Project A.J.

The parts have been arriving for weeks and today is the day our off road team begins the most aggressive project yet.

Plus they don't call them tough trucks for nothing. We're off to the four wheel Jamboree for a little head over heels. Action Xtreme 4x4 starts. Now,

I,

you know, we know that everybody at home likes to look through catalogs, admire the parts or maybe even your head. You dream up the ultimate truck. Well, we did just that today on Xtreme 4x4, we're gonna start with one of the wildest build ups you've ever seen.

All we did was bring in a catalog, a pad and a paper and now we're gonna be building a sick rock crawling Jeep

just like in your wildest dreams. Blank check, no budget, no questions asked, kind of plan. And now the parts are starting to pile up here and it's time to get to work underneath these tarps the first couple pieces that we need. So let's have a look.

Where's the body doing?

Well? It's on its way and the best part is, is it's all aluminum. Oh, so it's like an alloy Jeep. Yes, which we'll call AJ for Sure, nice. Very nice

pack.

You're a passenger.

Hey,

suspension

here.

The process of building a Jeep from scratch began months ago.

We started with a wish list of what we wanted. Then we got on the phone.

You're the best.

Thanks guys.

You build a Jeep. You need to contact quadri

quadrate

offers more Jeeps specific products than anyone else in the industry.

Go a little further

on

from them. We received an aluminum CJ seven body that you have light fuel

grill wiring harness, steering

and a whole bunch of other Jeep odds and ends. We planned on running skyjacker

super flex long arm eight inch suspension system.

And once advanced frameworks knew our plan,

they built their one of a kind hybrid CJ TJ frames for us. Curry hooked us up with a high P nine inch front and their awesome rock dock 60 for the rear

for the drive train. We tapped TC for a 700 R four automatic trans converter and all the trimmings.

Then it was on to advanced adopters to get, of course an Atlas two transfer case

if you plan to run at Sirius Angles, fuel injection is a good idea. So we chose a 383 small block Chevy

and then ordered a GM ram jet fuel injection system

to be controlled by street and performance.

And that's where we are today. A

huge pile of parts and a big job to do. But don't worry, we've committed only five weeks to this project.

That's right. We're gonna haul ass through all of this to hopefully keep you all on your seats. It's a huge job, but like you wouldn't take it up.

Make sure you stay tuned because by the end of this show, we're gonna have this entire frame as rolling. Taxi,

cheer

him up

coming up. We'll take you to the four wheel jamboree for some tough truck racing. When Xtreme 4x4 continues,

the Xtreme 4x4 event of the week is brought to you by Warren. Number one in winches.

Welcome back to Xtreme 4x4. We got done unpacking all the boxes for our ultimate Jeep build up. And the first step in putting this rolling chassis together is obviously the axles. We went to Curry for a Ford nine inch in the front and a Dana 60 in the rear. This nine inch has a high pinion, which means the pinion is above that axle center line. That's gonna give us more clearance on those rocks to put it in. We got the bottom in. It's got to put the top mounts on

this rock. Jock 60 is brand new from Curry. It's perfect for a rock climb application because of this inspection plate. Now. It looks like it's sitting crooked but it's really not. It's tilted forward to keep it out of the area of the rocks. Plus it's got this built in skid plate which you'll see more when I'm dragging across the rocks when we're going up there,

plus it's got super high clearance and it's lightweight

when it comes to suspension. This Skyjacker super flex long arm kit is pretty neat.

You can order it with either urethane bushings on either end,

all he

joints or you can get one on each end,

one piece of the Skyjacker kit we're not gonna use is this trailing arm mount. It's for a stock TJ, but we went ahead and had the guys at advanced frameworks mount ours directly to the frame.

You can spec this from them. If you ask

the four wheel Jamborees are an institution in off roading and nothing gets the fans more riled up

than the tough trunks

for truck racing fanatics around the country. There's nothing bigger or better than the four wheel Jamboree.

This is the largest truck show in the world.

And, uh, we have a series of eight of these that take place all over the United States. We've got, uh,

just about

everything that you could have for a state fair for gearheads from monster trucks to rock crawling,

tough trucks to the biggest show and shine on the planet.

The Jamboree ain't no pony show. It's,

we

really have themed our whole series to be very family oriented.

You can come out here and you can share ideas with guys that

build trucks. You can also come out here and have a real good time with your girlfriend or your wife and bring your whole family. It's a very affordable weekend, but you get a lot for your entry fee

since the Jamboree began here 23 years ago. The trucks may have changed, but one thing remains the same.

This is truly the greatest show on earth

with its pin to the ground speed and axle shaken jumps. Mickey Thompson's tough truck challenge isn't for Wimps. It's 100%. It's extreme four wheel drive

for these racers. It doesn't get any more radical than Indy's s shaped trap pulled to the floor. It's go time.

You give her race, Motocross drag racing circle track.

You take all of them

and put it all in one little realm. You know, you're racing, it's close and you just stand on it and go. Sometimes

they go too far.

I'm fine. I'm fine. I lost my sunglasses. But other than that I'm doing

good.

I knew it was gonna be a roll of the dice, whether I was able to

land right off that last jump or not. I think racers is just their own. Right. They think they can save any truck in any situation.

And that time I got a little bit too far over and could pull her back.

These one on one smack it down. Elimination races aren't just about gunning it.

You have to be a little finesse about it. I've seen guys just smash the throttle and

they don't go, they break, they're done. You don't even see the guy in the other lane,

you focus on your truck, you focus on the track and I'm serious about focusing on your truck because you are part of that truck.

It's great. It's something else racing, tough trucks. Since 1985 Roger became an instant fan favorite when he debuted his Bubba Bronco. 11 years later, you don't have to be rich to get into this sport. I'm the poster child for that.

This truck here

has

nothing but maybe 5 to $7000 invested.

And the other trucks that are out there are all pushing

that

30 to $50,000 price range. And we're doing it with this

even though he's running a 351 Windsor that pushes over 400 horse. Roger knows it takes more than power to win. You can have all kinds of horsepower.

If you haven't got the suspension,

you're not going to go anywhere. You can have 800 horse out there and a guy with an excellent suspension

and a stock motor, you know, 152 100 horses can kick your butt. We'll take a look at the air ride suspension system.

What we have here are airbags that are used to lift the air tag on a semi truck.

The shacks are Rancho nine thousands. They're the adjustables main links. We use hem

joints, these he

joints

uh instead of the high dollar croma

joints that people would not like to use. I'm a farm boy,

these are actually off of a top L

for a three point hitch on a farm track.

The front suspension on this is pretty much

in a stock design.

Uh What I've done, I've sectioned the frame and moved it up.

The frame is actually lifted. The front section of the frame is lifted by four inches.

We went with a 3.5 inch super flex

coral spring to get a little more lift out of it.

And there again, we still use Rancho shots, the adjustable Ranchos, we get a lot of abuse and they still hold up really well. We're really impressed with those for the fans. They love watching Bubba take down the big dogs. And I think when they see that this truck is out on the track, they know it's an underdog and they really root for the underdog

and, uh

come race time, we try not to disappoint them,

trying to finish second in the final standings. Bubba and Roger were knocked out in the first round by Jeff

Fick.

Even a rough showing wasn't enough to ruin Roger's weekend.

It's unlike anything else I've ever done.

I don't know of anything else I'd want to do. I'd love doing this stuff.

I have a lot of fun with it

when we come back, Ian and Jessi put Tub to frame as project AJ gets closer to becoming a rolling Jessi stay where you are.

What do you think? Looks like A Jeep, doesn't

it?

Welcome back to project AJ. And our mock up stage. Now mock up is a super important step when you're trying to tackle a project. This big,

it helps you identify any future problems you might come across in the process. The prime example of that is these shock mounts, these need to be mounted to the lower differential and we won't wanna go ahead and paint that or finish it before we weld that on. Same with the frame. We're gonna be adding all sorts of stuff for this for the roll cage. So the best thing for now is leave it bare.

We got to this point by installing the shocks in the coral springs,

then finished off the front with the track bar.

We did the same thing in the rear with the arms,

the track bar,

the springs and not quite yet the shocks because of the mounts, which is why we have these straps holding up the axle

for tires. We went to pro com for their extra terrain series.

They're a directional tread, but the best thing is with eight plies and these functional side bitter when we air this tire down, it's really gonna grab on the rocks for wheels.

We went back to Pro

Comp for their extreme alloy series. It's a 17 by nine lightweight aluminum wheel, but the coolest thing for us

is the logo in the center cap.

I know we promised you a rolling chassis, but we never got the knuckles in, but with only four weeks left, gotta keep working.

It's coming down, watch your fingers.

We're just going to set the body on the frame for now. We're not gonna bolt it down or mount it. We just want it in place so we can mock some more stuff in.

I'd say that's pretty close.

Yep.

Ok.

Ok. Now, uh,

I think we should strap it in the front

just to keep it from uh, jiggling

when push

in the front,

I'd say anywhere.

Of course,

when you're mocking up parts, it's ok to leave things out depending on what you're planning on checking. In this case, we borrowed a dummy block from the guys over at horsepower.

We're gonna set the real transmission in place though, but we don't need the transfer case for now because we have to have this thing actually at ride height to measure for drive shops and we're gonna have to add a lot more weight before this thing is gonna sit down. Right?

Uh Keep going.

Right.

We spec this frame for a small block Chevy. So the guys over at advanced frameworks supplied us with the mounts and the engine side as well.

We're also gonna throw a cylinder head in this motor so we can check for header clearance as you know, you can leave the exhaust until the end,

but you wanna check for headers early so you don't end up building around them while you're building your truck.

I think on this side,

the biggest issue will be the steering.

I'll get the other C

head. I concur. Do you concur

for more information on today's show? Go online. Extreme furby four tv.com.

I

know I told you we'd have project AJ on a rolling chassis. By the end of the show, we're only three minutes away from getting that done.

And the last thing we need to take care of is the front axle in this cart is everything we need to address those front hubs with. We went to Collins Brothers Jeeps in Texas for a used drivers side steering knuckle because the curry axle didn't have one. But on the passenger side, we went with this beast from Tara

Lex.

This high clearance steering upgrade for the Dana 30 normally replaces the stock knuckle on the passenger side.

What this knuckle does is it raises the steering position allowing for ride quality and steering control on lifted. Jeeps.

It installs just like the factory knuckle

and it also comes with a heavy duty tie rod and drag link.

The last step in this front end is a Warren freewheeling hub conversion kit.

Now you off roaders know the benefit of having freewheeling hubs to disconnect your drive line for driving or flat towing. But the nicest thing about this kit is it's gonna allow you to upgrade to the older CJ 75 on 5.5 bolt pattern. Not only is that a stronger bolt pattern than the factory 4.5, but it's gonna go with our theme of old and new on this Jeep.

The first step is to connect the inner and outer axle shafts.

A new piece from Warren is secured to the curry piece with a U joint included in the kit.

Next, we install the axle assembly,

thrust washer

seal and spindle onto the steering knuckle

and torque the bolts

with the rotor, the hub and the spacer in place, you press it all together with the wheel studs.

Now, this kit requires the use of a modified CJ seven rotor.

I'll trade, take that one.

Thanks.

The rotor has to have the hat and the outer diameter machine down as per the instructions in the kit. Now, any machine shop will be able to handle that for you.

Once the hubs have been assembled, we can pack the wheel bearings,

apply grease to the bearing cups,

install the bearing on the inboard side of the wheel,

install a seal

and then the whole assembly just slides right onto the spindle.

Now, you don't need a bearing packer to pack bearings. You can do the same thing by hand, but I've seen so many people do it wrong all the time. So for those of you who don't know, pay attention,

you take a dollop of grease, put it in the palm of your hand, you hold the bearing at an angle and you slap it through the grease to force the grease between

the race and the cage. Then just simply work your way all around the bearing

thread, the internet using a four wheel drive socket

and tighten it until you feel drag. When you spin the rotor

loosen it a quarter turn,

then install the lock washer

and then tighten the outer nut to 100 and 25 ft pounds.

The last piece of this puzzle is the wheel lock itself now resistant to grease it because it comes pre

lubed.

Now, the way this works is that this spines onto the wheel and this spins on to the axle and it spins freely.

When you lock it, it pushes in this piece right here

and keeps it from spinning. You unlock it

and it spins again.

Now how to install this,

install the lock ring,

install the actual retaining ring,

then place the hubcap in the free position

and bolted on with the supplied cap screws.

No,

never.

I told you we have this thing as a rolling chassis by the end of the show and we even went ahead and threw a body on it.

The cool thing is his body is all aluminum. It's light as air. Anyone can pick this thing up.

And we got this custom hybrid frame. It's modified to fit a TJ suspension. The whole thing sort of goes together as an old versus new thing. We got the CJ seven and all the new TJ stuff and this thing is going to be full of toys to make this the ultimate trail rig. Not too bad for one show. Four more before we get to go out and play.

Be sure to tune in next week when we resurrect this ranger into an off road bandit. And if you think it was hard building a truck out of nothing, you should try building something out of that,

but that's ok. Here at extreme, the impossible just takes a little bit more time and a lot more money. See you next week.