Hello Everyone,
So I've been meaning to start this build thread for awhile but have never really found the time until now.
So to get started, here's some background info. "Lady Jane" is my 2008 jku. I bought her used (1 previous owner, sat in a couple dealer's lots though) the summer of 2013 with roughly 92k miles already on her. Luckily, a lot of those miles were highway miles and the previous owner only ever took her on a dirt road to their vermont house. She's a 6 spd manual 3.8L V6. My girlfriend came up with her name one day as a kind of joke since I spend more money and almost more time with my jeep than I do her, so she's my "other lady" hence lady jane.
I myself am a college student but do have a small monthly income that I pretty much spend on my girlfriend, my jeep and beer. During the school year its hard for me to find time to do maintenance work let alone full on mods. So a lot of the work I do is during the winter breaks and summer. When I can find time to do work, I am a huge fan of DIY. Obviously though, I cant always afford the name brand version of the mods I want so a lot of mine are homemade DIY.
The reason I want to write and maintain this thread is because 1) I think my situation (poor college kid) is very similar/relatable to a lot of people on this forum so people can learn from what I do/dont do 2) I take pride in my jeep because it's my build for me and I want to show it off/share it with everyone else 3) an aid for me to keep track of everything I've done.
So without further ado, here is my build thread:
Here she is the day I brought her home. I have always wanted a jeep wrangler since my friend took me up to vermont in his 2dr my freshman year in high school.
Now I will admit that at first I was very against the 4dr. I had always known wranglers as only having 2 doors and stood firm by it. However, as I began my search winter break of my freshman year, I began looking at more and more 4 doors. The look slowly grew on me and I liked the idea of not having my friends cramped in the back seat as i often was in my friends 2dr. I also moved towns which made my drive to school go from 2 hours to 12, so space and functionality became more important. So, ultimately I made the mental switch to search for just 4 door wranglers and found one for a great price. Oh, I should also note that one thing that never changed in my decision process was that it HAD to be a manual.
Here are some noteworthy specs as per the build sheet from Chrysler:
Dana 30 in the front (standard diff)
Dana 44 in the rear (standard diff)
3.21 gears
3.8L V6
power locks and windows
normal duty suspension
soft top
17x7.5 aluminum wheels
fuel tank skid plate
transfer case skid plate
Long story short, it came pretty much bone stock except for a fab four rear bumper and tire carrier. I never did figure out if the front bumper was OEM with a bull bar or aftermarket. I assumed OEM since it had "JEEP" cut out of it on the side. Also, it did not have a radio when I bought it. The dealer said it was "stolen while on a different lot" (Used that in my negotiations haha).
As I go forward, my hope is to build my jeep as more of an expedition rig. I did a lot of camping when I was younger and have always loved the outdoors. I love doing trail runs but the idea of just driving out into pure wilderness sounds even better to me.
So theres part 1 of hopefully many, Ill do my best to not ramble in future posts.
So I've been meaning to start this build thread for awhile but have never really found the time until now.
So to get started, here's some background info. "Lady Jane" is my 2008 jku. I bought her used (1 previous owner, sat in a couple dealer's lots though) the summer of 2013 with roughly 92k miles already on her. Luckily, a lot of those miles were highway miles and the previous owner only ever took her on a dirt road to their vermont house. She's a 6 spd manual 3.8L V6. My girlfriend came up with her name one day as a kind of joke since I spend more money and almost more time with my jeep than I do her, so she's my "other lady" hence lady jane.
I myself am a college student but do have a small monthly income that I pretty much spend on my girlfriend, my jeep and beer. During the school year its hard for me to find time to do maintenance work let alone full on mods. So a lot of the work I do is during the winter breaks and summer. When I can find time to do work, I am a huge fan of DIY. Obviously though, I cant always afford the name brand version of the mods I want so a lot of mine are homemade DIY.
The reason I want to write and maintain this thread is because 1) I think my situation (poor college kid) is very similar/relatable to a lot of people on this forum so people can learn from what I do/dont do 2) I take pride in my jeep because it's my build for me and I want to show it off/share it with everyone else 3) an aid for me to keep track of everything I've done.
So without further ado, here is my build thread:
Here she is the day I brought her home. I have always wanted a jeep wrangler since my friend took me up to vermont in his 2dr my freshman year in high school.
Now I will admit that at first I was very against the 4dr. I had always known wranglers as only having 2 doors and stood firm by it. However, as I began my search winter break of my freshman year, I began looking at more and more 4 doors. The look slowly grew on me and I liked the idea of not having my friends cramped in the back seat as i often was in my friends 2dr. I also moved towns which made my drive to school go from 2 hours to 12, so space and functionality became more important. So, ultimately I made the mental switch to search for just 4 door wranglers and found one for a great price. Oh, I should also note that one thing that never changed in my decision process was that it HAD to be a manual.
Here are some noteworthy specs as per the build sheet from Chrysler:
Dana 30 in the front (standard diff)
Dana 44 in the rear (standard diff)
3.21 gears
3.8L V6
power locks and windows
normal duty suspension
soft top
17x7.5 aluminum wheels
fuel tank skid plate
transfer case skid plate
Long story short, it came pretty much bone stock except for a fab four rear bumper and tire carrier. I never did figure out if the front bumper was OEM with a bull bar or aftermarket. I assumed OEM since it had "JEEP" cut out of it on the side. Also, it did not have a radio when I bought it. The dealer said it was "stolen while on a different lot" (Used that in my negotiations haha).
As I go forward, my hope is to build my jeep as more of an expedition rig. I did a lot of camping when I was younger and have always loved the outdoors. I love doing trail runs but the idea of just driving out into pure wilderness sounds even better to me.
So theres part 1 of hopefully many, Ill do my best to not ramble in future posts.