2006 Jeep LJ build thread

This came across my Facebook feed. Thought you'd enjoy seeing another Jeepster Commando!

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That's awesome! It's crazy how popular these have become in the last few years. There are a lot of off-road shops that have been building their own take of what an off-road Jeepster should be. I believe off-road evolution did it first back in 2013 I think? Lots of awesom and creative ways to build them. If our rear fenders were to far gone than we would have probably done the same. But I'm not one to drill through good sheet metal. I had a hard time drilling through our LJ sheet metal but know I was putting factory Rubicon trim on it make me feel a little better about it lol.
 
Picked up a few items this last weekend. Wife is out of town this wekend so I will begin to install everything. Trying to get ready for my Hot Springs trip on the 21st and 22nd of this month.

1. New Crown automotive rear track bar (I think my bushings are shot. Only $60).
2. Rubicon Express extended sway rear sway bar links
3. Teraflex rear trackbar relocation bracket for two inches and above lifts.
4.Used factory LJ soft top with tinted windows. Came with all hardware, door surrounds, etc for $100.

The plan this weekend for trip prep is to tighten up the e-brake, re do the track bar, install the relocation kit, install the extended links in the rear, get a new rear zipper for the soft top window resown into the top, buffout the windows, remove rear seat, and start planning what to pack. I can't decide if I should bring the tent or if I should just sleep in the Jeep (would only be for one night lol).

Waiting on some of the parts to come in so I'll update photos as soon as they come in but for now here are some pictures of the top. This will be for trail use so we don't tear up our trek top. Plus I love how the LJ OEM tops look with half doors. Idk why but it looks very military to me. Also enjoy the pic of the earthroamer. Guy was at our local 4WP picking up a few things. So sweet.. maybe one day lol.
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I almost forgot! I'm not completely sold on it yet but we picked up a new black grill cover. One of the previous owners towed the jeep behind a motorhome so there are a few rock chips in the grill. Not only will this hide the previous rock chips this should hopefully protect it from new ones. I would much rather prefer the chrome grill overlay though. They are just so expensive and not easy to find new is all. This one only set us back $50.
 
We are new to the TJ/LJ scene and new to this forum! Always had friends with with ones but never one of our own. We currently own a fully restored 1971 Jeepster Commando. Over the years we have owned many heels from the Jeepster, to full size Cherokee, a J10, libertys, 4 door Rubicon, and etc. I bought sometime last year our first 2002 Jeep Wrangler 4 cylinder. We modified a little bit and got some enjoyment out of it and then sold it. Sold to get a better commuter car with better gas mileage as I travel 20 miles one way for work.

We now have a 2006 Jeep LJ 6 cylinder 6 speed. Weren't planning on buying it but the deal was so good we couldn't refuse. Had 68,000 original miles on it and paid $13,500 for it. Since then we have sold some Jeep parts to fund our project and thus far we have only invested $5,000 +/-. I will post photos of the first day we bought it to where it is today. We have installed everything on our own. Purchased anything on Craigslist that we can and don't pay the sticker price for the rest :).

Current list of mods since purchased:
2 inch pro comp lift (coils and shocks)
33x10.50 BFG KO2's
Daystar bump stops
Rubicon express shock relocation brackets
Smittybilt spare tire bracket
New slotted and drilled rotors with pads and new emergency brakes all the way around
Borla cat back exhaust
Smittybilt front and rear rock crawler bumpers
Smittybilt 9.5 inch cable winch and mount
10 inch KC light bar
Rubicon rockers
N-Fab rails
Rubicon fender flares
Bestop trek top
Spider web shades bikini top
Trek armor front seat covers
New kicker speakers all the way around
12 inch alpine sub and Sony head deck
Daystar upper dash tray
Rugged ridge console lid cover
Replaced interior lights with LEDs
Tinted front windows
New windsheild
Factory red half doors
Smittybilt upper door windows
Hi lift jack
Hi lift rear roll bar mount

Mods to come:
1 inch body lift
1 inch motor mount lift
Rokmen transmission skid
Rokmen high clearance gas tank skid
Rokmen engine skid
Currie steering upgrade
Currie upper and lower arms
KC gravity LED headlights
KC LED tailights
KC HID lights and winshied mount
Bed rug kit
Trek armor/bartact matching rear seat cover
And as always I'm sure there is more..

I will be posting the new mods on here as I get around to buying them and installing them. If you have any questions let me know! Would love to help and learn more on here!

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Thanks for your posts Jeepersteve.

I just purchased my own LJ last week (1st time Jeep owner) trying figure out what I want to do with mine. As I'm evaluating my next move , your details have been extremely insightful. Really like the look.

I doubt I will off road much and no rock crawling but I hope to get it off road a few times a year. Who k owe. Once I take it off the road, may not want to get back on the road.

Thanks again and keep the details coming and pics too.

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Thanks for your posts Jeepersteve.

I just purchased my own LJ last week (1st time Jeep owner) trying figure out what I want to do with mine. As I'm evaluating my next move , your details have been extremely insightful. Really like the look.

I doubt I will off road much and no rock crawling but I hope to get it off road a few times a year. Who k owe. Once I take it off the road, may not want to get back on the road.

Thanks again and keep the details coming and pics too.
Thank you! Love how clean your LJ is! Though this LJ is a 3rd vehicle for my dad the goal is to make it comfortable enough to daily drive but can still perform and impress off-road. I really like keeping the skinny 10.50 tires so I can keep them underneath the factory flares and keep a lower center of gravity. Build your jeep the way you want and how it caters to your needs!

I see so many guys these days taking bad advice on how they should hack up, add more steel, add a massive lift, and huge tires to their Jeeps. They end up hating their Jeep's because it doesn't drive as nice as it used too when it was stock. Trade it for a truck and move on. I always like the term measure twice and cut once. Do your research and do what you like! Looking forward to following your build thread when you get one started! Super jealous of that grill!
 
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Thank you! Love how clean your LJ is! Though this LJ is a 3rd vehicle for my dad the goal is to make it comfortable enough to daily drive but can still perform and impress off-road. I really like keeping the skinny 10.50 tires so I can keep them underneath the factory flares and keep a lower center of gravity. Build your jeep the way you want and how it caters to your needs!

I see so many guys these days taking bad advice on how they should hack up, add more steel, add a massive lift, and huge tires to their Jeeps. They end up hating their Jeep's because it doesn't drive as nice as it used too when it was stock. Trade it for a truck and move on. I always like the term measure twice and cut once. Do your research and do what you like! Looking forward to following your build thread when you get one started! Super jealous of that grill!
 
Absolutely. Took over a year to find the rightJeep for me and going slow on any major stuff. keeping it simple for now and as I move forward and get more comfortable with Jeep craze, may look add a few more things down the road. Thanks for acknowledging where my thoughts are. Yes will keep posting pics once I figure out what I'm doing.
 
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Well today ended on a high note. I jumped on craigslist yesterday and saw a fresh post with a factory Mopar chrome grill for sale in like new condition. Asked if he would like to trade for my black plastic one that I just picked up and pay half of his asking price for it and he accepted! I'm so glad to get rid of that crappy black plastic grill because it did not fit right and only stuck on with 3M tape. The Mopar chrome is so much nicer because not only is it metal but it also fastens with factory plastic fasteners. You have to remove the headlight trim to install it and then install the headlight trim back over it for a nice secure installation. Very happy with the results!
 
Worked on the Jeep all weekend long while the wife was out of town! Finally ready for the big road trip to Hot springs this week. I installed the Teraflex rear track bar relocation bracket. I highly reccomend that this is a priority when lifting your Jeep. What a difference! No more fish tailing. My only regret is not putting this on when I did the lift kit. The bracket came a little warped (maybe due to the powder coating process?) so I had to break out the torch and rubber mallet to make it fit just right. This would have been 50 times easier to install if I had the springs and shocks out. So do this when lifting the Jeep. Take it from me and don't do what I did. Pay someone to install it instead if your Jeep is already lifted lol. Other than that I installed some Rubicon Express extended sway bar links in the rear. I failed to get photos of these on my jeep probably due to the amount of frustration I had in that relocation bracket but here is basically what I installed. Pics soon to come of my Hot springs trip!

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This is a video of the last time I went to the Hot Springs, AR ORV park. We decided to test out how good our 2014 Cherokee Trailhawk really was. Took everything like a champ. The only modification we had was the roof rack. Everything else is bone stock such as suspension, tires, etc. Remember we drove 6 hours back home after doing this to go back to work on Monday. It's a level 3 (out of 5) trail called the fun run. I do apologize for the lack of sound.. turns out the camera was on mute and I couldn't figure out how to add music from my tablet at the time of editing this video.

 
It just goes to show that Jeeps are more capable than people think, even in stock form. The same goes for our TJs as well.
 
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It just goes to show that Jeeps are more capable than people think, even in stock form. The same goes for our TJs as well.
They always say less is more lol. I will say though our LJ was super low to the ground when we started on it. Like Honda Civic low lol. Unless it was a Rubicon idk if I would have had much confidence off-roading it lol.
 
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Just got back from my trip. Had a great time! Nothing broken and made it back safely. I don't have the videos edited or uploaded yet but when I do I'll be sure to post them. Here are some photos for now. I let this group pass me (YJ on 40's and one tons, two white two door JK's, two TJ's and an 83 Toyota pickup) thinking I was going to hold them up. One of their TJ's ended up puncturing a side wall. After that was fixed the motor wouldn't start (pretty sure it was the crank sensor). They ended up holding me up lol. They towed it back to the parking lot,ran to autozone/o'Reilly's for the new sensor, put a new sensor in, and wheeled for the rest of the weekend. It rained on me most of the day I was there so it made things really slick. I managed to get through everything with no damage. I think I hit the transmission/transfer case skid a few times but that's what it's for after all lol. Can't wait to get the SYE installed and get a new skid to fix that problem.

I did two badge of honor trails called Snake and the Fun Run. The 3rd badge of honor trail is called Rubicon Ridge. The park manager said I might want to pass that one up since I was by myself and it was really slick that day. I'd say I'm glad I took his advice lol. Mostly stuck with level 2 and some level 3 trails that day. Was looking to get out and have a good time and not do anything to extreme since I had to get back to Dallas (5-6 hour drive) on Sunday. Photos aren't the best due to the lighting. Took them all on my iPhone 6. Should have some really nice video. As usual pictures do not do these inclines justice!
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Awesome photos. And I might add, I rarely like chrome, but it looks good on yours!