Last year I spent some time in my garage working on my stock jeep. I took a lot of pictures and put some of them together with some text. I posted it on another forum last year. I thought I'd copy it over to here for anyone interested. It's way too much and I apologize if anyone is annoyed. There are five "chapters", this is the first one. I have since completed a few other things that aren't reported here.
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A little more than four years ago my wife and I purchased a new '04 KJ jeep liberty 4x4 for camping vacations. I discovered the internet jeep discussion forums and I began to modify the KJ in the limited ways that were available for that model. We went to a jeep jamboree and then out to Moab, Utah. As I learned more about the hobby, I decided I would rather drive a TJ model, so I switched.
This is a picture essay of my '98 TJ build-up....I'm reluctant to post because it's more pictures than is appropriate for a short answer forum. The modifications to my jeep aren't anything that thousands of others haven't already done. It isn't intended as a "hey look at me" thing. I wanted to present it as a technical lesson for fellows like me who just got involved in working on a jeep. There's so many pictures, I broke the story down into separate essays. The complete story is up to where I ran out of money for more parts.
I don't claim to know very much more than what you will see in the following....and you might see something here that exposes my ignorance. My advice is you can't believe anything you read on the internet. You should verify with your own efforts.
how I drove around town for the first 18 months....
I picked up a very clean, stock condition, never used, everything worked....'98 sport model with a dana 35 rear axle assembly, 3.07 gears, manual 5 speed transmission, hardtop, 28 inch tires. I knew about the preferable rear dana 44 axle assembly option and I looked for that. But I also considered the condition and mileage and other intangibles as priorities. After looking around for awhile, I found one I liked. I knew I was going to modify the jeep and I wanted to do the work myself if possible. Like many others, I'm on a budget and it was going to require that I enjoy this hobby over a extended period of time.
My opinion is that a useful and interesting education doesn't usually come without some expense....whether through effort or dollars. I didn't want to buy a jeep already built by a previous owner. I didn't want someone else's taste in wheels or tube bumpers. I wanted to have hands on experience with even the most basic stuff that gets discussed on the internet and beside the trail. Six guys standing around kicking the dust with their boots and talking jeeps....and only two know what they're talking about. I wanted to be one of the two.
So after I got this TJ, I kept reading the forums, collecting parts for over a year, and stacking them in my garage. I joined the local jeep club and met some folks who taught me a few things. I made my first purchase priority a rear dana 44 axle. Through the club network, I found an '03 TJ rubicon rear dana 44 axle assembly in my own neighborhood. It was complete with air-actuated locking differential, limited slip/posi when unlocked, 4.10 gear ratio, and factory disc brakes....and it bolts right into my TJ without modification.
I was also specifically looking for (and found) a front axle from a late '90s XJ with a four cylinder motor. A funny thing about the internet....it seems everyone knows about a $100 axle assembly at their local salvage yard. Well I never found that kind of great dollar deal in my limited search around central florida. I was hoping to find a reliable, stock condition axle. I found what I was looking for but I ended up having to drive about 100 miles. This is a '99 XJ front dana 30 high-pinion axle assembly from a four-cylinder cherokee. With four cylinders I get factory 4.10 gear ratio. I paid a little more than the fellas on the internet brag about...but less than what it would cost me to regear my TJ dana 30. With a junkyard purchase, there's always a risk of bent tubes, bent steering, bad gears, bad bearings, etc. If I'm lucky and the axle isn't junk, I'm gonna get a gear ratio I can live with. As a plus, I get a high pinion (high driveshaft location), spare axle shafts, maybe some reusuable steering and brakes. (I actually ended up selling some of the parts later, the four control arms, some of the steering linkage....beer money, but hey).
I think the YJ wranglers were high pinion front dana 30. I guess there could be some discussion as to why jeep engineers switched when they redesigned and gave us the TJ with a low pinion front. Most everything I decided to do, I based on reading the internet or talking to jeep guys I hardly knew. Swapping in a rear dana 44 and a XJ front dana 30 is frequently suggested.
So after I had most everything I needed, I took some time off work. The following pictures are "part one" of a ten day vacation in my garage. I'm now driving the jeep with 33 inch tires after installing/modifying the jeep in the frequently suggested methods....I'm 53 years old, reasonably educated, with a box of tools. I'm not a mechanic. But I did all the following by myself with hand tools and budweiser....
first, I have to clean up my replacement axles....this is the rear dana 44....it came from a reliable source and besides a little surface rust on the brake rotors, it wasn't going to require much preparation.
the air locker diaphram is behind the fill plug in the cover....you have to be careful not to thread the fill plug too deeply into the cover or you will contact the locker.
(continued in follow-up post)