Better late than never 2005 LJ build.

[pittsburgh]

Awhile back I posted about giving up my LJ and Tacoma in favor of a 4-door JK/JL. But after some discussion and soul searching I decided to stick with the LJ since I already have it and I don't owe anything on it. I have been sitting on this thing since 2008. I have no clue where the past 10 years went??? But, I am pretty sure I have lost the rock crawling bug in the past 10 years so this build is for fun adventures with the new addition of a baby girl.

My goal is to keep my jeep as drivable and fun as possible. When I first got it, I put a 2" spacer kit and 33x10.5 BFG KM2's on it and it did really well on the front range trails in CO. When I started using it for my DD duties a few years ago, I took it back to stock height and changed the tires out 31" BFG KO's.

Now that I have the Tacoma, I did end up putting an OME kit from DPG Offroad on the Jeep. I have also been sitting on some factory Rubicon rock sliders I am debating on installing, or going with something a little more substantial. I also have a transmission cooler to install to try and keep this pesky automatic happy on long drives.

My planned upgrades include the following;

A small front bumper swap with a warn M8000 on the front.

Tires, why are there so many choices LOL. I am on the fence about going with BFG KO2's in a 33x10.5 or swapping my wheels out to 16" steelies and going with 265/75/16's in either a Cooper Tire or Duratracs, especially since eventually I want to do a yukon hub kit and I will need a wheel with a bigger opening.

Gearing, I would love to score some rubicon axles with 4:11's but if I can't I am considering swapping my gears for 4:56, the factory gears with the automatic transmission are ok with 31's but when I had 33's the jeep worked way too hard in my opinion.

With the addition of bigger tires I am going to install the MORryde tail gate hinge kit

Possible upgrades;

Is there a belly up that doesn't require a body lift? I don't plan on rock crawling, but sometimes you just can't help by try a different line for the sake of fun and a little clearance can make all the difference.

It seems like a favorite upgrade for lots of LJ owners in a genright gas tank, is this something most of you consider a must have, or its a really nice to have item?

While the LJ has a little more room for a cooler in the back than your standard TJ it is still no Tacoma or 4-door Wrangler, I am considering a tail gate rack, or possibly a roof rack for lighter items.

I would love to get some feed back on wheels and tire sizes and how any fellow LJ owners maximize space with a rear seat installed, and if there is anything else you can think of to help improve the drivability of my project.

Thanks
Keith

 

[Zeep]

I'm running a '05 LJ as well. Only in Rubicon trim. As for tires, I can't recommend enough, to avoid any thing that is E rated for load.
The factory installed G/Y MTR's, E's. And my Jeep rode like crap, for 35,000 miles, till I wore them down enough to replace.
I'm running Cooper discoverer s/t's 255/85/16D. Tall & skinny, the ride is awesome, plus plenty aggressive to take you anywhere.

 

[pittsburgh]

I'm running a '05 LJ as well. Only in Rubicon trim. As for tires, I can't recommend enough, to avoid any thing that is E rated for load.
The factory installed G/Y MTR's, E's. And my Jeep rode like crap, for 35,000 miles, till I wore them down enough to replace.
I'm running Cooper discoverer s/t's 255/85/16D. Tall & skinny, the ride is awesome, plus plenty aggressive to take you anywhere.

Can you post some pictures on your jeep? and is there a link for the belly up that you did?

 

[Zeep]

I have not taken or uploaded any pic's lately. Been to busy with work. I'll try to remedy soon though.
Belly up is a Savvy. Lots of info on Jeep Forum, Wrangler Forum.

 

[Inline6]

undercover fab has a few belly up options

it feels like the TJ and especially LJ options are getting slimmer and slimmer. make a plan soon and get the parts you want.

 

[pittsburgh]

undercover fab has a few belly up options

it feels like the TJ and especially LJ options are getting slimmer and slimmer. make a plan soon and get the parts you want.

I have been noticing the market evolves with the latest and greatest. @Inline6 are you running a belly up?

 

[Inline6]

I have a 33 Degree Engineering belly up on the TJR, they went out of business. It is great, small compact and the skid and cross member are separate. I can remove the skid and the transmission crossmember stays in place.

Trying to decide on what to go with on the 05 LJR, I may make a copy of the 33 degree skid myself.

I ordered a bunch of armor and fenders from jCR before the prices went up for the LJR. That project will start soon.

 

[BoldlyGoingLJ]

Before my wife got her JKU, my LJ was our primary “adventure mobile”.

The trick to maximizing space is to think like a backpacker and not like an “overlander”.

What that meant for us is that anything that didn’t get used all the time didn’t come at all. Anything that COULD be smaller was smaller.

For example, we swapped our trusty Coleman lantern for a couple strands of USB “Fairy lights”. We cooked over the fire when possible and used a small MSR Pocket Rocket for things less fire friendly.

The backseat itself makes a hell of a good camp chair, so that took the place of camp chairs for the kids.

You can fit 2 of the medium sized Rigid tool boxes from Home Depot fit perfectly side by side in the tailgate area. So, one of those contained all of our cooking, cleaning, and lighting needs (for us that meant a NEMO Helio, Stanley Basecamp Cookset, French press, the previously mentioned Pocket Rocket, and some other incidentals. On top of that, we used a 52qt Ozark Trail yeti knockoff. That left enough room for a 7g water jerry. On top of THAT went the duffel bag with the sleeping bags, pads, and a packing cube for each of us with very limited clothing (finding clothes that can be worn multiple times before drinking too bad is key).

We stuffed other items between the kids car seats (usually a bin with dry/non-perishable food items) fuel canisters, etc in the rear passenger foot wells.


It really becomes a game of Tetris, but can definitely be done. We used the LJ for a week of remote camping with that set up.

It’s not as luxurious as some of the rigs you see, but it worked for us for a few years.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pittsburgh]

@BoldlyGoingLJ I doubt a week long trip is in my future, but overnights and weekenders for sure. We took the Tacoma to Moab strictly for comfort driving over the rockies. I wanted to rent an Offroad teardrop and sleep on the white rim but the GF veto'd that when she decided she wanted to shower. So we stayed at a B&B and did day trips into the back country.

I considered getting rid of my truck and jeep for a JKU or a JLU, but its nice having a daily driver

 

[BoldlyGoingLJ]

@BoldlyGoingLJ I doubt a week long trip is in my future, but overnights and weekenders for sure. We took the Tacoma to Moab strictly for comfort driving over the rockies. I wanted to rent an Offroad teardrop and sleep on the white rim but the GF veto'd that when she decided she wanted to shower. So we stayed at a B&B and did day trips into the back country.

I considered getting rid of my truck and jeep for a JKU or a JLU, but its nice having a daily driver

Just to make sure I’m clear, all that I mentioned was about how we packed our LJ.

The JKU is a whole different story. We’ve definitely added a lot more creature comforts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bullseye240]

I have the Genright 31.5 tank on my 06 LJ Rubicon and love it. The range increase alone is worth it, the fact that you can now fill up and not splash fuel all over your Jeep and self is a bonus. The skidplate on the tank is way over built and there is a half inch of foam surrounding the tank to spare it from hard knocks. The only problem I had with it was it was almost too pretty to put under the Jeep where it never gets seen. I also love my Rubi-Crawler from Advance Adaptors, it gives you three different low ranges along with two wheel drive low all with out changing the driveshaft lengths.

 

[PCO6]

I would love to get some feed back on wheels and tire sizes and how any fellow LJ owners maximize space with a rear seat installed, and if there is anything else you can think of to help improve the drivability of my project.

Thanks
Keith

I have an LJ with a 2" lift and 265/75R/16 Goodyear Duratracs on MOAB wheels. It's been great as a year round daily driver / trailer hauler and decent off roader. I also installed MORyde tailgate hinges and they handle the larger spare just fine.

I can't help you with cargo area storage with the rear seat but if you take it out a pair of the cases shown below in my XJ (even more space!) fit perfectly side by side in an LJ. They have wheels on the far end so they role out nicely. I also have Duratracs, 245/75R/16's on MOABS with a 2" lift on this Jeep and they've been great.

 

[pittsburgh]

@PCO6 I keep searching for some Moab wheels locally, I really like the way yours looks. But even with those, I still couldn't run the hub kit. I ll have to price out some steelies and DT's this weekend

@BoldlyGoingLJ I know you were talking about losing the LJ, I just happen to lust after some of the JKs I ve seen. My LJ is still what I want to work with but, some of those JK's do catch my eye,

@Bullseye240 didd you buy your tank directly from genright?

 

[Zeep]

Been trying to load images from my phone. Keeps reading that the file is too large.
Any suggestions?

 

[BoldlyGoingLJ]

@PCO6 I keep searching for some Moab wheels locally, I really like the way yours looks. But even with those, I still couldn't run the hub kit. I ll have to price out some steelies and DT's this weekend

@BoldlyGoingLJ I know you were talking about losing the LJ, I just happen to lust after some of the JKs I ve seen. My LJ is still what I want to work with but, some of those JK's do catch my eye,

@Bullseye240 didd you buy your tank directly from genright?

JK’s are cool and definitely great vehicles, but in my opinion, the TJ/LJ is the last Jeep to have the “charm” of the originals.

I’d keep the LJ.

My LJ is the only vehicle I’ve owned that seems to increase in value every year.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk