Hi folks, new to this forum. Definitely not new to TJs though. Some of you may recognize my screen name from various other forums. Figured the best way to introduce myself would be to start a build thread.
First I'll explain the title. Every Jeep needs a name, right? This Jeep is called Patches. Why such a strange name? Because it's "patched" together from multiple wrecked Jeeps. My dad called it that one day and it stuck.
In early 2012 I purchased 2 wrecked '02 TJs. The first had been rolled, ruining the tub, but the frame was straight. The second had extensive frame damage, but a perfect body. Somebody thought it was a dune buggy and aired it out, ripping the axles out from under it. It had a full Metalcloak fender setup and a Rubi Express long arm. I think arched Metalcloaks are ugly, so I ditched those immediately.
Good frame (you can't tell from this picture, but the back of the tub and cage are seriously f'ed up):
Good body:
I spent a month working nights and weekends (I was still in school at the time) putting the two Jeeps together into one relatively stock Jeep. The plan at the time was to have a very mild daily driver that I could carry to Uwharrie (local trail system, very mild) on the weekends. That lasted about 6 months...
Initial setup:
Stock suspension
1.25" BL and 1" MML
Rubi Express belly skid
4.10 gears
Rubi Dana 44 rear axle w/ e locker
4 cyl front lp30 open
Trail Gear sliders
31" all terrains
That lasted for 6 months or so. Go figure. Decided I wanted it to be a bit more capable. It was still mild, but no longer a daily driver since I had purchased a very nice Comanche to daily. Since it still had the long arm skid, I decided to reinstall the front long arms. The rear got a set of adjustable short arms. I lifted it 2 inches, gave it some additional armor (oil pan skid, control arm skids, diff covers), added a used Detroit Truetrac to the front axle, and some 33" MTs that I had lying around. A few months after that I bumped it up to 35s and added another couple inches of lift.
That takes us to 2014, when I decided to get serious with it. Bought a used Genright Alien tank, and stretched the rear 8 inches. Also swapped the axles for a XJ hp30 and a non-rubi Dana 44 (I used the rubi44 in a stock rubi I was flipping).
101" wheelbase
Hp30 front, ARB, chromos, 4.88s
Dana 44 rear, 33 spline Detroit, chromos, 4.88s
Currie steering
JKS front trackbar
Poison Spyder fenders (old style)
Stout Fab custom cut corners
Genright comp flares
That almost gets us up to date. I've done a few things to it here and there over the years. Added a cage, swapped in a 241 transfer case, front antirock, and some other stuff I can't think of right now. I'll put together a full build list later. Mostly I've just wheeled the piss out of it the last few years (yet I never seem to get any picture evidence of it). I have a couple more updates, and I'm about to start a couple big new mods, but I'll get to those in future posts.
First I'll explain the title. Every Jeep needs a name, right? This Jeep is called Patches. Why such a strange name? Because it's "patched" together from multiple wrecked Jeeps. My dad called it that one day and it stuck.
In early 2012 I purchased 2 wrecked '02 TJs. The first had been rolled, ruining the tub, but the frame was straight. The second had extensive frame damage, but a perfect body. Somebody thought it was a dune buggy and aired it out, ripping the axles out from under it. It had a full Metalcloak fender setup and a Rubi Express long arm. I think arched Metalcloaks are ugly, so I ditched those immediately.
Good frame (you can't tell from this picture, but the back of the tub and cage are seriously f'ed up):
Good body:
I spent a month working nights and weekends (I was still in school at the time) putting the two Jeeps together into one relatively stock Jeep. The plan at the time was to have a very mild daily driver that I could carry to Uwharrie (local trail system, very mild) on the weekends. That lasted about 6 months...
Initial setup:
Stock suspension
1.25" BL and 1" MML
Rubi Express belly skid
4.10 gears
Rubi Dana 44 rear axle w/ e locker
4 cyl front lp30 open
Trail Gear sliders
31" all terrains
That lasted for 6 months or so. Go figure. Decided I wanted it to be a bit more capable. It was still mild, but no longer a daily driver since I had purchased a very nice Comanche to daily. Since it still had the long arm skid, I decided to reinstall the front long arms. The rear got a set of adjustable short arms. I lifted it 2 inches, gave it some additional armor (oil pan skid, control arm skids, diff covers), added a used Detroit Truetrac to the front axle, and some 33" MTs that I had lying around. A few months after that I bumped it up to 35s and added another couple inches of lift.
That takes us to 2014, when I decided to get serious with it. Bought a used Genright Alien tank, and stretched the rear 8 inches. Also swapped the axles for a XJ hp30 and a non-rubi Dana 44 (I used the rubi44 in a stock rubi I was flipping).
101" wheelbase
Hp30 front, ARB, chromos, 4.88s
Dana 44 rear, 33 spline Detroit, chromos, 4.88s
Currie steering
JKS front trackbar
Poison Spyder fenders (old style)
Stout Fab custom cut corners
Genright comp flares
That almost gets us up to date. I've done a few things to it here and there over the years. Added a cage, swapped in a 241 transfer case, front antirock, and some other stuff I can't think of right now. I'll put together a full build list later. Mostly I've just wheeled the piss out of it the last few years (yet I never seem to get any picture evidence of it). I have a couple more updates, and I'm about to start a couple big new mods, but I'll get to those in future posts.
