68 highboy

I was told I should do a build thread, i have had this project for a looong time, this was my first truck, I took my wife on our first date in this truck, it was my dads truck before me while I was growing up. I decided to do a body swap sometime in 2009, but a bad year in 2010 ( loosing two grandparents, a great grandma, and my father, as well as welcoming a second kid into our family took the wind out of my sail. I did work on it here and there over the years, but it has mainly been a looked over second thought. My kids are now at the age where they are starting to want to do stuff with friends over hanging with mom and dad, and I finally have the ambition to start working on the old girl again. So to keep me motivated and moving on the project I’m starting a build thread.

I’m currently found a high pinion open knuckle Dana 44 swamp, disc brakes and a better turning radius are my two major motivators to make this work.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Had a few hours to put the motor in. Have I mentioned how pleasant this jeep is to work on. Everything goes together easy. Just waiting on some oil that should be delivered tomorrow and if I have time I may be able to fire it up tomorrow!

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Update on the tj, it runs great! It’s amazing how quiet and smooth it is, no more tapping of the valve train, and the oil pressure that was almost 0 at idle is now 40 at idle! I did have a major problem, the oil pan gasket isn’t not molded correctly and cause a bad leak 😵‍💫 I thought it was a rear main but after removing the oil pan I found the gasket was too large in the dished out section in the rear and had slipped into the pan when I torqued it down. Yesterday I started on the adjustable arm upgrade. Wow what a difference in build the stock arms are junk. Also started installing the knock off anti rock sway bar. It came highly recommended and I must say the fit and finish is nice.

 

[I Lean]

Update on the tj, it runs great! It’s amazing how quiet and smooth it is, no more tapping of the valve train, and the oil pressure that was almost 0 at idle is now 40 at idle! I did have a major problem, the oil pan gasket isn’t not molded correctly and cause a bad leak 😵‍💫 I thought it was a rear main but after removing the oil pan I found the gasket was too large in the dished out section in the rear and had slipped into the pan when I torqued it down. Yesterday I started on the adjustable arm upgrade. Wow what a difference in build the stock arms are junk. Also started installing the knock off anti rock sway bar. It came highly recommended and I must say the fit and finish is nice.

Who makes the swaybar?

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Who makes the swaybar?

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[Gravy]

Antirock Front Sway Bar Kit compatible for Jeep Wrangler Tj & Lj Unlimited 1997-2006

Front Off-road Sway Bar Kit for Wrangler TJ/LJ 1997-2006 New for sale. Performance auto parts, tuning car parts and engine accessories sale online at maxpeedingrods.com with budget price and fast free shipping.

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[Die Blaue Ziege]

I am also going to be running max speeding rods front lower adjustable control arms . They look the be build pretty good.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Well it’s been a while, and no the 68 has not been worked on 💩 I had knee surgery on my right knee two months ago and am going out tomorrow to have my left knee done. But I was able to take the jeep out for a ride yesterday. Our group consisted of two very heavily modified Samurai’s a rubicon unlimited and my tiny pile of parts tj

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

We headed up to left hand fork to do the Rock garden trail. I had never been up this trail and other than two small sections it’s not really too bad. Turned out a great testing trail for my jeep and the black samurai. The black samurai had just been completed a couple weeks back and this was his first outing.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

What I learned is the little blue goat can do some wheeling but definitely need taller tires. And a front locker is in my future as well as a slip yoke eliminator and a tummy tuck.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Well my second knee surgery went well today, now with both of them “fixed” in the past three months I hope next year will be my year to get out, and get my 68 done. Getting old sucks.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Not much to report, I finally got new tires on my 7.3l after a lot of watching video reviews and reading message boards I decided to give the Pro Comp AT sports a try. This truck is used mainly as a tow vehicle with a lightweight camp trailer or as a family truckster. But it does take the occasional trip off road ( like the Gtt with the Expedition Utah group or elk/deer hunting) so I wanted an at with good road manners but with great off road capabilities. 35x12.50r17 is the size but compared to the Nitto mudders these look skinny. I will report back after I get some dirt time on them.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Not much to update, I’m still in recovery mode with my knees, but with the new year I have been cleaning out and throwing away stuff. I came across some old pics of the 68 project I thought I’d share

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

last night I took my wife out on a date to Wiseguys comedy in slc, on the way down I swung by Bewilder Brewery and picked up my gift card I won in Dec! The cookie and mug was a very welcome addition!

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

And I’m kind of a National park Geek, when I travel I buy patches and have built up a large collection. Does anyone else collect patches and if so what have you done with them? I’ve thought about a camp poncho but that may be one heavy poncho and may be a bit tacky, how about a blanket?

 

[Tonkaman]

And I’m kind of a National park Geek, when I travel I buy patches and have built up a large collection. Does anyone else collect patches and if so what have you done with them? I’ve thought about a camp poncho but that may be one heavy poncho and may be a bit tacky, how about a blanket?

My grandma made it a goal to spend time in every national park. Before she passed she made a quilt out of all the patches she collected along the way.

 

[1969honda]

^^This, my mom has a ton of LE patches pinned to felt from my Dad's career. I bet she could make a double sided king size comforter with no felt showing.

 

[bryson]

And I’m kind of a National park Geek, when I travel I buy patches and have built up a large collection. Does anyone else collect patches and if so what have you done with them? I’ve thought about a camp poncho but that may be one heavy poncho and may be a bit tacky, how about a blanket?

Not a very neat or creative solution, but I have one of these hanging on the shop wall with a bunch of patches on it. It does require velcro-backed patches, or to pin them on...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Y5J49H5?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Lots of similar options on Amazon for not much monies.

 

[ID Bronco]

Just buy a Toyota 4 Runner or Sequoia, plenty of headliner there.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

hoping for some warmer weather soon so I can take another stab at paint, this time it will be on the bed, I ordered slower reducer and activator, that should help with the orange peel that I have had problems with. in the mean time I am thinking of making a bucket water/ice cooler for the air compressor to keep the air temps down hoping to slow the flashing off of the paint as it leaves the Gun.


in the mean time. I inherited a small Kennedy toolbox from my Grandpa, and as I was going through it I found a couple interesting picture. my grandpa painted my truck somewhere around 1988-89, these two pictures were most likely taken the day the bumper/grill were put back on and he drove it out into the sun for the first time to take a look at it. the third pic is of a car dolly he built, but the cool thing is it has some of my moms 68 GTO that she owned in high school.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

so I purchased this brush guard from a kid off Ksl for $100, after doing the Ghost town tour with the expedition Utah group I wanted to make sure my headlights did get knocked out by a tree branch and I’m always worried about hitting a deer on one of our far away adventures so I’ve been looking for a grill guard for a while. It was coated with some sort of bed liner when I picked it up, but also had a lot of rust spots and it needed some mounts made for it as well. I spent the last few days wire brushing the bed liner off, got a couple coats of primer on yesterday and today I was able to get the black on. I’m Just waiting for it to dry and then I’ll mount it to the truck (2001 Superduty)