Dual Purpose TJ Part II

What is bringing a TJ back from the dead have to do with this.

Absolutely nothing.

Today on Xtreme 4x4, we'll uncreate some really cool parts to build a roll cage link suspension and more plus who needs a big wheel, these types race trophy cars?

Welcome

to Xtreme 4x4

J

TJ. Dual purpose build up. We picked up that 2003 TJ from David Jeeps as a rebuildable insurance write off.

You know that we have all the parts stripped off that we're not going to use. We can go ahead and sell them to offset the cost of the truck itself.

Nice. Well, I guess we're gonna have a scratch and Ds

on some Jeep parts this weekend. Now, as for our project vehicle, we started out by stretching the wheel base to 100 inches and installing a set of crusher corners, not only to protect the tub when we're off road, but to hide the damage that actually caused this Jeep to be written off in the first place. Now, by the end of today, we hope to have this thing sitting on some tires and wheels, but the first thing we're gonna take care of today is getting a roll cage back in this tub

band location. Number one is 22 and seven eights. Ok.

Both of them at 87 degrees.

The first step for this Jeep will be to tie the cage mountain plates into the Jeeps frame with holy

to eliminate vibrations.

Then with the main group that in t

to the floor plates,

the rear halo can be installed along with the kickers in the roof bars

with the dash pulled back from the tub,

the front down tubes can be installed along with the dash bar.

This is the point

where

we have to make the decision that everybody needs to make when building a project like this, the seat belt harness mountain location.

Now, ideally, you want it to be one inch above to four is below the shoulder height while sitting in the seat

in our case, that creates the problem of making it difficult to get in the back seat.

But we're going to choose safety over comfort.

And we spend a lot of time working with tubing here at extreme. And most of the time you see us bend it, notch it. And then before you know it, bam, there's a whole roll cage inside the truck just like this time. Now, we spent time in the past talking about general cage design as well as what kind of material to use for the best results. But how about just some basic tips and tricks to make working with tube easier for any project. Like how do you get a piece of tubing to land right in the middle of an existing joint.

It's not that hard if you just think about the math.

Now, this angle right here is a total of 80 degrees. The tube is gonna travel away from this joint back to the top at a 35 degree angle. So went ahead and put the tube in the notch here and cut a 35 degree angle on one half of the tube.

Now, the other angle is a 45 degree angle. That's the difference between 35 and 80 by splitting that total amount between the two tubes, it'll fit perfectly

every time.

Now, when it actually comes time to weld in those nice tight fitting notches, another tip is how to grind the tubing before actually welding it in

certain angles of certain notches, create this very thin layer of steel around the outer edge. All you got to do is run a grinder around it

and I knock down that thin layer as well as create a really good level to help improve the penetration on your wealth.

Now, how you tack weld the tube is just as important as how you prep it for the joint.

If you put a great big monster tack weld on this tube, when you ran your finish, beat around it, it would jump up over that tack and honestly, it's just going to look ugly. So, really light tacks just enough to hold the tube in place is all that you need. But sometimes no matter how much prep work you do, you end up with an ugly weld

to give you an idea of that. I went ahead and turned the welder down on this scrap and did a really cold weld here and you can see it's just sitting up on top of the tube,

there's almost no penetration. Now, you can fix this. It's pretty easy. You just need to know how

the first thing we do is cut a groove into the bad weld through its entire length with just a cut off wheel. Now, this leaves the tube in its original position but allows the new weld bead to penetrate through it into the steel.

Then with the welder adjusted to the proper amperage and correct wire speed, the joint can be re welded this time concentrating on proper torch technique.

Now, you can tell just by looking at these welds that the new one is a lot stronger. There's more heat input into the metal than this old really cold one. Now, a lot of guys will take these welds and grind them down smooth.

I don't really like to do that. I find that it takes a little bit of the strength away from the joint. Instead I try to concentrate on a good looking weld and just leave it alone.

Guses

can also add some serious strength to any to join in an area like this where you don't want to add another piece of tubing because it be kind of hard to get in and out of the jeep

that it will really help. Now, you have the option of the flat plate, got

it,

the tub

it

or you even have the option of these really little cool.

Now, hopefully all of these little two tips and tricks will not only make your cage a lot stronger and safer, but it will make it look a lot more extreme.

Coming up, adrenaline pumping dirt flying action for ages eight and up will check out trophy cart racing when Xtreme 4x4 continues.

Welcome back to Xtreme 4x4. When we go to championship off road race, the stars of tomorrow, get a chance to shine. Now we're not talking about Casey Curry or Kyle the Duke. These rookies don't even have a driver's license yet.

Blasting around the racetrack with over 850 horses. There's nothing more intense than driving a pro

car truck

driving. These trucks is incredible. I mean, we've streamed these motors at 8400 RPM

and I tell you what, we hit these jumps anywhere from 80 to 100 miles an hour and love sailing these trucks over 100 ft long.

It's truly an adrenaline rush to the kids. These men are more than racers.

Thank you kid. Looking up to you want your autograph thinking you're some sort of gladiator or hero that just makes you,

that puts you on top of the world. Thanks to the core series. The kids aren't just watching their role models. They're racing like them too.

Can't do

called trophy cards.

Kids as young as eight race. These half size replicas just like their islands.

I go 20 miles an hour and it feels really cool going that fast. It's really fun. Especially when you get to pass. People when you're up in the front. Adding to the fun, the track looks and drives like the one with Prose race on. I like the straightaways. They're my favorite because you could go as fast as you want. You could go full throttle.

My favorite part of the track is a whoops. You get to jump very high and everything and sometimes you get a pass because people don't like to jump very high,

which they were around when I was a kid. That's a lot of fun. Whoever invented it. I mean, they're my hats off.

They're having a great time and that's what it's all about and they're learning how to drive, you know what, it's keeping them busy off road racing in general. Even before the trophy cars

has always been a family orientated sport. So it keeps the kids off the street, it keeps them involved in things.

And so what's really neat is now they're not only involved with our racing, they're involved with their own racing. It was not so long ago when only

handful of carts came out to compete.

Now there's no shortage of future superstars.

The trophy cart class is a, is a phenomenal deal that's just taken the sport like a whirlwind over the last year and a half. I think there was 85 carts today.

You have modifieds and you have stocks and you have

all different classes. So

the trophy cart thing is it's going to grow very, very large. Troy Hertz is multi time Baha

winner and Desert racing champ. He also lays it down in the core series. We're having a lot of fun. His kids inherited that racing bug. Now, three of them,

my son and

daughter Shelby just started her four wheel career. Didn't take any convincing. She was on the gas. I

started having a lot of fun and eight year old Riley

just like dad knows the thrill of victory feels very good inside when you win

following the big dream. When I'm older, I would like to race and score. And Co Riley's trophy cart is designed with his future plans in mind. They took in a Kawasaki 450 motor and what we've done with this horsepower to weight ratio,

it has more torque and more bite than the pro four that the big boys drive. So

when these guys get their handling and get their drifting and being able to hit the bumps

by the time they're 1617 years old, that will make the

pro four guys want to get the heck out of the way. As you can see up there, there's a shift he's got to shift and go through the gears. What we're trying to do is we're trying to bring

to him being able to upshift or down shift, read the terrain

and be able to accelerate

to push your radio button,

steer

and shift that all. At the same time, it's kind of hard. It would be maybe a higher learning curve. But as soon as we get the shifting down and as soon as we understand what we can do,

it'll just make us that better, much better of a team while they may be focused on the future watching his Children race Troy. Her

hasn't lost sight of the. Now,

now, I know my dad smiles so big when we come back in from a race ear to ear and I must have more fun watching them than I do in turn one and pro four. You know, I really have a good time with these watching his kids. He's not the only one having fun. Very cool. If you have a race healthy card, you have to come out here and watch the experience.

God, how much fun would that have been to raise those as a kid? It would have been pretty sweet. All I ever had was a big wheel. I wiped it out pretty bad. That scar on my chin. That's why I got this half beard

covered up.

Welcome back to Xtreme 4x4 with a roll cage inside the tub to protect both the driver and the passenger. It's time to get this jeep up in the air and deal with the suspension

since

we use

the crusher corners to extend the wheel base out to 100 inches and off the shelf suspension can just won't work for this project. We are going to be using a custom link suspension both for and rear. But before any of the new parts have to go on, all the old bracket tree has to come off

to keep things looking clean. The brackets are cut just outside of the factory. Well,

whoops,

it smells good.

It's because I cut the fuel line.

Welcome to the club buddy. So that's your first ever.

Yeah.

Well, it's good that the first time you ever accidentally cut fuel lines, you do it on national TV. It's true. It's true.

We'll order new fuel lines actually grind the frames through it.

A

code of D

color truck bed coating will not only make the frame look better,

but it will also keep the freshly ground still from rusting

a

suspension for off duties. Isn't that difficult to follow a few guidelines and you're ready to roll. But to build a suspension that is also worthy of highway duties is a different story. A

great option for the TJ is to use the general right off road rear for link in front three

K,

not only is it made with quarter inch and 316 in steel as well as the wall deal and to be,

but the suspension geometry is great for off road and great for on the street.

Now, this is not a bolt on kit. It obviously requires some welding. Thanks.

But the small amount of fabrication you have to do far outweigh the benefits that you're gonna get from this type of suspension system.

Now, this is gonna key off the inside of the frame rail right behind the skid plate. And the nice thing is is it works hand in hand with the crusher corners we installed before setting our new wheel base at exactly 100 inches

with the frame prepped. The new link mounts are tacked in place.

This suspension system uses Johnny joints at either end of the new tubes

with right hand threads on one end and left hand on the opposite for plenty of suspension adjustments.

We're using a mock up axle with the gen right data, 44 axle bridge kit

to set up the links and set our wheel base at 100 inches flat.

Now, this suspension is designed to work with either coil springs and shocks or coil overs or even air shocks. Now, we decided to run a set of coil overs in the back of this truck. So we had Gen Wright, send us their rear coil over shock mount package.

The new brackets are recessed into the frame rail to place the shocks at the ideal location

for some serious articulation

time. Now, for an Xtreme 4x4 Tech 10,

now we all know that it's good practice to change our transmission fluid in our automatics every 15 to 25,000 miles.

But we also know it can be a real big pain in the butt because you have to drop the pan while the transmission is often still full of fluid. Sometimes creating one huge mess

to make the job easier. For the next time. You go ahead and install a drain plug kit for about $13 or for $2 you can make your own using a nut, a rubber washer and a bolt

with a hole drilled in the pan and completely cleaned. The nut is welded to the inside.

It can either be tig welded or braised with a torch to help prevent leaks

once cooled,

reinstall the pan and your new plug.

Now, this will make your next transmission service go a lot easier because you can drain the fluid first and then remove the pan, eliminating the mess.

Welcome back to Xtreme 4x4. So far we have the rear suspension pretty much buttoned up on our project TJ. And now it's time to take care of the front end

and just like the back. It's going to be a custom link set up riding on some coil over shock.

But instead of A four L

like we put in the rear, the front end is going to be a three L

system. Now, a three link is exactly what it sounds like. It's going to have three links locating our axle, two lowers are to come off from the bottom of the frame and anchor to the bottom of the axle. A third link will come out and mount on top of our axle center section holding the axle underneath the truck. But those three links will not keep the axle from moving side to side underneath the vehicle for that. We need to add 1/4 link. A track bar or pan

bar will mount on top of our axle housing and travel up and anchor off the vehicle's frame and that'll keep the axle from moving around.

Now, three links are pretty common. You see them a lot on full competition rock buggies because they work great off road. They are unfortunately pretty difficult to set up to be used on the street on a daily basis. But the nice thing about our kit is all the math has been figured out for us and it's in these instructions. Now, we can't go through the install complete step by step. It would just take too much time.

But we know by following this set up here, our three link will work great right out of the box

mock our suspension into place. We're just using some three inch exhaust tubing,

that's the same diameter as the axle tubes on our 44 S

and with everything tacked in place, we can cycle the suspension and check it for fit

suspension need some coil of shocks. And for this particular project, we chose king off road racing shocks.

These 14 inches of travel two inch body remote reservoir shocks have a 7075 hard Anno

I piston and a heat treated shaft.

And they are that

specifically for our

TJ.

We will assemble our coil overs and temporarily install them. Teller Day 44 have been delivered.

Well, that's what all we have for you guys today. The next time the TJ is back in the shop, we bolt on some new wheels and tires,

which means we can pull out these mock up axles and replace them with our brand new solid axles. Plus will be throwing a whole bunch of accessories into this jeep on the inside and out. But I know you guys will just love,

you'll love it

totally.

All your hearts.