malder

Was originally going to build an XJ, but was convinced the WJ would be a better fit for my purpose. I am definitely partial to the looks of the XJ, but the WJ has some nice features that you don't get with an XJ (heated seats?).
I want something that is capable of some light crawling, but the main off-road use will be for my wife to cruise around the desert chasing the rest of the family on dirtbikes. I would get her a SXS, but an additional purpose is going to be as a towed vehicle for our motorhome. Street legal is a must. So I settled on a WJ as the best platform to build on. When all is said and done I'm hoping to have spent no more than $10k.

Progress so far:
Purchased 2002 WJ Limited ($2k) - @ 143k miles it seems to be mechanically sound. The interior is pretty wrecked. Heater doesn't work (blend doors). Undercarriage doesn't seem to have taken any big hits or have anything but surface rust. As with anything 20 years used you never know, but it looked better than any other WJ I looked at in the price range.

Was thinking I would just put seat covers on, but as I dug into it I just wanted a whole new interior. Found a place that makes factory seat covers at a reasonable price (lseat.com) and another place that sells a carpet kit. Seat covers with shipping came to $781. Carpet kit total came to $400. I've got both of the kits, but have yet to install. I'm having an upholstery shop take care of the front seats, but am going to try to tackle the back bench myself. The leather seems to be good quality and the color looks like a perfect match.

Not quite as happy with the quality of the carpet kit. The color and the carpet itself is great, but it is sold as a factory replacement. After having pulled the original carpet out I see that there is a substantial cushioned backing to the OEM carpet, but just a cheap padding on the replacement carpet kit. Also, the rear heater outlets are molded into the OEM carpet. Not sure how I am going to tackle that yet. I'm concerned it will make the cabin a lot noisier without all that material on the back of the carpet. Considering ordering some sound deadening material to lay down under the carpet.

Installed some new headlights and taillights. Easy enough job, looks great. ~$200 for the complete set from amazon.

Threw the new tires (33's) on just for fun to see if they would fit with the stock suspension. They have about 1/2" clearance.

I've ordered IRO's 4" long arm lift kit with bilsteens along with their exhaust kit. They seem to have a well thought out and tested kit. It was pricey, but hopefully will be worth it. $4,294.64 with shipping/tax.

Next task is to remove the dash to fix the blend doors. While I have it apart I am going to replace the heater core and A/C evap. Once that is done hopefully all my seats will be recovered and I can reassemble the interior.

After that I am going to install the lift.

Andrew Smith107

I have an 04 overland that me and my dad are rebuilding it’s been a blast