I bought a 2001 Jeep TJ last fall from my neighbor who is a big jeep guy and has built many jeeps before. As a 17 broke high school kid, this was my first car project, and was stoked that it was an old reliable Jeep. I started off with some basic mods that I could do with things I already had, Heated seats, subwoofer with amp, and custom interior trim paint. Not long after I bought the car I got into a small collision because I had never driven a vehicle without ABS in the winter, that unfortunately was at the right height to dent in my grille, right left fender, warp my left fender, crunch the hood up, and damage my power steering pump. At this point, I had to jump head-first into learning how to work on my Jeep because there was no way I was going to pay a shop to repair it. I was able to buy a new grille, fenders, and a hood from a guy in town who was parting out his old TJ body. My neighbor then sold me a power steering pump that he had sitting around, so I was able to rebuild my Jeep for around $450 and a few days of work. At this point I was hooked on working on my Jeep and wanted to do more, so I started saving because my neighbor had said that he had a spare set of 33in tires back when I bought the vehicle and that he would be willing to sell me. I was finally able to buy them from him along with a set of old rusted 2in lift springs. I then bought a 1.25-inch rough country body lift and installed that. It was not too difficult, but it was a bit nerve-racking as I was worried I would mess something up and shift the entire body or something. I completed the body lift but can't do the suspension lift just yet as I am waiting to get my paycheck from work so I can buy the rest of the suspension components I need, in the meantime, I was curious if I could fit the tires on because I had seen videos of people fitting them on stock jeeps, and I had just put on a body lift so there should be even more clearance. I just tried to put them on yesterday and luckily they fit! they are 33 10.5 r15's so they are not as wide as a more common 12.5 which allows enough clearance between the tire and the control arms. My next goals for my Jeep are to get the rest of the parts for the 2-in suspension lift, paint the grille, fenders, and new hood that I haven't installed, do a gas tank skid plate lift, and rebuild my power steering gearbox as it is leaking from the top seal. so far love my TJ and think it's coming together fairly well! The one downside of my Jeep is that the axles are geared to 3.07, which on 33's makes it a little bit of a cow even with the 4.0 and auto trans. Maybe regearing further down the line?
bui
Elijahkg's First Jeep Tj build
- Thread starter Elijahkg_Wrangler
- Start date
Nice job fixing the wreckage! Welcome to the forum and congrats on the Jeep. Keep us up to speed on your progress. Once you get the suspension installed it will be better set up for 33’s.