Hey everyone! Since I've been apart of the forum for a little while now, I decided I should start my own build thread. This is going to be a very slow build since I'm I'm a college student. I am very broke and I have to save up for a little while to buy parts and mods hahaha I also don't have the space or tools while I'm at school so I have to wait until I can go home a few hours away for any big projects. Also if you have any ideas on a name for my build I'm all ears! I couldn't think of anything good.
I have wanted a Jeep since the first time I saw one with the top and doors off when I was about 4 years old. When I was a freshman in high school an upperclassman buddy of mine had TJ and I thought it looked so much better than any newer Jeeps. He also taught me a little about the TJ and since then I new that I was going to one day have my own Jeep TJ.
Fast forward to my sophomore year of college, after the dream of owning a Jeep had been pushed to the back burner, another friend of mine who shared the same dream pulled the trigger and got a 98 TJ Sport which re inspired me to get one. I started figuring out logistics in order to get my own when COVID hit and everything shut down so it got put on hold for a little while longer. Even though this was disappointing it ended up being a good thing because with all of my classes moving to online I was able to get a full time job and save almost every bit of the income I made. I also worked at a camp in Missouri over the summer where I didn't really need a car so I sold my current car. I was also able to save most of the money that I made from camp as well. This allowed me to buy my Jeep without a loan so I didn't have to go in debt! Toward the end of summer I found a listing for a TJ that was in my budget and that was in over all good condition. Since I was still at camp my dad and my friend who had gotten his own TJ recently went to look at it for me and decided that it was a good one to get so they bought it for me and I got right to work as soon as I got home. It's a white 2001 Sahara with 126,000 miles. 32RH transmission. It has Dana 35 front and rear and 3.73 gears/. When I bought it it had 33" BFG KO's, a 3" BL, and a Warn 8000 winch that didn't work but everything else was stock.
Here are a few pics from the listing when I bought it:
It desperately needed some TLC but everything mechanically was in great shape and it was rust free!
First thing to was give the interior a deep clean because it was FILTHY when I got it. This was after an entire morning of cleaning. You can still see it's pretty dirty even after that.
After it was all cleaned out and put back together it started making a weird grinding sound in the rear diff when I would turn at low speeds. I was super worried and was preparing to completely replace the differential or even the whole axle. Luckily, I asked a family friend whos a mechanic and he told me I just needed to add some extra lubricant called limited slip gear oil additive to the differential. I was already planning on changing the differential fluid and gasket so I added the oil additive when I did that and it got rid of the grinding. A cheap and easy fix!
I came across a pair of seats for a pretty good deal and jumped on it because my seats were ripped, faded, and very stained, plus I love the pattern of these seats. I think someone else on the forum nicknamed them "Crazy Triangle".
First time taking it offroad! Just some easy trails with my friend who I mentioned earlier
Next I needed to get new tires because the ones that were on it were pretty old and brittle. I decided to go down to 31s because I live in Dallas for school and do a lot of highway driving and I figured they'd probably be a little better on road while still having decent offroad capability.
With 31's and BL still installed
31's would also let me ditch the horrendous body lift!
Much better!
Next I repainted the faded and discolored hard top.
Even in stock form this machine is co capable!
Finally got some carpet installed! Which helped a lot with road noise and heat coming up from the transmission.
After trying for a while to get the winch that came with it to work I eventually gave up and got a Smittybilt XRC 9500.
And that pretty much sums up my progress so far! Still a long way to go to get it where I want it but I think I've made pretty good headway so far. I'm excited to keep working on it and keep updating this thread!
Thanks for reading!
I have wanted a Jeep since the first time I saw one with the top and doors off when I was about 4 years old. When I was a freshman in high school an upperclassman buddy of mine had TJ and I thought it looked so much better than any newer Jeeps. He also taught me a little about the TJ and since then I new that I was going to one day have my own Jeep TJ.
Fast forward to my sophomore year of college, after the dream of owning a Jeep had been pushed to the back burner, another friend of mine who shared the same dream pulled the trigger and got a 98 TJ Sport which re inspired me to get one. I started figuring out logistics in order to get my own when COVID hit and everything shut down so it got put on hold for a little while longer. Even though this was disappointing it ended up being a good thing because with all of my classes moving to online I was able to get a full time job and save almost every bit of the income I made. I also worked at a camp in Missouri over the summer where I didn't really need a car so I sold my current car. I was also able to save most of the money that I made from camp as well. This allowed me to buy my Jeep without a loan so I didn't have to go in debt! Toward the end of summer I found a listing for a TJ that was in my budget and that was in over all good condition. Since I was still at camp my dad and my friend who had gotten his own TJ recently went to look at it for me and decided that it was a good one to get so they bought it for me and I got right to work as soon as I got home. It's a white 2001 Sahara with 126,000 miles. 32RH transmission. It has Dana 35 front and rear and 3.73 gears/. When I bought it it had 33" BFG KO's, a 3" BL, and a Warn 8000 winch that didn't work but everything else was stock.
Here are a few pics from the listing when I bought it:
It desperately needed some TLC but everything mechanically was in great shape and it was rust free!
First thing to was give the interior a deep clean because it was FILTHY when I got it. This was after an entire morning of cleaning. You can still see it's pretty dirty even after that.
After it was all cleaned out and put back together it started making a weird grinding sound in the rear diff when I would turn at low speeds. I was super worried and was preparing to completely replace the differential or even the whole axle. Luckily, I asked a family friend whos a mechanic and he told me I just needed to add some extra lubricant called limited slip gear oil additive to the differential. I was already planning on changing the differential fluid and gasket so I added the oil additive when I did that and it got rid of the grinding. A cheap and easy fix!
I came across a pair of seats for a pretty good deal and jumped on it because my seats were ripped, faded, and very stained, plus I love the pattern of these seats. I think someone else on the forum nicknamed them "Crazy Triangle".
First time taking it offroad! Just some easy trails with my friend who I mentioned earlier
Next I needed to get new tires because the ones that were on it were pretty old and brittle. I decided to go down to 31s because I live in Dallas for school and do a lot of highway driving and I figured they'd probably be a little better on road while still having decent offroad capability.
With 31's and BL still installed
31's would also let me ditch the horrendous body lift!
Much better!
Next I repainted the faded and discolored hard top.
Even in stock form this machine is co capable!
Finally got some carpet installed! Which helped a lot with road noise and heat coming up from the transmission.
After trying for a while to get the winch that came with it to work I eventually gave up and got a Smittybilt XRC 9500.
And that pretty much sums up my progress so far! Still a long way to go to get it where I want it but I think I've made pretty good headway so far. I'm excited to keep working on it and keep updating this thread!
Thanks for reading!
