Have you considered asking your children to get stuff off of the roof for you? Seems like at least 50% of them would love the opportunity.
Have you considered asking your children to get stuff off of the roof for you? Seems like at least 50% of them would love the opportunity.
That is really nice, and something you don't see too often. I bet you get a LOT of questions at gas stations about it.
open_circuit (January 3rd, 2021)
Sharp!
___________
2005 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon TJ
2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Xtreme Recon edition
2023 Ford F150 Raptor
open_circuit (January 3rd, 2021)
open_circuit (January 3rd, 2021)
open_circuit (January 3rd, 2021)
Looks good man! Nice to see you wrenching on that rig.
open_circuit (January 3rd, 2021)
Lots of parts arrived this week. Assembled the water system and tested. Cut superstrut for the platform side rails and have stock for the crossbars. I'll cut the crossbars Saturday and put the rear shelf in. I was very pleased today to confirm that half slot superstrut slots align with the holes on the LJ body tub without additional drilling.
With the rear platform installed I can confirm clearance for the slide tray and begin to cut and drill the aluminum angle that will hold together the slide tray. Lots of photos and details to come Saturday when I get everything I to the Jeep.
speedkills (January 8th, 2021)
The rear platform is installed. I need to figure out the extendable / sleeping portion of the platform before I can finish the decking with some carpet so it looks nice.
I started by cutting two ~50" long pieces of B series superstrut to run along the top of the body tub rails. The B-series strut is 9/16" x 1 5/8". The strut I used is the half slot version (probably the commonly available one) and the half slots lined up with the factory holes in the tub rails such that I did not have to drill any additional slots or holes. I ran strut full-length along the tub so I can mount things on top of this anywhere along the tub and I hope that the long piece of strut will help distribute the load evenly across the body tub rail.
I next cut two pieces of strut to span the width of the Jeep tub. I used 1/4-20 cone nuts, washers, hex bolts, and lock washers to attach these pieces to the slotted rails on the sides of the Jeep. For normal use, I want a solid deck behind the rear seat to allow us to store items across the full width of the trunk area without having to build up a "floor" of stuff in the main well first. I cut a piece of 3/4 plywood that I had lying around to fit around the roll bars and seat belts. I drilled holes for 4 t-nuts in the plywood -- both a clearance hole for the screw and a recessed hole for the flange so I could flush-mount the t-nuts. The deck now easily screws into the strut crossbars and can be replaced with a longer piece when I don't need the rear seat. In this case, I would slide the forward strut crossbar further forward also.
Rear seat up in driving position:
Rear seat folded to allow platform to extend over
I think I'll end up cutting a couple more segments like the rear deck top to build my "sleep in the Jeep with the rear seat installed" platform. If possible, I will connect the pieces with piano hinge so they can fold neatly onto the rear cargo deck. I am still trying to decide how to support this platform using one additional crossbar and an extension into the front seat area (with the front seats folded forward).
While I was at the hardware store picking up hex bolts for this build, I also saw some 1/4-20 eye bolts (https://www.lowes.com/pd/DuraSteel-1...olt/1001363920) with machine screw shanks, so I picked up a couple. I installed these in the crossbar near the seat outside of the rear deck as convenient tie down points. I will likely pick up a couple more to install in the other crossbar.
speedkills (January 10th, 2021),Steve-O (January 10th, 2021)
Really fun to watch this come together, thanks for the pics.
Great job Trent. Looks a bit familiar from somewhere though
Pretty sure that top was designed by Jeff Scherb. I'll see if I can get him to give me an estimated weight limit.
___________
~Not All Who Wander Are Lost~ (at least not all the time)
open_circuit (January 10th, 2021)
Yes, that's right JScherb is the mad scientist behind this top design. I understand he sold or licensed it to GR8Tops
It's been several weeks since I made any progress on the Jeep with the cold weather. I got back at it today for a while.
I purchased an awning to mount to our roof basket in January, but the brackets that came with it clearly were not going to work so it has been sitting in my house waiting for me to build some brackets. I bought some aluminum flat bar to make into backing plates for both the traction boards and the awning a while ago. As with my traction board mounts, I cut the flat bar into 4 even size pieces and drilled clearance holes for the M8 screws. I use these pieces as backing plates behind the frame of my roof basket. The awning has a piece of T-slot aluminum on the back which captures the hex head of an M8 bolt. The T-slot and this backing plate allow me to securely clamp the awning to my basket.
With the awning mounted, I was able to open it and set it up for the first time. I was glad to see it is pretty easy to set up with two people and seems like it will handle some moderate weather.
Steve-O (March 5th, 2021),Tom (March 1st, 2021),TyTheJeepGuy (March 26th, 2021)
Looks great!
One of my largest outstanding problems before being able to use my new sleeping platform to camp is how to get out of the Jeep when I need to. On last year's trip with the soft top, I just left the soft top laying loose outside the tailgate so that I could reach out beneath the rear window and pull the tailgate handle to get out of the Jeep. With the new hard top, this is not an option. The rear upper window is bolted to the tailgate, such that the entire rear of the Jeep swings open as one. Since Jeeps don't have internal tailgate release handles, I had to make my own.
The TJ/LJ tailgate release is hidden behind a plastic cover. The cover pops out with a panel trim took. If you want to remove it, be sure to start at the bottom to pop out the two clips. After these are loose, gently pry the right side of the cover over the two exposed screw heads where the circular cutouts in the plastic cover are. The cover will not come off without doing this. Finally lift the top off. The top of the cover has a small plastic tab on it which sits in a pocket in the sheet metal of the rear tailgate. Be gentle here to not tear the tab off.
With the cover off, there is a round steel bar which links the tailgate release handle with the latch mechanism. The operation is easily understood if you pull the tailgate handle and watch the pieces move. I connected a length of paracord around the link bar such that pulling down on the paracord releases the latch and simultaneously actuates the exterior handle. This works well but the pull requires a bit of muscle as this movement must overcome the strong spring on the rear latch handle. With the paracord attached, I can pull down near the bottom of the tailgate to release the latch and exit the Jeep.
With my sleeping platform installed, I cannot reach the bottom of the tailgate from inside the Jeep with the tailgate shut. To reach the my new release cord, I needed to route it above the level of my sleeping platform. I found a v-groove bearing online for a few bucks with an inner diameter that closely matches the bolts which hold my rear upper window onto the tailgate. I installed this bearing on the bolt to use as a pulley wheel and ran the paracord around the wheel and up the door to the top of the window. To secure the cord I drilled some holes in some scrap aluminum angle and bent it into shape as a catch bracket. This bracket is installed on one of the upper bolts which secures the rear window. To keep the cord in place while driving, I ran the paracord through a spring and tied a bowline so that the cord slightly compresses the spring against the catch bracket in the resting position. I hope this keeps the line tight enough to remain on the pulley wheel most of the time while driving around.
Java (March 26th, 2021),Jim (March 25th, 2021),Steve-O (March 25th, 2021),TyTheJeepGuy (March 26th, 2021)
After helping to rescue Shane's rover a few weeks ago, I experienced some discomforting wandering in the steering on the drive home. After the weather improved a few days later I also noticed a concerning clunk as I turned the steering over the center position. The clunk was the drag link / adjustment collar / "tie rod end" (attached to pitman arm) combination moving around as I steered. Specifically, the drag link and the end attached to the pitman arm were wallowing around in the adjustment sleeve despite the clamping collars being well secured. Clearly it was time to replace some parts. With 92k miles on the original tie rod and ends, I opted to replace the entire drag link / tie rod / ends / steering damper kit with new, beefier parts.
The stock tie-rod on the TJ looks pretty weak. The wrangler tj forums have a nice write up on using ZJ components in place of OEM style TJ parts here, since the ZJ parts have the correct lengths but are thicker, stronger, and generally better. (https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/...nversion.2373/). I followed this guide and ordered all of the ZJ replacements. Ty joined me today for some driveway wrenching.
The problematic adjustment collar:
I quickly realized I needed a pickle fork which I did not own. After a trip to Harbor Freight, Ty and I were able to quickly separate the old tie rod and drank link from the various mounts.
The new parts look pretty sharp. It's hard to tell from this, but the new tie rod is about 1" diameter solid tube. The original was about 0.65" diameter hollow tube.
With the new parts installed, we had to adjust the collars on the drag link and tie rod to set the toe-in on the front wheels and center the steering wheel. We used the hi-tech "strap some scrap wood to the wheels" method to measure the toe-in. This was much easier with some help. Doing this part alone is tedious and annoying, but Ty and I were able to knock it out pretty easily.
FINOCJ (April 10th, 2021),speedkills (April 11th, 2021),TyTheJeepGuy (April 13th, 2021)
How often do you all change your steering dampers? The box for the new damper I installed today suggested changing every 12,000 miles. I was surprised, as this seems like very frequent replacement interval for what is effectively a shock. I've put about 20k miles on my Jeep in the 4 years I've owned it without replacing the damper.
I changed my steering damper on my Ram at 55k miles!
can’t wait for Canyonlands trip next month!!!!
___________
2005 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon TJ
2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Xtreme Recon edition
2023 Ford F150 Raptor
open_circuit (April 10th, 2021)
What's a steering damper...
On vehicles that have them, I change them when I change the shocks....which is a lot of miles...still running oem ones on my taco at 167k. If I weren't selling it soon, I'd have changed them but in reality, if they aren't leaking fluid, there isn't much to wear out. As soon as fluid starts seeping, time to change.
___________
James Orofino
1970 CJ5
1958 Willys Wagon
open_circuit (April 10th, 2021),TyTheJeepGuy (April 13th, 2021)