durango4819

Ive had my Jeep a little over a year now and just now decided to make a build thread haha. Better late than never. Ive been busy with it since ive had it and have plenty of pictures to share. Anyways I picked it up last February from Baltimore. It had 215k miles on it, 5-speed 4x4, bone stock. The Jeep needed tires bad, had a small crack in the windshield, blower motor didnt work, the exhaust from the muffler back had no hangers left, and it wouldnt start. The body is in really nice shape with no dents or rust. Interior was kinda dirty due to it having the light color seats and carpets but nothing i couldnt clean myself. I ended up only paying $300 for it and took it home on the car dolly. Heres how she looked the first time it sat in my driveway.

durango4819

So first things first, had to get the thing running. Luckily it was only an $8 fix. The battery terminals were so corroded that it wasnt making a good enough connection for the starter so i just replaced them and it fired right up My insurance company also came out and replaced the windshield for me. My next project was to clean up the sun faded flares and beat up body moldings with some bed liner. I did the grill too just to match.


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I also plasti-dipped the rims because they looked like hell
[URL=http://s66.photobucket.com/user/durango4819/media/jeep1_zps2d3e235e.jpg.html][/URL

durango4819

To solve my tire problem, i got a free set of 31''s from a dealership my buddy worked at. They didnt have a whole lot of tread left but they were enough to get me through DE inspection. I liked the stuffed look they gave my jeep at the time. And yes they fit fine with no rubbing issues they are General Ameritrak A/T's



The body molding pieces were also effed from the previous owner opening the doors into them when they were popping off and bending the crap out of them so i just took them off and plasti-dipped the bottom half of the jeep.

durango4819

And then one night at the shop this happened




And a comparison pic facing my brothers 01

durango4819

With the weather getting warm finally, i started looking into lifts. I eventually pulled the trigger on a Rubicon Express 3.5'' super ride with full leafs and Bilstein 5100s to go with the lift. RE lifts were on back order when i ordered the lift so it took me several months to get it but in the mean time i found some nice craigslist finds to go with the lift.

fairly used 33''s for $80


and 4 of these for $200!!! Love these rims. Had some rash on all 4 but i took care of that with plasti-dip.

durango4819

Then finally, came home from work one day to see this in the driveway!



Had to get longer u-bolts locally for my 8.25



So that night the fun began....


no wonder it rode like **** lol




progress:


the brake lines both blew from straightening them like that. anyone whos put this lift on knows in the RE instructions they say to just stretch them. mine obviously were too old to handle the pressure change. oh well put new brake lines on after the lift.


after 8 hours:


and it barely cleared the garage door....

durango4819

Heres some next day shots after alignment. I absolutely love the way this lifts sits and rides. Definitely happy i went with the Bilsteins as well.



next to my buddys deuce, it has a YJ in the bed of it and a car trailer behind it with a 72 Chevelle on it.



heres a comparison to my old truck with a 4'' lift, the XJ has way more ground clearance.

durango4819

decided to change the stock front bumper to something with recovery points since i didnt have any.



got some d-rings and 1.5'' wheel spacers because i was rubbing the control arms at full lock. i stopped hitting the control arms with these, but then i was hitting the fender



then finally some beach riding!



and my black tag showed up

Jeepxj1234

Jeep looks great with the lift and all. How'd you go about removable doors? Did you buy new removable pins? Did you use a trailer wire connector type thing for all the wires?

durango4819

End of summer, put the doors back on. I welded pins onto the doors so the could just pop on and off like a wrangler. Notice my front tires didnt allow my front flares to make it through the summer haha.




got some cheapo fogs too.

1998xjspt

very nice! so you don't get any driveline vibrations without a SYE??

and what kind of front bumper is that? i absolutely love the look of it!

durango4819

i found a write up on jeep forum. ill have to look for it but basically i just welded new pins onto the doors so i could put them back on and take them right back off like a wrangler. ill get a pic of the pins later on. the top on has to be shorter so you have room to lift the door of the jeep. all the connectors for my doors are behind the fuse panel on the passenger side and kick pannel on the drivers side and unplug fairly simple.

durango4819

nope i luckily didnt get any at all!

1998xjspt

thats insane! i talked to a guy with a 98 (same year as mine) with the 3.5 RE lift and he said he couldn't even drive it without the SYE! i have the RE3.5 as well but i bought the SYE. haven't installed any of it yet but I'm sure i will add lift in the future so i might just put the SYE away for safe keeping if i need it some time in the future!

durango4819

took my flares off and rear end caps, any guess as to what my next mod was??



These stopped my tires from hitting the fender anymore. Lot of cutting in this install for anyone curious.




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