Saturday, January 12, 2013

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. 

Thursday, January 10, 2013

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!