Picked Up A Traitor Jeep (tj)

I've been thinking about getting a new radio myself. Thanks for posting!

 

For what it's worth, here's the double DIN dash bezel I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078RVVK64

And here's the harness that actually worked with my 06 CD/subwoofer equipped Jeep: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QRPYK9F

 

This space is completely empty:


I think it needs something like this:


I'm using the Smittybilt bracket that raises the winch up above the sway bar. It was sooooo close to being a bolt-on but the holes for the fairlead needed to be enlarged:


Touched up the holes and a few nicks and scratches from shipping with a paintbrush:


Installed. That pretty much blocks the entire grill. Curious to see how the cooling is on hot days now. I don't think it will affect low speed cooling much since that's mostly fan driven. Might affect cooling on long highway climbs. If it's a problem, I can relocate the control box to open up more grill:


This seemed like the best cover on the Amazon. It's twice and much as the cheap covers but I suspect it will last more than twice as long. Everyone will think I have one of those cool Worn Wenches:


I'll probably cut the Warn patch off.

Next I need to do what 90% of fab work is and make a bracket. I need to mount the cut-off switch near the battery and I have a plan to mount it to the fuse-box mount. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully I'll have it wired up with another nights work.

 

Got the shut-off switch bracket made and painted last night. I also ended up repainting the factory fuse box bracket it attaches to since it was having some rust issues:


The switch mounts right by the battery and leaves space for the factory air cleaner I plan to switch back to:


Winch power cables routed so they don't rub on anything:


All hooked up. The ground cable routing is meh because I didn't feel like cutting the end off and shortening:


Time for a test. It works! Wireless works too:


Now I need to spool the rope out and wind it back up with some tension on it. Good project for this weekend.

With that done, I used a spare tool bag to gather all the recovery stuff; winch remote, anti abrasion blankets, snatch ring, soft shackles, tree saver, ...etc.:


It fits well behind the passenger seat and is easily accessible when the seat is flipped forward. 12V portable compressor is currently behind the driver's seat. I'll probably mount an ARB compressor under the hood eventually:


With the winch done, I caught up on a few smaller jobs:

Fixed the under-hood light:


Added a flat-four tailer harness so I can tow the Bantam. Verified working:


I noticed someone had cleverly stuck a spare fanbelt next to the radiator but it was in such bad shape I'm not sure it would have gotten you home. Replaced with a fresh spare belt:

 

It was too hot to do anything at the house today, so we took the TJ for a drive. We ended up on some Jeep trails on Moscow Mountain:


I gotta say, as much as I like the old CJ5s, AC is really nice for wheeling on 100 degree days. The Jeep had no cooling issues even with the winch blocking the radiator.

 

Cool. No. Really....literally....cool. Liking the progress. Curious to hear long term feedback on the winch.

 

Took the TJ an hour East of here over the weekend looking for some old Mines. I didn't find the mines, but the dogs like being out in the woods:


My covercraft waterproof seat covers I ordered 2 months ago finally showed up. After more sitting in them, they will conform to the seats better:

 

Looking for 'mines' and I immediately went here...

 

Found some time to catch up on a bunch of random stuff on the TJ.

Installed and adjusted some H4 headlghts so I can see at night:


Another attempt at a locking gas cap. The last made in China one wouldn't stay clipped into the body. Trying over with a different one. Seems better so far:


The old disconnectable swaybar links were shot. I have no idea what brand they are. The Heim joint at the top had at least an eighth inch of slop:


The lower pins were loose on the axle and it looks like they are made out of aluminum. Not really the right application for Aluminum:


With the top and bottom slop combinesd, they had at least 3.8" of movement on both sides.

The new links are Rubicon Express and seem like decent quality:


After installation, it was time to do some testing.

Flex with the sway bar connected:




And flex with the sway bar disconnected:




You definitely can't run any bigger tires on the 4" lift without either cutting the fenders or extending the bump stops:




Frankly, I'm pretty impressed for a short arm lift. That's a lot of flex. It's really making me think about coils for the CJ-2 project:


There is some minor interference with the goofy bumper end at full stuff and full lock:


Once i figured out where things were going to clear, I could locate the anchors for the sway bar links when it's diconnected. Needed to drill and tap a coule holes in the frame:


Storage position:


I greased all the suspension bushings while I was at it and the creaks and groans are gone.

Bumper ends removed so the tires can't hit them:

 

Looks good. Going full litebrite on this and by the decal...RUBICON ready.

 

I disconnected my sway bar on a off road trip then proceeded to drive down the mountain from Shaver Lake. I did not notice much difference with it off so now the sway bar is on a shelf in my garage. Good info on the lift and tires. I keep kicking around going 33's or 35's. I would need a lift obviously but what size?

 

I would have went all the way back to stock height and tire size.

 

If you did tube fenders you could probably make 35s work with a 4" lift. You might need to extend the bump stops a tiny bit, but maybe not. Here's what it looked like with the 35s and the sway bar hooked up and not fully flexed out:




I went down to 33's because this one will see a lot of road miles and not a lot of tough trails. The 35's will end up on the CJ-2 (with different wheels).

 

I was really considering it.

 

Finally got around to spooling out the winch and winding it back up with some tension on it.

Used a handy post on an uphill part of the driveway:


Kind of neat I guess, the Harbor Freight synthetic winch rope has red covering on the base windings so you know where you are at:

 

The TJ came with a suspect Edge Performance Trail Jammer cold air intake, throttle body, and ECU fooling device. It always idled rough, I've never been a fan of K&N style filters in our land of dust, and there is no way the Edge ECU that intercepts only MAP and IAT and rewrites them to the real ECU is doing anything proper to the fuel tables. It doesn't have enough information to do that correctly and the real ECU's self learning will most likely cancel it out anyway.

So out it comes. I found a airbox/intake tube on Ebay and the cat helped me install it tonight:


Done and back to factory:


When I made the bracket for the winch shut-off switch, I alread knew a stock airbox was in the plans. I looked at pictures online and made a bracket I hoped would clear. And... sucess! Fits perfect:


With the new (old) airbox in and the ECU trickery box removed, it idles much smoother and is way quieter. Big improvement.

 

Ya gonna move to round turn signals in the grill as God intended it? Probably one of the first cosmetic things I'd do to a TJ if I had one.

Seems like quite a difference with the sway bars disconnected. It should be pretty capable. I like it.

Nice storage for the sway bars. And loosing the bumper caps......

 

That would be pretty cool, but then I'd need to fill the lights on the fenders and body work is something I avoid if at all possible.

 

The next item to address on the TJ was lighting.

I had already installed the H4 headlights which made a huge improvement. Next I was going to hang some of those LED cube lights of the tire rack so I could actually see when going backwards at night. However, when I was at Duffer's place a couple weeks ago, he suggested to just put some really bright LED 1156 bulbs in the stock backup lights. Clever.

I ordered these 400% bright bulbs from Amazon:


They are at least 400% bright. It's not like daylight behind the Jeep now, but I can actually see to back up in the dark. Good enough:


That project was too easy. No need for hacking a new switch into the dash, adding a relay, running wires, ...etc.

On to the front.

The Jeep had fogs lights from the factory that are now missing. Luckily the wiring and relay were still in place and functioning.

I bought these mostly round lights from Amazon to fit the styling of the Jeep and mounted them in the stock location:


The mounting hardware that comes with the lights leaves a lot to be desired. The hole in the light housing is 5/16" diameter but they included a 6mm (.236") bolt that was extremely loose. The bracket itself had 6mm holes and was about 1/16" too wide for the housing. It would have to bend when tightened.

To fix this, I drilled the bracket holes to 5/16", used some 5/16" bolts and fit a star washer in the 1/16" gap to take up space and create additional friction. I also used a star washer when mounting to the bumber to create more friction in the left/right direction. They seem very solid after the mods and should stay pointed the right direction:


Wires are routed under the sway bar and zip-tied to the brake line to keep them from rubbing:


I splice the waterproof connectors that came with the lights to the factory harness and zip-tied everything up tight under the fender:


A final trick on these TJs that a previous owner had already done is cutting off pin 1 on the fog light relay. This allows the fog lights to stay on when going to hight beam. Nice this was already done:


The result with the high beams and the fog lights on:


The fog lights are insanely bright and light up a very wide area. Great for avoiding deer on the back roads at night but almost too bright. You will absolutely have to shut them off so you don't blind oncoming traffic. The high beams work well too. That telephone pole is about 700ft away.

I only have two projects left on this thing and then I can start working on the CJ2:

• Onboard air. I have a single pump ARB compressor I bought for the '71. I might put it on the ABS platform under the master cylinder. This Jeep doesn't have ABS, so there is an open hole with a nice flat place to mount something. I think I can fit a 1 gallon air tank under the hood if I relocate the cruise control actuator.
• A platform above the fenders in the back. I want to have the dogs up on top and groceries, luggage, cooler, ...whatever underneath. That will make the Jeep immensely more useful. I've currently got fabricators block on this one. I'm going back and forth between a metal frame, a wood frame, how to make it thin but strong, and how to attach it to the Jeep so it stays in place in the event of a roll over. I think I'm finally getting close to a plan. It will probably be a metal-framed three piece affair with sides that attach via the hardtop bolts and seat belt bolts. Then a center platform will span the gap. i may hing the platform in the middle so can flip the back up to get things in/out easier.

All that has to wait though. It's time to get out and do some more exploring. I'm taking this thing on a solo Montana trip all next week.

 

Great work as always and now I have to try the back up light trick. I also have the original fog lights but they are less that adequate off road. What brand are the new front lights? Good to know about the high beam trick too!