Welcome to islander90.com

So I haven’t posted pictures of my status of the Jeep build lately so here are some…  It’s been twelve weeks since I pulled the Jeep into the garage and completely gutted everything under the frame.  So in the past 12 weeks, I’ve sold some parts, painted some parts, put the axles together, bolted the axles up, bought a welder, put some cheapo tires under it, and cycled the suspension a bit.  So that’s where I sit now.  I’ve done all the grunt work (for the most part), so the rest is just fine tuning everything.  Keep reading to see pics and a rundown of what I’ll be doing for the next few weeks/months:

continue reading…

Well the time has finally arrived.  There’s no turning back now!  I’ve spent the last probably 8 years researching Spring Over Axle (SOA) and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my Jeep…  I started buying parts roughly 4 or 5 years ago… I took a long break before finally getting back into the Jeep Thing recently… and I just spent this past Sunday with my dad and brother tearing down the Jeep…

Jeeps always have rust and there’s always SOME sort of problem in an install and this was no different.  In a matter of hours, we had the rollbar out (half the bolts had to be drilled out), had the rear shocks removed (front shocks need cut off), springs removed (2 bolts had rust-fused to the sleeves and had to be sawzalled out), and axles removed (rear brake lines broke along the way).  But it doesn’t matter what problems we came across, because it got done!  Now I have a daily reminder on why I need to get all those “little” things done to my axles so they can go in.

Next step?  Paint a bunch of brackets and put the axles together.

I’m gonna try my best to keep this updated with lots of pictures so stay tuned…

JeepNazi101’s 1997 TJ

• 5.3L Vortec V8 engine
• 4L60e auto transmission
• Atlas II 5.0 tcase
• Narrowed Dana 60 axles w/ 35 spline shafts and 4.10 gears
• Fully custom suspension resulting in probably 0″ of lift
• 1″ Body Lift
• 42″ Irok tires on custom H2 beadlocks
• Sliders, custom cage, and corner protection
• Full hydro steering
• Warn 8,000 lb winch (not shown)

continue reading…

So a few months had passed and I was done with driving a stock Jeep; something had to change.  I had taken my stock Jeep offroad and had fun, but my tires were getting close to bald and I needed new ones.  I wanted bigger tires and they sure weren’t gonna fit on a stock Jeep. I was only 17 and my parents’ money had bought the Jeep, so I could only do what they allowed.  They were weary of me putting a big lift on because they were worried it would raise the CG and I would flip, so I had to find the best option without spending much money.  My dad didn’t like the idea of 33″ tires at all and I couldn’t sway him on 32s so the biggest I could go would be 31″ tires. I can’t remember what research I did because I hadn’t joined any forums yet, but I decided to go with a simple and cheap 1.25″ shackle lift – probably off of ebay (I think they may even have been advertised as 2″ but I can’t remember anymore). It would be enough lift that I figured I would be able to run 31s with no problem (more on that in another post).

continue reading…

…to New York and try to win a new Jeep!

continue reading…