05 LJ build

Did the interior led swap.... thanks to the forum thread for the info! Really like this.

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Traded the 33 Patagonia’s for some 35 dick cepek extreme terrains.... had to install the rest of the spacers from the currie bump stop kit to run these 35s and now the uptravel is limited quite a bit with only having the 2” terra flex springs.

going to be installing some 3” rear savvy rock jock springs and some 4” front rock jock JK 2 door springs to get the uptravel back to where it was prior to the tire swap. Also in the works will be a big brake kit, chromoly axles and a hydro assist steering kit to handle the 35s better.

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I just came across a Craigslist ad asking to trade for 33s and they were both in brand new condition basically. Not that I needed them my 33s were plenty capable for what I do it just provided an excuse to pull the trigger on more mods that I had been wanting to do for fun. Plus I had room in my gearing with 4.56s. I had always felt that the 4.56 gears with 33s was a quite a bit lower than what stock gears and tires felt like. I was on the verge of not needing to use 1st gear on the street with the 33s. I have the 6 sp tranny and 1st gear is kind of low.
 
I just came across a Craigslist ad asking to trade for 33s and they were both in brand new condition basically. Not that I needed them my 33s were plenty capable for what I do it just provided an excuse to pull the trigger on more mods that I had been wanting to do for fun. Plus I had room in my gearing with 4.56s. I had always felt that the 4.56 gears with 33s was a quite a bit lower than what stock gears and tires felt like. I was on the verge of not needing to use 1st gear on the street with the 33s. I have the 6 sp tranny and 1st gear is kind of low.

Sounds like a good trade. How is the 4.56 with 35s?
 
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It’s fine for street and highway if you have the 6sp transmission. For me the 35s match the 4.56s better than the 33s did for street/highway use. I ran the rubicon trail with my 33s/4.56 gears and stock NP231 T case and in that senario I wished I had lower gears for some of the more difficult parts of the trail. At some point here soon a 5:1 atlas will be installed and for that reason specifically I like say the 4.56 gears with 35s is a great set up for me.
 
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Thanks, so far with exception of a couple things there has been no cutting or welding required, just all bolt on for the most part. Here’s a picture with the new 3” rear savvy springs and 4” 2dr JK front springs. All that’s left is too get the atlas and belly up skid installed. Headed to rubicon next week so hopefully I get those installed in time....

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Without a hardtop and a heavy rear bumper tire carrier the rear of the Jeep is light so the 3” springs give it plenty of lift for the 35s. The front of Jeep is just as heavy as any other TJ so it will sag more with 3” springs up front than the rear will with 3” springs was my thought process. Rather than run coil spacers up front to get the rake minimized I went with currie JK 2dr 4” springs which are just over 1” longer than the savvy front 3” springs and 1” shorter than the currie TJ 4” front springs....so I’m sort of running a 3”-4” hybrid lift I guess, its probably sitting about 1” lower than had I gone 4” currie TJ/LJ springs all the way around.... i put the rear spare in the bed and filled up the fuel tank in that picture so you can see it looks like it still has a little bit of rake which is good because I’m sure when I load up with ice chests and trail gear it will level out at the very least.
 
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Long day....Started at 5am this morning and finished at 5pm to complete the Atlas 5:1 swap .....driveshafts should be here early next week. Got it clocked as flat as I could I think it’s 13 degrees looks pretty close to what the 231 was. It hangs down just shy of 2” below the frame so gotta mock up the belly skid and see if it’s gunna clear it.

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No bad manners. It makes the steering wheel feel a little stiffer but not in a bad way. With 3.75” BS wheels, stock width axles and 35s I need a bit more steering stop on the knuckles. The Hydro cylinder/steering box has more travel than the knuckle steering stops allow so when the stops hit if I keep turning the wheel to full lock you can really feel the front end suspension flex. I think more backspacing would allow the wheels to turn closer to what the hydro steer allows for and minimize that issue. 3.5” back spacing would be the way to go I think with 35x12.50s.... I would think that would still allow the knuckle stops to hit first but would mean I wouldn’t have a full 1/4 turn of the steering left that does nothing but bind up the front end. It’s a little harder to notice when you hit the knuckle stops with a hydro assist system. That’s my opinion so far.
 
Damn, I love your setup so far! This is one hell of a nice build. Are you going to paint that aluminum? It will look so much better if you do (y)
 
I think eventually yes the aluminum will be painted. Rear corners will be impact orange for sure, front bumper black, not sure yet what to do with the front and rear fenders, maybe grey like the sliders or black I don’t know yet. That will be the last thing I do though.... gotta get the belly skid figured out (the genrite skid didn’t work I’ll need spacers between it and the frame to make it work and the rear cat was in the way and preventing me from installing the Genrite transmission support. So just threw on the stock transmission bracket that I modified a bit to make work with the atlas and the stock belly skid for now. When I get back from rubicon ima go pay my buddies at TPE a visit and maybe do a custom belly skid on the plasma table.