04’ TJ Rubicon

73Carlow

Long time Toyota guy turned TJ Owner
Supporting Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
43
Location
Woodland Park Colorado
I have recently become the new owner of this well built TJ.
Here is how she sits right now.

- Bestop Super Top soft top with tinted windows
-factory Rubicon lockers, 4.1 gears, NP241OR Rock-Trac Transfer Case

  • 4 inch X series Rough Country suspension lift with adjustable upper and lower control arms
  • 2 inch Teraflex leveling kit
  • Bilstein 5100 shocks
  • Rough Country steering stabilizer
  • JKS sway bar disconnect
  • Factory Slip Yoke Eliminator replaced last year
  • Warn 9.5 TI winch
  • after market front and rear bumpers
  • American racing aluminum 15'' rims
  • Factory underbody skid plate,
  • Kilby gas tank armor
  • Dana 44 aftermarket alloy axle shafts front and rear
  • Full Magnaflow exhaust system (don't know series)
  • cold air intake
  • Differential breather tubes re-routed and elevated


I have committed to installing Falken A/T 35” tires. The tires and alignment were shot when I got it and I did some test flex with the rig and believe it should handle the 35” well. In my opinion the 4.0 is handling the size decent, however gears are being considered. Probably 4.88.


My kiddos are 3 & 6 years old. My wife and I are excited to introduce them to wheeling especially with the top off the TJ. However safety is a concern so we began researching offroad seats. I cam across a craigslist deal for a set of older never used orange racing seats. The five point harnesses with buster seats will make us feel safer about having the kids on the trail with us. Not installed yet, we are waiting on adapters and since PRP does not make brackets for rear bench formthe TJ, I have ordered the Corbeau TJ bench bracket.


I have also went with a new SWAG rear bumper. Its bullet proof at 1/4” steel plate. Its currently needing to be welded together and powder coated.

My big focus right now is comparing all the diferent options for new springs and shocks.. I believe Savvy and Currie and possibly Metalcloak. The TJ is tight right now and works well. I do not see any advantage in switching out the Rough Country short arma, unless I go with a complete long arm kit. I honestly would prefer to do some cutting and lower the TJ with maybe 3” spring and then do a bell tuck or possibly do an entire long arm kit, however it seems TJ owners like short arms for offroading..

I am also looking for a simple Front bumper that is bullet proof and new sliders.

Opinions are welcome! I am here to learn and make sure I dont spend money
 
Do the research on long arms before you commit to anything. You'll find a short arm lift will do everything you need it to.

Also, the best way to find out if your 35s are going to play nicely is to remove the coils, and run the axle up to full droop with a floor jack while checking for interference anywhere. Trackbar and diff contacting each other, tires mashing into sheetmetal, rear diff hitting the gas tank skid, shocks bottoming out on either end.

Also, on a 4" lift with a tummy tuck (if you choose to get one), you will likely need to install a super short sye and extend your current double carden driveshaft. Chances are that you will experience binding somewhere with just a regular sye.
 
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I have recently become the new owner of this well built TJ.
Here is how she sits right now.

- Bestop Super Top soft top with tinted windows
-factory Rubicon lockers, 4.1 gears, NP241OR Rock-Trac Transfer Case

  • 4 inch X series Rough Country suspension lift with adjustable upper and lower control arms
  • 2 inch Teraflex leveling kit
  • Bilstein 5100 shocks
  • Rough Country steering stabilizer
  • JKS sway bar disconnect
  • Factory Slip Yoke Eliminator replaced last year
  • Warn 9.5 TI winch
  • after market front and rear bumpers
  • American racing aluminum 15'' rims
  • Factory underbody skid plate,
  • Kilby gas tank armor
  • Dana 44 aftermarket alloy axle shafts front and rear
  • Full Magnaflow exhaust system (don't know series)
  • cold air intake
  • Differential breather tubes re-routed and elevated

I have committed to installing Falken A/T 35” tires. The tires and alignment were shot when I got it and I did some test flex with the rig and believe it should handle the 35” well. In my opinion the 4.0 is handling the size decent, however gears are being considered. Probably 4.88.


My kiddos are 3 & 6 years old. My wife and I are excited to introduce them to wheeling especially with the top off the TJ. However safety is a concern so we began researching offroad seats. I cam across a craigslist deal for a set of older never used orange racing seats. The five point harnesses with buster seats will make us feel safer about having the kids on the trail with us. Not installed yet, we are waiting on adapters and since PRP does not make brackets for rear bench formthe TJ, I have ordered the Corbeau TJ bench bracket.


I have also went with a new SWAG rear bumper. Its bullet proof at 1/4” steel plate. Its currently needing to be welded together and powder coated.

My big focus right now is comparing all the diferent options for new springs and shocks.. I believe Savvy and Currie and possibly Metalcloak. The TJ is tight right now and works well. I do not see any advantage in switching out the Rough Country short arma, unless I go with a complete long arm kit. I honestly would prefer to do some cutting and lower the TJ with maybe 3” spring and then do a bell tuck or possibly do an entire long arm kit, however it seems TJ owners like short arms for offroading..

I am also looking for a simple Front bumper that is bullet proof and new sliders.

Opinions are welcome! I am here to learn and make sure I dont spend money
Welcome! Nice looking Jeep. Seats look great...Its amazing you found them that match so well to your jeep.
 
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Do the research on long arms before you commit to anything. You'll find a short arm lift will do everything you need it to.

Also, the best way to find out if your 35s are going to play nicely is to remove the coils, and run the axle up to full droop with a floor jack while checking for interference anywhere. Trackbar and diff contacting each other, tires mashing into sheetmetal, rear diff hitting the gas tank skid, shocks bottoming out on either end.

Also, on a 4" lift with a tummy tuck (if you choose to get one), you will likely need to install a super short sye and extend your current double carden driveshaft. Chances are that you will experience binding somewhere with just a regular sye.
He has a Rubicon...SYE, supershort or otherwise, not necessary
 
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Do the research on long arms before you commit to anything. You'll find a short arm lift will do everything you need it to.

Also, the best way to find out if your 35s are going to play nicely is to remove the coils, and run the axle up to full droop with a floor jack while checking for interference anywhere. Trackbar and diff contacting each other, tires mashing into sheetmetal, rear diff hitting the gas tank skid, shocks bottoming out on either end.

Also, on a 4" lift with a tummy tuck (if you choose to get one), you will likely need to install a super short sye and extend your current double carden driveshaft. Chances are that you will experience binding somewhere with just a regular sye.
Thanks for all the advice on this. It is really indirect on which set up is best as I have been reading through ll of the marketing from diferent manufactuers. I will likely have many questions along the way.. thank you
 
Welcome! Nice looking Jeep. I love the wheels.
thanks in a week or so they will be up for sale.. My six year old son is the lead concept designer on this build and well is looks as though any new parts will be orange. So we have a set of Orange Chrome aaero steel wheels coming for the build!

 
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Well I started with putting the new tires on and have been waiting for the oddball wheels I showed in an earlier post. The wheels are not happening as they have discontinued the color.. I will update the wheels later this week.

However I start in on the rear bumper and tire carrier issue.. Decided, based on a few threads here on the tj forum, that ai would put an MoRryde / Exogate on and diligently reseached bumpers. I decidd to go with the bullet proof 1/4 steel bumper that Troy offers as Swag Offoad.
swagTJbumper

Didnt come welded, so i had my buddy Terry weld them up and for good reason! He does great work!

Got them back from powder coating today and the local shop did a great job.
 
That bumper looks very similar to my GenRight rear bumper cover. I like that minimalist style though, that's for sure!
 
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That bumper looks very similar to my GenRight rear bumper cover. I like that minimalist style though, that's for sure!
Yep GenRight makes similar bumpers that have the dimple press steps. I was going to order their sliders, but I decided to go with the Rustys offroad sliders which also use dimple press steps but they come powder coated and they are $100 cheaper.. Still American made DOM tubing and 3/16” plate steel.
 
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The manufacturing of the MoRyde / Exogate is pretty bad. The angles on the hing support and holes were waaay off. All in all I will be happy with the product, but I am unimpresseed with the quality.

I had to stop the install today to make the necessary adjustments. As I said, it will be what I want but man they should check their quality contol and realign the jigs.
 
Well first step was to improve the alignment and that worked out pretty nice. All of the spare tire holders that bolt into place in the factory holes place the wheel far away from the body, typically designed like the factory spare bracket for positive offset wheels. I am running reversed wheels with a 3.5” backspacing so I decided to change things up and weld on a receiver that will mate with my hitch style tire mount insert. I centered the wheel of to the drivers side by one inch in the process to center the tire on the vehicle.

The receiver is a $9.99 atv receiver from Harbor Freight. The bottom of the receiver is 3/8” so it will give great support for the spare once mounted. more updates to come.
 
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Do the research on long arms before you commit to anything. You'll find a short arm lift will do everything you need it to.

X2 to this. I wouldn't waste a dime on a long arm setup.

Do the research and pay attention to posts from people like mrblaine. You'll find that a short arm setup is much more ideal than any of the bolt-on long arm setups out there. If you really want the best-of-the-best (and have a ton of money to spend), then the holy grail of lifts would be a mid-arm lift (which requires a lot of cutting and welding) such as the Savvy mid-arm.

There is simply no bolt-on long arm kit available that is going to have the correct suspension geometry (among other things).

Any of the long arm kits that say otherwise are just using deceptive marketing tactics to sell it to the people who just don't know any better.
 
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