January 2025 - The Orange MJ and The Truggy

89 MJ · Sunday at 10:35 PM

January 2025 - The Truggy and The Orange Truck

Owned by @ThatJeepGuy

Build Thread-

MJ #1 More commonly referred to as "The Truggy" to those nearest me

#2 More Commonly referred to as "The OJ" - Orange Jeep

Year/Model -

The Truggy- 87 originally a pioneer trim package. 4.0 automatic and 2wd

The OJ- 87 originally a sport trim package also 4.0 automatic and 2wd.

Drivetrain-

The Truggy - 95 4.0HO with a melling cam, AW4 trans, 231HD tcase

The OJ - 6.0LS, 4l60e trans, 241c tcase

Axles-

The Truggy- Custom narrowed and retubed Dodge low pinion D60 front. Custom length chromoly shafts, 5.13 gears and Yukon Grizzly locker. 14Bolt rear axle with a Barnes4wd 13bolt cover. 5.13 gears and Yukon Grizzly Locker

The OJ- Kingpin Dana 60 front with 5.38 gears and lockright locker. Ford 10.25 rear with 5.38 gears and a lockright locker.

Cooling-

The Truggy - Factory cooling system, only mod here is E-fan is on a toggle switch

The OJ - Factory style all Aluminum radiator with a triple Electric fan setup

Electrical/Ignition-

Factory style ignition setup on both

Suspension/Steering-

The Truggy - 10" custom long arm/fixed single radius arm setup using 1.25" Currie Johnny joints in front and factory leafs sprung over with a set of auto zone chevy lowering shackles in the back. FOA remote reservoir shocks all the way around. 7/8 heim joints in the steering and track bar. Dodge durango steering box and V8 WJ pump.

The OJ - 10" lift on custom long arm radius arm setup, spring over axle in the rear with procomp leafs and autozone chevy lowering shackle. 1 ton tie rods setup

Interior-

The Truggy - Factory seats, custom switch panel in place of hvac controls and CB in place of the vent. Nifty shifter Jr with gear display. Bomb proof tcase shifter, has factory headliner and an xj rear over head speaker bar not pictured. 5pt harness'. Factory Hvac was deleted completely in favor of a universal Mojave heater box setup, the center vents are now in ash tray location.

The OJ- 97+ dash and column, factory seats, custom molle panel in back. 97+ center console with sidewinder gated shifter. custom fit 97+ headliner.

Brakes-

Factory style setup in front, typical disc brake swap setup for 1 ton rear axle on both trucks

Lighting-

Factory style headlights with the headlights harness upgrade on both trucks.

The truggy has LED blinkers and universal 6" LED oval tail lights. White and green LED crawl lights. Thin 1" led light bar across the top of the windshield

Exterior-

The Truggy- Full exo cage and "flatbed" style rear retaining the factory boxed unibody. Cage is primarily 1.5" Hrew with the main hoop being 1.5" DOM. Custom tubed and boxed front and rear end sections. Rattle can bedlined from door handle body line and down then its factory forest green pearl on the top section. Badlands 12k winch wound with steel cable.

The OJ- All original body panels and doors repainted with tractor store implement paint Orange. ARB Bull bar up front and an old Nates4x4 rear bumper. 12k Superwinch wound with Synthetic line.

Wheel & Tires-

The Truggy- 39.5" Super Swamper IROKS These are stickies as well. Mounted on 17x9 Cragar D-windows that i welded rock rings into the outer face and beads.

The OJ- 37" Maxxis Trepadors mounted on 16.5x9 Faux beadlock wheels.

Misc-

High lift jacks, military E-shovels, 20' kinetic ropes, military jerry can and military mermite coolers.

Best MJ story-

Sibling rivalry and why i share these 2 MJ's.

My brother and I have grown over the years competing on who can do it better. Its been 15 years of back and forth jeep mods and customization. From lift height, suspension setup, tire size, wheeling armor/protection and also as of recently the drivetrain. He committed to go the LS swap route to overcome his in-ability to pick a logical wheeling line over obstacles * snarky sarcasm ;). I suppose i make the obstacles look too easy for him. Now not only would he make the obstacles but he would also trump me in the power dept and sexy exhaust noise dept as well for that matter.

The only flaw was that once he completed his swap and bought a brand new set of taller tires (formerly on 37' tires - went to 39.5 Iroks) I also went a step further and bought myself a new set of tires. Formerly on a set of 37" bias Iroks i went to a set of 39.5" Irok stickies. I knew i couldn't compete with his drivetrain swap on my 4.0 But thinking Smarter Not Harder my matched size tires would even out and the sticky compound would level the field. I would also not have to work as hard in the rocks which was a

bonus!

He was befuddled to learn the dramatic benefits of the sticky tires! Also how he essentially spent 2x as much money to now go half the distance and work just as hard as before to do it.

When he dug his heels in on the greatness of his LS swap and its dramatic power gain over mine i had an opportunity come my way that would again settle the argument of who can do it better.

A fellow Jeep enthusiast I met on Facebook over a discussion about ARB Bull bars and MJ tailgates had built and sold this truck. We had recently connected at a yearly jeep event and began talking about how his truck was yet again up for sale. At this point it had been several years and also through several different owners since the original sale. We chuckled at how it was remarkably still seemingly in it original build form. There was some subtle encouragement for me to consider buying it... Which ultimately worked because after a conversation with my brother about hauling it for me -my truck was down at the time i made a deal with the seller and brought it home!

All the while on the 14hr road trip to bring the truck home we laughed and joked and i never let him forget that his LS swap argument was over. He never fully agreed with me and my angle but the facts are there - i not only have him covered in the wheeling rig department with a proven ability to concur more difficult obstacles but i now also had an LS swapped jeep - a Comanche and also an Orange one at that! They are clearly superior to the XJ in nearly every way anyways.