2005 Texas Jeep TJ Never Sell Build

[cpwolf]

Just signed up to support and it suggested posting what I've got.
I'm in Cedar Park, TX outside of Austin in the Hill Country. My name is Jason, 48 years old. My first jeep was a CJ5 with a 4" lift, 304 V8 and 35" BFG's I bought in 1991 in college. I'm still sad I sold it when I got married after college to get a stupid Ford Explorer for work, ha. I went 2 full years with no top at all in that old girl, and loved every minute.

May 2016 I bought my oldest son a 2005 TJ with a 3.5" Rancho Lift 4.0 straight six with a 6 speed manual transmission. He just turned 15, so I got to drive it a ton for about a year until he turned 16....and this month he asked to take my truck back to Texas Tech, and I'm getting a TJ as a full time driver for a little while, and I'm never, ever selling it. Got it from a guy deploying to Afghanistan that wanted a 4 door when he got back....I should have known......it looked cool but was "Heavily Used" ha.

Day 1

When we got it, had 4.11 gears, ACT racing clutch (stiffest clutch I've ever used) 3.5" short arm Rancho lift, Flowmaster super 40 exhaust, 9000 LB Smittybuilt XRC wench, Smittybuilt front and back bumpers, Warrior steel tube fender flares, JCR Rock sliders, 6 KC Lights (old school not LED), 50" farm jack mounted, Ok Top, Bestop Half Bikini brand new, BT Windscreen, and Deck Cover all new and a Rooftop rack assembly.

I took him out to Hidden Hills Adventure Park in Marble Falls to start teaching him four wheeling. Rock Climbing was fun, but mud pits are always a hit.....and through experience you learn the cleanup in the engine bay is not always worth it, I'd rather rock climb, ha.






Then we went to work, with help from my brother who's been a mechanic since about 1982, and did a lot with 4 wheel drives at Off Road Unlimited building custom rigs in Houston, and a lot of huge oil field 4x4 Custom F150's that were shipped all over the world, crazy remote places like Siberia. I found this site looking because he said "We need to find some Jeep TJ guys that have experience with the little details that work on this Jeep."
We went to work:
Replaced the front bumper so it would have a quick attach tow bar.
Replaced Valve Cover gasket to fix 1 leak, the oil pan gasket to fix another, and then the rear main seal to fix the 3rd......it's bone dry for the past 3 years.
Put new pads on the roll bars, seat covers, new speakers and stereo with bluetooth to play music easier. Broke a rear axle and put in https://www.revolutiongear.com/prod..._tj_yj_and_93_98_zj_rear_axle_revolution_gear these revolution rear axles. That I actually had done, and I cannot remember if they took out the locker that was in the Dana 35, broke it backing out after baseball practice, just don't want to deal with lockers right now. Put on new front sway bar disconnects after we pulled the ball joint out having fun. Synchros went bad and last weekend just pulled the NSG370 transmission and took it to get a bench rebuild. Putting in a new LuK clutch, the ACT clutch was pretty worn. Just put in a rebuilt transfer case and front axle (it decided to drop out while towing it home from Texas Tech. Back when I towed my CJ I disconnected the axles....just in case....I know that's not necessary anymore, but I should have, ha. It was a one day 10 1/2 hour round trip to get out of the dorm quick during this COVID stuff, so I didn't even think to get under and check the u joints just in case, and of course. And new brakes last summer before heading to college. Also a new Quadratec top with the tinted windows for heat in Texas. I've got the new shift boot assembly coming to put in as well to cut some heat and noise.




The tires are close to needing replacement, I'm thinking 35" BFG muds because I like them, ha. And I bought them in 1991 for my first Jeep when Mickey T" and Dick Cepek's were the big thing and I put on BFGs.


This is the TJ thread, but I bought my 2nd son a 2008 JK and put 35's on it, a bumper and a jack and some lights, and a new top for now.

My fun goal was to first teach them on a standard, second teach them to off road and third to turn wrenches when you break something. Plus I get to drive them a lot, and hang out with my boys.






Of course, having my daughter and my wife.....looking over Lake Travis, now that's a good day wheeling!

Glad to be on here and LEARN from all the TJ folks that have a ton of experience. I'm looking to have fun and learn from others.

Later,
Jason from Texas

 

[brewtus98]

Welcome! Awesome story. Similarly, I bought my daughter an '03 TJ before she got her license. However, this was the first Jeep in the family - always wanted one though. Drove it around all summer and left my '17 GMC truck just sit. Didn't want to give it up when she got her license - so decided to trade the truck off on a new JL. Like the old school stuff so just found this '04 Rubicon with a 5 speed. Got it to partially teach my girls to drive a manual. Love it! Now 3 Jeeps in the family.

Enjoy!

 

[Leroy_TJ]

Welcome , great story.

 

[Chris]

Great story indeed! I'd tell you you're in the right place, but you already know that

 

[CodaMan]

Welcome to the forum

 

[cpwolf]

Well, parts for the NSG370 take time!

getting a full rebuild with upgrade synchros. Had to replace all of them, I’m really suspicious that someone put GL5 in there. Trans shop is legit here, talked to him and he said they and the sliders were jacked, and needed a new input shaft (I’ll be saving the old one as a clutch alignment tool, even though kits come with them).
Pilot bearing in, getting the flywheel on and clutch in and waiting for transmission. Put in rear u joints as well (front are 2 months old).

Friday he called and said the input shaft is 1/4” too long, got the wrong one,he’ll get the part Monday?! Argh, it happens, but I was ready to get this done.
Got the ARP bolts, they come with lubricant.
*Got distracted on t 2008, gonna do a quick change in that NSG370 to Redline MTL, last owner used vice grips on the plug, chewed up threads and dealer said 5 days to get it, argh. I’ll put the old one in, threads are chewed on the end, but I’d rather replace it. Oh, and ordered the MTL on Amazon, and showed up 80% gone, box was solid oil, felt bad for the delivery guy.

Back to the 05, I also got the shifting boot to cut down on sound and heat in the cabin, at least it’s something to accomplish while waiting on the transmission.

Also spent time on two issues, and it’ll just make people flame, but loctite. I’m putting blue on flywheel bolts and pressure plate bolts. Lot of very experienced folks saying red is ok for pressure plate bolts. I build firearms as a hobby, I hate Red. Ugh, it’s caused some serious cursing, and I just can’t bring myself to put it on anything that may be removed ever, ha.

Also, all the 20% less torque when using thread locker Discussion (it’s a lubricant) makes for an argument. 20+ year owner of Ford Dealer, said he’s heard that over and over, and every technician at his dealership is told “use blue, and torque to the actual number” ha. Not saying right or wrong, by the technicality maybe wrong, he said he talked to an Exec at loctite group, whatever that is, and it’s debatable, ha.
Just love getting conflicting advice from very reputable folks.
I’m gonna mull it over after I visit the Bourbon cabinet my wife set up for me because our Spring Break Bourbon trail trip got Covid Cancelled , best wife ever!

 

[cpwolf]

I’m gonna start updating my build thread.

I bought this for my son at 15 and he wanted to switch to a Truck after 2 years in college , and I gave him my F150 during Covid, ha., and now the TJ is all mine.

So this is what I’ve been doing, literally June 20 NSG (Covid Craxy time, although not much changed for me ha).

I got a New LUK Clutch since I pulled the 6 speed to get it rebuilt.

I pulled the flywheel. Mistake!!! Got new bolts and put it back on, you can’t get it turned or shouldn’t and everyone said it looked fine. So new bolts.

Oh, took it off as well, and got a new set, because I’m an idiot and didn’t put the Dust shield back on! New ARP bolts and all back on.

I did replace the e-Torx bolts on top, but frankly with good tools which I have it’s not an issue, but I replaced them with normal bolts.

 

[cpwolf]

My next activity, HA, after reading a TON on this forum, was that this Jeep drove like crap. Bump steer, Shit Steer, Rear Steer....uMMMMMMMMM it did ALLL of those! Ha.

So I looked at the control arms first. They are Rancho fixed, and I got Savvy Double Adjustable control arms, I wanted the JJ's and I like the stainless look, ha.


These are the lower CA's front and Rear, solid red Rancho arms.

And....these are the amazing bushings....I was pretty sure they weren't supposed to be this loose. Like wicked loose, when I pressed in the clutch going from 3-4 the whole TJ felt like it was spinning under my rear end, crazy.

The uppers looked original and were toast as well.

I got my Savvy Double Adjustable Arms on, and WHOA, the Jeep was getting back to solid. Couldn't believe my son had been driving it that way at Texas Tech....but.....well....I drove my CJ5 in college and it was about as bad, ha.

I also put in new bushings on the rear sway bar while I was at it. I'm actually in January 2023 posting this, and realizing I might want to change out those poly to rubber. I'll look into that.

They like nice before they go on, ha!!

 

[cpwolf]

I also got rid of these Cam Bolts.

I got Black Magic Brakes washers. I know they were originally for other things (keeping grease in bolt on JJ's I think) but they can "also" be used like I did to center the bolt on the front lower axle CA's. I put the washers on. I had to file the hole just a bit to get it to fit in there flush. They do, and the JJ still is clamped to the bracket and the washer on the outside, so the clamping force is all there as it should, I've checked a ton of times on this before doing ha.

 

[cpwolf]

I also put new bushings in the rear track bar. While my son still drove it, I had "Just Jeeps" in Austin put in a Rubicon Express front track bar, adjustable. My at the time Dana 35 with 4.11 gears has a relocation bracket for the rear track bar, not angled. Just put in new bushings, and the darn thing didn't want to come out, was a lot of work getting the OEM out. (I switch the whole bar in 2022, ha).

But for July 2020, this was the next step.

 

[cpwolf]

Then I attacked the Bump Steer.
This Drop Pitman Arm is obviously such a great idea....ugh, IT'S NOT.

Well, so I got a stock arm on Amazon.

I had mapped out here to make sure, that the angles were bad, not parallel (ish). So this needed to be changed and fixed.

So here we go, got the stock Pitman, and the angles are better.......and YES, no more Bump Steer. TJ Forum for another win.

 

[cpwolf]

Then.....I'm driving and having fun......and my TJ squeaks at me big time. I change out all the pulleys, and new belt, and start to go FREAKING CRAZY.

Squirt water on the belt, quiet, it dries and 10 seconds later, here we start squeaking again.

I start searching TJ forum. This is when I learned, and probably my technical issue, but if I Google "TJ Forum xxxxxxx" I get really good direct finds, better than any way direct on site for some reason.


I find a "Harmonic Balancer" thread. Hmmmmm, sounds like I've got a Bingo, ha.

I didn't take pics on this one that I can find. But, it's just a PITA because it's tight. But, it worked, O'Reilly's and Autozone and Advanced Auto are all in the same spot, so rental tools get 'er done.

 

[cpwolf]

So August 2020, I had the jeep driving like a real car again.

I decided to upgrade the steering to the ZJ and just got all new Moog everything, Drag link, TREs and Tie Rod.

Painted it silver, because I had it, needed paint, and it kinda matched the Savvy arms.

Also did my first home alignment from @Jerry Bransford write up.

Stupid TJ forum had me buying all kinds of parts at this point, right AFTER this, I decided to start getting all the parts, including axles, to go all in on my TJ.

So my son says "I want to get a Truck Dad" in April 2020, so I trade right then. I go "Holy Crap" this thing drives like dog Chit.

By August (I had life going on) I could drive it 75 on the highway with 1 finger.

And now I go down the rabbit hole!!!! Ha.

 

[cpwolf]

I started buying parts end of 2020 that ended up sitting here stacking up:
Savvy Shifter Cable
JB Conversions SS SYE
SpeedoHealer
and I started looking for axles, I wanted to go Dana 44 and lockers, move to 35's.

 

[cpwolf]

November 2020, Alternator goes out.

I replaced it with the DB Electric I got on Amazon. It actually has caused me no issues, so I'm pretty happy since.

DB Electrical AND0385Alternator Compatible With/Replacement For 4.0L 4.0 Jeep Tj Series Wrangler 01 02 03 04 05 06 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 56041
DB Electrical

 

[cpwolf]

In June 2021 I find a seller on here, just talking and he mentioned something, sierra and I Messaged "Hey, does that mean you'll sell you're Rubicon axles?"

Yeah, and it took until July 23 of 2022 before they got here. I was patient, he broke his ankle, and all worked out, ha. but for June 2021, it was just an agreement to buy them, ha.

This is what I agreed to get shipped to me, ha.

4.88 gears
Chromoly front and rear
and almost brand new locker pumps for the Rubicon lockers.

For me, woohoo.

 

[sideproject]

Nice write up! Following the build

 

[cpwolf]

So, waiting until I get these axles, I was pretty much on holdAug 2022 through ….well until I got them.

They are Rubicon Dana 44, so I’ll need a new rear Tom Wood’s DS, and adjust the front shorter, so I wanted to do it and the SSSYE and the cable shifter and SpeedoHealer all in a project.

In the mean time, Justin who was selling them had setbacks and surgeries, really a bummer for him.

Here in Cedar Park, we got Crazy snow for a Week! I feel bad, but the water plant that pulls from Lake Travis, is at the end of the Electric Line from my neighborhood, so they never shut my power down, so it was a blast for us. Felt for a lot of friends with power out.

Had a blast just messing around in the snow, this doesn't happen like this around here....ever, it was like Breckenridge....except I could still breathe, ha.

 

[cpwolf]

Funny, but the next thing I got to was in June 2022 (last summer). In Texas, it was just getting hot, as in 102 in the morning 107 afternoon kind of hot, and I've been all over for travelling, and with our humidity (not quite Houston humid).

So Here are the temps driving around in the Jeep, the TrailDash came with the TJ, so it's kind of handy here.

These temps were higher, and consistently up here, sometimes over 230.
So, I got after it, new Stant Thermostat 195, new Mopar Radiator, because I know an aftermarket went in by a shop right after we got it in 2015, before I had time to really start working on this TJ myself.

I also have a small heater core leak I can smell, so I put a dorman bypass on, and figure I'll get to the heater core later, this is not my daily.

I also ran a flush, Prestone I think and then the Thermocure for sure.
Here is after the Thermocure flush, it came out 100% black, and then got it to clear.

I did get the square I think 8MM socket head and drained the block.

Word to the wise, this took me a week trying to get to things, because I hadn't learned my lesson. Here is the lesson from Blaine, that I now know:
Put in the ThermoCure, let it run a day around town.
Drain it, and take out the thermostat and put the housing back on with no thermostat.
Then fill with Distilled, run it (which means it will circulate and not have to wait until it heats up).
I could have drained, filled, run, etc 5 times in and hour.....instead I didn't know, and it took days to get it to clear, waiting for it to cool, etc.
I also drained the block each time. Final time, I put thread seal putty on the plug. It's easy and not an issue, just have the right socket and an extension.

By the way, this Thermocure black, smells real nasty, ha.

Here are the results. This is Stock Cooling system, 100%, ne electric fan or lower thermostat or cutting my hood for vents, and I have a winch and stuff in front. AC on, it was hot like the face of the sun, and driving around. At speeds, it was literally sticking at 199 and drifted up some here and there, but always came back down. It got to 210 once at 80 on the tollway (see, told you it drives way better) and it actually lowered a touch.

This is 102+ and also AC full blast. It's now January and there's not been an issue what so ever. I'm fully convinced the stock cooling system can handle the jeep. When at a stop light, it actually ran steady, sometimes came down a degree, which means the fan and clutch and everything with the system is working, pretty happy.

 

[cpwolf]

Late June 2022, So got distracted after my cooling system fixed. My 2nd oldest son came home from West Point and decided he just wanted to enlist, College not for him, his only A was Boxing and Combative's (grappling), ha. Psychology class not so much.

So…..needed to get his Jeep brakes all fixed before he shipped to AIT Infantry, so it would be ready when he got to his assignment (he hits the 101st Airborne in Fort Campbell Kentucky Feb 2023!

Then took my boy to Texas Roadhouse for a steak! Might be one of the last times we get to do anything together like this, he's infantry 101st Airborne, just can't wait to get there next week (Feb 3rd 2021) and he'll be

My boy at Training, volunteered to carry every heavy machine gun they had.....so he would get to train on them! Ha, been like this since he was 4 years old, no joke, he's as happy as I've every seen him. Can't wait to hit Ft Benning next week and see him get the blue cord and then graduate. Hoohah!!!!