Finished My Silver Rubicon Body

[JasonA]

This is fashioned up to look just like our 1:1. Some captions under each photo...


The paint is Kryon Fusion. It's supposed to bond with plastic and provide a hammered finish. I'd say it did a real nice job and I'm pleased with it. I used about 4-5 coats on the top side and a few coats of some cheap silver paint underneath. The paint on the top side (the Krylon) seems to be real durable with that hammered finish. It almost provides a real "scaled" finish to the spray-on bedliner paint that some guys use on their rock Jeeps. It turned out great.


I did the license plate myself in Photoshop using a blank NC plate as a template. It came out REALLY nice. Much better in person than the photo shows. The small bumper sticker says "Don't Follow Me... ...You Won't Make It!" I saw that on a 1:1 the other day and liked it.


Our 1:1 has a black Bestop deck cover, so naturally I painted that black on the Nylint. We also have a silver/black Wheel Covers steering wheel cover and some silver paint whipped the Nylint wheel into shape quickly. I also made a decal for the gauge cluster, but that kind of washed out in the sun. But you can still make it out.


Kinda plain so far. Future actions include a differnt front bumper and scale constructed winch. Before that, though, I'm going to make some nice rock rails for the body, the kind stock Jeep Rubicons come with (flat, against the body along the bottom). I didn't care for the tubular steps the Nylint came with and I'll probably leave those off.




Crawling on some hay bales at the house.

Sorry for the somewhat fuzzy pictures. You can see the full-size images on my photo album, linked below:

http://photos.jnjhome.net/thumbnails.php?album=26

Next, I need to get some nice shots with the 1:6 and the 1:1 together.

Comments and suggestions please!

Jason

[taylor smith]

looks great now you just need to mod the suspension.

[JasonA]

Thanks. The only thing I'm really interested in doing at the moment is oil-filled shocks. Otherwise, I really like how this drives and crawls. I'm not into real extreme stuff. I just wheeling at the lake and at the park.

[taylor smith]

thats cool. mine broke so i decide to overhaul it until nylint sent my replacement parts. you can see mine on the thread called

(commanders army rig)

[87Wagneer]

Sweet rig.

[WKCrawler]

that looks awesome. Attention to detail is a great thing, and you sure have it! I love the steering wheel! Great work.

[JasonA]

Here are some good crawling pics I got this evening:





These are neat because they show the climb out of the drainage basin. The 2nd photo is the same shot as the 1st, just from a different angle.



This photo is actually with the Jeep at the top, taken from down in the basin. This is the first time I've really been "out in nature" with the Jeep and it really impressed me. It walked up that whole rock garden. Every now and again, one of the axles would hang on a rock and I'd have to adjust fire slightly, but it did great. The tummy never hung up.





Poser shots.

As always, full size pictures are on my photo album:

http://photos.jnjhome.net/thumbnails.php?album=27

I REALLY need to get some rock sliders for the body. I've come down on the body a few times. Rock sliders will prevent against body damage, and fix that horrible wavy plastic on the sides below the door holes.

[JRmudmanXJ]

That's a real nice Rubi. Good job on the paint

[WKCrawler]

Your Jeep looks great. Thinking about painting the control arms at all? Your Jeep would look real(er) if they were black. They steal some focus away from all the work you've done to make it stand out.

Great crawling pix!

[JasonA]

Yes, I think I will paint the arms. I may actually have to disassemble the rear end a little bit, so I'd have the rear arm off anyway.

Both axles have "play" in them. The front I would expect, because of the inherent play at the axle ends where they intersect the knuckle (the CV joint for lack of a better term). But the rear end also has some play. The axle is "locked", but at the same time, the tires are free to rotate a little bit on their own. I can also roll the Jeep back and forth a little bit before getting resistance from the motor. Almost like an automatic transmission vehicle in park -- there's a little movement possible before that pawl engages.

Contrast this to my 1:18, which is solidly locked on the back axle. There is NO vehicle movement when the Jeep is on the ground. If the motors are stopped, you can't push the Jeep forward or backward.

The only reason this is annoying on the 1:6 is when you're slowly crawling over a rock, and you suddenly crest the top of it when the rear tire, and let off the throttle, the Jeep will roll forward a little bit (maybe an inch) before the axle "catches". I hope I'm explaining myself correctly, but I'm afraid I'm not.

Is this normal for a 1:6? I can't remember if it was like this out of the box. I think I may pull the rear axle casing off and see if I can see where a pin has wallowed out a keyway or something. That's what it seems has happened.

[WKCrawler]

Originally Posted by JasonA

Almost like an automatic transmission vehicle in park -- there's a little movement possible before that pawl engages.
.

Yes, that is the best way to describe it. You are right, but both of mine do this as well. So I don't think its something wrong with yours.

I think its because the tires/wheels are just so much bigger than the little hexes that they are turned by that it takes a second for the hexes to catch up? That would be my guess. Just wanted to confirm that I have this "problem" with both of my Nylints as well.

[JasonA]

Thanks for replying. I actually should have followed up in this thread.

I took the axle apart and found where the play is. This is what I was thinking: "I think I may pull the rear axle casing off and see if I can see where a pin has wallowed out a keyway or something." The axle shafts have a small pin on the outer end of each of them (the wheel end). the outer axle "sleeve" slides over the end of the axle shaft, contains the main bearing, and also countains the hex mount for the wheel. The part of this sleeve that slides over the ends of the axle shafts has a keyway of sorts that engages with the small pins. There is some play with this keyway. There may certainly also be some play with the wheel where it engages with the hex.

I think the ultimate fix would be "upsizing" that pin with a small allen key wrench, as I think has been suggested here before as a good strong alternative to the original Nylint pin. This would seemingly take up the play in the system, although I'm afraid the keyway would get opened up just a little bit again.

Either way...everything was fine in my axles. Both of my old HG RC10 stadium trucks have at least as much play in the drivetrain, but that problem doesn't really manifest itself at speed, like those are designed for. It's particularly annoying when trying to control your speed as you break over rocks. If it gets annoying enough, I might just go in and see if I can replace those pins.

[JasonA]

Update

A fellow RCC member and myself went in together on an eBay purchase of a new set of 1:6 tires, since both of us were simply looking for ONE for a spare. The spare tire MAKES this Wrangler body!

I also finally got some pictures of my 1:6 and its 1:1 inspiration. I had to tilt the 1:1 over on its left side a bit to make room for the little guy in the wheel well.











The 1:1 is already tummy-tucked, with Nth degree TT and long arm kit. I know I said that I wouldn't TT the 1:6, but maybe I'll end up having to... Just like WKCrawler said earlier: JEEP = Just Empty Every Pocket

[WKCrawler]

wow, your 1:1 and 1:6 (1:1 especially) are incredible!

I love it.. And you're right, the full size spare definitely makes it. I can't wait to see it with the control arms painted black. I think that will be the finished touch. They distract me from the overall. And its not an insult to you. Because I myself haven't really gotten around to painting mine (I used a black permanent marker on the back 2 which came out so stupid and glossy. lolol)


Only problem with a TT on a stock body is where do you relocate the battery? With a body like mine, I simply put the huge battery in the trunk. I could also mount it closer to the center and just cut more of the interior out. Theres nowhere to do that on the Wrangler Unlimited body. No matter where you put it, theres no way to hide it.

Lookin good!

[JasonA]

Thanks for the compliments!

Reference the battery, you're right, and that's really why I haven't touched it yet. I could probably come up with a NiCAD-type battery pack with enough cells to make 12V (eight 1.5V cells) that could slide flat between the body and the chassis. But I'm afraid it might not have near the runtime. I think the stock lead acid 12V battery is rated at something like 4500 mAh. I wonder if I can find close to that in a different battery. I've skimmed through the various battery threads linked in the modifications sticky, and I know I could find an option out there. Truthfully, I haven't ever hung the tummy on the Nylint yet, and I like the low COG that heavy stock battery provides.

[itasor]

Nice 1:1 Wrangler. I have a Cherokee (XJ), I love Jeeps. The matching Nylint is really cool too! Nice job.

[JRmudmanXJ]

How did you get it to tilt

[jeepn4ever]

Originally Posted by JRmudmanXJ

How did you get it to tilt

u can clearly see he's got airbags.. nice rigs

[JRmudmanXJ]

My bad I didn't notice them at first glance

[JasonA]

It's got the OffRoadOnly AiROCK air springs. Combined with the Nth degree arms and other parts, the AiROCK is anywhere from 2" to 8" above stock. It's a great system, totally computerized. We set our on-road ride height to about 3" (above stock). This provides good COG for handling/control, and a VERY good ride (much better than the steel springs) due to minimal air pressure in the bags. Our off-road height is about 5". When we leave the pavement, it's a single button press to go to off-road height (engine-driven air compressor and on-board air tank).

This system runs EXCELLENT off-road. On the off-chance that we get high-centered, we can just pump them up to "all up" and drive out. You can tilt any of 8 ways (forward, either side, backwards, and all four corners) to either set yourself up for an obstacle or adjust your COG after you're in an obstacle (or to show off for a picture with your toy Nylint).

The SwayLoc Too sway bar system is also air-actuated. When we get on the trail, it's just a button press and the pneumatic pin slides out and we're immediately disconnected.

And what's real neat is once your vehicle speed exceeds a threashold (programmable from 20 to 35 mph), the system automatically goes back to on-road height and engages the SwayLoc. We also have ORO's UTurn steering. We've had excellent performance from the first-rate products from both OffRoadOnly and Nth degree.