Meduncan's TJ build

meduncan · **Posted:** Thu Feb 09, 2012 12:03 am

Yep, ended up going with 16's to keep the sidewall to wheel ratio about right for running 35's (if I go with that size) on a DD while still maintaining some ability to wrap around obstacles at lower pressure. Stuck with an 8" wide rim as it seems the TJ guys like that size since it holds a bead better at lower pressure. Back spacing on these is marginally better than the Moab's at about 4.84", but I'm still going to have to run hub centric spacers to get the proper clearance. I had to give up on the idea of having wheels that matched my vision and didn't require spacers. Don't get me wrong, I love the wheels i got, but it seemed like all the wheels I looked at were either not the right size or didn't have the right backspacing so ultimately I went with the ones above. When I run a 1.25" spacer I'll be sitting at about 3.6" of BS. It's a little wider than I'd like (most TJ guys seem to run about 3.75 to 4.0), but I can deal with it.

Problem I have now is that I'll probably have to return my 4.75" Bushwacker flares and get the 6" ones. I'll wait till I actually get the tires ordered and mounted to make a final decision on what to do with the flares. I don't want the tires sticking out too far past the flares and I don't want the flares to look oversized either. Hopefully the 4.75" will be a good compromise, but it seems that those are not much wider than the stock ones.

As for the tires, I've settled on Mickey Thompson, but I keep going back and forth on the size. If I run 35's then I will have to upgrade u-joints, shafts, and the rear locker since those will likely be far too stressed with the larger tire and more powerful engine. Problem is that doing the right 35" setup will add about $2,500 to the cost of the build and that doesn't seem like its in the budget. So I may be stuck with running 33's till I can slowly upgrade the parts required to run 35's. Maybe if the bill from Trail Quest comes in low enough and I can find enough stuff to clear out of my garage I can swing the 35" setup. We'll see as things progress.

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu Feb 09, 2012 12:30 am

Always comes down to a comprimise doesn't it :wink:

TAHOE · **Posted:** Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:28 am

tommudd wrote:

Always comes down to a comprimise doesn't it :wink:

There ya go Tom, throwing the wives in the mix :goink:

I don't like the lettering, but I like the wheels.

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu Feb 09, 2012 12:07 pm

Have to keep the women folk happy as well!!
Mine always just asks, did it come out of your account or ours???
If mine its fine

tonycrd · **Posted:** Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:24 pm

More pictures!

:-)r

Grannysgoat · **Posted:** Wed Feb 15, 2012 4:13 pm

Are you going to have this one ready for Moab in May?

meduncan · **Posted:** Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:51 pm

Grannysgoat wrote:

Are you going to have this one ready for Moab in May?

That's the plan.

The Jeep's hit a small delay in the build up while we wait for the engine to ship. The new ship date for the engine is tomorrow so I'm hoping that by the end of this month I'll have the engine, exhaust, headers, snorkel, radiator, water pump, and throttle body installed. Then it will be a matter of installing the lift, seeing how much money is left over, and determining what I can do about the tires, axles, and rear locker.

I've been assured that there will be tons of pictures of the Jeep's progress as the engine install occurs. There are apparently even going to be a few individuals who are just going to stop by to take some pics. No word yet on who those individuals are, but I'll keep you all posted as details flow in and as progress is made.

teckman02 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:19 pm

matt skip moab come to the badlands

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:27 pm

heck of a choice
Moab ..............or Badlands
beautiful country and miles and miles of trails
or 100 acres of mud and short trails
man that will be hard choice there :ROTFL:

meduncan · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:05 am

teckman02 wrote:

matt skip moab come to the badlands

I plan on using the Badlands as a proving ground and a way to get familiar with the new setup, but I'll definitely be going to Moab.

Once I have a good idea of when the buildup will be complete I'll post up a Badlands trip in the Ohio section. If I had to guess right now I'd say I'm looking at a mid-March run to the Badlands, but based on the delays I've experienced so far I wouldn't bank on that just yet.

teckman02 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:11 pm

meduncan wrote:

teckman02 wrote:

matt skip moab come to the badlands

I plan on using the Badlands as a proving ground and a way to get familiar with the new setup, but I'll definitely be going to Moab.

Once I have a good idea of when the buildup will be complete I'll post up a Badlands trip in the Ohio section. If I had to guess right now I'd say I'm looking at a mid-March run to the Badlands, but based on the delays I've experienced so far I wouldn't bank on that just yet.

hey matt I have a trip in the works April 13, 14, and the 15th info in the Midwest area

meduncan · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:29 pm

I've received word that the new engine should show up at Trail Quest today. With any luck the Jeep will be in the shop on Monday afternoon to continue the build.

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:27 pm

Well that is certainly good news!!

meduncan · **Posted:** Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:42 pm

The tires arrived today and the Jeep is over at Trail Quest getting the engine installed. Went with Mickey Thompson MTZ's in 305/70R16 and just placed the wheel on top of the tire to get an idea of what it will look like. I have to say that I'm very pleased. A few more weeks and the Jeep should be complete or at least as complete as my wallet will let me go. :lol:

Since posts are worthless without pics here are the tires.

TAHOE · **Posted:** Wed Feb 29, 2012 10:40 am

OOOO, just the size I need. What's your address so I can steal, uhm, I mean drool over them :ROTFL:

meduncan · **Posted:** Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:29 am

TAHOE wrote:

OOOO, just the size I need. What's your address so I can steal, uhm, I mean drool over them :ROTFL:

555 Wong Way
Yougottabekidding, Ohio 11223

:goink:

TAHOE · **Posted:** Wed Feb 29, 2012 1:41 pm

Excellent, I'll be right up :jester:

meduncan · **Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2012 11:49 am

Word of caution for those who may be considering an engine replacement some day. 505 Performance is slow at shipping stuff and very poor at communicating an accurate status on an order. Trail Quest got the engine a week and a half after it was suppose to be there and here it is another week later and they still do not have the injectors and other parts that 505 say they shipped when the engine went out the door. Not saying 505 is a bad company, I'll reserve that till we see how the engine performs and holds up, but they do have both TQ and I a little concerned.

In any case, the Jeep is still over at Trail Quest waiting on engine parts. They've installed the snorkel, but can't do much else till the remaining engine parts come in. If the parts actually show up early next week I should have the TJ back by the end of next week. Once I have her back I still need to install a new lift, fenders, air compressor w/tank, third brake light, new subwoofer, wheel spacers, new wheels/tires, and depending on how much funding remains I may get a Skyjacker RockLock sway bar. All that and only two months till Moab. I see a couple long weekends in the garage coming up.

Grannysgoat · **Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2012 11:27 pm

meduncan wrote:

Word of caution for those who may be considering an engine replacement some day. 505 Performance is slow at shipping stuff and very poor at communicating an accurate status on an order. Trail Quest got the engine a week and a half after it was suppose to be there and here it is another week later and they still do not have the injectors and other parts that 505 say they shipped when the engine went out the door. Not saying 505 is a bad company, I'll reserve that till we see how the engine performs and holds up, but they do have both TQ and I a little concerned.

In any case, the Jeep is still over at Trail Quest waiting on engine parts. They've installed the snorkel, but can't do much else till the remaining engine parts come in. If the parts actually show up early next week I should have the TJ back by the end of next week. Once I have her back I still need to install a new lift, fenders, air compressor w/tank, third brake light, new subwoofer, wheel spacers, new wheels/tires, and depending on how much funding remains I may get a Skyjacker RockLock sway bar. All that and only two months till Moab. I see a couple long weekends in the garage coming up.

Check out the Currie Anti Rock also

meduncan · **Posted:** Sun Mar 04, 2012 7:41 pm

Grannysgoat wrote:

Check out the Currie Anti Rock also

Yeah, I saw that one. My concern with it is that the Currie won't lock the swaybar ends together and this is my DD. Since you can only set the torsion ration by moving the links you get more body roll. With the Skyjacker you can lock the bar so it acts more like a standard swaybar, but it also lets you move the links for varied levels of "stiffness" while unlocked offroad.

Meduncan's TJ build

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