SkidMarx garage

[SkidMarx]

My '07 3.7L Commander

Before
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/photobucket11931320075219222-1.jpg

After
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/photobucket36101320162576710-1.jpg
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/photobucket34491320162588373-1.jpg
255/75-17 BFG MT
2" Rough Country lift
1.5" Spidertrax spacers
Pinch weld folded
Fender liners heated up and remolded

I'm cheap, but handy so I expect I'll be making/re purposing stuff for many of my mods.

[superacerc]

I'm cheap, but handy so I expect I'll be making/re purposing stuff for many of my mods.

My favorite way to get things done. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

[ItsMeKO3]

Nice man, looks good!

[Matt]

Looks great man!! Might want to re-aim those headlights.... seeing that before/after puts in perspective the angle change; everyone must think you're running around with your hi's on

[SkidMarx]

Thanks for the reminder. Must have told myself 10 times to do that and still forgot.

[LWM]

Nice looking Jeep, thanks for sharing.

[Matt]

Thanks for the reminder. Must have told myself 10 times to do that and still forgot.

The people flashing their high beams at me were my reminder... but I had plans to raise the rear and didn't want to adjust them twice.

[sean112280]

Nice looking Jeep! Always been a fan of that color green.

[SkidMarx]

First off, I'm cheap, impatient and in need of some crossbars.
If I can't get what I need from my pile of scrap and buckets of misc nuts and bolts, I MIGHT see if they have something that will work at Home Depot.
If I strike out there, I'll redesign whatever it is i'm trying to make to use what I have.

After reading through the The Roof Rack Thread and checking out Matt's low profile mounts and Sal-XK's UniStrut crossbars, I came up with a plan.

Luckily they have UniStrut at Home Depot, because I don't have any on my scrap pile and I really like the stuff.
The mounts are kind of tricky due to the rail sides not being flat.
I'm not sure what Sal did, but I tried a few things that would use a single bolt, but my scrap pile let me down.
Matt got around this by using u-bolts and a slotted plate which is a cool idea that I stole.

After a couple of false starts, I came up with this pile of junk.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111104_211929_634-1.jpg
4 u-bolts
flat stock (3/16 I think)
the stuff with holes in it (1/8ish)
A hunk of pipe
A hunk of conveyor belt. (Matt used 'Fiber reinforced silicone rubber'. That's just a fancy name for conveyor belt)
Some rusty nuts that fit in the slot in the rails.
Not shown are some washers, nuts, and thick walled hose

After several hours and beers I ended up with this.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111104_213502_527-1.jpg

The nuts are welded off center and the 2 pieces of pipe are cut at an angle so that the u-bolt has room to pivot.
The pipe was then welded to the other side of the plate.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111107_214443_997-1.jpg
Instead of paint, I used spray on Plasti-Dip. Hopefully it will be a little more durable.

Assembled
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111107_210142_863-1.jpg

Didn't like it so I dug up the black hose and ended up with this.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111107_213954_219-1.jpg
(shhhh...don't tell anyone my welds look like crap.)

With the hose on there, the crossbars are completely isolated. Not something I was shooting for, but nice that it turned out that way.

All done.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111108_001248_829-1.jpg
I'm going to use some Nylocks for the top nuts and cut the extra off the u-bolts.

I'm thinking of using bed-liner on the UniStrut since I'll be using it on the rack. Haven't decided yet.


Next up is to pick up some UniStrut hardware to attach the rack, and get the rack stripped since the paint is flaking off anyway.

More to come...

[pjmjr508]

looks great

[Matt]

Nice job man!!!!

[Sal-XK]

Nice job man! I used a single bolt that captured the lip inside the rail then wen't threw the hole on the unistrut. Also since unistrut is made to hang bars from just measure the tube or bar on your roof rack and get the size pipe mount for unitstrut you need to easy bro keep up the good work. We love to see mods not out of a catalog around here :)

[IamJEEP]

Nice Jeep bro, love that color!

Nice job on the cross bars.

[SkidMarx]

Nice job man! I used a single bolt that captured the lip inside the rail then wen't threw the hole on the unistrut. Also since unistrut is made to hang bars from just measure the tube or bar on your roof rack and get the size pipe mount for unitstrut you need to easy bro keep up the good work. We love to see mods not out of a catalog around here :)
Thanks all.

Already have the unistrut 3/4" mounts, but the side rails are square and I'm not liking how they hold. I may just bend them up a bit or,
I think I'm going to pick up a bunch of the unistrut nut thingies with the springs on the back and try to use the brackets that were on the old crossbars.

[lekmedm]

https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111104_211929_634-1.jpg

Some rusty nuts that fit in the slot in the rails.




Oh, my.... :o




j/k:D

[SkidMarx]

Oh, my.... :o




j/k:D

Wow...it took a long time for someone to pick up on that.

Nice catch.

[SkidMarx]

Finally got a chance to finish the basket.
I didn't get any pix of the paint stripping, but it wasn't that hard. Just took a lot of time.
The paint was flaking off so badly, I was able to get most of it off with high pressure air.
Most of what was left came off with a good carbide paint scraper.
The scraper really scratched/gouged it up, but I used a wire wheel on a die grinder as the last step and that smoothed everything back out.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111127_155259_855-1.jpg

The wire wheel left the surface nicely roughed up so after a wipe down with acetone, I primed it with Aluminum primer.
Once that dried, It got several coats of DupliColor Spray on Bed liner.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111127_221318_945-1.jpg
I like the texture.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111127_221424_559-1.jpg
Then back on the Jeep.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111128_105602_463-1.jpg
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111128_105617_935-1.jpg
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/20111128_105635_561-1.jpg

I also sprayed the UniTrack with PlastiDip. I don't know if it will hold up, but if it doesn't, I'll peel it off and use bed liner.

It looks kind of small up there. I think it needs something to add some length.
Lights or an air deflector maybe?

[Sal-XK]

Good job man! It looks a little small up there just throw on a light bar and you'll be good :)

[pjmjr508]

Looks great

[cico7]

What rack? Did I miss it somewhere?

[SkidMarx]

What rack? Did I miss it somewhere?
This one.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/11/200pxA_Torture_Rack-1.jpg
Can't you see it in the pic?

[cico7]

This one.
X
Can't you see it in the pic?No, I don't see one. There is a box with an X in it.

[Sal-XK]

I see them all Don put your glasses on bro you know your getting old man :)

[cico7]

LOL... I was asking what-which rack he had. Or had i missed it in the discussion.

[SkidMarx]

Got it :)
It's a Surco(may be a knockoff) basket from my old Cherokee.

[SkidMarx]

Well, it's been a while since I posted here. I've been lurking off and on though.
Yesterday was a bittersweet day.
Said goodbye to the Mighty Commander (but not the roof rack).
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2014/06/Commander_zps60600151-1.jpg (http://s158.photobucket.com/user/jsnmid/media/07%20Commander/Commander_zps60600151.jpg.html)

Said hello to a 2013 Black Forest Green 5.7L Grand Cherokee Larado.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2014/06/GrandCherokee_zps295d3897-1.jpg (http://s158.photobucket.com/user/jsnmid/media/13%20Grand%20Cherokee/GrandCherokee_zps295d3897.jpg.html)

One thing I regretted about the Commander was not getting the 5.7L. Other than that I loved it. It treated me well.
Only issues I ever had, all occured this spring. Winter. Had to replace the Water pump (easiest H2O pump change ever), and not a day later, The PCM crapped out. Ouch.

Yet again, my wife decided it was time for me to get a new vehicle.
She knows she has to make a very good case to pry my Jeep away from me, and she was right. It was time.
At least this time, she let me find my own. :0
I was going to go for an Overland, but there aren't many used ones around here and ANY Black Forest Green WK2 is hard to find.
Bonus. Without the Quadra Lift, I can put a 2 1/2" lift on it as easy as the Commander.
I'm nos sure how my roof rack will look, but I'm going to give it a try.