Page updated: 06/18/2001 08:46 PM
Generation Number Four -
April/May 1998 |
Welcome to what I consider my 94 YJ's fourth generation. Included in the changes are the following: <inhale> Swapping my D35/30 3.07's with D35/30 4.10's, replacing 32x11.50 Mud Kings and aluminum rims with 33x12.50 Thornbirds and steel wheels, 2" extended shackles (1" lift), stainless steel brake lines, RS9000's, trim my front two fenders and install new flares on all four fenders, installation of "Off-Your-Rocker" rocker panels, and installation of a fully-loaded rear Tomken bumper. |
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Before you start any project, you need some (or a whole lot) of the following: <inhale> A nice long weekend (or two, or three...), the right tools, the right friends, sunshine, some of your favorite beverages, a willingness to accept minor injuries, the dirtiest grubs you can cover yourself with, a willingness to accept the fact that setbacks WILL happen, a bit of planning, a realization that half-way through you'll probably change your mind about something major, and a big bucket of the stuff to the left! HAND CLEANER! |
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This is your basic "before" shot. AKA 3rd Generation AL-J. Drove down to my buddy Jason's place in Lexington (the right people, the right tools, the right trails.) First task was to pop off the fenders. Pretty simple, right? |
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My buddy Jason took one look at the rears and said, "You do those...I'll do the fronts." Hahaaa. Little did he know what he was getting himself into. I let him wrench it for a while, cursing the whole time. Then I gave him the nod to use his new grinder. As you can see, he looks like he's in his own element here. |
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The rears came off rather easily, showing the true round lines of the sheet metal versus the "squared-off" look of the flares. |
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Nearing "flatty" status, my Jeep is flareless. I began to like this look. If you look on top of the Jeep, there is a set of brand-new Xenon TJ extended flares that I was going to install (requires a large amount of trimming.) However, the look of the flatness caused me to sell them to a friend of Jason's while I was down there... (more on the fenders later...) |
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Next up was the axle swap. Two Jeeps, three sets of axles, four guys, a buttload of randomly placed tools, one driveway, and a neighbors lawn. That's all we needed! |
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My 1994 axles went into Jason's yard (probably still there!), Scott's (black Jeep) 1992 axles went into my Jeep. Kerry's D35/30, 4.10's and ARB's went into Scott's. What about Kerry, you say? Don't worry about him, he's always a step ahead of us. |
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Jason (left) and myself (right) caught in the rain, swapping the front axle. Wrenchin' in the rain SUCKS. Not to mention the fact that Jason's wife and himself were sick as dogs and his woman was pissed that he was working on MY Jeep all weekend when he had a hundred things to do on his OWN Jeep... I think "Bob & Tom" have the correct response for this... |
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The next two pics are a cool before/after. This one's of the flareless YJ with Mud Kings... |
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...this one's of the flareless YJ with the new Thornbirds. (new to me, anyway... got them from Kerry) |
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We didn't have time to actually hit the trails (ahh!) but Kerry and Jason managed to find a cool loading dock in the neighborhood we could play at. |
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This is ramping about a 980 (if it were a 20deg ramp.) I had to stop because my right rear tire was trying to climb up the wall with the side lugs, and... |
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...I hadn't aired down. I could've scored quite a bit better! Not bad for an unlocked YJ, 'eh? |
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At
this point, I'm back home working by myself a few weeks
later... This is of my left rocker panel half bolted down. You have to do some planning here. Using two c-clamps, I locked the panel up to the body and figured out where I could drill holes so that I could get a nut on the other side. These came with stainless mounting hardware, but you have to drill your own holes. Since I eye-balled a few of my measurements, I had to use the old Dremmel tool to trim some nuts on the backside! |
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Finally done, you can see the staggered bolt pattern I used. These are 1/4" steel diamond-plated rocker panels from "Off Your Rocker." I've heard great things about them as far as durability and protection goes...still waiting to actually put them to the test! |
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The flares I purchased are JC Whitney generic truck flares (4 1/2" wide). They're $40 for a pair of 58" flares, and are very easily trimmed. I basically used a c-clamp to hold the flare in place before putting my first screw in. The flares are flat, so they require some kind of lip to mount to. In the rear, this is not a problem. Drill a hole through both the flare and lip of the fender, then drive a sheet-metal screw through. I also put plastic locks underneath that the screws would drive into for a little added strength. |
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The veteran Jeeper would definitely find something wrong with this picture. This, however, is the finished product! The fronts are going to be a bit more difficult, though. After trimming, I won't always have a lip to bolt onto! Had to use a little creativity... |
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Now. Time to actually cut my honey! I measured...stepped back and looked. Measured some more, repeat about 17 times. Finally, I had my lines drawn the way I wanted and got the jigsaw out and crossed my fingers. This is half-way through the cutting. |
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Ta-daaaa! Fender trimmed. Suggestions: Put some kind of padding underneath the stop-plate on the jigsaw so you don't scratch your paint (whoops.) Get a jigsaw with a direction-knob on it, so you can cut sharper corners. Get a nice industrial sheet-metal blade. One blade worked for both sides just fine. |
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If you click on this image, you'll be able to see a bit better what I did in certain areas. This is looking toward the rear underneath the right fender. I used L-brackets when a lip was not available, and used spacers on the top flat part of the fender. |
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As you can see, I had to drill holes in the top of the fender for mounting purposes. I used screw-caps to make it look a bit nicer...the middle one is open for effect. These are the bolts I used spacers on underneath. |
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The next three shots are of the finished product! |
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Here you can see the rear Tomken bumper, too... It's got a swing away tire carrier, jerry-can mount, and hi-lift mount. |
| Before... | ...after! |
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