Zachs_XJ1998

After the tires were done i had a transfer case leak to fix. My buddies decided to plan a trip doing 3n14 back way to Big Bear in early December and now was time to prep and make sure all was good for that day.


Made it halfway up the trail with no issues and it ran great in 4LO the whole time then my buddy decided he wanted us to do Holcomb Creek Trail 3n93



i didn't get to many pictures of this trail ride because it was my first ever 4x4 experience and was focused on driving but this was the last rock garden of the trail and my buddy behind me blew a power steering line and got stuck so we had to recover him with me and my other buddy being further down the trail



trying to recover my buddy was difficult and then to top it off his battery died but we managed to start it and get him off the rock



Finally got him caught up and we worked our way back to big bear



Had a nice dinner to conclude the day and head back down the mountain (my buddy had a hell of a ride with no power steering down the mountain) We all did good i learned alot and did well on the trail for all having open diffs

Zachs_XJ1998

It did well up in Big Bear and it actually self healed the leak in the t-case now i just drove it around alittle while until i was at a gas station and the o ring on the fuel tank puked gas out and had to ghetto strap it 5 minutes back to my house


had the tank ripped out the same day and had the new parts ordered and ready to go a week later

Zachs_XJ1998

After getting it put back together i just cruised around and enjoyed it and around this time my dad had gotten the itch and ended up picking up a clean 97' Wrangler for himself


we had gotten alot of rain and this was down the road from me and yes that basically a lake in the background



This was the first time my dad ever drove his he's done a ton of work to it but that's for the wrangler forum

Zachs_XJ1998

Spent alot of time tinkering with it and just tweaking little things here and there then ended up ordering a CSF 3 row radiator and decided on a cooling system overhaul. Did the oem 195 thermostat and a new water pump and that seemed to keep it cool during the winter.


Spent alot of late nights working on it and regretting all the mud i had fall on me while working



Cooling system overhaul went well and cleaned it up all nice and it ran the way i wanted it to for awhile



Another solid trip with my dad once he finished his lift and they both did well together

Zachs_XJ1998

Next major thing i did was put all new ball joints along with steering box with the jcr brace and a few other jcr goodies


Ball joints were a huge pain but managed to get it done new steering box as well although its sloopy my dad did the psc box and im considering doing the same box

Zachs_XJ1998

Now we are in the beginning of March and my tax refund came in and i decided it was time for a tire carrier because the full size spare wasn't fun in the back seat i love JCR bumpers but are out of my price range and i got the smittybilt xrc tire carrier on sale so i couldn't resist


The bumper fought us the whole way but with persuasion we got it to fit and damn it looked good

Zachs_XJ1998

I was originally gonna get the RC front winch bumper but again got lucky and found the smittybilt xrc front bumper and jumped on it.


The front didn't hassle us as much but was still hard to complete

Zachs_XJ1998

Managed to score a scratch and dent special smittybilt 9,500 winch on the cheap and went with it also scored some gear to help turn this thing into an overlander build.


The winch was brand new the box was just ruined



scored some gear from Bass Pro Shops!!!!

Zachs_XJ1998

It did sit for awhile as i had bills and other things to pay off managed to catch up with my buddy who we did the same lift kit as mine on his jeep and also bought a new steering wheel


They had both came a long way in a very short time



Went to a leather steering wheel instead of the suede and man was it so much better

Zachs_XJ1998

Ended up buying a bolt on stinger up front and love it. Now it was time to move onto my interior


Some think there dumb but i love mine because it isn't huge

Zachs_XJ1998

Now was time for my interior. My headliner was first at some point someone cut it to fit bigger speakers in the back and it looked terrible. I bought a whole new headliner for cheap from Inland Jeep and tore the fabric off because i wanted something unique


scraped off all the old adhesive which was so much fun



This was my end result its alittle wild but i love it



It looks so awesome and i love that i'm different from everyone else

Zachs_XJ1998

Next was the carpet. My old carpet was really stained and just old i bought a kit from stock car interiors and got to work


Old carpet came out easy had some cleanup work i had to do but it was nice and rust free



It was hard to cut but overall im happy with it i need to dynamat the front area because of the heat around the trans tunnel

Zachs_XJ1998

Next up was making a license plate bracket with a light. I know they make ones but i had materials laying around and i made my own


it isnt pretty but works well and the light is very bright

Zachs_XJ1998

Then June rolled around and we always go to Truck and Jeep fest in Ontario and i was looking for a few parts but scored a set of xrc rock sliders for 150 bucks when they usually retail for 500 or more also bought a defender roof rack. I've also put leds in my gauge cluster


They of course didn't go on easy but they look very good



The rack was the easiest to do out of all the smittybilt stuff i bought (although the sales rep sold me the wrong brackets for it) but shoutout to 4wheelparts for fixing my issues



These make a big difference and are a nice, cheap upgrade and easy to install

Zachs_XJ1998

This basically concludes where it is as of now. I've also wired my aux fan to a switch to help cool it down being that i don't have AC right now. I've got a set of 4.10s waiting for it just waiting on lockers and need to dynamat my interior this Jeep has come so far in alittle less than a year and i love it. Its my first 4x4 and Jeep and this thing is gonna stay with me for a very long time. In a way i fixed the Jeep and now it fixed me thank you guys for looking at my build and welcome any comments or questions thanks guys!!!!!


This is how it currently sits I love this thing and can't wait to see where it takes me