2012 In One Post....I Need More Time!

I really need to stop and smell the weld sometimes. 2012 was a crazy year for me and my family. I hit some real highs (as you will see in a minute) and also some lows. All of these effected my time spend out in the garage. For starters I had a huge (for me) axle /suspension build that you will see. It was an awesome time. I also found out my mother has terminal cancer. So we moved out of our house and into a new house that was better for my mother (she has lived with my family for about 4 years now). So now that things are slowing down a bit, I can turn my attention to my new 4 car garage! I'm not so cramped in this one and am now ready to get back to work!

But before we do that, we better catch up on the fun I had last year. These projects are a bit out of order as far as when they happened, but you'll get the idea. Also, I took a ton of pictures of these projects, but just wanted to be quick about getting them on here. If you have any questions, please email me or post up here and I'll get you taken care of. So lets jump in!

Nothing better then two Jeeps in at once. Even better when they are father and son's Jeeps. In the Picture below you have Benko's Jeep on the left and then his son Braden's Jeep on the right. Braden decided to go for a full one ton build up, including built 14 bolt and Dana 60, A GenRight double triangulated rear and three link up front. Fox coil-overs front and rear with Teraflex Speed Bumps. And of course, the crown jewel, an Atlas 4 speed transfer case. So to start off, I removed Braden's axles that were already set up with gears and ARB's and installed them into Benko's Jeep. I swapped over the air compressor and the switches from Braden's then got it all wired up and out the door.

With Benko taken care of it was time to go full speed ahead on Braden's. 

 I think the UPS guy came to my house every day for about a month dropping off parts.

Still more coming.

We started off with a Dana 70 rear, but found a sweet 14 bolt that was already geared, so we jumped on that and sold off the 70.

Braden wanted the best of the best when it came to a transfer case. An Atlas 4 speed was the only way to go. Getting it to fit....well that's a story for another day.

Out with the old and in with the new. Atlas sure knows that they're doing when it comes to t-cases.

Next up was the 14 bolt rear axle. We ordered a Ballistic Fab truss and shave kit. I have to say it was a very nice set up. Here are some of the highlights of this install. I took lots of pictures of this and may do a blog post just on it, to help out anyone looking for advice before cutting up their diff.

The rear end all finished. Fox coil over inside a frenched mount along with a Teraflex speed bump and GenRight sway bar, and limit straps.

With the rear done, it was time to start on the front end. First up was removing all the old brackets that would no longer be needed, then checking to make sure I had all the new parts to go on.

I modified the driver side frame bracket to give a bit more separation between the two links. At full stuff and with our wanted ride height, they were hitting. So I used some extra brackets that were in the kit and was able to put the upper link on top of where it was supposed to go.

This Ballistic Fab Truss for the front 60 was a bit to big. I had to cut it down a bit, as seen in the picture, to allow us to mount the shock where we wanted it. It worked out great.

Talk about a close fit! This shows the track bar and pitman arm coming very close to the diff and full stuff. This is with the front axle pushed forward around 6 inches. The tie rod was mounted behind the axle to give us more room to push it forward.

I had another local guy that works out of his house cut me up this front bumper/cross member. Carl is awesome and does great work.

I added some parts to cover up the steering gear box, which was still mounted in the stock location.

We ran out of room on the axle when it came time to put on the bumps. So the next best place was on the lower links. Plenty of room there and it works great.

Well after all that hard work, you can see it payed off. Braden found a little jump out at Area BFE in Moab. This was about the roughest "Shake Down" run ever. They didn't get pictures of his first run, so he had to do it again. I was told the first jump was even higher. Nice to know my welds held up!

Here's a video I stole from Braden's thread. His whole write up of this Jeep can be found here.

EDIT: Congratulations to Braden!!! His Jeep was just voted Jeep TJ of the Year 2012 on Jeep Forum!!!

This next one was a pretty simple job. I just welded on the sliders, hoop and stinger. I used Carl again and had him come up with the stinger insert. Turned out great.

I know what your thinking on this next one. It's not four wheel drive! I have to make exception to my rules every now and then. Plus it was a fun one. The owner was after a very specific style of highway bar, but no one makes them for this Vulcan. Well almost no one. I do. Or at least I do now.

All done and ready for the chrome shop.

This one was a simple cage modification. Just cutting out a few bars and putting in some new ones where the owner wanted them. My little overhead lift has sure come in handy.

Well I think that's it for this go around. I'm all settled into my new house, got the welder wired up and am ready to burn some metal. Let me know if there is something I can do for you. See you on the trails.