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After an easy run I noticed that my track bar would hit the passenger side upper radius arm mount. To remedie this I marked the track bar above the radius arm mount, took it out, and bent it on my pipe bender. Here's the bent bar after re-adjusting the lenght to compensate for the bend.

But that wasn't enough, after going on an easy trail without bump stops and denting my oil pan I re-bent and relocated my track bar further forward. This was enough to get me to tougher trails but it's mounts were limiting my axle up travel, so I decided this would be temporary and moved it again in the winter.

The radius arm mounted to the cast steel diff housing broke on the first trail run. I welded the mount to a 1/4" plate and bolted it to the diff housing with 3 bolts.


Here's some pics on the RTI ramp after the fixes.










I built a rear bumper with a receiver hitch. Like the front I kept it plain.

And some sidesteps out of 2" square, 3/16" wall tubing, bolted through the frame.


I decided to move the spare tire inside to eliminate the heavy bumper tire carrier and make access to my gear easier. I also remove my Tuffy security box to replace it with a large trunk. Here you can see the tire mount I made from 1" square that will go over the trunk and bolts to the fenders. Below that are the pieces that hold it down, and the incorporated hi-lift mount.





The trunk was built to use the fender wells and the full height of the back door. The top and sides was made from one piece of sheet metal and bent. To help seal against the door I put on a piece of weather stripping. The back has bent lips to help attach it to the top and floor. The eye hooks on the back hold my lunch cooler with a bungee cord. A rubber mat on the floor keeps it quiet on bumpy roads.






Since my new bumpers aren't going to hold compressed air like my old ones, I put a Kilby 2.5 gallon air tank inside the trunk mounted to the fender. It's also convenient with the quick connect right on it. On the bottom port I put an automatic drain with a tube to lead the water outside.


Since I didn't have stock TJ bumpstops to extend, I bought inexpensive rubber rollers and stops for boat trailers at Princess Auto. I placed a steel tube inside to strenghten it and a metric threaded rod to attach it to the frame's mount.



After all this I was finally able to do some serious trails. I headed to Paragon Adventure Park and later did a winter run on our Quinn trail. You can see pictures and videos here.

It ran great and was very reliable, but also revealled limitations and weaknesses.



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