Privateer
New member
I have been a member/lurker for a while and after watching and following some really inspiring builds,I know Im a bit long winded but the wife or CEO as I call her is tired of hearing about expo and RTTs winches and such so yall will have to bear the brunt of my pent up ORV passions and love of a good wheeling story.
I decided to try my hand at a general purpose camping and exploring rig. As a father of four boys from diapers to driving the budget was set at whatevers left after everyones taken care of lol. So I started high looking for a older 4wd 4 door something to haul everyone and all the gear for a family of 6. After looking at some really quality rigs I realized my budget wouldnt support another car note and Id better start looking at used for sale by owner rigs.
After living in the hillcountry of texas for a couple of years I pretty much gave up on finding anything I could afford that would fit my requirements. but after moving back to the flat wasteland of houston for work I started seeing deer lease rigs popping up for sale everywhere most of em were beat and beyond hope of making road worthy,but lo and behold on the way to work one day I see this beuty for sale.
The interior was dried out and the leaking window seals had let the rain in to destroy the carpeting and door panels but most of the hard bits are still pristene.
I stopped by the place after work to see what the deal was, soon after meeting the owner we found that we had a mutual friend from years back and the negotiations went alot smoother from there. He told me all he knew of the jeep and that he had planed to take it to the family ranch down in mexico. Then he realized the cost of transport and getting it registered in mexico would be almost twice what he paid for it.
The jeep had belonged to a fellow up in austin close to where I recently moved from and had only one owner who was going to build up the rig for his son who seems didnt want the old beast. After haggling with him for a bit I agreed to pay $1200 for a perfectly straight rust free jeep that everything but the ac worked on and had 80k original miles on it. The only stipulation on my part was a new battery and a set of wheel studs for the rear 3 of which were broken.
So I handed the good man the cash I had scraped up and he handed me a clear title and the keys [Now disclaimer... I have drove old junk and used cars for years and always do a shake down run before I hand over the cash same deal here just I wasnt able to get it up to highway speeds due to expired tags and plates by some 6 years or so] So I called some friends and family and no dice no tow rig avalible, Next option drive it the 20 miles home with the CEO hard on my tail in our van hoping she would cover my tracks and keep the good gentlemen of the texas DPS off my tail.
Now the reason for the above disclaimer 19 of the 20 miles home is on US290 coming out of houston at 6 in the afternoon along with several thousand other people in a hurry to get outta doge. Ok let me set the scene no ac its cool I can deal with a little heat. No power windows blown window track ok I can roll the tailgate window down. Tailgate window down at speed with rear exit exhaust and no open windows = bad!!! ok die of heat exhaustion or axphixiate heat wins.
Hit the skinny pedal and do the neccisary kamakazi merge into 70 MPH traffic good power no shimmy and a very little amount of smoke from sitting up for so long Good! Traffic slows and we got brakes Good! time to change lanes and I notice it gets as touchy as my wife when shes pregnant no problems just a old 4WD with wide tires. As soon as I get comfy and start dreaming of all the mods I can do I hit a bad section of road consisting of a big hump and a sharp dropoff, as soon as the springs compress this beast takes over switches lanes and before I can react we are getting REALLY close to the concrete divider! ok slow it down call the following CEO and let her know its allright she then tells me shes smelling gas bad which I noticed too but passed it off to the fuel we used down the carb to jumpstart it.
Finally we get it to the house without any further problems and its running cool and smooth... good! As soon as I step out I smell the gas and look under the thing see fuel pouring out of the front region of the engine bay. Pop the hood to realize I was one bad plugwire from a fireball to make the worst pyro get the shakes, the entire fuel system is leaking like a sprinkler system.
I guess the heat and vibration of the highway finally took its toll on the aged rubber and fuel pump ...Bad! Ok cheap fix Im a I&E tech I run stainless tubing for pnematics and hydralics for the oil and gas industry, Slap some 3/8ths 316 stainless in the benders and replace everything I can get to, the rubber parts are replaced with Swadgelok armoured chem line (rubber jacket stainless braid with a hybrid rubber liner) Head to the parts house to find a new fuelpump is in stock and only $15 Good!
I spent the first week cleaning out rotted carpet old trash and about 15 years of dust. Then decided to figure out what in the heck they did to the frontend to make it have that much bumpsteer. First whoever replaced the springs used by estimate 3" lift springs Good! Second they rednecked a lift on it with welded on shackle mounts that dropped the front of the springs a good 6 inches Bad! The rear isnt much better 2" suicide blocks stacked to get 4", which baffels me they bought new springs new really good quality hardware and U bolts then go cheap and stack lift blocks Bad! So quick fix the rear till I can get it fixed right by running a bead around the blocks and the spring perch with the mig, it will hold till I get it further along in the build. The front gets a torch and weld job to bring the mounts back to factory hieght and location you can see the shackles are full extended at rest in this pic before I reworked em.
Now that I feel a bit safer driving this rig I hauled it out the the family shop and started the fabrication and all the heavy work. There I will have the tools and a 3 ton jib crane to create my dream. I started with a full tuneup and a 2 3/4" Thrush tru dual exhaust dumping the cat and smog stuff in the bin, Im in one of the last non emmissions counties in my area. Then I removed the front bumper which was built from one of those portable garage post and some thin deckplate, it had some nasty knee grabbers for the towbar welded on the skin not even tied into the frame of the bumper.
You will notice through this I tend to overbuild so the new material for the front was 8" channel stock and 3/16" plate with a 3/8" winchplate incorporated into it mounted by 4x6" tube stock with fishplates to the frame.
At a later date Ill be adding the low bullbar to the bumper to protect the winch and lights. No pics but I have fabbed the rear bumper and swingout tire carrier and incorporated 2 steel jcan mounts into the swing I just need to paint it up and mount it. Also in the works are a set of sliders and a full safari rack with lightboxes for forward driving lights and rear worklights.
If you managed to read this far your alot more bored than I thought or you enjoy a build story as much as I do lol. Relax this is going to be a long process!
Cheers!
I decided to try my hand at a general purpose camping and exploring rig. As a father of four boys from diapers to driving the budget was set at whatevers left after everyones taken care of lol. So I started high looking for a older 4wd 4 door something to haul everyone and all the gear for a family of 6. After looking at some really quality rigs I realized my budget wouldnt support another car note and Id better start looking at used for sale by owner rigs.
After living in the hillcountry of texas for a couple of years I pretty much gave up on finding anything I could afford that would fit my requirements. but after moving back to the flat wasteland of houston for work I started seeing deer lease rigs popping up for sale everywhere most of em were beat and beyond hope of making road worthy,but lo and behold on the way to work one day I see this beuty for sale.
The interior was dried out and the leaking window seals had let the rain in to destroy the carpeting and door panels but most of the hard bits are still pristene.
I stopped by the place after work to see what the deal was, soon after meeting the owner we found that we had a mutual friend from years back and the negotiations went alot smoother from there. He told me all he knew of the jeep and that he had planed to take it to the family ranch down in mexico. Then he realized the cost of transport and getting it registered in mexico would be almost twice what he paid for it.
The jeep had belonged to a fellow up in austin close to where I recently moved from and had only one owner who was going to build up the rig for his son who seems didnt want the old beast. After haggling with him for a bit I agreed to pay $1200 for a perfectly straight rust free jeep that everything but the ac worked on and had 80k original miles on it. The only stipulation on my part was a new battery and a set of wheel studs for the rear 3 of which were broken.
So I handed the good man the cash I had scraped up and he handed me a clear title and the keys [Now disclaimer... I have drove old junk and used cars for years and always do a shake down run before I hand over the cash same deal here just I wasnt able to get it up to highway speeds due to expired tags and plates by some 6 years or so] So I called some friends and family and no dice no tow rig avalible, Next option drive it the 20 miles home with the CEO hard on my tail in our van hoping she would cover my tracks and keep the good gentlemen of the texas DPS off my tail.
Now the reason for the above disclaimer 19 of the 20 miles home is on US290 coming out of houston at 6 in the afternoon along with several thousand other people in a hurry to get outta doge. Ok let me set the scene no ac its cool I can deal with a little heat. No power windows blown window track ok I can roll the tailgate window down. Tailgate window down at speed with rear exit exhaust and no open windows = bad!!! ok die of heat exhaustion or axphixiate heat wins.
Hit the skinny pedal and do the neccisary kamakazi merge into 70 MPH traffic good power no shimmy and a very little amount of smoke from sitting up for so long Good! Traffic slows and we got brakes Good! time to change lanes and I notice it gets as touchy as my wife when shes pregnant no problems just a old 4WD with wide tires. As soon as I get comfy and start dreaming of all the mods I can do I hit a bad section of road consisting of a big hump and a sharp dropoff, as soon as the springs compress this beast takes over switches lanes and before I can react we are getting REALLY close to the concrete divider! ok slow it down call the following CEO and let her know its allright she then tells me shes smelling gas bad which I noticed too but passed it off to the fuel we used down the carb to jumpstart it.
Finally we get it to the house without any further problems and its running cool and smooth... good! As soon as I step out I smell the gas and look under the thing see fuel pouring out of the front region of the engine bay. Pop the hood to realize I was one bad plugwire from a fireball to make the worst pyro get the shakes, the entire fuel system is leaking like a sprinkler system.
I guess the heat and vibration of the highway finally took its toll on the aged rubber and fuel pump ...Bad! Ok cheap fix Im a I&E tech I run stainless tubing for pnematics and hydralics for the oil and gas industry, Slap some 3/8ths 316 stainless in the benders and replace everything I can get to, the rubber parts are replaced with Swadgelok armoured chem line (rubber jacket stainless braid with a hybrid rubber liner) Head to the parts house to find a new fuelpump is in stock and only $15 Good!
I spent the first week cleaning out rotted carpet old trash and about 15 years of dust. Then decided to figure out what in the heck they did to the frontend to make it have that much bumpsteer. First whoever replaced the springs used by estimate 3" lift springs Good! Second they rednecked a lift on it with welded on shackle mounts that dropped the front of the springs a good 6 inches Bad! The rear isnt much better 2" suicide blocks stacked to get 4", which baffels me they bought new springs new really good quality hardware and U bolts then go cheap and stack lift blocks Bad! So quick fix the rear till I can get it fixed right by running a bead around the blocks and the spring perch with the mig, it will hold till I get it further along in the build. The front gets a torch and weld job to bring the mounts back to factory hieght and location you can see the shackles are full extended at rest in this pic before I reworked em.
Now that I feel a bit safer driving this rig I hauled it out the the family shop and started the fabrication and all the heavy work. There I will have the tools and a 3 ton jib crane to create my dream. I started with a full tuneup and a 2 3/4" Thrush tru dual exhaust dumping the cat and smog stuff in the bin, Im in one of the last non emmissions counties in my area. Then I removed the front bumper which was built from one of those portable garage post and some thin deckplate, it had some nasty knee grabbers for the towbar welded on the skin not even tied into the frame of the bumper.
You will notice through this I tend to overbuild so the new material for the front was 8" channel stock and 3/16" plate with a 3/8" winchplate incorporated into it mounted by 4x6" tube stock with fishplates to the frame.
At a later date Ill be adding the low bullbar to the bumper to protect the winch and lights. No pics but I have fabbed the rear bumper and swingout tire carrier and incorporated 2 steel jcan mounts into the swing I just need to paint it up and mount it. Also in the works are a set of sliders and a full safari rack with lightboxes for forward driving lights and rear worklights.
If you managed to read this far your alot more bored than I thought or you enjoy a build story as much as I do lol. Relax this is going to be a long process!
Cheers!
I really like where your build is headed. You've got some sweet fab skills too. 
