Hello from San Diego

Steve SDTJ

Wandering aimlessly
Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2018
Messages
22
Location
San Diego
Been lurking a while and finally joined.

I had a rust bucket 73 CJ5 for years and my dad have me his 98 Sahara. He's 87 and hasn't been able to get in it for years, it was just sitting. It sat outside it's whole life, had never been waxed so the paint is chalky and the interior is a little faded.

It only had 65,000 miles on it but had essentially never had any maintenance other than changes and a couple air filters. So needed all fluids, filters, belts, hoses, radiator, water pump, ac lines, brakes, plugs, wires, and so on. Unfortunately didn't read up and had the cracked exhaust manifold welded so sounds like I should plan on needing to replace that work the better design before long. Put 31s on it and pulled it behind a motorhome up through the Sierras, into Oregon, and back down the coast and had a good time in October 2017.

Then got sucked into the upgrade $$$$$ rabbit hole. Posting from my phone so not sure if they'll come out in order but first pic is how it looked when I got it.

Folks had it set up to use as a toad behind their motorhome and had a nice setup but the brake system doesn't work and I hated roadmaster front bumper contraption that you can see I'm a couple of the pics. So started with Dirtworx front and rear bumpers with hitches and D rings on both. Got a d ring adapter for the tow bar so now it's a clean set up. Wanted LED off road lights but don't think they look right on a 20 year old Jeep so picked up some Quadratec round LEDs on sale. I think they look good but they may actually be too bright, blazing blinding especially if there's any dust, got amber covers that help. Got some Amazon JWSpeaker knock offs and they're better than stock but I don't like the alien-bug look so have an eye out for truck lite style.

Had new 31s and wasn't up to diving into lifting it right so hate to admit it but did coil spacers to at least get the 20 year old saggy springs back to stock height. Got Bilsteins. Was going to do disconnects but came across a deal on a antirock that was too good to pass up. I know it's overkill but who doesn't like overkill? I know the consensus is ranchos ride much better but I'm happy with the off road ride, it's a little wallowy on the road but not bad.

Hated the plastic side cladding nonsense so got A to Z rock sliders. More overkill but needed to cover the mounting holes so needed something big.

Take the dogs to the beach all the time so pulled out the back seat and seat belts. The carpet wasn't in good shape and water something that would put up with wet dogs. Thought about lining the interior but didn't want the noise or heat so went with a bed Tread. I like it, would be better if the offered a single piece and if it went up to the door sills.

Put a Bluetooth stereo and decent speakers in it. Sounds a lot better but still not good so small powered sub and some tweeters eventually.

Got some cheap black Rock wheels. Wanted aluminum and don't hit the rocks hard so I think they'll do. Didn't want the wheels to stick out quite as much as they do but they're not too bad, it was hard to find cheap aluminum wheels with enough back spacing.

The spare was sagging for some reason. Thought it was just because it wasn't sitting on the snubbers with the new wheels. Don't like the big, heavy contraptions that open separate to hold a spare and my tailgate didn't look right so got a MORryde tailgate kit (more overkill!). Turned out when the Jeep had been rear ended it tweaked the tailgate and spare holder. MORryde set up and bending the spare holder fused all that.

The diodes or something went wrong with the flat tow lighting so ran a Harbor freight magnet deal for a trip. Scratched the sides and didn't like the wires flapping around and you drive down the fwy look do ran separate wiring with the extra bulb even though I hated having to drill more holes in the tub to make the bulb work.

Anyway, other than being towed this thing sees more off road miles than on. I'm more of an explorer, cruiser than a rock basher so no plans for a lift it bigger tires any time soon. It does have a 44 in the rear but if I even go to 33s I'll lift it right and build the 30 right. I've been able to make it everywhere but eventually I'll be tired of watching my friends in their Rubicons cruise right through stuff that I bang and scrape though.

Because of that banging and scraping an oil and trans skid plate is next up. This thing is getting too heavy so leaning towards an assuming Savvy, nice write up here on installing with the factory transfer skid. Brakes are also next, was in a rush and used crappy pads, there's terrible and really stink on long detents, scared they'll fade.

Anyway, some pics of that first road trip and then some random from borrego, ocotillo, around Martinez lake, superstition, coyote canyon, corral canyon.

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Dude... you just joined and you already have quite possibly the next Ride of the Month winning photo!

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Now that's what I call coming prepared!

Seriously though, awesome photos, and awesome looking TJ! I rarely like body match fenders and hardtop, but on yours, it actually looks good!

Welcome to the forum!
 
Dude... you just joined and you already have quite possibly the next Ride of the Month winning photo!

View attachment 70879

Now that's what I call coming prepared!

Seriously though, awesome photos, and awesome looking TJ! I rarely like body match fenders and hardtop, but on yours, it actually looks good!

Welcome to the forum!


Thanks! Not real big on the all white either but since this was my folks I'll probably leave it.
 
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Thanks! Not real big on the all white either but since this was my folks I'll probably leave it.

I hear you. Normally I would like the white on black look. But, for whatever reason, it doesn't look bad on yours. Maybe it just looks good with white. I've seen it done on red TJs, and it's just too much.

Either way, even if you did go with black, it would still look good either way! White is one of those colors you just can't go wrong with.
 
Sorry about that big, illiterate post. Autocorrect apparently didn't agree with what I had to say a few times....
 
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My favorite color TJ! Nice coach too. Looks like a classic. We flat tow ours too, and just recently got the adapter brackets to also get rid of that hideous tow bar base plate.
 
Welcome from just a few hours North of you. Nice ride and write up ! Looks like some Great Adventures. Also love the Lazy Daze RV.
 
Dude... you just joined and you already have quite possibly the next Ride of the Month winning photo!

View attachment 70879

Now that's what I call coming prepared!

Seriously though, awesome photos, and awesome looking TJ! I rarely like body match fenders and hardtop, but on yours, it actually looks good!

Welcome to the forum!


Yep, that's a "Ride of The Month" photo if I ever did see one☺
 
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Reactions: Chris
Wow your Jeep is beautiful!! I love love love the hard top being white. Looks great. You are so making me want a hard top bad now.

Welcome from another newbie. I just joined yesterday and just got my first Wrangler! :D