NightMares

This is my first post here, figured I'd start by posting here with what I got.

Before going over the build thus far of what I've done, I'll also let you guys know that I'm a sales manager in an off road shop. This Jeep is being built to use and display at my work and events for advertising.

Started out with a 1999 Grand Cherokee Laredo 4.0 that had been in a mild wreck. I was originally going to use the money I had for a down payment on a 4 door JK, considering I have two young daughters still in car seats, and a TJ was not something I wanted to fight with for a daily driver with them. However, my work came across my Jeep with less than 100k on it, still able to be driven, and I picked it up instead.

I'm not sure how the accident happened, or what the previous owner hit, it's a long story. When I got it, the drivers fender was smashed in, hood crumpled, headlight smashed out, and front bumper had a corner torn off. Underneath, the front apron is smashed in, which caused the washer bottle to fold back and rub on the front tire whenever a turn right was made. Here's some pictures that show the condition it was in when I first got it.



















Drove it as it was for a few weeks as it was, the tire had finally worn a groove out of the washer bottle so I pulled it into my garage and started tearing it apart. Pulled the bumper off, removed the wheel, pulled the washer bottle and began hammering. I got the front apron close to spec, looked throughout the underside and discovered no frame or structural damage which surprised me.







The next day I made my way to the local pick a part, scored pretty good. Found a limited that was the identical color, then found a laredo that still had the headlights in tact. The laredo had the matching gray bumper to my Jeep, but it was hammered discolored, so I opted for the limited bumper and grille which completely changed the appearance of the Jeep.

NightMares

From there, I talked to my boss about a set of tires we had lying around off a 2013 Rubicon. He finally budged on the price and I grabbed the full set of 5 for $700. Tires had less that 5k on them, so I got lucky with them.

Before I tried installing them, I went over to my shop at work and carefully measured and masked, then trimmed the fog lights out of the bumper.



The following night installed the tires.









Rear





Passenger's Front





Driver's Front





From here I found I didn't have the clearance to actually wheel the Jeep, just drive casually. Went ahead and ordered a 2" BDS lift and shocks, in the meantime while waiting for the lift I did some more work to it. Went ahead and added a set of 4" HID's to the cowl











Afterwords, I ordered a Superchips Traildash POD, modified it to fit, and installed my Garmin GPS...with a nice little touch







After about a week, my lift showed up. Pulled it into the shop on a Saturday morning around 9:00am, had it out by noon including an alignment.

NightMares

From here I started planning out my lights. I bought a JK switch pillar and modified it to fit. Since these pictures were taken I've done some more trimming for a closer fit, also replaced the screws with some black ones that sit flush.










With the placement of the HID's, I couldn't open the hood without struggling, so on a Saturday in the shop I bent some flat stock and drilled it out, then sprayed them with some textured bed liner and bolted them on.












Through my work, I got some great deals on some custom decals to be made, so I drew up a fender design and had them printed off, along with a few other gems for humor.











After this, I finally got my 50" curved light bar installed. I never got any pictures of the mounting setup, basically I just took some riv-nuts and drilled the holes in the roof, installed the riv-nuts, and bolted it down. No need to pull the headliner down.

























From here, we took it out on it's first real wheeling trip to Silver City, Idaho. Performed really well.

NightMares

Soon after the trip, I filled another one of the switches in the pod with a 15" light bar above the license plate



Speaking of light, I had the typical bulbs burned out on the cluster to the point where I only had maybe 2 working. I went ahead and ordered a newer cluster from an 04 Overland rather than just replace the bulbs. The cluster actually had about 2800 more miles on it then mine did, but I drove with my cluster till it was matching and installed the new cluster. Looks a lot nicer.



After driving it for a few weeks, I took the Jeep out one morning and discovered a broken CV shaft. Went ahead and ordered 2 new shafts, and 2 new hub assemblies.









From there, I drew up a design for some custom graphics for it, then emailed them over to our decal guys. Few weeks later I had them dropped off, and installed them over a weekend.



















Christmas came and the wife surprised me with some Spyder CCFL halo headlights and fog lights.

















Soon after, I designed another decal set for the front fenders and hood. Sure enough, got them later that week and threw them on.

NightMares

After having the lift on for a few months, I noticed a sag starting in the front. The BDS 2" coils only have a rating of 200, the 4" coils were 240. So, I went ahead and ordered the 4" front coils, 3.5" rear coils, front lower control arms, track bar drop bracket, pitman arm, sway bar disconnects, and a set of Fox 2.0 shocks. Unfortunately, I was to eager to install the coils, even though the shocks got back ordered for a week. Could not get the rear coils in with the BDS shocks as the shocks were too short, so only the front coils were installed and ran for a week until I got around to everything.











































A week later, the shocks came in, so I got it all installed the following Saturday.











And currently, this is how it sits.

I'll add to this build as I progress through some more.

NightMares

Got my antenna installed today from Antenna X. It's the 3 way CB/AM/FM factory replacement antenna. Here in the next few days I'll be ordering a CB and splitter to hook it all up.

NightMares

Looks like gearing may be in the near future. Went on a 100 mile round trip run, snapped something in the front end. Both cv axles are good, pulled the drive shaft and driver's cv axle. No more noise or grinding. I'll tear it apart soon and see if i can salvage the carrier, if i can then I'll probably gear front and rear to 4.10 gears, throw a Spartan in the rear while it's torn apart. Looks like I'm a 2 wheel drive for a little bit here.

Scott'sXJ

That's a great lookin truck.
It's just my opinion, but don't fix the damage on the hood and fender, it gives it character.

DIYSteelKits

Nice work NightMares.
That WJ looks like it's coming along nicely...Need to get those steel bumpers going!

NightMares

Thanks guys! I'm happy with the results of everything.

As far as the damage on the hood and fender, it's not going to get fixed. I took schooling for auto body and worked in the field for a couple years before finding my job at an Off Road Shop. I've lost the interest to fix anything of my own. Wife has been bugging me for months now to repaint the back bumper on her Escape after she got rear ended back in August.

Bumpers are coming soon, along with sliders and roof rack. For the time being I might be just doing the Rough Country winch plate, then building a tube style front bumper around it and still retain the factory bumper (like a heavy duty grille guard). Rear wise I'm going to trim the factory bumper up, then same idea, build a tube style guard around it. Tire carrier wise I'm going to build some brackets and keep it actually separate from the bumper, mounted straight to the body of the Jeep behind the bumper.

Roof rack will be full length of the roof. Sliders, just flat stock with some tubing bent and welded on.

Ianf406

Looks good man! Moving along quick!

NightMares

Thanks man, I made it a goal to make it to the Easter Jeep Safari and a run on the Rubicon this Summer. I'm close, but don't think I'll be fully setup for EJS, but maybe the trail sometime in August.

I've decided against regearing for now, going to just buy a junk yard D30 with matching gears to what I have currently (3.55 gears). When I do the long arm kit I'll throw that axle in after new seals, moving my current cv shafts and hub assemblies over to the replacement axle, and playing with the idea of a truss kit. Since the install of everything will be a weekend project, I'm going to go ahead and do all new seals and service on the rear axle as well, along with throwing in a Spartan locker. Reason being of not doing the regear, I found a 231 transfer case with 4.1 out of a TJ Rubicon that I'm going to spend my money on and install. I think 4.1 with my 3.55 gears should be plenty for the 32's on my Jeep. Found a replacement D30 from the same wrecking yard the T-Case is as, $225. Truss kit I've found ranging in price, and a Spartan will be around $250. Not a bad setup for a tax return.

JandDGreens

I am very partial to XJ's, But there are a few Grands that turn my head and yours is defiantly one of them. Looks like you know your paint and body work, making your rig stand out.

NightMares

Update with a few pictures

NightMares

Thanks man, I appreciate that. I would have taken an XJ over my WJ, but the deal was too good to pass up. The Jeep was actually purchased to be just a toy, but my GMC has since kicked the dust and I've parted ways and turned this into my daily driver. Overall, I actually can't complain. I average about 16mpg which is better than my truck did, plus it's comfortable and easy to maneuver.

The decals draw a lot of attention, which was my main goal with it. Plus I can always change it if I decide I don't like it.