New LJ owner in Charlotte, NC

PatriotMB

New Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2020
Messages
24
Location
Charlotte, NC
I've owned several Jeeps over the years. I have a 2018 JL 2.0 Turbo and recently sold my 1995 YJ with a 4.7 Stroker.

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While my YJ was an awesome little Jeep, I've always wanted a TJ or even better an LJ. One day, I happened to see an LJ show up on Auto Trader. It was at a local dealership just down the road from my house. The listing didn't have any pictures, but it said it was an 04 Green with a hard top. I convinced my wife that we should go look at it, as LJs are very uncommon and the price on the website was decent. When we get to the dealership, I saw an LJ on the lot which was Khaki with a soft top. I went in to the dealership and spoke to a salesman, who said nope that was the only Wrangler they had on their lot.
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This Jeep had just been traded in, and was in pretty rough shape. The steering was garbage and absolutely needed to be replaced. The brakes were well worn and the Jeep took a few seconds to start. I took the Jeep for a spin and I could tell without looking that the suspension was original and worn out. It drove like a ship over rough seas. The tires had tread life, but were starting to show age.

The dealer offered to fix the steering with new parts, fixed the check engine light, new brakes and a full service of fluids. Despite the lack of previous maintenance by the previous owners. It did have a salvage title, due to a prior front end accident which deployed the airbags. The front end did look pretty good and whatever damage had been done, looked to be fixed. The body did have a slightly different color than the doors, but that is to be expected when being repainted by an insurance company's body shop.

I bought the Jeep, and had initially intended to swap the 4.7 from my YJ into the LJ and sell the YJ with the 04's 4.0. My ignorance with the impulse purchase, the engine is not able to be swapped due to differing locations of accessories. So I sold the YJ as is and put the money I made into fixing up the LJ.

Issues: I should've looked a bit more when looking over the LJ. I noticed after I bought it, that the grill is pushed in on the passenger side, and the driver side is pushed out a bit. Also, when getting an alignment the shop told me that my Dana 44 axle is bent, 1 degree which can cause the tires to wear improperly. It has some paint issues, with cracking just behind the driver fender at the Jeep logo.

List of what is done so far:
  1. ARB Bumper off YJ
  2. Barnes 4wd Rear bumper w/ Hitch
  3. 4:88 gears w/ Teraflex diff cover
  4. 33" Hercules Tera Trac M/Ts
  5. Yukon Ball Joints
  6. Double Din w/ Apple Car Play
  7. Replaced all speakers
  8. Rough Country Seat Covers
  9. RC Hood Gas Strut Prop (Was missing hood prop)
  10. Teraflex Steering Stabilizer
  11. RC 4" Lift
  12. Banks Exhaust
  13. LED headlights

I'm not planning on doing a whole lot to this Jeep. It will be my trail Jeep for now as Uwharrie isn't too far away. I'm okay with the issues that it has for now, and down the road look into fixing them.

Heres how it sits as of today.

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Reactions: Chris
Welcome to the forum and congrats on the purchase. Hard to tell from the photos, but from what I can see, it looks like it's not in too bad of condition.

Got any other big or immediate plans for it?

I'm working on a 4.7 stroker for my TJ but they aren't cheap!
 
Thanks, it isn't horrible, but I know it has been abused in the past. I forgot to mention the oil pan has a nice dent in it to go along with the bent Dana 44.

I think I'm set for now with how it currently sits. I'd like to do a few small things such as add a winch, grab bars, and wire up the LED pods on the front bumper. Only large expense would be side rails to protect the tub and be used as a step to get my daughter in the Jeep.

The 4.7 is a huge project, but well worth it in the end. I strongly recommend getting the BBK Throttle Body which adds a bit more air flow to the engine.
 
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Reactions: Chris
Oh wow, a bent Dana 44 and dented oil pan? I'm assuming you picked it up for pretty cheap?

I hear you on the 4.7. Golen (which builds them turn key) wants $6500, which seems absurd to me, especially given that I can get some of the best parts out there to build my own for around 3k for parts.

I'll look into that BBK throttle body. I've already got a set of these that will pair very nicely with it!

https://americanracingheaders.com/collections/tj-jeep/products/jeep-1998-2006-tj-4-0l-long-system
 
I went with ATK, and the first engine lasted 600 miles before it spun a bearing. It was replaced under warranty.

What have you considered for fuel injectors? I went with South Bay's 24lb injectors.
 
I went with ATK, and the first engine lasted 600 miles before it spun a bearing. It was replaced under warranty.

What have you considered for fuel injectors? I went with South Bay's 24lb injectors.

I haven't looked into fuel injectors yet, so I'll keep those ones in mind.

What is the warranty for ATK? I've contemplated buying the parts and having a machine shop put it together for me, but admittedly I do like the idea of just having a fully built stroker show up at my door.
 
Their warranty was 3 years unlimited miles. I went through O'Reillys who got the engine from ATK. The warranty covered the labor to reinstall the engine. The blown engine was shipped back to them, and they took it apart first to make sure it was their fault before sending out a new engine. Jeep was down about a month, which was frustrating.