06 LJ Rubi Trail Wheeler and Overland Build

[wgyouree]

Ok, this is my first build thread. A little history of my wheeling. I started at 15 with my first ride (ok, my Dad's really) a beautiful '97 D90 with 4" lift and 35 BFGs. Here's a pic of me wheeling it in Tellico before they closed the park.



My next rig (my first ORV rig), a '01 Cherokee with 4.5" lift, trimmed fenders and 33" BFGs.



I put a lot of love into that rig. Had a bunch of issues with it after I bought it and fixed them all myself (having only ever changed the oil before, learned with Google and YouTube). New 3-row radiator, water pump, thermostat, auxillary trans cooler, brakes, fuel pump, exhaust hanger, wheel-to-wheel tie rod conversion, and much more. Ran like a champ, I still miss that rig.

After adding up the cost of everything I wanted to do to the Cherokee (axles, roll cage, gears, lockers, etc...) I decided just to purchase a Rubi. I went with an LJ for the longer wheelbase and extra space, but not so long as a JK 4-door. Got it bone stock with 48k miles and immediately went to work.

Flat fenders, 2" Skyjacker BB, stubby bumper, new brakes and Superwinch 9000.



After awhile I ended up moving to San Jose California for work (and, admittedly, for proximity to the Rubicon trail which has been a life long dream). Once I got out here, I went straight for the 35" tires.





Turns out the BB was only netting me 0.5" now due to the increased weight and worn out stock springs. Next up a 4.5" RE short arm lift.



Then came the trial run, the Rubicon trail! Scratch that off the bucket list, of course I'll be back twice a year now



Next problem was that the new flex on the front caused the driveshaft to rub the stock transmission skid. Next up, Tummy Tuck, 1" body lift, and 1" MML (no picks of install for TT and BL).



Since then I've done lots (couldn't find pics). ARB Competition diff covers, rear security drawer for tools and recovery gear, fire extinguisher, flash light mounts, and recently a Tom Woods XB front driveshaft.



With all the added weight and while chugging up mountains out here I'm running into overheating issues (getting to 230 degrees at some points) it's time for a cooling system upgrade. Next weekend I'm installing a Griffin 2-row aluminum radiator, B&M auxiliary trans cooler and grill inserts (to keep the leaves, bugs and rocks out, not for looks, come on it's a Jeep).

After that I've got lots of plans. River Raider cowl snorkel (humvee style), on board air compressor, dual batteries, Mean Green alternator and keep the stock for a dual alternator setup and on board welder, Mean Green starter and keep the stock as spare, chromoly axle shafts and hubs and keep the stocks as spares, GR8 top half cab hard top, White Knuckle Off road rock sliders, AEV diff sliders, Garvin rear bumper with tire carrier and jerry can mounts, Gen Right 31.5 gallon safari gas tank, some sort of on board fresh water system, and some sort of custom front exo-cage and roof rack. Lot's to do as time and money allows. I'll post more detailed information here about future work. Planning a two week Utah Traverse next year and "need" most of this stuff done before then.

The goal of this rig is to be a comfortable daily driver which is as much at home on the Rubicon trail as it is on expeditions in the desert for weeks at a time.

 

[marshal]

id be ditching all that heavy steel stuff for some Savvy aluminum stuff. keeping it light is key to longevity

 

[wgyouree]

I've been thinking more about keeping it light recently. Maybe I'll swap out the steel flat fenders for something lighter. I think I may forget about getting a Garvin rear bumper and tire carrier and instead just get some re-enforced hinges to support the larger spare and then weld up some stuff to make the stock bumper better. I'd make some wrap around protection for the rear quarter panels out of 3/16th steel, weld on better frame tie-ins and add some D-Ring tabs, and then remove the tow bar which I wouldn't need anymore.

 

[X-plorenow]

Welcome! Nice trucks....While I am a Jeep guy I LOVE the D90, gorgeous! Agreed, everyone needs to start focusing more on weight. Everyone seems to talk about diesel, they would be better off putting their truck on a diet first!

 

[wgyouree]

Yeah that D90 was amazing. Forgot to mention it also had ARB lockers front and rear. That was the only picture I could find from 15 years ago, but I drove that thing over every obstacle in Tellico (except for Helicopter Pad) and it didn't even come close to getting stuck

Thinking of taking some weight off, I found these GenRight aluminum front fenders. They only weigh 8 lbs (vs. the 70 or so for my steelies)!! That's pretty amazing! Now I just gotta find the funds for that with all the other stuff I want to do... JEEP = Just Empty Every Pocket

http://www.genright.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=TFF2730#.UZZOrkBDtBg

 

[wgyouree]

Truck-lite LED Headlamps

Replaced the weak stock headlamps with some Truck-lite LED headlamps. Very bright and don't draw many amps, they're built tough too.











The radiator didn't arrive by last weekend so I just did the headlamps instead. The radiator just arrived from Griffin yesterday but since we're going camping this weekend I'll need to wait until next weekend to install it. Will post pics and write up of the process.

 

[wgyouree]

Some exploring and testing

The radiator arrived late so I didn't get a chance to install it yet. This weekend we're going to explore some of the Lost Coast and so I'll have to install it next weekend. The weekend after is another trip to the Rubicon

We did do some exploring of the Mendocino National Forest over Memorial Day Weekend. This was an awesome place. Pretty remote, steep narrow often gravel/dirt roads to get there (to the Pillsbury Lake region) so not a lot of people. Many dirt roads to explore through the mountains including Jeep and motorcycle trails. Lot's of beautiful hiking trails as well. We hiked a bit of the Bloody Rock Trail until the dogs got tired. Here are some shots.











Then last weekend we went to Hollister Hills SVRA to test out our Jeeps. I needed to make sure my front driveshaft was OK for the Rubicon next weekend.



I'll post some pics of the coming Radiator install soon, also adding a new steering stabilizer.

 

[wgyouree]

ARB Air Compressor

Finally got some work done to the Jeep. When blazing through the Jeep trails in Mendocino National Forest my old CB antenna was removed, unbeknownst to me. I swung by 4 Wheel Parts in San Jose to get a new FireStik and saw this shiny new ARB Twin Compressor on the shelf. Now, I knew I needed a new one because my old portable one died on the last Death Valley trip, so I convinced myself this was the smartest move

So a little info about me. I live in an apartment, and have lived in apartments for years. In the last two years I moved five times due to work. This makes working on my Jeep very difficult. The apartment managers generally frown on seeing a vehicle in their parking lot with multiple wheels removed sitting on jack stands with a greasy looking guy underneath cursing at rusted bolts and banging on *stuff*.

I'm a member of our local TechShop in San Jose and I can get there to get some things done. But I can't leave a vehicle there overnight and this is my daily driver so I'd be stranded there anyway.

So I don't have a fancy garage with drill presses, pipe benders, and all the joyous things that I want one day. I'm saving up for a down payment but in the meantime I have to ninja this stuff in the apartment parking lot or get things done quick in the bay at TechShop.

So on to my new air compressor.

I had the weekend off and picked a shady spot in the parking lot with the driver side of the Jeep turned away from where I knew the apartment manager would be walking during the day's tours. I had done my research and knew that I could fit this air compressor on the tray behind the driver side fender under the hood. It's the one that looks like a battery tray but there's no room for a battery there due to the master cylinder. This spot has several advantages. It's the perfect size and it's right next to the grommet through the firewall for connecting to the switch.

This is where the air compressor will go.


Routing the switch harness through the grommet in the firewall. Eventually I'm going to hook up an auxiliary fuse box in the cabin for charging and communications equipment and build a wiring harness for all my switches. In the meantime this is the first wire I've had to run into the cabin so it's blazing a new trail.


It turns out that one of the benefits to having hacked off my stock fenders to install tube steel flat fenders is that I can easily remove those fenders and have unprecedented access to the side of the engine bay. This made the install *much* easier than what I've read online.


Since I don't have a switch pod yet, I opted to install this switch in the panel beneath the steering column. This'll be the only switch to go there. I think I'm going to mount the fuse box and wiring for my other switches behind this panel as well. Lot's of room in there and I can easily access it by removing two screws.


The new switch wired up. Looks pretty good for eyeballing it.


All done. Tried it out and it runs like a champ! Won't have to bum a tire fill-up from anyone on the Rubicon now.

 

[wgyouree]

Radiator, Steering Stabilizer, Grill Inserts and RAM Mount

So the air compressor was my Saturday. I had a little more planned for my Sunday. For this I would need to use the bay at TechShop since I'd be pulling stuff out of the engine and draining fluids. If my apartment manager saw me doing that I'd be looking for a new place to live. :sombrero:

I drove the 15 miles to TechShop and then had to wait an hour or so for the coolant to get to some degree below "scalding my face and hands off" before working on the radiator.

I went ahead and installed the new steering stabilizer first. My Jeep has been getting some shimmy in the steering whenever I hit one of the numerous pot holes on the roads out here. You'd think the roads in Silicon Valley would be top notch, but it's like I live in a third world country. Anything below San Jose on 101 is like cruising the backroads of Death Valley at 70 MPH.


By the time this was done the radiator was getting cooler but I went ahead and gave it some more time by installing my RAM Mount. I first heard about these on this forum. I've had plenty of trouble with other mounts. My phone shakes everywhere, falls off, etc... The mount I bought bolts in. I have this metal contraption that fits against the A pillar on the driver side door which was *supposed* to be for a CB. I discovered after I bought it and installed it that it must be used for CBs for ANTS!! It needs to be at least 3 times bigger for my CB :ylsmoke:

It was however the perfect place to bolt in a RAM Mount without having to drill into my Jeep. Also the plastic parts of the Jeep dash didn't seem like the most stable place to attach the mount if I wanted zero vibrations.

Clamped the metal thing in the vice and used a vice grip to hold the RAM Mount in place to line things up.


Drilled it out and bolted in the mount.


Then put the metal thing back into the Jeep. Sorry for the crappy picture, but at least you can see where the mount goes. With my phone in this mount there is no vibration and absolutely no obstruction of my view out the windshield. This is very important to me, I like to be able to *see* the terrain I'm about to drive over. FYI, I use my phone as an auxiliary gauge cluster (Torque app) and a topo map GPS (Backcountry Navigator app) so it's pretty critical to have it visible and not bouncing all around the cab and my lap. It's a phablet 4.7" screen so it's plenty big.


Next I put in the grill inserts. I don't think they look *too* cheesy. They're there to keep rocks, branches and such out of the cooling system. You can actually see all the dents in the grill where rocks and branches have hit it. They're aluminum so they should hold up well.


Now that everything had cooled down I removed the stock radiator and fan shroud.


The new Griffin aluminum two core radiator looks much better. It's also much bigger. Not a lot of space left in there. I'll be going with an electric fan eventually once I upgrade the electrical system and save up some more cash.


Ran into some trouble with the transmission cooler lines. The new fittings are 3/8 and the stock fittings on the cooler lines are 5/16. So that was a no-go. All the stores were closed so I had to bite the bullet and get the GF to come pick me up from San Jose. I came back down the next day after work and got some lead-free brass fittings to complete the job. Man do I wish I had a garage...


Ooooh shiny :Wow1:


I've only driven it to work and back but it's staying right at or just below 210 now. It was going up to 215 on the commute. That wasn't the problem though. It was when it was getting up to 230+ on the mountains and in the heat. I'll see if it really fixed the problem this weekend on the trip up into the Sierras for the Rubicon trail.

Stay tuned, some pics of my (mis)adventures on the Rubicon trail coming next week.