In July of 2017 i sold my mildly built 1997 Cherokee and picked up my dream Jeep, an immaculate, bone stock 5-speed 1997 Sahara with only 109k miles. My plans were to keep it stock and daily it college and eventually make it a trail rig once i got myself another vehicle to daily. It only took a few months for those plans to be thrown out the window and i began my build.
As mentioned above this isnt my first rodeo as far as building Jeeps goes, i built a 1997 Cherokee as my high school car and loved it. Halfway through College i decided i wanted to try something different which is when i sold it for my TJ. Here is a pic for reference of my old XJ. It was on a 4.5 Rusty's lift IRO long arms, Bilsteins and 32" ko2's.
So to start my new tj build i decided on a Zone 3 inch lift kit as it was budget friendly and had very good reviews, that lift did very well for me and gave me just enough room to fit the used 33's i had bought off of one of my customers at Napa for $250.
The Zone lift and Rusty's Track Bar went on with few issues and gave me a great feeling setup for street use. At this point i had a 40 minute commute to work a few times a week, although the suspension was good the bald Pro Comp mud terrains made a deafening noise and my next mod was decided, a set of General Grabber X3's in a 33x12.50r15 flavor would be next.
After getting the General's it was time to see how she would do offroad so off to Hollister we went and even ran into an old friend. I was amazed how well the tj did with how little i had done to it, I was able to keep up with my old long arm Cherokee with ease and was able to follow a JK on 35's we had with us through anything he tried and at this point I was hooked and ready to get more serious about wheeling this Jeep and take it to the next level but first i needed a winch and some rock sliders.
Next thing i did was get a bumper that would accept a winch and after a lot of searching i came across this Motobilt bumper, to my eyes this is the best looking bumper on a TJ so I pulled the trigger and got it powdercoated at a local shop.
After i got the bumper i quickly ordered a set of Motobilt Rock Sliders and a Warn VR-8 winch, if i could do it over again i would have got the synthetic rope due to the weight of the steel requiring a 1 1/4 inch spacer to keep it level even with the hard top on and i may still switch one of these days. This is also my first time taking her down a real trail, it made Slick Rock look like a cake walk and continued to impress me with the capabilities.
Back to Hollister we went, this time to test out my new Spartan Locker up front, this trip i went with a local Cherokee club and it was a blast. The locker made things so much easier which pushed me to trying more and more extreme obstacles. This trip marked her last trip with the stock transfer case as well as it destroyed itself on the last trail of the day. The build had begun to spiral out of control as by the end of the week i had a 4.3:1 Atlas II on order which still is my favorite thing ive done to this Jeep.
The Process of installing the Atlas was fairly easy, we used the stock skid plate but modified it to accept the more forward transmission mount but if your doing this swap i would recommend the Barnes bolt on 1/4 Skid as it has an adjustable trans mount and makes it nearly a bolt on install as i learned a few months down the line after i inverted the stock skid. I opted to stick with 1310 driveshafts from Adams Driveshaft as id had good luck with them in the past. Around the time the Jeep came back on the road I decided I wanted to carry a spare tire and got a used Crawler Concepts body mounted tire carrier and also got a rear bumper from Crawltek Revolution so i could have some rear recovery points.
This tire carrier has been pretty good to me, it is very quiet most of the time but it does require re-tightening every so often even when using blue loctite. The rear bumper has done well for me as well, only major issue is that its impossible to get all the bolts in the back as you must drop the gas tank to get to them but you must remove the bumper to drop the tank. Around this time I also went and installed Cavfab steering i had from back when I was building the Cherokee after I tacoed the steering on a trip to Deer Valley trail and did 4.56 gears in both axles for better road manners. For the rest of the season I wheeled with no issues, that is until the last run of the season when my dana 35 decided it had enough and snapped an alloy shaft on Slick Rocks new Gauntlet.
We through the stock shafts back in and drove her off the trail and back home where i began formulating my plan to make sure this never happened again. I decided to build a Ford 8.8 and put my tax return to good use and picked one up out of a 2000 Exploder from a local junkyard. I went through and got the brackets, brake lines, brakes, G2 4.56 Gears and a Motobilt diff cover then proceeded to procrastinate until the beginning of the next season to build it. In the meantime I ordered a full set of Poison Spyder 3" Defenders to replace my old badly cut stock fenders. I also had ripped my drivers seat so i replaced it with a PRP Daily Driver in tan and black, this seat is easily one of my favorite mods and is extremely comfortable, it also allows me to sit further back from the wheel which even at a modest 6 foot tall is quite nice.
Now she had become a fine looking Jeep, now i had to make her perform as well as she looked which meant finally building that Ford 8.8 which would also be my first mig welding project, the welds are definitely ugly but they sure have held up well. Inside the 8.8 I have a Detroit Trutrac and a pair of Yukon alloy shafts powered by a set of G2 4.56 gears.
We got the 8.8 in in the span of about 2 weeks along with a RE rear track bar to center it, when building the axle i thought id be able to get away with using the stock control arms which ended up not being the case as the 8.8 exaggerated the already bad driveline angle so i ordered a set of Trail Logic Industries adjustable heim joint control arms which took a while to arrive but once they did they were a breeze to install and dont ride near as harsh as the internet says heims will.
After the first trip to Deer Valley with the 8.8 it had proven its worth, only drawback is it seems to hang lower than the old 35 and dragged over quite a few more rocks. The control arms were quiet which was a welcome surprise and are plenty flexible for my setup. Note that smashed gas tank skid, it had been through hell so time to change it up and gear up for the big one, the Rubicon.
Skid plate wise I went with Under Cover Fabworks no body lift steel skid, install was simple and took only an hour or 2. After this I felt it was time to try the Rubicon so a few weeks later we gave it a try.
I was extremely happy with how my Jeep performed on the Rubicon and i have no doubt it would have gone the whole way through. Sadly the YJ that we brought with us broke his driveshaft trying to follow me over the Little Sluice then proceeded to taco his drag link and to top it off his battery died so i got to do 4 miles towing him out and some how didn't break anything which was amazing. After this trip I found my Jeep dragged over everything and that i now need 35's. First thing i did when i got home was ordered some 4.5 RE springs to afford me room for 35s and proceeded to get a set of Fox shocks for a steal from a local 4x4 shop.
At this point the Jeep looks ridiculous and luckily settled 1.5 inches all around after a few days. With 1 trip down Deer Valley and Slick Rock i can say with confidence a little extra height and better shocks makes a great difference.
And this brings us to current as of Halloween 2019. Jeep is ready for winter and in need of 35s, next things will probably be making it better on the road as with the top on it is deafening inside and as hot as a furnace and after trying to wheel with the hardtop down Sour Grass trail i may go soft top. I will continue to update this thread as the Jeep gets more mods or develops more problems.
As mentioned above this isnt my first rodeo as far as building Jeeps goes, i built a 1997 Cherokee as my high school car and loved it. Halfway through College i decided i wanted to try something different which is when i sold it for my TJ. Here is a pic for reference of my old XJ. It was on a 4.5 Rusty's lift IRO long arms, Bilsteins and 32" ko2's.
So to start my new tj build i decided on a Zone 3 inch lift kit as it was budget friendly and had very good reviews, that lift did very well for me and gave me just enough room to fit the used 33's i had bought off of one of my customers at Napa for $250.
The Zone lift and Rusty's Track Bar went on with few issues and gave me a great feeling setup for street use. At this point i had a 40 minute commute to work a few times a week, although the suspension was good the bald Pro Comp mud terrains made a deafening noise and my next mod was decided, a set of General Grabber X3's in a 33x12.50r15 flavor would be next.
After getting the General's it was time to see how she would do offroad so off to Hollister we went and even ran into an old friend. I was amazed how well the tj did with how little i had done to it, I was able to keep up with my old long arm Cherokee with ease and was able to follow a JK on 35's we had with us through anything he tried and at this point I was hooked and ready to get more serious about wheeling this Jeep and take it to the next level but first i needed a winch and some rock sliders.
Next thing i did was get a bumper that would accept a winch and after a lot of searching i came across this Motobilt bumper, to my eyes this is the best looking bumper on a TJ so I pulled the trigger and got it powdercoated at a local shop.
After i got the bumper i quickly ordered a set of Motobilt Rock Sliders and a Warn VR-8 winch, if i could do it over again i would have got the synthetic rope due to the weight of the steel requiring a 1 1/4 inch spacer to keep it level even with the hard top on and i may still switch one of these days. This is also my first time taking her down a real trail, it made Slick Rock look like a cake walk and continued to impress me with the capabilities.
Back to Hollister we went, this time to test out my new Spartan Locker up front, this trip i went with a local Cherokee club and it was a blast. The locker made things so much easier which pushed me to trying more and more extreme obstacles. This trip marked her last trip with the stock transfer case as well as it destroyed itself on the last trail of the day. The build had begun to spiral out of control as by the end of the week i had a 4.3:1 Atlas II on order which still is my favorite thing ive done to this Jeep.
The Process of installing the Atlas was fairly easy, we used the stock skid plate but modified it to accept the more forward transmission mount but if your doing this swap i would recommend the Barnes bolt on 1/4 Skid as it has an adjustable trans mount and makes it nearly a bolt on install as i learned a few months down the line after i inverted the stock skid. I opted to stick with 1310 driveshafts from Adams Driveshaft as id had good luck with them in the past. Around the time the Jeep came back on the road I decided I wanted to carry a spare tire and got a used Crawler Concepts body mounted tire carrier and also got a rear bumper from Crawltek Revolution so i could have some rear recovery points.
This tire carrier has been pretty good to me, it is very quiet most of the time but it does require re-tightening every so often even when using blue loctite. The rear bumper has done well for me as well, only major issue is that its impossible to get all the bolts in the back as you must drop the gas tank to get to them but you must remove the bumper to drop the tank. Around this time I also went and installed Cavfab steering i had from back when I was building the Cherokee after I tacoed the steering on a trip to Deer Valley trail and did 4.56 gears in both axles for better road manners. For the rest of the season I wheeled with no issues, that is until the last run of the season when my dana 35 decided it had enough and snapped an alloy shaft on Slick Rocks new Gauntlet.
We through the stock shafts back in and drove her off the trail and back home where i began formulating my plan to make sure this never happened again. I decided to build a Ford 8.8 and put my tax return to good use and picked one up out of a 2000 Exploder from a local junkyard. I went through and got the brackets, brake lines, brakes, G2 4.56 Gears and a Motobilt diff cover then proceeded to procrastinate until the beginning of the next season to build it. In the meantime I ordered a full set of Poison Spyder 3" Defenders to replace my old badly cut stock fenders. I also had ripped my drivers seat so i replaced it with a PRP Daily Driver in tan and black, this seat is easily one of my favorite mods and is extremely comfortable, it also allows me to sit further back from the wheel which even at a modest 6 foot tall is quite nice.
Now she had become a fine looking Jeep, now i had to make her perform as well as she looked which meant finally building that Ford 8.8 which would also be my first mig welding project, the welds are definitely ugly but they sure have held up well. Inside the 8.8 I have a Detroit Trutrac and a pair of Yukon alloy shafts powered by a set of G2 4.56 gears.
We got the 8.8 in in the span of about 2 weeks along with a RE rear track bar to center it, when building the axle i thought id be able to get away with using the stock control arms which ended up not being the case as the 8.8 exaggerated the already bad driveline angle so i ordered a set of Trail Logic Industries adjustable heim joint control arms which took a while to arrive but once they did they were a breeze to install and dont ride near as harsh as the internet says heims will.
After the first trip to Deer Valley with the 8.8 it had proven its worth, only drawback is it seems to hang lower than the old 35 and dragged over quite a few more rocks. The control arms were quiet which was a welcome surprise and are plenty flexible for my setup. Note that smashed gas tank skid, it had been through hell so time to change it up and gear up for the big one, the Rubicon.
Skid plate wise I went with Under Cover Fabworks no body lift steel skid, install was simple and took only an hour or 2. After this I felt it was time to try the Rubicon so a few weeks later we gave it a try.
I was extremely happy with how my Jeep performed on the Rubicon and i have no doubt it would have gone the whole way through. Sadly the YJ that we brought with us broke his driveshaft trying to follow me over the Little Sluice then proceeded to taco his drag link and to top it off his battery died so i got to do 4 miles towing him out and some how didn't break anything which was amazing. After this trip I found my Jeep dragged over everything and that i now need 35's. First thing i did when i got home was ordered some 4.5 RE springs to afford me room for 35s and proceeded to get a set of Fox shocks for a steal from a local 4x4 shop.
At this point the Jeep looks ridiculous and luckily settled 1.5 inches all around after a few days. With 1 trip down Deer Valley and Slick Rock i can say with confidence a little extra height and better shocks makes a great difference.
And this brings us to current as of Halloween 2019. Jeep is ready for winter and in need of 35s, next things will probably be making it better on the road as with the top on it is deafening inside and as hot as a furnace and after trying to wheel with the hardtop down Sour Grass trail i may go soft top. I will continue to update this thread as the Jeep gets more mods or develops more problems.
Last edited:
