Highschool_WJ build thread

3572 Views 23 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Highschool_WJ, Nov 29, 2015

Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · Oct 8, 2014

3

After owning my 99 wj (with selec-trac, inline 6, 242 trans, dana 30 front 35 rear, tow package) for 4 years I've decided it's time I give it a build thread, especially with the mods I plan on doing in the next few months

When i first got it back in December of 2010 it had 114k on it and was your typical 99 grand cherokee laredo with the mopar tow package added after the po bought it in 99

This was the weekend of 10/04/2014 (my wj parked next to the 2012 kk my mom bought that same weekend)

and this is the winter of 2011 after I added some wind visors to the window and being a highschool student thought it was "cool" to add some led accents in the empty fog light holes

I plan on building it into an overland-offroad style daily driver as time and money is available as its always tied up in school and my other works in progress

List of mods
Finished:
-IRO 2" Coil Springs
-IRO HD adjustable control arms, front upper/lower and rear lower
-IRO extended sway bar links
-Rough country leveling kit
-OME 10mm spacers
-Stillen brake rotors
-carbon metallic brake pads
-custom hidden switch mount (ottratw switches)
-KC slimlite fog lights
-4" Anzo 55w HID's
-Rigid Industries Dually spot beam
-4x4 Fabworks Dually /D2 in bumper mounting tabs
-KOR roof mounted light bar
-Fawkes Fab stand alone shackle tabs
-Kenwood stereo, speakers, and 10"sub
-new oem front bumper cover with fog light mounts
-removable cb under front seat
-LED high mount brake light
-Front Upper Adjustable Control arms
-MOOG Trail Boss steering stabilizer
-Front Suspension skid plate
-Transfer Case skid plate
-Full LED interior
-Auxiliary 10" electric cooling fan
-Headlights from a limited model
-32% tint on front windows
-Overland Rock Rails
-JKS Adjustable Track Bar

In progress:

Planned:
-32" goodyear mtr's with Kevlar on listed suspension mods (trimming will come where needed)
-rear bumper and tire carrier
-Corbeau Baja RS seats
-4 point harness
-Tube doors (Valhalla Fab)

Maintenance Record:
-Ball Joints
-Tie Rod Ends
-Sway bar links and bushings, front and rear
-hub assemblies
-rear axle shaft, bearings, and seals
-cv axles
-rezeppa driveshaft rebuild
-Crankshaft Position Sensor
-Throttle Position Sensor
-New lead battery cable ends crimped on
-Monroe Sensa-trac Shocks
-Coil Spring Isolators
-Rear ball joint
-Rear upper control arm bushings
-Heater Core
-Track bar (JKS upgrade)
-Master Brake Cylinder

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1 - 20 of 24 Posts

Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #2 · Oct 8, 2014

4

bumper

In 2012 I was in a very low speed fender bender and I decided it was time to get rid of the beat up old bumper cover and purchased a new one from moparpartsoverstock.com and also upgraded to one that had the mounting for factory fogs

And to top off the new bumper I got a new turn signal stock w/fog light switch and fog light relay to keep everything as clean as possible and went with spyder halo/fog lights

The halos were wired with a relay triggered by the running lights, and I was able to tuck/ zip tie all the wiring to the back of the bumper light mount

I have since ditched these lights as one halo went out as well as one bulb and purchased a new set of factory fog housings.

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Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 10, 2014

JEEP thing

Now we can fast forward to 2013 when I joined jeep forum and let the modding begin.

My goal after spending days going through the threads on the forum led me to building an overland/dd rig and it is still a work in progress.

I started with the basic daily driver needs, ripped out the old stereo and put a new kenwood deck in with pioneer 6x9s and kendwood 6.5s along with a 10in kenwood sub

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Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 10, 2014

The next major improvement I made was putting new spring isolators, shocks, and a rough country leveling kit as the front end sits much to low from the factory.

http://www.roughcountry.com/jeep-suspension-lift-kit-1060.html

Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 10, 2014

2

Recovery Points

My WJ had the tow package on it when I bought it, but I came to find I was really lacking in the front when I got stuck in a ditch on my way home from school one night and had to have a wrecker come pull me out as I had no recovery points on the front

After searching everywhere for a set of factory tow hooks, I decided to bite the bullet and pay up for the fawkes fab stand alone shackleshttp://www.fawkesfab.com/FMD/off-road/products.htm. Best decision I have made with this jeep.

As you can see they bolt right up where the factory hooks would with very minor modification, I had to enlarge one square hole in the unibody and flatten the ridge on the bottom of the bumper slightly (also sucked up some when I tightened all the bolts down).

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Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 10, 2014

5

Leds

For a top of the line vehicle back in the day the wj was really lacking in a couple of areas, lighting and factory options.

Full led interior from superbrightleds.com

Led gauges and heater controls, not the best picture but the bulbs are bright white and with the gauges blue filter gives them a light blue color that is much sharper then the factory green

Led turn running and corner lights. The turn signals gave me hyperflash, even with resistors so i opted to leave halogen bulbs in for the turn signals.

In the limited style headlights (mine were replaced before I bought it), you can see the halogen turn signal bulb even when its off but the leds just leave the chrome housing visible instead of reflecting the amber bulb and really helped tie in the chrome grille

High-mount tail light

I also found an overhead display with homelink built in at a local junkyard and swapped my basic one out with

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DrGrand

· #7 · Oct 13, 2014

Was the home link swap just plug and play?

Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 13, 2014

DrGrand said:
Was the home link swap just plug and play?

Yep! The unit is all self contained and only has a little three wire connector that is the same across all wjs. You just have to make sure you don't get one that has the tire pressure monitor if your vehicle doesn't have the sensors, as it'll constantly read out the low tire pressure warning if it has that option

airplanes518

· #9 · Oct 16, 2014

nice build

Bear304inc

· #10 · Oct 16, 2014

Nice dude. Keep it up that rig is looking good.

DrGrand

· #11 · Oct 17, 2014

Highschool_WJ said:
Yep! The unit is all self contained and only has a little three wire connector that is the same across all wjs. You just have to make sure you don't get one that has the tire pressure monitor if your vehicle doesn't have the sensors, as it'll constantly read out the low tire pressure warning if it has that option

Awesome I'll need to look through my local junk yard for one now:rofl:

wxmanWJ

· #12 · Oct 22, 2014

Highschool_WJ said:
The next major improvement I made was putting new spring isolators, shocks, and a rough country leveling kit as the front end sits much to low from the factory.

http://www.roughcountry.com/jeep-suspension-lift-kit-1060.html

Any pics from the side showing before/after or at least after installing this? Just to be clear, you don't have a lift right? Just added the front leveling kit after new shocks and isolators?

Love the LED interior pics. On superbrightleds, which color LED did you select? I think "cool white" was available for the festoon-type and all of the 194 applications. I was curious how similar in color all the bulbs ended up looking.

Also, Go Sioux! :thumbsup:

Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 22, 2014

wxmanWJ said:
Any pics from the side showing before/after or at least after installing this? Just to be clear, you don't have a lift right? Just added the front leveling kit after new shocks and isolators? Love the LED interior pics. On superbrightleds, which color LED did you select? I think "cool white" was available for the festoon-type and all of the 194 applications. I was curious how similar in color all the bulbs ended up looking. Also, Go Sioux! :thumbsup:

Unfortunately I don't have any before and after pics of the leveling kit, and no lift yet, just shocks and isolators. As for the leds all the leds I bought are cool white except for the turn signals and heater controls (Amber and uv respectively). The color is very close to the same as long as you buy the same intensities for all the bulbs. My floor lights are a lower intensity and the light is a much softer and less crisp then the overhead lights.

wxmanWJ

· #14 · Oct 22, 2014

Highschool_WJ said:
Unfortunately I don't have any before and after pics of the leveling kit, and no lift yet, just shocks and isolators. As for the leds all the leds I bought are cool white except for the turn signals and heater controls (Amber and uv respectively). The color is very close to the same as long as you buy the same intensities for all the bulbs. My floor lights are a lower intensity and the light is a much softer and less crisp then the overhead lights.

Thanks for the info about the LED's. Do you have a current side profile pic? I'm just curious to see what a WJ with the RC leveling kit but no lift looks like. Thanks!

Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #15 · Oct 23, 2014

2

wxmanWJ said:
Thanks for the info about the LED's. Do you have a current side profile pic? I'm just curious to see what a WJ with the RC leveling kit but no lift looks like. Thanks!

This is the best picture I have of it right now, I plan on taking some more this weekend and will post up a couple of it.

and this (obviously isn't mine) is the closest to the same angle of a stock wj I could find to compare the two

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wxmanWJ

· #16 · Oct 24, 2014

Highschool_WJ said:
This is the best picture I have of it right now, I plan on taking some more this weekend and will post up a couple of it.

Nice! If you have any more that would be great. It looks surprisingly good for stock springs. The new isolators and the front spacer make it look good!

Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #17 · Oct 26, 2014

7

Once I had all my common steering and suspension problems out of the way (ball joints, tie rod ends, cv axles, sway bar bushings and links, steering stabilizer) it was time to do something fun and I picked up a set of 4in anzo HID lights from a friend of mine for only 70 dollars. I decided to go with a roof mounted option and bought kevins off road light bar kevin's off road, along with a set of kc slimlites (fog beam)

While looking for a way to wire my switches and where to place them I came across a couple pictures of switches hidden in the ash tray and came up with my own version of it by taking the ash tray insert and creating a paper template that I then traced onto an acrylic sheet. Cut it out and then took a heat gun and formed it until it had the same contours as the stock ash tray insert and cut the bottom out to allow for wires to run underneath everything

I left one extra hole in my mounting plate to allow for the rigid industries dually led spots I added later.

The wiring was kind of a pain but I decided to go with an aftermarket fuse box mounted in the void where the factory air box would be (replaced by K&N intake before I purchased it) and ran all of the wires up the windshield channels and under the roof rail trim that comes down to the windshield and the wires going to the switches went through the firewall in a hole I drilled and added a grommet to. All of my switches have the same ground and power source to save on wires and each relay (mounted underneath the air filter itself and just to the left of my fuse panel) gets its own dedicated fuse.

and to top off the look of the vehicle this is when I painted my grille, shackles, and ordered abs kc covers for the kc fogs and vinyl 6" covers meant for daylighters and put them over the 4" anzos as the total housing is the same size as 6" daylighters and they fit great.

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Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #18 · Nov 15, 2014

3

Skid plates

Having no lift besides the leveling kit on the front my wj was quite prone to bottoming out off road, especially at out farm where the roads are constantly being rutted up by heavy trucks and machinery and consequently my undercarriage took a few beatings. This eventually resulted in some damage to the bottom of the muffler (dent it up quite significantly), dent on the front lip of the cross member, and an ugly mark on the transfer case housing that luckily did not do any damage to the case itself.

Thus I decided it was time to add some undercarriage protection. I already had the stronger gas tank skid from the factory and found a factory front skid at a local junkyard. It also had the transfer case skid but the jeep had been t-boned and completely folded the skid right down the middle, so I had to order one from moparpartsoverstock.com for 55 dollars and it include all the mounting hardware and the tool to install the stupid nuts that install in the unibody by "flattening" inside the frame. (I say stupid but they work great and are very sturdy)

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Highschool_WJ

Discussion Starter · #19 · May 10, 2015

3

Overland Rock Rails.

They were pretty rusty when I found them at the junkyard, so I patched all the holes in the sides and then just welded a piece of angle iron to act as a new bottom and is attached to the bottom of the piece that sits against the rocker panel. Rivnuts were used in place of the u nuts since the 99-01 models are not pre drilled for the mounting holes.

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wxmanWJ

· #20 · May 10, 2015

Highschool_WJ said:
Overland Rock Rails.

They were pretty rusty when I found them at the junkyard, so I patched all the holes in the sides and then just welded a piece of angle iron to act as a new bottom and is attached to the bottom of the piece that sits against the rocker panel. Rivnuts were used in place of the u nuts since the 99-01 models are not pre drilled for the mounting holes.

Sweet! Are the end caps on or not? I know typically those rust out first. Might also just be the angle of the photo too, not sure.

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