My 92 YJ build with lot of pictures

[BajaDent]

I work with a couple of guys that post on here and they thought it would be cool if I posted my 92 YJ build. To give you a little background on this vehicle, my dad was the second owner and he sold it in 2003 to a family friend before he passed. In 2004 I realized that I should of bought it, so for the next 4 years I tried and tried to get it back. Every time I went to visit my mom, I always made it a point to meet up with the family friend to see if he wanted to sell it... The answer was always "I love that thing, I dont think I will ever sell it". My response back was always "I want first right of refusal", which he agreed to. In 2008 I received a call from my mom stating "Craig was selling the Jeep", needless to say my next phone call was to Craig. When I talked to him, I told him it was sold even before asking him what he wanted to get out of it. He actually sold it to me $500 less than what he bought it for from my dad.

Now it took me a couple of years to start tearing into to this because it was my dad's and I wanted to keep it how he had it. Im pretty sure that once I started on fabbing my own flat tubular fenders and running the plasma cutter on the body things just started to snowball from there.

So without further delay here are 2 pics of before and after. I will be posting everything that happened in between these 2 pics.

 

[fbksurferjoe]

Looking forward to story time. Everyone gather round!

 

[BajaDent]

So the first thing I decided to tackle was doing a rear bumper and tire swing.

 

[BajaDent]

Next I went to the front of the Jeep and found a bumper dirt cheap that I did not have to fab. The Hella's were spares from my long travel car, I ended up with the LED's.

 

[BajaDent]

Rear bumper... DONE! Front bumper...DONE! Rock sliders here we come! 3/16" plate with 1 x 2 x .120 rec. tubing on bottom and 1.5" x .120 round.

 

[BajaDent]

Now this is where the snowball effect comes in and it is rapidly gaining speed. I am just about convinced that every Jeep YJ has a dent in one of the front fenders, mine was no exception. This is where the plasma cutter came out! I had an idea on how I wanted to build the fenders but the plan was very fluid. The one thing that I wanted to keep were the inner fender wells to keep the engine from getting hammered by dirt or mud. So I slowly ran the plasma cutter making sure not to cut something I needed. I had some video files but needless to say that it was getting late and I was full of liquid courage!

 

[BajaDent]

I would like to say that these next set of pictures happened over a couple of days but is was more like a month. Yes, this thing sat with just one fender on the passenger side due to work and other peoples projects. Nevertheless, it did get done. I started with getting the 1.5" x 120 DOM bent and mocked up. I used 3/16" x 2.0" flat strap for connection to the fire wall and the front radiator housing.

 

[BajaDent]

So I finally finished my driver side fender and opted to buy the 3/16" rear corner guards for ease of keeping the build going. Plus I cant make that radius bend on the 3/16" around the back. Okay, I also bought the rear fenders because $150 shipped to my front door was worth my time.

 

[BajaDent]

By this time its May in sunny southern California so I decided to take the top off and throw on the half doors... So of course I have to build a cart for all my stuff!

Sorry for the dark pictures but I like to finish all of my projects at night... My neighbors love me!

Better pics on page 3...

 

[BajaDent]

So wouldnt you know... You take the top off and it decides to rain every other day. I had a ghetto tarp that I used for a while until I found the www.jeepcovers.com Rain Gear. They make 2 versions, one for hard top and one for no top. I figured why do I need the hard top one when the hard top keeps the rain out. Although that one will still work when running the bikini top, its just has a little more excess material and I wanted a tight fit. And it is never a good sign when you have both hoods up on your vehicles that get you from point A to B.

 

[BajaDent]

It is now October 2015 and I am getting ready for my first short little overlanding adventure. I did a lot of research on refrigerators and ended up going with the Dometic CFX65DZ (fridge, freezer, or both). Along with the fridge I wanted to have on board water, hand tools and what ever else I needed.

 

[BajaDent]

Yes, that is a bumper dumper with magnetic led light/TP holder.

 

[BajaDent]

Death Valley was a blast!!! So it was a little muddy... We went there about 4 days after Scotties Castle got flooded.

 

[BajaDent]

New tires...

 

[BajaDent]

Death Valley is epic! Most everything ran flawlessly except for a few little hiccups along the way. Just before I left I received my Dometic CFX65 not realizing that my cigarette lighter is only ignition hot and not constant. I did have to get jumped one morning due to running an inverter to keep my fridge on. The dometic refers do not run all of the time but the constant drive for and hour then stop for an hour the fridge barely kept up. ARB, engels, wytners, dometics ect all need constant power but do not run all of the time. This is all fixed in the next couple of posts because I went with a dual battery set up for my trip to Moab UT last month.

After getting my Dometic and everyone saw how awesome it is, so far 2 of my jeeping buddies have bought one. The CFX series has a new compressor and can tilt 30 degrees just like the ARB's and are way more affordable. Not to mention they are getting their accessories out there now and almost half the cost of the other brands. The Aussies have been using Waeco fridges for years which are made and owned by Dometic. I actually use mine as a beer fridge in my garage when not overlanding.