Project: This is it..... Last build WJ

24024 Views 132 Replies 20 Participants Last post by racksaw, Jan 12, 2020

caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · Aug 1, 2016 (Edited)

25

Ok, like the title says, this is going to be my last build (or at least that's what I told the wife), My Jeep history 2 XJ's, 1 XK (Commander), 1 ZJ, 1 TJ, WK2 (my DD), & 2 WJ's (2003 & my newest purchase an 2002).

This Build is for my tracking & for anyone who cares to follow. MY 03 WJ was one of my favorite, so that's why I wanted to get this 02 WJ. There really aren't a whole lot of WJ build threads out there from start to finish. Anyone feel free to jump in and let me know if I'm on track or not. I did build most of my Jeeps in the past, but never a WJ.

A Little History:
I just sold my XJ that i've had for about 5-6 years that I bought 100% stock & built it up to this:

5.5" Lift, Axle swaps: HPD30-4.56-Yukon, Chrysler 8.25-4.56-ARB, 1 Ton steering, SYE, Tatton DS, tomken Rear Bumper, Worrier Winch Bumper, 8000# Winch, etc...

My DD:

Current Project:
Saturday 7/30/16
Picked up this 2002 WJ Laredo

Mileage: 133736
Engine: Straight 6
Transfer Case: 242

Condition:
Very little rust, a bit on the inner doors.
Drivers Side Door:

Drivers Rear Door:

Passenger Front Door:

Passenger Rear Door:

Undercarriage is SOLID. The guy i bought it from did some work before he sold it to me. New Hub Barrings, New Disks, Rotors, Calipers all around, New Tie-Rod Ends, etc.

He's going to give me a set of Leather seats (fronts & rears) that I'll swap out the fabric interior & give back to him for another WJ he's working on to sell.

My Plan:
Lift:
Clayton 4.5 Lift w/Bilstien 5100 Shocks

Tires & Rims:
285/70/17 Cooper Discoverer STT Pro
17" x 8.5 American Outlaw Plank
Full size spare & Rim

Front Bumper:
Protofab PF907 Low Profile Winch Bumper

Rear Bumper:
Rock Hard 4x4 Patriot with Tire Carrier & Plate Relocation Bracket

Winch:
Smittybilt XRC 9500lb - with Synthetic Rope

Sliders:
KOR Sliders

Other Misc. Items:
New Halo Headlights

Borla Exhaust:

Window Vents:

K&N Intake:

CB:

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caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #2 · Aug 1, 2016 (Edited)

23

First Things First:
7/31/16
Debadging......

Font:
Before:

After:

The place I bought it from, must have put a new "JEEP" badge on. Got a little aggressive.... No big deal, I'll take care of it later.

Drivers Door:
Before:

After:

Rear Hatch:
Before:

After:

Passengers Side:
Before:

After:

Fender Heights for reference. Will compare it to after the lift install:
Front Drivers Side:

Rear Drivers Side:

Front Passenger Side:

Rear Passenger Side:

Some more General Shots:
Engine Compartment:

Interior:
Driver:

Driver Rear:

Passenger Front:

Passenger Rear:

Rear:

Have to fix a few things, will go to the junk yard & pull a new panel:

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caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 1, 2016

2

8/1/16 Purchases

Today I purchased the front Bumper from Protofab & the Rear Bumper/Tire carrier from Rock Hard 4x4.

Protofab is about 6 weeks out for delivery.

Rock Hard 4x4 is around 4-5 weeks out for delivery.

Next purchases will be everything off Amazon & then Lift from East Coast Gear Supply & Rims/Tires from Discount Tire Direct.

Then the waiting game begins.........

I'm hoping to get the lift installed in around 2-3 weeks, deal with all the misc items (Hack & Tap, drive shafts, etc) by the time i'm done with all that, the bumpers will arrive, get everything powder coated and have the Jeep completed before snow flies.

Long term plans for next year will be a D44 from ECGS with 4.56 or 4.88 gears, ARB & Regear the D30 to 4.56 or 4.88, and install a Yukon locker up front also.

I've spent enough time building my past Jeeps. Just want to get this one built for wheelin'.....

One question I have for anyone out there is spacers..... if I'm running these rims

do I need to get spacers?

1.25" Wheel Spacers....

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caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 2, 2016

8/2/16 Purchases

Today, I purchased the following:
Clayton 4.5" Lift with Bilstein 5100 shocks
American Outlaw Plank Rims (17")
Cooper STT Pro 285/70-17 Tires

Next will be all the crap off Amazon. Hopefully the Clayton lift will be here in about 5-7 days. The Tires from Discount Direct Tire will be here in 3-5 days. Credit Card is on fire, so bad the Credit Card Company shut my card off till I called them to okay all the purchases.... WTF.

Well keep spending, it's only money....

scotch737

· #5 · Aug 3, 2016

Nice WJ. Don't waste the $ on the "hot air intake". No performance gain whatsoever, and it pulls in warmer air than the stock intake. Plus if it's not a dry filter, can cause MAF and MAP sensor problems and drop your fuel mileage, CEL ,etc... Great plans otherwise , keep a Jeepin!

caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 3, 2016

scotch737 said:
Nice WJ. Don't waste the $ on the "hot air intake". No performance gain whatsoever, and it pulls in warmer air than the stock intake. Plus if it's not a dry filter, can cause MAF and MAP sensor problems and drop your fuel mileage, CEL ,etc... Great plans otherwise , keep a Jeepin!

Thanks for the heads up, back in my High School/College days I was into VW's & that was the truth back then..... I was thinking about just getting a K&N filter....

caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 5, 2016

Back Ordered....

Got a phone call today from Discount Tire Direct. The American Outlaw Plank rims are back ordered & won't be able to be shipped out for about 10-15 days. No big deal..

caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 5, 2016 (Edited)

16

Brown Santa

Brown Santa (UPS Man) showed up today @ work. Dropped off a few boxes & I had to load up & take right home.

Rear Springs:

Front Springs:

Shocks:

Front Radius Arms:

Cross Member:

Track Bar:

2 More boxes of stuff....... I'll dig into those boxes & lay everything out to better show it off. I'm absolutely amazed as to how well everything is packaged. By far the best I've ever seen.

Clayton is definitely a very well built kit, total BEEF. Welds are perfect & the material used is HD. Can't wait to start getting this Build moving.

Next step is to totally unbox everything, clean & put a few coats of clear coat on everything. I have to do everything I can to fight the salts that the DOT puts down here in Western New York (WNY).

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caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #9 · Aug 6, 2016 (Edited)

8

8/6/16 - Painting Clayton Lift

Got some products to paint the Clayton Kit.

- 4 cans Clear Satin
- 1 Container of Mineral Spirits
- 400 Grit Sand Paper

Got a clear coat on the Track Bar (no picts.)

Cross Member (center section) & Rear Axle Mount:

Cross Member (end sections & end plates):

All the parts of the cross member & end caps were raw steel. I put 2 coats of black & 3-4 coats of clear. I'll have to sand certain parts of everything I've painted so i can weld them on.

Tomorrow, I'll sand, clean & clear coat the Radius arms & rear long arms.

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caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 10, 2016

6

8/10/16

Came home from work today to find my tires were delivered. Tossed them right into the garage.

Gonna need my lift installed.

They look bigger than 33's.... Had to measure them to be sure.

285/70-17

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Davy120

· #11 · Aug 14, 2016

Super nice build so far!! Not gonna lie wasn't a fan of the rims at first but once I saw em on the tires they look pretty sick!!

Also don't know if you've seen this bumper or not but it's pretty badass as well and doesnt have the bubba lip thing that most wj winch bumpers have.
Hkoffroad.com

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

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MoonyJohn

· #12 · Aug 14, 2016

Ill be watching this one! Any reason why your buying a rear axle instead of the front upgrade instead? Me personally I would buy a dana 44a from a junkyard and buy and ARB for it. Then buy a 44 front and then your better off that way.

Either way, excited to see the build start!

caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #13 · Aug 14, 2016 (Edited)

Davy120 said:
Super nice build so far!! Not gonna lie wasn't a fan of the rims at first but once I saw em on the tires they look pretty sick!!

Also don't know if you've seen this bumper or not but it's pretty badass as well and doesnt have the bubba lip thing that most wj winch bumpers have.
Hkoffroad.com

@Davy120, Thanks for the kind words. The Rims.... Discount Tire really didn't have too much of a selection & I didn't want to spend $200+ per rim. I also was looking for something that wasn't "shiny" or too much of a "tuner" look. They look better in person too.

I've been looking for bumpers for a while. I do like that one alot. One thing I was concerned with, is since they salt the crap out of the roads here in WNY;

I wanted to be able to wash out the Winch easily.

MoonyJohn said:
Ill be watching this one! Any reason why your buying a rear axle instead of the front upgrade instead? Me persownally I would buy a dana 44a from a junkyard and buy and ARB for it. Then buy a 44 front and then your better off that way.

Either way, excited to see the build start!

@ MoonyJohn, from past experience with my XJ's & TJ the D30 is a pretty stout axle up to 35" tires. The total crap D35 maxes out @33's. I actually snapped my D35 on my TJ when I was running 31's. The D44A doesn't have a ton of aftermarket support so I felt a D44 from ECGS would be the best bang for my bucks.... Their Front D44's get pricey fast.

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caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #14 · Aug 14, 2016 (Edited)

14

Slow progress

Not too much progress today, touched up the rear long arms with a coat of clear & boxed everything up. Loaded the WJ with all the lift parts in hopes that I'll be able to hook up with my friend & get the lift installed next weekend.

Figured I'd mock up a switch plate that i'll make for all my aux. lights & ARB/Locker switches. Used some old file folders (card stock) to mock everything up & make some test fits.

Going to mount it in the change holder infront of the shifters

Test Fit:

Templates assembled:
Front:

Side:

Back:

Side:

Rockers I'll be using:

Bottom Plate for mounting purposes:

Next step will be to cut the tape out, trace the templates to my Styreen, cut it out, and glue them all together. Body fill the cracks, sand, prime, body fill, sand, prime, repeat as needed. Then paint it up & add switches.

Here's what I'll use to make the switches..... Made many RC bodies & modifications to Hard Body RC Trucks with this in the past.

I was thinking of picking these Jonny Joint upgrades up for the D30.

And this for a 12" LED Light Bar over the winch:

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Davy120

· #15 · Aug 15, 2016

Nice switch setup! I tried working with styrene once and made some tow mirrors for my dodge rc truck (scx10) they came out ok just slight miss proportioned.

Also check these out for your axle bushings.
http://www.metalcloak.com/JK-Front-Duroflex-Axle-Bushing-Kit-p/7321.htm
Far superior to the JJ. I will be upgrading mine to these as well all my other joints when I get my lift. My buddy has em on his tj with a 3" lift and the difference is unreal especially with living out in the desert where dirt can get in and destroy JJs super quick.
Also about half the cost lol ignore the fact that it says jk only they fit our axle too. I got a bunch of pics if you decide to go this route just let me know and I'll pm em to ya.

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caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #16 · Aug 15, 2016 (Edited)

2

Davy120 said:
Nice switch setup! I tried working with styrene once and made some tow mirrors for my dodge rc truck (scx10) they came out ok just slight miss proportioned.

Also check these out for your axle bushings.
http://www.metalcloak.com/JK-Front-Duroflex-Axle-Bushing-Kit-p/7321.htm
Far superior to the JJ. I will be upgrading mine to these as well all my other joints when I get my lift. My buddy has em on his tj with a 3" lift and the difference is unreal especially with living out in the desert where dirt can get in and destroy JJs super quick.
Also about half the cost lol ignore the fact that it says jk only they fit our axle too. I got a bunch of pics if you decide to go this route just let me know and I'll pm em to ya.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

I've worked with a quite a bit of styrene so it should (fingers crossed) come out pretty good.

I checked out those Metalcloak bushings, I already picked up the JJ's from Summit (should be here in a day or so). I haven't seen them before, but they sounded like a good route. I'm still hoping to get the lift installed on Saturday or Sunday....

here's to hoping

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caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #17 · Aug 16, 2016

11

8/16/16 Deliveries

Came home today to a package from Mr. FedEx. He dropped off these goodies....

Unboxed:

&

LED Light bracket:

This is what I was trying to find on the net...... didn't have any luck, and now I see it printed on the front of the box....... WTF, you'd think it would be on their website....

And as I'm typing this up...... Brown Santa rings the bell..... I thought he came through the fireplace all this time..... and when I say "he", this is what I imagine....

And for a closer look...

Hold on..... I feel like Homer Simpson when I see a perdy girl...

Ok back to this Build.. This is what he (or she) dropped off.

Ta-Da-

Should hold up in our Buffalo Weather:

Nice Alum. Hawse Fairleed:

Expecting a bunch more goodies to show up in the next couple days. Sill looking like the install is going to happen this weekend........

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caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #18 · Aug 18, 2016

9

8/17/16 Deliveries.....

Well the US Postal Service dropped off a package.... Again in my head...

Free Hat..

And UPS Dropped of another box..

Amazon 12" LED Light Bar & wiring harness. This'll be mounted over the Haws Fairlead with the Smittyblt bracket. I know these LED's aren't the best units out there, but to having a cheap one on the bumper I won't get too pissed if it gets smashed or broken...

Parts are starting to build up.

With everything in the garage, I have to keep my Grand outside....I hate not being able to put my WK2 in the garage.

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Davy120

· #19 · Aug 18, 2016

Damn can't wait to see this build started.

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caronaxtr2

Discussion Starter · #20 · Aug 19, 2016

10

Davy120 said:
Damn can't wait to see this build started.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

I know right, so far everything is still a go for to install the lift on Saturday & Sunday...

Last night, since I couldn't do much with the WJ (still waiting on more parts) I figured I'd work on the switch console.

tools I'll be working with

I'll go through the basics......

Measure twice & start cutting with a razor knife. The sharper the better & don't slice off a finger.

Use a speed-square and hold it in place for the first pass with the knife.

Repeat as needed

Use the Plastruct Bondene. Use a lot, it meltes / fuses the two pieces of plastic (Styrene) together. Cut small pieces to use as reinforcement on the braces.

End up with this....

Inside, the material is .118" (1/8") thick, but I wanted to reinforce it enough so I wouldn't have to worry at all when hitting switches on -of.

Next step will be to make the platform that it'll mount to, the bottom plate that'll get mounted, cut the switch openings. Bondo, sand, prime, repeat. I'll probably paint it black so it blends in with the rest of the interior.

Still need all the switches, another fuse/relay box out of a WJ, do a clean install. I like to make the install as clean as possible when installing Lights, accessories.

That's all for now folks.........

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