Hey All,
Figured I'd finally join the forums after reading so many helpful posts. Shoutout to Chris and countless other members for their previous posts I've used so far.
*TLDR Below* A little backstory, I've wanted a TJ for... well pretty much as long as I can remember. My first car was an 04 WJ (couldn't afford a Wrangler but was dead set on a Jeep with solid axles) which I had planned to start modifying and offroading. I never did get around to doing much with it though before I sold it for something sportier. Now years (and several vehicles) later, I once again found myself in search of a TJ. After driving several TJs, I pretty quickly became set on getting one with the NSG370 which of course limited me to 05-06 models. I live in Minnesota, so the vast majority of TJs here are either rusted to hell or severely overpriced. Since this would be my second vehicle, I was not in a rush and took my time scouring pretty much every listing I could find nationwide. Eventually, I came across what would ultimately become my first wrangler: a 2006 65th Anniversary Edition with the 4.0L, 6 speed, and Jeep Green Metallic paint. The Jeep spent most of it's life in Texas but was being sold by a less than upstanding used car dealership in Florida. Long story short, they hid and/or lied about many issues the Jeep had. Fun times. As a side note, I almost passed on this one due to issues contacting the salesperson but fell in love with that specific paint and knew I had to have it. Lesson learned, don't make emotional purchases! Let's start with the good news: the frame and body are rust free and it had just shy of 76k miles when I got it. The bad news: how long ya got? On a serious note, I do believe this is a solid Jeep to build and will be worth the effort long term. Over the past couple months since I've owned it, I've already learned a ton and am becoming much more mechanically competent as I go. These old Jeeps really are a great vehicle to learn how to start working on cars. Anyways, I wanted to start a build thread which I plan to continuously update. My plans are to get everything mechanically right before I really start throwing the "fun" mods at it.
TLDR: Picked up a 65th Anniversary w/ NSG370. Rust free and low mileage, but quickly discovered lots of hidden issues.
Here's some of the first pictures I took after picking up the Jeep:
I knew about some paint issues before purchasing, but the unfortunately the condition is far worse than pictures make it look and it will need a full new paint job. My hope is to get that done next spring once the snow is gone.
The first hidden issue I noticed after receiving the Jeep is that the soft top was irreparably damaged. Numerous hidden cuts and previous shady repairs meant it needed a complete replacement. At this time (early October), the weather here was still reasonable so I opted to toss the entire soft top in the trash and began searching for a replacement, more on this later.
Unfortunately, since the top had been damaged (and the car had clearly sat for some time before I purchased it), the interior of the Jeep was in poor condition and was infested with ants. I very quickly realized that the carpet would also need replacing and placed an order for a full replacement set of Bedrug carpeting. To handle the ant situation, I began stripping out the whole interior to deep clean everything. This of course led to the discovery of more bad news. Here's a picture I took after removing the seats and carpet. This is after vacuuming up any large debris and removing all the trash. Suffice to say one of the previous owners was clearly a huge fan of Chick-Fil-A...
One of the previous owner had removed the floor drain plugs and left them out, leaving the interior exposed to the elements and certainly not helping the whole ant situation. I also noticed that the shift boot had almost entirely disintegrated, leaving a massive opening for heat and debris to enter the cabin.
I began scrubbing at the caked on dirt with all purpose cleaner and sparingly used my pressure washer to remove some hard stuck on chunks. Here's what I ended up with after cleaning out the majority of the dirt:
Far from perfect, but much better. As you can see, the interior paint had pretty significant scratching and scuffs, with some areas down to bare metal. I had concerns about this causing rust long term and honestly just hated the idea of leaving something so imperfect underneath new carpet. I decided to get the entire sprayed with Rhinoliner to ease these concerns. I also ordered a replacement rubber shift boot while I had the interior apart. In the meantime, I drove the Jeep around for several weeks like this:
I'll admit, it was actually pretty fun to drive like this, but the novelty wore off quickly as temperatures dropped. The next major issue was tires. While the tires on the Jeep had a decent bit of tread left, they were dated from 2012 and I noticed a fair bit of cupping. Long term I plan to lift the Jeep and install larger tires, but that is on the backburner until I can fix all of the existing issues. So, I opted to stick with stock sized 30x9.5R15 Falken A/T4Ws to avoid needing any suspension or drivetrain modifications. I ordered the tires and scheduled an alignment with a local 4x4 shop.
Little did I know, the surprised were just getting started. Later that night, I was in my garage looking over the Jeep rethinking my life decisions when some movement caught my eye. It appeared as though a gecko had hitchhiked all the way from Florida! Keep in mind this was over a week since the Jeep had left Florida.
I barely had enough time to take a couple quick pictures before he vanished inside behind one of the windshield wipers. I never did see the gecko again, so couldn't say if he escaped or got trapped somewhere behind the dash. Pretty wild that he survived a 2000 mile trip up here though! Just thought it was a funny little addition to this story.
While waiting for the shop to have an opening, I began changing all the fluids. Upon draining the transmission fluid, I was greeted by a pretty significant amount on metal stuck to the drain bolts magnet. I'm sure it's partially placebo, but it truly does seem to shift smoother (especially going into reverse) with a fresh fill of Amsoil synchromesh.
Every fluid I replaced revealed to me a pretty sobering reality. This Jeep had been severely neglected. The majority of fluids were presumably never changed and clearly well past their service life. After changing the engine oil, transmission and transfer case fluid, it was time to tackle the differentials. I was admittedly a bit nervous for this step since it involved taking off the differential covers. But, after reading several posts here and watching a couple YouTube videos, I was confident I could handle it. I ordered a set of LubeLocker gaskets to avoid using RTV and am 100% glad I decided to do so.
This job was much easier than I anticipated. I'll admit, having access to a lift is proving extremely helpful for jobs like this. The fluid that came out was nasty and the smell is not one I'll ever forget.
The day of my alignment arrived. I dropped off my tires and the Jeep at my local 4x4 shop and awaited the call that it was ready to be picked up. Several hours pass and I get a call. They let me know the tires are mounted but they will not be performing an alignment. I'm told there is significant play in the tie rod, drag link, and track bar. The technician advised not driving on the highway due to high risk of death wobble. Lovely. After speaking with him regarding my options, I decided that this was a good opportunity for a steering upgrade. I knew down the road I'd be installing larger and much heavier tires so opted to go overkill now. Buy once cry once right?
The overwhelming majority of research I found indicated that the Currectlync system was the best option for my goals so this is what I settled on. I also ordered a Crown track bar since I'm still at stock height for now and added a FOX 2.0 steering stabilizer to the order while I was at it. Luckily, an experienced coworker offered to help walk me through the installation of the upgraded steering which was incredibly helpful. Working on the Jeep after hours at work, the install was initially daunting but actually fairly simple once I understood how everything went together.
With the upgraded steering successfully installed, I was finally able to get a proper alignment. Quick side note, Rockjock mentions that some trimming may be needed on stock height jeeps to eliminate the adjustable ends from binding. In my case, this was luckily not needed. While I had my Jeep at the shop, I took this time to throw in a set of LED headlights since I'd noticed the stock units were horrifically bad driving at night. I went with the Holley Retrobrights in "modern white" 5700K. I absolutely love these things, and trust me a picture does NOT do them justice, they're as bright as you'd ever want headlights to be without blinding everyone else.
Here's a quick picture I took with the new tires:
Doesn't look too bad when the lighting hides the paint flaws! Anyways, with the tire and steering issues resolved, I turned my attention toward a rough idle issue. My first thought was spark plugs, and based off how the fluids had looked, I expected them to be in dire need of replacement. I ordered a set of Autolite XP985 iridium spark plugs. I'm no mechanic, but the original spark plugs definitely did not look to be in great condition.
The Jeep ran noticeably better after swapping all of the spark plugs and I'd almost thought I fixed the issue. Unfortunately, the rough idle persisted and I would experience intermittent surges of power when taking off from a stop. When driving around a couple days later, the jeep began shaking real bad before throwing a check engine light. I quickly pulled over and cycled the key to check the code. The displayed code indicated an issue with a front bank O2 sensor. An easy fix, luckily. I picked up a set of NTK sensors and swapped them in the next day. Again, the Jeep ran noticeably better and the check engine light has stayed off since. However, it did still have an intermittent rough idle. More on that later.
By this point, it was clear winter was coming and it was coming fast. I was still driving around with no top or interior and knew I had to get the rhinolining done ASAP. Thankfully, the shop I work at applies rhinolinings on truck beds so my coworkers were very experienced with the process. I handled a good bit of the prep work but left the actual spray application to them.
Here's a quick picture of after scuffing the interior and then the end results:
I absolutely love how clean this turned out. I replaced the rubber shift boot and floor drain plugs as well. Now it was time to install the bedrug carpet I'd ordered and re-install the seats! Admittedly, re-installation was a bit tricky due to the spray partially filling any exposed holes but with more than a few creative words, I was able to get everything back in.
Starting to look like a real vehicle again! I was shocked how much quieter the interior is with carpet and a shift boot installed.
The next task was getting a new soft top installed. I'd decided to order a Bestop twill top due to the brands reputation and I wanted the highest quality soft top since I'll be running it year round. In keeping with the theme of this Jeep, things did not go smoothly. The rear support bow arrived damaged making it so that the left side would impact the top of the tub when folded back. The right side was millimeters away from hitting the rollbar. Luckily, Bestop has great customer service and they quickly sent out a replacement piece after I sent them pictures of the defect.
The new top was a bitch to install (those rear plastic supports were not fun!) but it's on!
Driving home was much more comfortable than the drive in! It was below freezing when I'd left my house that morning so the heater was cranked. I quickly found out that with a top on, this heater is incredible! Definitely will appreciate that during these winter months in Minnesota.
With the Jeep now in a livable condition for the elements, I again turned to the rough idle issue I was still experiencing. I'd read a few forum posts about this issue and the #1 suggestion was to clean or replace the idle air control valve. Noting the different design of these later models, I opted to replace it with a new Mopar part I was able to find online. While I was at it, I completely removed the throttle body to replace it's gasket and give everything a deep clean. There was some carbon built up on the assembly, but nothing crazy for the mileage as far as I'm concerned.
With the throttle body thoroughly cleaned and the idle air control valve replaced, I fired up the Jeep. I want to say the Jeep idles smoother but there is still an intermittent rough idle I have yet to resolve. I also have the infamous slow fill gas issue which needs to be resolved. I'm planning to drop the gas tank shortly to fix that and ordered a Bosch fuel pump assembly that I'll install while I'm in there to see if that fixes the issue.
A small thing I'd noticed when I first got the Jeep is that both tail lights had moisture built up inside. I could see small black marks on the bottom which I assumed to be mold starting to grow so ordered a set of Crown OEM style replacements. When I went to swap them, I found that both original tail lights had what could only be described as bacterial colonies growing inside.
Disgusting to say the least. I swapped the new housings in and found that my left blinker was hyperflashing. Bizarre.
Suspecting a bad bulb out of the box, I ran to the auto parts store for some LED bulbs. Mind as well upgrade them while I'm in there, right? I knew I'd need an LED flasher module to complement these so I also purchased a Notiva LM470 flasher module as suggested by several posters. Well, long story short I just could not get these to work right. No combination of halogen and/or LED bulbs in different housings would work properly. I finally today replaced the housing again and made sure to thoroughly clean the bolts and their holes in the body to ensure a good ground. This seems to have fixed my issue, albeit without being able to run LEDs. Nonetheless, it is nice to have clean working lights!
I also installed a Crown OEM style rear bumper while I was at it because I could not stand the tube style replacement a previous owner had installed. This bumper is definitely not a perfect fit and I need to figure out some way to bend it straight so the bottom bolts can be attached.
Anyways, that is where I'm at on this little project as of today. I'm sure I've missed a million small things I've done since I got the Jeep but this post is getting way too long as is. Hopefully someone found it entertaining at least. Next stop is dropping the gas tank once parts arrive and I'll follow up with results once that is done!
Figured I'd finally join the forums after reading so many helpful posts. Shoutout to Chris and countless other members for their previous posts I've used so far.
*TLDR Below* A little backstory, I've wanted a TJ for... well pretty much as long as I can remember. My first car was an 04 WJ (couldn't afford a Wrangler but was dead set on a Jeep with solid axles) which I had planned to start modifying and offroading. I never did get around to doing much with it though before I sold it for something sportier. Now years (and several vehicles) later, I once again found myself in search of a TJ. After driving several TJs, I pretty quickly became set on getting one with the NSG370 which of course limited me to 05-06 models. I live in Minnesota, so the vast majority of TJs here are either rusted to hell or severely overpriced. Since this would be my second vehicle, I was not in a rush and took my time scouring pretty much every listing I could find nationwide. Eventually, I came across what would ultimately become my first wrangler: a 2006 65th Anniversary Edition with the 4.0L, 6 speed, and Jeep Green Metallic paint. The Jeep spent most of it's life in Texas but was being sold by a less than upstanding used car dealership in Florida. Long story short, they hid and/or lied about many issues the Jeep had. Fun times. As a side note, I almost passed on this one due to issues contacting the salesperson but fell in love with that specific paint and knew I had to have it. Lesson learned, don't make emotional purchases! Let's start with the good news: the frame and body are rust free and it had just shy of 76k miles when I got it. The bad news: how long ya got? On a serious note, I do believe this is a solid Jeep to build and will be worth the effort long term. Over the past couple months since I've owned it, I've already learned a ton and am becoming much more mechanically competent as I go. These old Jeeps really are a great vehicle to learn how to start working on cars. Anyways, I wanted to start a build thread which I plan to continuously update. My plans are to get everything mechanically right before I really start throwing the "fun" mods at it.
TLDR: Picked up a 65th Anniversary w/ NSG370. Rust free and low mileage, but quickly discovered lots of hidden issues.
Here's some of the first pictures I took after picking up the Jeep:
I knew about some paint issues before purchasing, but the unfortunately the condition is far worse than pictures make it look and it will need a full new paint job. My hope is to get that done next spring once the snow is gone.
The first hidden issue I noticed after receiving the Jeep is that the soft top was irreparably damaged. Numerous hidden cuts and previous shady repairs meant it needed a complete replacement. At this time (early October), the weather here was still reasonable so I opted to toss the entire soft top in the trash and began searching for a replacement, more on this later.
Unfortunately, since the top had been damaged (and the car had clearly sat for some time before I purchased it), the interior of the Jeep was in poor condition and was infested with ants. I very quickly realized that the carpet would also need replacing and placed an order for a full replacement set of Bedrug carpeting. To handle the ant situation, I began stripping out the whole interior to deep clean everything. This of course led to the discovery of more bad news. Here's a picture I took after removing the seats and carpet. This is after vacuuming up any large debris and removing all the trash. Suffice to say one of the previous owners was clearly a huge fan of Chick-Fil-A...
One of the previous owner had removed the floor drain plugs and left them out, leaving the interior exposed to the elements and certainly not helping the whole ant situation. I also noticed that the shift boot had almost entirely disintegrated, leaving a massive opening for heat and debris to enter the cabin.
I began scrubbing at the caked on dirt with all purpose cleaner and sparingly used my pressure washer to remove some hard stuck on chunks. Here's what I ended up with after cleaning out the majority of the dirt:
Far from perfect, but much better. As you can see, the interior paint had pretty significant scratching and scuffs, with some areas down to bare metal. I had concerns about this causing rust long term and honestly just hated the idea of leaving something so imperfect underneath new carpet. I decided to get the entire sprayed with Rhinoliner to ease these concerns. I also ordered a replacement rubber shift boot while I had the interior apart. In the meantime, I drove the Jeep around for several weeks like this:
I'll admit, it was actually pretty fun to drive like this, but the novelty wore off quickly as temperatures dropped. The next major issue was tires. While the tires on the Jeep had a decent bit of tread left, they were dated from 2012 and I noticed a fair bit of cupping. Long term I plan to lift the Jeep and install larger tires, but that is on the backburner until I can fix all of the existing issues. So, I opted to stick with stock sized 30x9.5R15 Falken A/T4Ws to avoid needing any suspension or drivetrain modifications. I ordered the tires and scheduled an alignment with a local 4x4 shop.
Little did I know, the surprised were just getting started. Later that night, I was in my garage looking over the Jeep rethinking my life decisions when some movement caught my eye. It appeared as though a gecko had hitchhiked all the way from Florida! Keep in mind this was over a week since the Jeep had left Florida.
I barely had enough time to take a couple quick pictures before he vanished inside behind one of the windshield wipers. I never did see the gecko again, so couldn't say if he escaped or got trapped somewhere behind the dash. Pretty wild that he survived a 2000 mile trip up here though! Just thought it was a funny little addition to this story.
While waiting for the shop to have an opening, I began changing all the fluids. Upon draining the transmission fluid, I was greeted by a pretty significant amount on metal stuck to the drain bolts magnet. I'm sure it's partially placebo, but it truly does seem to shift smoother (especially going into reverse) with a fresh fill of Amsoil synchromesh.
Every fluid I replaced revealed to me a pretty sobering reality. This Jeep had been severely neglected. The majority of fluids were presumably never changed and clearly well past their service life. After changing the engine oil, transmission and transfer case fluid, it was time to tackle the differentials. I was admittedly a bit nervous for this step since it involved taking off the differential covers. But, after reading several posts here and watching a couple YouTube videos, I was confident I could handle it. I ordered a set of LubeLocker gaskets to avoid using RTV and am 100% glad I decided to do so.
This job was much easier than I anticipated. I'll admit, having access to a lift is proving extremely helpful for jobs like this. The fluid that came out was nasty and the smell is not one I'll ever forget.
The day of my alignment arrived. I dropped off my tires and the Jeep at my local 4x4 shop and awaited the call that it was ready to be picked up. Several hours pass and I get a call. They let me know the tires are mounted but they will not be performing an alignment. I'm told there is significant play in the tie rod, drag link, and track bar. The technician advised not driving on the highway due to high risk of death wobble. Lovely. After speaking with him regarding my options, I decided that this was a good opportunity for a steering upgrade. I knew down the road I'd be installing larger and much heavier tires so opted to go overkill now. Buy once cry once right?
The overwhelming majority of research I found indicated that the Currectlync system was the best option for my goals so this is what I settled on. I also ordered a Crown track bar since I'm still at stock height for now and added a FOX 2.0 steering stabilizer to the order while I was at it. Luckily, an experienced coworker offered to help walk me through the installation of the upgraded steering which was incredibly helpful. Working on the Jeep after hours at work, the install was initially daunting but actually fairly simple once I understood how everything went together.
With the upgraded steering successfully installed, I was finally able to get a proper alignment. Quick side note, Rockjock mentions that some trimming may be needed on stock height jeeps to eliminate the adjustable ends from binding. In my case, this was luckily not needed. While I had my Jeep at the shop, I took this time to throw in a set of LED headlights since I'd noticed the stock units were horrifically bad driving at night. I went with the Holley Retrobrights in "modern white" 5700K. I absolutely love these things, and trust me a picture does NOT do them justice, they're as bright as you'd ever want headlights to be without blinding everyone else.
Here's a quick picture I took with the new tires:
Doesn't look too bad when the lighting hides the paint flaws! Anyways, with the tire and steering issues resolved, I turned my attention toward a rough idle issue. My first thought was spark plugs, and based off how the fluids had looked, I expected them to be in dire need of replacement. I ordered a set of Autolite XP985 iridium spark plugs. I'm no mechanic, but the original spark plugs definitely did not look to be in great condition.
The Jeep ran noticeably better after swapping all of the spark plugs and I'd almost thought I fixed the issue. Unfortunately, the rough idle persisted and I would experience intermittent surges of power when taking off from a stop. When driving around a couple days later, the jeep began shaking real bad before throwing a check engine light. I quickly pulled over and cycled the key to check the code. The displayed code indicated an issue with a front bank O2 sensor. An easy fix, luckily. I picked up a set of NTK sensors and swapped them in the next day. Again, the Jeep ran noticeably better and the check engine light has stayed off since. However, it did still have an intermittent rough idle. More on that later.
By this point, it was clear winter was coming and it was coming fast. I was still driving around with no top or interior and knew I had to get the rhinolining done ASAP. Thankfully, the shop I work at applies rhinolinings on truck beds so my coworkers were very experienced with the process. I handled a good bit of the prep work but left the actual spray application to them.
Here's a quick picture of after scuffing the interior and then the end results:
I absolutely love how clean this turned out. I replaced the rubber shift boot and floor drain plugs as well. Now it was time to install the bedrug carpet I'd ordered and re-install the seats! Admittedly, re-installation was a bit tricky due to the spray partially filling any exposed holes but with more than a few creative words, I was able to get everything back in.
Starting to look like a real vehicle again! I was shocked how much quieter the interior is with carpet and a shift boot installed.
The next task was getting a new soft top installed. I'd decided to order a Bestop twill top due to the brands reputation and I wanted the highest quality soft top since I'll be running it year round. In keeping with the theme of this Jeep, things did not go smoothly. The rear support bow arrived damaged making it so that the left side would impact the top of the tub when folded back. The right side was millimeters away from hitting the rollbar. Luckily, Bestop has great customer service and they quickly sent out a replacement piece after I sent them pictures of the defect.
The new top was a bitch to install (those rear plastic supports were not fun!) but it's on!
Driving home was much more comfortable than the drive in! It was below freezing when I'd left my house that morning so the heater was cranked. I quickly found out that with a top on, this heater is incredible! Definitely will appreciate that during these winter months in Minnesota.
With the Jeep now in a livable condition for the elements, I again turned to the rough idle issue I was still experiencing. I'd read a few forum posts about this issue and the #1 suggestion was to clean or replace the idle air control valve. Noting the different design of these later models, I opted to replace it with a new Mopar part I was able to find online. While I was at it, I completely removed the throttle body to replace it's gasket and give everything a deep clean. There was some carbon built up on the assembly, but nothing crazy for the mileage as far as I'm concerned.
With the throttle body thoroughly cleaned and the idle air control valve replaced, I fired up the Jeep. I want to say the Jeep idles smoother but there is still an intermittent rough idle I have yet to resolve. I also have the infamous slow fill gas issue which needs to be resolved. I'm planning to drop the gas tank shortly to fix that and ordered a Bosch fuel pump assembly that I'll install while I'm in there to see if that fixes the issue.
A small thing I'd noticed when I first got the Jeep is that both tail lights had moisture built up inside. I could see small black marks on the bottom which I assumed to be mold starting to grow so ordered a set of Crown OEM style replacements. When I went to swap them, I found that both original tail lights had what could only be described as bacterial colonies growing inside.
Disgusting to say the least. I swapped the new housings in and found that my left blinker was hyperflashing. Bizarre.Suspecting a bad bulb out of the box, I ran to the auto parts store for some LED bulbs. Mind as well upgrade them while I'm in there, right? I knew I'd need an LED flasher module to complement these so I also purchased a Notiva LM470 flasher module as suggested by several posters. Well, long story short I just could not get these to work right. No combination of halogen and/or LED bulbs in different housings would work properly. I finally today replaced the housing again and made sure to thoroughly clean the bolts and their holes in the body to ensure a good ground. This seems to have fixed my issue, albeit without being able to run LEDs. Nonetheless, it is nice to have clean working lights!
I also installed a Crown OEM style rear bumper while I was at it because I could not stand the tube style replacement a previous owner had installed. This bumper is definitely not a perfect fit and I need to figure out some way to bend it straight so the bottom bolts can be attached.
Anyways, that is where I'm at on this little project as of today. I'm sure I've missed a million small things I've done since I got the Jeep but this post is getting way too long as is. Hopefully someone found it entertaining at least. Next stop is dropping the gas tank once parts arrive and I'll follow up with results once that is done!
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