Starting a thread after 5 years of ownership and lot of time here. Mainly because the upgrades have finally come to a point where it's getting more serious.
Basing the build off of what I have learned here around builds on 35s and out wheeling with friends who have tj's. This is my attempt at a rig that can do a lot well.
Plan when I picked this up was to build a wheeling rig that could do some harder trails and also take the family wheeling/camping. All while being streetable for ice cream runs and backroads with the family.
I started the hunt for a relatively well maintained lj in manual. Manual just because I like them for street driving and I'm OK with the compromises for now.
What I came from to what I went to.
Old toyota truck On 35s/37s with dual cases and few different bodies along the way.
First day home:
05 lj sport manual with 76k on it. Set up for beach cruising and flat towing. It originally came from Colorado so the frame and body have no rust. Soft top came with it too! Had some home made fenders that were done pretty well other than turn signal.
Steps, light bar, tires/wheels and bumper where the first thing to go.
Back to ravines, 35s, added a savvy body lift, morryde carrier, jcr sliders and trail gear rear bumper. Aussie locker up front.
Removed all the plasticdip on the front grill.
I added an m8000 that i found at a pick/pull with a winch mount, after a full rebuild of the winch and respray it was mounted with the warn raised mount. Bumper chopped too along with Toyota h4 kit!
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/toyota-lights-on-your-tj-cheap-quality-led-alternative.52840/
I wheeled it like this for a while and quickly realized I needed to save up for gears and a new case.
Aoaa
Potts
Blew out a joint cap taking the kids on a New Years run. It was supposed to be a quick trip but the end of the trail was closed. So we had to double back and threw joint cap.
Picked up a decent deal on a 241a few years ago locally after considering this route for a 300 flip. Rebuilt it for piece of mind but it had a new chain already. Grabbed a lj Rubicon driveshaft from marketplace for now.
I always liked the mce fenders and didn't really love the homemade deals mine came with. Finally found some white fenders locally I could use for the switch along with clear jk signals. Mo betta!
Also found some color matched half doors locally, same place I found the winch.
Wheeled like this with for another few years.
After years of waiting for them to come back in stock, savvy listed lj sliders. I haven't seen them in stock since. Followed steps documented here on install by @mrblaine and @Irun Along with others. Very happy with the outcome.
Savvy vs jcr
I also added a sway loc which has been one of the best mods to date!
Thermocure flush since the upper radiator tank cracked and started leaking. New mopar fan clutch, radiator, condensor and performance radiator heater core.
That pretty much brings us up to speed for the past 4 years. Having fun with it as a family fun rig but under geared and still some long term goals on the horizon.
Basing the build off of what I have learned here around builds on 35s and out wheeling with friends who have tj's. This is my attempt at a rig that can do a lot well.
Plan when I picked this up was to build a wheeling rig that could do some harder trails and also take the family wheeling/camping. All while being streetable for ice cream runs and backroads with the family.
I started the hunt for a relatively well maintained lj in manual. Manual just because I like them for street driving and I'm OK with the compromises for now.
What I came from to what I went to.
Old toyota truck On 35s/37s with dual cases and few different bodies along the way.
First day home:
05 lj sport manual with 76k on it. Set up for beach cruising and flat towing. It originally came from Colorado so the frame and body have no rust. Soft top came with it too! Had some home made fenders that were done pretty well other than turn signal.
Steps, light bar, tires/wheels and bumper where the first thing to go.
Back to ravines, 35s, added a savvy body lift, morryde carrier, jcr sliders and trail gear rear bumper. Aussie locker up front.
Removed all the plasticdip on the front grill.
I added an m8000 that i found at a pick/pull with a winch mount, after a full rebuild of the winch and respray it was mounted with the warn raised mount. Bumper chopped too along with Toyota h4 kit!
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/toyota-lights-on-your-tj-cheap-quality-led-alternative.52840/
I wheeled it like this for a while and quickly realized I needed to save up for gears and a new case.
Aoaa
Potts
Blew out a joint cap taking the kids on a New Years run. It was supposed to be a quick trip but the end of the trail was closed. So we had to double back and threw joint cap.
Picked up a decent deal on a 241a few years ago locally after considering this route for a 300 flip. Rebuilt it for piece of mind but it had a new chain already. Grabbed a lj Rubicon driveshaft from marketplace for now.
I always liked the mce fenders and didn't really love the homemade deals mine came with. Finally found some white fenders locally I could use for the switch along with clear jk signals. Mo betta!
Also found some color matched half doors locally, same place I found the winch.
Wheeled like this with for another few years.
After years of waiting for them to come back in stock, savvy listed lj sliders. I haven't seen them in stock since. Followed steps documented here on install by @mrblaine and @Irun Along with others. Very happy with the outcome.
Savvy vs jcr
I also added a sway loc which has been one of the best mods to date!
Thermocure flush since the upper radiator tank cracked and started leaking. New mopar fan clutch, radiator, condensor and performance radiator heater core.
That pretty much brings us up to speed for the past 4 years. Having fun with it as a family fun rig but under geared and still some long term goals on the horizon.
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