Well,

This thing will never be a rock crawler, a show vehicle, none of that. It'll be a clean daily capable of doing whatever i might do with it. Normally it'll be driven 8 miles a day on SWMBO's commute to work and back.

Sometimes it'll haul a motor or two.
Sometimes it'll take us out to dinner.
Sometimes it'll take long road trips.
Sometimes it might tow a car, but not often.
Sometimes it'll be the winter "****ty weather vehicle."

We bought this '00 Sport 4x4 in November of 2010 for a great price with 172k miles. It was mechanic owned, and he took GREAT care of it. Paint is great, body is straight, and there is NO rust whatsoever. Not a single mechanical issue. Cooling system had just been overhauled, blower motor replaced, new brakes, etc etc etc.

Now it's at 182k miles and the factory suspension is showing it's age, the stereo could use an update, and the truck as a whole could just use a cleaning up and a detail. All that will be happening soon.


1st: The truck!








The Plan
1) Redo suspension with mild lift kit
2) Upgrade lighting
3) Upgrade stereo
4) Hitch receiver
5) Grand Cherokee 16" wheels or Volk Te37 Offroads
6) Replace headliner
7) Retrofit ceiling console w/ compass and outside temp display
8) Retrofit better seats. (Suggestions?)
9) Intake/headers/exhaust. I think i have a small exhaust leak or two, my header might be cracked (might explain the not great MPG?), and my muffler is rattling a little bit sometimes.

 

Lift kit is here! Taking advantage of various sales and promotions going on right now, i decided to go with the Rancho 2.5" lift kit with some Rancho shocks.










I still need to order shocks, going with Rancho RS9000XLs, but i'm pretty impressed with the quality of the parts so far. (because... you can REALLY tell that just by looking at them! :P )


I will be ordering new rear leaf packs so i'm not putting an Add-A-Leaf on an old worn out 180k mile set of leafs. I can't figure out what would be best to get, though.

1) Rancho's (probably most expensive, doesn't make use of the AAL i already paid for)
2) HD pack from Rockauto (cheapest)
3) OEM HD from Quadratec. (also expensive)

I'm leaning towards #2 unless someone warns me otherwise.

I should have the 9000XLs in my hand by the end of the month, and will be ordering new ball joints and other normal maintenance stuff to do "while i'm in there."

 

Rancho RS9000XLs came in, and i decided to go with the OME 2" rear leafs, heavy load.

 

Hey if your not gonna use that AAL kit you should send it my way lol.

 

I can do that. If you're serious, make me an offer!

 

Well, been busy. And the Jeep has been a bit of a pain in my *** this last week.

Hood latch cable is now broken.
Battery cables are extremely corroded and causing some wonky stuff to happen.
Valve cover gasket is pretty leaky.
Heater core is clogged. (I hope... the heat sucks, don't know what else could be causing it)
And the oil pressure gauge is doing weird things. (Hope it's just the sending unit.) Zero pressure at hot idle, normal pressure at highway speeds.


So i guess i've got some work to do.

Another question: I'm looking at 30x9.5 tires to go on my stock wheels. Bad idea? Trying to get decent rubber under this thing without having to trim.

 

Might want to get a mech gauge hooked up asap to verify oil pressure. 30x9.5 will be fine on stock rims. You *might* have to adjust your turning stops so you don't rub the LCA's at full turn. I had to with 2" lift and 31x10.5.

 

Hey its my twin

Can't wait to see yours come together.

 

Yep, i'll see if i can dig mine up.

Any reason for me to go up to 31s? It's not a crawler or anything.


Oooo... NICE! Details?

 

2000 sport 4x4, power windows and door locks, I6 automatic.

 

Ah ok, so stock other than the roof rack? Looked like it was running bigger tires or something. That would be the twin to mine, though!


Anyways, i fixed everything but the hood latch on the Jeep last night.

Heat actually works quite well! Now my fiancee doesn't have to dread winter. (She was contemplating driving the turbo Miata through winter because the heat is ridiculously hot.)

Oil issue was the pressure switch, so that was easy.

 

yup, all stock besides the roof rack. Nd this evening a few goodies will be showing up. The tires I think are 1 size taller than stock, but they will be changed around xmas. Lol I'll post pics in my build thread of the goodies tonight. Blue Water Crawler is my build.

 

Anyone have recommendations on tires? Looking at the Kumho KL78s.

Not looking for anything crazy expensive, since whatever i get will probably dry-rot before they're worn out. We've only put 12k miles on this thing in 2 years.

Well, and we have a $500 Visa Gift Card from Rancho. So i'm trying to stay in that range since i have to do tie rods, ball joints, and bushings at the same time.

 

Wat size are you wanting?

 

Looking at 30x9.5r15s right now... open to moving to 31s if i don't have to deal with trimming. Trying to leave body and everything largely unmolested if i can.

Lift is the Rancho referenced above, will be swapping out the AALs for some OME 2" HD leafs.