Pactical LJ Build

[Nklekas]

Some of this was posted in the "Post pics of your Jeep" Thread but I'll post about the build in this thread.

The point of my build, with this Jeep, is a Practical Jeep that I can both drive to work every day while also take it camping in the Nevada outback on the same day. Overall, I'm going towards the Overland-style build I can take camping at any time. I want to use quality parts and not have an over-the-top Jeep with crazy features that make it look cheap.

This is my 3rd TJ and first LJ. I had a 98' 2.5 cylinder and an 03' Rubicon, both 5 speeds. I had them both for almost exactly 2 years. I had always wanted an LJ but being a broke college kid, a well-maintained LJ was out of the price range. I finally came across this one in late 2021 and pulled the trigger.

When I set out to buy this thing I knew I was going to have it forever and was pretty picky. The Jeep I would buy absolutely had to have these 3 things:

1. Below 100,000 miles. Preferably closer to 70,000-80,000 miles.

2. Had to have a hardtop. Where I live not only gets all 4 seasons but I do so much interstate and highway driving I wanted something more sturdy.

3. Very little, to zero frame rust.


After selling my Rubicon and being Jeep-less for nearly 3 months I finally found a suiter. It definitely was a bit of a long drive to pick it up in Oregon but it was worth it. It's a 2006 Auto and had all 3 of my requirements. When I bought it only had 59,000 on it. Given the car market was a joke in 2021, I paid a fairly high price for it by todays standards... However, given the cleanness of it and having all 3 of my requirements (And even a few other things I really wanted) I pulled the trigger and never looked back.

I already have a number of mods on this thing with (of course) more to come witch ill try and do a better job of showing on here. Everything listed and the pictures below are of everything I've done in the past 15 months:

-Interior Dash Storage
-3D Printed Center Counsel
-Hot Headliners Sound dampening kit
-Fishbone Off-road Front bumper
-Garvin Adventure Rack
-Rigid and Rough Country Pod Lights
-LED Trucker Headlights
-Metal Cloak Track Bars, Springs, and Control Arms
-Fox 2.0 Revivor Shocks
-Revolution 5.13 Gears and Chromoly Axle Shafts for my Dana 30
-Pro Comp 15in wheel wrapped in a 33x12.5x15 Milestar M/T Tire


If you have any advice or ideas on mods/brands of mods feel free to let me know as I'm always trying to get new ideas and learn!

 

[Zeep]

Who makes that driver side tray?

 

[shays4me]

If you have any advice or ideas on mods/brands of mods feel free to let me know as I'm always trying to get new ideas and learn!

Keep it light and you'll be happier! It looks great so far, do you have a Dana 35 in the back or a 44? How do you like the 5.13 gearing with 33's?

 

[Nklekas]

Who makes that driver side tray?

I found it on Amazon. I literally just typed on Dash Tray and it came up! Here's the link:

 

[Nklekas]

Keep it light and you'll be happier! It looks great so far, do you have a Dana 35 in the back or a 44? How do you like the 5.13 gearing with 33's?

For sure! I'm trying to get an overland trailer made so I can get the tent off the roof.
44 in the rear and a 30 W/ Chromoly's up front. All LJ's came with a 44 in the rear.
I really like the 5.13's with the 33's. I thinks its a bit low for 33's but I don't mind for 2 reasons:
1. I want to run 35's one day and the 5.13's with 35's will be perfect.
2. I live in Nevada and on top of Nevada being the most Mountainous State in the U.S. with hill climbs and grades everywhere...I live, drive and wheel pretty much in 5,500+ Feet of elevation year round. The lower gears really help keep the RPMs high at the increased elevation and up hills/grades

 

[nwoods]

My LJ Ruby had a fat butt. Any loadout of the rear cargo area made it drag its butt all over the place. I installed a rear spring relocation bracket that made all the difference in the world. It made the spring useful and transformed on and offroad behavior. Mine was made by 9th Degree, which AEV bought then killed, so I am not sure where to find a spring perch relocation bracket, but I am sure they are out there somewhere. I also used dual rate AEV 4" lift springs front and rear and I liked them a lot. MetalCloak makes something similar.

 

[Nklekas]

My LJ Ruby had a fat butt. Any loadout of the rear cargo area made it drag its butt all over the place. I installed a rear spring relocation bracket that made all the difference in the world. It made the spring useful and transformed on and offroad behavior. Mine was made by 9th Degree, which AEV bought then killed, so I am not sure where to find a spring perch relocation bracket, but I am sure they are out there somewhere. I also used dual rate AEV 4" lift springs front and rear and I liked them a lot. MetalCloak makes something similar.

I agree payload can sneak up on you very quickly. With my camping gear and RTT on my jeep was very sluggish. I know the 4.0 isn't a speed demon to begin with but id rather have something else. Thanks for the advice though, Definitely don't want the rear to get to big.

 

[Zeep]

Keep it light and you'll be happier! It looks great so far, do you have a Dana 35 in the back or a 44? How do you like the 5.13 gearing with 33's?

All of the LJ's came with 44's!

 

[shays4me]

All of the LJ's came with 44's!

That's good to know. This is the only Jeep universal series I haven't owned so far, except for the new JL. There is currently a 97 TJ parked out back though that belongs to my brother with a broken Dana 35.

 

[Nklekas]

That's good to know. This is the only Jeep universal series I haven't owned so far, except for the new JL. There is currently a 97 TJ parked out back though that belongs to my brother with a broken Dana 35.

Dana 35's were nothing to ride home on. Unless you wanted to stay pretty much stock...They aren't great.

 

[Cascade Wanderer]

Good looking Jeep! Always liked the LJ's and you have done a nice job with this one.

Regards, Guy

 

[Nklekas]

Some of this was posted in the "Post pics of your Jeep" Thread but I'll post about the build in this thread.

The point of my build, with this Jeep, is a Practical Jeep that I can both drive to work every day while also take it camping in the Nevada outback on the same day. Overall, I'm going towards the Overland-style build I can take camping at any time. I want to use quality parts and not have an over-the-top Jeep with crazy features that make it look cheap.

This is my 3rd TJ and first LJ. I had a 98' 2.5 cylinder and an 03' Rubicon, both 5 speeds. I had them both for almost exactly 2 years. I had always wanted an LJ but being a broke college kid, a well-maintained LJ was out of the price range. I finally came across this one in late 2021 and pulled the trigger.

When I set out to buy this thing I knew I was going to have it forever and was pretty picky. The Jeep I would buy absolutely had to have these 3 things:

1. Below 100,000 miles. Preferably closer to 70,000-80,000 miles.

2. Had to have a hardtop. Where I live not only gets all 4 seasons but I do so much interstate and highway driving I wanted something more sturdy.

3. Very little, to zero frame rust.


After selling my Rubicon and being Jeep-less for nearly 3 months I finally found a suiter. It definitely was a bit of a long drive to pick it up in Oregon but it was worth it. It's a 2006 Auto and had all 3 of my requirements. When I bought it only had 59,000 on it. Given the car market was a joke in 2021, I paid a fairly high price for it by todays standards... However, given the cleanness of it and having all 3 of my requirements (And even a few other things I really wanted) I pulled the trigger and never looked back.

I already have a number of mods on this thing with (of course) more to come witch ill try and do a better job of showing on here. Everything listed and the pictures below are of everything I've done in the past 15 months:

-Interior Dash Storage
-3D Printed Center Counsel
-Hot Headliners Sound dampening kit
-Fishbone Off-road Front bumper
-Garvin Adventure Rack
-Rigid and Rough Country Pod Lights
-LED Trucker Headlights
-Metal Cloak Track Bars, Springs, and Control Arms
-Fox 2.0 Revivor Shocks
-Revolution 5.13 Gears and Chromoly Axle Shafts for my Dana 30
-Pro Comp 15in wheel wrapped in a 33x12.5x15 Milestar M/T Tire

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If you have any advice or ideas on mods/brands of mods feel free to let me know as I'm always trying to get new ideas and learn!

Decided to put jumping to 35’s on hold. A friend of mine who does a lot of custom fab work wants to build an Aluminum Overland trailer. Hopefully the materials for that come in soon so we can get started. I’m pretty stoked. So I decided to save money for that and also get some other needs/wants that are cheaper than finishing the jump to 35’s.


I finally broke down and bought a winch only because it was solid deal. I also finally bought a soft top for summer. Just a cheap Rugid Ridge top that I will only run for about 2 months. And for 90% of those months the windows will be unzipped. Just want the top for when it rains and go on extra dusty backroads so the inside of my Jeep doesn’t take a beating. I’ve never ran a soft top on my previous two Jeeps so I’m excited to finally run one. Ill post pictures of that when I put it on. I also bought a rear bumper and tire carrier. Had to get a bumper with a tow receiver (or install a tow set up) for the trailer anyway and I still want to run 35’s in the future so I killed two bird with one stone and got a Garvin bumper/tire carrier combo to do both. It was definitely a bit pricey...But its very good quality. I love Garvin products and they never seem to fail me. And finally, the the flat fenders were a gift for my birthday and are only for looks. Probably not a whole lot of mods in the near future as I focus/pay for this trailer.

 

[montechie]

I really like the 5.13's with the 33's. I thinks its a bit low for 33's but I don't mind for 2 reasons:
1. I want to run 35's one day and the 5.13's with 35's will be perfect.
2. I live in Nevada and on top of Nevada being the most Mountainous State in the U.S. with hill climbs and grades everywhere...I live, drive and wheel pretty much in 5,500+ Feet of elevation year round. The lower gears really help keep the RPMs high at the increased elevation and up hills/grades

With my LJR in the Montana Rockies I would agree about 35s+5.13. I have 4.88 and 285/75r16s with the automatic and it's about right for mpg and hills. I think 35s + 4.88 would be so-so on our passes at highway speeds.

Mods that we've done that I like and aren't on yours already:

• The Rubicon has some additional electronics, so not sure this applies to you, but the PolyPerformance HealTech SpeedoHealer has been flawless for our regear+tires.
• The BlueDriver OBD2 scan tool was well worth it when it came time for sensors to fail and great to diagnose codes when not in cell range.
• Neoprene seat covers, on our seats since new in '05 and 0 wear to the upholstery, also feel good whether the weather is 100F or -20F
• Mopar rubber mud flaps, at least on the front. They take a beating and keep mud and gravel off your door handles.
• Quadratec LED taillights. Besides being safer in the winter when snow covers the stock dim lights, the reverse light is much brighter. We've had the Quadratec LED headlights on for 7ish years and love them.
• If you plan on removing the top, we got the GR8Tops aluminum lockable storage for the back. Not sure if they still make ours that fits with the back seat in, but it was a great purchase. Tough and lightweight, slanted to fit against the seat, and makes for a good shelf.

Stuff that was dumb/naive on my part when I added it:

• K&N intake, it's been fine, but not worth the higher risk of dust getting in. Read the wrong articles when researching back in the day
• E rated tires (Rubicon came with Es OEM, but they ride way too rough after upsizing and having a tougher sidewall tire like the Coopers)
• Steel bumpers, I really like the functionality of my JCR bumper set and being able to carry fuel on the back, but wish I hunted more for an aluminum set to keep weight down.
• I wish I had factored in a 1" body lift to do a tummy tuck center skid when I did my suspension lift. It's only a 3.5" lift, so not a big deal, but I want to keep the Jeep as low as possible.

Congrats on finding such a clean LJ!

 

[Nklekas]

With my LJR in the Montana Rockies I would agree about 35s+5.13. I have 4.88 and 285/75r16s with the automatic and it's about right for mpg and hills. I think 35s + 4.88 would be so-so on our passes at highway speeds.

Mods that we've done that I like and aren't on yours already:

• The Rubicon has some additional electronics, so not sure this applies to you, but the PolyPerformance HealTech SpeedoHealer has been flawless for our regear+tires.
• The BlueDriver OBD2 scan tool was well worth it when it came time for sensors to fail and great to diagnose codes when not in cell range.
• Neoprene seat covers, on our seats since new in '05 and 0 wear to the upholstery, also feel good whether the weather is 100F or -20F
• Mopar rubber mud flaps, at least on the front. They take a beating and keep mud and gravel off your door handles.
• Quadratec LED taillights. Besides being safer in the winter when snow covers the stock dim lights, the reverse light is much brighter. We've had the Quadratec LED headlights on for 7ish years and love them.
• If you plan on removing the top, we got the GR8Tops aluminum lockable storage for the back. Not sure if they still make ours that fits with the back seat in, but it was a great purchase. Tough and lightweight, slanted to fit against the seat, and makes for a good shelf.

Stuff that was dumb/naive on my part when I added it:

• K&N intake, it's been fine, but not worth the higher risk of dust getting in. Read the wrong articles when researching back in the day
• E rated tires (Rubicon came with Es OEM, but they ride way too rough after upsizing and having a tougher sidewall tire like the Coopers)
• Steel bumpers, I really like the functionality of my JCR bumper set and being able to carry fuel on the back, but wish I hunted more for an aluminum set to keep weight down.
• I wish I had factored in a 1" body lift to do a tummy tuck center skid when I did my suspension lift. It's only a 3.5" lift, so not a big deal, but I want to keep the Jeep as low as possible.

Congrats on finding such a clean LJ!

For sure on the gears. You know what its like living at high elevation with the 42RLE in the LJ. I'm excited to make the jump to 35's (Whenever that is) and see how the 5.13's & 35's do together. Like I said, its FINE with 33's. Sounds like you have a nice rig! So what's your total lift for your 33's?

 

[montechie]

For sure on the gears. You know what its like living at high elevation with the 42RLE in the LJ. I'm excited to make the jump to 35's (Whenever that is) and see how the 5.13's & 35's do together. Like I said, its FINE with 33's. Sounds like you have a nice rig! So what's your total lift for your 33's?

It's been a great and reliable vehicle over the years (some pics). Total lift currently is ~3" full lift kit from JKS, with factory fenders. There's a little rub on a control arm at full lock and sway bar disconnected. I'm going to do a 1" body lift and get the center skid flat this season. The stock skid hangs down 1-2", so it's a good way to get more clearance where I tend to belly flop on the snow