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Bama_WJ's Build Thread

281K views 1K replies 151 participants last post by  TX-WJ 
#1 ·
What my WJ looks like as of today:


Table of Contents:


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I figured I would go ahead and jump on the bandwagon and start my own build thead. :thumbsup:

It doesn't consist of my much right now, but I hope to change that by summers end. I'll try to put everything in the order that I got stuff installed. So here it goes...

First off, a little bit of stats:
  • 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee
  • UpCountry Package
  • 4.0L I6
  • 242 Transfer case
  • 98K miles when bought in April of 2007

When I first got my WJ:



I then started to get the itch to start modding things. First in the line up was get some exhaust put on there. I ended up going with a Flowmaster 50 Series and a Magnaflow/Carsound Hi-Flow cat. Sounds pretty nice.



I love coming home from work and seeing a Summit box on the ground!



Video of my exhaust.

Next, I ended up installing a K&N FIPK kit. I found it on eBay for a decent price.



Then I finally purchased a lift. Only had the funds to buy Kevins 2.5" Budget Boost at the time. I really wanted the IRO 3", but I have been real satisfied with this BB paired with the MX-6 shocks. Once you learn how to drive the Jeep decent offroad, only a little bit of lift can get you quite a few places.



A couple pictures of the installation. Nothing to extreme.





Here is the end result. Stock vs. 2.5" BB and 31" Goodyear Silent Armors:



 
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#2 ·
Moving on. It was time for more lighting. I ended up going with 3 Hella 500 lights. I also bought 100W H3 Streetglow bulbs to replace the 55W bulbs that came in the Hella 500's originally.

Disregard the Kelly Brook background. :D



Here they are mounted to my bumper. What you don't see is a thin sheet of aluminum under the bumper to give it some strength. It works great and keeps the lights from bouncing around all the time.





Improving traction was the next order of business. Since it is a DD 90% of the time, I went with the Detroit TrueTrac. Sometimes I wish I had went with a locker, but I have been happy with my Detroit. It locks up nicely and is completely invisible on and off road.



TrueTrac in and ready to go!



I went a little while without any mods. I did quite a bit of wheeling during that time. Well, during that time, I had somehow bent my stock tie rod. Don't know how or when, but it gave me a good excuse to upgrade. :laugh: I ended up going with Kevin's heavy duty tie rod. I must say, its straight beef compared to the stock one.

What the stock one looked like before I pulled it off:



In the above picture, I'm sure you can see the new looking track bar and relocated SS. It is an adjustable IRO track bar and their SS relocating kit. I got terrible death wobble once I installed their track bar. Even with the adjustable end threaded all the way in the axle was still pushed 2" out on the passenger side. I decided to put the stock track bar on and keep the IRO adjustable in a safe place since I know I would go higher one day. :2thumbsup: The SS relocation kit works great though. Its a tight squeeze in between the stock track bar and stock drag link, but it works!

New tie rod with jamb nuts.



To the right of the jamb nuts are axle seals for my then leaky D30. I figured it was a good time to change them since the tie rod had to be removed anyways to get the carrier out. I was in for a suprise when I pulled the old seals out. :rolleyes:

What axle seals are NOT suppose to look like. :rofl: Apparently Badlands had taken its toll...

 
#3 ·
Then it came time for some music mods. I went with a new Kenwood headunit, Kicker ZX750.1 amp and Kicker 10" L7 sub.

Kenwood headunit:



I placed the amp under the rear driver seat. Modification under the seat to fit the amp was pretty easy. All it takes is a good knife to cut the carpet and a dremel to cut away the metal in order to make the amp fit.







Next came probably one of my best mods to date. JCR Stage 2 sliders. I really don't have any pictures of them before they got installed, but I do have a few "in action" shots. I love these things. Highly recommend them.





:2thumbsup:

I guess thats it for now. I hope to update soon with more goodies. Enjoy!
 
#4 ·
very nice dub. always dig the lights on the bumper. considering doing that now, do you like them mounted more in the center? id probably only do 2, but put them further apart from one another, do you think thats the best bet? im guessing you have all areas covered casue you have 3.
 
#6 ·
i like this build. not so indepth its boring and not so skimpy it leaves you wanning for more. very nice jeep. make me want some additional lights though...
 
#8 ·
Good thread. :thumbsup: For some reason I thought you had more than 2.5" of lift.


Good to see you've had no issues with the D35 breaking with the TrueTrac
 
#11 ·
Nice build, pretty similar to mine. I need armor though.... Are you going to Badlands with other Forum members?
 
#17 ·
Kind of a little update. I installed a new-to-me transfer case out of a 99. Its nothing to special, just another run of the mill 242. My old one was way messed up since the gear teeth that engages 4WD were chewed up and broken/missing. Here is what my magnet looked like in my old 242...



I would have more interesting stuff to post, but UPS didn't get my stuff in since there was "adverse weather conditions" on its way to my place. Some luck...
 
#20 ·
Installed a new CB antenna setup yesterday. I was getting tired of the 4.5' Wilson 500 mag mount on top of my roof and kind of wanted something with a little cleaner look. I ended up following the lead of ///BHRPowered over at JU with this setup. I went with the MK184R mounting kit which is made for Ram/Dakota hoods. The kit came with a 18' cable and everything needed to connect to the CB; a very complete kit for $22. The mount iteslf is very sturdy. It actually needs to be bent a tad in order to have the antenna stand straight up. I paired the mounting kit with a FireStik SS3M spring and a red FireStik FL3-R 3' antenna.

I started off by removing the plastic interior peice that is below the very back window. Then I took the tail light off and drilled a 3/8" hole right beside the electrical grommet. I cleaned up the hole and put the rubber grommet supplied in the kit into the hole. Then I fed the cable through and ran it behind the plastic interior peice and up to the front.



Next, I mocked up the mount so I could eyeball how much I had to bend the mount to get it horizontal. Then I had a friend hold the mount in place while I drilled 4 3/32" pilot holes for the mounting screws. It turned out to be pretty straight.



The tail light had to be trimmed a little bit in order to fit with the mounting screws that were in place. Nothing that a 5 minute Dremel job couldn't handle. It's kind of hard to tell in the picture where its trimmed. You get the idea though...



The connector part was then soldered up, tucked away, and plugged into my CB. I did a little bit of SWR tuning and that was all she wrote. I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

Here are a couple pictures of how it turned out.







Finally got my JF sticker too. Now I can represent. :thumbsup:

 
#21 ·
Bad news tonight. The jeep is front wheel drive right now. I'm pretty sure the rear end blew up. I was just taking a cruise and enjoying the nice day. Then I started hearing some odd and loud noises that were obviously coming from the drivetrain. I decided to pull over into a empty parking lot to maybe check some stuff out. Shifted into 4FT to make sure the transfer case was still working fine. I started backing up in 4FT but the Jeep started binding up like it was in 4PT. Then something popped really load and the Jeep just rocked from not binding up anymore. I figured the transfer case finally went into the right gear. Not so.

Got underneath the Jeep with the transmission in park and the transfer case in neutral. I could literally spin the rear driveshaft with my hand. I took the bottle jack that came with the Jeep and lifted each rear wheel seperatly and turns out both spin freely with pretty much no resistance.

We'll see what happens when I pull the diff cover off. Pictures of the carnage to come sometime this week...
 
#22 ·
You still had the D35 in there, even after blowing up the axle shaft? Sorry to hear!
 
#24 ·
Well, took the diff cover off just a little bit ago. Turns out the bearing just ate themselves and the entire carrier shifted away from the pinion gear. I haven't done a complete tear down quite yet, so those were just my first impressions.

Here are a few carnage teaser pics for the time being. I'll get more once I do the complete tear down.



 
#32 ·
Thanks man, I'll be ordering asap.

What did you use for screws? Self tapping?

It looks great by the way,
The mount kit came with regular screws. Big ones at that. Thats why I made small pilot holes for the screws. Made it MUCH easier.

Great thread. I'm not in the Grand Cherokee forum much but I'm looking for pictures for the Lady in my life.

Can you post some new pictures that show the entire Jeep?

Thanks alot. :cheers2:
Sure. These are before all the mods.





 
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