motomaniac's 97GC build

[motomaniac]

I haven't posted a lot but I have been following Recce01's build thread and have been inspired to start my own and share with a great community of people who are passionate about the great outdoors and overland vehicle modification. So my goal was to build a very capable yet street friendly vehicle that could be driven to the trail, wheeled the snot out of and drive home. I feel I am getting there. Now down to business. every thing that says custom was built by me. I have a passion for fabrication. (lots of free time and not much expendable income helps). I will be starting this thread at the beginning since i have documented most of my mods for my own personal reasons, and will add to it in my free time.
The vehicle I started with.
Bone stock 97 Grand Cherokee Laredo 4.0, 42re, np242, low pinion Dana 30 and Dana 35 199,000 miles. (now has 250,000).
Current mods are.
4" lift Rubicon express coils.
Custom front 3 link long arms. with custom track bar.
JKS. quicker discos.
Fully adjustable Rubicon express short arms in the rear. (thanks to overlandzj for the uppers) with lengthened stock track bar. RE track bar brackets are no bueno.
5 33x10.50r15 km2s on ultra rouge 15x8 3.75 bs.
Custom front winch bumper.
Custom radiator support/skid .
Custom rear bumper with swing out tire carrier.
Custom unibody frame rail plating.
Two tone interior tan and dark gray. lots of stuff added from a limited fully electric leather seats, auto head lights, 700watts of 110 power wired in the center console, custom storage pocket were the vic used to be, cobra 19 cb radio, blue tooth head unit, among other things.
List of near future mods
Have 4.56s and solid diff covers sitting on my bench for the d30 and 35
Have a freshly rebuilt York 210 with the oilier port block off mod done, for my on board air. Sitting next to my gears.
Rear drawer system. needed before my OBA gets started on. Battery has to go in the back to make room for the York under the hood.
Custom sliders, belly skid, rear long arms.
I am sure there's more there is always more.
here is a current pic.
DSC_0214.jpg
DSC_0142.jpg
I also got a trailer I will be moding to fit my off road needs. Trailer is a Colman Versa Trailer. it will probably be documented in here too. mods for trailer are lift probably 31x10.50r15 mt's and a rack on top.
IMG_1019.jpg

[Recce01]

I feel honored that you mentioned me as inspiration for posting your build. I can't wait to see what you do with your trailer, as the thought of a trailer has been pinging my radar hard lately! I am also looking forward to some details on the fab work, as I geek out on that stuff. Beautiful Rig man! Subscribed

[K2ZJ]

Very nice rig, I too am thinking of starting a build thread with Recce's influence! I also go the custom route as my funds are limited.

Have a freshly rebuilt York 210 with the oilier port block off mod done, for my on board air. Sitting next to my gears.

I was very intrigued by this as I also have a York on my shelf and a straight six.

Rear drawer system. needed before my OBA gets started on. Battery has to go in the back to make room for the York under the hood.

Then I read your solution, don't know if I will go that route or not, but a relocation is needed for sure. I am thinking of pushing the a/c parts and fuse block back and turning the battery.

[motomaniac]

I have looked into that, you could stuff a optima there easy enough, honestly I haven't made up my mind of how im gonna do it I just know I will have a York oba system under the hood.

[motomaniac]

recce01 your jeep is awesome! I am very jealous of your shocks, awning and drawer setup.
Well I bought my jeep about 5 yrs ago for my wife when our first daughter was born, but I like it way to much, so she got a new car and the jeep got a lift and it was official, the jeep was my new toy. I will post random pics of my adventures also as we progress through the different stages of my jeep.
The day i picked it up.
IMG_0583.jpg
Two days later my first adventure.
IMG_0657.jpg
Then I built a roof rack added some lights painted the wheels black with some 30x9.50r15 geolander ats's.
Well Photobucket has decided to stop working for me so i guess that's it for tonight.

[Recce01]

Very nice rig, I too am thinking of starting a build thread with Recce's influence! I also go the custom route as my funds are limited.



I was very intrigued by this as I also have a York on my shelf and a straight six.



Then I read your solution, don't know if I will go that route or not, but a relocation is needed for sure. I am thinking of pushing the a/c parts and fuse block back and turning the battery.

Come on man Get that thread rolling!! I dont know what a York is, time to get my google on!

recce01 your jeep is awesome! I am very jealous of your shocks, awning and drawer setup.
Well I bought my jeep about 5 yrs ago for my wife when our first daughter was born, but I like it way to much, so she got a new car and the jeep got a lift and it was official, the jeep was my new toy. I will post random pics of my adventures also as we progress through the different stages of my jeep.
The day i picked it up.
IMG_0583.jpg
Two days later my first adventure.
IMG_0657.jpg
Then I built a roof rack added some lights painted the wheels black with some 30x9.50r15 geolander ats's.
Well Photobucket has decided to stop working for me so i guess that's it for tonight.

I really appreciate your compliment, especially from a fellow fabby. FYI, I am likely to bite your style with your selected wheel and tire combo, that is if I can find a close size of tire for a 17, as I smell 2012 JK axles in my future I am looking forward to checking out your process, time to switch to flickr !! I am sure I can arrange for the ICON shocks to be made for you, or perhaps you can secure my 2.0's when I step up to the resi version 2.5's we have been talking about Also, the drawer system is already in the computer, and can be made again any time. I like to have everything cnc cut so it can be duplicated if need be. Where do you live?

[motomaniac]

k2ZJ we need more ZJ love on ExPo. Photobucket seems to be working again so on we go. The first round of mods were a roof rack, some lights and some 30x9.50r15 geolander ats's on some stock canyon rims i had painted black.
3-1.jpg

Then I bought a 93 grand that had been hydro lock for next to nothing, and score! it had a RE Super Ride 3.5 lift.
IMG_2868-1.jpg
So off it came and on my jeep it went.
IMG_2912.jpg
Then I scored some new 31x10.50r15s big o xt's on some unpainted canyons off craigslist.
Photo0003.jpg

[motomaniac]

Im really lucky to live in such a great area with so much to explore. I live in northern California right in the middle of trinity, lassen, and shasta national forests. i was getting tired of just posting up build stuff so here are some pics of me getting to use my jeep for its intended purpose.
I also fuel my need for adventure on this.
IMG_1842.jpg

top of Shasta Bally elevation ~6000 ft
IMG_1100.jpg
looking west towards the pacific ocean.
IMG_1112.jpg
looking east to the valley floor, elevation ~500ft. The road back down to the bottom of the valley is only 7 miles long!
IMG_1137.jpg
It seems to be compressing my picture files, clicking them lets you see the high res picture, other forums don't seem to do that. oh well its probably just me doing something wrong. I am no genius.
more to come.

[Recce01]

Very cool man! If you even make it to the so-cal area you will have to let me know! I live in North County San Diego. There is quite a lot to explore down here as well albeit primarily desert

[motomaniac]

I Will do that. The same to you also, although I'm not sure how well that rtt would hold up. We have some pretty dense forest up here, but I'm sure we can find a nice trail or two. So after the lift and tires I thought some armor was in order. Around that time some plans for a zj front bumper had surfaced online so with a little tweaking to the original plans and a card board mock up I started in.
IMG_1621.jpg
IMG_1621.jpg

Then the steel fab work started its all 3/16 except for the frame mounts are 1/4 and they sandwich the uni body frame rails on the side and bottom. Its held on with 18 bolts total.
IMG_0222.jpg

It was still lacking some radiator protection.
IMG_0360-1.jpg

So I built a radiator support/skid, and scored some soft 8s of craigslist for $60.
IMG_0163.jpg
IMG_0798-1.jpg

and some action pic, just because. Headed up to a hang glider launch pad at the chappie ohv park.
017.jpg
018.jpg