The plan was simple: We had a 5-year-old Jeep TJ, a three-day weekend, and we were gonna build an ultra-capable little Jeep. This weekend wrenchfest wouldn't necessarily be dirt-cheap, but working on our own vehicle is 50 percent of our 4x4 hobby. By hiring a shop to build their rigs for them, lots of folks miss out on the thrill of busted knuckles, hanging out with pals in the shop, and learning to wrench on their own trucks. Of course, we are all for supporting your local 4x4 shops, but we also love doing the work ourselves, so we convinced our friend that we could have her '99 Jeep Wrangler TJ ready to wheel in one long weekend.
The recipe was easy enough--install some body armor from Currie Enterprises and Poison Spyder Customs, and mount a Warn winch for extraction duty up front and a Teraflex S/T sway bar to help keep the tires on the ground. We wanted the Jeep to clear 33-inch Yokohama Geolandars, but not so tall that our friend would need a ramp to get in.
Plus we like our rig's center of gravity as low as possible with big tires, so we used a 2-inch suspension lift from Old Man Emu (OME), and a 1-inch body lift from Currie. We have always been impressed with the research that OME puts into its suspension kits, and are pleased to say that the Jeep now rides better than stock. The interior is also better with the help of Bestop, which carries a full line of replacement soft-top parts and interior seating components such as the new seat covers that gave the old cracked vinyl seats a new life.
The final day of the buildup was spent at Leonard's Off-Road, where we let the experts set the new gears and ARB Air Lockers from West Coast Differential in the front and rear pumpkins. Thus after a three-day weekend and one business day, we had built this stealth Jeep "Black Bessie" into a capable trail machine and comfortable daily driver.
We started with the most basic '99 Jeep Wrangler TJ you can buy. With a four-cylinder engine, a five-speed tranny, and 4.10 gears in the front Dana 30 and rear Dana 35, it wasn't much of a monster, but it was a great base for a trail rig.
Saturday, 9:00 a.m.
We headed to 4-Wheel Parts Performance in Portland, Oregon, to get a set of 285/75R16 Yokohama Geolanders mounted on black steel Pro Comp Rock Crawler rims. The tires balanced easily with around 6 ounces per tire/wheel combo. These are directional and since one side has white lettering, you actually have to order lefts and rights. We would eventually find that these tires are extremely quiet on the road thanks to the different lug sizes, and the large center tread void helps in wet street driving while giving great lateral control off road. | 
Saturday, 11:00 a.m.
We got a group of buddies and local warehouse space for the long Presidents' Day weekend by supplying all the doughnuts and burgers they could eat. Our friend, Steve Schoenfelder, works for Warn Industries, and he stopped by to help install an M8000 winch for the front of Bessie, and he also brought his sons and their friends to help install the Currie front and rear bumpers and 1-inch body lift. |
Saturday, noon
We undid all the body mounts, used a floor jack to raise the body, and then added the new Currie lift blocks one side at a time. The Currie parts slip over the stock mounts and are quick and easy ways to gain some clearance for bigger tires. | |