In the beginning when the thought of first owning and building up a YJ Wrangler was basically just that, a thought.... as time progressed the itch to make the thought a reality became more of a.....well I don't know what but it was more than a itch..... So began the process of selling the wife on the whole idea and since she already loves Jeeps it was a pretty easy sell.... Well it has been a just over a year and a half now since I found the YJ and bought it for next to nothing.... I really didn't care about the condition of the YJ since I had plans on going through the whole rig and building it from the frame up.... As long as the frame and tub where straight that is all I cared about...
Well to tell you the truth I trailered it home and unloaded it into the garage and worked on it for about all of a week and then it sat for the better part of 11 months due to a busy work schedule and the lack of time to spend out in the shop..... I got back into working on the YJ again in the winter of last year (2009) and I have been trying to photo document all of the build but, due to my lack of fore sight to do a photo journal, the tear down to frame was not included....
The tear down was fairly uneventful but there was some true red necking and gettin 'er done going on when we used 3" ratchet straps tied to the roll bars and the roof trusses in the one car garage to lift the tub off the frame.... You would never see that in an episode of Extreme 4x4!!!!
I will say this and it probably should have been mentioned sooner but when doing a project of this scale, before you start, decide what the rough game plan is for the project... Don't get hung up on the little stuff like "What color fuzzy dice should I get?"....What are the major things you want to accomplish in the build, what kind of trail performance do you want/need and stick with those plans, making adjustments as the build goes on....Mine from the start was slap a new motor in it get a bolt on lift kit that converted front leaf springs to coils and four link....done lets go wheelin.... But as I looked more into the costs and what I would get in trail performance I was not happy with the outcome....True I did get a new motor (it needed one since the old one had like 200k miles on it) and that was a big chunk of the build budget.....but a bolt on lift kit was not going to work and they are not cheap....... Don't get me wrong they are great for those prissy pavement pounders that look good on the freeway but most of them are not trail practical, at all....You could have a 4x4 shop build your rig but at 75 bucks an hour you don't get much there either if you are on a budget....So decide what you want and go from there. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa but if you have a talent for fab work and not afraid to jump in and get dirty then a build your own may work for you.... If you do decide to do your own fab work take some stock of your shop.... what do you have in a way of tools (grinders, c clamps, jack stands, air tools, etc...) or have access to particular tools like a plasma cutter or a good 210V welder....Along the lines of borrowing tools let’s take a moment, shall we and reflect on tool borrowing etiquette.... If you broke it, fix it or replace it, don't return oxy/acetylene or argon bottles empty or wire welder out of wire, and if you had to buy parts to fix broken tools you borrowed but didn’t break, just consider that a rental fee....If you treat the borrowie well they will treat the borrower in kind.... Simple? Good...
So after a little research (a.k.a drink some beer with friends that go wheelin) and obviously getting advice from other sources and searching ideas on the net I came up this current plan for the build....This poject is still in progress and I will try to update this blog at least once a week until I am done....
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