well ive had my jeep for about a year now and have done quite a bit to it and have more than quite a bit left before ill be "done" if that ever happens lol! just thought id start up a build thread with some pics of whats happened so far and keep it updated-
basic info- 1999 jeep TJ 4.0L, Ax15 5 spd, 4" superlift with 33X12.50 uniroyals (not great in the mud but nice on the road) bedlined interior, paid $8000,traded in my 94 s10 (got $2000 for it) and put another $3000 cash down so i owe $3000 on it, i over paid a little because i bought it at a dealer and didnt know anything about jeeps back then, so i got a 2" t-case drop and D35 rear axle which i wouldnt have done knowing what i know now
here are a few pics from the day i brought her home
ok now for the "build"
first "mod" i did was add these crappy seat covers from pepboys which lasted about 2 weeks before i hated them and tossed them lol-
next i bought som procomp lights from a local 4x4 shop and some KC brackets to mount them on my hood hinges, had to paint the chrome lights tho since i want the "blacked out" look (i ended up mounting these to my bumper and using the hinge brackets to make a light bar tho)
heres the light bar i made using the KC hinge bracket i bought-
all the materials-
"L" bracket from lowes
hacksaw to cut it to length
KC hinge brackets
lights
spray on bedliner
switches / wire
total cost- about $100
got these from wally world, they are actually pretty bright!
next i found that the steering stabilizer the PO added was missing some bushings and VERY loose so i pulled it off and added some i had in my toolbox from my S10 and put yellow boots on them-
next i worked on the idle a bit it was idling pretty eratic and stalling and such so per some members on this great forum i pulled my throttle body and cleaned it and cleaned my IAC, idles perfect now-
next i got bored and decided to use some of my leftover bedliner from the lights to paint some stuff, i was driving home from work and was behind an ambulance at a red light and liked the way his blinkers looked with the arrows so i wanted to try and make some like that, quite a few others on the forum have done it with arrows since then and even some other stuff, one guy painted a jeep front end on it, another did the punisher skull, all awsome looking!!
also got a new spare tire cover, the tail lights look dark but the light comes through them very well even in the day-
next i bought some "H2 RECOVER TEAM" decals online, which were MUCH bigger than i wanted lol and didnt last long-
next i replaced my shifter boot which was just sitting in the hole not attatched to anything with a nice rubber one, it was a bit stiff at first and would pop out of 2nd and 4th but after a bit of use it works perfect now-
new "if you can read this.... roll me over" decal-
well after having had the jeep for a few months i wanted to go hit some trails for the first time and went with a buddy from work who has a commander, turned into a loooooooong day lol-
first sign we should have turned around, the first trail we went down was blocked by a tree 50 ft into it lol.. i just moved it-
next sign we should have turned around was these lumberjacks telling us the trail was prolly going to be flooded up ahead-
heres what they were talking about-
its honestly only about 3.5 ft deep and i have since crossed it about 5 times without a single problem just not with the guy who owns the commander lol
well he thought going fast was the answer and just floored it into the creek, which was a 3 foot drop off a rock and then instant stalling, then he tried to turn it back on with the started completely under water and burned that up, ended up hydrolocking and needing a new engine lol-
and heres what it has to do with my build thread lol, almost pulled my rear bumper off and bent the mounting points on the frame pretty bad pulling him out this far, so it led to my first "spontaneous upgrade" lol took 12 hours to get him off the trail and took me, the park ranger in a triton V10 f150, and 3-4 ATV's with winches-
well as i said i needed a new rear bumper but got a good deal on the front one too, so i bought them $300 shipped for both, pro-comp rear, smittybuilt front bumpers- (also painted my side markers at this point)
spraying some bed liner on the D-rings, hooks, and rear bumper (it came powdercoated but i wanted it bedlined)
got the front bumper on, easy install had to re-drill 2 of the holes tho they were about 1/16th of an inch off-
put the procomp lights on the new bumper-
after about an hour with a torch and BFH i got the mounting points back to normal and mounted the rear bumper, went on perfect but doing it yourself sucks lol was trying to hold one end of the bumper up with my foot and start the bolts on the other side at the same time-
next i bought some KC light brackets for my procomp lights, im a cheap a$$ lol but most people cant tell the difference, also bought a rugged ridge "armor" kit for the jeep its plastic honestly but at the time i never went offroading so it was cosmetic, altho it did help when going through the woods and such, im starting to offroad more often and actually am going 2morrow to buy a set of poison spyder crusher corners i found on craigslist for $150 and a set of front tube fenders for $250 so the plastic armor will be gone soon-
next i turned my rear anti-swaybar links into discos, honestly have never disconnected them since people on here say it doesnt give any usefull articulation, and i get crazy flex for a DD anyway-
well after that i went offroading again with another buddy from work who just bought himself an 04 LJ and bent my drivers side fender flare trying to flex
so i decided to cut the flares down -
heres how much i cut off, half cut half still stock-
got one side done, decided to angle the front of the front flare, looks pretty cool IMo
next came my header swap to get rid of the annoying sounding like a diesel because of the cracks lol, the PO welded the header to the donwpipe so i actually had to replace both-
intake ports were all gummed up and dirty so i cleaned them out pretty good-
got the header and downpipe in and had to drive it home to wait till the muffle shop opened up the next day to weld the donwpipe to the cat and heres a few videos of the jeep on open header and then the downpipe as well (sounded AWSOME lol)
next came replacing my front axle joints and having the CV head on my front driveshaft rebuilt-
after that i bought some new skyjacker hydro 7000 shocks and 2 matching stabilizers, still havent put the drivers side rear one in as the PO welded the upper bracket to the jeep and i need to pull the gas tank to get it out, going to do that when i finally get a skid plate for the tank and have to pull it to install that anyway lol, drives perfect even with just the 3 shocks-
going to get them 2morrow morning actually, had to work out a time to drive down and get them, also picking up some driect bolt on tube fenders 2morrow, the guy is 3 hours away so has taken some time to coordinate a date lol
finally bought some new seat covers, got them on Q-tec, smittybuilt neoprene buy the front get the rear free, they fit PERFECT and look great, had some free time at work so everyone from work came out and helped me put them in lol-
he looks happy to be helping- lol!!!
came across a thread on here on changing out the LEDs on the gauge cluster and climate control so i gave it a shot, the gauges came out perfect but the climate control is very dim, might go back to stock on it-
after that i decided to make a cooler mount for the back of my jeep for when i hit the trails, which im starting to do a lot more often, just took a peice of wood measured how wide the jeep is behind the back seat, cut out for the roll bars so they actually hold it in place, then bolted my cooler to it, works great!-
not the prettiest but it works!
heres a few pics from the last time i went out-
needless to say i got a little stuck in the mud LOL, it was comming in my doors by the time i gave up and got winched out, just finished changing all my fluids, had a bit of mud in the transmission and rear diff but thats it
next to come- SYE / tattons rear CV driveshaft (got them sitting on my toolbox right now actually), just need to buy some adjustable rear upper control arms to get them in and adjust the pinion angle correctly, going to buy currie johhn joint control arms that everyone on here seems to like, also as i said going in the morning to get the PS corners and tube fenders, so i should have those on in about 2 weeks, still not sure if i want to hurculine them or powdercoat them, im leaning towards hurculiner since i need to re-do my interior as well!
33X12.50 tires, 4.10 gearing, pretty nice combo for daily driving i think, altho there are times when i wish i had 4.56s to get up a hill better lol! i agree that it looks better without the H2 decal lol, and i havent been run off the road since i took it off!
the turn signals came out nice just pulled them off, lightly sanded them, washed them off in my sink, let them dry and used some spray on bedliner from lowes to paint them, i ran the dual stablizers for looks, jerry told me about how it can overheat the powersteering system and i am going to take the second one off but the nuts on the U-bolts are froze up and i need to get time at work to use the saw and cut them off!
just got off the phone with the guy who has the front fenders for sale, he agreed to $275 for them so i will be going saturday around 12pm to pick them up now all i need to do is order some hurculiner to redo my interior and paint the corners and fenders, also looking at some sliders from PS, not on CL so i think will have to buy direct from PS
Nice dude, actually those do look like the smitty ones but I dont think the come with inner fenders so, must be something else or added inners. The rears look sweet too. I would bedline them as well, good choice.
if your not set on PSC sliders I can give you a link on a place to get more general ones for alot less. I am actually planning on making my own in the next few weeks.
i really envy you for getting to do all these mods hahaha.
i honestly have no clue on what brand the fenders are lol, maybe when i get them illl post some good pics of them to see if anyone on here knows, im pretty set on the PS sliders love the little spider emblem on them lol!!
Nice dude, actually those do look like the smitty ones but I dont think the come with inner fenders so, must be something else or added inners. The rears look sweet too. I would bedline them as well, good choice.
if your not set on PSC sliders I can give you a link on a place to get more general ones for alot less. I am actually planning on making my own in the next few weeks.
i really envy you for getting to do all these mods hahaha.
i honestly have no clue on what brand the fenders are lol, maybe when i get them illl post some good pics of them to see if anyone on here knows, im pretty set on the PS sliders love the little spider emblem on them lol!!
chattanooga, signal mountain more specifically, im about 10 miles from prentice cooper state park if you have been out there offroading
well just got back from a 7 hour trip lol, WELL worth it though!!! ended up spending more than 150 tho, i also just ordered a gallon of herculiner and 2 QTS of the UV protector, i need to quit being lazy got a lot of stuff to install lol!!
PS corners (he tossed in the flush mounting LED tail lights free) - $150
fuel tank skid that needs stripped and painted- $25
high light jack (he tossed in the bottom stand peice or w/e it is free) - $30
currie EZ deflator brand new in case- $ free
also have these sitting on my floor lol - Tattons Cv DS, and SYE kit-
just got back from picking up my new tube fenders, the pile has grown! lol i am going to try and atleast get the highlift jack mounted today, thinking of mounting it to the back of the rollbar but might put it on the front bumper not sure yet
LOL, actually working on the high-lift mount right now, looked online for some but i decided to try and make one myself, its going to go behind the roll cage above the rear "cargo" area the 1/4 steel plate im going to use is sitting behind me, letting the primer dry before i paint it red and go mount it all :thumb:
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