Picked Up A Traitor Jeep (tj)

I bounced the first stock one off a rock. On the second new larger one I hit a rather large hole climbing a hill at a pretty decent speed.
Last one:

 

That's impressive! I guess I'll try to be careful.

 

The hill in question is steep and loose. I was definitely going way too fast and it stopped me dead. I thought at first I had broken an axle.

 

We just did the same to Anna’s TJ. Very nice cheap little upgrade. The drag link end was also loose to I replaced it with zj but think I’ll probably change that back to a new TJ unit. I don’t like the steeper joint angle with the 4.5” lift.
The other suggestion for rubicon running Is to consider a Currie anti rock bar. After watching the suspension unload with Anna driving I swapped the stocker with disconnects to the Currie. It really tamed that and works killer in conjunction with the stock rear sway bar. Credit to Kyle for that tip.

 

Goofed around wtih the Tj today.

Brought out the splitter to do another truckload of wood:


Then i figured I should get more practice using the recovery gear. It's better to figure out what you need and how to use it in a non emergency situation.

I parked the Jeep against a 3 ft mound and winched from nearby tree:




It went well. I had everything I needed in the Jeep for this task and it was easy to access. It was also quick to put everything away when done.

I need to practice using snatch blocks and other things. At least I have a good play area for it.

Brought the cat along for the fun:


After that did a few ditch crossings:

 

Finally got around to finishing up the sleeping extension to my rear shelf. (Well... finished except for paint anyway.)

Since this isn't going to get used all that much, I made it cheap and quick using a lot of wood.

This is the bottom. I'm using wing bolts to attach the legs for easy assembly/disassembly:


The top:


How it fits and ties into the rear shelf:


A little over six feet of sleeping space and plenty strong enough to climb on. You can get in the passenger door, shut it behind you, and then climb onto the shelf:


It's more comfortable than you would think:


The disassembled components. It takes a couple minutes to install/uninstall:


It packs in behind the seats for transit in space that's not really used for anything else:


Now I need to paint the rest of it and sleep in the Jeep in the shop one of these nights to see how it goes.

 

Cool setup, Now we need to see some camping photos with all your mods in action. I really enjoyed my solo camping trips and sleeping in the jeep. During fowl weather, with careful planning one can sleep, cook meals, and complete most any camping activity when necessary. I had a small tarp to cover the jeep with for a little extra insulation and big enough to make a small awning off the passenger side.

 

Make the Mrs. Angry and you might be able to log some frequent flier miles innit.

 

A dog house with wheels!

 

Finally slept in it Friday night. It was 45 degrees in the shop and I was plenty warm. This is me in the sleeping bag:


Consensus is that it's no where near as nice as sleeping in your own bed, but it's a lot better than a tent. I got about half a night's sleep out of it which is about what I get in an unfamiliar bed the first night in a hotel.

So.... good enough.

The setup: One foam pad, one inflatable pad, a sleeping bag and an inflatable pillow:


Doesn't take up too much space broken down:


Now I've got the sleeping platform blown apart so I can finish painting it:


Gratuitous shot of the Jeep up on the hill while out running Bodie today:

 

That shelf looks factory. Nice to be young.

 

I've been working on some minor bolt-on upgrades to the TJ in prep for upcoming adventures this year.

First was a skid plate for the engine oil pan. I like the price/design of the Taboo Customs one:


Install took maybe 15 minutes:


I installed the Terraflex hand throttle kit last night. It's mildly pricey for what you get, but has the great advantage of coming with everything you need to install it in about an hour.

Lever on shifter. It's easy to operate with the thumb and forefinger of your right hand:


Additional cable added to the throttle linkage:


It flexes out of the way with no issues when the throttle is opened with the pedal or cruise control:


It seems to work well. I'm sure it's going to take some practice to use it effectively on the trail. I like that you can tighten the lever to lock in a high idle for winching.

The last item for this year is swapping out the diff covers for thicker ones. These Spicer units are replacements for the front diffs of 70's vintage 3/4 ton trucks and are 5/32" thick. That's about double the stock TJ covers. Not as good as aftermarket covers or skid plates, but cheaper and good enough for this Jeep:




Painted and ready for install:


I should get to that in the next few days. I've got some Lube Lockers for that task.

 

Those diff covers are genius! We’ve cased ours a few times and I’m always wary of that but don’t case for many of the gawdy new ones.

 

Those look just the same as what I used, mine paid for themselves already in a rock garden.
Just a chalk line on the heavy cover but I know the original would have been a different story.

20220410_154720 by Joe with a jeep, on Flickr

 

Swapped out the diff covers on the TJ last night:


The yellow line is where the original fill level from the factory cover is:


Scraped all the silicon off and used Lubelockers this time around:


A tiny bit of forbidden glitter in the rear diff but not much. Both ends looked really good:


Interestingly, swapping the covers turned out not to be a huge gain on a TJ Rubicon.

The new covers are about 0.150 thick:


The factory ones on the Rubicon are 0.120 front and rear:


So I gained thirty thousands thickness. Not a ton, but definitely something.

This made me curious about the thicknesses of other covers I have sitting around.

An original 70's truck from D44 cover is the same thickness as the new ones I bought:


The original cover on the back of the '69 with the tapered axles measures out at 0.077 (but it was tough to get a good measurement so it may actually be 0.063 like the one below):


The original cover on the back of the flanged 44 in the back of the '71 is only 0.063:


You can see both of those thinner covers have stamped ridges between the bolts to increase rigidity at the sealing surface.

So while these 0.150 covers weren't a huge upgrade for the TJ, they would make a massive difference on an older Jeep.

 

Jeez! A 3/4” cover! That’s a lot of unsprung weight.

 

Hah! Editing the original screw up.

 

Yep, but the axle tubes and everything else will fold up before you damage the cover-----

 

I used these for mine and they are holding up well. I was able to add them without taking of the diff covers.
https://ruggedridge.com/p/rugged-ri...o5Zsc9xssox5kvcRKD-P5uJdxhP2-fqhoCsIUQAvD_BwE

 

Looks decent and the price is reasonable.