Bustedback

Purchased my ZJ because I couldn't find an unmolested XJ in my price range, plus I was a little impatient to get a Jeep. Here it is as I got it. Nothing special, just a budget boost that I removed because of some weird handling and death wobble. I had to do some sound upgrades because of my 150 mile round trip commute. Cheap, but works pretty well. I painted the grille with some bed liner spray just to change the look. I also painted the cladding and bumpers with the same stuff.

Bustedback

Did the sail panels too. I also swapped in the 99+ intake manifold, 703 injectors, and installed the IAT in the air box.

Bustedback

The electric fan swap was the best mod I have done so far. A 180 degree thermostat plus the fan equals a nice 190 degrees at operating temperature.

Bustedback

The worst mod has been the one ton steering. Instant death wobble at stock height and gawd awful bump steer after a four inch lift.

Bustedback

I got the wheels from Summit for a little over two hundred bucks. I was waiting for the lift and tires before installing them, but some stuff fell through at work and postponed my plans by six months, so in the meantime I swapped out the wheels.

Bustedback

Did some wheelin at the High Lakes above Paradise CA. The Zed Jay did very well at stock height and worn tires, but there was some damage done to the rockers and transmission cross member. My sister's first time off road and her 2014 Rubicon made it look easy.

Bustedback

On September 26th 2013 at 6 in the morning a homeless guy pushing a Walmart shopping cart ran right in front of me. I couldn't stop in time and hit him. He was alive when they loaded him in the ambulance, but I have no idea if he is alive or dead. It kinda shook me up and I was nervous at every intersection for a long time after that. Of course the cost to fix Zed came out of my pocket. A new header panel, headlight assemblies, marker and turn signal lights, grille, and radiator. Rockauto had everything I needed. The hood and left fender still have dents in them from the dude's head, they're warnings to other bums that want to cross on the red light.

Bustedback

The planned lift. After looking at every long arm lift on the market I chose Rough Country. The price was right and the kit had almost everything that is required.

Bustedback

Things at work finally came through and I ordered my lift. A buddy of a buddy owned a diesel performance shop and gave me his cost for the lift, saved my about 160 bucks. Went to the folks house to install it, my garage is full of the wife's crap. The pile of parts is much larger than this. Most of the stuff I took off was only a few months old.

Bustedback

Half of the lift installed, I only have the rear springs and shocks in the rear. I was tired and sore from fighting with the front all day. The ride home was pretty scary. The caster was way off between the right and left sides, the wonky one ton steering bump steer, and the rear lift springs with the stock rear arms. It was a white knuckle ride for 15 miles.

Bustedback

Finished the rear up with the new arms and brackets. I cheated with the rear brackets and welded them on instead of drilling and bolting. I'm never gonna put the old stuff on anyway. A flex pic at a buddy's house. You can get a peek of the Cherry Bomb muffler. I had to cut the original off because of the rear long arms. I also removed the one ton steering and put the stock stuff back on with a drop pitman arm. If anyone wants to buy the linkage and steering knuckles hit me up.

Bustedback

Finally got the tires. Driving with a lift and tiny tires was embarrassing to say the least. I got a decent deal on a set of Kenda Klever 32-11.50-15. They're a little noisy but look pretty sweet. I'm not real happy with the balancing method they used, I'll rebalance them at work and see if I can shave some of those weights off. Zed has not been aligned yet, but I did get the caster split closer to spec and eyeballed the toe. Zed has felt a little Loosey-goosey since the day I got it. I replaced all of the track bar bushings with poly bushings and that helped a lot. The Rough Country long arm lift has really made Zed much more enjoyable to drive. It's not too stiff and it feels solid, it rides better than stock! I still have a lot of stuff I want to do to Zed. Steering upgrades are next on the list. Some LED lighting, a roof rack system, a winch plate and winch, and cutting out the stock rocker panels to replace them with some 2x6 boxed steel is in the future.

Bustedback

Good news and bad news today. I had Zed aligned, but I need to make some adjustments to the control arms in order to square up the rear axle and shorten the front upper links so the caster can be set to spec. The tires shouldn't wear abnormally until I make those changes.

Bustedback

Well Saturday it squared up the rear axle, shortened the front upper links, installed my Rough Country bar pin eliminators, and changed the instrument cluster bulbs to blue LED lights. I'm gonna change to white LEDs instead, the blue is a little too purple for my liking. Today in installed my Rough Country tie rod and new ends from rockauto. The tie rod is beefy as hell! It makes the wimpy stocker look like a coat hanger. I gotta say that I'm very pleased with all of the Rough Country stuff that I have installed. The lift has an awesome ride and the handling is better that stock. I know a lot of you bash Rough Country, but I have no reason to say one bad thing about the RC products I have purchased.

Bustedback

Got rid of the plastic chrome and replaced it with matte black metal.