Great Lakes 4x4. The largest offroad forum in the Midwest banner

Lightweight, Baby!

30K views 141 replies 19 participants last post by  John D 
#1 · (Edited)
Well, after deciding to be done with the XJ and go without a Jeep for the summer.... I held out for three and a half weeks before finding something new.

In my defense, it does align pretty close to what my future goal was:
CJ7, LS base, stock or 1/2 ton axles, 33” tires, clean frame, clean body and able to drive.

As purchased:
5.3L/4L60/300.
Long tube headers with dual 3” Flowmasters.
D30 front and D44 rear with spool.
Fiberglass tub, fenders and hood.
Clean frame.
Gray vinyl wrap.
Newer Bestop seats front and rear.

Issues:
Needs tuning.
Brakes work but pedal goes to the floor.
Steering turns much more right than left.
Wiring is a mess inside and out.

Goals for this one are:
Something my wife can drive.
Dependable daily driver for summer.
More time driving than upgrading.
Fun and fast-ish
Sand will be only off-road.
Maybe 1/2 ton axles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
See less See more
#5 ·
Lol, I don’t think anyone around my house was surprised.


Looks good. Will be interested to see how this goes.

When you say needs tuning, as in it needs a tune-up, or is there some non-stock parts in it that it needs tuning for?

My only gripe with the fiberglass tubs is the rear panel looks so bare. Needs some stickers or something.

It runs really bad - doesn’t want to idle and rich fuel smell chokes you out when you’re inside. No engine codes but something isn’t right. I’m told stock other than the headers/exhaust.

I couldn’t agree more about the tailgate. I’m thinking of options now... I wonder if a decal would look okay. Or, what if an artist painted an original tailgate with depth/detail? Hmmmm




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#14 ·
I had purchased it probably around 10 years ago with ambition to be one of those super-cool kids that does their own tuning.... turns out I wasn’t and won’t be one of those guys. Lol

Baker Engineering in Nunica is my choice for the tuning.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#28 ·
I got the Jeep back from Baker Engineering, what a great group of people over there. From the front desk to the the guys doing the tuning, everyone was awesome. TJ was able to get it running really smooth, and squeezed out some decent numbers. He also did a bunch of transmission scheduling and line pressure adjustments so now it shifts like it should too. Here’s the report and it was tuned for 87 octane.

235HP and 251 Torque.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#32 ·
Thanks. Alex (owner) is friend and my son works there. I was getting a little help on the brake pedal issue today.... it still needs work.

Anyway, with the sunshine and decent temps, I couldn’t wait until April to get it on the road :)

The 5.3L is strong and runs good. Baker did a fine job tuning it and I would recommend them to anyone. Lots of power for a 3000# Jeep on 33’s and it peels the tires from a stop to halfway through 2nd gear if I want to.

Plenty of little things to do to get it ready for daily use and I hope to have time in the next couple weeks.

It is a lot of fun to drive and I’m happy to be back in a V8 CJ with ‘little’ tires, it’s been a long time.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#34 · (Edited)
I’ve seen that JK there a million times, I’ll try stop by sometime and say hi.

I’m still having issues with the brake pedal, It’s just too worn out in the linkage/mounting. I have two other pedal assemblies available though so I should be able to come up with something that works/feels good.

Found 3 out of 4 steering box bolts loose and the 4th bolt was missing.... on-road handling has improved 100%.

That stupid spool in the rear needs to go soon. I will be looking for a Detroit locker for the D44 or a Ford 9” to replace it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#35 · (Edited)
Beautiful weather today so spent a little time on the new Jeep. The brake lights have been making me crazy and prohibiting me from driving it. The issue was the lights would work fine with no key on, but when the engine was running the brake lights were on constantly. Overall, the wiring is giant mess and it is compounded due to needing all the ground wires (fiberglass body). So, I started at the lights and worked my way back.... Eventually, I made it to the brake/TCC relay and found they had incorrectly added a constant 12v along with a keyed 12v on the relay. This mistake by the previous owner caused the brake light issue, an improper TCC function and the battery drain issue - bingo!!

I did a backyard alignment too. When I started it was toe-in about 3/8” and I set it toe-out about 1/8”. It drives much better now.

Pulled the soft top off and snapped a driveway pic.... the cowl hood is not my style and will need to go.



Drone from the dual Flowmasters dumping in front of the rear axle is pretty bad, so I’m going to look into having tailpipes made up. Any recommendations on the north end of GR?

Then I stumbled upon these... solutions and problems all at once, lol.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#36 ·
I’ve been looking for a set of used paddles off and on since I got the baby Jeep and finally found the right deal. We made an early morning trip to the east side of the state yesterday and picked these. Going up to Silver Lake on the 11th to give them a try :)

I’m looking for a set of aluminum 15x10 or 15x12 wheels 5x5.5 bolt pattern. If anyone’s something decent please let me know.








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#38 · (Edited)
Well, we shall see if there’s enough motor to actually use them LOL. At least we will “look cool” and if it doesn’t work we have a good excuse for motor upgrades :)

I’m not sure you call it an upgrade but it does improve the look. I pulled the enormous tach off the steering column... much better. Eventually I will redo this dash and installed a 2 5/8” tach. I found a company that makes some really cool electronic gauges that have the original look.



If anyone is looking for an Auto Meter tach let me know. I don’t know anything about it but it seems to work fine including the light.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#44 ·
I called up Bassett over in Wisconsin and had them put together a pair of 15x12 beadlocks. Really good people to deal with and I received them a day after they were built.

Me and my son went to the dunes on Saturday with the paddles and had a blast running 2WD all day. The short wheelbase and crappy short leaf springs make for a rough ride on the dunes so I’m thinking of ways to make it better :)

It was also prerunner invasion so there were a ton of cool trucks to watch.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#46 ·
You think they don’t crawl well?? They are even worse in reverse, lol. I actually don’t mind bouncing off the rev limiter, but I know what mean. I think with some suspension upgrades I can get some speed going too. We’ll see how things go.

Just realized I missed the pic of the tires mounted. I’m pretty happy with them.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Top