This weekend, after some long days and even longer nights, we got my Jeep under it's own weight, sitting at ride height.  It took a lot more pressure in the struts to lift the Jeep to ride height than we expected but after some research, it appears to be what most heavier vehicles need.  I walked out of my buddy's garage at 1am last night and tonight we are taking a break.  Next up is getting the Genright fuel tank mounted and plumbed.  Then it is on to other tasks like running brake lines, mounting the ARB compressor and running air lines, installing the hydraulic assist steering, installing the fenders, etc...  We are getting there and I'll have some new pics to share soon.

I've sold a good chunk of my old parts which has allowed me to recoup a lot of money that I put out upfront.  The axles, fenders, sliders, springs, tires and wheels are all gone.  I still have my Yeti XD draglink, Metalcloak adjustable control arms and the factory electronic sway bar disconnect.  Hope to get those sold soon.

We will be working on my Jeep tonight and tomorrow and the plan is to have it under it's own weight.  That is a stretch but if you don't have goals, you've got nothing.  To accomplish this, the strut towers will have to be fully welded in, the 14 bolt completely assembled (it's just a housing right now) and the Kingpin 60 will have to have the three link done and setup.  

I just left a friends shop who cut me some gussets on his plasma table.  What an awesome toy, I mean machine.  I'm thinking I need one.  :)  Made quick work of cutting out the gussets from 3/16" steel.  

Jodi is loving her new cat.  It sits on her, sleeps on her, follows her around and hangs out with her in the mornings while she has her coffee.  Just what she wanted.  

 We've made some good progress on my Jeep build.  The new Power booster, master cylinder and reservoir are now in.  That will give the big brakes plenty of stopping power.  I also installed a new whip antennae for the digital radio for long range communications.

The 14 bolt housing now has the truss and all brackets welded on, has been painted and is now ready for gear and axle install.  We've had the 4 link mocked up and the flex is going to be crazy.  The ORI struts look awesome.  We mounted the new Spyderlock Beadlocks on new Mickey Thompson 40" Baja Boss tires.  I just wish the 42's were out as I would run those.

Next up is fabbing up the 3 link which I'm waiting on the crossmember to come back from powder coat.  In the mean time, I will be hitting the underside of my rig with a DA in prepping it for paint.  

Here are some project pics from the last week.

  

Jodi got her new cat last Thursday.  He is a Siberian Forest Cat and she has named him Nikolushka but calling him Niko.  He is adapting pretty well and loves Jodi so that's good news for her as she was worried he would like me more as most animals do.  He sleeps on her and hangs out with her in the mornings while she drinks her coffee in the living room.

 My struts shipped yesterday so I'm hoping they are here Friday.  I didn't get any tracking yet so I don't know when to expect them yet.  A couple other parts arrived today and some joints and tube adapters for my three link will be here tomorrow.  That just leaves the struts hanging out.  

I need to go pick up all of my parts from powdercoat tomorrow or Friday.  These next two days are going to be super busy as we have a lot going on plus I need to round up a few things from the local auto parts stores, namely fluids.  

Our new wood flooring got delivered today and will be installed next week.  That means I also have 1200 square feet of wood floor to tear out of our house and dispose of it by then.  My back has been spasming up on me too so that doesn't help any.    

Jodi is excited to pick up her kitten on Thursday.  Yesterday, we assembled this monstrosity she ordered.  It's almost as tall as I am.  

My fingers are crossed that my ORI struts will ship by the end of today.  It's been a long wait to get them and we need them to weld in the shock tower brackets.  We have a busy weekend planned and hope to accomplish a lot to keep the project moving ahead.  The coil springs in the front have been cut out and the frame smoothed.  The crossmember for the 4 link is welded in and we have the last of the link joints en route.  Hope to see some fast progress now that we will have all of the parts in.

 Since my last update, my fuel tank, front axle and other small parts have arrived.  The only major thing hanging out is my ORI struts.  We installed my digital radio and intercom system and the axles are removed and about half of the brackets have been cut off.  There's a lot of grinding to do right now.

The Genright 20 gallon fuel tank is pretty awesome. 

The image below is a comparison of the Rock Krawler joint n the eft that I had intended to usr but based on recent information from them about failing joints, etc.. I have opted to go to a traditional three link in the front using joints from Ballistic, shown on the right.  There is quite a bit of difference in size between the two.  

My Jeep currently looks like this.  Both axles are out and we are cutting and grinding to get it ready for the strut towers, crossmembers and the fuel tank.

My Kingpin Elite 60 axle showed up yesterday.  I have to modify it for the 3 link now as it was originally ordered to stay with a 4 link.  Time to whack off a couple brackets and weld a different one on.

Jodi is getting a cat next week.  She wants a companion.  Apparently I am not enough.  LOL  It better not be a psycho one.  

It's been a little while since I updated my blog.  Let's see, in the last month we've had to quarantine twice. The first time was when JD had it and I was with him the day he started feeling bad.  Megan and Jayson wound up getting it too.  The next time was shortly after the first when after working all day with my buddy on my Jeep, he calls me the next morning telling me he started feeling bad that evening and just tested positive.  Well, that cancelled our Christmas trip to St. Louis since it was three days prior.  That delayed or trip until a couple days ago where we went back for two days to do Christmas with Jodi's immediate family along with Kyle and his girlfriend.

I'm still waiting on parts for my Jeep build.  We did get the digital radio and intercom installed and operational.  My crusher corners are on and the lights are wired up.  The fuel tank is out and we are making some progress while we wait on people who apparently cannot do what they say such as ship when they say they will.  It's getting old.  I guess they have never heard of "Under promise, over deliver".  

Our year started off pretty bad as we lost a good friend to a car accident on New Year's Eve.  He was a Jeeper like us and today we did a drive by of a mass in celebration of his life with 40+ Jeeps.  We will miss our friend Scott. 

We did an airplane shoot with one of our models a couple months ago and here are some of the results.  Click on the images to view them larger.