JMichaelsJeep
GaiaExplorer
So I used to have a Liberty that I had well on the way to being an expo rig. After some soul searching, I decided that it wasn't quite going to fit my needs... Ultimately I may end up building a Tacom expo truck, but I've always been in love with JEEPS. I've had a few of them already.
So I decided to see what I could find for the 04-06 Rubicon Unlimiteds. I wanted the extra cargo space for gear, kid, and dog.... I debated going with a JKUR, but couldn't stomach the cost, so I went older, with low miles.
I picked up this:
View attachment 242382
I wasted no time switching to my off-road rims/ tires I had on the liberty, in a size really much too small for the jeep
View attachment 242383
I also wasted no time ordering some small minor interior things, like more rugged floor mats, and some other interior storage/ space saver items.
I took it off-road to see how it worked:
View attachment 242384
The previous owner(s) had installed almost all the off-road goodies that were on it at the time of purchase: WARN 9.5ti winch, highrock 4x4 rocker gaurds/ boat sides, warn rear bumper with tire carrier, and rear corner protection.
They also installed a skyjacker/ rough country 2-3 inch suspension lift. To say that lift was awful was an understatment. I removed the t-case drop before my trip to Iron Range OHVP. View attachment 242385
After Iron Range and flexing things out I noticed it was starting to rear it's ugly head as far as how things were working. I experience a little bit of death wobble.
I had hoped to wait to do some major upgrades, thinking I had scored a great rig at a great price. Well, I sold the liberty, found a hard top in PA, drove there from WI to get it, put it on, and drove home. When I got to Chicago I thought I was going to fly off the road the vibration was so bad.
When I arrived back in Madison, I got together with a few of my 4x4 friends, and we went through the rig pretty hard. Discovered the track bar was shot, the tie rod was bent, the track bar bracket was not only fubarred, but was breaking, the aftermarket skyjacker control arm joints were shot, etc, etc. So after some research, I ordered and installed:
OME HD ZJ/LJ 2.5 inch suspension lift and a 1.25 inch bl/mml from JKS. This netted me an 1 or more over what I had, and gave me room for 33's. (to come in the spring. But by winter I had much of the suspension swapped out:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/1426724_10151770271062120_1391921841_n.jpg?
oh=df1a8045d44c662493ff0ed073130a18&oe=546997DE&__gda__=1416398339_92424cee53748a9ea2bbcf69097aff49
Out with the old:
And here was the day it got new shoes: 285/75R16's (Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs) I had them on my liberty and loved them. When I go to 35's, we'll see if I stay with them or not.
Through a rough 1 1/2 years and some tough life stuff, my wife ended up getting a job in Maryland, so we moved. Right before we moved I got an ARB bumper and and Jeeperman rear bumper with tire carrier off a friend. The rear was so I could tow a uhaul, the front, well, because I've always wanted one After we moved to such a warm climate I bought a new soft top since my old one had a ripped zipper and broken back window. Picked up the bestop replaement skin:
Had a really nice couple of days in a row, so took the top and doors off, my son shows just how comfy it is to fall asleep in a car seat in the jeep with the top down and sun shining
Some time along the way I wired up two windshield lights (and the mounts) two LED high/ low beam fogs, and wired my dual battery set up in correctly for what I want to use it for (previous owner just had two batteries running in parallel. I wired a relay in (rugged ridge) that allows me to isolate the starting battery or charge the auxilary battery.
After a couple trips wheeling, okay, after my first trip to Rausch Creek, I was having some major issues. Well, come to find out that fubarred track bar bracket (that we sort of fixed, but mostly just worked around), finally gave up the ghost. In anticipation of this, I had a new steering stabilizer and a new track bar bracket, I just needed to find someone to weld it. Found an off-road shop here in Annapolis willing to do it, so between wheeling trips, I got it done:
And just a few pics of along the way:
You might say: "oh, no.... not another JEEP wheeling build without the true expo stuff... well, that is coming. My goal and dream has always been to use this as a almost dedicated expo rig. I have a road trip in the works for next summer where I'll be driving to NorCal via Colorado and Utah. I plan to add a gobi rack and a RTT for sleeping and gear storage. Eventually I hope to also add an expo trailer.
Some of my future build plans are:
Extended range fuel tank
RTT
Gobi rack
Other extra fuel storage (the jeeperman has a fuel can rack to add to the tire carrier)
add a drawer system for under gear/ tools behind the rear seat
a Tummy Tuck (under cover fabworks ultra high clearance skid plate) I'll gain another inch of clearance under the belly by doing very little.
I also plan to go to 35's when these 33's wear out... but for doing that I want to do high clearance fenders (no more lift) to keep the COG low.
I also plan to regear, and upgrade the brakes to a big brake kit for stopping all this gear.
I will also add some rear facing lights to the roof rack.
I already have an inverter and a coleman electric fridge, I just need to do some wiring so the inverter is wired to the aux. battery, that way I can leave the cooler on even when the jeep is off.
My hope/ plan is to continue to build this up so that my wife, kid, and dog(s) can hop in with very little extra planning (or sometimes with lots of planning) and head out for a weekend or week of fun. I already have a lot of the camping gear from years of aquisition (and camping). I haven't done a lot of camping this year, but since we are in a new area and are getting settled, I anticipate many trips to Shennondoah, George Washington, and many other national and state parks here on the east coast, but what will likely start the vacationing by vehicle (with this rig) is the trip out west for a graduation.
Here is the rough trip at this moment:
I will continue to add to the build as I do things. Right now it is minor things just to clean up the rig: Remove and repaint corner protection, install new bumpstops, and install a new bushing for the new front track bar (long story).
I'm hoping to keep basic maintenance costs down for a while so I can get the trip budget set and saved for.
I've had this build over on Rubicon Owner's Forum, but finally decided to put one together for here too.
So I decided to see what I could find for the 04-06 Rubicon Unlimiteds. I wanted the extra cargo space for gear, kid, and dog.... I debated going with a JKUR, but couldn't stomach the cost, so I went older, with low miles.
I picked up this:
View attachment 242382
I wasted no time switching to my off-road rims/ tires I had on the liberty, in a size really much too small for the jeep
View attachment 242383
I also wasted no time ordering some small minor interior things, like more rugged floor mats, and some other interior storage/ space saver items.
I took it off-road to see how it worked:
View attachment 242384
The previous owner(s) had installed almost all the off-road goodies that were on it at the time of purchase: WARN 9.5ti winch, highrock 4x4 rocker gaurds/ boat sides, warn rear bumper with tire carrier, and rear corner protection.
They also installed a skyjacker/ rough country 2-3 inch suspension lift. To say that lift was awful was an understatment. I removed the t-case drop before my trip to Iron Range OHVP. View attachment 242385
After Iron Range and flexing things out I noticed it was starting to rear it's ugly head as far as how things were working. I experience a little bit of death wobble.
I had hoped to wait to do some major upgrades, thinking I had scored a great rig at a great price. Well, I sold the liberty, found a hard top in PA, drove there from WI to get it, put it on, and drove home. When I got to Chicago I thought I was going to fly off the road the vibration was so bad.
When I arrived back in Madison, I got together with a few of my 4x4 friends, and we went through the rig pretty hard. Discovered the track bar was shot, the tie rod was bent, the track bar bracket was not only fubarred, but was breaking, the aftermarket skyjacker control arm joints were shot, etc, etc. So after some research, I ordered and installed:
OME HD ZJ/LJ 2.5 inch suspension lift and a 1.25 inch bl/mml from JKS. This netted me an 1 or more over what I had, and gave me room for 33's. (to come in the spring. But by winter I had much of the suspension swapped out:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/1426724_10151770271062120_1391921841_n.jpg?
oh=df1a8045d44c662493ff0ed073130a18&oe=546997DE&__gda__=1416398339_92424cee53748a9ea2bbcf69097aff49
Out with the old:
And here was the day it got new shoes: 285/75R16's (Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs) I had them on my liberty and loved them. When I go to 35's, we'll see if I stay with them or not.
Through a rough 1 1/2 years and some tough life stuff, my wife ended up getting a job in Maryland, so we moved. Right before we moved I got an ARB bumper and and Jeeperman rear bumper with tire carrier off a friend. The rear was so I could tow a uhaul, the front, well, because I've always wanted one
After we moved to such a warm climate I bought a new soft top since my old one had a ripped zipper and broken back window. Picked up the bestop replaement skin:
Had a really nice couple of days in a row, so took the top and doors off, my son shows just how comfy it is to fall asleep in a car seat in the jeep with the top down and sun shining
Some time along the way I wired up two windshield lights (and the mounts) two LED high/ low beam fogs, and wired my dual battery set up in correctly for what I want to use it for (previous owner just had two batteries running in parallel. I wired a relay in (rugged ridge) that allows me to isolate the starting battery or charge the auxilary battery.
After a couple trips wheeling, okay, after my first trip to Rausch Creek, I was having some major issues. Well, come to find out that fubarred track bar bracket (that we sort of fixed, but mostly just worked around), finally gave up the ghost. In anticipation of this, I had a new steering stabilizer and a new track bar bracket, I just needed to find someone to weld it. Found an off-road shop here in Annapolis willing to do it, so between wheeling trips, I got it done:
And just a few pics of along the way:
You might say: "oh, no.... not another JEEP wheeling build without the true expo stuff... well, that is coming. My goal and dream has always been to use this as a almost dedicated expo rig. I have a road trip in the works for next summer where I'll be driving to NorCal via Colorado and Utah. I plan to add a gobi rack and a RTT for sleeping and gear storage. Eventually I hope to also add an expo trailer.
Some of my future build plans are:
Extended range fuel tank
RTT
Gobi rack
Other extra fuel storage (the jeeperman has a fuel can rack to add to the tire carrier)
add a drawer system for under gear/ tools behind the rear seat
a Tummy Tuck (under cover fabworks ultra high clearance skid plate) I'll gain another inch of clearance under the belly by doing very little.
I also plan to go to 35's when these 33's wear out... but for doing that I want to do high clearance fenders (no more lift) to keep the COG low.
I also plan to regear, and upgrade the brakes to a big brake kit for stopping all this gear.
I will also add some rear facing lights to the roof rack.
I already have an inverter and a coleman electric fridge, I just need to do some wiring so the inverter is wired to the aux. battery, that way I can leave the cooler on even when the jeep is off.
My hope/ plan is to continue to build this up so that my wife, kid, and dog(s) can hop in with very little extra planning (or sometimes with lots of planning) and head out for a weekend or week of fun. I already have a lot of the camping gear from years of aquisition (and camping). I haven't done a lot of camping this year, but since we are in a new area and are getting settled, I anticipate many trips to Shennondoah, George Washington, and many other national and state parks here on the east coast, but what will likely start the vacationing by vehicle (with this rig) is the trip out west for a graduation.
Here is the rough trip at this moment:
I will continue to add to the build as I do things. Right now it is minor things just to clean up the rig: Remove and repaint corner protection, install new bumpstops, and install a new bushing for the new front track bar (long story).
I'm hoping to keep basic maintenance costs down for a while so I can get the trip budget set and saved for.
I've had this build over on Rubicon Owner's Forum, but finally decided to put one together for here too.
