Man, I wish we had 50 minute classes...Ours are 80, and math is the worst haha

 

lol take that back! I hate 50 minute classes. It's so difficult to accomplish anything and tests are terrible because everything is rushed

 

^^ he is right. That's how my high school was. 90 minute classes were nice.

 

awesome build man, im 17 with a 2000 xj as well but its a 2 door and im going with the 3.5" RE super ride and 31's as soon as i get the money lol but ur build is making me really excited!

 

Willing to bet you get walls to separate your classrooms though
Whoever thought kids could learn 2 subjects at once if they didn't separate any of the classrooms in the science or English departments by walls...Then we have math out in the mobile home trailers...

 

Awesome! It's a great set up, I'm really happy with it!

 

I dropped off the bumper at the powder coat shop today. I decided to go with a slightly textured satin black, and it should be done in a few days. I also talked to him about the thin spots on my roof rack, and it turns out that the powder that was on it was missing a UV resistant additive, so that will be getting recoated in a few weeks!

 

Nice bumper...Wish I could weld

 

Thanks! I just learned to weld in the last year and a half. Take a class or buy a welder and read some tutorials! It just takes plenty of practice

 

Well we have to do a senior project at my high school next year to graduate and we choose what to do (for example people do boot camp, teaching, apprenticeships, building guitars, starting businesses, volunteering, etc...) I may do mine on welding...and if I get a good job and start my project this summer, maybe I'll restore a jeep or car...Kinda thinking of building a boat or writing a song, too haha

 

Just realized that it's been quite a while since I posted any updates.

The front bumper turned out great and I ended up getting 2nd Place in a state competition with it! I also added two more KC 57 Series lights on it.







I've also been experiencing a really bad knocking noise upon deceleration and acceleration at slow speeds. I checked all over the forums for anything that it could be but the possibilities were endless. I ended up taking the front driveshaft out to see if the noise would go away, and it did. It ended up just being a bad U Joint.



Also, my friend got a 95 YJ last summer and he finally decided to lift it so I've been giving him a hand with it. Super excited to have some friends in the area to go wheeling with this summer. I think were planning a trip to Silver Lake Sand Dunes pretty soon



I also started work on a rear bumper this week. It going to have a swingout tire carrier and everything. My rear lower quarters are rusted out pretty bad though, and I can't just cut them off because of my Bushwackers, so I made up some end caps that will be part of the bumper. Their made of bent 3/16" steel and will tie into the bushwackers and the main part of the bumper.





And lastly, it's been just over a year since I started doing some more heavy mods on this thing, so check this out. One year makes a big difference.

 

Very nice. A year certainly changes a lot on a rig. Go wheel it!

 

I plan on it! My buddy is currently waiting on some new 33's and then we're going to hit the trails

 

Since I'm building my rear bumper, I decided that it would be a good time to pick up my full size spare. Just another 31" Goodyear Duratrac



I'm also making some decent progress on the bumper this week

Part of the mount (it will also tie into the hitch bolts)



And here it is with a piece of 4x4 angle iron welded onto it

 

More updates on the bumper...

End caps made up and tacked on





Mig welding all of the seams on the outside. I picked up a flux core welder from Harbor Freight, and was pleasantly surprised with the quality.



And grinding all of the mig welds down



The main frame of the bumper is now complete. I still need to add a bracket to tie it into the hitch, but then I'm on to the tire carrier. I'm going to buy some 2x3 and 2x2 tube for that. For the actual hinge, I purchased two 3/4" heim joints that will bolt onto the tire carrier assembly and will be attached to the bumper with another bolt and a bracket. I'm still working on the latching system, but that should be fairly simple. Hoping to finish this up by the end of the week.