Well as the family got bigger to 4 people, it was time to sell the LTJ and get something more family friendly. I also had a 98 ZJ with the 5.9 but decided I didn't like having to pay for premium gas and it was nickel and diming me with small repairs. So enter a 2002 WJ Limited w/4.7 V8. I was checking KSL, auto trader, craigslist, RME, car soup, etc for a 2000-2004 for a good price. One popped up at Karl Malone Toyota for $3995.00 with 128k miles. I figured that had to be a typo or it was a complete turd. I went first thing Monday morning and checked it out. They were selling it as is and didn't want to put it through their shop. They said it had an exhaust manifold leak, valve covers were leaking, and rear main seal needed to be replaced. Everything else was in pretty good shape. I bought it and took it to Teraflex where they replaced the valve cover gaskets, and machined the exhaust manifold. There was no rear main leak so that saved me about $500.00.
My goal with this vehicle is to build an offroader for the family. Camping, offroading, shooting, hiking, etc. I was first thinking a 33" tire is all I wanted. That would be a good compromise between highway and off highway. But I changed my mind and went with something else.
Here we are stock.
I wanted to keep lift to a minimum with the tires I wanted. That meant cutting away a lot of sheetmetal. I didn't want to get harassed all the time with having my tires stick out so I bought some Iceland Offroad flares.
They are fiberglass and very beefy. They are also a huge pain to install. The initial fit was pretty good. I took out the file and sandpaper and got a fit I was happy with.
Once I got them all mounted I bought some Duplicolor matched spray paint from Checker. This is supposed to match the factory paint which it does pretty good.
I initially just bought an IRO 4" thinking I would see how it rode and go from there. Well I didn't want to pay for an alignment twice so I upgraded and got their front long arm kit. I got the high clearance which meant I would cut off my front control arm brackets. The IRO long arm kit only uses an upper arm on the driver side. I've read a lot of reviews on regarding this particular kit and so far I haven't heard of any problems or failures.
For the rear I bought an adjustable A Arm and adjustable lowers. Taking out the stock A Arm is a major pain in the butt. Took me forever. The clearance was such I couldn't fit anything other than a wrench. Here is the end result though.
After the 4" lift and painted flares.
Looks pretty funny with the lift, big flares, and donut tires. Those tires measured a whopping 28" From there I pushed out the rear axle a little and went to Teraflex to get an alignment.
Here it is currently.
Those are 35x12.50 MTR Kevlars and some 3.75" BS steelies. I guess those were the last set in the country that Discount Tire had. I got really lucky when I ordered them. There were NONE available a few weeks ago. My friend who works at DT in Provo managed to find this set in Illinois. I guess the purchaser backed out and went with something else so I paid to have them shipped here. They arrived Friday of last week and they were getting several calls every day from other stores around the country asking if they were available. I only waited so long because Unique had to make these wheels because of the 3.75" BS.
It rubs on the fog lights on full turn so I'll need to do something about that. I need to get longer bumpstops as well.
I have a Spartan locker for my D44A waiting to be installed. For the front I'll go with an E-locker or ARB. I'm waiting on that in case I want to regear. So far power seems ok with the stock 3.73 gears. Heck I had 4.10's and 37's with the 4.0 on my LTJ so this feels just fine.
My future wish list includes:
Iceland Offroad Front winch bumper
Rear tire carrier of some sort
E-Locker or ARB
242 T-case
Truss and skid for the D44A
Possibly a roof rack
My goal with this vehicle is to build an offroader for the family. Camping, offroading, shooting, hiking, etc. I was first thinking a 33" tire is all I wanted. That would be a good compromise between highway and off highway. But I changed my mind and went with something else.
Here we are stock.
I wanted to keep lift to a minimum with the tires I wanted. That meant cutting away a lot of sheetmetal. I didn't want to get harassed all the time with having my tires stick out so I bought some Iceland Offroad flares.
They are fiberglass and very beefy. They are also a huge pain to install. The initial fit was pretty good. I took out the file and sandpaper and got a fit I was happy with.
Once I got them all mounted I bought some Duplicolor matched spray paint from Checker. This is supposed to match the factory paint which it does pretty good.
I initially just bought an IRO 4" thinking I would see how it rode and go from there. Well I didn't want to pay for an alignment twice so I upgraded and got their front long arm kit. I got the high clearance which meant I would cut off my front control arm brackets. The IRO long arm kit only uses an upper arm on the driver side. I've read a lot of reviews on regarding this particular kit and so far I haven't heard of any problems or failures.
For the rear I bought an adjustable A Arm and adjustable lowers. Taking out the stock A Arm is a major pain in the butt. Took me forever. The clearance was such I couldn't fit anything other than a wrench. Here is the end result though.
After the 4" lift and painted flares.
Looks pretty funny with the lift, big flares, and donut tires. Those tires measured a whopping 28" From there I pushed out the rear axle a little and went to Teraflex to get an alignment.
Here it is currently.
Those are 35x12.50 MTR Kevlars and some 3.75" BS steelies. I guess those were the last set in the country that Discount Tire had. I got really lucky when I ordered them. There were NONE available a few weeks ago. My friend who works at DT in Provo managed to find this set in Illinois. I guess the purchaser backed out and went with something else so I paid to have them shipped here. They arrived Friday of last week and they were getting several calls every day from other stores around the country asking if they were available. I only waited so long because Unique had to make these wheels because of the 3.75" BS.
It rubs on the fog lights on full turn so I'll need to do something about that. I need to get longer bumpstops as well.
I have a Spartan locker for my D44A waiting to be installed. For the front I'll go with an E-locker or ARB. I'm waiting on that in case I want to regear. So far power seems ok with the stock 3.73 gears. Heck I had 4.10's and 37's with the 4.0 on my LTJ so this feels just fine.
My future wish list includes:
Iceland Offroad Front winch bumper
Rear tire carrier of some sort
E-Locker or ARB
242 T-case
Truss and skid for the D44A
Possibly a roof rack
I had to go with 6" & fenders cut beyond recognition to fit 35's on my XJ! 
