5.3 LS swapped TJ

chriszanni

chriszanni

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I think its finally time to write this thread as my 5.3 ls swap is in full swing now. I am a 20 year old with poor money managment skills and a jeep, this is my first ever project of this size so if I make mistakes please feel free to correct me I am here to learn and to help others who plan on taking on this swap. The jeep was a 2003 2.4L with nv1500 5 speed transmission. The engine is a 2004 5.3L ls out of a Silverado.

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If anyone has any questions or advise feel free to ask. I will upload a spreadsheet of the cost at the end my goal is to keep it under 5k. I will try to keep this thread as up to date and accurate as possible.
 
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Heres some photos of me and my buddys taking out the 2.4L took several hours I was lucky to have help I couldve never done this solo. I live on a farm so instead of an engine hoist we decided our tractor was a smart option, certianly not safe but it worked.
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you can see the concern of my choices hit me as i drop my engine on a pallet lol!
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That other car is 1961 kaiser utility wagon, once the jeep swap is done thats my other project.
 

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Following. That poor wagon needs a lot of love. Northeast winters weren’t kind to it.
 
XCRN said:
What trans will you be using?
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I will use the 4l60e, I've heard a lot of mixed things about them but I figured keeping the engine stock and its being swapped into a car that weighs less I shouldnt have to much of an issue, later down the lane I might convert over to 4l80e.
 
Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I was able to get some work done but mostly simple things like painting the valve covers and replacing old gaskets. I also got my headers in from Jegs Ill post a link to the website. More parts should be arriving this Friday and im hoping to have the old motor mounts cut off and the frame painted for this weekend.


https://www.jegs.com/i/Flowtech/387...PXa-F9WN7jLWdJU1Dh4WWH-w4cOwSWhoCw0IQAvD_BwE# Ls swap Headers
 

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Heres a link to my spreadsheet is lists all the parts I've used. Its not completly acurate as I didnt record all the money I spent on paint and some fluids. I also have a lot of extra bolts and hoses and little things around the farm where if someone whos just starting this I would budget out another $200-$300 on mics items and fluid changes. My goal was orginally to keep it under 5k and with not much left to buy I'm hoping keeping it under $4,500 but I still need to have my ECM programed.

Also if anyone has suggestions on aftermarket gauges, I'm going to be using a painless performance wiring harness and I've read I cant run stock gauge cluster without running two computers which just doesnt seem worth the work to me.


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wDZvrXMmW23RV6ia-vjxfar21EleGUFZYM4g_sVwF9I/edit#gid=0
 
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chriszanni said:
I will use the 4l60e, I've heard a lot of mixed things about them but I figured keeping the engine stock and its being swapped into a car that weighs less I shouldnt have to much of an issue, later down the lane I might convert over to 4l80e.
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Add an auxiliary transmission cooler, keep the filter and fluid changed and it'll be fine. 4L60Es get a little bit of an unwarranted bad rap - In stock form they're decent, but once they're rebuilt with the right updates they can be a reliable transmission in my experience.
 
Sorry for such a delayed update my grandmother unfortunately past so I've been preoccupied with family. Over the weekend me and my buddy got the engine in I went with weld in engine mounts from advance adapters they were fairly jeep and set the engine close to the firewall but they require at least a 1 inch body lift to fit. Overall they seem fairly well made and strong however my skills as a stick welder are limited my the ls hasnt fallen out yet. I'll take some photos later on

Engine mounts https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...bc2w42moMY80jzuDOb6wJhkOf1k2jcW8aAnK8EALw_wcB

2 Inch Body Lift. https://www.roughcountry.com/jeep-body-lift-kit-1157.html
 
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What is your game plan for front suspension regarding the increased weight of the LS compared to the lighter 4cyl you hauled out of it?
 
thedustyboot said:
What is your game plan for front suspension regarding the increased weight of the LS compared to the lighter 4cyl you hauled out of it?
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The jeep came with a budget rough country 2" lift when I bought it three years ago and its not exactly comfortable. I was looking at a teraflex 4" lift kit without shocks and going with rancho RS9000 shocks because they're adjustable and I figure the adjustable in the front with the added weight would be a good idea. I'm not concrete on this setup yet so if you have suggestions on suspension thats best for the new engine any info is welcome.

heres the links for the setup I planned on.
teraflex kit https://www.extremeterrain.com/teraflex-4-suspension-lift-kit-w-quick-disconnects-9706-tj.html

Rancho Shock https://www.extremeterrain.com/rancho-rs9000xl-series-w-2-tj-rs999256.html
 
chriszanni said:
The jeep came with a budget rough country 2" lift when I bought it three years ago and its not exactly comfortable. I was looking at a teraflex 4" lift kit without shocks and going with rancho RS9000 shocks because they're adjustable and I figure the adjustable in the front with the added weight would be a good idea. I'm not concrete on this setup yet so if you have suggestions on suspension thats best for the new engine any info is welcome.

heres the links for the setup I planned on.
teraflex kit https://www.extremeterrain.com/teraflex-4-suspension-lift-kit-w-quick-disconnects-9706-tj.html

Rancho Shock https://www.extremeterrain.com/rancho-rs9000xl-series-w-2-tj-rs999256.html
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Smart plan bro! My TJ also came with the cheap rough country 2" and the ride was crap. I swapped in some Bilstein 5100's and it significantly improved the ride. I think I lost a bit of ride height up front with the addition of a winch and mounting plate for a total of roughly 100lbs which has brought my front ride height down a little bit.

An iron block 5.3 (580lb) is roughly 100lbs heavier than the 4.0 (483lb) and the 4L60E (133lb) is only about 20lbs heavier than an AX-15 (110lb) so realistically there won't be too much extra weight to make up for.


I'd love to get the teraflex lift some day, but prices up here in Canada make that difficult.. that 4" kit up here is over $4500.

I also read somewhere on this forum that the RS9000 wasn't really worth it and that the RS5000X was a better choice. Then again, with an LS up front that might be good option for your front end given the weight of all that.

I know the site Admin Chris has a well put together list of shocks and springs complete with spring rate, compressed, and free length.
Here's the link for that.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/tj-shock-spring-specification-resource-thread.47846/
 
Did you already buy rough country 2” body lift? I’d suggest using an aluminum body mount like savvy off road 1.25” BL. Savvy’s BL won’t sag over time but you would need OEM body mounts if you still have them.
I wouldn’t lift a TJ more than 5.25” a combo of 4” springs and 1.25” body lift. 6” lift is to high.
I would avoid teraflex. I call them terashit.
How much lift do you want?
What are you doing for axles, steering?
I strongly suggest Currie/Rockjock 4” lift kit with 1.25” Savvy body lift.
 
The teraflex kit you linked isn’t a complete lift kit. You still need control arms, track bars, drag link, tie rod, extended brake lines.
Teraflex uses a drop pitman arm which you never want to use.

I’d get Jks lift kit with savvy’s body lift. https://jksmfg.com/collections/wran...ducts/3-lift-kit-2003-2006-wrangler-tj-and-lj

Or I’m not sure if getting Currie 4” springs with Core 4x4 control arms will be cheaper than Curries full kit. core 4x4 has 4 different tiers of control arms but you will still need track bars and steering.
 
06TJ35's said:
Op
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My Ideal lift height would be 6" but I've read that going up to 6" is costly and not a good idea for a daily. I did already buy the rough country 2" body lift a body lift of some kind was needed with the engine mounts a used, so currently the jeep sits on 4" two on body and two on suspension. The kit you listed is a decent price and going with 3" suspension seems like the better idea. Do you have experience with this kit personally?
Thanks for the advice
 
thedustyboot said:
Smart plan bro! My TJ also came with the cheap rough country 2" and the ride was crap. I swapped in some Bilstein 5100's and it significantly improved the ride. I think I lost a bit of ride height up front with the addition of a winch and mounting plate for a total of roughly 100lbs which has brought my front ride height down a little bit.

An iron block 5.3 (580lb) is roughly 100lbs heavier than the 4.0 (483lb) and the 4L60E (133lb) is only about 20lbs heavier than an AX-15 (110lb) so realistically there won't be too much extra weight to make up for.


I'd love to get the teraflex lift some day, but prices up here in Canada make that difficult.. that 4" kit up here is over $4500.

I also read somewhere on this forum that the RS9000 wasn't really worth it and that the RS5000X was a better choice. Then again, with an LS up front that might be good option for your front end given the weight of all that.

I know the site Admin Chris has a well put together list of shocks and springs complete with spring rate, compressed, and free length.
Here's the link for that.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/tj-shock-spring-specification-resource-thread.47846/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link it'll be a great reference for researching new shocks. I wont be purchasing the suspension until the swap is complete but the old RC kit has to go and being in MA we have some of the worst roads. I'll take a look at those bilsteins 5100's I appreciate the help
 
06TJ35's said:
Did you already buy rough country 2” body lift? I’d suggest using an aluminum body mount like savvy off road 1.25” BL. Savvy’s BL won’t sag over time but you would need OEM body mounts if you still have them.
I wouldn’t lift a TJ more than 5.25” a combo of 4” springs and 1.25” body lift. 6” lift is to high.
I would avoid teraflex. I call them terashit.
How much lift do you want?
What are you doing for axles, steering?
I strongly suggest Currie/Rockjock 4” lift kit with 1.25” Savvy body lift.
Click to expand...

My original plan was to go with a ford 8.8 from a pick and pull yard I've heard they can handle a lot and Barnes4WD makes a tussed weld on kit decently cheap. However I've been strongly considering instead going with a Dana 44 from another TJ because its a direct swap its just less of a hassle and the 5.3 currently sits with no power mods, later down the line with a bigger budget I might start making real power out of the 5.3 but as of now I dont see much of a reason to overcomplicate things with the 8.8
https://barnes4wd.com/products/jeep-tj-or-lj-ford-8-8-swap-kit-with-truss
 
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