05 LJ build

[t.franscioni]

Picked up a 2005 LJ sport (I think it’s a sport only because it’s not the rubicon version) soft top with a manual transmission pretty much 100% stock with exception of some bald 31” KM2s and a aftermarket tow hitch welded onto the rear frame. I bought it a couple years ago after getting invited to go on the rubicon jeepers jamboree event with a friend from work. Kept it stock for a couple years and played around with it a time or two at my local offroad park. Saved up money during that time while trying to educate myself on the endless aftermarket offroad vendors and parts that are offered for jeeps trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it. After fighting the urge to do tons and 37s and all the things I had no business doing yet I decided that making it “look cool” and keeping everything fairly bolt on as far as suspension geometry is concerned was the direction I should go.

The build consists of full armor/fenders/bumpers (don’t need most of it but factors into the “looks” aspect), body/motor lift, 2” suspension lift, 33s, all new factory brakes and rotors, regear to 4.56s, arb air locker in rear, home made fake beadlocks/rock rings, LED lights, winch and a low range transfer case and tummy tuck.

Most of this is already done so this thread is sort of after the fact to document everything and get some insight into some of the remaining aspects.

 

[bobthetj03]

Clean LJ, and welcome from another NorCal jeeper. We hit Hollister Hills in the spring with a small group. My Mom lives in Salinas, so it was a combo trip. Rained the night before, so it was a bit sloppy up there.

 

[t.franscioni]

First part I bought was a hi pinion 30 from my buddy’s XJ. It had some C gussets on it, new ball joints, and some tube seals already so I installed the Johnny joint kit, new unit bearings and u joints for the axle shafts. Rebuilt the calipers and got new rotors and pads. Left it an open diff and regeared to 4.56s.

part of the reason for 33s was to hopefully negate the need for chromoly axles and bigger brakes.

 

[t.franscioni]

Clean LJ, and welcome from another NorCal jeeper. We hit Hollister Hills in the spring with a small group. My Mom lives in Salinas, so it was a combo trip. Rained the night before, so it was a bit sloppy up there.

Thanks!

 

[t.franscioni]

The fun began by cutting the tow hitch off the frame and installing a savvy 1.25” body lift and a currie 1” motor lift. I realized the shifter couldn’t engage into the rearward gears with the motor mount lift installed and the stock transfer case skid so we made a 1” transmission mount lift out of aluminum to match the motor lift and got the shifter to engage the gears again. This fixed the issue until I get to the belly tuck which I imagine replaces the need for this tranny mount lift we made.

 

[t.franscioni]

My friend at Twin Performance Engineering has a plasma CAD and designed some rock rings for my Jeep build. I bought some pro comp steel wheels with the 3.75” offset that I read on this forum was needed to run 33-12.50s and we welded some rock rings on and painted.

 

[t.franscioni]

Went with some load range C 33x12.50R15 Patagonia’s for the Jeep.

 

[Midnight LJR]

Tummy tuck should fix your shifting problem it did for mine.

 

[t.franscioni]

For the body parts I went with genright because I liked the look of their tube fenders the best. So got front and rear aluminum fenders, steel rear bumper and rock sliders, gas tank skid, aluminum front bumper and steering box skid. I again finagled my friend Josh from Twin Performance Engineering to come and help me and by help I mean I paid for his ticket to the jeepers jamboree and he did all the installation of the genright products.

 

[t.franscioni]

For the suspension I went with the Currie adjustable links for the axles, track bar, and steering. Also did a antirock away bar for the front. Currie bump stop kit for front and rear and a metal cloak oil pan skid. The springs and shocks I went with teraflex 2” kit. With 33s I thought the 2” lift would look best and I thought I might be able to get away with not installing a SYE kit on my stock NP231 transfer case that eventually I had planned on replacing with a lower geared unit anyway.

 

[Chris]

Looking good so far, it's coming along nicely!

 

[t.franscioni]

For the rear ARB locker I read a cool write up on I believe this forum of how to use your existing fuse box for accessories. Because I didn’t have the rubicon model I had an unused panel in the fuse box so picked up a junk yard fuse box from an XJ and took out one of the relay holders and installed it into my factory box and made room for a compressor relay and a solenoid relay to activate the locker. Found some factory replica switches on eBay that would fit into the Jeep switch panel on the dash and ended up with something that I think looks pretty cool and close to the factory rubicon setup.

 

[T_Hase89]

Nice work! Seeing the genright stuff on your jeep just reaffirms my decision to go with that this winter. Thanks for spending my money!

 

[t.franscioni]

Nice work! Seeing the genright stuff on your jeep just reaffirms my decision to go with that this winter. Thanks for spending my money!

The only issues I ran into that the instructions didn’t address with the genright fenders were on the front. I installed the marker and blinker light kit that they offer and if your using stock hood latches the threaded post on the hood latch wasn’t long enough to capture the genright fender, the stock fender support and the side marker light mounting bracket so I had to purchase these aftermarket Kentrol hood latches that look the same as stock but have a longer thread post. The other issue was the hood latch holes that came predrilled in the genright fenders were positioned further out that the stock hole and my hood latches wouldn’t stay locked so I had to make a plastic spacer for the latch half that mounts on the hood. The fenders also had no provision for the hood/fender rubber bumpers so I took the stock ones and cut off the press in plugs and siliconed them to the fender. Here’s some pics of what I did to make it work in case you run into same issue.

 

[t.franscioni]

Converted the tail gate 12v electrical harness from the third brake light circuit to the running light circuit. Plan is to not run a spare tire carrier and instead use the factory tire carrier mounting location for a license plate bracket. To illuminate the license plate I’m using the factory tailgate harness.

 

[t.franscioni]

Josh at TPE designed and made the bracket for me. Also installed some Savvy tail lights to complete the rear of the Jeep. Used some license plate bolt led lights to illuminate the plate for a clean appearance.

 

[Chris]

Not sure how I missed this one, but this is quite the build!

Looks like it's coming along well. An impact Orange LJ... I have a soft spot in my heart for that combo.

 

[t.franscioni]

Headlight and fog light upgrade. KC gravity’s. So much better.

 

[t.franscioni]

All that’s left now is the tummy tuck and atlas transfer case. With the 4:56 gears and the low first gear of the nsg 6 speed the stock np231 feels pretty good. But I’m sure an atlas in the 4/5:1 range would just be awesome. I’m leaning towards 5:1 being it’s a manual tranny. The crawl
ratio calculators show the 5:1 in 6th 4Lo would be same as 1st in 4Hi so I’d have a pretty well spaced selection of gears working from 4Lo 1st through 4hi 6th.

 

[t.franscioni]

And put on a new cat back that turns down in front of the rear axle.