Scott's Jurassic Park Jeep Build!

[raptorwrangler]

RDJ Represent!

[ScottWarrior]

Of course! Sorry it took so long to get the pictures of the fog lights thrown up. Been a long last couple of months. Getting ready to install the KC lights next. Or maybe the winch. Hmm what to do...

[ScottWarrior]

Okay so I decided to build mine as #29. I kept toying with the idea of using #14 because it is a lucky number for me, but since I am trying to make it as screen accurate as possible I wanted to use a screen accurate number. I thought about #10, but since I am going for screen accuracy that is not feasible. I couldn't build #10 since I drive it daily, and need the roll bar and seat belts. I like the idea of #12, but don't know that I would want to ride around with the giant lights making even more wind noise. So that leaves the two from our beloved opening scenes we all fell in love with. #18 & # 29. Of course #18 is cool because Grant, Ellie, and Malcom road in it, and there were more screen shots of the outside of the vehicle. Because of this there are quite a few #18s out there. So after several months of debate, I chose #29. I mean why not build the Jeep that Hammond, Jurassic Parks creator, chose to ride in. The only thing that originally held me back from choosing #29 is that it was an automatic. Where as mine is a manual. In the scene where Hammond and Gennaro are talking about the safety and stability of the island, you can clearly see the gear selector on top of the steering column over the driver's shoulder.
By the way this brings up a question I have always had. If Hammond was riding in the back of the Jeep, how did he get out and walk up to Grant and Ellie if Gennaro was still in his seat. Did Hammond secretly not need his cane? Was he able to crawl or jump out of the back of the Jeep like Grant? When I am old I hope movie magic works in my favor. Haha

[ScottWarrior]

I received my Ramsey REP 6000 winch and mounting plate via UPS on 4/18/14. I found a very nice Jeeper in California, named Craig, that had removed it from a CJ. I called Craig up and after explaining my project I told him I would understand if he did not want to sell it to me, and I would not be offended. Craig replied, "Are you kidding me, that sounds like an awesome project, I would love to help."
Eventually I made contact with the closest UPS store near him and made contact with them. I again explained my project and that I needed Craig to bring the winch and mounting plate into the store, they would have to package it, call me so I could pay for it, and then ship it to me. They of course agreed, who wouldn't want to help a JP Jeep, and a couple of weeks later I received my winch.
Off course I immediately started trying to attach it to the Jeep, but the Torx bolts and I could not come to an agreement as to how that was going to happen. I am glad that I had previously purchased a high quality torx bit set from snap-on. I did so with this part of the project, and the light bar, in mind. Yes they were expensive, but I used them with an air hammer and did not tear up the bit or any of the bolts. Sometimes with tools you get what you pay for. Anyway the bolts eventually decided my way was best and I was able to remove them.

[ScottWarrior]

During my test fitting and installation I ran into a couple of problems. The first one was that my mounting plate was a kit made for the Ramsey REP 6000 and CJ Jeep. Apparently the CJ frame bolt holes and the YJ bolt hles are different. The CJ used a bracket that bolted to the sides of the frame, where as the YJ mounts to the top of the frame where the tow hooks were mounted. Because of this I had to measure and drill new holes that would line up with the YJ mounting locations.
After I drilled the holes I went to mount it with the winch on and found my second problem. The bolts attaching the winch to the plate were hitting the bumper and not allowing me to tighten the plate down. So I went back to the original PDF of the Ramsey Jeep YJ installation instructions and found out I was missing some spacer blocks. I then looked on this forum at the islands of adventure Jeep and sure enough, there they are. So I decided I would make mine looks as close to the originals as possible. So I found some rolled steel that looked like it was the same size, cut some pieces to length, drilled, and then painted them. They ended up looking and working out great.
If you look closely in the picture you can see that the rear torx bolts were too long to tighten down all the way without the spacing blocks. After I made the blocks they would work, but when researching them I noticed that the original bolts used on #12 were hex head bolts. So I decided not to reuse the torx and again try and make it as Cannon as possible.
I know most people wouldn't notice. But the answer is, "Yes, I really am that anal, and love attention to detail.

[ImperialTrooper]

A nice fresh coat of paint on that front bumper will make it look even better, easy 5 mins project.

[ScottWarrior]

Yeah. I was planning on painting both the front and back bumpers when I have the Jeep painted, but after putting the winch on and seeing the difference it will probably happen sooner. And by that I mean this weekend.

[ScottWarrior]

I almost forgot to post this. When I refurbished my YJ fog lamps I used the TJ fog lamp wiring. The grommet was the perfect size, the wires were the perfect length, and the wire colors matched the wiring on the YJ. I bought some weatherpack terminals off of eBay to replace the TJ plugs. I didn't have and didn't use a weatherpack crimping tool. I didn't want to spend the money on it. I just took my time and rolled the crimps around one by one and it worked out just fine. You can see in the pictures how good they look and how it looks like it came from the factory.

[COBrian]

The spacer blocks I'm sure made things a bit easier... Me.. I just cut notches in the bumper to give me room for the bolt heads

[ScottWarrior]

Yeah I marked it first and was going to drill it out. Then I thought I should check the screen shots and IOA Jeep pics and saw they had them. So Cannon won over as always.
Here are some pictures of the winch and mounting plate after I sanded and painted them then mounted them on the Jeep. I ran the battery cables through the bottom holes on the mounting plate that were specifically located for the REP 6000. It makes the install look cleaner, but again I may rewire it to look more screen accurate.