Hello everyone!
So I’ve finally decided to make a thread for my TJ as I plan to spend a number of years tweaking and improving it to get to my liking.
This is my 3rd TJ(both previous ones were totaled at different points in time) and this one I plan to keep for a very long time universe willing.
Having gotten T-boned about a month ago I spent a ton of time looking for a clean TJ, and being in NY finding one to fit my wants is near on impossible. So I ended up going to NC to pick this beauty up. My newest TJ is a 2000 sport, manual 5 speed 4.0 with 140k miles on it. It is extremely clean and bare frame underneath so I was able to get a good idea of the stage of rust it’s in(looks close to a brand new frame lol)
specs on the TJ:
all professionally installed,
Dana 44’s front and rear
Regeared to 4.88’s
Front Dana 44 has a small truss installed
Custom 4” Mid arm suspension(not sure of exact brand of control arms atm)
Bilstein 5100 shocks all around
One ton steering
37” Trail grapplers on 17” pro comp wheels
Warn 8000# winch
Heavy duty clutch
Warn lockers in the front and a rubicon air locker in the rear(air locker not working atm)
Smittybilt front and rear fenders and rock sliders
Rear corner armor
Steering box skid plate
Oil pan skid plate
Gas tank skid plate
Sye and upgraded driveshaft
Poison Spyder front bumper
Currie antirock sway bar
Custom taillights
Interior has been fully rhino lined
Brand new Bedrug carpeting
New Bestop seats all around
New A/C compressor
Bluetooth aftermarket stereo
While this Jeep is miles ahead of my previous TJ in many many ways, I am certainly not short on improvements I’m looking to make. First things on my list are smaller projects mostly that I should be able to do myself.
Such as:
•Trunk lock seems to be seized up and won’t turn with a Key at all
•While my turn signals appear to be working, it intermittently doesn’t “work” according to my dashboard turn signal lights, gotta look into that
•light bar needs new fuse(and reduce whistle if possible)
•install Steinjager 4wd cable linkage, I had done this on my last TJ and loved the improvement it made
•have the air locker checked out by my buddy/mechanic
•get it fluid filmed due to shitty NY winters
•repaint hood(clear coat is peeling)
•buy or fabricate a rear bumper to accommodate my 37” spare
Eventually, I plan to redo the suspension entirely and do a 4 link long arm setup, most likely with a stretch and all that other fun stuff. I want to build this to be a capable trail rig to tackle all and any sort of trails(minus extreme muddying, not my thing). I love tinkering and building and fabricating and just learning new things. And being on this forum has only made that desire grow to tackle these things myself.
So while this thread will probably be slow going, I just wanted a place to keep all my plans and ideas and have you wonderful folks be able to be a part of it or chime in to help or make fun of me, I’ll take it all! Thanks for coming to my Tedtalk lol, I’ll attach some pics of the rig as it sits now!
So I’ve finally decided to make a thread for my TJ as I plan to spend a number of years tweaking and improving it to get to my liking.
This is my 3rd TJ(both previous ones were totaled at different points in time) and this one I plan to keep for a very long time universe willing.
Having gotten T-boned about a month ago I spent a ton of time looking for a clean TJ, and being in NY finding one to fit my wants is near on impossible. So I ended up going to NC to pick this beauty up. My newest TJ is a 2000 sport, manual 5 speed 4.0 with 140k miles on it. It is extremely clean and bare frame underneath so I was able to get a good idea of the stage of rust it’s in(looks close to a brand new frame lol)
specs on the TJ:
all professionally installed,
Dana 44’s front and rear
Regeared to 4.88’s
Front Dana 44 has a small truss installed
Custom 4” Mid arm suspension(not sure of exact brand of control arms atm)
Bilstein 5100 shocks all around
One ton steering
37” Trail grapplers on 17” pro comp wheels
Warn 8000# winch
Heavy duty clutch
Warn lockers in the front and a rubicon air locker in the rear(air locker not working atm)
Smittybilt front and rear fenders and rock sliders
Rear corner armor
Steering box skid plate
Oil pan skid plate
Gas tank skid plate
Sye and upgraded driveshaft
Poison Spyder front bumper
Currie antirock sway bar
Custom taillights
Interior has been fully rhino lined
Brand new Bedrug carpeting
New Bestop seats all around
New A/C compressor
Bluetooth aftermarket stereo
While this Jeep is miles ahead of my previous TJ in many many ways, I am certainly not short on improvements I’m looking to make. First things on my list are smaller projects mostly that I should be able to do myself.
Such as:
•Trunk lock seems to be seized up and won’t turn with a Key at all
•While my turn signals appear to be working, it intermittently doesn’t “work” according to my dashboard turn signal lights, gotta look into that
•light bar needs new fuse(and reduce whistle if possible)
•install Steinjager 4wd cable linkage, I had done this on my last TJ and loved the improvement it made
•have the air locker checked out by my buddy/mechanic
•get it fluid filmed due to shitty NY winters
•repaint hood(clear coat is peeling)
•buy or fabricate a rear bumper to accommodate my 37” spare
Eventually, I plan to redo the suspension entirely and do a 4 link long arm setup, most likely with a stretch and all that other fun stuff. I want to build this to be a capable trail rig to tackle all and any sort of trails(minus extreme muddying, not my thing). I love tinkering and building and fabricating and just learning new things. And being on this forum has only made that desire grow to tackle these things myself.
So while this thread will probably be slow going, I just wanted a place to keep all my plans and ideas and have you wonderful folks be able to be a part of it or chime in to help or make fun of me, I’ll take it all! Thanks for coming to my Tedtalk lol, I’ll attach some pics of the rig as it sits now!
