had the bike up there.







Took it to a bike trail another day just for a ride - no fishing this time.



It doesn't have a pearl paint job on it... not sure why it turned out that way.

Basslicks

Did I mention one of the rims was bent... you could probably see it in the pic of my right rear stuffed... best part was that right where the bend was, the tire was bulging like the belt was broken right there. Stupid thing wouldn't hold air and it was getting worse and worse... to the point where one day I took off fast from a light and the tire spun on the rim. A couple of weeks later, I came out from work and the tire was completely flat... then the stupid donut was flat (that was my bad for not checking it).

Found a set of Goodyear Wrangler RTS 235/75r15's on CL with lots of tread left for 120 bucks. They were factory take-offs from a TJ.
I also ordered a new AR Baja.... Turns out 2 of the other rims were bent, so it ended up going on the front.

Sweet... now all I needed was new rim and a full size spare to get rid of the donut.





Figured out that the 255's measured out to about 27" tall and the 235's are 29" tall... so I gain about an inch of ground clearance... and I could tell when I got in the jeep because of where my leg would hit.

Here's the full size spare and my cheezy little subwoofer tube that I had temporarily until I could get my 10" squared away.

goodchoice#1

Hey this is random as hell but do u guys know how to change the water pump?

Basslicks

Yeah, loosen the bolts on the power steering pump to loosen the belt, take off the mechanical fan by loosening the 4 bolts on it, and then unbolt the water pump. I think you might have to take the PS bracket off too but I can't remember... that was 2 years ago Don't forget to get a new gasket too.

goodchoice#1

Do I reuse the pulley idt the water pump comes with a new one

Basslicks

yes - re-use the pulley.

honestly, the best place to ask your question is the ask the question thread

good luck to ya

Basslicks

I had a set of cheap lights that my brother in law gave me and I always liked roof lights. So I took one of my old factory crossbars and made a light bar. I did have quite a few pictures of the creative process but I can't locate them right now for some reason.

So here's the finished product anyway:







The only wires you're seeing are the ground wires. All of the lights are grounded to the bar and the bar is grounded to a bolt that I attached to the roof and sealed with marine grade silicone. The hole I drilled for the hot wires is also sealed with the same silicone. I used a 4-way flat trailer light harness for the lights and spliced them into a relay, then wired the relay to a fused connection connected to the battery. Then of course, I wired them to a switch that I put next to the rear defrost switch.

The hot wires for the lights are ran through the crossbar channel and covered up by the factory rubber strip.

I wish I could say that they lit up the whole world, but unfortunately my HID headlight overpower them. So I pretty much just aim them to the side for flood lighting. I'll get new lights soon and move these to the bumpers.

Basslicks

Couple of shots of the progress:

This one is parked next to the lifted Yukon that I bought my wife... 6.5" on 33's - me and that thing had a love/hate relationship.



Pulling my father-in-law's boat to the river for some feeeshin'



My oldest boy...



As you can see, he's not excited at all

Basslicks

Here's the powerline easement / backfill spot that I found to play around on... Took some flex shots with the new tires on it. Still hadn't removed the front swaybar yet.

















After the "photo shoot" I did some playing in another part of it that was pretty sloshy... aftermath shots:

The tires sling mud okay for barely even being A/T's and me being 2wd:

Basslicks

I snagged the beltclip for my Evo's Otterbox on something and broke the clip:





This gave me an idea. I have a "universal" phone mount that attaches to my windshield but putting the phone in and removing it is a little annoying at times.

I pryed the remaining parts of the clip off the holster...


...basically leaves a hole


I had another "universal" phone mount that worked differently but used the same "keyhole" to adapt it to the windshield mount... I separated it into two halves...




Yes - be very carefull with a hacksaw precariously placed aiming at the webbing of your index finger and thumb... I sawed very slowly once I got towards the end. It's a bi-metal blade on the saw so it slices through the plastic like butter anyway.





The back of the holster isn't so flush though



Nope... time for some grinding




Yes, that is my leg that I'm using as a work area with an air-powered grinder. You see that pile of lumber on the floor? That's my work bench - it wasn't built yet.



WELL - Doesn't that suck.... I can't find the pictures of the finished product. Basically, I ground the holster flat, glued the adapter to the back with some epoxy (no - not gorilla glue) and the drilled a hole for the camera on the phone. I mounted the holster to the windshield mount and voila! I can clip the phone in and out quickly without much effort now and still retain full use of the camera as well!

I'll find pictures