Hunt's Debadged RME TJ

Owners Name & City- Hunt, Carmel , NY

Make, Model & Year of Vehicle- Jeep, TJ 1997

Engine- 2003 5.3L LM7 from a truck, LS1 Oil Pan, ECU re-flashed for 325 HP and 375 Ft lbs of torque, Sanderson Headers with 2.5” collectors and 3” exhaust with Magnaflow muffler, Aluminum radiator with 2 speed Taurus electric fan,

Transmission- TH 350 (recently rebuilt and resealed!) with full manual valve body & engine brake, Summit Racing 12” 2000 RPM stall converter, Art Carr shifter, Spal transmission cool, Advanced Adaptors, deep extra capacity aluminum transmission pan,

T-Case- Advanced AdaptorsAtlas II with 4.3 to 1 ratio, 32 spline outputs front and rear, Roark Fab Atlas mount

Axles- Rear- Dana 60 with 40 spline Mark Williams 1.75” shafts, 5.13 gears, spool and disc brakes, Tera HD diff. cover, Width=62”, 1.5” spacers at both wheels, TeraFlex axle bridge truss,
Front- Tera CRD60, Dodge Kingpin Knuckles with chromo shafts, 5.13 gears, ARB locker, 35 spline outers(not chromo) and Warn Premium hubs, crane diff cover, Width=64”, Full hydraulic steering with single-ended ram, PCS pump and Appleton power steering cooler/reservoir/filter, 83” wide from the outside of the tire to the outside of the tire,


Suspension- TeraFlex longarm LCG for an Unlimited Wrangler, Rear coil buckets have been moved back 11”, wheel base is 104”, 3” of suspension lift, 1” body lift under the tub but not under the radiator shell, TeraFlex Dual Rate S/T swaybar, BTF coil mounting kit, Custom from 3 link with the upper link built using lower components, TeraFlex Belly-Up 1/4” t-case skid plate,

Wheels and Tires- 17”x9” Cragar Soft 8 steel black wheels, 5 total, 3” back spacing, 6 on 5.5 lug pattern, Staun internal beadlocks @ 30 psi, 40x13.5x17 Maxxis Creepy Crawlers DOT compound running 6 psi rear and 8 psi in the front,

Winch- Warn M8000

Body Modifications and Protection- BTF Crusher Corner Comp Cut rear quarter panels with LED rear brake lights, BTF Rocker Protection, Highline hood, Ben Hank’s Racing custom front fender raised for more tire clearance, Custom Ben Hank’s Racing roll cage tied to the frame in 6 places, BTF front bumper with d-rings, BTF winch plate,

Favorite Trails- Hell’s Revenge and Hell’s Gate Moab, UT

Other-Summit Machine aluminum fairlead (I need to get a synthetic rope or switch to a roller fairlead), Orbial battery, Corbeau Ultra SS seats tied to the roll cage, RCI seat harnesses, Custom 15 gallon fuel cell behind the rear seat built by Ben at Alliance Metal Works in SLC with a Napa P5000 pump, Bestop Super Top with soft doors, Bestop Bikini Top, AutoMeter white face Hotrod style gauges,

 

[Tacoma]

Good to hear you're planning head protection.

Out here, you can't really have enough light, but it's generally pretty wide open compared to the eastern woods... where more light means more shadows. If it was me, I'd be getting whatever lights I got mounted to hit the ground about 50' in front of me, and use them more as floodlights than far-reaching beacons of speed. You may have a different plan though, I am assuming a lot.

 

[Greg]

I'd like the 2- 20” bars with 35 degree beam spread. I think that would provide sufficient light up close and farther out. How far out does the usable light project?

 

[Hunt]

I started on the roof this afternoon. The weld nuts are tacked to the tabs in 3 places and 19 tabs are TIG welded to the cage.

I got the aluminum roof cut to shape and all the edges nice and smooth. The roof was a bit of a trick to get the way I wanted it. The bar running between the a-pilers has a point in the center and the whole cage tappers about an inch from front to back. It fits very nice now. The edge of the aluminum runs right down the centerlines of the tubing.

This evening I picked up some high density foam tape to put under the aluminum before I tighten it down. Hopefully that keeps away the buzz.

Tomorrow I want to paint all the tabs and then run a tap down each of the nuts before installing the stainless hardware. I still need to drill the holes in the panel for the hardware as well.

I will get pictures of the complete project ASAP.

 

[I Lean]

The high density foam weatherstripping will work perfectly. It'll feel/sound solid when you're done.

What thickness of AL are you using?

 

[Hunt]

The sheet is 1/8" as per the class 4 rules. My class does not require a full roof but I want one and I figured I would error on the side of caution when it comes to safety.

I went with 5052 because it is very weldable and bendable. The 6000 (6061-TX) series aluminum does not bend. It cracks. The 5052 has a similar strength characteristics. It's one of the highest tensile strengths of the non-heat treated alloys. I really feel it will be just fine.

The roof line has a couple of compound bends to it and I didn't want to prestress the 6061 and it was considerably cheaper. I can also build a few other things I've been want to build out of the scrap.

 

[Hunt]

I finished up the roof today and I am quite pleased with it.

How ever I am not satisfied with the hardware. I used 1" long 5/16 stainless bolts with a lock washer and flat washer. They stick up way to far and there are to many exposed threads under the panel.

I am going to switch out the hardware to 3/4" SS button head allen bolts and just use a flat washer.

The roof panel does not buzz and has a nice "thud" sound when you tap on it. It should work out great.

 

[LT.]

Post some pictures of all your hard work when you get the chance.

LT.

 

[Hunt]

Here are a couple of crappy cell phone shots of the roof. In the one shot you can see the difference in the bolt and button head hardware.

 

[LT.]

Great job! I am glad to see you switched out the hardware. The old bolt heads did stick up a bit much.

LT.

 

[Hunt]

I scored big time today with a 5'x4' sheet of 1/2" UHMW plastic. Hello new super slick skid plate!

 

[Hunt]

We were out moving some downed tree from this winter. I grabbed a couple of shots of the jeep from this afternoon.

 

[Hunt]

Looking back through the thread I realized I had never actually posted any pictures of the Trail Ready double beadlock wheels. So here you go...

 

[Hunt]

I had a little impromptu wheeling challenge thrown down by Charlie this afternoon. Yesterday we cleared a few trees so we could get to the rock pile. Its got some really good lines on it and is a real challenge.
I made it to where you see with out the winch but couldn't make it all the way up the crack and ended up having to winch a little to clear the top.

 

[Hunt]

A couple more pics

 

[Hunt]

And some more from Charlie's camera. I am just so excited SPRING is here and its time to get out and go wheeling again!

 

[Greg]

The TJ's looking good Clayton! I hear you on the Spring excitement, if it had taken any more time I would have gone crazy!

 

[Bart]

I had the same Trail Ready double beadlocked wheels on my single seater and loved them. Never worried about burping air or loosing a bead. Very nice.

 

[Hunt]

I started on the new skid plate today.

I never liked how the engine and transmission oil pan skid was done so I redid it the way I thought it should have been done. (Note: Greg didn't build that skid. I farmed it out to a local shop that I no longer do business with) Anyway, I welded the skid panel to the frame work, then welded the front skid to the Teraflex skid. The front used to bolt to the frame work then overlap and bolted to the rear piece. Its a bit of a pain to get into place now but I like it better.

The plastic will have a nice smooth surface to adhere to now as well. The cardboard is just a rough shape.

 

[Hunt]

The skid is on and is going to take some getting used to. We took it to the new rock pile in the back yard and just like the plastic is supposed to be, it is super slick. I can already feel it is going to both a blessing and a curse. It will both help you over things and help you slide off in some bad ways. The jury is out for now. It is going to need some time to figure out. I was amazed right away how much different it felt in the seat of my pants.

 

[Lifelong Jeeper]

In trying to figure out how the plastic skid can be a curse, I thought that sliding sideways off an obstacle could become precarious. What if you bolted a few ribs down the length of it out of 1" x 1/4" flat bar or something like that to not get too much in the way on your break over, still give you the great slid-ability of the plastic, and hopefully keep you from sliding off an obstacle sideways.

My .02