Practical Truck for the Over Prepared Woman

[Elff]

Holy cow that is short

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[Kindafearless]

I always follow your builds, and as others, am impressed with your talent and nerve. I always thought your rear bumper was cool and lightweight, but now think it needs your touch, perhaps even sell it and fab your own rear bumper with as much clearance as possible, unless the bumper rules dictate that height of bumper, just saying.....Jack

You are absolutely right. I’m not happy with it either in its current state, but planning to run it a little as is to see his things work.

I do unfortunately need to keep all of that bumper height to stay legal, but it’s not super effective in its current state.

I’m open to creative suggestions

 

[Kindafearless]

Finished welding the bed back together. Doesn't look particularly amazing in its unfinished state, but it's actually pretty smooth after a little hammer/dolly and pry bar action to counteract any heat deformation.

Bed is back off the Jeep so I can get at that cross member (right over the axle). That's on the chopping block next! I've got a 50" piece of pipe incoming and some plate ready to fabricate into frame reinforcement washers to replace it and house the sway bar. I want that thing to be bullet proof after losing my sway bar 3 times last year due to bracket failures.

 

[mx5red]

Sorry if I missed a comment somewhere, what do you think of the Rock Krawler Pro-X cradle? Bought one, haven't installed yet. Not sure I'm up for welding it in, was going to just bolt it up.

 

[drewcnit]

I've got a 50" piece of pipe incoming and some plate ready to fabricate into frame reinforcement washers to replace it and house the sway bar. I want that thing to be bullet proof after losing my sway bar 3 times last year due to bracket failures.

Curious to how this turns out, make sure to take pictures for us nerds following along.

 

[Elff]

Can you get windshield stickers with 1 bumper and then run another on the street and trails?

How strict are the police in your area if they see something that isn't in spec?

For me, it depends on where I drive. I know to avoid the local college, because those cops deal with drunk college kids all the time and just want to write tickets.
Outside of that, I normally don't get bothered. I however, won't pass inspection anymore with my TJ, so my stickers are expired, but it's less than a $100 fine, so I will drive it on occasion just for the heck of it. I mean, it's not like my tires stick out that far?????

 

[Kindafearless]

Sorry if I missed a comment somewhere, what do you think of the Rock Krawler Pro-X cradle? Bought one, haven't installed yet. Not sure I'm up for welding it in, was going to just bolt it up.

The Pro-X kit is hella pro. I love it, and people always comment how my rear axle just floats around on the trail.

The welding was super easy. It’s really not that scary, just take it slow.

 

[Kindafearless]

Can you get windshield stickers with 1 bumper and then run another on the street and trails?

How strict are the police in your area if they see something that isn't in spec?

For me, it depends on where I drive. I know to avoid the local college, because those cops deal with drunk college kids all the time and just want to write tickets.
Outside of that, I normally don't get bothered. I however, won't pass inspection anymore with my TJ, so my stickers are expired, but it's less than a $100 fine, so I will drive it on occasion just for the heck of it. I mean, it's not like my tires stick out that far?????

I think I could get away with it. I’m right on the edge of giving up in keeping it legal, since I rarely do much driving on the road with it. Especially since anything you do with the gas tank technical makes things illegal, and I really need to move that gas tank.

 

[mx5red]

The Pro-X kit is hella pro. I love it, and people always comment how my rear axle just floats around on the trail.

The welding was super easy. It’s really not that scary, just take it slow.

Would be first time welding?.
Might try my hand at some easy stuff first.
Thanks!

 

[Elff]

I think I could get away with it. I’m right on the edge of giving up in keeping it legal, since I rarely do much driving on the road with it. Especially since anything you do with the gas tank technical makes things illegal, and I really need to move that gas tank.

Then my opinion is...........YOLO.

 

[Kindafearless]

Would be first time welding?.
Might try my hand at some easy stuff first.
Thanks!

Ah, then ya, maybe learn a bit first You can hire a local welder to do it for you too. If you drive the truck over, it wouldn’t take them long. You can totally drive the truck around without welding the cradle in, just don’t do anything crazy.

 

[Rusty PW]

Can you get windshield stickers with 1 bumper and then run another on the street and trails?

How strict are the police in your area if they see something that isn't in spec?

For me, it depends on where I drive. I know to avoid the local college, because those cops deal with drunk college kids all the time and just want to write tickets.
Outside of that, I normally don't get bothered. I however, won't pass inspection anymore with my TJ, so my stickers are expired, but it's less than a $100 fine, so I will drive it on occasion just for the heck of it. I mean, it's not like my tires stick out that far?????

Back in the day when Pa. had 2 inspections per year. We used to use colored paper for the inspection sticker. Make sure the color was the same as the current inspection. Write a number on it and the police couldn't tell the difference from a distance. One friend drove around for 3 years with a Reese's wrapper taped in place.

 

[Elff]

It's funny you mention that because I was thinking about taking a picture of my other car's stickers, printing it out on a high quality printer at work and loosely attaching it to the windshield, so I could rip it off quickly if I got pulled over to avoid fraud

 

[Rusty PW]

It's funny you mention that because I was thinking about taking a picture of my other car's stickers, printing it out on a high quality printer at work and loosely attaching it to the windshield, so I could rip it off quickly if I got pulled over to avoid fraud

Good idea. Yeah, now you can do that these days with a computer and printer. Back then, that wasn't an option.

 

[Kindafearless]

Got the sway bar mounted today. It was actually kinda cool. So after cutting the old cross member off, I was comparing the metal tubing and found that I could ALMOST fit it through the cross member that was welded through the frame. Since the cross member had some nice reinforcement and it would cause more trouble than harm to rip it out…. I just hollowed out the left over cross member inside the frame and the reinforcement braces, then welded the tube into it.

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