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Expedition Scrambler..?

Hmm...

Thanks 4miles...Hmm...
Yeah, I "own it" already. Guess this means I will have to do some head scratching to make it fit.
The specs say the unit is 22.5"high
23"s wide
and 39 long...
So I am left with teall only two mounting choices it seems.?.
Install it lengthwise and hope that last inch will not interfere with the seat back and suffer the huge loss of all space for tools,parts, gear, and whatever...
or
maybe mount it on some sort of raised platform that slides. That would be tricky but it would be able to mount sideways provided there is at least 39"s between the roll bar tubes?
Funny how it didn't seem to resister that all the folks that bought these and were gonna use them in Land Rovers found them to be to big.
I will have to ge my hands on both before I make any final decision I think. Worse case it can be an expensive FF for my Expo-oriented Bantam trailer and also pull double duty as a garage beer cooler!:rolleyes:
Or...I could really go nuts and reconfigure the inner wheel wells to gain that whopping extra inch! ACK!
 
Crossing my fingers...

Been a while since I've updated this part of my thread so I wanted to offer a little input. i'm getting darn close to getting out of Iraq and while being home is always fantastic..I am itching to start my wrenching.
My poor girlfriend has an entire room with a small pile of all my jeep junk waiting on me...I'm embarrassed to admit that I hardly even remember what all is there!:huh: haha...
I still have'nt worked out the shipping for the crux of the build, my front dana 44...so I will have to try and knock out what I can while I can and hope it goes in easy after Christmas when I can go get it...
I scored a set of leather Nissan heated seats that will take some custom tube bending to get to work I think. Thats fine...As long as I can keep it fairly simple. Though they don't match color wise I don't really care as long as they are comfy and keep my buns warm! Wonder how to wire them...hmmm....
I'm crossing my fingers as I have a leed on a used Aero 33 gallon tank for my jeep. Its funny just how many of my military brothers are helping me try and contact the seller...Poor guy is going to feel like he's getting invaded. LOL! But its just what I was looking for and at a price I can afford...even after I drive to go get it! Wish me luck there..
I've also stumbled across a few...ahem, 5 gallon fuel cans that will get mounted somewhere. Amazong how GIs will throw away a brand new gas can just since its taking up space...! Morons! But I gotta make some mounts for them so that if/when I go on a longer adventure in Europe I can top everything off on post and hopefully make the trip without having to fill on the local economy...Way cheaper this way.
Still haven't though on how to fit the ARB bumper. Hoping it will be fairly straight forward, maybe just have to add some plate to take up for the narrower CJ vs TJ frame width.?. Have to mount my winch on there too...guess it will be the Mile marker over my upright Warn... Don't plan on rock crawling while I'm there so the MM should do fine.
I also bite the bullet on the fridge/freezer. While the Mil-spec one I bought for mucho$$ is a great unit..its too big and heavy for the 8. I'm afraid with the weight of 33 gallons of gas (plus?) and gear and maybe a RTT that the rear springs won't hold up...Anyone have any thoughts for this? I will be going SOA front and rear but the rear springs may need some help...What other springs work well and are a close to bolt in deal for out scramblers? FSJ? Toyota? FS bronco?? Anything...?
Well, thats about it for now. I will try desparitally to take pics before and during the speedy build. I may have to just snap pics and then do a write up as time permits or as big chunks are done. Wish me luck all!:thumbsup:
 
jeepdreamer said:
Ok, I have to admit that I am a closet fan of FCs. They are one of the ugliest of all things vehicular. I can only think of a small number of uglier examples. But being by nature a Jeep I think that leaves room for exception. An excuse to be ugly, if you will...? But somewhere within their ugliness a true beauty shines through. And with FCs, beauty truly IS in the eye of the beer holder! Take this example for one...Most would gasp and schriek as they clutched their children as if the zombie hordes were invading. Me? I like it. Kinda like Mad Max's bigger brother.!.
Click to expand...

Love that one. I think you could make a great tow rig from one of those. I did not know there were four door cabs in the FC line.
 
Truly "rare"

Trains...yeah, the 4 doors are one of the truly "rare" vehicles that got produced. IIRC they were military only and in very limited numbers so they are hard to find. VERY cool and unlike a 4 door Jtruck or CJ etc...I think it would be pretty hard to duplicate one. Lots of curves to the ugly mobile...I would think one with a 4bt and NV5600 would be dead sexy...
 
A new addition...

Without the horrid reference to the 80s or 90s "boyband"...I got a new addition coming to join the parts pile. Found this on CL and hopefully it works out great...? Anyone recognize it?:thumbsup:
**EDIT**
And since I fixed the pic (oops, sorry) anyone running one of these and can advise me what parts interchange with factory if any?
 
Last edited:
Thanks BW!!!!

Ok...so that was an honest mistake. The one I posted was what was sent me from the seller...it didn't load right for me either and only had some kind of company logo thingy..Sorry for that. I got it fixed now (even checked it LOL) since the correct one was right next to the junk ones in the Picture file...Gotta delete those. Guess it could have been worse and I could have posted some motivational shots my GF sent me here...LOL!
So trying this again...someone check it out. If you have one or know about sourcing parts/what factory stuff interchanges, please give me a shout!
 
Whoah, does that wrap around the rear mount? Never seen anything like that...cool!
 
Cool indeed...

Haha...BW, I'm playing internet ping-pong. Check for posts, nada. check email...yup...just got one...can't seem to track back and forth fast enough..Haha...
But yeah. From the info the guy I bought it from I'm guessing it is an early Aero 33 gallon tank. He didn't really know what it was and said it was something they took out of a project they built a while ago at the shop...? O don't know anyone else that makes a 30+/- gallon tank for a scrambler but them. The neat thing is it doesn't hang any lower that the smaller factory tank does...Or the 2o gal worse case. I'm hoping it solves any range problems and can let me cut down on the extra fuel needed if possible. I sent Aero a message asking about a sending unit and roll over thingies and whatever else it may need but haven't heard from them. May have to wait till I get home to call...? But the good thing is the seller had it vatted and cleaned, no leaks, and instead of kittying up the 800 bucks or so for a new one, I'm at a little over 300 bones for this one! Yea!!:cheers:
 
Fade to black..

As I get ready to go black on my Internet connection I wanted to toss this out. This is the latest of my bankbusting parts added to the pile for the build..Wish me luck!
 
Nice but unexpected...

Thanks trust.
Yeah, the BB is a nice unit and I've wanted an underdrive/doubler for quite some time. I am one of those that believes options are better than just one ultra low gear set. This will help me keep the drivability decent and allow me to hit various off road stuff without getting to stuck being either to low or what ever...
I wasn't planning on this but it showed up on the IFSJA and somehow I just couldn't resist. At this point the $$ spent for it may have dented my ability to get the NV4500 installed...ugh. Just empty every pocket is not a joke!
 
Amen, choices are the way to go whenever possible, I would like to go to a similar crawler box myself fr just that reason, sometimes I'd like to go much lower but 99% of the time 2wd stock low is just fine...

That thing is going to be awesome when finished, but if you are like me, funding it needs a periodic donation from powerball.....
 
That F/C camper is the COOLEST damn thing I've ever seen!!!!
I agree w/ Big Walton- Like I need another project!
not going to be able to resist building one of these! Thanks alot!!!
 
"I'm a looser, baby...so why don't you..."

So its Sat night and I am sitting in Starsux drinking some coffee and attempting to plot tomorrows work and hope it goes better than today. I must be a true tard, nerd, or lessron since I should be out drinking or carousing instead of working on my build thread.?. Oh well. Time is short and I can drink later. haha.
So I should add some updates to how I got to here today. Since I got home from Iraq last Sat I have been severly limited on access to my tools and parts. And that stinking "job" thing has been putting me through all sorts of reintergration briefings and general crap. I STILL do not have my house hold goods. They say maybe the day before Thanksgiving...maybe.?. I did manage to pick the Full Size Cherokee up from the govt storage. Not happy. They managed to kill my Blue top Optima that was only a couple months old before it went into storage. The facility was "supposed" to run the vehicles once a month to keep the fluids circulated and the batt charged. They didn't. And despite leaving it on trickle charge the last two nights it reads exactally ZERO! So there is 200 bucks down the toilet.
The good news is some of my tools were stored in that Jeep so I have limited capability. I got up early this morning to hit the auto craft center (an on-post, DYI auto shop for us GIs) in the hope of getting somethings done. Well, Ft Bliss is going through a large growth and even at 7am (an hour before it opens) there were several of us in line hoping for a bay. My thought was to do what I can and maybe get some of the little issues fixed as well.
Some how I managed to forget to bring the Plasma cutter with me so I had to make a mad dash back for it. By the time I got back to the shop it was full and a waiting line had actually formed! Didn't used to be that way. So I made a little progress with this and that until a bay opened up. I managed to get the rear (bent) bumperettes and the reciever hitch removed. I also got the rear aluminum corner gaurds removed. And while I was expecting some rust it really was not nearly as bad as I feared. A little surface and two decent sized holes on the driver side. Should be fairly easy to cut out and replace. Sadly I forgot to snap some pics of this but I will tomorrow when the sun come up.
I also got the front bumper pulled to see what I was working with for the install of the ARB. It was originally made for a TJ and I had hoped it would not be to big a deal to make work....well, yes and no. Its not as hard as building from scratch but it is gone to take some head scratching to make it work and look right. Kinda have to take the plasma to the original mounting brackets and start over to mount it. I may even have to do some profile trimming where it nears the fenders...not sure yet as height and depth have yet to be determined. Here is a pic of it on the lift just before the original bmper came off...Sorry for the poor camera work...I'll try and do better.
 
Another wash...

Well, Today was another wash as for progress. Still fighting a nasty cold and nothing was going right today. Crud. I will mention that trying to modify an ARB bumper designed for a TJ to fit on my CJ is not as easy as I hoped. After the first cut it bacame a little less painful but I'm still kinda not sure how this is going to work out. Funny how much one has to take into account with this. Multiple axis of fitment means headaches galore! To high and its in the fenders. To low and its in the shackles. Move it in close to lessen the approach and it will be in the tires...push it out doesn't work to well either....This is an interesting quandry. I'll get it but I'll need some luck and patience.
Also scored a set of used Mastercraft Baja seats....not sure what I'm gonna do with them since I have the leather/heated ones but who knows?
Oh yeah...and the wind has been blowing like nobodies buiseness so I wasn't taking pics during the dust torandos...sorry. Maybe I'll get something done Wed. when the shop opens back up. Then its off for two days for Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll go camping as I have nowhere else to go...?
Side note: Does anyone know what thickness the sheetmetal is behing the rear tires? Gotta fix two rust through holes too...
 
Some joy today...

Well even though it is not really "work" done I did find a shop that can fold and bend metal for me. I really like the rocker protection I found on here and figured I would give it a go my own self. The only thing I wouldn't be able to do would be putting the 90* bend in the 3/16s plate. I also wanted to add some more strength to the rear corners that the aluminum corners were lacking. I may be way wrong on my choice there but we shall see. The shop I found will basically bend/radius the 4 parts (two rockers and two corners) for less than the cost of either one off the shelf. I plan on using the aluminum corners for patterns to pull the measurements so that will hopefully go fairly straight forward. The rockers will be a little different from those out there but I hope I can pull it off without loosing my sanity. Since I'm not running a body lift I wonder if I will have issues? I should pick those up tomorrow or Wed maybe...Kinda screwed this week for shop work since my house hold goods are supposed to arrive Wed...maybe. So if the rockers and stuf are not done I may make a run to the Girlfriends house to pick up all the new stuff tomorrow...maybe.
 
Self-imposed Christmas comes...

So I went to the GF's house today to pick up all my acquired parts and stuff. It filled the back of my long bed Dodge full size! Holy COW! and oops. heehee. I now need to trek it all back "home" to my little Army trailer (where I live) and figure out what is what. I hate to admit that I have forgotten some of the things that were coming...haha. But its all there and now I need to start a plan of attack. No more excuses once the Turkey day is past.
I also went to the metal fab place and picked up my corner guard blanks and the ones for the rockers. I was originally going to go with 3/16s for all but it was better to do the corners out of 1/8th. I had even called him this morning to ask about changing that back to bigger...I'm glad I didn't! Even the 1/8th is beefy! I will add comments as I get further along with these. I am still on the fence on the rocker parts. He bent them at a 90* just like I asked but it is not a "sharp" 90* like I visualized. Will it matter? Who knows...I doubt it. But again...I'll know more when I get to messing with it. Hopefully it doesn't fall on me while I'm working with it...it is HEAVY! Wow! haha.
So thats the update for today. Tomorrow I have an all day waiting session to hope the government storage people bring back my personal stuff. Won't know until they call. But at least I can ogle my new stuff while I'm waiting....yea!
Pics tomorrow is likely.
 
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