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The Billzcat1 Build Thread

135K views 571 replies 47 participants last post by  ChrisHager 
#1 ·
I guess it's time for a build thread...

I bought a ZJ 3 years ago just as a "get me around in the winter" and "get me up to the pass" rig. Before that, I was not into Jeeps at all. The ZJ worked out so well, that when I was getting REALLY tired of my DD (a horribly expensive-to-maintain BMW) I said "What if my ZJ was a little nicer? What if the A/C worked? What if it had more power?" So, the WJ came to mind!

I like the Grand Cherokees. Yeah, a wagon driver! I like that you can fit a ton of stuff inside, that you stay dry, its not so easy to break in as a Wrangler, and they are pretty darn comfortable. The WJs were the last Grand Cherokee to have solid axles front and rear, so obvious choice there! I opted for the Overland model, which not only has all the luxury goodies but also all the off-road goodies too. I picked up a 2003 specifically because it has the most-common front end (they facelifted in 04) so replacement parts are easier to come by if there's some damage. Also, 2003 has the LATCH system which is really important for me for the car seat....as well as having a few extra strong places to strap gear down to! :p

This WJ was kind of a spur-of-the-moment deal. I was originally looking at an almost-identical WJ only with Upcountry, Hammerhead wheels, and no RB1. That deal fell through because they wouldn't work with me on my trade-in. After that deal fell through I came home discouraged because I had missed out on a couple great WJs that were sold out from under me as well. But I had a crazy idea and searched the local Jeep dealer and they had this one. I bought it not 4 hours after leaving the other dealer who wouldn't make a deal. It had the Rogue Chrome wheels added by the first owner as Mopar Accessories as well as the RB1. I never got the RB1 to work correctly for navigation, but I don't think I'm missing much in a 9 year old nav system.

I transferred over some of my accessories from the ZJ, such as the Midland CB radio, MV-50 air compressor, 400W inverter. I started with a Garmin Nuvi 205 nav but I found it lacking off-road. I have since upgraded to a Nuvi 500 nav which is a little better and does have TOPO built in, but it's really a multi-purpose Nav, not a dedicated off-road nav like the 60CSX. I also ditched the home-made rear D-ring and added a Smittybilt D-ring receiver in the hitch which is a really nice unit. I like that the base is cast, not welded tube. It's heavy with tons of material there.

Some early/stock pics:

Just brought 'er home last August


New tires and bedlined rock rails


One of my favorite pics when stock. This was loaded down for wheeling + camping plus sagging. It looks lowered! Definitely station-wagon-esque.


Another favorite when stock
 
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#2 ·
I took my ZJ wheeling a few times stock in 2010, so I knew a bit of what I was getting into. My ZJ wound up with a bent tie rod, munched front bumper, a few rocker dents, and a leaking differential cover. I was wheeling it totally stock with good ATs and doing mild/medium trails. I also knew it was very prone to dragging the transfer case and hitch. Before I did anything serious, I decided the WJ needed a lift.

In January, I decided to do a 2" lift and made a big thread about it in the WJ Tech forum to clear up some questions about the 2" spring lift. You can find that thread here: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f310/comprehensive-bds-fatbobs-2-lift-thread-1154164/

One major determination I made was that the OE spring isolators were completely shot and this was the cause of the saggy WJ appearance. I recommend to EVERYONE that they replace spring isolators with a lift. There's no sense in installing a lift over stock broken parts.

The lift I went with is the 2" BDS spring set from Fat Bob's Garage and Bilstein 5100 shocks from Kolak. I eventually decided to add a 3/4" spacer up front to help level things out and I am glad I did because I later installed a front hitch and multi-mount winch and the suspension squishes down a little with the added weight. When I added the spacers, I also added JKS Quicker Disconnects because when I wheeled at The Slab (an ORV "area"), I couldn't get one of the OE sway bar links off without really crawling around in the dirt. No problem in the garage, not as fun in the dirt.

Adding to the suspension, I recently added in a JKS track bar since usually around 3" is where the track bar is needed to re-center the axle. I also added a JKS tie rod and Riddler differential cover for added front end protection. I got a new camera for some of these pictures and it really sucked, so I apologize for the slight fuzziness. I took it back today and got a much better camera, so no more blurry pics going forward.

Some pics!

Stock height:


2" Lift + Bilsteins


Adding 3/4" spacers and JKS QDs


Riddler Differential Cover (although I used a Lubelocker, not the RTV)


Painted and installed


Clearance on OEM tie rod


JKS Tie Rod installed


JKS Track Bar installed


Flexing in my driveway with the new parts installed.






 
#3 ·
So with the summer coming up and my preference for small-group wheeling, I decided I should get a winch. We also go camping and hit FS roads and I wanted a little insurance in case I get stuck and there's no easy recovery to be had.

Problem: All the winch bumpers for the WJ are expensive, huge, and heavy. There's only a few I like and I just couldn't shell out a G to get a steel bumper PLUS buy a winch and wiring. Those Wrangler guys sure have the advantage on this one! Oddly enough, the cheapest way to mount a winch on the WJ is to make it a portable/multi-mount winch. I had originally planned on picking up a junkyard hitch and having a buddy customize it to fit the WJ. With the way work was going for the both of us, it wasn't going to happen any time soon so I picked up the Warn front hitch, Harbor Freight mount, and a Smittybilt XRC8. To make connection quick and easy, I added quick connects and wired it up with 2ga wiring from a local marine/auto wiring supplier.

Again, sorry for the crappy pics, this was with that terrible camera I got rid of.

Convert battery to marine terminals to make connection easier/better.


Wiring harness on rig:




Warn hitch installed. Unfortunately you have to remove the front skid to make the Warn hitch fit.


Trimming is required! For one, there is no way to insert/remove the hitch pin and for two the bumper won't go on all the way.




Wiring harness wrapped in friction tape to prevent abrasion.


Side profile
 
#4 ·
Unfortunately since I purchased in August, I wasn't "ready to wheel" (maintenance done, good tires) until November and most everything was closed for the winter.

Some road into nowhere in Entiat-Chelan


Airing down at The Slab


Mirror shot
















The next day - an overland journey... too bad there were only two of us, no one really taking pics of the action.






My buddy's Disco 1



Melty ice is no fun on the downhill.




A snowy camping trip. Too snowy, actually.
 
#6 ·
Very nice I like the progress your Jeep has made. Its basically the model for me to build mine off of right now lol. That pic with your WJ coming to the crest of the hill is awesome too btw
 
#9 ·
How much do your tires stuff? I was told 265x65x17s would fit with very minor trimming, trying to figure out what I can run without messin with the bumper noticeably
 
#8 ·
That's just beautiful. I love what you've done with your Jeep. Just the subtle touches. Is the front fascia something you did yourself, the black paint to off-set that area? I like that a lot. That silver is an awesome color, also. I like the slight lift while maintaining road-handling and comfort. How do you like the Goodyear Silent Armor? I almost got some, but the Hankooks were quite a bit cheaper at the time. So far so good with them. They're tough and haven't had an issue in the 1 year + I've had them.
 
#11 ·
I can stuff them pretty far into the fenders. I was thinking wider but I'm one of those types that wants to keep their spare in the spare tire well so when the time comes, I'll be getting 245/70-17.

As for the Silent Armors, I like them. They aren't as silent as their name would imply, but they have treated me pretty well in every condition. I ran aired down on heavy snow on the street and climbed some crazy unplowed hills. Off-road I haven't had any issues with chunking, flats, popped beads, anything. Of course they aren't phenomenal in mud, but I'm not a big mud guy.

The fascia is just the stock Overland piece trimmed to fit the Warn front hitch. They are stock with grey textured plastic in the center so that it doesn't scratch as easily when you run over really light stuff like grass, sage brush, etc. I wanted to bedline black it to match the rock rails but the masking was going to be a real PITA so I put off that project.
 
#12 ·
Looks nice man. Still waiting on the funds for those shafts. I will be getting with you soon about them.
 
#14 ·
Aw eff. Wrong cat haha. I was thinking planetcat not billzcat. Sorry about that.
 
#16 ·
Recent progress:

Re-attached the rear sway bar with some home-made rear sway bar end links. While I never had any specific problems with it totally gone, I wanted to see if I liked it with the rear sway in with proper length end links. I do! I would say that this is how I rank the rear sway bar, from best to worst: sway bar w/ proper length end links --> no sway bar --> sway bar with wrong length end links.

Up front, I had slight clunking from the JKS Quicker Disconnects and I had tried everything possible to correct it. I heard from some folks that Rough Country QDs were clunk-free and a simpler design. I got those in yesterday and they are defective right out of the box. I have a number of complaints about the design. For one, the torque specs listed in the instructions are much too high for the grade of hardware used. The hardware is of such low quality that while attempting to torque to the spec indicated, I pulled the mounting stud through a 1/2" washer and crushed the lower rolled steel sleeve/spacer. I partially rectified this using some leftover grade 8 washers and a lower torque spec. Where the upper stud bolts to the sway bar, you have a 3/8" stud (maybe 7/16") going through a 9/16" hole. There's lots of room around the stud and NO washers to distribute load. I had to add washers here as well. My main complaint: the bushing on one side is defective right out of the box, as in plain-old-doesn't-fit defective. It is loose and sloppy and surprise surprise, it's a clunk factory. RC has a replacement part on the way, but based on the lack of intelligent design and the low quality control, I will probably avoid RC parts in the future.

I do like some of its features though, and here's a break down of pros/cons over the JKS QDs.

Pros:

  • Mounted on inner side of sway bar = more clearance (JKS QDs rubbed on the driver's side)
  • Bolted to the sway bar = can't be lost or stolen
  • Includes mounting tabs to secure end links when discoed
  • Automotive ball joint and rubber bushings provide quieter operation than JKS poly spherical bearings
  • Much cheaper
Cons:

  • Not as easily accessed for disconnect
  • Quality of hardware is much lower
  • Quality of retaining pins is lower
  • Design is much smaller/thinner/weaker than JKS
  • Length is not adjustable over any usable range.
  • Length is too long for 3-4" lift (even though it "fits" 3-6" lift)
  • Mounting tabs only work correctly with 6" of lift.
While waiting for my replacement bushing to show up, I am running disconnected. I can't stand the constant clunking. Lo and behold, the mounting tabs are WAY too short for my current lift height, so I fabbed up some small extensions from aluminum stock to lower the tabs to a workable height. This took a little trial and error to find a location that was easy to connect, would not rub the mount at full lock, and would not hit track bar or pitman arm at full stuff/full lock. I'll add pics later, but I am happy with my work.
 
#19 ·
Great buildthread Billzcat1, awsome Jeep. 2Thumbsup!
 
#21 ·
Pictures of the RC vs JKS and new bracketry requirements.

Assembled JKS vs assembled RC. Note that the JKS is adjusted to the correct length for a 3" lift. The RC does not have any adjustment shorter and only 1" of acceptable adjustment longer.



RC end links installed. Note the small black bracket between the pitman arm and track bar which is where you secure the end link when discoed. At this short of a lift, moving the sway bar up an additional 3" when discoed is very difficult.



New aluminum bracket extension installed! In this position it clears the pitman arm and nothing is really close when flexed. The brackets reuse the motor mount bolts that pass through the frame rail. Note that in this position, the sway bar does not need to move to connect to the mounting bracket when discoed. Also, you can see in this image (normal ride height) that the sway bar is up around 45º and should be around 30º for optimum ride and performance.



Passenger side bracket.

 
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