I was 18 when i bought lil old rusty red Caroline after flipping my XJ that winter.. i needed something fast sense i did not have a daily driver but something that could still go threw Iowa snow! so i hoped on Craigslist and searched the wranglers in my area. i found this Yj in WI about 3 hours from my house. so i jumped in the truck and headed up. When i get there i saw a tired looking Yj with the tranny hanging under neither.. rusted out wheels.. 2 front bald tires.. and no working doors. one good thing.. It was a hard top! It was also a 4.0 auto.. i would perfer stick but i needed it. so i bought it for 1,200$.. It had 138k miles on her..
I was a little nervous to drive it all the way home.. but figured it would b my time to see what all was wrong with this abused little Yj. the 4X4 worked well.. i had to plow 6 inches of snow all the way home on the interstate.
Heres some pics of when i first got her home and in My dads shed.
Over the next week i did the Basics.. Rewelded the motormount that was broken from the frame.. cut out the bolts rusted into the frame that were suppose to b holding the tranny up and repalaced the PVC valve on the top of the engine.. Boom! no more check engine light!
I drove it stock for a few weeks thinking i was going to just sell the thing in the summer anyways.. But had to much fun and decided it was going to b my next project
My buddy and i drove around alot in the winter and he was having so much fun he bought a Cheepo 1976 Cj5. IT had a 304 with a 3spd trail tranny. here we are about to go down a LVLB road.. it was about 30 degrees out and yea he has only as bikini top
Ended up not likeing the fender job i did so i went to the local metal shop and bought some raw dimondplate steal. took it home cut and welded some new fenders, bought a no name 8500lbs wench
when i went mudding my feet always were going threw the carpet so i pulled it out to find this!
no floorboards!
went on to Quadratec and bought some OEM fit floor boards.. factory fit and welded them in. they fit nicely. I was supprised to see how good of condish the rest of the tub was in..
No rust in the entire back end. all new paint. seamed like it had been replaced recently. the R and L were still visible inside Each rear wheelwell
I threw on the Tires and rims from My Zj that i had b4. 18 motometals on 33 BFG all terains
I also painted my hard top black
Next My buddy who works at a body shop was nice enuf to help me do some bondoing on the dents and sand it all down and paint it white.. Got all the paint for free and enuf extra to paint it 3 more times! no need to worry about scratching it in the woods!
I quickly decided it needed new tires so i was looking for some 33x10.50x15's.. but after i scrounged a little more $ i went ahead and ordered 35x12.50.15's.. i got them.. put them on and orderd a 4" rough country suspention lift cuz the back tires were a inch away from the wheel well. i know i know.. lift 1st but i figured if i was gona buy 4 new tires i mise well get the size i want and see if they fit!
Getting ready to put my 8.8 on.. bought new gearing bearings and seals for the front D30. Next step is to get some new spring and shock mounts and do a SOA!
Did some exhast work today after my stock got ripped apart on a tree stump in the woods! so i got a Magnaflow off my rolled Cherokee 5.9 and took it into the shop and town and had him put new .50 wider tubing from my headers all the way to the exhast and a pump pipe after that. happy with how it sounds so far and now looking for headers
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