Jeepskate's Joint

Jeepskate:
Suspension
Steering
Drivetrain
Body/Interior

Jeepskate II/XL:
Suspension
Steering
Drivetrain
Body/Interior

1 Last 7:
Suspension
Steering
Drivetrain
Body/Interior

Some assembly required...

Welcome to Jeepskate's Joint, the WWW headquarters for my 1983 built from the ground-up Jeep CJ-8 project vehicle. It originally started as a 1979 CJ-7 and was the second CJ-7 that I owned. The previous one was "Alter-Ego", a 1983 Jeep CJ-7 that sparked my obsession with Jeep vehicles. I purchased Jeepskate as an aborted fiberglass tub swap project...it was just a rolling frame when I bought it in the Spring of '94. It was basically dormant for about 2 years while I worked on Alter Ego and did "grown-up" stuff (buy a house, start a family). Over the past ten years I've gathered parts as they (and money) became available, and was finally able to start assembly in October of '97. Then in October of '99, I came across a killer deal on an aborted CJ-8 project and after some deliberation decided to change horses and strip the 7 to build the 8.  Also that year, I picked up a bone-stock, fully-loaded '86 CJ-7 Laredo from the original owner as my daily driver which has now also taken a turn in the lab. Follow the links to the left to navigate around my site. Thanks for stopping by. These pages are always under construction, just like my Jeeps...so stop by every week for an update.

Current Status:  Been a while since I updated the site (mostly just been uploading unlinked pics), so here’s the rundown:

We're actually preparing to put our house up for sale and we're looking for a place with a little more land that either already has more garage/workshop/pole barn space or room & zoning to construct the extra building. So, progress has stopped for a bit to focus on getting the house in show condition...but I'll get back to it soon.

The CJ-7 currently isn't running. I pulled it around back to swap tops and when I hopped back in it was completely unresponsive...had to have my wife pull be back around front with the ZJ. Hopefully it's just a bad starter solenoid. Once I get it running, I'll dial-in the Weber and set it up with a regulated Carter electric fuel pump (Webers run better off of a regulated fuel supply) and get the suspension dialed in, then it can go through emissions (BTW: IL has eliminated testing for pre-'96 vehicles once they have passed their last scheduled test, and then it's only an idle test...no more killer dyno test...hooray!!) and get repainted.

The Scrambler is back from Anders' shop in Kenosha. We both had a lot of busy patches, so it was up there much longer than planned. We designed and built several tubular items: an engine cradle for the Dodge 360, a removable oil pan skid that connects from the cradle to a belly crossmember that protects the doubler drivetrain, and a full-on competition grade roll cage. We also set it up with a Metal Fusion Fabworks tube fender builder's kit which we added custom tube flares to and built some custom tube flares for the rear that are welded to the Avalanche/Poison Spyder Crusher Corners. I liked the Schrockworks rocker guards on the CJ-7 so much that I bought a set for the Scrambler too as soon as they were available. The rear semi-float Dana 60 is in with new spring perches welded on along with custom Moser alloy shafts, custom Ballistic fab spacer & retainer plates, and custom over-the-top axle truss that incorporates a mount for the bam-bar anti-wrap bar...it will be setup with the same hybrid Chevy/Ford 1/2 ton disc brake setup as the front.

Updated sections:
All vehicle sections are now complete except for the summary pages and a few pictures here and there.

Gone but not forgotten
The original Jeepskate. Most of the parts live on in Jeepskate II/XL.

Reassembly...again
Jeepskate II/XL makes it's way back from Anders' shop

Back from the lab
1 Last 7 nearing completion of the rebuild. Drivable at this point...just needs some tweaking and a paint job.