2005 LJ

[tobyw]

After a couple of less-than-spirited test drives around the neighbor hood and one final bolt torque check, it was time to put some miles on it see what I'd done... Mercifully, nothing fell off and other than it definitely needing a couple more degrees of caster, it drives out just dandy I also wanted to cycle the suspension to check for clearance and measure for bumpstops:

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Overall I'm extremely happy with the results thus far, but clearly only seat time will the real story...

[tobyw]

While the first wheeling trip was technically a success, the addition of the hard top and full bevvy of tools and spare parts really put the spotlight on just how bad the alignment was. The short road trip from the staging area to the actual trailhead was nothing short of a handful... Back home, using the adjustable UCA's up front I dialed in about 5.5* of total caster and that made a world of difference

Similarly, with all of the extra weight I was a little disappointed in how "soft" the rear-end felt overall, particularly in side-hill situations. To try and remedy the issue, I whipped up a couple of mounting brackets and reinstalled the OEM rear swaybar that was native to the LJ chassis:

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The final piece of the current puzzle was rear bumpstops. I didn't like the first attempt for the rear setup, so I spent some time with a frosty beverage and came up with an adjustable base arrangement that should allow for easy fine-tuning, similar to the front:

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[TJDave]

Hockey pucks for the win! I used them on the TJ. Can't remember if they were still on it when I sold it.
I am enjoying watching this build.

[tobyw]

After the past 8+ months of wheeling everywhere between Naches, WA and Fordyce, CA, commuting to work, and otherwise sitting around in a filthy dirty shop environment, I realized that this pooch hadn't seen the business end of a wash mitt in what seemed like decades... So I did something about it:

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