I Can't Wait To Take My Top Off!

Obviously there is no picture to attach to this post.  But I am posing a question to the group.  Has anyone built a crane to help lift a CJ8 1/2 Hard Top off the body?  I don't have a garage so that eliminates me buying the one's I have seen on www.4wd.com or www.jcwhitney.com or even www.quadratec.com.  I think I will try digging and setting a 4X4 post about 12 feet high set in concrete.  Attach a cheap crane system from www.harborfreight.com at the top, and see if this will work.  I may draw this one out on paper first to see if it makes sense and will support a 200 lbs top.  Anyway - please send comments if you have an idea!

Take Care Jeepers!

Only a Few Things/Months Left

With only a 3 months left till our first baby is born - I only have a little more spare time to do any other fixing and restoring of the jeep.  So I need to get in gear, but luckily there are only a handful of items left.  I got a paint job done last weekend, and ordered a rear bumper.  I still need to get my rear leaf spring shackles replaced.  Lastly I need to scrape off all the rust from under carriage and apply some POR-15, then seal and paint with rust inhibitor.  But these thing don't have to be done anytime soon.  I must say I had a blast doing this project and I learned a ton!  Not sure when my next post will be, but I will update everyone if I do anything else.  Anybody with will, time, and patience can accomplish anything.  I hope to give this Scrambler to my boy when he is old enough (and IF he deserves it!) 

Time for Some Music

Parrot Car Multimedia Receiver - ASTEROID (Google Affiliate Ad)

Of course you all have been reading every post, so you already know that when I bought this little puppy it had no radio installed.  I love this because I can create my own sound system from scratch.  This is what has been installed:  Parrott Asteriod head unit (andriod based radio), Versa-Pods attached to rear back of half hard top (quick disconnect clips for when removing top), Center Speaker System (2 mid's, 2 tweeters) and Infinity Basslink Subwoofer, and a new radio antenna.  There is also a killer alarm with proximity detection so don't get any funny ideas!  I also keep my pet rattle snake in there, so be warned!  In any case - the sound is great, and I can block out any of the road noise I was used to hearing.

Half Hard Top and Bulkhead Installed

Classic Accessories Jeep Wrangler Cover (Google Affiliate Ad)

So here is a glimpse of what the Jeep is starting to look like.  I think it looks pretty sick!!!  After scouring the Internet for more than a month, I found this rare fiberglass 1/2 hard top in VA Beach which is about 3.5 hours away from my house.  I also bought a brand new fiberglass bulkhead from this store: www.gr8tops.com.  After aquiring these 2 pieces, I thought I would figure out later how to install and attach these body parts.  I ripped off the old full length soft top and took off the frame as well.  I stored these nicely in a box in my shed - never know when I'll want to go back to it (doubt it.) Anway, the first step was to install the bulkhead.  I placed it behind both seats and formed the pick up truck bed.  I opt'd not to use regular sheet metal screws because with all the vibrations of the road, I figured that they would just come loose.  I bought a rivet tool, rivet nuts, bolts and rubber washers. If you don't know what a rivet tool/nuts are - go to amazon.com and search for Astro Rivet Hand Tools.  they are used for blind bolting (when you can't see what's on the otherside of the bolt.  Just drill a hole, insert the rivet nut using the tool, squeeze trigger and the rivet nut sets securely inside of hole.  Then you can bolt whatever you want to it, in my case the bulkhead and then the 1/2 hard top.  Next to the windshield, my Scrambler already had latches for a hard top - so I didn't have to do anything.  Somewhere in it's life it must have had a half hard top.  I guess I lucked out on that one.  The only thing that was a pain in butt was removing the seat belt bolts that go into the roll cage.  They were rusted, and it took about 4 hours to get them out.  Invest in an air-torque wrench if you can. 

New Dunlop Radial Mud Rovers

Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D 235/40R18/XL 95W (Google Affiliate Ad)

From my post titled "CJ8 is Wandering All Over Road", I mentioned that when it hit 20mph, my jeep started bouncing up and down like it had hydraulics.  What I learned was about something call flat spots.  Before I got to my jeep, who knows how long it sat parked - maybe years!  When that happens, flat spots form on tires where it meets the ground.  Naturally when you try driving, and the tires make the revolution, each time it hits that flat spot, the tires go down, then back up.  No real fix for this besides to replace the tires.  I bought 32X11.5R-15 Dunlop Radial Mud Rovers and they look sweet!  No more flat spots (you have to keep driving your jeeps people).  I try and drive my jeep to work at least 1-2 times a week so I never get flat spots again!