Alright guys I've never had a build thread on JF before and I've been Jeepless for about 5 years until now so please be kind...
A little background... A few years back I had a WJ that I thought was the baddest thing around... after a couple years and a couple broken shafts I upgraded to a TJ. 5.5" of lift, long arms, locked 44's, blah blah blah. Basically your typical long armed TJ dedicated off-roader that wasn't as nice as I wanted it to be.
After playing around for a few years I moved on to Diesel trucks, Cummins to be specific. I've had quite a few still DD one which will be the Tow pig.
Onto the JEEP!
I've been looking on and off for the past couple years...specifically for a TJ Rubicon. In my pea brain I've always wanted one and still think its a great starting platform for a new build.
Low and Behold I found a 2004 Rubicon 5sp 124k miles street queen. Not perfect but not bad. Your typical sketchy craigslist find in the great state of NY. I drove 1.5 hours to see this thing, trailer and cash along for the ride. When I finally arrived it was even sketchier than I had anticipated. No big deal, I was on a mission! Turns out the ad was a bit misleading...said it had a new clutch and both tops. No soft top to be had and a jeep that I couldn't test drive because "the clutch was shot". So I proceeded with negotiations and got what I thought was a steal on it. I have a bit of mechanical knowledge so I wasn't too worried about the clutch and other minor issues I picked up on. A little ingenuity and I drove it onto the trailer and headed back to the armpit of America...NJ.
Here she is on the new PJ trailer...
And home in the driveway...
Alright so onto the build plans...
LCOG dual purpose crawler / streetable jalopy. I was originally planning on long arms and 38's. Basically following my buddy Steve with TNT's Lo Rider build. Plans are slightly changing after reading a couple other build threads. My plan is to have something I can jump in and drive and 1+ hours on the highway as well as something that's going to perform offroad. While building I plan to keep it on the road and out of the garage as much as possible...planning to wheel with it as much as I can throughout the build with the first trip planned for September! Should be a fairly fast paced build so hopefully I get a couple guys who are interested!
Update on the POS rubi with the bum clutch... I tore into it on Monday to figure out what was going on. In preparation for the project at hand I ordered a new set of Hydros as well as a Luk clutch.
Here's what I found...
So that's why the clutch didn't work! Apparently the previous owner just kept driving...I cant imagine the noises this thing made. Now I know there are plenty of awesome female drivers...however the previous owner was not one of them.
Out with the old, in with the new! Took her for a spin and all is good! Oh except for the brakes...they suck. Tonight's project, new master cylinder and a couple braided stainless lines.
That's all the pictures I've taken so far...waiting on some parts to come in now.
Parts Ordered...
JKS body lift and motor mount lift
Savvy Aluminum Control Arms
RC 2.5" Springs
Rokmen coil relocation stuff
Bestop Trektop NX
and some other little odds and ends
...
Oh and a set of 37" BFG KM2's and 17" Trail Ready Beadlocks
Im thinking about getting with a couple local Jeep clubs... Anybody familiar with anything in North NJ?
Please leave questions, comments, and whatever bs you want...It'll keep me motivated to continue the thread!
A little background... A few years back I had a WJ that I thought was the baddest thing around... after a couple years and a couple broken shafts I upgraded to a TJ. 5.5" of lift, long arms, locked 44's, blah blah blah. Basically your typical long armed TJ dedicated off-roader that wasn't as nice as I wanted it to be.
After playing around for a few years I moved on to Diesel trucks, Cummins to be specific. I've had quite a few still DD one which will be the Tow pig.
Onto the JEEP!
I've been looking on and off for the past couple years...specifically for a TJ Rubicon. In my pea brain I've always wanted one and still think its a great starting platform for a new build.
Low and Behold I found a 2004 Rubicon 5sp 124k miles street queen. Not perfect but not bad. Your typical sketchy craigslist find in the great state of NY. I drove 1.5 hours to see this thing, trailer and cash along for the ride. When I finally arrived it was even sketchier than I had anticipated. No big deal, I was on a mission! Turns out the ad was a bit misleading...said it had a new clutch and both tops. No soft top to be had and a jeep that I couldn't test drive because "the clutch was shot". So I proceeded with negotiations and got what I thought was a steal on it. I have a bit of mechanical knowledge so I wasn't too worried about the clutch and other minor issues I picked up on. A little ingenuity and I drove it onto the trailer and headed back to the armpit of America...NJ.
Here she is on the new PJ trailer...
And home in the driveway...
Alright so onto the build plans...
LCOG dual purpose crawler / streetable jalopy. I was originally planning on long arms and 38's. Basically following my buddy Steve with TNT's Lo Rider build. Plans are slightly changing after reading a couple other build threads. My plan is to have something I can jump in and drive and 1+ hours on the highway as well as something that's going to perform offroad. While building I plan to keep it on the road and out of the garage as much as possible...planning to wheel with it as much as I can throughout the build with the first trip planned for September! Should be a fairly fast paced build so hopefully I get a couple guys who are interested!
Update on the POS rubi with the bum clutch... I tore into it on Monday to figure out what was going on. In preparation for the project at hand I ordered a new set of Hydros as well as a Luk clutch.
Here's what I found...
So that's why the clutch didn't work! Apparently the previous owner just kept driving...I cant imagine the noises this thing made. Now I know there are plenty of awesome female drivers...however the previous owner was not one of them.
Out with the old, in with the new! Took her for a spin and all is good! Oh except for the brakes...they suck. Tonight's project, new master cylinder and a couple braided stainless lines.
That's all the pictures I've taken so far...waiting on some parts to come in now.
Parts Ordered...
JKS body lift and motor mount lift
Savvy Aluminum Control Arms
RC 2.5" Springs
Rokmen coil relocation stuff
Bestop Trektop NX
and some other little odds and ends
...
Oh and a set of 37" BFG KM2's and 17" Trail Ready Beadlocks
Im thinking about getting with a couple local Jeep clubs... Anybody familiar with anything in North NJ?
Please leave questions, comments, and whatever bs you want...It'll keep me motivated to continue the thread!
Project... LCOG TJ Rubicon ... 1/4 life Crisis
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