Howdy Folks, what a great forum this is. I am happy to be amidst fellow TJ enthusiasts.
Been reading a LOT here for the past few weeks to educate myself. I love TJs and wanted one for a very long time since I was in undergrad. I finally bought my 1st jeep - a single owner black TJ rubicon '05 with 56k miles. Even after working for a long time now, my main car still is a 1999 Mazda Protege that has only 125k miles currenly. I have been driving this car for a good while now, I got it used when I was in grad school AGES ago but it had some repairs last year that got me too worried to take to my hiking trips on our forest service roads here in Oregon/Washington.
The TJ I got is pretty good overall with no major issues and importantly no rust. I was told it was never taken offroading but who knows. I am not very mechanically inclined and it's currently at my trusted mechanic's place getting some work done that I knew it'd need prior to buying- new AC condensor, new battery, all new fluids, new brake pads. I also bought and gave my mechanic a new crown OPDA after reading about this on this forum (the one in there is fine per my mechanic but why take a risk!). I am also getting the slightly leaky rear main seal replaced, and the suspension checked, engine tuned up, tires rebalanced and rotated. The prev owner had a 2.5" fabtech lift installed with 32" tires on 17" inch rims. I still think they are huge coming from a Mazda but I love how much visibilty I have driving this Jeep on the road.
One thing that I am not happy are the factory headlights. They were dimmer even compared to my old Mazda which most of my friends think is very dim, ha! I really want to get a new set of headlights installed in my TJ.
I went over the very detailed sticky LED headlight thread that admin @Chris has shared. While I well understand that LEDs are the norm today and are brighter, something about white LEDs on a TJ don't look right to me. I have a friend who has a JK replaced with JW speaker headlights and while he strongly recommends them, I am not sure I want LEDs on my jeep.
Has anyone here tried the below halogen setup (Vision X VX-7RD) in their TJ? If you were NOT getting LED headlights for your jeep, what would be your best option? I'd love to hear some thoughts. I apolgize if this has been asked in the past - please point to me to an older thread if it exists.
https://headlightrevolution.com/1997-2006-jeep-wrangler-tj-halogen-headlight-housings-kit/
I will definitely post some pics and more details of my Jeep when I get it back and install the soft top (I got both from prev owner, yaay!).
Been reading a LOT here for the past few weeks to educate myself. I love TJs and wanted one for a very long time since I was in undergrad. I finally bought my 1st jeep - a single owner black TJ rubicon '05 with 56k miles. Even after working for a long time now, my main car still is a 1999 Mazda Protege that has only 125k miles currenly. I have been driving this car for a good while now, I got it used when I was in grad school AGES ago but it had some repairs last year that got me too worried to take to my hiking trips on our forest service roads here in Oregon/Washington.
The TJ I got is pretty good overall with no major issues and importantly no rust. I was told it was never taken offroading but who knows. I am not very mechanically inclined and it's currently at my trusted mechanic's place getting some work done that I knew it'd need prior to buying- new AC condensor, new battery, all new fluids, new brake pads. I also bought and gave my mechanic a new crown OPDA after reading about this on this forum (the one in there is fine per my mechanic but why take a risk!). I am also getting the slightly leaky rear main seal replaced, and the suspension checked, engine tuned up, tires rebalanced and rotated. The prev owner had a 2.5" fabtech lift installed with 32" tires on 17" inch rims. I still think they are huge coming from a Mazda but I love how much visibilty I have driving this Jeep on the road.
One thing that I am not happy are the factory headlights. They were dimmer even compared to my old Mazda which most of my friends think is very dim, ha! I really want to get a new set of headlights installed in my TJ.
I went over the very detailed sticky LED headlight thread that admin @Chris has shared. While I well understand that LEDs are the norm today and are brighter, something about white LEDs on a TJ don't look right to me. I have a friend who has a JK replaced with JW speaker headlights and while he strongly recommends them, I am not sure I want LEDs on my jeep.
Has anyone here tried the below halogen setup (Vision X VX-7RD) in their TJ? If you were NOT getting LED headlights for your jeep, what would be your best option? I'd love to hear some thoughts. I apolgize if this has been asked in the past - please point to me to an older thread if it exists.
https://headlightrevolution.com/1997-2006-jeep-wrangler-tj-halogen-headlight-housings-kit/
I will definitely post some pics and more details of my Jeep when I get it back and install the soft top (I got both from prev owner, yaay!).