Hey everybody, I'm pretty new here. Been around for a while in the shadows reading (where I got most of my ideas). Now that I've done some work on my truck, I'll post onto a build thread.
Background
I got this truck just over 3 years ago to take to college with me. First three years, I neglected her. It got bad to the point that I needed a completely new rack and pinion at one point; and had wires coming out of my tires. Now that I'm getting ready to graduate and commission into the Navy, I'm starting to do a little work. I started off by fixing everything that was broken.
First, this is how she was the day I got her:
First job in my repair/mod work: new leaf springs!
The back end had a really bad sag and shot shocks. New springs picked up in extremely good shape from an '02 4wd at the JY.
Jobs to be done with the new springs:
-New upper and lower ball joints (front)
-New tool box for the back
-New front and rear shocks (3/4 were completely shot when I got them off)
Now time for the work. Before picture:
My little helper:
3/4 old leaf spring bolts needed to be cut off. We had no cutoff wheel or dremel. 8 Hacksaw blades later, we had them off.
New leaf springs and factory 4wd lift blocks installed:
Old leaf spring removed:
Now with 2" lift in the rear (blocks) and new 4 pack leaf springs.
Front lifted with 3" coil spacers: (no in progress pictures taken
):
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***Note, I live in an apartment, so all work on this truck is done in the community parking lot or a friend's garage.***
Next up: roof rack, CB, and lights
Roof rack was taken from a Ford Escape (don't know year) from the JY for $13.
I wire brushed the aluminum cross piece and repainted the rails black.
CB Antenna setup: Passenger side is Firestik Firefly 3' antenna, driver side is the Firestick AM/FM 3' antenna. Managed to get about a 1.5 SWR on both channel 1 and 40 with this setup. CB is a cobra 29 mounted between HVAC controls and cup holders.
In progress in parking lot:
Harbor freight 100W off-road lights mounted to escape roof rack:
Wiring runs into the weather stripping and down the a-pillar. Lights are power by 2 separate relays; one for the outside lights, one for the inside lights.
Lights in action during daytime:
Inside lights:
Outside lights:
Console setup: You can see the CB mounting location, along with new switches for lights. Top red switch controls inside lights, bottom control outside. Black switch on the right controls nothing right now. CB also has a 15W PA speaker mounted near the front grille.
Driver's side front fender dent removed (removed fender and pushed dent out):