Average TJ Build

Wow. That came out awesome. I need to pick some of that up.

I'll let you know how it holds up. I've done all the tricks in the past and have been very disappointed, especially the tire shine one, but so far this looks like it's going to last. If it stays half this nice through winter I'll be ecstatic. Fingers crossed.


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JKbrick

Active Member
If you have to change the tailgate hinges drill the stupid torx heads off to relieve the tension off the bolt. Then remove the hinge and the threaded part will just unscrew by hand or with pliers.


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Drilled the trackbar to 1/2” and used a nice normal hex headed grade 8 bolt that doesn’t require crappy torx bits that never fit just right and tend to bend and strip bolts. Wooo hex bolts.

Then I got a lesson in not skipping wheel torque check during oil changes, again...

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But I did do a little two tracking, not quite peak fall yet, soon.

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JKbrick

Active Member
Drilled the trackbar to 1/2” and used a nice normal hex headed grade 8 bolt that doesn’t require crappy torx bits that never fit just right and tend to bend and strip bolts. Wooo hex bolts.

Then I got a lesson in not skipping wheel torque check during oil changes, again...

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But I did do a little two tracking, not quite peak fall yet, soon.

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Those two tracks in Michigan are my most favorite thing to do. It’s just so relaxing


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Those two tracks in Michigan are my most favorite thing to do. It’s just so relaxing


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Yeah it’s a nice way to kill an evening, sadly DNR has been closing a lot of the seasonal roads in the area thanks to people trashing them, it sucks.

Trying to swap these studs out but they are REALLY in there. Gonna have to take it a to a friends shop to borrow the press.
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JKbrick

Active Member
Yeah it’s a nice way to kill an evening, sadly DNR has been closing a lot of the seasonal roads in the area thanks to people trashing them, it sucks.

Trying to swap these studs out but they are REALLY in there. Gonna have to take it a to a friends shop to borrow the press.
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That does suck, stupid people. Which county are you in?


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That does suck, stupid people. Which county are you in?


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I’m in Kent. Not much here but plenty within an hour drive.

Been trying to fix this wheel spacer and get new live but it has been very difficult to find studs that fit. Got a reallly realllly close one but it was just too wide of a knurl to fit in. Ended up ordering a new pair should be here in a couple days. What I found really weird was that the studs I took out of it were 1/2-20 thread as they should be. But were stamped metric on the base. Got into arguments with the pimple faced parts teen that I needed 1/2-20 bc it said “metric” then he finally went and put it in a thread checker and sure enough it was 1/2-20 like I told him. I think I’m gonna call back later and ask for a water pump for a 70s vw beetle.
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Got the new spacer on, and for peace of mind i replaced all the wheel lug nuts. Finally becoming closer to fall, ignore the lack of front end, working on fixing that.

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Alright so turns out that fender bender did a bit more damage then I thought and bent the torx bolts that hold the tow hooks, and winch plate, to the front frame. Found this out the hard way when I went to use winch and the plate stretched up off the frame. Because they were bent, and a lil rusty, only a few of them came out without fighting me. The rest snapped. And one evil nut spun off the weld in the frame. So creativity was necessary to get them all off.
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So I finished cutting and drilling them all out today. But misplaced my 1/2-13 two and die so have to pickup a new one or borrow one to finish the job. Will weld a couple nuts into the couple holes missing and will be good to go.

Been looking for a new(used) winch bumper so I can ditch this plate so far everything is out of the budget.

Also, I don’t recommend this, but my arms were tired after doing all the other holes and it worked great. DIY drill press
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Does anyone have any experience with “West Texas plasma” ?

Ran across this on flea bay and was considering it, wondering if anyone had even heard of them besides eBay feedback

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I’m concerned about it’s strength considering the top attachment point has a slot/notch for the inner frame bolts instead of a hole.



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Got one side done.
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Woo front tow point again.

Just gotta weld a piece for the right side and back to normal and reinstall everything
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Got bored and decided to play and find out if I need to extend front brake lines with this much flex I’ll get away with just mounting them lower I think
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After some welding on the front frame, got her back together. Haven’t seen any amazing deals for replacement fog lights yet so that will wait. Also welded in a rear tub support bracket by the tailgate hinge to reinforce the floppy tub, very happy to have this back to usable. Even mounted and hardwired the radar detector now that it’s back to daily driver duty.
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The lightbar end cap cracked in the accident somehow and let in moisture. So after drying it out remounted them with a bunch of black rtv, reinstalled and so far no leaks.
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And once again enjoying this little switch :D

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BobNH

Member
Looks good. Good luck finding any kind of deal on OE fogs. Never could myself, I just RTV'd the cracks.
And who needs a radar detector in a Jeep?

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Thanks, it’s definitely getting better. And no one “needs” a radar detector. However I don’t like to be the person to pay for their softball jerseys or whatever all the income from fines buys. Also Michigan insurance is already unreasonable enough without adding points to a license for minor offenses.
 
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