In a world of Angry Grills, Amazon Junk, and Ugly LED's. Build the Jeep you can be proud of.

[Devinr29]

I have been a member of this forum for 6 years. I have been building my Jeep throughout. I will start this thread with a retrospective. Then I can walk through the progress in more detail later on.


First of all, as the title of this build thread states: "In a word of Angry Grills, Amazon Junk, and Ugly LED's. Build the Jeep you can be proud of" Is not meant to bring others down, or negate other people's builds in any way. However, I never related to many of the jeeps I see on the road, or even a lot on this platform. I love the TJ, but I love the Iconic Jeep look more, that theme heavily inspires my build.

I will let the photos explain themselves:

Some pictures from along the way:

I'd love to hear what people think.


This jeep was my first car. I got it when I was 17 it had 165k miles on it.

I have since swapped motors, repaired the frame, rebuilt the floors in the tub, lifted it, and lowered it, but on bigger tires, and smaller tires.


I've made mistakes, I've fixed them, I've learned and grown with this car.


Lets get the specifics out of the way:
1999
Medium Fern Green Metallic
4 Cyl, 135k miles
185k miles on body frame axles
Dana 35/30 4.10 gears, both open
33x10.5x15 BFG K02 on OEM CJ 15x6 Steel wheels
2.5" Lift

Day I got it:

Some more pics over the years, unfortunately, I had to sell the hardtop I painted.

 

[Chris]

I love your Jeep! It's tasteful, clean, not overdone in any way. Great color and awesome half doors!

 

[Mike_H]

Looks Great! So, How long have you actually had it? Pretty cool that it was your first car and you still have it.

 

[B1Toad]

Look like you did all your work outdoors too?

 

[bobthetj03]

Clean, simple, lots of hard work, yep, I like it!

 

[Devinr29]

Looks Great! So, How long have you actually had it? Pretty cool that it was your first car and you still have it.

Thanks so much!!!

I've had it for 6 years. In February I pulled the trigger on the frame off portion of the build. I worked on it everyday after work until about 10 pm had it back on the road by may.

It's a great first car, really teaches you how to take care of it.

 

[Devinr29]

Look like you did all your work outdoors too?

A lot of it was driveways, school parking lots etc. for the main frame off point of my build I was lucky to use my parents garage during the winter. But Jack stands, jack, and cherry picker 100% of the way!

 

[Devinr29]

I love your Jeep! It's tasteful, clean, not overdone in any way. Great color and awesome half doors!

Thanks @Chris, gotta love Facebook marketplace for some good halfdoors.

Got them in January for $300 bucks while the jeep was in 1000 pieces lol.

 

[Rubiconned]

What kind of wheels are those and where did you get them ?

 

[Devinr29]

What kind of wheels are those and where did you get them ?

View attachment 548703

These are some old chrysler OEM "smooth" steelies. I think they are from like a CJ but I'm not sure our TJs ever had the same bolt pattern. Maybe these are from an old wagoneer or something. I found them on Facebook marketplace ended up getting 4 of them for $140. I should disclaim these are 15x6. So pretty narrow for most off-road tires. My 33s are *not recommended* for a 6 wide by BF Goodrich.

 

[Harold&Cat]

Very nice

 

[Chris]

What kind of wheels are those and where did you get them ?

View attachment 548703

I agree, those wheels look awesome, particularly in that color!

 

[matkal]

I love it! The color combo; wheels, body, top are spot on. Mine is similar but red with white wheels, tan top and the addition of a winch. As soon as I read the title I KNEW I would love your TJ.

 

[Mike_H]

Thanks so much!!!

I've had it for 6 years. In February I pulled the trigger on the frame off portion of the build. I worked on it everyday after work until about 10 pm had it back on the road by may.

It's a great first car, really teaches you how to take care of it.

I hear you on the working on it every day part. I did a tub swap a couple years ago. Took me about 3 months of working on it nearly every day after work and a bunch on the weekends. I did a lot of other stuff at the same time (like raptorlining the bottom, had to fix a dent in the cowl, etc). Also did brake lines, painted the frame with KBS paint...all the fun stuff.

Now, my tub is still good, but all the work to the frame was for nothing...its rotten from the inside out. still driveable, but will be going down for a frame replacement soon.

 

[matkal]

I hear you on the working on it every day part. I did a tub swap a couple years ago. Took me about 3 months of working on it nearly every day after work and a bunch on the weekends. I did a lot of other stuff at the same time (like raptorlining the bottom, had to fix a dent in the cowl, etc). Also did brake lines, painted the frame with KBS paint...all the fun stuff.

Now, my tub is still good, but all the work to the frame was for nothing...its rotten from the inside out. still driveable, but will be going down for a frame replacement soon.

Gotta love rustbelt Jeeps

 

[Devinr29]

Ok, lets start from the beginning on this:


Bought the jeep in 2018 with 164000 miles on it.

PO put a 4" lift and had some huge tires on the stock gearing and 4 CYL.

The frame had some questionable Steel plate patchwork going on, I didn't know much better at the time (I was 17)

They decided to sell the nice wheels and tires separate so I was left with these Ravine wheels and joke of a tire.

It came with factory full doors and Hard top:


Photos are circa June 2018:

I pretty much drove it like this for the summer, just learning the basics.
- Driving stick
- Checking fluids
- Tracking down weird noises.


By September I knew it was time for some legit wheels and tires:

Having stalked this forum all summer I realized I should probably get some 31's considering its a 4 cyl with the stock 4.10 gears... At the time I didn't know how to "Remove" the lift so I needed a compromise between drivability and not looking like its on stilts.


So I got these: Goodyear Duratrac's 31x10.5 r15, on some tactic Steel wheels 15x8

After running it like this for a few months I put some new Rancho Shocks in it, significantly improved the ride. I also replaced the shifter bushing, front U driveshaft u joints. I also got this cheap intake kit because the PO had chopped up the stock one to try and make his own.

At this point I was really happy with the jeep overall. This was my first time really wrenching on anything important.


In my attempt to make the jeep overall nicer to be in, I picked up some cheap used carpets from various jeeps to piece together a set. I ended up dyeing them black with some autozone dupliclor fabric paint.