The lights before lockers build: double tough 97 Sport

97TJNM

High Desert Redneck
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2021
Messages
822
Location
Los Alamos, NM
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Ol' Double Tough a few weeks after I bought it, in front of the Walt Longmire cabin.

I'm starting this thread today because I want to chronicle my build thread and get advice along the way, because I'm going to order a bunch of parts on Monday. I've had my jeep for about 2 years now and mostly what I've done has been cosmetic or required repairs. I'm about to begin making it a truly capable offroader! I will be detailing what I have done so far over the next few posts, then listing the parts I am planning on ordering in the next few days. I have been saving $$ for the past 7 months to make the next big stage of my build a reality. So without further ado, I present my build thread. Beware, for the first year I had it, I was thinking about what would look cool, not what would make a great off road vehicle. Please bear with me and forgive my rookie mistakes. A lot of the next planned build phase was informed heavily from gleaning advice from this forum, so in a way, many, many of you have contributed to what comes next. Thanks all!

I started my hunt for a TJ in March of 2020. My wife got a JK in 2018 and I just enjoyed the hell out of driving it. I wanted a jeep of my own on the cheap that I could turn wrenches on myself. Nothing fancy, but that I could improve my basic shadetree mechanic skills on as I improved the jeep. I was looking for a manual because I enjoy rowing gears around town. In April, I found a red (my favorite color... this wasn't a deciding factor, but was a plus) 97 TJ on Marketplace for $7800. It had 145k miles on it, but was the 4.0 with a Manual. He was the 3rd owner. I met the seller, and checked it over. Everything I knew th check for was in good shape for its age, but I was a week out from having the cash in hand. I would have haggled a bit and tried to get him down to about 7k, but I knew what the market was like so offered him full asking price if he would hold it for a week. He was a gentleman about it, and a week later I paid him and got the title. I didn't know much about TJs at that time, but looking back, knowing what I do now about my Jeep, I think it was a fair deal both ways.

The fist upgrade was a Smittybilt xrc 9500 winch. I mean, every Jeep needs a winch, right? So I bought a winch plate and mounted it up. Honestly, I may have just been throwing money at it without a plan, but I do like the winch. I've even used it effectively, so all in all, I'm happy with the purchase.

Next I realised it had an exhaust leak and determined from some looking around tha the exhaust manifold was cracked. I watched some YouTube videos, figured out how to replace it, and installed a new one in a day. That was one of the most ambitious mechanic projects I had tackled to date at that point. I did replace it with one from autozone, so knowing what I know now, I will likely be replacing it again in a few years with something better, when this one cracks.

Of course, I put a Amazon Special light bar on it! That's why this is the lights before lockers build. I didn't know what I was doing and so did some dumb shit out of order. But I honestly enjoy my light bar too. Is it super practical? Nah. Do I like how bright it is running around on forest roads in the evenings? Heck yeah.

I moved the side mirrors to the tub, thinking it would be nice to cruise around town with the doors off during the summer. It makes the mirrors hard to see, and I have only taken the doors off twice in 2 years, so I moved em back to their original locations. Plus the rough country mounts for the mirrors were kinda cheap.

I upgraded the stereo to a pioneer head and Fosgate speakers and wired it for Satellite radio. Gotta say, I love being able to listen to the radio no matter how far back in the wilderness I am.

I changed the water pump in the Santa Fe rodeo grounds when my wife called me when she was out in the jeep and told me that it was leaking fluid all over the place. Had to head over there and fix it right then, so it is an autozone water pump. It's been on there about 3k miles at this point with no problems yet though, so that's nice. I also bought a bikini top that I run in the summer from about May to September. I love it, but sure am glad I have a hard top for the winter.

Lastly, I have added the Jeep's name, Double Tough to the hood sides. I know some people think this is silly, and that's alright! I like it though. Problem is, I realise I need to build the Jeep better to make it worthy of the name.

Alright, that about covers the big stuff done so far. Next post will be pictures, followed by a post of upcoming planned mods!

Thanks for reading, everyone!
 
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A set of 31x10.5R15 BFG KM3's taken to be mounted.


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Side shot from a month or two back.
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Front shot.
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Another side shot.
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Rear end view with my custom target hitch cover.
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Replacing a water pump at the Rodeo Grounds.
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Double Tough decals.
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Seat Covers installed. GEAR flag brand from amazon. They fit well. Also not shown are the Wild Boar grab bars. Both were worth the money.

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His and hers Jeeps before my wife traded in her JK on a Tacoma.
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Cheap ass mirror relocation brackets. Not woth the money. They have sice been removed.
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The Jeep sickness got real around my house for a while. Im down to only the TJ and XJ now. At least they have a lot of parts interchangeability and they are both the same powerplant. Makes working on em easy.
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I guess that covers the photos for now. Next post will discuss the upcoming planned mods.

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So the big plan is to set up Double Tough to properly run 35's. To this end I have purchased a set of Dana 44's geared to 4.88 out of an 06 LJ. They have an ARB air locker in the back and an Eaton E-locker in the front as well as Revolution axle shafts. They were set up for crossover steering so I will be cutting off all the crap not needed and returning all the mounts to factory configuration with the help of my neighbor who is a welder and retired engineer. He is into rock crawling and has built several very capable rigs but jeep axles will be new for him as he is a Toyota guy. Still, he has some good experience with fabricating for trail rigs.

I have picked up some odds and ends such as adjustable JKS track bars for front and rear as well as extended brake lines. I also have a JB conversions SS Sye in the garage.

I am about to order a Currie Correctlync steering setup, savvy double adjustable control arms, Currie 4" springs, bump stops and 1.25 body lift. I will also be ordering a 15" Vanco BBK and an ORO Swayloc as well as a set of Rancho Rs5000x shocks.

After I install all of that, I will be ordering Tom Wood Driveshafts and an ARB air pump. I'm considering ordering a big enough one to have on board air. Also will need a Speed Healer.

That will eat up almost all of the money I have saved to this point, but while I acquire and install everything, I can continue to save for a set of wheels and tires. I'm looking at some white Craiger 15x8s and BFG KM3's in 35x12.5r15.

So that's the big plan, and I'm hoping to order from Savvy/Currie on Monday. Does that sound like the right plan? Anything I'm missing overlooking in my plan?

Thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to comments!
 
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Oh, lastly, I have a 4.0 and an AX-15. Currently on Dana 30/35 with factory 3.07 gearing. Thanks again!
 
Well, parts are ordered! Long list from Savvy, Swayloc and Speedo Healer from Poly Performance, large Jack stands, ARB air compressor and Rancho rs5000x 4-5 lift shocks from Amazon. Now I'm waiting on the happiness-delivery trucks!
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Well, my ARB air pump came in! Also have a Morryde tailgate reinforcement/ tire carrier in the garage! Guess I'm going to start turning wrenches on my next round of days off!
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Swayloc and Speedo Healer have made it to my door! I'm off for a few days starting on Sunday, so I'm looking forward to spending some time working on Double Tough.
 
Ranchos arrived! Now just waiting on the Savvy order. I'll get the dana 44's out of hibernation on Monday and begin prep work for my neighbor, so all he has to do is weld on the new brackets. Then hopefully when the Savvy order arrives I can begin in earnest on this project!
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Spent the afternoon stripping some stuff off the front axles so that it's easier to move into my neighbor's garage in a couple days. Removed the crossover steering links.

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Next i removed the brakes and rotors. Thats when i realised that the hubs are 5x5 not 5x4.5. I'll be ordering a new set of hubsI guess.
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One of the hub bolts on the passenger side is boogered pretty bad. When my neighbor is helping me weld on the new brackets, ill ask him to weld a nut onto the end on that bolt so i can extract it.
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A shot of all the dumb crossover crap im going to have to cut off.
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ill be inspecting the ball joints as well when i switch my outer C's from my Dana 30 onto this axle. If any of them need replacing, ill do all 4 at that time. Probably with Spicers.
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Tomorrow afternoon, my neighbor Tony and I will look at what needs doing and formulate a plan. I might try to get my Morryde tailgate reinforcement/ tire carrier installed if I have enough time.
 
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So after going through the front axle I'm going to be swapping in, I went ahead and ordered spicer U-joints and Spicer ball joints from Summit. I also went ahead and ordered the Timken pre-machined unit bearings from Black Magic Brakes. I figure an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure and all that.

Also realised that I forgot to order a Savvy cable shifter for my T-case for once the body lift is installed. I went ahead and ordered one of those too.
 
Sounds like a good plan so far. Following to see how it all turns out.

Question: The hubs on the new 06 TJ axles were 5 on 5?
 
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Sounds like a good plan so far. Following to see how it all turns out.

Question: The hubs on the new 06 TJ axles were 5 on 5?
Yes. I bought the axles second hand from a guy that was doing a 1 ton swap on his jeep. He had done some questionable things to these axles. Several choices he made didn't make sense to me. But the axles and gears are in good shape, and the rear axle looks pretty much unmolested other than a track bar bracket extension and a clearanced set of spring perches, both of which I would have had to do anyway.

So basically I'm just trying to un-fuck his work on the front axle!🤣
 
Spent half an hour with Neighbor Tony. He looked everything over, verified what needed to come off, and has high confidence that welding up new brackets to return everything to the original configuration won't be hard. We made a plan to start welding next week and he wants me to have all the old stuff cut off and the axle tube prepped. I started on it today, and will hopefully finish removing crap and get the axles prepped tomorrow.
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Progress! It's slow, but moving forward!
 
Its been a busy few days prepping the front axle, but it is ready for neighbor Tony to work his magic! I'll bring it by his shop on Monday or Tuesday next week and be his gopher while he welds. Looking forward to this!
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Got in my order from Summit Racing. New Spicer ball joints and U-joints. I'm running out of storage space, but all that I'm left waiting on is my order from Savvy. After I get fhe new brackets welded on the axle, I'll be able to install the u joints, ball joints, big brake kit and unit bearings while the axle is still on saw horses. Should make it a lot easier than doing it once it's under the Jeep.
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Well, Neighbor Tony went to work on the welding today. About 4 hours, and the new brackets are on the axle! Tomorrow, I'll be wire wheeling, prepping, priming, and painting everything. Then the next step while I wait on my Savvy order is pulling the diff cover on both axles, checking that everything is right, and maybe running a gear pattern to confirm that they are set up correctly.
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Got the newly installed brackets wire wheeled and painted today. It was cold and windy, so it's not the best job. Got a few runs but I'm not too concerned. It's an axle, after all, not a door.🤣 I still need to replace the u joints and ball joints and upper control arm bushings. Also gotta get the cover off both diffs and check the gears. Still waiting on a shipping confirmation from Savvy, so I have time to work on this stuff before the rest of the components get here.
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