2005LJR’s Daily-Drivable LJ Build

[2005LJR]

Hey Everyone! Been here for years and finally decided to start my own build thread (thanks to @Blake Stamper) for my LJ that’s been in the family since it rolled off the lot in SoCal back in 05’. It came for the factory with the 42rle auto and dual tops, and is painted my favorite color from that year, light khaki metallic. It was formerly my dad’s Jeep, then became my first car when I turned 16. After a few years I bought a truck and handed it back over to my dad and he has had it the past few years. Recently my job has allowed me to purchase it and start putting some work into it and getting it to a capable but still daily drivable status. I am taking my inspiration from all over the forum, and have found several of @mrblaine ‘s builds, as well as @Midnight LJR to be great inspirations for what I want out of mine. The current build is as follows:

Suspension

• RJ Antirock Front Swaybar
• RJ 4” springs (F/R)
• RJ Adjustable Track Bar (F/R)
• JKS Upper and Lower Adjustable Control Arms (F/R)
• Fox 2.0 Shocks

Steering

• PSC Big Bore Steering Box
• PSC High Flow Pump
• RJ CurrectLync

Brakes

• Black Magic 16” BBK
• YJ Front Brake Lines

Drivetrain

• Tom Woods Driveshafts (F/R)
• Alloy USA Front Axle Shafts

Tires/Wheels

• BFG 265/75/16 AllTerrain Ko2s
• Quadratec 16” Wheels

Interior

• PRP Daily Driver High Back Seats
• Bedrug Full Carpet

Lighting/Recovery

• Warn Zeon 10-S
• Baja Designs Squadron Sports

Armor

• RockHard 4x4 Sliders
• Stock Skids
• Barnett Diff Covers
• GenRight F/R Bumpers
• MorRyde Tailgate Reinforcement and Hinge Kit

There is a ton of stuff I’d still like to change/add to this list. In the coming months I am looking to get some Rancho RS5000 shocks and some BFG Ko3 35s meaning I’ll need a regear as well. The 35s are going to need a body lift to prevent rubbing and at the same time I will be replacing the poly body mounts with some rubber ones. I’d like to get ahold of the Savvy under armor before their stock runs out so I can get that shovel of a skid can get tucked up a bit. There is more I’d like to do but the list is extensive and will likely take a few years to accomplish.

Here are a few pictures of where the Jeep is currently sitting and over the next few days I will be working on looking for photos and laying out a more detailed process of what I have done and how far the jeep has come since August.

 

[2005LJR]

One of the first projects I did to fix the mess of suspension that I made as a high schooler. This being the dual shear trackbar bracket that I had hoped would solve the loose steering I had been dealing with. I had decided from the start that I wanted to work on slowly converting the cobbled together lift I had to something like a RockJock 4” so I ordered a front trackbar from them. I cut off the dual shear mount and cleaned up the frame. Thankfully the hole was undersized for the bolt that the RockJock trackbar used, so I was able to drill it to spec and have the correct tolerances when I installed it. Unfortunately I did a lot of this work without planning for this thread so I don’t have a ton of photos of the process up to the Jeep’s current state
Here is what I started with:

I also replaced the axle side mount with one from Barnes as the factory hole was worn out past repair. In the process I also installed new Barnett diff covers to fix the clearance issues with my tie rod, RockJock 4” front springs along with their extended bumpstops, and an Antirock front swaybar.

 

[Blake Stamper]

looks like that diff cover has some use, I wonder what happened there

 

[2005LJR]

looks like that diff cover has some use, I wonder what happened there

my spotter probably knows

 

[LJ owner]

What size tires are on it before you change to 35s?

 

[Blake Stamper]

What size tires are on it before you change to 35s?

265/75/16

 

[Brianj5600]

looks like that diff cover has some use, I wonder what happened there

Tis but a scratch