Average TJ Build

Snboarder113

Snboarder113

Hooked
Project: 'It's just a TJ, keep scrolling'

Here's my quick build up of my daily driver.

How I bought it
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Was not okay with the stock light output in any way so first thing it got was a nice set of PIAA plasma ion fog lights
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It's first real trip through the snowy woods
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And it's first real carnage.
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Exhaust came loose, dragged down and wrapped around the axle. Whoopsie.
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It didn't have any reliable rear recovery points so I went and visited these guys
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And got they're DIY weld yourself bumper kit.
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Bedlined and installed
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Found a deal I couldn't pass up and added a Badlands 12,000 lb winch. It's no warn, but it's never let me down and I've put it through its paces over the last two years.


After that it stayed pretty much the same through winter until spring when I noticed its rust issues became extreme problems very quickly. Which brings us to the "build" section of this

You can see the light through the tub in this one. Essentially the driver side floor pans, the bottom of the tub under the door, and some frame section as well.










 
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Once all the welding was done on the patch panels

Started with the tube fenders


Replacement turn signals


And JCR Rock rails/steps as well as a set of 33x13.50 swappers a friend had laying around were test fitted and never removed.









Gotta love the functionality of a 33" footrest.
 
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And did some finishing work




Had to drive it to to a heated garage space to do the rest so the Bedliner would cure. Looks so cute with a ratchet strap holding it together.


Annnnd bed line







Interior




And for 40 a pair I had to try out these eBay 18w work lights


Welded tabs for those onto the windshield hinges and finished welding the fenders and she's mostly done


Accidentally made a smiley face with the lights. I've had the led's on over a year and never an issue, no leaks and a hell of a lot of light output.
 
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After having the led cubes for awhile I decided their quality was good enough and I saw no reason to not get their reasonably priced big brother.
Which brings us to mounts, holy crap the retail market of mounts is ungodly expensive, so instead grabbed some scrap steel laying around and installed a few stainless to nuts into the side of the windshield frame and bent these mounts to fit the bar



And it is hands down the best thing I've ever put on a car ever. Not just for night country driving but I regularly use it as a flashlight while working on anything and everything ands it's awesome


For those of you wondering about the strength of the mount/rivnuts I recently accidentally found a tree and the driver side mount took on an extremely hard hit and also scraped in my door. But no damage to bar or mount held up like a champ.
As far as light output, hard to see the actual distance this lights up with phone pictures but can definitely see intensity

No lights


Headlights/fogs


Blinders







Found some mud through the snow


 
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The only time this guys left me stranded, towed it all the way home to find a loose ground at the fuel pump. Simple enough


Pickin on the lil kid


By this point I had ran the swamp era bald and cupped and tread falling off, a coworker had some 32s he had laying around that were pretty cracked he let me have with almost new tread, so I decided is give it a try on the stock wheels and worst case scenario they'd blow and I'd swap the swampera back on no big deal


Enjoyed the increase in traction and mpg for a couple weeks til I got a flat and decided that it's not the best idea to drive on cracked open sidewalls.



Found a good deal on some 33 12.50 Baja claws. So far been great, however they make the jeep look tiny in comparison to the swampers, ah well still plenty capable.


Picked up some new recessed work lights for reverse





Was not happy with how the rust oleum paint standard up through winter so repainted the everything that decided to turn rust orange


Also this chalk wasn't the easiest to get off


 
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Its been a fun summer of actually getting to drive it more than fix it so that's how it stayed for awhile. Until now that I need to get it ready for winter duty slowly knocking off the list one by one.
Which brings us to this weeks fun, brown Santa came with half the order, hopefully the other half shows soon so I can get started. :)

 
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Got a little antsy waiting for the rest of the shipment to show up so popped the passenger seat out



Took it apart


Tried to do this without splitting the seat apart but wasn't happening.


Test fit the heater pads






Put the covers back on



Cut a couple slits for the wiring and put the seat back together



And a quick test run


One seat down one to go
 
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This one starts the harder stuff...
I ran some thick wiring through the firewall for the power distribution block, doesn't need anywhere near this gauge of wire for my accessories but I am planning on installing an amp in the future so figured might as well just run the thicker wire now and be done.
Installed a couple grommets and sealed it up right with silicon


Next part is fixing this mess. So here's the before rats neat of wiring








And here's where the new fuse panel is going


And fun things to come
 
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Blackknob said:
Nice to see another TJ on here :)
Click to expand...
Yeah there don't seem to be many on here, I suppose they're getting older and not as fun to play with.

Add a new windshield to the list.... Really bums me out because this windshield is only a month old now and caught a rock from a gravel truck on the highway today, called the company up and they essentially told me to "prove it" to which I was not very happy with, it's unnecessary to treat people that way a simple "I'm sorry that happened, I will talk with the driver and see what happened and why gravel was flying out of the truck if the cover wasn't in place correctly or what, if you contact your insurance company and have them contact mine they can pursue the matter that way" instead of "well that's why you have insurance why are you calling me? I have a bunch of trucks out and who knows which one it was or if you're just trying to get me to buy you a windshield"
So not a great day. It's repairable, probably free through my insurance but still... Bummer.

 
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Still waiting on the rest of the parts but I made some progress today with it

Left work early and started by taking the driver seat and center console out


Did a little cleaning of some old stains, this foaming tuff stuff cleaner is second only to an actual carpet shampooer



Measured and marked where I want the switches, drilled, installed.








Rtv'd them in place as that's what I had readily available, this didn't work and ended up using real 2 part epoxy.




Ran the wiring, for those of you that don't know a drill makes quick and easy work of wrapping wires to each other



Routed the wires under the carpet and center console up to the fuse panel



Reinstalled the center, which was a bit of a pain as the relay packs that c and with the seat heaters are full size, if I were to do it again I'd swap them to mini relays just for ease of fitting under the console.


Pulled apart the driver seat


Installed the heater pads and rebuilt, a little mad at myself for not doing both seats at the same time as I would have swapped the bottom cushion from passenger to driver as the diver is pretty worn out on the bolster. Ah well, next time.



Reinstalled the center console and the seats, and took it for a test drive.




Heaters work great and after about 2-3 miles I found myself switching them to the low setting, gonna be great when the snow hits!
 
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Finally got my switch holders so I got started, not sure if I like the switch holders. They don't line up right unless I'm doing something wrong so I may just build my own. Also doc some mock up of where I want to mount it.






 
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On top of the center there is where I was planning on putting these switches. The more I look at it though the less I like it..... Was going to fiberglass the holder in but now I'm debating where would look best for these 6 switches. Thinking about moving the hard top controls to the right and mounting the switches 2x3 like this



Any input from you guys on which you like better? Top mount is easier to access but uglier, bottom would be clean and evenly spaced with a correct looking backing plate but the bottom 3 switches would be annoying to hit, which unwound pick my 3 least used accessories for those. Would also require moving the hard top controls and oe fog light switches to where the ashtray is.

All input appreciated!
 
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