Hey everyone, I'm Ronnie Lee from Virginia. I originally posted on another forum but have gotten 0 hits and feedback on it. If it's pictures ya'll want...I put some below. Maybe I'll put a TL;DR at the bottom too.
Story time.....
What do you do when your 15 year old daughter is creeping up on her 16th birthday, she's a straight A student, does the dishes without complaint and only minimally pisses off her mother? You buy her the vehicle she has been in love with since she started considering that she would have to drive. That just so happens to be a Wrangler. Now granted she had her sights set on a Ice crystal blue sahara or something but Red was a close second. Luckily for me a coworker had just bought a Red 99 TJ Sport, but he was pissed because he bought it online and the frame was rusted out.
I pondered the idea of buying it as opposed to some other Wrangler that could have the same issues. Buy an old one that needs a new frame. and rebuild it with my daughter so she would know her jeep from the ground up? Sounds like a great idea! Anything newer than 05 was priced in crazy land and 05 and earlier were all risky with the frame rot so I knew what I was getting into. I asked him how much and we came to a sweet agreement and he even agreed to help me transfer everything over to a new frame.
I brought the TJ home and moved my ATV and motorcycle out, covered it in a tarp and hid it for over a month. My wife and youngest daughter got to go for a ride in it and luckily the wife bought into my idea. Even more amazing is my youngest daughter never spilled the beans about the surprise. So on the big day after juggling some schedules and moving kids around I went to get the TJ out of the garage. Dead battery, and in replacing it I sliced my hand on the hood. Amazing how sharp it is and I now have a great scar on the back of my hand. BUT I got it running. At the big reveal her smile was beaming and she loved it. All it's imperfections and everything. So we went out on the first drive.....and the fuel pump died stranding us. I had to wait because the plan called for us to drive for an hour or so and then when she got home all her friends would be waiting for her and her party would ensue. Needless to say I felt like an *** when we rolled up in a tow truck her Wrangler on the back. She didn't care. She still showed it off to all of her friends and told them SHE was gonna rebuild it. Most of those girls think she is nuts. But that's my girl! By the next day we had the front end pulled apart.
After a bit of searching and some runaround from a few online dealers my options were drive to Davey's out in Ohio for an 05 Rubicon frame in good shape for 2500 or buy a brand new one for around 4500. ROAD TRIP! Frame and two new seats in hand we made excellent time to and from Ohio with no issues and that made the choice of going with a used frame worth it.
Fast forward two months....actually almost 3 because I was insanely busy with work, and I finally got around to stripping any surface rust off the frame, cleaning it inside and out and putting a few coats of Eastwood paint on. I went with green on the inside of the frame cause....why not and a coat of primer and two coats of gloss later my wife asked if it really needed any more. I don't reckon 6 coats are necessary so, FINE...we will get on with it.
That pretty much brings things up to speed. Next week we are planning on lifting the body off, hoisting the engine and getting straight to stripping parts off the old frame. I'll clean them up, paint em and throw them right back on the new frame. At least that is the plan.
So why am I here? Other that sharing the story because I like to write and figure maybe someone is interested....and I have an issue that I'm looking for advice on.
The steering box. Obviously the 05 frame wont accept the 99 steering box without drilling the frame or some other welding and what not.
Some people have been telling me to just do the "Durango" upgrade, but some reading I have done tells me that this only works on 02 and prior. 03 they switched to a Mercedes box. The prices for new ones are not a cost I was planning on absorbing. Since I still need a fuel pump and five new tires, possibly rims if there's enough left over.
I'm interested in any and all input.
I'll post more pics next week when we get the body off.
OH..and for those that are asking why I didn't just put those frame caps on or weld them up....the frame rails are REALLY bad. I was considering fixing the frame and building another one off of it but they are too far gone. I'll make sure to get some pics of it before I cut it up.
Story time.....
What do you do when your 15 year old daughter is creeping up on her 16th birthday, she's a straight A student, does the dishes without complaint and only minimally pisses off her mother? You buy her the vehicle she has been in love with since she started considering that she would have to drive. That just so happens to be a Wrangler. Now granted she had her sights set on a Ice crystal blue sahara or something but Red was a close second. Luckily for me a coworker had just bought a Red 99 TJ Sport, but he was pissed because he bought it online and the frame was rusted out.
I pondered the idea of buying it as opposed to some other Wrangler that could have the same issues. Buy an old one that needs a new frame. and rebuild it with my daughter so she would know her jeep from the ground up? Sounds like a great idea! Anything newer than 05 was priced in crazy land and 05 and earlier were all risky with the frame rot so I knew what I was getting into. I asked him how much and we came to a sweet agreement and he even agreed to help me transfer everything over to a new frame.
I brought the TJ home and moved my ATV and motorcycle out, covered it in a tarp and hid it for over a month. My wife and youngest daughter got to go for a ride in it and luckily the wife bought into my idea. Even more amazing is my youngest daughter never spilled the beans about the surprise. So on the big day after juggling some schedules and moving kids around I went to get the TJ out of the garage. Dead battery, and in replacing it I sliced my hand on the hood. Amazing how sharp it is and I now have a great scar on the back of my hand. BUT I got it running. At the big reveal her smile was beaming and she loved it. All it's imperfections and everything. So we went out on the first drive.....and the fuel pump died stranding us. I had to wait because the plan called for us to drive for an hour or so and then when she got home all her friends would be waiting for her and her party would ensue. Needless to say I felt like an *** when we rolled up in a tow truck her Wrangler on the back. She didn't care. She still showed it off to all of her friends and told them SHE was gonna rebuild it. Most of those girls think she is nuts. But that's my girl! By the next day we had the front end pulled apart.
After a bit of searching and some runaround from a few online dealers my options were drive to Davey's out in Ohio for an 05 Rubicon frame in good shape for 2500 or buy a brand new one for around 4500. ROAD TRIP! Frame and two new seats in hand we made excellent time to and from Ohio with no issues and that made the choice of going with a used frame worth it.
Fast forward two months....actually almost 3 because I was insanely busy with work, and I finally got around to stripping any surface rust off the frame, cleaning it inside and out and putting a few coats of Eastwood paint on. I went with green on the inside of the frame cause....why not and a coat of primer and two coats of gloss later my wife asked if it really needed any more. I don't reckon 6 coats are necessary so, FINE...we will get on with it.
That pretty much brings things up to speed. Next week we are planning on lifting the body off, hoisting the engine and getting straight to stripping parts off the old frame. I'll clean them up, paint em and throw them right back on the new frame. At least that is the plan.
So why am I here? Other that sharing the story because I like to write and figure maybe someone is interested....and I have an issue that I'm looking for advice on.
The steering box. Obviously the 05 frame wont accept the 99 steering box without drilling the frame or some other welding and what not.
Some people have been telling me to just do the "Durango" upgrade, but some reading I have done tells me that this only works on 02 and prior. 03 they switched to a Mercedes box. The prices for new ones are not a cost I was planning on absorbing. Since I still need a fuel pump and five new tires, possibly rims if there's enough left over.
I'm interested in any and all input.
I'll post more pics next week when we get the body off.
OH..and for those that are asking why I didn't just put those frame caps on or weld them up....the frame rails are REALLY bad. I was considering fixing the frame and building another one off of it but they are too far gone. I'll make sure to get some pics of it before I cut it up.
