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"Dirthead 509" TJ Project

178K views 1K replies 102 participants last post by  Mr. Beefy 
#1 · (Edited)
Build plan:
98TJ
3-link front, double triangulated 4 link rear
Hydro assist
79 Ford D60 front, 5.38's, undecided locker
14 B rear, 5.38's, undecided locker
Flipped D300, possibly 231-D300 doubler....if I can find the right parts:sonicjay:
4 cyl to 4.0L conversion since it was missing the 4 cyl :sonicjay:
Full cage
Highline tube fenders
Non comp cut cut
Fuel cell
I'm sure there's more.......


The story:
I picked this up on the coldest day last year....remember when it was 0 deg for a high with a -20 windchill in Jan 08, yea that day:teehee:

We bolted a front axle under it with wheel bearings and put tires on to roll it onto the trailer. Was a 4 cylinder.....minus the 4 cylinder, front axle, rear ring and pinion, airbags deployed.
Put the hood and stood the grill in place to access the damage once I got it home.

Picked up half doors and uppers this summer, color is fugly but they'll serve the purpose.
Bought a take out 4.0L and AX-15 with computer, wiring ect this summer. S.Hembree, Pwilson22000 and I set that in a couple weeks ago and started it. Tucking that up as far as I can. Folded the pinch seam up and out of the way on the firewall when I pulled the engine back out. Gained about an inch of clearance for wiring and such :thumb:


Then it came back out and S.Hembree and I cut the frame to straighten it back out. This heep was in a front collision, the frame was 1.5" taller on the drivers side, had to cut the frame to twist it back to about where it's supposed to be.

Frame gave right under the 4 cylinder motor mount. Had to cut 3 sides and 1/2 way up the fourth before it would move.

Frame tacked in place, onto front crossmember/bumper. I will be transfering my 8274 from my XJ to this one when done so I've been building the front so that it will accept that winch. Bumpmember mocked up:

Still need to put another 4" section of 1/4 across the front and brace it back. Will have to drill holes after that but I want to have the winch sitting in the bumper before putting holes in.
Relocated steering box up and hopefully out of harms way. 2/3rds done :teehee::


Still need to tap the steering box for hydro assist.
Went to LKQ last weekend and pulled a 99+ intake for $18, put that on saturday and replaced the powersteering fluid tank with one that didn't have the tab broke off the back.

Got my 14 bolt SOLID diff cover that I won at the Sundowners Rodeo this week. Also ordered disc brake brackets and D300 flip/clocking ring early this week but didn't get anything in time for this weekend. Pic of 79 D60 front and 14B rear:

Started on my flat belly kit this afternoon. Doing this one cheap for now. We'll see how it turns out. Ends cut off and sledge hammered flat :teehee:




Comments/criticism welcome, that's where the good idea's come from. Sorry for crappy pics, keep forgetting the camera.
 
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#1,069 ·
A whole new meaning to "Shit'll buff out"

That's a friends jeep that he's getting all shined up to bounce off trees and rocks.
I bought streeters so I can street without loosing my teeth. Show and shine jeep should be out of the shop this weekend and I can get the icecream machine back in to fix some stuffs. I have next friday off for KOH so hopefully I can make some progress that day. Goal is to get it back to street legal so I can start using it more than once a year.
 
#1,071 · (Edited)
Drivers seat mounted. Reused stock slider which took me a stupid amount of time. At lease I can move the seat around for now. Jeep will eventually go to Metrofab for a new cage but I'm not sure if that's happening this year or not. Looking like not right now as I'm trying to get everything the way I want it before it goes for a new cage.
 
#1,072 ·
LTB's Sold. I had Black label 40" Pats in my amazon cart for $185/each for about 6 days now and as usual, the sale/glitch got fixed as I got money to buy them. Never fails :sonicjay: Moving to the interior to get seat belt/cage addition in place for harnesses. Also looking at moving relay/switches inside the cab for a little more weather friendly setup. Anyone have a dxf of a tj Dash available so I can get a dash plate 3d printed?
 
#1,082 ·
It's been 8 or so years since I've used this thing. It took me a while to remember what I was doing and I still missed my centerline by an inch.

My top is destroyed but it keeps the garbage off me so I'm trying to at least keep it as an option with the cage. At the end of the day I didn't want to put a bar right in front of kids faces, but that was really the only reasonable place to go with my seatbelt bar that allows for a harness on the passenger seat in the future. I could have done some funky stuff to keep the passenger side open but it's all a compromise at the end of the day. The good news is that this isn't my final cage so if I don't like it, I can discuss options with Metrofab to do it differently on the next one.



At some point in the last outing I hit something pretty hard. It bent the corner, split the weld on the tub and pinched the top to the tub. Not a big deal except the waterproof cover I have for future winter wheeling/ice creaming need to use that area. I guess I'm going into the body work business for a couple hours at some point in the future. :sonicjay:
 
#1,087 ·
I hate "routine" maintenance.

Cleaning up this mess. When I flopped, the trans vent dumped fluid all over my relays. My fault for having them there. Attempting to unfux the wiring is fun.

Took a 2x4 to the tub, fixedish the dent so the top should hold again.
Still looking for a relay/fuse/waterproof panel that I will work to move everything into the cab but I really don't want a main power wire running through the firewall so I'm going to think about that a little.
 
#1,095 ·
Credit to the wiring people, this shit sucks. I rewired the starter relay to function properly. Next is to re-purpose the rear defrost relay for my trans fan. Then I have to add pins to add another "not used" portion for my relay for lights. Should end up with everything other than coolant fans in the factory PDM. I definitely have wiring issues in the stock harness somewhere. I have power coming back in wires I shouldn't in the PDM so I've been grounding them to blow fuses to find where it's feeding from. :sonicjay: I need to buy more fuses haha.


I haven't figured out how to add the connector for the power side of this fuse area. I pulled wires at the junkyard to add on the fused side, but the other side is a solid bar and I'm not sure it's possible to add. If that's the case, I have to look through those diagrams and see where they're sending power to see if I can steal for my relays I'm adding. My TJ didn't have ABS so that's 3 circuits that aren't pinned from the factory that I could have stolen power from. No big deal, just work. If I wasn't "essential", I'd have plenty of time......:usa:
 
#1,096 ·
Having fun yet? The spade connectors are for the grounds activating the relays coming from the switches in cab.


For fans, I bought 80A viair solenoids and will wire it so the relay is only controlling grounds. The whole point of the relay/solenoid setup is to shut the low speed fan off when the high speed fan is activated. If you don't do that, the fan runs at a reduced output and eventually burns up. The original setup sent all power through multiple relays. My new diagram only uses the relay for ground control for the solenoids. Hopefully that puts an end to any Taurus fan issues. My old setup was fine until trans fluid dumped all over it. That didn't do it any favors. Hoping this setup is fluid proof. My vent for my 60e was the culprit. I'm looking into changing that up a little bit to keep that from happening again as well.

Relay setup for those unfamiliar:


Wiring for solenoids, replace relay on right with solenoid like the left side. I didn't revise, you should be able to figure it out haha.

~$50 for parts, some wiring required.


Have a few more things to tie up in the PDC, then I can get that back in, get my fan setup installed and move back to the interior. I haven't had nearly as much time to work on this as what I want. I work for work out of the shop 3 days a week. By the time my normal day is over, I'm ready to be done for the day. I thought I would be able to do a little bit here an there all day long and have it add up to alot but it just hasn't happened. Wiring for me takes all my attention because I suck at it so I need blocked set of time to do it and I'm not taking the time :sonicjay:
 
#1,102 ·
Lost a fitting on the cylinder earlier in the day so pulled the cylinder and looped the good line on the steering box. Without resistance there is no assist so it was worse than manual steering. You can see my trying to 2 hand it right as it slides, which caused a delay to reverse, which ended upside down. It is what it is. :beer: On to the next phase.
 
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