Restoring my tj back to "stock" form is just not making sense to me in any aspect besides the fact that my jeep will "live again" though that really doesn't excite me 1 bit. The amount of time and $$ it will take to make my jeep "stock" again and get rid of all the 1/2 assed mods is out of this world. Here's a list of stuff that my jeep needs to make it nice and "stock" like again in no paticular order:
full body, every pannel (tub all hacked up and dented, windshield frame dented and windshield cracked, tail gate is mangled and has 2 or 3 large holes, grill is dented and cut for turn signals, hood cut, fenders), All new wiring harness, trans has a major leak and may be trashed since it would go in nutral or drive (but only 1st worked), motor has lots of electrical gremlins and leaks oil, t-case and linkage, 8.8 needs bearings, seals, calipers, rotors, i have a 260 joint d30 for it so that needs 297 joint shafts, need a custom track bar to deal with the drilled out mount, need a new pitman arm to replace the drilled out stock arm, Control arms are mangled, i don't own a set of 4 of the same sized tires for it or any wheels besides factory 15x6 steelies, needs a tire carrier, Needs pretty much a complete interior besides seats and those need to be cleaned, new dash, center coucle, steering colum cover (maybe new colum), 3 way switch, none of the dash electricals worked after the roll, needs the battery mount put back in the engine compartment, rear crossmember on the frame is pretty tweaked, control arm mounts tweaked, all new seatbelts except for 1 in the rear, i'd either need to make a new skid or find a used one since mine is gone
new shocks (2 or 3 of the current shocks are blown, drive shaft u-joints if i decide to use a stock rear shaft, new rear shaft if i go with an sye, exhaust and probably cat, front brake lines (drilled out for d44 caliper bolts)
So pretty much the only stock things i will be using will be the frame, 8.8 rear (after lots of work), motor (but needs some work), maybe the trans if it can be rescued, master cylinder, steering box, part of the steering colum, front drive shaft, seats after a good cleaning, maybe some heater parts, 1 rear seat belt.
To me that sounds like a huge list of parts i don't have the $$ for and there's no chance within a year or maybe even 3 my jeep would be back alive and in stock form which almost seems pointless to me. If i don't do all those things then i will still have a half assed jeep in some ways that looks like crap or runs like crap and i'm sure if i ever got it together i'd find many more gremlins once i stared wheeling it and driving it again. I have the opertunity to trade my jeep to a buddy that owns a 4x4 shop and he would probably make the jeep into some kind of trail rig so it would live again for all of you worried about "pleasing the jeep gods." In exchange for my jeep i would get an '87 YJ (258, puke and go, 231, 110k) and parts to make it into a decent easy-moderate trail rig (31" muds, cage, mild lift, ax15 to replace the puke and go when it goes). Once i'd get it i would fix the little gremlins (oil leaks, rust, another other "stock" issues that should be fixed) and do mods i can handle like rocker guards and other skid plates, swapping in tfi and a mc 2100 or maybe fuel injection, maybe an 8.8 with a lock right, cb, and put my winch on it.
I've learned a lot from the distruction of my tj and now know how to do a lot of things the right way because i did them the wrong way on my tj, i could probably make a list of over 100 things i would do differently with out a problem. I no longer want a "wana be" hardcore rig (the direction i thought my tj was going before i realized it was beyond help) and want a rig that i'm able to drive every day, wheel most trails (how many trails at the badlands can you no get through with 31's, a locker, winch and some decent driving?) if i can't make it now that i have a decent winch (picked up a warn m8000) i can always winch through something instead of giving it 20 tries and beating the hell outa my heep, will be able to make the 6 1/2 hour road trip home with out too much trouble, and is something that is good for me to practice my wheeling skills in so maybe in 2 or 3 years when i have enough $$ and experiance i can build a decent "hardcore" trail rig the right way. I live in wheeling country now and might as well take advantage of, who knows where i'll end up when i'm out of school.
I figure spending my time doing mods i know i can handle, fixing broken parts as they come up and getting experiance on the trail instead of spending 4 years trying to convince my self to wheel my daily driver and being miserable in my shop screwing with tons of gremlins. I figure wheeling and getting experiance on the trail then dealing with my disaster is more benifical to me as a person as a person over all.
I know most of the people on the board feel that i should try and fix it but most of the people i wheel and wrench with all the time at school, several people i used to wrench with all the time (i didn't wheel alot because the pos was always down with rigged issues), and my self feel that it's a lost cause to try and fix the tj along with.
Here's a picture of the heep's current state
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BarrelRoll
full body, every pannel (tub all hacked up and dented, windshield frame dented and windshield cracked, tail gate is mangled and has 2 or 3 large holes, grill is dented and cut for turn signals, hood cut, fenders), All new wiring harness, trans has a major leak and may be trashed since it would go in nutral or drive (but only 1st worked), motor has lots of electrical gremlins and leaks oil, t-case and linkage, 8.8 needs bearings, seals, calipers, rotors, i have a 260 joint d30 for it so that needs 297 joint shafts, need a custom track bar to deal with the drilled out mount, need a new pitman arm to replace the drilled out stock arm, Control arms are mangled, i don't own a set of 4 of the same sized tires for it or any wheels besides factory 15x6 steelies, needs a tire carrier, Needs pretty much a complete interior besides seats and those need to be cleaned, new dash, center coucle, steering colum cover (maybe new colum), 3 way switch, none of the dash electricals worked after the roll, needs the battery mount put back in the engine compartment, rear crossmember on the frame is pretty tweaked, control arm mounts tweaked, all new seatbelts except for 1 in the rear, i'd either need to make a new skid or find a used one since mine is gone
new shocks (2 or 3 of the current shocks are blown, drive shaft u-joints if i decide to use a stock rear shaft, new rear shaft if i go with an sye, exhaust and probably cat, front brake lines (drilled out for d44 caliper bolts)
So pretty much the only stock things i will be using will be the frame, 8.8 rear (after lots of work), motor (but needs some work), maybe the trans if it can be rescued, master cylinder, steering box, part of the steering colum, front drive shaft, seats after a good cleaning, maybe some heater parts, 1 rear seat belt.
To me that sounds like a huge list of parts i don't have the $$ for and there's no chance within a year or maybe even 3 my jeep would be back alive and in stock form which almost seems pointless to me. If i don't do all those things then i will still have a half assed jeep in some ways that looks like crap or runs like crap and i'm sure if i ever got it together i'd find many more gremlins once i stared wheeling it and driving it again. I have the opertunity to trade my jeep to a buddy that owns a 4x4 shop and he would probably make the jeep into some kind of trail rig so it would live again for all of you worried about "pleasing the jeep gods." In exchange for my jeep i would get an '87 YJ (258, puke and go, 231, 110k) and parts to make it into a decent easy-moderate trail rig (31" muds, cage, mild lift, ax15 to replace the puke and go when it goes). Once i'd get it i would fix the little gremlins (oil leaks, rust, another other "stock" issues that should be fixed) and do mods i can handle like rocker guards and other skid plates, swapping in tfi and a mc 2100 or maybe fuel injection, maybe an 8.8 with a lock right, cb, and put my winch on it.
I've learned a lot from the distruction of my tj and now know how to do a lot of things the right way because i did them the wrong way on my tj, i could probably make a list of over 100 things i would do differently with out a problem. I no longer want a "wana be" hardcore rig (the direction i thought my tj was going before i realized it was beyond help) and want a rig that i'm able to drive every day, wheel most trails (how many trails at the badlands can you no get through with 31's, a locker, winch and some decent driving?) if i can't make it now that i have a decent winch (picked up a warn m8000) i can always winch through something instead of giving it 20 tries and beating the hell outa my heep, will be able to make the 6 1/2 hour road trip home with out too much trouble, and is something that is good for me to practice my wheeling skills in so maybe in 2 or 3 years when i have enough $$ and experiance i can build a decent "hardcore" trail rig the right way. I live in wheeling country now and might as well take advantage of, who knows where i'll end up when i'm out of school.
I figure spending my time doing mods i know i can handle, fixing broken parts as they come up and getting experiance on the trail instead of spending 4 years trying to convince my self to wheel my daily driver and being miserable in my shop screwing with tons of gremlins. I figure wheeling and getting experiance on the trail then dealing with my disaster is more benifical to me as a person as a person over all.
I know most of the people on the board feel that i should try and fix it but most of the people i wheel and wrench with all the time at school, several people i used to wrench with all the time (i didn't wheel alot because the pos was always down with rigged issues), and my self feel that it's a lost cause to try and fix the tj along with.
Here's a picture of the heep's current state
BarrelRoll
