Project Jeep TJ/JK build

Thanks. Yeah some feel it should be dirty all the time but it is too new. I need to keep it looking good. I will still play with it but just might not go as crazy as I was going to with a $5000 Jeep.

I have heard good things about those tires in the snow. I'm big on running winter tires in the winter. It is a big thing to me. Well these tires are winter rated. They have the mountain/snowflake which means it is rated to perform well in snow. People say they are great. I will see. I'm picky when it comes to traction in the snow. So hopefully they work well so I don't have to buy winter tires for it at the end of the year.

I always wanted one as well. We had the AWD Tribute which was great in the snow. This is the first 4wd I owned myself. Not the first I have drove. I'm excited about finally owning this Jeep.

I put on a logo tonight.





James

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 24, 2014 ---

I might have issues. Does it bother anyone else that the Goodyear is off center a little? If I take it off and turn it, it will be at the top. It won't be perfectly centered but it will be close. LOL. I think I'm going to have to switch it.

James

 

LOL so your saying I'm crazy but I'm not alone?

I had to change it. Did it tonight. It is still off just a bit. The only way that would be fixed would be to get the tire turned but then I would have to call myself crazy.



I also had to change turn the center cap so "Jeep" was sitting more level.

James

 

I also did a a repair to the door frame on the passenger side. This was like that when I bought it. Someone must have let the door swing open. The anchor bent and it allowed the strap to bend the metal. That caused the paint to crack and then rust. I straightened the anchor with a hammer and a bench vise. I then bent the metal back into place. It isn't perfect but it is pretty close. I didn't want to break anymore paint if I could help it. Then I used paint touch up to repaint (after sanding), I then put on a second coat about 30 minutes later. You have to wait 24 hours to clear coat it so I will do that tomorrow after a little wet sanding to smooth it out.



I used Dupli-Color Scratch Fix All in 1. We will see how it turns out. But the product seems pretty good.


James

 

To turn the tire I would have to take it to the shop and have it broken down, turned, then rebalanced. That could be $25 or more. That could go towards other parts for the Jeep. Plus I will rotate the spare in with the other tires to keep them good. Because of that I might end up doing them all in the end. I'm not that crazy. LOL

James

 

I updated my details for this in the showcase.

I'm loving this Jeep and so is my family.

So far for upgrades I want to put on a trailer hitch and I want to upgrade my speakers in the dash and in the sound bar. I'm getting three months of free satellite so I don't want to touch the head unit right now. Plus I like the location of the factory antenna. Not sure where I would mount an aftermarket unit if I decided to keep satellite radio.

I have someone looking into making me a windshield decal for the site as well as some gear and wrench ones in black for the sides. I still need to decide on a grill insert to protect the radiator.

James

 

I thought the same thing when they first came out. Then one day I saw a picture of a black one, lifted, 35" tires, topless and bar doors. Looked sweet. Then they started to grow on me. Most of the time I will be by myself so it isn't an issue but there is times when that extra space behind the rear seats will come in handy. I could still end up with one down the road but this is my Jeep right now.

I do love the turning radius in this rig. Feels like you could so a figure eight on a dime.

Fuel mileage has surprised me so far.



The June 29th one is a trip I took with the wife and kids. The first 170 miles was taking the old scenic route. It ranged from 50-90 kms/h (31-55 mph). The ride how was on the highway. I didn't buy a Jeep worrying about fuel mileage but it is nice to know that it isn't that bad. Way better then the Mazda Tribute we had and I feel I'm doing better then the Acura TL I was driving before it.

James

 

Well yesterday morning on the way to work I went to pass a slow moving van. In front of him was a blast dump trailer so I decided to pass him too. As I'm making the pass I hear a bang that causes me to duck a little. Look up and over to the passenger side and I see a bulls eye chip in the windshield.

I was not impressed. Found out that my insurance doesn't cover them and the shops now was $70 for one. I have two on the Jeep and one on the Corolla. I have the gear and the skill to fix them. The only issue is some of my product dried up. For what they are charging it is more then worth it to order the product and do it myself.



James

 

Well I ordered my materials to do my windshield chip repairs. I got in on the last day of a 10% off deal. Every little bit helps. Hopefully it will be in this week so I can get the two chips on my windshield and the one on @Lisa Corolla.

James

 

I made the repairs today. I did a thread in the detail section on it. http://gearheadcentral.com/index.php?threads/windshield-chip-repair.9609/#.U-7Bg2OM_8A



James

 

Oh the pass was legal. I was on the highway with two lanes in our direction. The van I passed was doing less then the speed limit. That is the reason for the pass in the first place.

I would have had it done if insurance covered it just to save money right now and I didn't have my resins. Then when I had to pay for it, it worked out cheaper to buy my supplies and just do it myself.

It does feel good to be able to do work myself. I will still pay for some things because of the lack of proper tools mostly.

If I feel I can do the job right then I will do it.

I want a bigger house and garage so I can work on getting a hoist. Then I can do even more myself. Repair costs are not getting any cheaper.

Your father is right. And some take advantage of that fact. Some others don't. Finding a good fair mechanic can be hard.

James

 

Yeah with our family of four, our house is getting small. The kids are growing. Plus I would like a much bigger garage. With that I could do a lot of things. One is getting back into detailing.

Well the insurance thing was more about money. It would have been the cheapest way. Plus your right it does save time. I had to order the product and wait for it to come in. But that ended up being just less then a week so it wasn't too bad. If it was winter then it would be more of an issue and the time could cost me a windshield.

You don't have much of a choice. If you can't do it yourself then you need to pay someone. Learning to do things yourself is great if you have the time, tools and the space to work on it. It also helps if you have someone to help if you run into problems.

James

 

I added some more decals. I had another gear and wrench done in black for the fenders and I had a windshield decal done. I installed the fender ones last week or so and the windshield one tonight. Hopefully that one holds up to the wipers. If not I have some spares but I don't want to replace it too often. Took a little while to get it lined up the way I wanted.

James

 

The family and I took the Jeep and went camping. I have a thread on it in the camping section.
http://gearheadcentral.com/index.php?threads/first-family-camping-trip.9791/#.VAyQfWOM_8A

 

Doing the camping trip in the 2 door JK was tight. We made it work but it was tight. One way to solve this is to trade for an Unlimited JK. But the less expensive options are

• Rear hitch carrier
  
• trailer

The hitch carrier should do the trick and can easily be removed when not needed. It would cost $80+ or so. Plus I need a hitch which I would need for a trailer anyway.

The trailer would cost a lot more. Could be 10X or more then the hitch carrier. But I'm have been thinking about a roof top tent (RTT) and it would be sweet to mount it on top of a trailer. It would save me removing it after a trip. And a roof rack to mount it to can cost as much as a trailer. The trailer could be used for a lot of things but I could have it with all of the camping gear all ready to go. If I go that route I would want to came a lot to make the purchase worth it.

James