Copper Duke

[Rmhavema]

I decided it's time to start a thread on the build of my Scrambler. I had several previous posts in the Midwest section, link attached....

https://www.cj-8.com/forum/showthread.php?46474-New-CJ8-member-from-southeast-Michigan

Specs so far;

1982 CJ8
Original Iron Duke ~51k miles
T4 Transmission
Original Copper Brown Paint
Original Wide Track 4.10 axles
Old Man EMU YJ spring conversion, Bilstein shocks
31" BFG KO2's
Rear Detroit Locker, Moser 1 piece rear axle shafts.

This winter I installed the OME springs, Detroit Locker, Moser axle shafts, welded the AMC 20 tubes to the pig, new axle/tcase/trans seals, all new brake lines and park brake cables, tire carrier, ammo can center console..... Took it for the first drive over the weekend and all seems pretty good, but the duke seems to be running a little rich....

 

[bigwalton]

 

[Kim Dawson]

Fresh and clean. Looks like it just rolled out of the restoration shop. Great looking Scrambler!

 

[Rmhavema]

So, I guess it's been a while.... I bought a Warn 8274 from Rosco1974 a while back and promised I would post some pictures once I got it installed. Well, it has been on the Jeep for a year now, but here it is. He gave me a great deal and even had all the parts cleaned before shipping. I replaced the seals and put it back together. Very happy with the purchase! Thanks Rosco!

 

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

Looking good!

 

[designerRob]

That winch turned out beautifully.

 

[Rmhavema]

Finally getting around to provide some updates... I am eventually hoping to get duke out on the trails and wanted a place for storing spares and tools. Last winter I found this old Tuffy lock box on craigslist. After cleaning it up and adding some tie down points inside, I painted it and mounted to the rear of the bed. It is designed to attach to the rear seat attachments but my tire carrier was already taking up that space. Fortunately, it fit right between the rear supports. I was able to utilize existing bolt holes for the attachments, so no drilling in the original bed.

 

[Rmhavema]

The previous owner took out the fixed windows and installed vent windows, but the outer door skins were sagging and showing a gap to the vent window seal because of the missing support channel. I welded in a couple of U channels and re-installed the windows with all new seals. Everything is sealing up well now. For those who don't know, you will also need to drill a new hole in the door for the lower vent rail attachment. This is shown in the second picture (torx bolt just above 2 copper Philips screws).

 

[Rmhavema]

I decided to install the half doors with the hard top this summer and thought it would be good to have some soft uppers. I was going to modify the tj half door uppers to work with the yj doors by cutting and welding the metal frame posts, but lucked out. I bought a set of these tj upper steel frames on ebay and they were an exact fit for the YJ doors. These were made by steel horse automotive. Looks like they were made for this exact purpose. They are still in stock if anyone is interested...

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/223400993240

 

[designerRob]

Nice! So, the pins on the upper frame all lined up perfectly with the pin inserts on the door? Will you be able to hook the bottom of the skins into the rail on the doors? If so, that would be awesome. Did you use TJ skins from Bestop or a different manufacturer?

 

[Rmhavema]

Yes, the pins all lined up with the inserts in the door. Although, I realized that these frames are missing the flat piece of metal that pushes the lower TJ seal down on the door. So, the lower seal is not really tight against the door. There is probably a 1/8” gap in some areas where the upper meets the steel lower door. I drove it today and it wasn’t an issue for me, but not sure how it performs in the rain yet.

These are the TJ skins I purchased on ebay from Jack Mikol Automotive.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/320592100001

They are nice quality but designed for the TJ lower seal. I wonder if at one time there was a skin produced exclusively for this frame that had the YJ style lower flange seal? Anyway, I think they work for my purposes, but may consider welding on a piece to improve the lower seal.

 

[designerRob]

Thanks. It would be interesting to see if the lack of a good seal on the bottom of the upper lets in water, or excessive wind on the freeways. Not that soft doors are quiet on the freeway anyhow. They do look like they fit to the door opening very well.

I think Bestop makes a soft upper that fits the YJ doors with the lower lip and they have the round upper b-pillar corners. But I think they're very expensive.