That makes a lot more sense, just didn't want to get the new gears and find out they won't work!
Been applying at a ton of places so hopefully I hear back from somewhere soon!

 

Oh boy! Just need to buy a master install kit and diff fluid, thinking about an aftermarket diff cover but I'm not sure I can justify the price of them

 

You can definitely justify the cost of a G2 cover. Worth every penny.

 

Might do it, I really like the look of the cover you got on yours

On a different note I nightshaded my taillights last night, 2 medium coats turned out alright. Need to switch to led bulbs and wire up the cap brake light though

 

Truck got dropped off at my friends shop, should be back on Saturday with a few changes...

 

X2 on the G2 I've got one for the 9.25 and I'm getting one for the D44 too

 

I bet you're stoked for the new gears bud. Get a ruffstuff cover

 

Gonna have to x2 that one. Those ruffstuff diff covers are beefy.

 

The winch cradle is welded on but the tube bumper itself is bolt on, bolts to the factory location and the bottom of the winch craddle, so by just removing the top bolts you can fold down the bumper in front of the truck allowing for easy access at my future winch for if something were to go wrong etc

Few more pics, I'll try and take some more of the mounts etc soon but right now i'd say its about 90% done. Still needs front tow hooks( 4 Smittybuilt Zinc coated d rings showed up today as typing this, rated for something like 4.75 tons), going to drill a few large holes through the top of the skid for appearance reasons and possibly paint the skid a darker grey and of course order a winch soon I hope. Thinking end of February since I still need to get my 4.56 gears installed and finish the rear bumper and rock sliders

Don't judge the hellas facing towards the heavens right now haha, just haven't adjusted them yet. I also have the oem front bumper, the metal for the rear bumper and 200 pounds of salt bags(2wd ice problems) in the box so usually she does sit a little more taller in the rear(rake for the win)

 

.

 

Last night we drilled a few holes through the skid and painted it black, the bright silver wasn't something I liked but I'm not sure about the black either. Guess we'll see as time goes on

Also added led reverse and brake lights, its about back to how it was before the nightshade and the white reverse lights looks much cleaner

 

I liked the silver a bit better. If something is gonna be painted black it needs to be gloss imo.

 

Another picture of the black skid plate, its growing on me and I think once I get my zinc coated D rings on each side of the skid and the chrome winch fairlead in the skid breaking it up I'll be much happier. Not a fan of the front license plate though but its law here :(

The plans of right now
-Install 4.56 Gears(Happening Feb.4th)
-Build rear bumper with dual swing outs, one for tire and the other for a jerry can and water jug
-Build rock sliders
-Make mounts on the roof basket to attach my rear facing led pods, shovel,axe and traction aids etc
-Led strip inside camper shell and seperate led strip on the cap rear window to light up tailgate area when camping at night
-Sound dampen entire cab
-Powerdome
-New Explorer Leafs(Remove Oem 4x4 Blocks)

Gather parts for a D30 Sas, This won't happen for awhile but my friend that built me the tube bumper has 2 Xj's with dana 30's so I'm going to be picking one up then slowing gathering parts/building it up for the swap
-Matching 4.56 Gears
-Detroit Tru trac
-All new brakes, u joints etc
Basically have it a whole new axle before it even goes into the truck, then find figure out what to do with the steering box and t case etc. Long term planning but it will happen

 

Last weekend I got the 4.56 gears installed, so far I'm extremely happy. The truck feels pretty much back to how it was with stock tires, it can actually hold 5th down the highway and doesn't downshift the second a breeze goes against me and it doesn't feel like such a slouch getting moving off the line


However in the process of doing the gears and being under the truck we did find some issues, rear u joint is on the way out, rear transmission seal is leaking, both brake calipers are starting to seize and causing pads/rotors to wear super weird and both upper ball joint boots are gone so they're now a ticking time bomb. This thing is cursed

 

I've read this whole thread and it is one of my favorite builds on the forums. keep up the good work!

 

Thanks man!

 

Wired some led strips under the dash, way to bright right now and really make me want to replace my burnt out hvac and clustor lights but the ladies still love it

And horsing around, jeep dug his hitch into the cement and I had yank him down


Needless to say I'm more then amped for the Seddons Corner mega run this weekend too!

 

Went to the Mega Run this weekend, was an absolute blast and a miracle the truck survived and the only thing I broke was my hi lift mount

Taken in the morning long before everyone showed up









Had the fancy camera in my truck hence the no fancy rolling shots of myself

 

Nothing new, hoping to get the diff cover this or next weekend as with wire wheel and paint my frame/axle. Got a 5 meter colour changing led strip for the camper shell on the way
Also picked up a sport trac center console which is fully assembled unlike my old explorer one so I'm hoping to paint it this weekend and mount my new Cobra 19 Cb to it as with the rocker switches i bought last year

 

Needs paint(soon don't worry) but I got my sport trac center console installed, looks much better then the normal second gen console in my opinion. While the console was out I mounted/wired my new cb and properly grounded the antenna this time so I don't fry this cb, also mounted my rocker switches into the console


In the box we also wired up the 5 meter rgb led strip, thing is crazy bright and going to prove very useful for camping. Also mounted a power outlet so I can charge phones etc back there. Right now I'm in the process of mounting/wiring some old 6x9 speakers back there and another led strip for on the cap window aiming down onto the tailgate for late night cooking etc. More pics will come asap

What happens when your friends think it would cool to vape into the cap, it did kinda look crazy on strobe mode

 

Busy weekend
-Changed the engine oil/filter
-Drained diff oil and put on new cover, painted axle
-Bed lined tailgate
-Painted center console, the arm rest as a rip in it so the plan is to replace that at some point
Still need to mount the speakers in the box and rig up some curtains but its really nice finally finishing things up



Muddy driveway did not end so well, my quad got the worst of it



Half *** clean enough

 

I'm liking the G2 on there. Wish I had one back with the 8m8

 

That's one hell of a "driveway" lol. I would definitely need 4wd to get through that. Especially pulling a couple quads haha

 

Without the trailer I'm pretty confident I could have made it but I'm not about to go back and find out

 

Did a little bit of gravel pit exploring this weekend, brought the friend with the great camera again so no crappy cell pics






Then after I got a friend to use his SWR meter on my cb and after messing around with the screw on my firestik we got the meter showing 1.0 which apparently is good so yay!