Corbin's 2005ish LJ Rubicon

Owners Name & City-
Corbin Black. Currently in West Jordan.. Moving to Cedar City October 2019!


Make, Model & Year of Vehicle-
2005 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited
Started as a rebuilt title 2005 LJ rubicon, switched to a clean title 2004 LJ sport to get it on the road, and should finish off as a CLEAN title 05 LJ rubicon so its a 2005-ish LJ


Engine-
4.0l I6


Transmission-
42RLE


T-Case-
NV 241OR 4:1
TeraFlex 2 Low
Savvy Cable Shifter


Axles-
Stock Rubicon 44's. Front is sleeved as well as a custom bracket setup to accommodate a wheelbase stretch


Suspension-
TeraFlex short arms with "IR" bushings, 3" TeraFlex Springs, Falcon Piggyback shocks, Artec Industries weld on 1.25" "boat-side" body lift


Wheels and Tires-
Method Double standard matte black 15x8 with 35x12.5x15 Milestar Patagonia MT's


Favorite Trails- Double Sammy, Upper diff hanger, The Maze


Other Mods-
Motobilt spare tire delete / License plate relocation
Affordable Off-road rear bumper
Poison Spyder rear bumper brace kit
Poison Spyder Trail cage w/ grab handles
Genright Offroad frame side track bar bracket
TeraFlex belly up skid plate
TeraFlex gas tank skid plate
TeraFlex axle sleeves
TeraFlex ball joints
TeraFlex hi-steer knuckle with DOM crossover steering
Trucklite knockoff LED headlights
Artec Industries rock sliders
Rough Country 1" motor mount lift
Procomp front bumper


I have a soft spot for LJ's and I enjoy bringing them back from the dead (wrecks). I'm trying to keep this one mild.. but that is proving to be difficult!


It was in a front end collision and the insurance company totaled it. My brother in law picked it up at the auction and I bought it as is from him for dirt cheap.

 

[Jinx]

Nothing you can't fix!

 

[The_Lobbster]

Good looking starting point! Is your brother in law Russ by chance?

 

[corbin.black]

Good looking starting point! Is your brother in law Russ by chance?

No, but I buy parts from Russ all the time!
My brother is law's name is Abe, he owns and operates Abe's Towing in West Jordan.

 

[corbin.black]

The saddest part of the jeep being wrecked is that the 241OR t-case is dead. The jeep hit something with its front driver side tire.. causing the steering to collapse as well as both driver side control arms. The axle and driveshaft were pushed back into the case, causing it to crack ?

Luckily for me, my dad has been buying and rebuilding wrecked jeeps for a long time and had a 241OR from a TJ Rubicon that caught on fire. We sand blasted the case and opened it up to find it was in great condition internally. I replaced all of the seals as well as any plastic pieces and installed a TeraFlex 2 Low kit at the same time. The case is now back together and looks as good as new. I love these cases, the planetary is HUGE!

 

[corbin.black]

I was slightly nervous that the front axle was bent from the wreck but after some measurements and a TeraFlex axle sleeve install, its as straight as ever! TeraFlex doesn't sell TJ axle sleeve's but the TJ and JK front axles have the same diameter tubes so I bought JK sleeves and cut them down to the proper length for my axle.


The axles has a fair amount of rust on them so I hauled them to work and blasted them. I then removed all of the brackets except for the upper control arm mounts. The driver side lower mount was bad so I figured I would just replace/upgrade all of the brackets while I was at it.

Added a plate to the factory upper:

All brackets cut off, ready to weld in the sleeve's:

New brackets set up for ~1.5" wheelbase stretch, TeraFlex hi-steer knuckle and track-bar bracket, TeraFlex ball joints, TeraFlex diff cover

 

[LJTim]

A freshly coated axle housing always makes my giddy. I like that you centered the coil buckets over the axle tubes. That seems the easiest way to get some front stretch if you're doing axle work anyway. Keep up the good work. I'm excited about this.

 

[corbin.black]

A freshly coated axle housing always makes my giddy. I like that you centered the coil buckets over the axle tubes. That seems the easiest way to get some front stretch if you're doing axle work anyway. Keep up the good work. I'm excited about this.

Thanks Tim!

 

[corbin.black]

Got the jeep home and started pulling it apart. Sold the 33's and ugly wheels right away.. actually I think someone traded me for a nice Nikon camera

The Jeep has about 144,000 miles on it when I picked it up. It was a 4.0 with the NSG370 6 speed. Unfortunately during the wreck, the driver side motor mount broke off of the block. Kinda crazy, the cast holes are what broke off, the motor mount and bolts were still fine.

Yes, I probably could have made a new motor mount with other existing holes on the block but I was wanted to convert this jeep to an auto. I see motor/trans combo's for sale quite often so I had no interest in fixing my stock motor or the 6 speed trans. I sold the 6 speed for cheap (because I couldn't confirm its condition being that I never drove the jeep) and then I hauled the motor to the scrap yard and got a whole $10 for it! I listed it on KSL for parts but no one would come get it. oh well.

 

[corbin.black]

Found a set of 5 wheels and tires for $100. If any of you know me, you know that I am pretty good and trading / making deals for jeep parts.
Story time.. i bought 5 wheels and tires for $100. The wheels were all in good shape, 4 tires had like 1/8" tread and the spare was brand new. Sold the spare tire (not wheel) on KSL for $100. Now I have 5 wheels and 4 tires for free. One of my employees/friend was looking at them and wanted them for his TJ. So i traded him my setup for 5 wheels / 4 33/12.5's. They had great tread.. just not my style of wheel.. chrome. There are a few other people here at TeraFlex that recently bought TJ's and were looking for tires.. so I sold the 33's for $600. Now i'm up $600
Pulled the tub so that I could strip the frame, pull the axles and sell the wheels and tires

 

[Houndoc]

Still dream of owning an LJ.

 

[LJTim]

My laughy face was about all your trading up deals. Good thing there's no way for the IRS to track that.

 

[corbin.black]

My laughy face was about all your trading up deals. Good thing there's no way for the IRS to track that.

Lol yeah.. about that ? Now that you mentioned them on this thread.. they are going to start watching me

Still dream of owning an LJ.

They are great! I knew after selling this one that I would have to buy another one.

 

[corbin.black]

Seeing that the front of my frame was bent, I was on the lookout for a good replacement. If all else failed, I would have been able to straighten mine. Much to my surprise, I found one locally and guess what.. a motor and 4 speed auto were still attached! ?
I couldn't have planned it any better. I picked up this 2005 LJ rubicon chassis with 44k original miles and a clean title.. the downfall is that someone had swapped out the rubi axles and t-case with a 30/35 and a busted 231. But I had all of the rubi parts already so it was perfect for me. The PO had also cut 6 of the body mounts off. His plans were to mount a 50's willys pickup cab on the chassis but then changed his mind.


I made a quick phone call to a close friend who works at Artec Industries and ordered a set of their 1.25" raised "boat side" body mounts so I could mount my tub onto the new chassis

Luckily I had access to a forklift

 

[Jinx]

I love it when good things happen for good guys!

 

[corbin.black]

This is pretty much how the jeep sits as of right now. had some stock fenders laying around so I tossed them on. Found the soft top on KSL for a steal. A co-worked donated his half doors as my red ones were pretty beat up.


Found some cheap TruckLite knockoff headlights on facebook. I was able to straighten the hood by hand enough to make it work. It will eventually be replaced but works for now



The engine fires right up and purrs like a kitten! I need to swap the rubi axles in, then the drivelines and go for a test drive around the parking lot ?

 

[Bart]

Awesome progress. Love LJs.

 

[corbin.black]

Picked up some 15x8 Method Double Standard non-beadlock wheels and 35x12.5x15 Milestar Patagonia MT's. I've always liked the look of the method wheels and I have heard a ton of great reviews on the Milestar's.

LJ on the right is a co-worker's jeep. ~5.5" lift on 35's

 

[corbin.black]

I finally found some time to swap out the front axle and work on the front end. thanks for the help @LJTim

Genright Offroad trackbar bracket to allow a small stretch

Notice how tight the draglink TRE and track bar.. yes they touch.. but only enough to rub paint, maybe.
and yes my trackbar is HUGE!

Now I have both rubicon 44's back in the jeep and i'm sitting on 3" teraflex coils. The front sat slightly lower than I liked at first so I double stacked some factory coil spring isolators on top of the front springs to help it sit level.


I still need to top off some fluids, bleed the breaks, paint some raw DOM and a couple other misc items but I should be able to drive it home this week!!

 

[LJTim]

Dude! It looks so good. That extra isolator made it sit perfect.