2004 Jeep Unlimited "Punisher" NOT 56k friendly

[JeepnTXJ]

Buddy of mine decided he was tired of struggling up some places, so he decided to once again tear down his Unlimited and rebuild it. This is not his daily driver, and he bought it strictly to build. It only has 18k miles on it . It started out completely stock, 4.0, auto.

Specs will be:

D60/14 bolt from a CUCV, 5.13 gears, Detroits F&R
Fox coilovers 14" front, 12" rear
39.5" TSL's on re-centered hummer 'locks
104" WB
Full Poison Spyder cage (already installed)
TKH Fab bumpers (already installed)
Poison Spyder Helldorado sliders (already installed)
OBA (already installed)
Stock drivetrain (minor perf. upgrades to the motor)
Atlas or a Stak when the NP231 goes.


Here is what it was up until the 19th:


Waggy 44's, 4.88 gears, ARB's F&R, disc brakes, 34x12.50 TrXuS MT's

It worked great and wheeled awesome, but he went to Tree's Ranch and couldn't quite make it up the "Lathe", so he decided it was time to spend some money:


The next couple of posts will be pics from the build. We're not done yet, but it should be a roller by next weekend.

[JeepnTXJ]

Day 1: Swapping the tubes

Since Chevy D60's are a pass. side drop and Jeep's are driver side, some fabbing had to be done right off the bat:





The welder is another guy in our group that just finished his buggy "Orange Crush 2" (in the background).
Cutting and swapping the tubes IS strong and still safe, if it's done right. The welder is a weld inspector at a refinery here. He has done 2 other axles like this is his own rigs and they have held up to years of abuse.

[JeepnTXJ]

Day 2 through present:

Kinda lost track of what day we did what, so here's the rest. Everything (brackets, coilovers, etc) were bought from either Poly Performance or BTF.

In the shop, before the teardown:


Front 44:


Rear 44:


4 link mockup:




It's going to be freakin' wide!:


14 bolt:




Empty D60, already cut:


Truss and upper link brackets on the 14 bolt:


14bolt yoke gaurd:


At ride height (81" to the top of the windshield frame):


D60 on the custom axle dolly:


14 bolt under the jeep:




D60 under the front w/ truss:


Front coilover brack & coilovers:



We'll have more as progress goes on.

[LT]

That is niiiiiice. The 14 bolt looks mean as hell! Like the guard. Nice fab work.

[JeepnTXJ]

Thanks. Props goes to BTF though, for all the metal.

It's gonna fully rawk when it's done, which will be sooner or later. It needs to be ready by July 28th for a shakedown run, but it HAS to be ready by Labor Day. Hopefully it will be rolling and out of the shop by next weekend.

[JeepnTXJ]

What we did today/tonight:

We finished the upper links for the rear, got the front completely welded up, frame cut in the rear for the coilover towers, coilover towers welded onto the front, and a few other things. Got started around 8:30 this morning and finished up right at 9 PM. I didn't take alot of pictures (My buddy has some on his camera, too, which I'll get up later. I was busy working the grinder and running for lunch/parts/bolts.) Here's a few pics(and yes, some of them are a little blurry. My camera battery was dying, so I was hurrying):

Heim:


Uppers bolted in (Wrong size misalignment spacers, new ones on order):




Frame end of uppers:


Head on shot of the rear w/ truss:


Welds on the front coilover tower:


Cutting the rear frame for the coilover tower:


Plasma notching the tower:


Tower in place and welded:



Front control arms bolted in:


Finishing the welding on the front:


My contribution. With a little practice, I angle-cut and notched some DOM for an extra brace on the front truss:


We're getting reeeeeeal close...

[TLane]

This build is awesome. Is the link mount/truss/yoke guard for the 14 bolt custom or prefabbed?

Definitely subscribed. Keep the updates coming!

[02Ram6994]

sick jeep its good to see people wheel there {expletive} right off the lot.....18k miles on it thats sick

[Tyler0wnsy0u]

That's sick man.... I give mad props to anyone who takes their truck outta the show room and sinks it that night, or climbs it that night lol... Sick build I will deff be watching this.

[Stouttrout]

I can not believe that no one mentioned the fact that the tubes were cut and welded together

Thanks for all the good compliments. it has been a blast. I will tell you alittle history.

I put D44's in my silver XJ and then traded the XJ to JeepnTXJ. I took the axles out and sold the 99 TJ I bought from him, bought this at a lot, yanked the axles and put the D44's in it. They had ARBS and 4.88 but after 3 trips, it was time to go big.

The 14 bolt and D60 came out of an 85 CUCV 5/4 ton. 5.13's and detroits. The rear truss and front for that matter is a BTF truss. I really like it. Here a few more pics, some that Chris posted and some new ones.

Okay here are my pics for the day. We got started on it at 8:30 this morning and quit at about 9:30pm. Don and kevin came over today and where a HUGE help. Thanks again to them. Your gonna here me thank them alot.

I hope to have this thing rolling on tires very soon.

settting up rear brackets. Marking for cut in frame.


Cut Made


Fitting


Welded in


Coilover In!!!!


Front Dand 60




Was it Einstien or maybe it was Mark twain, who said "A clean Workspace is the sign of a sick mind"