I've looked at the pictures again and I have an idea to bounce around. The door seal is on the body frame, yes? So as the door closes it squeezes at the back BUT scrubs across the front slightly as it squeezes closed. Here we go...

Eliminate the front hinge point that is inside the body and move it outside of the body at the exo upright, sort of like Van rear barn doors. In that way the door could open past 90 degrees and almost 180 against the front door.

Oh I must say beautiful daughter, beautiful dog. Being a big dog owner I understand and I think it is well worth the effort.

Fabricator estimates 400-500 lbs.

I had considered the idea of moving the hinges to pivot from the cage, it appears to be the easiest way. It very possibly will end up that way if I can't get things right with the sliding door. Waiting for rain to move on and will take measurements of door for sketch. Thank you for the compliments, my daughter is a joy getting involved into the hobby. Provided grades are good and we get in our new house she is looking forward to getting her own Jeep for her birthday. She will have 2 years to get it built before she gets to drive it and will hopefully appreciate it then.

Got truck out yesterday for a quick run.Had a great trip out and truck did very well. As usual there is a new list now to take things to the next level. Primary issue needing resolved is a cracked exhaust manifold, will likely replace with a JY one until I can get a header. Radius arm still hitting factory lower control arm mount, will need to clean it up more. Coil springs are crushed at the top, will be looking to replace them with a more solid spring. Need to replace e brake cables and lower radiator hose. With steering working so much better since Currie upgrade, going to change pitman arm back and see how it drives with things properly aligned again. Still getting noises from y-link, going to pull apart all bushings clean/inspect/grease and replace as needed. Had a last minute oops on Saturday that almost prevented us making it out, had to grind off some bolts for the axle end bolts. New t-bolts should be here this week to get those right. Some movement in leaf spring mount, going to box it in and reinforce it. Thinking about using the Rusty's but welding in instead of bolting and completing it out to fully box it in.
http://www.rustysoffroad.com/rusty-s...-brackets.html
Rear doors do not open enough to access back seat anymore, working on something unique to resolve this issue. If we can pull it off it will be extremely sweet. This will take months and some JY doors to pull off so don't expect this to unveil soon.

Here is my favorite shot from yesterday, shows driver side bump stop not doing it's job. Wheel was all up in the wheel well, drive shaft hit radius arm and coil spring over compressed

Got a good start done today. Got radius arms dropped and inspected, greased and reinstalled. Found a bent bolt causing radius arms to hit each other on one side and repaired. Got factory control arm mounts cut away better, should prevent another noise. Popped out and pressed in new upper axle bushing. Most important repair of the day was cracked exhaust manifold got replaced with a Banks revolver header. Tried the JY but they were all cracked and didn't want to waste more time driving around trying. Got a couple welds to take care of, emergency brake cables and a few odds and ends to finish up tomorrow.

How about an overall picture of your rig now that the exoskeleton is done.

LOL, my bad. Been so busy scurrying to get truck right before my biological mom comes out for a wheeling trip guess I wasn't paying much attention and missed those.
I have not taken a good picture of the top yet which is why I still have to reinstall the roof rack. If you scroll up there are some better pictures of the cage complete as we were putting bed liner on it.

It looks a little mad max to guy from Iowa, but it's cool!

Managed to get last weeks list done and get truck out to the trails for a wonderful family day. Truck did good, but brake calipers were not releasing making a bit of brake noise. Got the brakes pulled apart and found drivers side caliper wobbling around. Bolts were snugged all the way down. Determined steering knuckle needed to be replaced along with calipers and pads. Ordered steering knuckles to do both sides. Picked up brake rotors and calipers and ordered in my pads, should arrive today and be back together. While looking at passenger side wheel bearing assembly was leaking so went ahead and replaced it with a Moog (3 year warranty). Brother managed to get it all done after work yesterday, I am truly blessed to have such a great brother. When pads arrive just have to load/mount calipers and bleed the brakes.

I have never figured out brothers, I have a sister and 3 sons in their 20's. The meanest things any of my sons has done has been to their brother but don't get between them, you fight one you're fightin' 3. When the three of them get together to get a job done get out of the way, it is amazing what they can accomplish together. I know my Father, looking down, is very proud of them.

The neighbor across the street has two boys under 10 and it funnier than hell to watch them and one go crying to Mom or Dad then 5 minutes later best pals. When my boys see this I bring Mom outside (my wife) and she just laughs and tells them it's like when they were that age and then the stories come out, some I never knew about and I wonder how all three are still alive.

Brothers, I'll never figure them out.

If I had the traditional relationship with my brothers and sisters I would be in for a rough time. I have 6 sisters and 4 brothers plus 6 more step brothers/sisters. I graduated high school living with one sister. All that doesn't include the brother who lives with me, I was unofficially adopted by his family. He has made it possible for my truck to get where it is. He is always go go go and has spent many hours working on my truck while I am on service calls or watching Broncos games. It is true, the most messed up things we do, we do to each other.

Had to straighten driver side upper bump stop mount after detonating bump stop from axle not hitting flat. Adjusted axle to sit properly and replaced bump stop bushing last weekend. Pads installed and brakes bled. Might be changing pitman arm length for more ideal steering geometry but truck is an alignment away from another test trip...I think

no more stacking blocks to make jack tall enough to lift truck

We got out to one of our favorite trails last weekend. Had to winch up the first obstacle because front locker was not working and almost tested the cage already. Repaired the broken wire and completed the rest of the trail. Got a little video of the day, if you go to my youtube page there is also a short clip of 1st obstacle that is not edited for sound.
https://www.youtube.com/user/xaza23

Looks like fun.... Hope the rest of the day all went well??????

Oh yes indeed. We got past a group with a truck that was having some issues and had another group that had never been on the trail follow us the rest of the day. We passed a buggy on about 40" tires going the other way saying it was not passable, we never even used our winch when we got up in the snow. We did have a member of our group take out his distributor with a tree branch and had to be towed/coast last 1-2 miles...mostly downhill and gentle easy trail on that side. Was a fantastic 14 hour day in the hills. Time to start packing the snowboard when we go out instead of the climbing gear.

Sounds great.... Cant wait to hear what you have planned next..... Keep use posted..... Looking good....

My apologies but the way I linked my pictures in caused them to not properly show anymore. Issue started with post #35, I have gone back through and fixed all posts although the pictures may not be exactly what was originally posted. Still around reading but been busy with boring things.

:)....Cool Beans.... :)

Not much being done on build but going to have a few things to take care of after last weekends urban crawling. Lowest point of tire lifts 28.5 inches with limiter straps set as they are. Pretty good but should be able to safely allow a couple more inches with a little coil noise. Blew out rear shock driving off the cars. About a month ago wife traded in her Jeep for a new Ram 1500, something we can tow with. XJ might become a trailer queen instead of getting a diesel now. :yikes:

Nice.... Like the new Ram also.... Good Choice Wifey.... :)

After installing the cage the factory mirrors went from too small to worthless. You either see a bunch of cage or they are turned out too far to be much help. Found the solution to this with 94 Ford F250 mirrors. Not sure if the sheet metal would hold up to a nut/washer and didn't want to have to fumble around inside these tiny doors. Decided to make some backing plates with some nuts and strip metal. To cover the corner of door where factory mirror was removed I picked up extra covers for the inside of the doors at JY. I trimmed them and attached using weatherstripping glue. I will go back and make a solid bead on the outside with clear silicone to make sure there are no spots for water to sneak inside the door. I have not driven it yet but the mirrors look great. They moved out far enough to see around the cage with a good angle yet in tight for trails. They have maintained their ability to fold in and tuck nicely into the line of protection the cage offers. The glass is much larger and does not taper down at the outer edge like the factory mirrors. Line of sight looks good for pulling trailer now also.

Wanted to get more braking ability. Accomplished that with a dual diaphragm booster and high pressure master cylinder. Firewall needed to be massaged to fit. At the same time we also eliminated the rest of the ABS to make room for an air compressor. Picked up a proportioning valve off a Cherokee without ABS which gives us 3 outlet ports instead of 2. The T for the front brakes was previously done at ABS unit, which is being eliminated. Replaced the spring in prop valve with a 4 wheel disk ZJ spring. There is definitely an increase in braking but it seems under heavy braking the pads and calipers are doing what they can. At 10 mph in dirt, front tires lock up and rears almost do.

Sounds like it's coming together nicely... :)

Kinda. I installed this back in September, got frustrated and busy and set it aside. Wheeling season is around the corner so I got to get it going. I have a hard brake pedal like the booster is still not working. Have correct tool to test my booster vacuum now so hopefully will make some progress today.

Sooo. We go wheeling in the snow in Iowa, you waiting for summer?

We do some winter wheeling but it gets old running the same trails over and over again. Most trails are snow packed right now with anywhere from 8-15 ft of snow, not much fun to winch through the whole day. Here is a video of a snow run a few years ago when we had considerable less snow pack. Was a 15 hour day and we hit the deeper stuff after it started to get dark so not on video when the winch fest took over. After a few trucks pass through the snow trails begins to ice up. If you notice when coming back down the hill it is all slide and minimal control without letting off brakes, especially for my brother in the blue XJ.

Today I found booster is good, check valve is good, vacuum is only 13 hg. I will have to follow up on why vacuum is low, repaired only 2 leaks I found. I am going to JY tomorrow and pulling vacuum pump from an Audi to run brake booster. Also have a check valve with 2 ports on it so I can tie into engine vacuum later if I choose. Hopefully boosting my vacuum to 20 will get me where I want to be...or stop me when I want to anyway. Only symptom I am getting is running a little rich, idle is still good and engine running decent.

Got pump installed today with relay. Pumps down to 21 hg now to brake booster. Plugged engine vacuum port for testing. Could not locate vacuum switch locally but got an adjustable one ordered. Until it arrives I have booster back on engine vacuum. I left toggle switch on pump and tied it into booster with additional check valve. If I need emergency braking I can flip the switch, otherwise I have adequate braking for normal driving. Tested system using toggle switch today. Am able to lock up front brakes at 35 mph on dry pavement and getting good drag from rear. When switch arrives will clean things up a bit and melt down the heat shrink tubing on all wires. Am going to add a vacuum canister to help reduce pump cycling. Pretty bummed because I lost the space I had made for an air compressor but things can be re-evaluated when I get the compressor.

Oops I guess I forgot to update that I got my switch for the vacuum pump and it works good. Have now disconnected the wiring for it and hooked vacuum back to engine to see how truck performs with new brakes. Decided to try a set of powerstop pads and rotors. Found the battery dead when trying to move it over to do brakes. Had a lot of corrosion that I cleaned up while cussing myself out for the way things are wired up. Still didn't start. Put it on a charger and left it to return and find it still no good. Time to replace the battery, in my fashion. Over the years adding accessories to the truck I had a horrible stack of connectors on the battery and also had been putting off an electrical upgrade to the stock wiring in the truck, more about that later when I get it done. Replaced battery and only reconnected essentials to move over and complete brakes. Smooth enough and straight forward, I am looking forward to seeing the results. Now the fun stuff, we pulled out all the extra wiring I have installed in the truck. There was 40 ft of 2g wire, 25 ft of 4g and a ridiculous amount of 14 and 16g. Still a little left under dash which will be reused. Found a metal bracket that will work for a junction block at battery terminal. I need to drill and thread a few holes and it will be ready. Unfortunately schedules and weather are making progress slow, hope to be done in next couple weeks. Going to rerun my wire more efficiently and actually add back in a few things I had removed. I have a new switch panel to locate a mounting spot for as well as a new fuse block. Not much to show except this little sneak peak.

Looking Good.

As you already know we have been chasing a gremlin in my brakes. I ordered a gauge and checked my caliper pressures. We found 500 psi at rear and 1,000 psi at the front. We compared to brothers XJ and found same numbers. Due to booster and MC in my truck I figured it should be higher but moved on. We were unable to connect gauge directly to MC so we started to guess a little again. Jacked the back of truck enough to level MC and "bench" bleed it. Pushing pedal slowly like we normally do trying to not make a mess resulted in no air bubbles. A couple more hearty pushes found quite a bit of air, added in a few taps with a wrench and we eventually got all air removed, I hope. Sweet, one issue resolved but the way it was driving before told me we had another issue. Opted to order a new prop valve designed for disk brake conversion. I never did like the lines we installed between MC and prop valve so we made new ones. When removing prop valve we found a couple adapter fittings we had used. Here is where I believe we found our gremlin. One adapter was on front inlet of prop valve other rear output. When looking at the bore of fitting it is too small to fit a paperclip through. Got late last night so we have to snug down fittings and bleed system. Ended up using only 1 adapter fitting for the rear output of prop valve and we made sure it was proper bore. Front output lines fit perfect and we flared the correct fittings between MC and prop valve. After we get it snugged down and bled I will retake pressure readings. I suspect the air in MC is what allowed pedal to move, then the restriction is why pedal was so hard when it engaged. The lack of volume due to restriction could not move caliper pistons enough to truly grab. First picture is a fitting next to a piece of 3/16" brake line.

Challenging to say the least...

Got the air out of the lines and checked caliper pressure again. Front calipers did not change a lot in pressure as expected. Under heavy braking I am getting about 1250 psi now. Prop valve did help the rear brakes a lot though, am now getting 900 psi at heavy braking. To sum it up I went from a total 3,000 psi at all 4 wheels to 4,300 between eliminating restriction and changing valve. Took for a test drive and I successfully have brakes I am comfortable driving with. Won't lock up any tires but will stop safely. I feel confident in saying that changing the spring from a ZJ in the prop valve does not work properly. The distribution was the same as stock at 50% reduction to rear. I would recommend anyone doing a disk brake upgrade to purchase the new prop valve, it is only $50 and produces real results.

Good enough only works for so long with me. Found in 4 low coming down obstacles brakes were still not up to the challenge. Ordered the Black Magic super 16 brake kit. This did require me to go to a 16" rim so I needed new tires also. Went to an aluminum rim to drop some some weight. Also dropped down tire size to about a 34x11.5 to additionally shed some weight. Overall about 12 lbs per corner. Truck appreciates this weight drop on the highway heading up to the hills. We ran Metberry Gulch last weekend and the brakes were great. Ran Slaughterhouse yesterday and again they performed, perhaps even better as they are getting broke in. Kit requires new steering knuckles, included in kit, with newer model TJ unit bearings. Only issue we ran into on install was threads for steering stop did not go all the way through the knuckle to the side where it goes. Simply ran thread tap through and swapped stops from old knuckles in. Not the fault of Black Magic, the master cylinder they sent does not bolt up to my brake booster because I have already upgraded it. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...2664da885e.jpg
new knuckle installed
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...255cfd1072.jpg
old brakes next to new ones

I finally got around to mounting my switch panel. It did not fit in the location I had planned so I cut it in half and split it into 2 places. Got it wired up and added a few lights. I have the 4 underside lights installed but still have 4 RGB lights for the wheel wells to install. Added 2 lights atop the cage in back to use for reverse lights and 2 of the same on the bull bar up front.
Moved rear license plate to intended location on tire carrier and changed out lights for it. The old light got moved to inside rear bumper to light up back side of rear axle. Finally got front license plate mounted. Used a couple bolts/nuts, washers and a rubber hose to mount it to winch fairlead. The hose just fits in and then the bolts and washers pinch the hose to wedge it in place. It has stayed in place for last 2 trips out so I think it is good but I used zip ties as a leash to prevent losing it should it fall out.
Current project is a transmission override knob. It will allow me to lock transmission in 1st, 2nd or operate normally. Got switch mounted and wiring routed but still have to splice into transmission wiring harness at the PCM. I have complained for years about not being able to hold 2nd going downhill. It either downshifts harshly into 1st if I slow down too much in "1-2" or quickly shifts up if in "3" or "D". By far this is the most exciting part of this round of upgrades.https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...e000727ea3.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...2755addf63.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...d873de0ee6.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...c852711a2b.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...5b31f91f79.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...19a691cccf.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...4e44b1f294.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...5347c88200.jpg

So Far that all looks very good.... I like the ideas !!!! Classic !!!!

I have not gotten trailer back yet but it is at the same builder who built exo cage for Jeep. Fab work is done and getting it back next week. Figured now was a good time to start uploading some of the pics. Fabbed up lid frame for trailer. Fixed drop leg for increased trailer height. Began fabrication on tent mount.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...8160d618ed.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...3c66c04a80.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...82a42d2cab.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...9efa60a500.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...5f06ae6e06.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...5bdf6a5da4.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...4268b286b4.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...7ca1233a39.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...cc6ae9cf7c.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...e54dafe649.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...acd611bc84.jpg

Next he straightened the tongue where it was bent and redid the extension and hitch mount. Added hinges to the top so it can be opened from one side and shocks to assist opening. Reinforced sides and top of trailer to support weight. Finished top and added locking clamps to hold lid closed.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...840f255641.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...151715ba66.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...3217a76dd3.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...77ae674060.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...65cbc7cc5d.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...639b721239.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...fd8ab48741.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...63cbd19603.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...3953a4b0cf.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...7894c6981a.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...e6f321e252.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...0f95ed1170.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...9d321b45d6.jpg

Pretty Cool Stuff !!!

Got trailer home and used for it's first weekend trip and it turned out great. Have a few things to modify already, as it always is with a work in progress. The ladder only has one height setting and in some conditions may not be at a good angle. Since it holds up half the tent where I sleep I want it to be sturdy. I already added one extra set of holes to set it at a proper height with the lift in a lowered position. This helps with opening up the tent without the annex for pulling the bedding and cleaning or to use for a quick overnight setup when annex is not needed.. Going to add a few additional holes for it set up in raised position but it will not be able to match with rungs since I want smaller incremental changes available. Decided sturdy was more important than every step being exact same size.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...1a08d65eb5.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...bdd3be521f.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...7f5e24364f.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...60c3f3aaa4.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...a362f5c104.jpg

Looks good.... Now you just need to test it in these Colorado winds and see if it past the test?????