My sons 99 TJ

[JJsKJ]

My 14 yr old son just scored (STOLE IT for $3200!!!) a 1999 TJ w/ hard top, full doors, aluminum wheels, about 125k miles, 4.0L/auto, immaculate interior, upgraded sound, etc. It has a D35 rear (oh well) but it does have limited slip and 3.73's which will be Ok for a while. It was in a fender bender but damage is minor, check the pics:



Only body damage

Axle damage


Not bad, I have seen worse on daily driven Jeeps. :shock:

My son spent quite some time climbing around inside it w/ friends after it got towed home. He is jazzed. (says 1st thing that has to go is the Raider fan plates and sticker on rear window :lol: )

Of course he is also looking for a Small, BUDGET type lift and/or 1" body lift for it....Note he Is broke since having to borrow a little $$ to add in to buy this but it was too good of a deal to pass up. Anyone out there help a kid out?:wink:

[Roger]

Well, it is evident that you raised your son right! Isn't going to kill him to have to wait until he gets a drivers license to drive it??

I was thinking about my garage and I just don't have anything to donate. 1" lift kits are pretty cheap though, it shouldn't take him long to save the money.

And dad could get him some awesum birthday & Christmas gifts!

Oh and DAD, how about a lift kit & 35X12.5'S if he gets straight A's??

[JJsKJ]

Well, it is evident that you raised your son right! Isn't going to kill him to have to wait until he gets a drivers license to drive it??

I was thinking about my garage and I just don't have anything to donate. 1" lift kits are pretty cheap though, it shouldn't take him long to save the money.

And dad could get him some awesum birthday & Christmas gifts!

Oh and DAD, how about a lift kit & 35X12.5'S if he gets straight A's??

Well, he is maintaining a 3.5 gpa in a college/high school program so I can't complain at all and b-days and xmas should be good. He also wants to break out the welder and make some stuff so that is cool. He does still owe us a little money that we added so we could jump on this deal (we paid half since the deal was whatever he saved up we would double when it came time to buy) He is gung ho to start looking for a job as soon as he can so I know he will be working towards mods as soon as he can. In the mean time, he will get to ride along in it to the trails and drive Some off road since he has done a lot of that any way. Heck, he had a lot of seat time in my KJ in Moab this last trip and did great.

[JJsKJ]

Well we scored some freeebies to start the build. A set of newer Rubicon springs and some 2" spacers will get the belly up a bit and some nice, longer shocks to go w/ it. Also got a set of Rubicon rocker covers for a little style and bit of protection plus a set of better condition flares, some factory fog lights, rear tow hook, some JKS quick discos, rear trac bar relocator and some All J Products stickers. THANKS ALL J for the budget hook up!! I'll throw in my set of Rubi tire/wheel take offs and she should be looking much better in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for build and progress pics.

[RAT]

Sweet! getting him off on the right foot. I'll look in my Jeep pile and see if there's anything I can contribute.

[JJsKJ]

Sweet! getting him off on the right foot. I'll look in my Jeep pile and see if there's anything I can contribute.

Very cool of ya.:thumbs_up:wink:
It was funny, the other day we were discussing what he was wanting to get and he wanted an old Mustang to "fix up". Well I have a lot of experience fixing up old Stangs and they can consume $$ faster than most Jeeps any day since it is Very rare to ever find one "cheap" or get any freebies during the build process. In order to talk him into a cheaper, easier to build/ more economical vehicle, I steered him toward a Baja bug. I love those Baja bugs and figured if we built one of those it could serve double duty as a weekend toy as well as DD transportation that would also get decent mileage.
Well, two days later the TJ deal popped up and there was No way I was going to pass on it. I talked him into "wanting" it and I knew he had most of the money he needed burning a hole in his pocket so we jumped on it. Now the Fun begins...... I just can't wait until he can drive it on his own and we make a trip together hitting the trail and camping at night. That is what it is all about.

[Kodiak Spirit]

That's awesome! I had a 'stang I was going to build, and after a couple of speeding tickets I realized that it is actually ILLEGAL to drive a 'stang the way you want to... and to build something sweet, and not really get to use it for it's intended purpose.... sad.

The jeep on the other hand, it's all good!

[JJsKJ]

That's awesome! I had a 'stang I was going to build, and after a couple of speeding tickets I realized that it is actually ILLEGAL to drive a 'stang the way you want to... and to build something sweet, and not really get to use it for it's intended purpose.... sad.

The jeep on the other hand, it's all good!

Yeah...no kidding...

I have a 65 Notchback in the garage, nicely built 302/C4/9" w/ Detroit, Full Stang II tubular front end w/ coil-overs (removed shock towers), cowl hood, Pure white w/ Shelby style stripes, etc. etc...... Almost done w/ it and they take LACR away from me......UGH! I totally lost my ambition on the car and it really sucks since I know I can't enjoy it the way I want w/out having to drive almost two hours North or South to drag race it. :mad::sad::dunno:

Oh well, at least I get to keep fighting to keep my Jeep trails open.....

[JJsKJ]

Update:

Minor repairs, cleaning her up a bit...
Heat gunned the faded flairs which worked pretty good.
Before:

During:

After:


Added some Free Rubicon rocker guards just for looks.

Real rails from boulderbars.com will be added at a later date for rock sliding.
Cleaned up the top real good and getting ready for a full tune-up, lube change w/ all Full synthetics and then off to smog.
Fun quality time w/ my son for sure!

[Schmo]

Lookin' Good!!! Cool to see your son getting into it . . . like you said, it sure will be sweet to be able to go out wheelin' and campin' with him. Hurry up and throw them tires you got on there . . . the wheels aren't bad, but those AT's or whatever they are have got to go So what are you doing with that crunched LCA bracket? I assume you can just hack it off and weld on a new one right? I think I've got an extra stock LCA that's in decent shape if you need a replacement.

[JJsKJ]

Lookin' Good!!! Cool to see your son getting into it . . . like you said, it sure will be sweet to be able to go out wheelin' and campin' with him. Hurry up and throw them tires you got on there . . . the wheels aren't bad, but those AT's or whatever they are have got to go So what are you doing with that crunched LCA bracket? I assume you can just hack it off and weld on a new one right? I think I've got an extra stock LCA that's in decent shape if you need a replacement.

Thanks for the offer. I actually straightened it out as best I could w/ a BFH and BFadjustable wrench until I could toss a lame LCA onto it.

The plan is to chop the stock brackets off and just weld on some new ones when I can get it to a shop. It won't be wheeled like this and hoping to get that all done in the coming weeks. I have access to some stock LCA's that I will put back on there. At least for now it is drivable.

[Schmo]

Now it looks like the rest of ours

[JJsKJ]

Now it looks like the rest of ours

Yeah no doubt. I have a set of LCA skids sitting in the garage waiting to be installed once the new brackets are installed.

[Schmo]

Yeah no doubt. I have a set of LCA skids sitting in the garage waiting to be installed once the new brackets are installed.

I'm looking to do the same, before mine get too bent outta whack. Which brand did you go with or did you make em yourself? If you could, post some pics of the new set up and how much it all sets you back.

[aw12345]

Well if you haven't welded the axle brackets on I have a front axle housing you can have the brackets are in decent shape and it has 3.73 gears in it.
It's in Ontario