[Goobersbro]

I thought I would start another build thread. I deleted my first after life getting busy and just not being able to keep up with it. Well here I am again and this time to stay. I bought the jeep in September of 08. The body was super clean and there was very little rust. I paid 5k for it. It is a 1991 6 cylinder 4.0. It had 147,000 miles on it when I bought it. It was mostly stock except for the
4" procomp lift and the 31" procomp m/ts. I bought the jeep for a daily driver/weekend warrior. My plans for the jeep are to go SOA with 35's, 4.56s gearing, Rear 8.8 with ARB air locker, and front aussie locker. I plan on trying to keep the fenders. I plan on making my front and rear bumpers as well with fabbing some sort of rock sliders that will still look good with the fenders. I was hoping to start my SOA project this winter and have it finished by next summer. Well my engine is on its way out and I have had some other unexpected issues which have put the SOA plans to the back seat. For now I plan on replacing the engine with a remmaned and then start saving again for the SOA. Well here are the pictures of the progress so far

Here is the jeep when I bought it




After owning the jeep For about 4 months I noticed I had huge issues with the steering. It would track straight and then all of a sudden want to go one way or I would turn a corner and after turning the corner I would turn the wheel back straight but it would still try to corner so I would have to turn the opposite way to go straight.... I ended up taking it to a trusted guy at a local front end shop. He told me the ball joints were shot, my steering shaft u joints were shot, my tie rod ends were done, my steering stabalizer was done and I needed to adress the panhard bar. I brought the jeep home and started saving. I decided to go with the rugged ridge HD steering setup. I also decided to throw in an Old Man Emu steering stabalizer. Both of these I have been more than happy with. A lot of people have told me the Rugged ridge has a week set up on the passenger tre and if you break it your screwed but if you just cary a spare like you should its really not that big of a deal. Well at the same time I decided to do all this work to the front axle I decided I should go ahead and throw in the aussie locker. The aussie has been one of the best mods by far. As for the panhard bar I removed it as long as the one in the rear. I also talked my Grandma into buying me some Rough Country quick disconnects. The only thing I regret not doing is replacing the inner seals and the axle U joints : I plan on doing this however when I have the gears installed. I also replaced the u bolt plates. Here are the pics


Yes I put the bolt on the u bolt plate...I just figured I should snap a picture or I would forget but rest assured guys.

I also stripped the axle down to metal and repainted it with some Rustoleum Hammered

The install with the Aussie was super easy. The thing that took the longest was finding one of the little springs my dad dropped

Passenger Tre

Comparison of Stock vs Rugged Ridge


After getting the steering addressed I enjoyed the jeep for a little and then got rite back into it. I decided to tackle the front bumper. So with the help of my dad tack welding and a family friend completing the welding I did it. I started with some 5x3x1/4" steel. More pictures
Everything Removed


Back of the clevis mounts

The end capped it goes straight for 1" then curves towards the center for the remaining 2"s

It test fitted on the jeep and me standing next to the jeep

While building it I decided it would be best to go ahead and build a winch plate and fair lead reinforcer. Well I also decided to ask my parents and Grandma to pitch in and help me buy a XRC8 winch for my graduation present

Also once I got the bumper mounted My dad and myself didn't like the gap inbetween the fender and the bumper so we decided to add some bends. I think they turned out well

[Goobersbro]

Here it is painted and everything mounted up. I never got a picture of the fair lead reinforcer :


I am super happy with how the bumper turned out also tons of credit due to our family friend who did the welds.. He is incredibly talented. So from there I decided to talkle the rear seat area... I found the rear seat useless. unless you were under the age of 4 its just stupid so I removed the seat and seat belts.


I decided to build a storage box for all my gear and also mount my hi lift to the top of it. Didn't really get any pictures why I was buidling it but here is the finished product. Underneath it

Above picture with tail gait closed

I used a 4x1/2" bolt 3 washers on top two on bottom and a wing nut to mount it on each side. It works great IMO.
Here is a picture looking back at it

Down from between the seats

And a side picture

I am very happy with how the box turned out. It cost me around 33 dollars total. So for that price it was awesome. I got all the wood for free. I work for a contractor and my dad is also a Contractor/Electrician so wood and some steel is free. So far the jeep has been turning out great except for the engine dieing. I'm in the process of buidling a rear bumper. I have the bottom part done just working on the swing out. I have our welding friend machining a part rite now for us for the swing out. Once he is done I will be able to complete the upper part and then be finished with the rear. This build will move slow as I am only 17 and saving for other things in the future outside of the jeep. I have close to 900 put towards the remmaned rite now so I should have the money before too long.


Also a forum member on here was more than generous and gave me some 1/2" lift boomerang shackles. They have performed amazing. The ride was a lot smoother and now more having to worry about inverting shackles.

here is a picture of them primed.



And here are just some random pictures of wheeling and posing.

old picture from the first day I drove it
and random wheeling

[8nine-sahara]

can't wait to see it soa

[Goobersbro]

Originally Posted by 8nine-sahara

can't wait to see it soa

yea Me neither...its going to be a minute or two though because of the engine and what not... I got my price quote today from a vendor on here here is the price for the gears and rear arb...

D30 4.56 Yukon Gears--$125
D30 Master Install--$93
D30 Carrier--$49
8.8 4.56 Yukon Gears--$165
8.8 Master Install--$76
8.8 ARB--$726
CA Tax--$95.64 (ships from CA)
Shipping--$30

Total--$1359.64

And I figure another 1600 for

Bilstein shocks
RE 1.5" springs
Rocky Road High steer
and other stuff that goes along with it
as well with the SYE and Driveshaft

[Mitchness]

Good mild build so far.

What're you gonna do for rocker protection?

[Goobersbro]

Originally Posted by Mitchness

Good mild build so far.

What're you gonna do for rocker protection?

Thanks
not quite sure what I'm going to do yet, I'm thinking some kind of like 2x1 or
1x1 square tubing that sticks out like 3/4's of an inch past my current rocker. I know on the Last wheeling trip I got a little tippy and ended up clutching instead of gassing and slammed the passenger rocker into a rock it held up pretty good for as hard as it hit but it definitly needs some protection, and I think if it sticks out a little it will give me extra protection. If it was a normal jeep I would just do some angle iron and go up the side but I can't do that with this fiberglass/plastic stuff

[tomesd]

Looks great! I like the front bumper.

[ksheffer08]

I used to think the renegade packages were almost as bad as the square headlights.... then i saw this... now i want to adapt one to my CJ



(the owner runs JCR offroad)

anyways my point is... you should do that ^ if you look close you can see he integrated tube fenders too

[Goobersbro]

that think is stinken sweet

[Plato2k5]

Originally Posted by ksheffer08

Always liked Monkey's rig. Only renegade I ever liked

[93jeepyj]

I'm like that bumper man, that came out sweet.

[Hurley91]

Looks real good man. I got to practice my welding so i can make a bumper and rocker guards.

[Brandon_YJ]

Looks good man, looks real good.
Nice to see how everything is coming together for you.

Oh, and you're welcome.

[Plato2k5]

I am glad you did not keep the front bumper straight. I saw that and went EWWWW, than saw the other pic and said AWSOME! lol

[TexasPigHunter]

yeah good looking bumper and Jeep, keep the Renegade alive!