Team-Built TJ Part 4

In the three weeks since Jeremy Wemple dropped off his TJ. Our team of auto zone commercial customers has worked feverishly to turn it into a heavy duty hill climber today on Xtreme 4x4. All that effort pays off when we take Jeremy and his Jeep for their first serious trail ride.

Our crew this week is Kenny and Chris from Virgin Automotive in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts A Dawn from A Das

Automotive in Kaiser, Oregon

and Daniel and Randall from Raymond's Auto Repair in Bay City, Michigan.

This week is all about finishing up this r

it's a bunch of little jobs that may not be glamorous, but they have to be done correctly because it's little shortcuts. Now that'll leave this truck stranded on the trail. You see the car and it looks like it's done, but

they're

like you said, little things that

had to be done. And

we're here for that.

When we first met Jeremy, we figured out he was a little bit of an audio file.

So to get some sound in his Jeep, we brought in Jason from MTX audio

who carried in some of their latest goodies.

It all started by installing two thunder series amps

which delivers 75 watts per channel to the main speakers and 500 watts to the 10 inch subs.

It's a lot of power in a real small chassis. It's also uh uses surface mount technology so that there's no through holes on the board which resists vibrations a lot better, which in this environment

obviously is real good to deliver the sound of those speakers. Jason installs a bluetooth enabled dual electronics head unit that we've picked up from our local auto zone

up front,

the factory four by six speakers are replaced with some more robust drivers.

You can actually put a five and a quarter in Tweeter in the same location and use the same bolt up style uh mounting that the Jeep speakers were.

But before we can listen to the music, we're going to have to have a place to sit.

So the crew drops in the Mastercraft safety rear bench

and both front bucket seats

to really make this Jeep pound

Jason threw in a set of MTX 3500 series subwoofers

built with increased surface area for improved base response.

The downward facing enclosure can withstand the elements

in this environment. Jeeps, no roof being plastic. It's perfect.

It's much better to have wood or anything else back there.

And with everything finally installed on the interior, it's time to crank up the tunes

and see how this thing sounds.

Stereos are great, but they're not going to help you get through the woods. What will? Well, a good winch and the crew from Warn is here with one of their new

Zion 10, 10,000 pound winches.

The first step to install the winch is to actually remove the front bumper,

set it up on a bench to access the mounting holes

once mounted back onto the Jeep.

The next step is to install the synthetic rope line anchor

and scroll it onto the drought.

You wanna make sure you get your abrasion sleeve on the rope before you install it on the winch

because it will not fit through that in.

So feeding the rope through the fair lead

underneath the winch drum.

Take the zip tie,

gotta get that guy through good enough that you can uh

get your wedge in here

and that now we can get that guy in there, rotate this guy back around.

Once we get this uh vehicle ready to move, we'll get this rope hooked up to an anchor so we can use the weight of the vehicle to finish seeding this peat puck into place.

We don't run a conventional battery in an off road truck because a lead acid type battery. Number one, just the abuse that the truck sees off road just run the trails will shake the battery so hard the plates will loosen up, the battery will fail. But more importantly, this truck will be on its side and on its roof and then back on its wheels and keep driving.

So we always wanna run

what's called an A GM battery or absorbed glass mat battery. Like this one, it's a gel filled battery so you can mount it, run it upside down, it doesn't leak out.

We also never use a factory battery box. We always use these heavy duty units.

This one is uh an our tech box. It's specifically designed for this style battery and it just sandwiches it all together,

make sure that the battery is locked in place so it doesn't shake or move around because when you roll this truck, you don't want the battery to pop out of the battery box, those stock bars and little threaded rods, they just can't hold the battery in.

Then it's just a matter of marking the mounting holes and drilling them,

dropping the box onto the metal cloak, fender bracket,

bolting it in place and securing the battery

up. Next. The crew discovers how much flex this little T J's got.

And when you said 3 ft, I thought you were full of it.

The final bit of fab work to tackle on this TJ is to build a 100% custom steering set up

by using a kit from TMR customs. Both the pitman arm and high steer arms are drilled out

to facilitate the new one ton tire rods and drag link

that mount inside

inch and a half quarter inch wall.

Dom

put the wheels off. We set the toe with the steering wheel pointed straight. Get Kenny up there at the Eagle line

that's within a quarter of an inch. That's fine.

Mound everything in

and tack it in place

before we finish weld anything.

We gotta throw the tires back on

back the jeep off the lift and check for any binding as the suspension articulates.

I told these guys when we started this project that we did an easy 3 ft of articulation out of the rear axle.

They didn't believe me.

And when you said 3 ft, I thought you were full of it.

I was like, man, I don't know, 3 ft. That's probably 30.

Yeah, it's 32 to the inside of that tire.

An important item in any performance suspension system is a limits track.

It's in place to control the axle when the suspension is at full droop,

that's designed to make sure that the shock never becomes the stopping point of the suspension.

So when the piston inside that shock gets to the end of its travel, it doesn't become the thing that stops the suspension from moving. So it'll damage the valves, the disc and the shock.

So what we do is we put these on.

That's awesome.

All right, we'll check the other side to double check the steering

and if it's good, we'll take it all apart, weld everything, mount those limit straps

with the passenger tire flexed up.

We'll have a look underneath the jeep and check for any binding.

If we had any, this would be the time to fix it. In our case, we are good to go.

But that's nice how all the tubes and everything are up above like towards the top of the axle. So you're not gonna hit anything. Yeah, because when you're, when that's why we put those big super duper dip covers on there because that will just hammer into the rocks all day long. That's three eights played on that

super

duper. That's the word for it. Wicked super. That'll be the name.

Wicked.

Oh wicked. Su. Su

su

spelled Supah

with our grammar lesson out of the way. We can add two tabs onto the jeep frame to mount our limits track.

Coming up a custom fab skid plate under our steering ramp means the rocks won't ruin our ride

with all the steering built on our front axle. The one issue at hand is our hydraulic steering assist ramp.

It's mounted below the steering links and is prone to trail damage because of its location.

Daniel

fed up a skid plate to protect it from rocks when we're on the trail.

After making some measurements and bending some tubing,

it was welded on to the axle,

the skid plate underneath. Well, it came from a rather interesting place that was a piece of scrap

that just kind of ended up going up in there, trim a little piece and it was just like

I, I was surprised how good that worked out.

Ok.

With all of the welding, finished a da

cleaned and prepped the links for a good coat of dup colored flat black paint.

Then everything is installed for good

and this Jeep is almost ready for the trail,

but to put the final cherry on the top of this Sunday, Jeremy's Jeep is gonna need a top.

The hardest thing to find when you're dealing with a custom cage in a Jeep is a top that fits correctly.

I found that this best top fast back, frameless top, not only makes the Jeep look cool, but it fits nice and tight over most custom cages.

And considering that Jeremy plans to use this Jeep as a true dual purpose rig driving it every day having a top. Well, it's a must.

All right guys, it's been great having you here this week. We started with basically a Jeep. That was about 80% done. Finished it out. I think it looks pretty good. What do you guys think? I think we knocked it out of the pock. What do you guys think? I think you definitely knocked it out of the pack.

All right.

All right guys. I appreciate you guys coming out. You certainly showed your skills. Put together a great Jeep. I know this guy is gonna love it

and

uh, you know, we'll go out and test it, wheel it, let you know how it does.

Right on. You're well guys, you're welcome back. Anytime

after nine shots, 16 volunteers and four weeks of dedicated work. The TJ is finally ready for a shake down run

from a wimpy little four cylinder worn out rig

to a straight six off road monster.

Now it's time to see how this rig perform.

All right, let's go for a quick rides,

do it.

We invited Larry Rosel from Auto zone along for our Jeep first test drive.

He's not gonna believe this thing. I'm sure he's gonna like it. Oh my gosh. I know he's gonna like it.

Building a capable off road rig that you can drive every day is a little bit tricky.

You dance that fine line between usability and performance in the dirt.

But this TJ is the perfect package

coal

spring suspension up front on a relatively non aggressive suspension system means it can handle highway driving with ease.

37 inch tall tires are the perfect size for a dual purpose R

not so much

that it makes it hard to drive,

but it will give us plenty of ground clearance when we're in the dirt.

But most important,

we certainly changed the look of Jeremy's Jeep.

What was once a worn out faded paint job

is now a head turner, wherever it's gonna go.

I think that once he gets this car really, really dirty,

he's gonna make sure he gets it really, really clean. So it looks good sitting in his garage because it's too beautiful of a, of an automobile not to have it sparkling all the time except when you're in the dirt.

We don't know if he'll keep it clean, but Jeremy's definitely gonna get it dirty.

Thanks to our volunteers. This TJ has been transformed into a hardcore trail race.

We asked them what they want Jeremy to do with it. When he gets it back, you ain't gonna break it, just beat on it. Let's put that gas right down to the floor and

just hold on, grab it like you stole it.

Make all his friends feel this big

because that's what he's gonna do with this thing.

That's an impressive machine for him to uh, be driving this. It's still very practical to drive every day

and maybe roll it a few times if, uh, he wants to get bored on the way to work

to get Jeremy revved up for some serious off roading.

We took him and his family along with some of the build team out for a day on the trail just to see what a hardcore rig can handle.

And then as promised

we delivered Jeremy's TJ. Wow.

I

Jeremy,

it's beautiful.

She's a beast.

I gotta get it muddy. Jeremy.

Well, what do you think Jeremy

go get mine.

What is that?

That's your Jeep buddy. That's the coolest thing you've ever seen.

You ready to go for a little drive, maybe?

All right. Come on. Let's go. All right,

seatbelt.

Thanks mom,

Jeremy had done some mild off roading with his jeep and stock form, but never anything this serious.

We rode up the trail together

to go over some of the new features on

his

after conquering one trail, it was time to go back down to the bottom.

Give Jeremy some seat time

right away. He handled his new jeeps like a champ. Ok. Stay in it. Go to the left.

There you go.

Perfect.

All right. Now, go a little bit to the right

with the first trail under his belt. It was time to throw Jeremy into something a little bit harder.

Will he make it

a more technical tight rock crawling trail

that requires precise placement of each tire

for someone like Jeremy just starting to get into hardcore off roading this TJ.

Well, it's the perfect pat.

Both axles are built to handle any of the abuse you could throw at

with R CV. Chrome Molly shafts up front

and spider tracks, heavy duty unit bearings in the rear.

Jeremy does great,

but he is a little bit nervous about scratching up all of his new parts.

If you fall off on a rock in this Jeep, you can't hurt anything. You got a skid plate from front to back,

you know, everything's up and protected, you're not gonna break anything. You'll be all right.

All right. All right, I trust you. Ok?

I think you

on his second trip up the trail. It's time for Jeremy to handle it all by himself.

His mom, Sandy jumps in the passenger seat and rightly so

she was the one who encouraged him to apply for this complete rebuild.

And with good reason

she wanted Jeremy to enjoy his Jeep.

Plus they were all tired of looking at it sitting in the driveway, not running

that

we're not going over that. Are we?

You're going over that

right here?

And after this whirlwind of a day,

would Sandy go four wheeling again? You wanna know my reaction?

I don't know.

Give me a couple of minutes. I have no idea. It was crazy.

Scary but fun.

Just crazy. Never done anything like that in my life.