Black mall crawler 90% bolt on build.

Postby **TJDave** » Sun Jul 17, 2011 1:52 pm

Update: The Jeep worked pretty dang good this past weekend. The Antirock is great. Liked the no disconnecting and less body roll on sidehills.
I have a small driveshaft vibration going up steep hills. Turns out my pinion angle is set a little too high. Add to that my cheapo, too soft, saggy Rusty's rear springs added to the problem. They settled about 2 inches, and they did not like a bag of tools, a bag of recovery gear, and a passenger in the back. :evil:

So, I ordered a set of rear Currie 3" HD progressive springs. Hope that fixes that.

But today I spent a whopping $5 making a 3rd brakelight to stay legal. My Bestop tire carrier came with a bracket for mounting the stock 3rd brakelight behemoth, but that would of meant drilling more new holes in my tailgate. Not to mention, I've always hated the stock one. One $5 led clearance light, one center cap from the spare tire, and problem solved. I cut the end off of the center cap. I reused the stock wire and put some quick connects inside the center cap. Sorry, more crappy cell phone pics.

Postby **TJDave** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 9:15 am

Another update. Before we went to Liberty a couple weeks ago, I re-adjusted the rear upper and lower control arms and pinion angle to eliminate the driveline vibes I had on uphill climbs. It worked...... smooth as a baby's :shock:

.
I also swapped out the rear 3" Rusty's springs for some 3" Currie Progressive rate HD springs. Much better also.
Also at Liberty, I messed up my cheapo Smittybilt winch towing a log to camp with it. Tim hooked me up with a used winch he had.
This morning, I mounted it on the Heep, replaced the battery cables, and hooked up my in-cab switch to it.

Postby **Roman** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 8:33 pm

TJDave wrote:Also at Liberty, I messed up my cheapo Smittybilt winch . . .

You never hear anybody brag about their (insert cheap brand name here) winch, buy Warn and be happy!

Postby **OldGreen** » Sat Sep 03, 2011 7:08 am

I certainly don't brag about mine. . .once it dies, Warn will the nod again. The only thing TMax had going for it was customer service and some really nice people, but that's gone to heck with the new owners.

Postby **TJDave** » Sat Sep 03, 2011 7:42 am

I've never bragged about my Smitty. :shock:

It's always worked though.
The stickers were peeling off of it. A Warn rep. was running around the Jamboree passing out Warn stickers. I slapped one on my Smitty, and it died the first time I used it after that. :lol:

Postby **Lud** » Sat Sep 03, 2011 10:02 am

I still love my Superwinch 9500lb and its been three years.

Postby **Wrench** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 5:57 am

TJDave wrote:I've never bragged about my Smitty. It's always worked though.
The stickers were peeling off of it. A Warn rep. was running around the Jamboree passing out Warn stickers. I slapped one on my Smitty, and it died the first time I used it after that.

Epic!

Postby **TJDave** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 6:21 pm

My passenger front fender has taken too many hits this wheeling season, and is pretty bent and sad looking. I have been looking at the MCE Flatty fenders for some time. But, they provided no tire coverage past the tub. Too much tire sticking out for me. I wanted at least what my stock flares covered. They just came out with a flared version of their flexible flatty fenders. They are made out of a new TPO plastic material with a lifetime replacement warranty against any trail damage/cracks/breakage. The set cost less than half of what a single replacement stock fender would run. Then add prep, painting, etc. So, I got them. Mike from MCE (Modern Classic Enterprises) is a great guy to deal with. I had a question and left a message. He called me right back and we BS'd for a while and he answered all of my questions. Anyway, I started cutting today. :shock:

The picks of the fenders are just pre-fit shots. They are not bolted on yet, or fine tuned to be perfectly straight. I'll post those later. The turn signals will be JK housings just under the headlights. Got them for $12 each and the stock TJ fender light hardware/wires are plug and play. I will cut those in this weekend. What do you think?

Postby **mattawajeep** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:22 pm

Looks good. I really like those flares, and have been tempted to get some since they came out. Just a bit worried about getting pulled over for having the tires sticking out to far - I drive my jeep around on actual roads too much. Let us know if you get a ticket.

:lol:

ETA: Just checked their site, looks like a 6' flare is in the works, probably not as good looking, but...

Postby **TJDave** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:51 pm

They are wider than the original version. Same width as my stock flares. I have not been pulled over with the stockers since I have had the Jeep. I don't drive it in the rain either where it can spray water all over.

Postby **Wrench** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 5:50 am

What about the turn signals you lost?

Postby **OldGreen** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 5:55 am

I've always wondered why they don't put cup holders on CJ fenders.

Postby **tobyw** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 9:06 am

Wrench wrote:What about the turn signals you lost?

TJDave wrote:The turn signals will be JK housings just under the headlights. Got them for $12 each and the stock TJ fender light hardware/wires are plug and play. I will cut those in this weekend.

I just like to look at the pretty pictures too :roll:

Postby **TJDave** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:47 am

tobyw wrote:I just like to look at the pretty pictures too

More pretty pictures.

JK turn signals and led side marker lights all done.

Postby **iaccocca** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 12:21 pm

Nice Dave! I look for ward to checking that out this weekend.

Postby **TJDave** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 5:49 pm

Mildly depressed for not making the snow run today, I decided to tackle a quick task I have been putting off on the Black Mall Crawler.

Operation Anti-Leveling.

When I did all the above junk to the Jeep, I wanted it to sit level. In haste, I hacked my old BB spacer to 2" and threw them on top of the front springs.
Nice and level. :roll:

Then, I put the gas tank back in, fuel, tools, recovery gear, etc. etc. Then the new rear springs settled a bit. Doh! I wish I was smarter when it came to this stuff. :lol:

So out came the 2" and in went a .75" spacer.

Better?

Postby **TJDave** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:02 pm

It has been awhile since I did anything to the Jeep.
So, I cut some big holes in my hood today....and a bunch of little ones to mount the PSC Hood Louver.

Postby **iaccocca** » Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:13 pm

Let us know if it effects engine temps. I'm sure it will do a lot for underhood temps... TJs like to get hot.

Have you noticed a difference on the JK coolant temperature Lance?

Postby **mattawajeep** » Sat May 25, 2013 8:07 am

Hey Dave, any reason you went with the poly outboard shock kit?

After I rotate the rear axle on mine to account for the belly up skid I think I'm going to be forced to do the same mods. Spring mount is going to be moved, and I guess I might as well move the shocks out as well.

The poly kit is just danged expensive. I've seen quite a few of these mods done using cheapo 3/4 ton ford shock mounts, but the mounts are a bit narrower. I'm wondering if there are any cheaper alternatives that you might have run across.

I'm thinking that there has to be a wider, cheap shock mount out there that I can fit into the frame.

Postby **TJDave** » Sat May 25, 2013 8:39 am

I went with the Poly kit because that is what Larry recommended. I bought my rear axle from him, and it already had the lower mounts on it. They also look beefier than the Ferd towers, but I've never held a Ferd tower in my hand so I'm not totally sure. I think as this mod becomes more popular, there are now more kits out there that are not as expensive. Gen Right is now making one.

So the Poly kit I bought came with frame and the boxed axle mounts. I still have a set of unused lower mounts I would make you a great deal on if you decide to go with the Ford towers or buy some other upper mounts only. :wink:

Postby **mattawajeep** » Sat May 25, 2013 8:45 am

TJDave wrote:I went with the Poly kit because that is what Larry recommended. I bought my rear axle from him, and it already had the lower mounts on it. They also look beefier than the Ferd towers, but I've never held a Ferd tower in my hand so I'm not totally sure. I think as this mod becomes more popular, there are now more kits out there that are not as expensive. Gen Right is now making one.

So the Poly kit I bought came with frame and the boxed axle mounts. I still have a set of unused lower mounts I would make you a great deal on if you decide to go with the Ford towers or buy some other upper mounts only.

Ooh, I'm definitely interested in the lower mounts, as those look like more of a pain to fab than the uppers, and the poly ones look nice and strong.

I'll take a look at Gen Right. If I can't find cheaper uppers I'm really thinking hard about just making my own out of some heavy flat stock.

Postby **TJDave** » Sat May 25, 2013 9:47 am

Found something you may be interested in. A bit longer than mine, and too long for our TJ application, but you can cut the unused portion off. Then pick up my lower mounts and you have a nice sturdy outboard set up.

http://davescustoms4wd.com/mm5/merchant ... Code=SHOCK

Postby **mattawajeep** » Sat May 25, 2013 11:47 am

TJDave wrote:Found something you may be interested in. A bit longer than mine, and too long for our TJ application, but you can cut the unused portion off. Then pick up my lower mounts and you have a nice sturdy outboard set up.

http://davescustoms4wd.com/mm5/merchant ... Code=SHOCK

Yeah, those are much simpler and certainly cheaper. I have the steel just lying around to build a set like that, though I'd have to cut the pieces and weld it up.

Anyone have any thoughts on if I'll have any strength issues with welded instead of bent pieces?

Dave, could you PM me your phone #. I think I'll be in tri-cities next week sometime and I'd like to buy those lower mounts from you.

Postby **Lud** » Sat May 25, 2013 12:52 pm

In the 9 years I've had my TJ and the last 7 that I've had it offroad, I have yet to get a coolant temp over 200 degrees.

Then again I'm crazy about flushing the coolant every 30,000 miles.

Postby **Livin4Today** » Tue May 28, 2013 7:36 pm

iaccocca wrote:Let us know if it effects engine Have you noticed a difference on the JK coolant temperature Lance?

Yes sir dropped 10 degres when playin' hard...

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Black mall crawler 90% bolt on build.

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