I found a ’99 Wrangler Sport in my area that looks interesting. Low miles (30k), 4.0, auto tranny (for better or worse but I live in LA, so probably better), nice and clean one owner etc. etc. etc.
I’ve done a fair amount of reading on this website that zeroed me in on the TJ, but still not clear to me how much one has to spend to accomplish some basic upgrades.
What are the top few updgrades and the overall cost to get a stock jeep like this to look a bit more beefy like picture #2? What specifics do you recommend?
Some facts that might help:
Have young kids, need rear seats, would like a safer 3,4, or 5 point harness option if it makes sense
Probably more likely to offroad on desert fire roads and trails than traditional mudding
Garage height is 81” max
Wouldn’t be my daily driver
Would like to be able to get to the woods relatively quickly, no giant tires or 60mph max trips
Budget is pretty open, nothing crazy nothing cheap
Sorry for the newbish questions, thanks for the advice!
it really depends on how you want to skin the cat.
Here's my plan/suggestion
OME lift ~700.00
1'' Body lift ~100.00
33'' Tires - 800-1k
wheels - depends how much you want to spend.
Warn M8000 Winch - ~540.00
bumpers?
There is such a huge selection of bumpers that we would be able flood this thread full of post. I think you should get on quadratec's website and get yourself a free catalog. They are a great place to go to get ideas.
Do you want a small bumper?
Stinger bumper?
Bumper with alot of lights?
Tube bumpers(warning if you get these you will be made fun of)?
Tube hoop bumper?
If money isn't a restriction get yourself a good quality tire carrier rear bumper with a 2" receiver. Maybe even one with a cargo rack on top as you said you have kids and you will definitely be needing more space.
The height of the tire has no impact on the size of wheel you choose.
My TJ has 15's on it stock. I like them, so I personally have no reason to up the size to a 16''.
the width of the tire 10.50'' or 11.50'' or 12.50'' however directly correlates to the width of the wheel.
I'm 79% sure than you can run any of those widths on a 8'' wide wheel. - the backspacing gets more important with the wider tires...you don't want anything rubbing.
I have 15x8 black steelies with 3.75" backspacing (it is very common). With 33x12.50 tires. no rubbing with 2.5" lift and 1" coil spacer. Giving me 3.5" of lift. You should be able to do everything you want in the 5k range. You only want to go to 33" tires so the price is much better than trying to go with 35" tires.
Oh and find out what gear ratio you have in your axle. Look on your axle housing for a metal tag, it should tell you what gears are in them. You could have 3.73 gears which are fine with 33's though I do miss some of that get up I had. If you have 3.07 you will definitely want to regear. To 4.10 or 4.56. Then it could be cheaper to just get an axle with the gears you want. A lot are sold with those gears as people upgrade their axles to stronger bigger ones.
Well I started with a 4" suspension lift new rims front bumper and rock sliders.. If I had it to do all over again I would start out with the AEV highline body kit... That is what i am getting next which makes my rock sliders obsolete they will not fit after the kit.. and the suspension lift would not be necessary with the kit cause with the lift and the kit my diffs cant turn the size tires i need to fill the space...
All in all few Jeeps have the High line body kit... most jeeps have all other upgrades.. Body kit allows for bigger tires with out having to climb up in and fall out.
if i were you i would do
33 inch tires 12.5 wide
4 inch lift
1.25 wheel adapters
uprade the power steering
get some nice black rims
front stinger style bumper
winch
rear bumper
than mabye get a hardtop for that in the winter
bangin sound system
HAHA, tube bumpers.. very 90's.. or maybe even 80's.. anyway, there's a jeep on my local craigslist that has custom made tube bumpers.. the front has 3 tubes, PLUS the hoop that comes up over the grill, and the rear tube bumper sticks out past the spare tire, so it looks more like the cargo rack in the last pic that zybeon posted, but at the bottom of the jeep... very funny looking... I forgot to mention this is on a STOCK jeep, so the bumpers make it look lowrider-ish
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