Knucklehead's blog

[Mike1331]

nice floor work. Wanna finish mine? i pay...

can't wait to see your rig wheel in person.

 

[knucklehead 61]

i just finished 14 hrs of work on the floors of big red today & i am still not done with them yet.
i'll have them done tomorrow though.
still lots to do & the clock is ticking fast!
tomorrow is gonna be a l-o-n-g day in the shop!
this p.o.s. needs to be trail ready by monday night.
load it on the trailer & shop for food tuesday night...
hopefully leave wednesday morning for...SIERRAFEST!!!!!

 

[the_weirdo]

I'd offer to come help but we both know I wouldn't be any help. If I wake up early enough and start getting my stuff done, I'll try to stop over and bring some lunch.

 

[knucklehead 61]

another 12 hr day on the red heep of death.
special thanks to the weirdo for stopping by with delicious taco bell goodness!
that was a bag full of win!

got the floors all done & sealed all the weld seams watertight.
started to spray bomb all the new tin work until i ran out of paint.
had to modify all the seat mounts to fit the new floor shape.
got em' done, painted, & back on the seats.
fuel tank is back in, plumbed, & wired.
started it up to make sure it still runs.
got the passenger seat & harness reinstalled.
got part of the driver harness installed.
shifter boot installed, rad shifter reinstalled.
belly skid plate installed.
lug nuts torqued.
fixed an issue on the trailer.

so, i think i can now say that the red piece of sh#t is a GO for sierrafest!

sounds like i am leaving thursday morning with the weirdo, not wednesday,
so that will give me some extra hours to finish up this thing.

still need to:
change tranny fluid.
install driver seat & harness.
finish tidying up the rad shifter & tranny control wiring.
make a nitrogen tank mount.
make a hilift mount.
make some tie down points for my toolbox & fluid bottle storage box.
make a spare driveshaft mount.
wash this pig.
dump more air outta the tires so i can break them in.
load up all the crap i need on the trail.
double check to make sure i am not forgetting anything important.

 

[SharkXJ]

Sounds great Tim - good job bud.

See you guys on Thursday

 

[knucklehead 61]

trans fluid changed.
nitrogen bottle mount fabbed up, just need to debur, paint, & install.
radiator overflow bottle mounted & plumbed.
seats & harnesses in.
interior paint done enough for now.
shifter boot & knobs on.
roughed out some pull tabs for the harness releases, Diane will sew them up tomorrow.
started piling stuff to load.

tomorrow will be another busy night!

 

[rockclimber]

how do you get so much done in a day?

 

[knucklehead 61]

how do you get so much done in a day?

get home between 4 & 5 & jump into the shop.
work until dinner, stop, eat, watch olympics on tivo,
back in shop until 11.
it helps that i have a somewhat well stocked shop & tool supply at home.
i always have a couple full spare c-25 bottles & around 100 lbs. of mig wire in stock, plus many thousands of nuts, bolts, washers, & misc. hardware so i very seldom have to stop & go to the store.

plus having a very understanding & wonderful wife who lets me play in my fort & not having any kids other than our two rottweilers Bruno & Jax.

 

[knucklehead 61]

the big red piece of sh#t is done & loaded on the trailer.
tomorrow after work i need to shop for foodstuffs & load all the camping crap into the dodge & then i am ready for takeoff either wed eve or (probably) thursday morning.

note: naxja givaway stock '99 xj in the background for comparison...

various items to note in this pic:
1) california blessed this p.o.s. with license plates, street legal!
2) i need more cowbell.
3) the top sticker is for columbus to stare at as he unfurls his new winch after thinking he can follow my lines! :gee:

 

[knucklehead 61]

note 3/8" plate belly pan. i still need to get some sheet plastic to skin it with after i plate in the boat sides. oh yeah, approx. 21.5" of clearance to the dip in the pan. sa-weet!

the pitbulls fit on the trailer...just barely! the fronts are squished in a little bit, the rears have about 1/2" clearance!

thats how i roll *****ez!

 

[Jeep450r]

You're gonna have fun getting those bolts off once the heads get all squished and rounded!

Looks awesome Tim. Can't wait to see it at the festivities in the sierras.

 

[knucklehead 61]

You're gonna have fun getting those bolts off once the heads get all squished and rounded!

Looks awesome Tim. Can't wait to see it at the festivities in the sierras.

i plan to turn some cone washers on my lather & convert to socket head cap screws just for that reason. i do have a day job & can't spend all my free time working on this p.o.s.
it is nowhere near done, but it is (hopefully) able to make it through the weekend without blowing up or catching on fire. i didn't put the cro-mo's in the front axle so i cant get too stoopid with it yet. oh yeah, i forgot , there is no exo cage on it yet & i cut the bases off the a piller interior cage legs when i clearanced the floors for the tires. this never ends! :shiver:

 

[blondejoncherokee]

those bolts will be fine . i doubt after one run they will get too bad, especially with 42s. you can always swap bolts out after a few runs. thing looks killer. this is the one rig i really want to see at sierra fest wheel, that, and jose jalapenos rig.

 

[knucklehead 61]

so the red p.o.s. made it through sierrafest with flying colors!
no body damage, no winch or strap pulls.
all the suspension changes seemed to work perfectly.

next up: remove the giant zip ties currently holding the front calipers in place,
install the new front brakes, sell the oem breaks & axles, sell the cro-mo axles i previously bought in preparation to install the new RCV axles i ordered this morning! $$:gee:

 

[RenoXJ]

thats a sick rig man... nicely done

 

[rockclimber]

it lives!!!!

 

[rockclimber]

 

[the_weirdo]

If his rig is so great, why did he have to back up? (slightly jealous if you can't tell)

 

[rockclimber]

If his rig is so great, why did he have to back up? (slightly jealous if you can't tell)

there's a loose nut behind the steering wheel. makes him take bad lines...

 

[knucklehead 61]

it lives!!!!

cool video. really glad i didn't flop it on camera! :eyes: