4by4tech magazine May 2021 by 4by4tech Magazine

Aqualu Hard Body Aluminum Jeep

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Inside: CJK8 gets an Atlas 2-speed Aux cab heaters from Maradyne Teraflex Alpine lift 2020 Wheeling year in review Mickey T new Baja Boss radial tires Rock Jock HD steering end forgings More on the CJK8 projects: GR8tops half cab top, Warn 8274-50 & bumpers

       

              

                

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 

          

                            

  

     

MAXIMUM ARTICULATION By: Albert Vandervelde Editor

The CJK8 is starting to look like a trail rig rather than a street poser. Managed 4 trails in one day - two solo checking for snow level and trail conditions and two more with a group of 14 Jeeps. Like anything, little issues crop up that need to be addressed. I had a brand new alternator die the week before this picture. Replaceable but sure left me stuck for as while, and after this day, one of the Ford King Pin Dana 60 brake caliper wedges fell out damaging the inside of my wheel - superficially – but I had to come up with a better way to retain those wedges as well. Other than that its happy on unbalanced 40-inch Baja Boss tires at full highway speed with one hand on my coffee and one on the wheel - can’t get much better than that - Oh and it wheels pretty good too! Tires here are at 10PSI. I’ve working on a lot of projects over the years, from moding stock rigs to full out ground up builds. They all start the same – the excitement at getting going on a new project, the planning of all the parts, finding your project or bending that first piece of metal, the vision of tackling that trail or big obstacle once you are done. That

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was how the CJK8 started as well – and most of my past projects. Some were salvaged or bought like my 87 4Runner which was destined for the crusher and 88 Jeep Cherokee, which should have gone to the crusher and the salvage title 1997 TJ were all ones that I converted, cut, chopped and added aftermarket parts too – some were more ambitious like my Kanadian Krawler and the CJK8 that both started

Volume 2 Issue 1 - 2019

from a bare frame. Regardless they all started the same – a plan and a finish date…. That kept getting longer and longer. Sometimes when a project drags on, other projects pop up; money runs out, motivation runs short so to keep pushing forward can be a task. I started the CJK8 over 3 years ago after my TJ spat out parts of its transmission one to many times. I almost made Moab last year (19) with the CJK8 but really it was not ready and Moab was reWWW.4BY4TECH.COM

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 

                        

                 



4 4TECH BY

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4 4TECH BY

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                              

                          

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                                     

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4 4TECH BY

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         

       

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               

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4 4TECH BY

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              

               

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       

           

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

        

               

      

      



4 4TECH BY

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

      

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4 4TECH BY

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                                                    

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                       

        

      

        

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 

            

          

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       



                                       

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 

    

     

           

                       



4 4TECH BY





4 4TECH BY

 

      

                 

     

      



4 4TECH BY





                                    

     

         

4 4TECH BY

   



4 4TECH BY

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  

        



4 4TECH BY

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         

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  

                                                  

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    

      

                     



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

  

              

                           

4 4TECH BY

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4 4TECH BY

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  

                                   

     

                

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  

  

    

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     

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

                                                    

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4 4TECH BY

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                                   

               

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                                                    

     

  



4 4TECH BY

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   

    

     

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              

                     

        

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4 4TECH BY



                    

      

4 4TECH BY



4 4TECH BY





 

      

4 4TECH BY

               

                     

4 4TECH BY

                     

     

        

4 4TECH BY

             

4 4TECH BY

  

4 4TECH BY

                       

4 4TECH BY

    

4 4TECH BY

              

              

     

4 4TECH BY

             

4 4TECH BY

Warn bumpers & 8274-50 for CJK8

There is no lack of choice these days when it comes to HD bumpers for your Jeep and truck. What I needed was a nice clean simple look, which gave me the opportunity to shape them, as I needed them. Why not just start from scratch? Well bumpers have a lot of angles and a big reason to using a JK frame as a base for the CJK8 was so I could take advantage of the aftermarket parts for the JK. So while you can use these bumpers just as they come - I had a few other plans... and a 8274-50 to fit.

While the market has been flooded with private label winches the past few years along with other once major brands bought up by others, Warn still stands as the premium winch maker in the industry. When building the CJK8 I wanted a true classic look to the front of the Jeep and that meant only one winch would do. Of course it not only needed to be reliable, but pull as needed every time I needed it, and have parts if it ever did break that would always be available. That would be the 8274-50, Warns classic upright winch.

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Volume 2 Issue 1 2019

You may have read a previous article we did on an 8274 – taking a very low cost 20+-year-old winch, adding some new parts and resurrecting it to near new working order. What other current winch model could you do that with? Certainly no other brand other than Warn. Rated at 8000lbs, the Warn 8274-50 is not the highest pull rated Warn winch but with an oil bath gear box, 150 feet of cable, super fast 79 feet per minute no load line speed, just under 8 feet per min on the top wrap loaded and a gear box mounted brake, and WWW.4BY4TECH.COM

Warn bumpers & 8274-50 for CJK8

My first winch I ever bought was a M-8000 Warn and while I have tried a couple other brands over 20 plus years of wheeling, I always gravitate back. For the CJK8 there was only going to be one winch adorning the front and that was the 8274-50. When you don’t change a winch design much in over 40 years - you know you have a good thing! Rated at a conservative 8000lbs pull capacity its always been known to pull above its weight class, and with a oil filled gear box - its difficult to over heat. Combined with a brake that is not inside the drum also makes it better suited to winch rope - oh and it holds 150 feet 5/16 rope - the most of any truck winch. Now the tough part these days - getting a bumper to accept it!

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Volume 2 Issue 1 2019

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Warn bumpers & 8274-50 for CJK8 an easy to swap motor, what’s not to like. While I didn’t feel the need to upgrade from the 8274-50 there is now a 10,000 version, a 6hp motor over the standard 4.6hp and a host of other upgrades – very worthy if you can get one! With my classic winch on hand and the superior pulling power it provides I needed a solid mounting system to make it all work, and a good battery and charging system. Again I wanted a classic stubby bumper look and not too modern. What I needed to mount the winch was not readily available as almost every winch manufacturer including Warn designs their bumpers around the lower profile modern winch designs so I knew I was in for some modifications. I stuck with Warn for both front and rear bumpers that offered a nice smooth profile and went to work from there. One advantage of the JK frame rails and steering box position is the ability to sink the winch down

Sorry, Warn I know you put a lot of effort into these bumpers - but I am going to chop them up a bit... Both of the bumpers are direct bolt on to a JK Jeep. Couple bolts and presto you have nice HD bumpers that have great tow points, slots for your high lift jack to lift on - and provisions for a lay down style winch. But I wanted your 8274-50 and you didn’t think about that! Taking the center out of the bumper while leaving all the mounting pads in place I was able to drop the winch down between the frame rails of the JK frame giving better airflow into the radiator around the big winch. between the frame horns. This too took some other modifications but the end result was the winch lowered down right between the frame so a direct pull along the centerline of the frame was achieved. Also front and rear I had to narrow both bumpers. Even though the CJK8 cab was designed around the factory width of a JK, the box was narrowed almost 10 inches, which required the ends of the rear bumper to be cut and narrowed. I kept the Warn W’s in the ends and also modded the bumper to French in the Baja Design back up lights. I added on each of the W’s on the ends of both bumpers a pair of bolts and installed the side marker lights inside the Ws red in back and amber in front as required by my local DOT.

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Volume 2 Issue 1 2019

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Warn bumpers & 8274-50 for CJK8

Top left: I made a cradle for the 8274. The mounting feet on the winch point forward not down - so I needed to make provisions for that. The winch bolts to the cradle - the cradle bolts to the holes warn placed in the steel of the top of the winch bumper which I reused and welded into the lower position. I also trimmed the corners back a bit that was a big tire thing. I plan to run some 46s on this Jeep for snow wheeling. I did however keep the W’s in the ends of the bumper - I’m not a total barbarian to brand awareness.

The rear bumper is designed to wrap around the ends of the JK body protecting those areas from tree hits, great idea - accept I am running a custom truck box that is 10 inches narrower than a JK body. Again I wanted something that bolted to the back of the JK frame, had a nice smooth appearance that also offered strong tow points and high lift jack points - but I had to make a few changes here as well.

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Volume 2 Issue 1 2019

4 4TECH BY

Warn bumpers & 8274-50 for CJK8

Nuts on sticks make sit pretty easy to get the bracket attached to the back of the JK frame.

I picked this bumper on purpose. I saw the tire carrier mount was 6 inches from the end of the bumper - so I could cut the 5 inches off the ends I needed to narrow the bumper to my truck box width. Again I kept the Ws in the ends. Actually I kept those on purpose as well - they turned into my side markers and I lit them up.

4 4TECH BY

Volume 2 Issue 1 2019

I also wanted back up lights separate from the legal ones I have to run. Ones that would make a driver behind me eyes bleed - but give me great backing up light. I used some super bright Baja Design lights for this purpose and frenched them into the bumper - one per side.

WWW.4BY4TECH.COM

Warn bumpers & 8274-50 for CJK8

Once all the chopping and welding was done - everything got coated in high build primer and my accent color was applied to everything making them all shiny and well protected from the elements. As I rarely carry a spare the tire carrier resides in the garage but for a long trip - I can add it as needed to pack a spare on the back.

To finish off the bumpers I sanded the factory powder coat, resprayed with high build primer and coated the bumpers in the accent blue that is featured throughout the Jeep, and matches the blue in the Mastercraft seats. Of course this was a bit of an extreme approach to a bumper and winch install – but the end result is very unique to the Jeep – and everything we used could have been used in its stock form on a JK, even the winch by removing the front hoop off the bumper and adding a winch plate to mount the big winch - just a little higher up. Warn produces some of the best winches on the market, and has a vast array of options for all budgets to get you on and off the trail safely, there may be cheaper options, but none will come with the backing of Warn and 70 years of business.

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4by4 Suppliers Warn Winch www.warn.com WWW.4BY4TECH.COM

Volume 2 Issue 1 2019

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                    

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4 4TECH BY

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

                

4 4TECH BY

   



4 4TECH BY





                      



4 4TECH BY



      





    



    



4 4TECH BY





        

     

    



4 4TECH BY







     

         



    

4 4TECH BY

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

                       



4 4TECH BY

       







      

     

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

4 4TECH BY

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

         

     

  

  

 



4 4TECH BY

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

  

         

    



            

4 4TECH BY



            

      



4 4TECH BY



     





        

4 4TECH BY

   



4 4TECH BY



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