[00JGC00]

Summary:

Current Mods (some aren't really "mods"):

• K&N Filter
• Bug Guard
• License Plate Tint Plate Thing
• Bull Guard
• 100W Off-Road Lights
• Hard-Wired Radar Detector
• Oil Catch Can
• Homemade (partially) CF hitch cover
• CF light covers
• OEM Cargo Cover
• LED License Plate & Parking Lights
• '01 White-Faced Gauges
• Locking Gas Cap
• Darker Tint (5%)
• 2nd Set of Fogs
• Tru-Cool Tranny Cooler
• 45RFE to 545RFE flash
• Operational GTP hood vents
• CB w/PA speaker
• Upgraded Double Cardan/U-Joint Front DS
• Upgraded Dash Speakers
• 4.5" Hybrid Lift: (Front: Zone 4" coils with KOR 3/4" spacers, Rear - IRO 4.5" HD coils, Zone Shocks, LCA's, - JKS BPE's, Adjustable Track Bar, - KOR SS)
• A-Arm Spacer
• 32" Treadwright MTR's on 17 x 8" MB Motoring Blitz Wheels
• Custom Tire Carrier
• LED Tail Lights
• Fire Extinguisher
• Custom Rock Sliders
• Rubicon Express Adjustable Front UCA's
• Aux MP3 Jack
• JKS Quicker Discos
• Bumpstop Extensions
• Spidertrax 1.25" Wheel Spacers

Repairs:

• TPS
• Starter
• Idler Pulley
• Driver Front CV Axle (Thanks, Arlo!) (Twice!)
• New Battery
• New Radiator
• Two Rear Driver Side Exhaust Manifold Bolts Replaced
• New Fan Clutch
• New Front DS
• Rear D44 spider gears and carrier replaced
• New SS
• New Rear UCA Ball Joint
• New Fan Belt
• New U Joints
• Front Pass Window Regulator Econo-Fix

Project/Toy Wish List:

• Bumpers
• Adj CA's
• 3" Exhaust
• RB1 Upgrade
• Long Arms
• Train Horn
• Stealth Sub Box
• Upgrade Calipers/Brakes
• New Speakers
• De-Badge?
• Window Visors
• Rear Addco

SPECIAL THANKS!
(In no particular order)

***John aka 311WJ***
***Justin aka TuffJeeper***
***Matt aka 801DubJay***
***Kade aka skullysXJ***
***Mike Tolman aka "Bish"***
***Cole aka Volcom02Wj***
***Travis aka plrbear***
***Tyler aka CrawlerReady***
***Sam aka smunns***


Index

December 2011 Grand Cherokee of the Month!

Building (The Life):

Oil Catch Can
CV Axle Replacement
New Tint
2nd Set of Fogs
Build Sheet
2" BB Install
Headlight Restoration
New Decals
Hood Vents
Tinted Tails
CB Install
Front DS Upgrade
New Tweeters
Tranny Cooler Leak Repair
Broken Diff & My First DW
4" Lift Installed with New Wheels!
Kevin's Offroad Steering Stabilizer
Custom Tire Carrier
32" Treadwrights Mounted
New LED Tail Lights
Fire Extinguisher
LED Rear Blinkers
Custom Rock Sliders
Rubicon Express Front UCA's
Aux MP3 Jack


Wheeling, Camping, Etc (The Times):

Topaz Mountain
Tibble Fork Res
May '10 UJC Social and wheeling
Rattlesnake Run 5/10
June '10 UJC Social & Wheeling
Mini Grand Slam (5-Mile) 7/10
Flaming Gorge 8/10
UJC Camp - Little Moab 8/10
Ghost Town Expedition 11/10
Snow Wheeling 12/10
The B Vids
More Pics from "The B"
Canyonlands Camp 5/11
Ghost Town Expedition 11/11

The rig:

2000 Grand Cherokee Limited 4.7L Quadra Drive

This is a few months after we bought her:


We (me and my now wife) bought this Jeep May-June of '08 with 52K miles on her. I thought that was pretty darn good for being a 2000.

The Jeep was originally my wife's vehicle and this was mine:



Yep, that's my baby and I've had a lot of fun with that thing. Well once we got married, it seemed my wife opted to start driving my car everywhere and I was left with her Jeep. She also never refers to it as her Jeep, but "our" Jeep. So whatever, that just means I get to play around with it and mod it.

[00JGC00]

Well that first year for Christmas I thought it would be awfully thoughtful of me to get my soon to be wife some toys for her Jeep. (Neither one of us had ever owned a Jeep before). So I asked her what she wanted and she said she wanted a black bull guard, some 100W off-road lights, bug guard, and license plate tint thing. You should have seen the looks on her friend's faces when they heard what I gave her for Christmas. "He gave you what!?"






Then for a long time nothing happened because we were completely devoted to wedding stuff.

Then May of 2009, we got new tires! Wranger MT/R's 245/75/16 which, as far as I'm concerned, is considered a lift because it had 235/70/16's on it when we bought it!

Pics of the tires are forthcoming...


My wife decided that for the time that we own this Jeep, she wants to do a black/white theme. I thought that carbon fiber, carefully used, could add a nice touch. (I'm being careful not to make it look riced out).
So I decided to see if a carbon fiber hitch cover was out there. I could not find one in the entire universe that was actually real. They were all imitation carbon fiber appearance. No good. So I made my own!





Here's one I did with plain weave:



And here's another one I tried with 2x2 twill:



I'm pretty pleased with how those turned out. I made a few to sell on ebay and sold one, but it never went anywhere so I pretty much stopped. I want to make one with 4x4 twill black and white carbon fiber because I think that would look sick! It'd match too.

Right now I'm working on getting some '01 white-faced gauges! They should be here today!

Well, that's pretty much good for now.

Well right as soon as I posted that, the doorbell rang!



I got a set of these from another JF member who practically gave them to me for free. (Thanks again Jerry!) Well when I got them the fuel gauge wasn't working. So I improvised:



I finally found another JF member who had some (thanks again Kenny!) and now the circle is complete:



So now I have two spare instrument cluster assemblies, a full set of black gauges and a spare 3/4 set of white gauges!

[00JGC00]

Oh, and while I was out there putting the gauges in, I snapped pics of the tires. Nothing spectacular, but you get the idea. Once it warms up I'll clean it up real nice and have a sexy photo-shoot.

[00JGC00]

We went camping to Topaz Mountain and took my nephew and our friend's daughter. Here they are in the WJ :




Also took the Jeep up to Skyline Drive and did some light wheeling up there. I was stupid and didn't take any pics of the Jeep in action. Oh well. It was fun and the view was amazing:

[00JGC00]

Here's some pics from my "Dual Catch Can Mod." I posted these in some other's threads, but here they are anyway. I'm surprised at how well they work!

[Mike97ZJ]

Looks good! That's a really clean looking Dub! I always liked them in white, I think your wife is on to a winner with the black/white theme.

And good work with the hitch covers, very cool! I have no idea what's involved with working with that stuff, but could you wrap some interior parts in it for accents? Like the bezels around the door handles and vents, things like that?

And as you've found, you don't need to lift them sky high to go out and have a good time offroad. Good tires ansd a little common sense go a long way. I love that pic of the mountains, btw. That must have been a great day. Makes me want to move out west.

[00JGC00]

Hey thanks!

Yeah, the CF isn't easy to deal with. I think I made about six or seven covers with two different molds before one actually came out decent. It is a lot of work and I have new respect for anyone who can make CF parts look nice. That's another reason why I gave up on selling them. No one wanted to pay for the time, effort, and materials (especially) that went in to one of those things. I don't really blame anyone though; I would've never guessed until I actually made something myself.
You can do the wrap method, but it's just not as clean, nice, and it makes the parts bigger. The best way is to make a mold of the part you want and then just make a whole new part out of CF. It is A LOT of work, but it's the best way to do it I think. So for the interior accents, I would ideally like to get the woodgrain pieces from a junk yard, make molds, and then go that route. Reason being is the parts you use to make the molds usually get a little roughed up.

I REALLY wish I would have photo'd or video'd the hill I went up at Topaz Mountain. I was on two wheels many times, going over rocks, scratched the bull guard a little, and was rubbing the inside of my wheel-wells. I just went slow and easy, and had no damage to anything. It was a blast. I LOVE how lifts look, but I just can't bring myself to do it because of all the potential issues they cause. Trust me, I've done my homework on that one because I really wanted to for a while. I don't know. If money ever just flows from the heavens and I have all the cash I'd want to fix problems then I just might break and do it, who knows. In the meantime, I have no plans for a lift.

[Mike97ZJ]

Sounds like you did just fine without a lift. Maybe invest in some skids, if you don't have them, and a good set of shocks and call it a day.

And yeah, the CF sounds like a PITA. Kudos to you for having the ambition/patience to do that project.

[00JGC00]

Originally Posted by Mike97ZJ

Maybe invest in some skids, if you don't have them, and a good set of shocks and call it a day.

I'm actually totally open to that. What do you recommend?

[Greengc4x4]

Factory skids and MX6 adjustable shocks.

[JJAMISON_]

yep sounds like a good combo if you aren't going ape **** on a trail. light use the factory skids are great.

[GraKee99]

I would recommend some rock sliders too, even for just light stuff as the WJ rocker panel is kind of low.

[00JGC00]

I finally got all the tools together and tackled the CV axle. Last fall I was changing the oil and saw that the boot had a leak in it. Thanks to this thread I was able to replace it on my own:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/how-replace-axle-shaft-wheel-hub-bearing-assembly-w-pics-377208/

Thanks again for the write-up Arlo!

These were taken with my phone, so sorry they're not the best:



Here's the new axle:



I went an got an impact wrench and it zipped the hub nut right off no prob!:




Taking the caliper off:


While trying to take those hub bolts off I broke a socket:


The hub and rotor were stuck on there really good and it took a fair amount of convincing to get those suckers off. When I fnally did, the rotor and the hub stayed stuck together:





I tried smacking on one of the wheel studs and it popped out of the hub. I was then able to spray some PB blaster (love that stuff) in between the hub and the rotor via the stud hole. I let that sit for a bit and was finally able to separate the rotor and the hub. I then popped the stud back in the hub and all was good:




New and old axles:



When I saw the crack in the boot, I put a piece of duct tape over it where it stayed all winter to buy me some time until I could replace the axle. I love duct tape.



This was invaluable when it came time to torque the hub bolts:



New axle installed and hub put back on:



Rotor and caliper installed:



Mission Accomplished:

[00JGC00]

Originally Posted by Mike97ZJ

Maybe invest in some skids, if you don't have them..........

These are the factory skids right? I wasn't sure if I had them or not, but it looks like I do?

[clgielin]

Nice to see someone else in the area actually take a WJ off pavement!