Rick From South Carolina

TJRick

TJRick

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 2, 2019
Messages
414
Location
South Carolina
Hello everyone!

My name is Rick, and I am from Florence, South Carolina. I purchased my 1998 Jeep Wrangler (Sport) in 1999 and it has been my daily driver for most of those years. I drove this Jeep to college, dated my Wife in it, and we drove 6 hours away to the mountains on our honeymoon in it. I have way too many memories in this Jeep to ever part with it. It is a BIG part of my personality and my friends and family associate me with this Jeep. It feels like my "time machine" in that it is my happy place where I can escape on my own and listen to my favorite music whenever I want!

My Jeep has the 4.0 I-6 engine and the 3-speed automatic transmission. It currently has 150K miles and still runs great! It has a Black exterior with Mist Gray interior with factory hard top and doors. I am running 32" tires on a 2" suspension lift with 4.10 gears and Detroit Truetracks front and rear:

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Great looking TJ, and awesome story too!

I'd make them bury that thing with you in the ground ;)
 
Nice story.. sums up a lot of feelings most of us have on the forum.. good looking Jeep!!
 
It's interesting how you can get a different perspective of something you see every single day by looking at the same thing in a picture.

For example, I just realized how lame the "Trail Rated" badge looks that I put on my Jeep a few years ago, and I have since removed it. Looking at a couple of more, I see a few more changes I may make. To start with, I think my Jeep might look better with an extra inch of clearance for the tires, and I don't like how they sick out past my fenders. And perhaps the JEEP fog light covers and the WRANGLER half-plate (that was a Christmas gift from my wife many years ago) may be a bit much in the front.

What do you think?

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I like that Wrangler half plate and would leave it myself. The fog light covers are ok, but I would probably paint over them so they were solid black or more than likely remove them all together.

You could always find wider flares. I don't know how much wider you need, but Rubicon and Sahara flares are about 1 inch wider than the regular flares. I put Rubicon flares on mine. Some of the really wide 5 and 6 inch flares run the risk of looking like an airplane if they stick further than your tires. But that all depends on your wheel backspacing.
 
MountaineerTom said:
You could always find wider flares. I don't know how much wider you need, but Rubicon and Sahara flares are about 1 inch wider than the regular flares. I put Rubicon flares on mine. Some of the really wide 5 and 6 inch flares run the risk of looking like an airplane if they stick further than your tires. But that all depends on your wheel backspacing.
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Actually, those are the OEM Mopar Rubicon style fender flares on it right now. I don't want anything wider than that for the reasons you mentioned. I just need some wheels with better backspacing. Those are 3.75". It's funny, but I have had those wheels on it since 2002, and I used to think it looked good like that. But now I am beginning to think it looks a bit silly, and certainly not functional.

I think I am going to go with a set of OEM painted (silver) Moab wheels, along with 265 75/R 16" tires. They wouldn't stick out and I think they would look great on my Jeep.
 
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TJRick said:
Actually, those are the OEM Mopar Rubicon style fender flares on it right now. I don't want anything wider than that for the reasons you mentioned. I just need some wheels with better backspacing. Those are 3.75". It's funny, but I have had those wheels on it since 2002, and I used to think it looked good like that. But now I am beginning to think it looks a bit silly, and certainly not functional.

I think I am going to go with a set of OEM painted (silver) Moab wheels, along with 265 75/R 16" tires. They wouldn't stick out and I think they would look great on my Jeep.
Click to expand...

Mine are 3.75 too. With 31x10.50’s.
 
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