I decided to post a long-overdue build thread for my LJ. I've had it for five years now, so it's probably more of a retrospective build than an active one, but I still have some things left to do.
Here it is the day I bought it (Jan 1, 2012). It came with about 72k miles, a 2" Rocky Road Outfitters budget boost, 32" bald tires, and a Rock Hard Sport Cage. I researched for about 18 months before I finally found what I wanted and pulled the trigger.
It was my first Jeep and I wanted to learn to wheel it before I made major changes, so I started light. 32" Duratracs and a hard top were the first order of business. I also stocked up on some standard safety and recovery gear.
Fortune Creek - Lake Gallagher Head
During this time I wheeled it lightly in Washington State. Tahuya, Fortune Creek, and Liberty were all common destinations, but I wanted to expand to tougher areas and that meant I needed sliders. So in spring of 2014 I added Jeeperman sliders and rear bumper w/ tire carrier, sway bar disconnects, and a Rugged Ridge XHD modular front bumper with a Warn M8000 winch.
My adventures expanded to harder trails at Tahuya and Liberty, and new adventures around Naches/Manastash, Evan's Creek, and Surprise Lake. It was around this time that I decided that version 1.0 of my Jeep was largely done. Here's how it stood the day I started the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route with my brand-new Bestop Supertop NX.
Overall, the Jeep did great for only having a 2" lift, but I was wheeling once a month or more and I knew I wanted to take the next step. I'm a meticulous planner, so I pinched pennies and saved while continuing to augment my Jeep. My front tires had been eating my fenders and I knew my eventual long-arm kit would interfere with my frame-mounted Jeeperman sliders, so in the fall of 2014 I decided to pull the trigger on some Metalcloak gear. I started with the arched front fenders with 6" flares, which also meant removing the extended end caps from my modular front bumper.
A few weeks later I did the rear fenders and sliders, but not before wheeling without fenders (which was messy).
I continued to wheel it over the winter and planned version 2.0 for spring of 2015. I was headed to Arizona for a family road trip in May and arranged with some coworkers to go wheeling while I was down there. I wanted to get my upgrade done before I went, but shipping and scheduling challenges conspired against me, so I had to take it as is. That turned out to be a critical problem. After over 1000 highway miles and one day on the Huckberry Powerline Trail I developed a death wobble and my front passenger u-joint blew (taking out the axle shaft) on the freeway a mile from our vacation rental. Being Saturday evening I couldn't get parts until Monday, so it killed our other wheeling plans. I was able to procure front cromoly axle shafts and get them installed, but the death wobble persisted. We tried to limp to our next destination, but in Flagstaff we realized we were in trouble and checked the Jeep into Flagstaff 4x4 for some emergency repairs. They replaced the steering stabilizer and ball joints to fix most of the wobble. A trip to Discount Tire fixed the rest (tire was fatally out of round) and we were on our way back home. Kudos to the great guys at Flagstaff 4x4 who went above and beyond to get us back on the road.
The day after we got back to Seattle I drove it to Northridge 4x4 in Bremerton for a major overhaul. Here it is when I dropped it off.
And here it is when I got it back. I'll call this version 2.0. Upgrades include:
Rock Krawler 3.5" long arm kit
35" BFG MTRs on 15" Method Race beadlocks
Currie steering
Flowmaster exhaust
4.88 gears
Coast 1350 driveshaft
Gussets
Bilstein shocks
It was a whole new Jeep at this point. I was able to take lines I had never considered before. Walker Valley was a brand new playground and I had a blast exploring these new capabilities.
In 2016 I added Metalcoak Corner Guards.
And hit the Rubicon Trail.
And had more fun at Walker Valley.
More recently I swapped the Rugged Ridge XHD bumper for a Metalcloak one.
And that brings us to how it sits today.
I have a blast wheeling it and continue to hit the trails about once a month in the winter and every 2-3 weeks in the summer. I'll post a complete list of upgrades below and maybe some more wheeling pictures. The biggest upgrade left on my list is lighting (6" bar and a pair squares on the A-pillars). Everything else is pretty minor.
Here it is the day I bought it (Jan 1, 2012). It came with about 72k miles, a 2" Rocky Road Outfitters budget boost, 32" bald tires, and a Rock Hard Sport Cage. I researched for about 18 months before I finally found what I wanted and pulled the trigger.
It was my first Jeep and I wanted to learn to wheel it before I made major changes, so I started light. 32" Duratracs and a hard top were the first order of business. I also stocked up on some standard safety and recovery gear.
Fortune Creek - Lake Gallagher Head
During this time I wheeled it lightly in Washington State. Tahuya, Fortune Creek, and Liberty were all common destinations, but I wanted to expand to tougher areas and that meant I needed sliders. So in spring of 2014 I added Jeeperman sliders and rear bumper w/ tire carrier, sway bar disconnects, and a Rugged Ridge XHD modular front bumper with a Warn M8000 winch.
My adventures expanded to harder trails at Tahuya and Liberty, and new adventures around Naches/Manastash, Evan's Creek, and Surprise Lake. It was around this time that I decided that version 1.0 of my Jeep was largely done. Here's how it stood the day I started the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route with my brand-new Bestop Supertop NX.
Overall, the Jeep did great for only having a 2" lift, but I was wheeling once a month or more and I knew I wanted to take the next step. I'm a meticulous planner, so I pinched pennies and saved while continuing to augment my Jeep. My front tires had been eating my fenders and I knew my eventual long-arm kit would interfere with my frame-mounted Jeeperman sliders, so in the fall of 2014 I decided to pull the trigger on some Metalcloak gear. I started with the arched front fenders with 6" flares, which also meant removing the extended end caps from my modular front bumper.
A few weeks later I did the rear fenders and sliders, but not before wheeling without fenders (which was messy).
I continued to wheel it over the winter and planned version 2.0 for spring of 2015. I was headed to Arizona for a family road trip in May and arranged with some coworkers to go wheeling while I was down there. I wanted to get my upgrade done before I went, but shipping and scheduling challenges conspired against me, so I had to take it as is. That turned out to be a critical problem. After over 1000 highway miles and one day on the Huckberry Powerline Trail I developed a death wobble and my front passenger u-joint blew (taking out the axle shaft) on the freeway a mile from our vacation rental. Being Saturday evening I couldn't get parts until Monday, so it killed our other wheeling plans. I was able to procure front cromoly axle shafts and get them installed, but the death wobble persisted. We tried to limp to our next destination, but in Flagstaff we realized we were in trouble and checked the Jeep into Flagstaff 4x4 for some emergency repairs. They replaced the steering stabilizer and ball joints to fix most of the wobble. A trip to Discount Tire fixed the rest (tire was fatally out of round) and we were on our way back home. Kudos to the great guys at Flagstaff 4x4 who went above and beyond to get us back on the road.
The day after we got back to Seattle I drove it to Northridge 4x4 in Bremerton for a major overhaul. Here it is when I dropped it off.
And here it is when I got it back. I'll call this version 2.0. Upgrades include:
Rock Krawler 3.5" long arm kit
35" BFG MTRs on 15" Method Race beadlocks
Currie steering
Flowmaster exhaust
4.88 gears
Coast 1350 driveshaft
Gussets
Bilstein shocks
It was a whole new Jeep at this point. I was able to take lines I had never considered before. Walker Valley was a brand new playground and I had a blast exploring these new capabilities.
In 2016 I added Metalcoak Corner Guards.
And hit the Rubicon Trail.
And had more fun at Walker Valley.
More recently I swapped the Rugged Ridge XHD bumper for a Metalcloak one.
And that brings us to how it sits today.
I have a blast wheeling it and continue to hit the trails about once a month in the winter and every 2-3 weeks in the summer. I'll post a complete list of upgrades below and maybe some more wheeling pictures. The biggest upgrade left on my list is lighting (6" bar and a pair squares on the A-pillars). Everything else is pretty minor.
