After a decade of being jeep-less; I've finally found myself in a point in my life where I could dip my toes back into the water.
Having had 2 YJs (A '95 and a 94') and 1 TJ; I've known what my next jeep was going to be for a decade. I had to get an LJ.
Over the past year I was deployed overseas, and had caught myself browsing marketplace for LJ's in the general area of home. In July; I stumbled upon a stone white 06 in Atlanta with ~112k miles on it that looked good, and was close enough to my parents that they could go check it out for me. I scrambled, got my dad on the phone, and within an hour, he was first in line to see the LJ (yeah... the seller at least claimed there were 3 more people wanting to see it.)
Dad did the best he could to look it over, and thought it checked out ok; so I gave him the green light and he grabbed it for me. It spent the next few months tucked in their garage.
As soon as I got home, I rented a car, drove 8 hours, saw my folks, and loaded up to take the LJ on its first shakedown drive... 3 hours home to my farm. Doing a quick once-over on it, the rust was a bit worse than I had expected, but nothing screamed issues. I did note the brake reservoir was pretty low, so we did a quick brake bleed and fluid flush before hitting the road. 5 miles in... I know I needed a heater core. Fortunately, it was a pretty small leak, and while I still stopped every half hour to check it, didnt wind up having to add a drop of fluid to make it home.
Once home; I started getting my parts pile sorted. During the final months of my deployment, I knocked out 90% of the purchase list for what I'm calling Phase 1 of the build. Below is the parts list I came home to:
Suspension -
Savvy Short arm kit with 4" springs
Rancho RS5000X shocks
Savvy 1.25" Body Lift (With 1" MML)
Steering
Currie Currectlync
Rancho RS5000X Stabilizer
Body
MCE 4.5" Flares (Front and rear)
JK Front Signal Housings
3/4" Side Marker LED's (3-wire with grommets)
ExoGate tailgate reinforcement
Armor
Barnes 4WD Rear low profile bumper
Barnes 4WD Front stubby bumper with stinger w/ fairlead mount
Barnes 4WD Steering Box Skid
CavFab Rocker Guards
UCF Ultra Clearance Skid
Winch
Warn 9.5 TI w/ steel cable (used marketplace find locally)
Other - Savvy Cable T-Case Shifter
Once sorted, I started priming and painting everything that was bare steel. (I went ahead and pulled the headlight surrounds at this point to paint them as well)
Everything got hit with 3 coats of rustoleum self-etching automotive primer, and 4 coats of rustoleum hammered black paint. I figured that would keep touch-ups simple enough, and hoped the hammered paint would class it up a bit, blending with anything I wind up adding that might be powder coated down the line.
Next stop was to start ripping junk off the jeep. The previous owner, I discovered, had owned the jeep for all of a month... and my southern jeep... had started life in Florida, and at some point moved to Pennsylvania... so I expected and was focused on rust abatement as soon as possible. The ugly fenders came off without much fuss, but as I peeled the stupid fender top-side covers off, i was met with a disappointing surprise.... RUST.
At this point I also ditched the spare tire, and started prepping to install the Exogate.
With that done; it was time to tackle the body lift. I broke... 2 of the 9 body mount bolts off. The rear-most driver side and the driver side front mount under the cabin. Both proved to be a nightmare, i wound up having to cut the torque box open, peel it back, and fabbed up a nut and washer to replace. Everything else installed mostly without much trouble, and before i knew it, I had the body mount and motor mount lift installed.
Not one to waste time, I shifted to the front fenders. I was fortunate that the rust spots, happened to fall inside of the area being cut out to fit the MCE fenders
With that done, I started working on my plan to relocate the turn signals to the grill, measure, layout with painters tape, and drill 2 holes.... and now you're almost ready
I chose to notch the grill and slot the tabs on the lights so they could twist-lock into the grill and be removed easily; so that took a bit of time to layout and make, but I'm happy with the end product.
I now shifted to rust abatement. I wirewheeled the frame, and bought a small sewer jetting attachment for my pressure washer to get the inside. After 3 seperate cleanings, and a lot of time with a screwdriver breaking up rust chunks to be able to get them out of the frame, I was at a point where I felt it was clean. I let it sit for a week (while working on other things on the jeep) and then used easton's internal frame coating product. it worked really well, and after 2 coats the inside of the frame looks amazing. I hit the outside with rust converter paint, and also treated the entire inner fenders, along with 75% of the undercarriage that I could get to.
I have to say, I'm really happy with the results. its not 100% done.... some day the gas tank has to come out and I know that area will require more attention and treatment, but for now, I feel I'm no longer losing the rust battle with the frame and body.
if you look closely in the grass in the picture below, you can see all the rust flakes that were blasted out of the frame.
At this point, I was ready to tackle the suspension.
Nothing on this jeep has been 100% problem free; suspension issues I had -
The rear shock uppers were seized. I would up using a die grinder and cut-off wheel to cut the bolts off the perches from above, and shifted to nut-and-bolt install of the new rear shocks. My rear trackbar (currie) and exhaust had a bit of a disagreement over who would be allowed to exist in the same exact location... fortunately for me, at some point in the jeeps life, someone installed a full banks exhaust, and the stainless pipe was clamped in place and not badly rusted, so I was able to ditch the tailpipe at the rear muffler and am running it like that for now.
With the suspension done, I moved to the tummy tuck. Of course... 1 of 6 skid bolts broke; and off to black magic brakes I went to order new nutserts and bolts. I also went ahead and pulled the crossmember off, and shortened the exhaust hanger by ~1" (cutting ot off the crossmember, cutting an inch out of the hanger, and then welding it back on). The tummy tuck, for me, was relatively easy. I tackled the transfer cable shifter at the same time, and found no huge issues. my only complaint was the plastic bushing savvy included with the shifter for attaching to the shift lever. It felt... weak and the fit was garbage. I turned down a much better fitting bushing on my lathe out of some steel bar stock and didnt think twice about it.
With the tummy tuck done... It became glaringly obvious that i needed a SYE. I did some digging, overcomplicated the decision process, and settled on the HD SYE from JB Conversions (mostly based off parts availability and not feeling like I needed the SSSYE on an LJ. I ordered the part, and had it in my hands by Christmas Eve. The day after Christmas, it went in. Again, not a terrible hard install... and I'm sure it'd be alot easier if i'd had some actual snap ring pliers... if you're reading this and thinking of doing a SYE... buy the pliers. Dont skip this. You'll regret it. Once in, I was able to measure and order the rear Driveshaft, and put the jeep into FWD till it gets here.
As I finished the suspension, Discount Tire put Cooper Tires on sale, and away I went. I'd been sitting on a 5-pack of Mammoth Boulder 15x8 wheels, and quickly had the jeep looking right.
The last thing i've worked on, was stripping the steel cable off my used Warn Winch, and installing the new Wizard Recovery Gear line and fairlead... of course, my fairlead mount seems a bit too tall, so I've ordered a new one and will be redoing this once it gets in.
Next steps and remaining work to be done
I need to regear, currently the jeep has 3.73 gears, and I know that I can at least get by having the NSG370 and just pretending its a 5-speed, but at some point 4.56 gears and lockers will be on the agenda.
The previous owners at some point ditched the carpet, and i'd like to install either bed-tred or armorlite flooring.
The jeep has the factory speakers (no sub) and the worst head unit I've ever seen. I'd like to go to a double-din with carplay/android auto functionality, upgrade speakers to 5.25" and 6.5"s, and sneak a small sub in somewhere
Phase 2... someday... 1 tons and a 1.9 TDI.
Having had 2 YJs (A '95 and a 94') and 1 TJ; I've known what my next jeep was going to be for a decade. I had to get an LJ.
Over the past year I was deployed overseas, and had caught myself browsing marketplace for LJ's in the general area of home. In July; I stumbled upon a stone white 06 in Atlanta with ~112k miles on it that looked good, and was close enough to my parents that they could go check it out for me. I scrambled, got my dad on the phone, and within an hour, he was first in line to see the LJ (yeah... the seller at least claimed there were 3 more people wanting to see it.)
Dad did the best he could to look it over, and thought it checked out ok; so I gave him the green light and he grabbed it for me. It spent the next few months tucked in their garage.
As soon as I got home, I rented a car, drove 8 hours, saw my folks, and loaded up to take the LJ on its first shakedown drive... 3 hours home to my farm. Doing a quick once-over on it, the rust was a bit worse than I had expected, but nothing screamed issues. I did note the brake reservoir was pretty low, so we did a quick brake bleed and fluid flush before hitting the road. 5 miles in... I know I needed a heater core. Fortunately, it was a pretty small leak, and while I still stopped every half hour to check it, didnt wind up having to add a drop of fluid to make it home.
Once home; I started getting my parts pile sorted. During the final months of my deployment, I knocked out 90% of the purchase list for what I'm calling Phase 1 of the build. Below is the parts list I came home to:
Suspension -
Savvy Short arm kit with 4" springs
Rancho RS5000X shocks
Savvy 1.25" Body Lift (With 1" MML)
Steering
Currie Currectlync
Rancho RS5000X Stabilizer
Body
MCE 4.5" Flares (Front and rear)
JK Front Signal Housings
3/4" Side Marker LED's (3-wire with grommets)
ExoGate tailgate reinforcement
Armor
Barnes 4WD Rear low profile bumper
Barnes 4WD Front stubby bumper with stinger w/ fairlead mount
Barnes 4WD Steering Box Skid
CavFab Rocker Guards
UCF Ultra Clearance Skid
Winch
Warn 9.5 TI w/ steel cable (used marketplace find locally)
Other - Savvy Cable T-Case Shifter
Once sorted, I started priming and painting everything that was bare steel. (I went ahead and pulled the headlight surrounds at this point to paint them as well)
Everything got hit with 3 coats of rustoleum self-etching automotive primer, and 4 coats of rustoleum hammered black paint. I figured that would keep touch-ups simple enough, and hoped the hammered paint would class it up a bit, blending with anything I wind up adding that might be powder coated down the line.
Next stop was to start ripping junk off the jeep. The previous owner, I discovered, had owned the jeep for all of a month... and my southern jeep... had started life in Florida, and at some point moved to Pennsylvania... so I expected and was focused on rust abatement as soon as possible. The ugly fenders came off without much fuss, but as I peeled the stupid fender top-side covers off, i was met with a disappointing surprise.... RUST.
At this point I also ditched the spare tire, and started prepping to install the Exogate.
With that done; it was time to tackle the body lift. I broke... 2 of the 9 body mount bolts off. The rear-most driver side and the driver side front mount under the cabin. Both proved to be a nightmare, i wound up having to cut the torque box open, peel it back, and fabbed up a nut and washer to replace. Everything else installed mostly without much trouble, and before i knew it, I had the body mount and motor mount lift installed.
Not one to waste time, I shifted to the front fenders. I was fortunate that the rust spots, happened to fall inside of the area being cut out to fit the MCE fenders
With that done, I started working on my plan to relocate the turn signals to the grill, measure, layout with painters tape, and drill 2 holes.... and now you're almost ready
I chose to notch the grill and slot the tabs on the lights so they could twist-lock into the grill and be removed easily; so that took a bit of time to layout and make, but I'm happy with the end product.
I now shifted to rust abatement. I wirewheeled the frame, and bought a small sewer jetting attachment for my pressure washer to get the inside. After 3 seperate cleanings, and a lot of time with a screwdriver breaking up rust chunks to be able to get them out of the frame, I was at a point where I felt it was clean. I let it sit for a week (while working on other things on the jeep) and then used easton's internal frame coating product. it worked really well, and after 2 coats the inside of the frame looks amazing. I hit the outside with rust converter paint, and also treated the entire inner fenders, along with 75% of the undercarriage that I could get to.
I have to say, I'm really happy with the results. its not 100% done.... some day the gas tank has to come out and I know that area will require more attention and treatment, but for now, I feel I'm no longer losing the rust battle with the frame and body.
if you look closely in the grass in the picture below, you can see all the rust flakes that were blasted out of the frame.
At this point, I was ready to tackle the suspension.
Nothing on this jeep has been 100% problem free; suspension issues I had -
The rear shock uppers were seized. I would up using a die grinder and cut-off wheel to cut the bolts off the perches from above, and shifted to nut-and-bolt install of the new rear shocks. My rear trackbar (currie) and exhaust had a bit of a disagreement over who would be allowed to exist in the same exact location... fortunately for me, at some point in the jeeps life, someone installed a full banks exhaust, and the stainless pipe was clamped in place and not badly rusted, so I was able to ditch the tailpipe at the rear muffler and am running it like that for now.
With the suspension done, I moved to the tummy tuck. Of course... 1 of 6 skid bolts broke; and off to black magic brakes I went to order new nutserts and bolts. I also went ahead and pulled the crossmember off, and shortened the exhaust hanger by ~1" (cutting ot off the crossmember, cutting an inch out of the hanger, and then welding it back on). The tummy tuck, for me, was relatively easy. I tackled the transfer cable shifter at the same time, and found no huge issues. my only complaint was the plastic bushing savvy included with the shifter for attaching to the shift lever. It felt... weak and the fit was garbage. I turned down a much better fitting bushing on my lathe out of some steel bar stock and didnt think twice about it.
With the tummy tuck done... It became glaringly obvious that i needed a SYE. I did some digging, overcomplicated the decision process, and settled on the HD SYE from JB Conversions (mostly based off parts availability and not feeling like I needed the SSSYE on an LJ. I ordered the part, and had it in my hands by Christmas Eve. The day after Christmas, it went in. Again, not a terrible hard install... and I'm sure it'd be alot easier if i'd had some actual snap ring pliers... if you're reading this and thinking of doing a SYE... buy the pliers. Dont skip this. You'll regret it. Once in, I was able to measure and order the rear Driveshaft, and put the jeep into FWD till it gets here.
As I finished the suspension, Discount Tire put Cooper Tires on sale, and away I went. I'd been sitting on a 5-pack of Mammoth Boulder 15x8 wheels, and quickly had the jeep looking right.
The last thing i've worked on, was stripping the steel cable off my used Warn Winch, and installing the new Wizard Recovery Gear line and fairlead... of course, my fairlead mount seems a bit too tall, so I've ordered a new one and will be redoing this once it gets in.
Next steps and remaining work to be done
I need to regear, currently the jeep has 3.73 gears, and I know that I can at least get by having the NSG370 and just pretending its a 5-speed, but at some point 4.56 gears and lockers will be on the agenda.
The previous owners at some point ditched the carpet, and i'd like to install either bed-tred or armorlite flooring.
The jeep has the factory speakers (no sub) and the worst head unit I've ever seen. I'd like to go to a double-din with carplay/android auto functionality, upgrade speakers to 5.25" and 6.5"s, and sneak a small sub in somewhere
Phase 2... someday... 1 tons and a 1.9 TDI.
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