Project Tomb Raider PT. 1

Hey, welcome to trucks. We are gonna start a brand new build up today on this very average, very stock 2003, Jeep Wrangler.

Now, this,

this kind of looks like something that you would deliver the mail with not gonna run a trail in.

We're gonna change that, but we're gonna do it a little different. The guy that owns this, Jeep

is a young guy by the name of Galen Davis. Brand new to the off roading sport. Wants to get more into it. Are you a four wheeler? Have you ever gone four wheeling before? Not on purpose, but we had to in the winter.

So you'd like to get into the four wheeling stuff a little bit. Yeah, go have fun.

His father, Maury Davis, great guy, very supportive. Had bought the Jeep for his kid.

Also likes cars and trucks just as much as his son does. My dad,

when I was growing up, I had, uh, he had a 1970 ran

GT. That was, that was a hot rod

and I had that until just a few years ago. The real kicker here is that neither one has any idea what I'm gonna do with this Jeep.

I'm scared, Stacey,

don't be scared, I'm scared. You know the fact that you're gonna take this thing and like, not tell me what you're gonna do to it until we change. It is the scary part and since I have to drive it every day to school, I gotta go to work. He does have to drive it every day.

No, I mean, obviously you're fixing to redo this Jeep.

And, uh,

but only because I trust you, am I gonna buy a brand new vehicle to go away? Of course, sometimes fathers and sons

don't exactly agree on what they'd like to see done.

I don't know. I put a winch on it probably, um,

I might put it like the, the grill in front of it for the bushes and stuff just to give it the look. I might not. I depends. Put fog lights on it.

What do you wanna winch on your, what are you gonna win? You know,

in a few years, I might side, take your mu

we go mud. So you gotta hook yourself to a tree to pull out. Like when I got in that ditch,

that's what we have a tractor for son.

If you can make this the ultimate Jeep, what would it be

first? I'd like, I'd raise it up. Probably like how high?

I don't know. I probably put 3312 fifties, not real high because I have to get up in it every now and then and, and I'm kind of short legged. So, so when you say real high, what do you, what are you talking about?

It's pretty high right now.

Now, as you can see, they both said what they think they want,

but that's not what they want.

So I'm gonna take this Jeep and I'm gonna give them what they really want.

This is it?

Oh, that's right, man. What a lot of people think is the ultimate Jeep Wrangler, the one from the movie Tomb Raider two. Now you can't buy the Jeep from the movie, but

I'm gonna show you how to build your own. That's gonna look and perform every bit as good or better than what you saw on the screen. So

take one last look at this nice, innocent little TJ

because we're gonna make sure it never looks like that again.

The first thing we need to do is deal with that suspension. Get it up in the air but not just for looks. No, no, we need something that'll handle some off road stuff

but not too radical because of course, Galen's just a beginner.

So we went to skyjacker and got this four inch rock ready system. Now, this is not just a lift kit. Obviously, this is a complete rock crawling suspension.

Now, what you get is new springs, front, rear,

all kinds of hardware, sway bar, end links, disconnects for the front.

You've got an adjustable track bar shocks, upper links. Now, your lower links are not only considerably longer, bigger, stronger,

they've also got these huge hem

joints at each end

and these mount down into this sub frame assembly.

Now, those hind joints are gonna give you all kinds of flex and movement.

You get that jeep off road, you get that axle articulating.

Those are key. Now, the cool thing about this rock ready system

is it's upgradable. So as Galen's confidence grows off road, he wants to go bigger and badder. All he's got to do is call it skyjacker. Get new springs, some links, a few hardware pieces, he can go to six inches, eight inches, 10 inches of lift on this same system.

That's pretty cool. All right, let's get this thing in the air. Get to work.

Now it's time to get serious. First, we're gonna pop off these old shocks,

the steering damper,

the drag link.

Now the track bar

pull off the stock pitman arm

and finally

the sway bar end links.

Now using a jack, we'll lower the axle down

and we'll pull out the springs

and the bump stops and add those to our growing pile of junk.

Now that we've got everything pretty much disassembled. It's time to move on to the good stuff and we're gonna start with these upper links. Now, the new links,

now they just bolt in place of the stockers, but take a look at this.

These stock links are just stamped steel with a rubber bushing at one end,

there's not much flex going on here. The new pieces, thick piece of tubing hem

joint at one end guys, there is no comparison here.

The difference in the new springs is even more obvious. These absolutely dwarf the stalkers and this is only a four inch lift, but believe it or not, these just slide into place and you just jack up the axle to hold them in.

All right, now it's time to turn our attention to these lower links. Now, I've already talked about how much stronger and beefier they are,

but how about how much longer they are? Now, this is a key factor in us getting that articulation and flex that we're after. Unfortunately,

it also brings

up an issue.

These are the two points where the stock link mounted

and this is where our new link is gonna go. Oops,

looks like we got us a problem, doesn't

it? Now? Got the answer over there on the table, but I'm gonna show it to you after the break.

Hey, welcome back to trucks and project Tomb Raider Rubicon

where I'm taking a new Jeep Wrangler

and turning it into a rig like you saw in the movie Tomb Raider two, except this is gonna be real. It's gonna be functional and it's something that you can do. The best part is

the guy that owns this rig has no idea what I'm doing to it. He thinks I'm doing an oil change or something.

Oh, he's in for a surprise. Now, we're in the middle of putting on a skyjacker four inch lift. Let's get back to it.

Ah, yes, a couple more pieces for Galen to take to the swap meet.

Now, we are ready for these lower legs.

There is no way that these big suckers are gonna fit where those original pieces were. So that's where this sub frame comes in.

Now, it goes on between the skid plate and the frame

and it supplies mounting points, front, rear for those lower links. Now notice

we've ground paint away in this area on both the frame and the sub frame because you need to structurally weld this area.

That's the only way this is gonna be strong enough to support those lower links. These bolts alone are not gonna get it.

Also,

this old bracket that needs to be cut off because we're not gonna use that again.

First, using the plasma cutter, you're gonna cut the brackets off, flushed with the frame to get them out of the way.

Then we'll cut down the well bead with a cut off wheel

and knock the rest off with an air chisel and a big old hammer,

then we'll finish it off with a grinder. So you won't ever know it was there.

Now we'll grab the welder and permanently join the new sub frames to the original Jeep frame rails. Remember when you're mid welding on a newer vehicle, don't forget to disconnect your battery or you could fry the computer.

Unfortunately, the last few steps we had to do, we're gonna take our difficulty meter up into the advanced area because of the tools I had to use. But end result is gonna be worth it.

Finally, we can slide in the lower links and bolt them on

the factory skid plates and cross members also need to be modified to fit around those new sub frames. So we'll take the template that comes with the kit,

set it in place, mark around it and then cut it out

with the skid plates back on.

It is time to start putting this front end together.

I've already got the shocks in place.

Now, I'm working on these sway bar end links with these double disconnects.

The new adjustable track bar is up next and what this does is keep the axle from moving laterally or side to side. Now, the original track bar came down mounted under the axle. Now this kit will relocate it here to the top of the axle

and that'll give us better axle articulation

and also prevent bump steer.

Finally with the new drop pitman arm installed and the drag link back in place,

we can put on the steering stabilizer and it goes right here on the bracket

and then connects to the drag link. Now that brings us up to a break. I'm gonna finish up here, put on these new brake hoses and when we come back, we're gonna do the rear, put some wheels and tires on this thing. We'll see you in a minute.

Welcome back to trucks. We are in the process of putting a four inch lift on a Jeep TJ

calling it Project Tomb Raider Rubicon. Why? Because when it's done, it's gonna look very similar to what you saw in the movie Tomb Raider Two.

Now I've already got the lift on the front time to move on to the rear. I've got the shocks off sway bar and links track bar. Now it's time to lower the jack and get those springs out of there

before we put those new springs in

need to bolt in this track bar, drop bracket. Now it goes right where the original track bar went, but it raises the location of the bar.

So you just slide the original bar into it,

bolt it on with the original hardware.

Then put in the new upper links.

You just slide into the stock location,

go on with the factory hardware.

Now, you can slide into springs

since our sub frames are already in place. Putting in these new lower links is just a matter of bolting them in,

but

we have to come in here and cut off these lower brackets on the rear just like we did on the front. Now, once they're off, we'll go in with the grinder, smooth it all down. You'll never know those were there. I'll make sure you're not getting in a hurry and forgetting to do little details like this because like I always say,

it's all about the details.

Now, all we have to do is bolt on these new lower links,

the sway bar end links put on the shocks

that takes care of our suspension. Now, there is no way I'm gonna put those little weenie wheels and tires back on here. Got some special tomb raider wheels. Check this out.

This combination is from Robert's motor company. Now, you have your polished aluminum rim, the same style as what you saw in the movie right down to the simulated bead lock on the outer rim and this gives you a tough rugged off road look. But what the Jeep in the movie did not have is this super trick tr two Rubicon center cap

and this is whittled out of billet.

Aluminum goes right over your lugs for a super clean, smooth look.

Now, those rims are wrapped in pro comp mud terrain tires size 35 1250. Now, this is a good on road and off road tire. Perfect for somebody like Galen

who's gonna be on the highway most of the time then venture out on the trails on a weekend.

Well, that's it. And this is how a Jeep should look and it'll handle some modern off roading too.

Now, if you wanna get more serious with 30 fives and four inches of lift.

I promise you you're gonna get into the body and you're gonna damage it some. So

you may wanna put on six inches of lift. Now, a taller tire means you may wanna swap some lower gears in 456 or something like that. Get you some grunt on that low end when you're running the trails. Now, is that it for this project?

Heck, no, man, we're just getting started. This pile is gonna grow a whole lot more before we're done.

Any time you look at a big rig, two things immediately jump out at you how powerful they are and how big they are. Now, we've talked about these rigs a lot in the past, how they're set up, what makes them tick, but we have never taken you underneath one.

So if you've ever wondered what the frame and the suspension is like under here, you're gonna wanna see this. We're gonna show you how it works,

how it works is brought to you by

Wyotech.

The first thing that's worth noticing is how simple it is. Large but simple. You got leaf springs and shocks, no air bags. You got a solid axle and kingpins pretty much the way they've been building trucks since the beginning of time. Why?

Simple? It's reliable

and it works. Now, we've got a couple of tanks here and Dan Johnson to tell us what those are,

we've got

air tanks here, we got some fuel tanks here. Um, in the old days you were able to see those uh from the outside. But today you don't, you don't see them hardly in any trucks anymore because we've got this skirting right here that covers them on the outside. The purpose for this skirting is for aerodynamics for better fuel economy. Keeps turbulence from going up underneath. It sure does

a race car

just like that. Now, something that is worth noticing

is the design of this. Now, all the transmission will not come out unless you take these tanks out first

and we've all been there, we've all been

there

with my

hand man.

Then we got this huge drive shaft, we got the carrier bearing. Now, the frame is worth looking at this is just an open sea channel. Dan, what's the deal with that? We don't want them very rigid. Uh We're talking about carrying 80,000 pounds on the trucks. Um If they're very rigid, um we're probably gonna crack or, or break the frame. And so you want that flexibility and that's the purpose. Now, if you want to see this in action next time you see one of these things take off from the stoplight,

you watch that frame twist, there's a lot of tour going on there

and see those cabs rocking. It

feels good in the driver. He does that.

All right, let's move on to the back here.

All right, Dan. Very interesting suspension we've got back here. What are we looking at? We've got a, a piece of iron here that looks kind of like a leaf spring, but it's really not. We've got a pivotal point up front that works all the way back to where it ties into our actual suspension, which is the airbag. Ok. Now, you've got air bags on each axle and each axle

and that's your real suspension. Yes, it is. All right. Now, this air canister for your brakes, for our brakes. We have actually the parking brake and our service brake, of course, all actuated with air. Ok. Front axle, obviously. Now how do we get power

to

the rear axle? That's what we call our through shaft that comes through the rear tied into our inter axle drive line that feeds our rear differential

and those are some huge U joints, aren't they?

And of course, air brakes in the rear air brakes back here. These are just service brakes in the, in the rear axle back here. Ok. Well, there you have it. That should give you an idea of what's going on under one of these big rigs. Not only that, but you've been a place where very few people have been standing underneath a big rig that makes you a little nervous, doesn't it a little nervous? Don't let it follow me. I kind of feel like roadkill, man. I'm sure

in the world of custom trucks. One of the most popular areas to modify is your doors. You can chop them, you can shave them,

you can go wing them, you can road through them, you can suicide them. You name it.

Well, now you have yet another choice because auto lock has come out with this Lamborghini door kit. Yeah, that's right. This will modify your doors to where they'll flip forward like a Lamborghini coon tosh.

Now, obviously,

the secret to this kid is in the special hinges.

Then you have linear actuators to lift the door for you.

Then you have the brackets and all the hardware to put them in.

Then of course, you can get a remote system. So all you do is push a button and

up come the doors. So if you want your doors to open like an exotic,

sounds like you need auto locks, Lambeau door kit. That's it for today. We'll see you next week.