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'05 TJU, 37 Iroks with Hutchinson beadlocks

8K views 55 replies 17 participants last post by  Ldk59 
#1 ·
Well folks, I figured its about time to document what I've done/plan on doing with my Jeep. I picked up this 2005 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited back in April with the sole intention of building it into what I would consider the perfect vehicle...one that can be driven as a daily driver if needed, be driven up into the vast landscape of Canada when desired, yet also a legitimate formidable offroad vehicle for most trails you could encounter. I plan on using the vehicle for expeditions and also to haul my dirtbike on the rear via a hitch carrier, so it was important to have the suspension setup in a way that can handle the weight of a bike and all of the other parts and equipment that I will have, but not be totally stiff and ruin your day driving it unloaded. The Jeep is a 6-speed with the 4.0L, just turned 100k on the odometer.

One of the other things that was important to me for this Jeep was just simply building it how I wanted to build it. There is so much hearsay and BS out there about what you can't do, what you can do, what you should and shouldn't do, etc. I'm not naive enough to think I know everything about everything, but I have been around the block once or twice with 4x4 vehicles and feel that I have the competence and the know how build a vehicle for a specific purpose in a certain way, without going overboard or on the other hand not building it adequately. So who knows, maybe I can put to rest some of the common misnomers and questions that many people have about certain subjects. I'm always looking to learn more myself, but i would rather learn by trying and failing rather than never REALLY knowing and understanding. So anyway, lets get into it!


Here is an overview of what i've already done and what will be coming soon.

CURRENT-

Suspension/Steering:
-2" OME HD Springs
-1" daystar body lift
-Bilstein 5100/5125 shocks
-Nth degree upper/lower control arms
-Rubi Express rear trackbar axle bracket
-Rubi Express front swaybar disconnects
-RC front trackbar
-RC rear shock relo brackets
-Rustys HD tie rod
-OME HD Steering Stabilizer

Body:
-Highline Fenders (DIY)
-AEV Highline Hood
-Mopar LJ corner guards (for now)
-Rustys rocker guards

Axles:
-Replace LP Dana 30 with HP Dana 30 from Cherokee
-Yukon chromoly axle shafts (front and rear)
-Artec truss w/ outer C gussets
-4.88 gears
-New bearings, seals, ball joints, etc.


Wheels/tires:
-37x12.50R17 Iroks
-Hutchinson beadlocks



COMING SOON-

-
Nth Degree Tummy tucker
-Monstaliner tub
-Rear bumper (?)
-Front bumper (?)
-AEV JK tire carrier
-Warn 9.5ti winch
-Diff covers
-ARB front (?)/rear air lockers
-IPF HID lights
-Headlight upgrade
-Engine upgrade


As you can see, I have a large majority already done....the Jeep has been drive-able for about 3 weeks, although I have only driven it about 100 miles because I've been away a bit. I'll start from the beginning here and go over what I've done with it and then move on to it's current state and what will be coming next.

I'm not sure how to insert pictures in the dialog here, so I'll just add the attachments and speak to them as we go :)



I live in Michigan and had a pretty tough time finding a TJ here that was not completely rusted away. I look at several that had this crazy issue of rotting the windshield away from the inside out...bizarre! I found the one I ended up with down in Ohio, about a 3.5 hour drive from me. Upon seeing it in person, it was pretty much in as good of shape as described in the photos...paint is pretty nice, almost no body rust other than a little on the rear below the passenger tail light, and a little starting on the cowl near the wipers. The underside was a little crusty, but no really traumatic areas.


So the very first thing I needed to do was the fender highline. This section could literally be a thread all on its own, but I'll try to condense it yet make it informative enough for people to reference if they want to do it themselves. I am not the first person to a DIY highline with the factory fenders by any means, but I very well may be the first person to do it in conjunction with the AEV highline hood. Let me preface this topic by saying that even though the AEV hood is absolutely kickass, it would have been a hell of a lot easier to cut the stock hood. The primary reason is because if you use your stock hood, you can pretty much just bolt your fenders up one hole from the stock location and cut the hood to fit. You can't do that with the AEV hood, and I can tell you its cut higher and in a different angle than a stock hood can be cut. Because of that, I had to drill all new holes (not to mention I found all this out the hard way!). We will get into that.

First, dismantling the entire front end including fenders, battery, wiper bottle, air intake, fusebox, and everything connected to the fenders.....this was the easy (kind of fun!!!) part.
 

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#4 ·
Continuing on.....

So after the fenders and all attachments were dismantled on the front, I picked up the highline hood to test fit it so I could send it out for paint (FYI - A TJ hood fits perfectly in the back of a JKU!). The fit was good as expected, I attached a picture showing how much higher the hood sits and where the fenders will be moved for those who are unfamiliar with the highline concept. The AEV highline hoods are just pure awesome, really gives it a lot of extra flare compared to cutting a stock hood. So I sent the hood out to be painted which cost me about $300, and this starting to become the tricky part....I originally thought I would need the hood to line the fenders up correctly before I bend them, but the reality is that there is really no way to reference how to bend the fenders around the grill with or without the new hood...if that makes sense. You can put the hood down with fenders off to see where it needs to be, but you can't line the fender up with that because it doesn't fit, needs reformed around the grill. You essentially have to bolt the fenders up higher on the grill (drill a new hole) and use that anchor point to bend the fender around the headlight area of the grill and hope to hell you got it to line up with the hood. It's also necessary to cut the inner support of the fender in order to bend them. It's tough to cut the support all the way through with the grinder I was using, so I had about .5" left on the first one that I thought 'no big deal'. But it did mess up my drivers side fender bending ability and subsequently didn't turn out as good as the passenger side......lesson learned.

After you get the first upper anchor hole drilled and the fender bolted to it, the rest is fairly easy (assuming you drilled the hole in the correct place...hint hint wink wink). Now that the fenders are bent, and shaped to the vehicle, you just drill the series of new holes that you need and bolt it in to the grill and tub. As I mentioned, you have to drill all new holes to use the AEV highline hood....if you used your stock hood and cut it to fit, you probably only have to drill 2-4 holes total.

One of the other challenges in how to fit things in the engine bay now that you have less space. There are two fender support brackets that bolt to the firewall that I felt were necessary to retain, so I just hacked off the lower portion that bolts to underside of the fire wall, so its able to bolt into the fender via the same 4 bolts and move up to bolt higher in to the fire wall. The battery then sits on top of this on the passenger side. The intake was not able to stay, so for the time being I just threw a filter on the end of it until I determine to do something more permanent.
 

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#5 ·
The stock wiper bottle also would no longer fit, so I picked a basic coolant bottle up off of Amazon and made my own.

Overall, I'm happy with the way the highline turned out....I would grade myself as a 'B+' for the ultimate outcome. If I had to do it again, I definitely recognize some areas that I could improve on and bump it up to an 'A+'. The only oddities on the final outcome is the driver side fender is not bent as nicely as it could be, and both the fenders sort of bow out slightly...I might be able to fix that, but it's not the end of the world and probably won't even be noticeable once I get the rock rails and etc on.

After I completed the highline, I was in the midst of some traveling and etc where I didn't have a lot of time to work on the Jeep so it stayed stock for a few weeks.....yes, It looked pretty silly. I was also at sort of an awkward stage where I had to do alot of things at once, or waste time doing them twice....i.e taking a little time to put on the suspension, when I would just have to remove most of it to put in the new front axle anyway. So I decided to bust the suspension, axles, gears, etc out in one go with the help of a trusty friend of mine who is an extraordinary asset when it comes to Jeeps.

A quick word about the axle and gears.....I decided to use a Dana 30 from an XJ, which is a high pinion vs the low pinion that comes in TJs. For the unfamiliar, the HP Dana 30 is a bit stronger than the LP Dana 30 because of how the gears are situated...I would guess somewhere between 30%-50% stronger. And I'll tell you what...with that artec truss on there, that housing is STOUT. I have virtually no worries about the setup whatsoever, especially when you consider the chromoly shafts and larger u-joints and etc. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I have total confidence with it, even with the heavy wheel/tire combo I'll be running. I decided to go with 4.88 gears more based on a recommendation from a friend who had more driving time in a similar setup than I have. Yes, the front axle is open at the moment...don't laugh. I will be putting an ARB locker in it soon, but at the time it simply boiled down to a matter of priorities - considering how much money I have spent, how much more I need to spend and what I actually need first.

I did run into a few snags that left the Jeep on the hoist a bit longer than intended, one of those was underestimating the time I would spend fiddling with rusty bolts. Had to torch the rear shock bolts out of course, front lower control arms were seized, lugnuts took damn near 2 hours to get off...just those things you overlook.
 

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#6 ·
Suspension is done, steering is done, axles are done, blah blah etc etc... so the Jeep now officially runs and drives and does it quite well. To recap, I have 2" of lift on this Jeep (maybe slightly more at the moment because of the heavy load OME springs) running 37x12.50 SS Iroks with Hutchinson beadlocks with no rubbing or interference at all. Also noteworthy is that I do not have the 1" BL on yet either! I do plan on putting it on for slightly more clearance, but more for the tummy tuck than anything. I pulled the rear flares off but have not had a chance to cut the rear fenders yet, but I do intend to do so. I will also be getting new flares to cover a bit more of the tire, not sure what though....perhaps just a Rubicon flare which is 1" wider.

The next thing I will be doing I believe it setting up a rear bumper/tire carrier combo so I can lug around my spare. I'm not sure which bumper I'm going to use yet, but It will be something utilizes a more tubular outer piece because I will be implementing an AEV JK tire carrier on it. The Mopar TJ rock crawler bumpers are perfect, I might end up with those but they are bit hard to come by and pretty expensive for what they are if you buy them new (if you have any lying around let me know).


More stuff to come soon.
 

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#8 ·
Thanks!


Some friends and I traveled up to northern Michigan this weekend for a camping/dirtbiking/quad riding trip, and thus the first legitimate road time the Jeep has seen. I must tell you that its performance was impressive...best TJ I have ever driven by a longshot. I was so excited driving it down the highway at 75 MPH with no ill effects that I even took a quick video of me cruising with no hands on the wheel to show all my friends who wouldn't believe me :bop: On top of that, I managed to get 16.95 MPG on the way up there (average of 72-75 MPH) which I was thrilled with, and that dropped down to about 15.75 on the way back when I kicked it up to about 80 MPH. I did start to get a little bit of vibration nearing 80 MPH, but come on.....I do have super swampers after all. All things considered, I'm pretty happy and have total and utter confidence in this Jeep for the future expeditions I have planned for it.

The only adjustment I'm going to make is putting a 5/8" spacer in the rear to make up the slight sag from when I have all of my equipment and my bike loaded up. It's minor, but the amount it sags is also minor. It sits pretty damn level with nothing in it, so i'd prefer for it to sit slightly higher unloaded and sit level loaded.
 

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#9 ·
Pulled apart my spare wheel the other day to give it a fresh coat of paint since I have a few that are a bit scraped up and faded looking...will post pics when I have them all done.
 
#16 ·
Just for the record, there are HUNDREDS of miles of Jeep trails in Michigan...

DNR - ORV/ATV Trail Maps

Also, Jeep Creep is is not far off... Jeep Creep at Riverwalk Place in Gladwin, Michigan
Thanks for the info! I certainly have came across many of these trails that are technically able for Jeeps to be on, but most of those hundreds of miles seems to be pretty uneventful without any actual challenging off-roading. I'm sure there are some good ones, but i would totally rather blast through the majority of those trails at 70 MPH on a bike rather than tote around in a Jeep :)

I wasn't aware of Jeep Creep though, that looks neat!
 
#22 ·
I plan on trimming the tub a little bit here very soon when I put the flares on, but otherwise yeah I have 4.5" bumstops in the rear and shouldn't have any major rubbing once I get the front edge of the tub trimmed.
 
#25 ·
Managed to get my flares on this weekend...the important part here is the rear flares, since I had to drill all new holes to mount them up higher on the body and the drivers side was particularly tricky because I also had to trim the piece that isolates the fuel filler. You can see in the photos if you look closely. The next step will be trimming out the tub under the flare for proper clearance during up travel, and then putting on the rock rails that have been sitting in my living room for months now :lmao:
 

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#26 ·
Looks good. Have you looked at Rocks and Valleys Offroad park in Harrison.....north of Lansing off 127. They have some nice trails up there. Bundy is also a lot of fun with the Jeep. They are also planning a new Off-Road park in Oakland County, by Mt Holly. They are still working through the planning phase but it is moving forward as planned....open 2018 I think.

I am in Lake Orion....just North of Auburn Hills
 
#30 ·
Nice. It's a great way to go, you really don't sacrifice anything in any area. One of my buddies drove this Jeep the other day (normally drives a lifted '12 JK) and couldn't believe how well it handled compared to his. With these big honkin tire's I have just a tiny shimmy in the front end because they need to be re-balanced, but its very minor and otherwise the ride and capability of this Jeep is stellar.
 
#32 ·
Sure, I'll get some more pictures one of these days.

I haven't done the TT yet, been too freaking cold! Plus I'm in the middle of a move and some other things now so haven't done much with the Jeep lately.
 
#36 ·
Finally got around to doing a few more crucial things with my LJ this past weekend.

First, the tire carrier....I decided to go with the Bestop Highrock tire carrier after doing a bit of research. I was looking at other tub-mounted tire carrier options, but struggled to find one that A.) opened with the tailgate, B) wasn't overpriced and C.) had a overly-sufficient weight capacity. The Bestop carrier actually says for use up to a 35" tire, yet the weight capacity is 200 pounds... I assumed that the tire size limit simply had to do a larger tire contacting the bumper and possibly covering the tailgate. However, I am running JK bolt pattern wheels so I needed an adapter to put on the wheel anyway. So I simply got an adapter than shifted the tire upwards about 2 inches, and presto...space for the tire. The wheel is secured to the Bestop carrier via a long bolt that threads into the wheel mount, and to ensure the wheel mount did not rotate I just drilled a small hole down through the top of the area where the mount slides into the carrier receiver and dropped a self tapping screw in there, thus not allowing the wheel mount to rotate.

I am super happy with this tire carrier. I attached a few basic pictures of it to show the installation. It is definitely heavy duty. The way the carrier mounted through the tub to the roll bar and wedges up against the frame at the bottom is a great design. The install probably took me 3.5 hours, not including running to home depot to get some longer bolts because of the corner guards.

Next is the body lift...this install when really smooth, actually. I was PRAYING that I wouldn't spin any of the nut plates that the body mount bolts secure to and I was pretty lucky...but not totally lucky. The rear passenger bolt spun, but I was thankful it was only 1, and also arguably the easiest one to get to. I zipped open a little flap on the enclosure and got a pair of vice grips on the broken loose nut plate and the bolt came right out. Then, I just put a nut and washer in its place and closed the flap back out with a bead of silicone...just in case I ever have to get back in there.

The 1" body lift is subtle, yet just perfect. I used the Daystar kit that included the mounts and the replacement lower bushing and transfer case shifter bracket and all that good stuff.The stock body mounts were so dry rotted, I actually noticed a decent increase in the overall ride quality of the vehicle too...it's just a little less harsh when hitting big pot holes on these Michigan roads.

Lastly, I trimmed the tub in the rear slightly for proper upward clearance for the 37s. I trimmed maybe 1.5-2" from the front and back. It turned out pretty well, I need to paint the inner part still but i'll do that sometime this week.

Oh, I installed my Warn 9.5" winch the other day too.
 

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#37 ·
Anyone have experience with aftermarket carpet manufacturers? Need to get some replacement carpet for this puppy.
 
#44 ·
Thanks appreciate it. I'm going on a trip out to Newaygo next weekend so maybe i'll get some footage of it actually performing lol
 
#45 ·
Finally getting these freakin rock rails on. I've been absurdly busy lately and this is one of my last free weeks until the end of July, so I figured I should get it out of the way. Always a good time drilling holes in your Jeep.
 

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#49 ·
So I haven't driven this guy since April due to traveling for work and things, I attempted to drive it while I was home for a few days in June...well the alternator froze up and burnt up the serpentine belt. Saw that one coming! Replaced the alternator and belt last weekend, good as new. This past weekend, I took care of a few odds and ends including repainting and re-balancing the wheels and replacing the transmission mount which was beginning to squeak. I used dynabeads to balance the tires and ditched the weights, I have used these in the past and have always been amazed by how well they work for me.
 

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