2005 Jeep LJ - The Heep

[dblack]

I finally broke down and bought a Jeep. Not that I have anything against Jeeps per se, I just love my Tundra to bits.

I’d spent a few years working on building my 2013 Toyota Tundra (See Clifford build thread in signature) but now I’m starting to want to do some more off-roading than just overlanding. I find that I love the truck for long distances and camping. Especially with the family. When we all go, I need the space. But for just me to explore some trails the truck can be a little… Large.

I bit the bullet and started planning on something smaller. Something a little older that I won’t feel too bad dragging through the trees. Something with a shorter, narrower wheel base that can get me through tough spots and is as off-road capable as I can get without sacrificing the on road too much. In this country, it takes a few hours of driving just to get close to where I want to explore.

In my research, I looked at 4runners, Land Cruisers, and even land cruisers but the price or availability was prohibitive. Finally, I looked for Jeeps. I love a Jeep Cherokee XJ, but the options around here appeared limited. I watched ads for a while without a suitable one popping up. My interests were in the sub 200,000km market and as stock as possible.

I also wanted the aftermarket support that the Wranglers have. I think the XJ has good support, but the Wrangler has far more. After watching the ads for a few months figuring out what I wanted, the unicorn I was after was a 04 to 06 TJ Unlimited Rubicon (LJ)… As I saw the odd Rubicon come and go, the pricing was to me anyways, high and none of them were an LJ…

To make a long story short (if that boat hasn’t sailed). Eventually this baby came up. A 2005 Jeep TJ Unlimited. Not a Rubicon, but at 165,000km (102,000 miles give or take), 6spd manual, good condition, stock (mostly), it checked the most boxes so I jumped on it.

[

Quick trip south to Torrington, AB to wheel a private deal… Also, if you’ve never been to Torrington, they have a world famous museum. The Torrington Gopher Museum. It’s worth the trip for sure. Lol

 

[dblack]

The goal is a somewhat moderate off-roading machine without sacrificing too much in the way of on-roading. I want to drive it to some fun. Have some fun, then drive it home. To obtain that goal, I want to do everything I can myself. I’m not overly mechanically inclined, but I muddle through, so this oughta be interesting.

Job 1 is catch up on some maintenance. I took it into a local Jeep specialty shop for the once over. They suggested ball joints, a brake job, and a u-joint be replaced. I let them do the ball joints and the U-joint. I figure that I’ve never done a brake job, but how hard can it be?

Pads & rotors were pretty easy to replace. One rotor looked like someone had taken a ballpeen hammer to it so I’m glad to replace it.

Job 2.

Tires and wheels. The problem with job 2 is that I wanted more clearance Clarence. I need height. Job 1.5, a lift.

After some research, I settled on a Terraflex 3” lift with Bilstein 5100 shocks. I’ve never done a lift before. How hard can it be?



Apparently not that hard. I found a Youtube video of someone doing it, and it took him 12 minutes. It took me 2 weeks mind you, but I took time to go rice farming in the middle.



And got stuck in the same mud hole over and over again… I needed a jeep.



But I digress.

 

[dblack]

Ok, so the lift is finally done and looking silly with mostly stock tire size.

Watching for tire sales I see some good deals on Mickey Thompson 33X12.50R15LT ATZP3 wheels and tires so I buy 5.



I pick up 4. One goes back due to being excessive weight to balance. I’m pretty excited until I turn one around and see this:



That… Seems like a ton of weight.

Tire 1 – 28oz

Tire 2 – 13oz

Tire 3 – 7oz

Tire 4 – 4.5oz

I return tire 1, and they gladly order a replacement. Which comes back worse. Tire 5 eventually comes in and won’t balance either. EVENTUALLY I get the tires sorted and after 3 weeks on blocks I’m good to go!

 

[dblack]

Next I needed bumpers! And a winch. Can’t not have a winch. I’m too lazy to push when I get stuck.

One thing I’m not a huge fan of is the fuel range in a Jeep. With the 19gallon tank my range is about 300km to 350km if I’m lucky. I took a 3-day trip in Clifford the other day to Kakwa falls and stopped for fuel twice. One stretch was upwards of 600km with NO fuel around. In the jeep I would have been boned for that 600km stretch. Not to mention the 5-other fuel stops I would have had to take just to get there and home. I’ll have to work on that.

Solution one in the meantime is that I need to carry extra fuel. I didn’t like the look of carrying fuel beside the spare. To me it seems like an after thought. I prefer carrying the cans between the spare tire and the tailgate of the Jeep… Unfortunately, those bumpers are EXPENSIVE! And I’m oddly cheap at weird times.

Smittybilt Atlas was exactly what I want… Which they don’t make for a TJ. A couple of other manufactures had similar designs, but again, it was pricey. I think I remember them being in the $1500 range.

At any rate I watched the sales for a while until the Smittybilt XRC front and rear bumpers (with SRC tire swingout) came up 20% off. A nice simple cheap little bumper. As did the winch, so I snapped them all up at once. I had planned to mount a “rock hard” fuel can carrier beside the tire like this:



But when I did… I couldn’t open the tire swing out. Not enough clearance Clarence. The glass would hit the fuel can carrier. Thankfully the local 4wheelparts takes stuff back easily when my plans go awry.

But I still need to carry fuel. So I hacked the brand new shiny bumper to pieces to make it do what I wanted.

Here is before:



And after I cut off the “a” frame for the tire carrier



Then I had a piece of steel bent to my specifications



So I can put it together like this



I had planned to creatively bolt it all together since I’m not much of a welder, but I ran into a few hurdles there so my kindly neighbour agreed to weld it together for me.

I bolted some Princess auto fuel can holders to it, and voila.



As he put it, “This is the most custom cheap little bumper in the country”.

All told, it cost me about $1600. lol

 

[dblack]

Now that I can drive more than 300km without stopping at a gas station… I really need a larger fuel tank.

But anyway. Time for another sale item.



In my humble opinion, lockers make a HUGE difference off-road. For my money, it’s kind of a must have. I am leery about locking the front Dana 30 of the Jeep, but the rear Dana 44 I’m not worried about. I’m not an overly aggressive driver, and I tend to try to pick my way in and around things so it should be fine… Ask me in a couple years and we’ll see how it works out.



First the compressor location. No idea why, but there’s a nice little plate that’s empty and waiting for a compressor right under the brake booster. So I’ll cram it in there.



Wiring was not too bad. Easy access through an existing firewall entry and the dash came apart easily.



Switch location wasn’t too bad either. 2 good spots near the cigarette lighters for the locker switches and the compressor switch fit nicely near the steering column. I had wanted to replace the ARB compressor switch for a switch that fit in one of the factory blanks but… I couldn’t sort out how the wiring should be to replace a complex switch with a simple dry contact. The schematic I have is just connections, I didn’t know what each pin in the switch does… That’s a long way to say that just because I work in an engineering company putting together complex control systems doesn’t mean I can put together a switch wiring scheme. Lol. At least not without the right schematics.



Locker install is above my pay grade. Alberta Driveline in Edmonton did it & re-geared to 4.56 gears at the same time. MUCH better. I’m only running 33” tires, but the re-gear helped give the Jeep some more pep and get the RPM where it should be while on the highway. I’ll get it off-road soon, once I wear in the new gears & I’ll be a growing concern!

 

[dblack]

So, funny story/pain in the a$$. After the Jeep regear break in was complete I took it to a local 4wd shop for an inspection on the gears. I figured that a different shop would objectively look at the install and give it the all clear... Turns out that they didn't give it the all clear. They pointed out that the previous shop had drilled 3 holes for the air line in the differential housing then only used one while filling the other 2 with JB weld. They also pointed out that there was no lashing. A Shim was bent, the shims were installed wrong and the bearings may now be shot. When it rains it pours.

I returned to Alberta Driveline, and to their credit they didn't chase me off. They brought me in to show me that the shims were fine. The gear pattern was good, the lashing was within spec, and admitted that the holes were not right. They kept the Jeep for a couple days and welded them shut. I can't say I'm happy about the holes, but I'm happy with the solutions at least. All at no charge so they did set it right to their credit.

 

[dblack]

Fuel

I was... Bemoaning (bitching about?) the fuel capacity of the LJ a little earlier above and used it as justification for changing my bumper and hauling Jerry cans. Great. Lovely. But who wants to stop all the time to dump Jerry cans in? Maybe that's a first world problem, but I still didn't like the 350km limitation, so I watched some sales and did some price negotiation to get a Genright Safari tank.

The old tank removal wasn't too tough. Bolts in the rear cross member, quick connects on the fuel lines... Seems easy enough until some dummy broke the fuel line connection on the fuel tank. Oops. I needed a new fuel pump anyway... Apparently.

Could have gone aftermarkjet but a bit of online research suggested that paying once for the Bosch fuel pump was the way to go. Delivery time of 3 weeks. Nerts. Oh well.

Anyway, the 2 tanks side by side.


Because the Heep is an LJ, I can use a larger tank if I cut a cross member out. I was a little worried about this. I wasn't sure what kind of effort it would be, but what the heck. I have 3 weeks waiting for a fuel pump to sort it out.

Turns out it's a piece of cake to cut it out. A few minutes with a sawzall, and I'm one cross member shorter.



Once I had the new fuel pump in, the tank went in pretty easy. I haven't fully tested it yet, but with 50% more fuel... I should be looking at 600km range... We'll see.

 

[dblack]

Lights!

I struggled with the under hood light. 9 times out of 10 to make it work took a whack from a screwdriver. I cleaned it up and got rid of a bunch of corrosion, but I think the gravity switch was flaking out.

Since I'm waiting for a fuel pump anyway... I went with some KC hilite Cyclones on a manual switch instead. Fairly easy install, just stole power from the existing switch wiring and put a switch in an existing hole under the hood.

 

[dblack]

Little more lift.

I HAD to get rid of the shovel. It hasn't been an issue yet, but I know it will be. It looks like it's designed to grab mud and large items then cram them into the transfer case, so it's gotta go. The same boxing day sale that I bought the Genright tank, I bought a Teraflex Belly up skid plate. My initial plan was to avoid a bunch of work and just do a baby belly up lift avoiding the full tummy tuck route... But sanity eventually prevailed.

1. I installed a 1-1/4" body lift from JKS
2. Then a 1" motor mount lift by replacing the Motor mounts with MORE bomb proof mounts
3. This allowed me to remove the stock skid and replace it with the Terraflex belly up skid with lower drive line vibration risk.

As much as I didn't want to do the body lift, I also didn't want to be hammering on the trans tunnel trying to make things fit.

At any rate, I'm much happier without the shovel now.
Shovel:

Terraflex Belly up


Only minor issues I created were...
1. Twisted a skid plate bolt off in the frame. Nerts. I'll have to fix that when the weather warms up.
2. I had to shorten an exhaust hanger. Not a big deal if you can weld... Which I can't. But I convinced my nice neighbour to help.



At the end of the day, the body lift doesn't look too bad. Even if I had to build a new rubber body mount out of a hockey puck. My farmer Dad would be so proud... I'll replace it later, but I don't want to until I get some rock sliders on, and I'm not sure how they'll install.
Before body lift:

After:

 

[dblack]

Chains.

I love snow chains. The advantage in snow is... significant.

My brother brought some chains home from a farm sale and offered them up to me. Nice light chains, good studs on them, and free? Right up my alley. We had to fight with them a little as they were made for a dually, but we removed half the set and got it set up.

First I had to play in the snow to see if I could get stuck. I did a little, but nothing crazy. I'm not stuck here, just playing a little.


Free chains, just need a minor adjust:


Uncrimped the set on one side. I'm glad I didn't cut them. I'll buy a length of chain, and re-crimp. Then I'll have a set of 4!... Not sure why I'm so excited about chains. lol (Here they're a little loose)



They make a huge difference in the snow. Too much fun.

 

[dblack]

Another 4wheelparts sale, and these followed me home:

 

[dblack]

This is either a genius plan... Or a complete brain fart. It seems like the parts options for a Jeep are endless, but one piece of the puzzle that baffled me were rock sliders. For jeep LJ it seemed to be largely bolt on to the body type. Not a running board bolt to the frame type. As near as I can tell in forums etc the concern is that there would be too much flex with a running board style... Uhm the sliders on my Tundra are bolted to the frame, almost 6' long and they don't flex. Why would a 3' slider on a Jeep be any worse? Anyway, that's a rhetorical question. There are probably better forums for the debate than here.

At any rate I put these on:


They pass the Gorilla test of my brother and I jumping on them. I can also lift the jeep by them so we'll call it good enough for now. Ask me in a year if they were an issue. :-)

 

[Cort]

Nice LJ!!!! Mine started out just like yours but auto. I accidently sold mine when someone asked to buy it and I spit out what I thought was a high price. I miss my baby!

Great choice on the gas tank. Check out JCR Offroad, they make awesome stuff and the important part is great service after the sale.

One critical fix to do is replacing the ODPA, it’s easy to do, it took me 45 minutes. These are destined to catastrophicly fail. Forman makes a quality replacement.

Keep the updates coming!

 

[dblack]

Thanks! That is a sharp looking Jeep. I was thinking that if I ever painted that’s the colour I’d think hard about...

That OPDA is a good point. I heard of that the other day for the first time. I’ll see if I can find the replacement you mention.

 

[darthyota]

So whats going to follow you home with the next 4wheelparts sale coming up next week?

 

[dblack]

Funny you should mention that. I just got their flyer for the March Madness sale. They have some pretty wicked sales at times. I have been debating a Safari snorkel, but I haven't convinced myself... Yet.

I did buy the Crown Automotive OPDA from 4 wheel parts though. It was on sale for 17% off for some reason. Should be in soon.

 

[dblack]

The OPDA replacement went as I expected. I tend to turn an hour job into a weekend fight & this one was no different.

I researched a bit & planned meticulously, then half way through the process abandoned the plan, improvised and messed up the timing.

Alright, not the end of the world, but after a few failed attempts, I was still throwing "P0016 cam sensor codes". Bah humbug. Back to square one. I threw everything but the kitchen sink at it.

1. Replace sensor on new OPDA with sensor off old OPDA
2. Put a washer in the bolt of the sensor to ensure approximately same gap (The new OPDA sensor gap was WAY closer and rumour has it that could be an issue)
2. Line up the notch in the Harmonic balancer pully with the tab on the block.
3. Remove cylinder 1 spark plug and ensure top dead center of piston position.
4. for the 5th time, try lining up the holes in the OPDA body and the OPDA pulse ring
5. Put it all together, and say a small timing prayer.

Bam. No codes. Runs well. No problems. One of the above probably fixed it, but I was tired of trying one thing at a time.

 

[Overland California]

I love those LJ's. Nice build!

 

[Cort]

You are going to love those lockers!

The Currie correctlink syeering setup is awesome if you are looking to go that route.

Watch the steering linkage, with aftermarket diff covers the will make contact at near full droop.

 

[dblack]

Not knowing much about the Currie currectlync system, what’s the advantage? Heavier components, better steering geometry?

The clearance of these diff covers is pretty close to stock. I haven’t checked at full droop yet. I need to try this (see photo) with the front sway bar disconnected. But clearance looks ok... for now.