High Mileage 2001 Sahara Build

Hahaha I originally wrote north western and then second guessed myself. I lived in Chicago for about four years.

People get confused because Northwestern isn't exactly very far West. The University was founded 45 years after Lewis and Clark so I guess this was somewhat far West at the time...

Chicago is an interesting city. Still figuring it out. I very rarely leave Evanston so I don't really know much about actual Chicago or most of the surrounding towns.
 
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Very nice! That frame really isn't salvageable?

Old frame is definitely salvageable. I just didn't want my Jeep to have a patched together frame. Anyway, with such high mileage, having it taken apart and put back together is probably a good thing. It needed a lot of maintenance. For example I had all the seals and the gaskets in the engine replaced.
 
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Great looking TJ! I’ll give you an idea of what it’d look like with 4” Currie springs and 35’s
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I like the way yours looks! Is that shale green? I don’t think I’ve seen too many TJ’s that color before.

I’m going to have to see my Jeep in person before I order any springs. I really like LCOG jeeps. I wheel on steep off camber climbs and dont necessarily drive over boulders very often so I’m aiming for a lower Jeep. My overall goal with the Jeep is around 3-3.5” total lift and 37’s.
 
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I like the way yours looks! Is that shale green? I don’t think I’ve seen too many TJ’s that color before.

I’m going to have to see my Jeep in person before I order any springs. I really like LCOG jeeps. I wheel on steep off camber climbs and dont necessarily driving over boulders very often so I’m aiming for a lower Jeep. My overall goal with the Jeep is around 3-3.5” total lift and 37’s.

Did you find a deal on a highline kit? That is low lift for 37's! Maybe sacrificing uptravel? Can't wait to see it!
 
Did you find a deal on a highline kit? That is low lift for 37's! Maybe sacrificing uptravel? Can't wait to see it!

I’d probably put genright highline fenders on. I like the way they look. 37’s are years down the road. For now, 35’s are good enough for the wheeling I do. The Jeep will eventually become a weekend driver / trailer queen. I’d be fine with 3-4” of uptravel at that point. Uptravel is nice, but not imperative for the type of wheeling I enjoy.

Some of my favorite jeeps:

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Can’t resist posting a pic of my Shale Green TJ!
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I follow this guy on Instagram, he’s able to complete some crazy obstacles

Green is a great color for Jeeps. Can't wait to see yours when I finally get my Jeep back and can go wheeling again.

I also follow him on Instagram. I believe he actually works for genright (or something similar). Really really nice Jeep.
 
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I like the way yours looks! Is that shale green? I don’t think I’ve seen too many TJ’s that color before.

I’m going to have to see my Jeep in person before I order any springs. I really like LCOG jeeps. I wheel on steep off camber climbs and dont necessarily drive over boulders very often so I’m aiming for a lower Jeep. My overall goal with the Jeep is around 3-3.5” total lift and 37’s.

It’s medium Fern Green. I had to look it up and double check myself on the “medium” part lol I agree with you on the LCOG idea. My original plan was highlines, tummy tuck and stuffing 35’s with minimal lift but I came into this lift for too good of a deal and didn’t want to pass it up. It does feel a bit tippy at this height on off-camber trails but that was with no sway bars.
 
Getting pretty close to picking it up. Went to check out the progress yesterday and its looking pretty good. Just have to get a few other things buttoned up and its good to go as far as I can tell.

In other news, found some photos of the inside of my old frame on instagram today. Guess this is what 13 years of PA salt will do to a TJ frame when it isn't maintained at all. Pretty interesting that that that outside of the frame and the body of the Jeep can have pretty much no rust while the inside of the frame looks like this.

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Getting pretty close to picking it up. Went to check out the progress yesterday and its looking pretty good. Just have to get a few other things buttoned up and its good to go as far as I can tell.

In other news, found some photos of the inside of my old frame on instagram today. Guess this is what 13 years of PA salt will do to a TJ frame when it isn't maintained at all. Pretty interesting that that that outside of the frame and the body of the Jeep can have pretty much no rust while the inside of the frame looks like this.

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Woah that’s going to give me nightmares. That’s exciting it’s nearly done though!
 
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Woah that’s going to give me nightmares. That’s exciting it’s nearly done though!

I knew my frame was bad but I didn't know it was that bad. Happy it isn't under my Jeep anymore. New frame is looking great with the powder coat.

Should only be a few weeks before I pick it up. Motor is resealed and back in the Jeep, under armor is done, rocker sliders are done, rear bumper is done, 35's are mounted, etc... Just needs to get a few things like the exhaust and driveshafts buttoned up and I'm driving away.
 
Getting pretty close to picking it up. Went to check out the progress yesterday and its looking pretty good. Just have to get a few other things buttoned up and its good to go as far as I can tell.

In other news, found some photos of the inside of my old frame on instagram today. Guess this is what 13 years of PA salt will do to a TJ frame when it isn't maintained at all. Pretty interesting that that that outside of the frame and the body of the Jeep can have pretty much no rust while the inside of the frame looks like this.

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Those pics make me feel better about what I blew out last summer. I'll be making the clean out process an annual thing with pressure washer and a 1/4" high pressure drain line then recoat with Eastman. I had some scale drain out but nowhere near that!
 
Got some photos of it back on the ground today. Looks pretty good height wise to me even though it only has a 3" lift + a 1.25" body lift. I'm assuming thats because the bumper, winch, and spare tire aren't on right now. I'll have to see how it looks once everything is mounted.

Not sure how much more work has to be done but at least it is getting pretty close.

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Thought I'd update this thread. I ordered Currie Currectlync steering a while back. That has been delivered and probably installed. The shop let me know they were measuring for driveshafts today, which means the Jeep is getting very close to being done. I have a hard deadline of driving the Jeep again by March 1st. As of today, it has been 91 days since I dropped the Jeep off.

I have some pretty big plans that involve driving the Jeep a long distance in just over a month. I'm hoping to put some miles on the Jeep, make sure it is good to go, and then head out on my trip. It is going to be fairly risky considering I'll be driving through some very desolate areas, but I trust the Jeep. It has technically never let me down to the point where I couldn't keep driving it in over 226,000 total miles.
 
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