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Thread: I bought a TJ

  1. #1
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    Default I bought a TJ



    Bought a 1999 TJ yesterday. It has the 4.0, 5 speed, and a D44 rear axle. The short term plan is to sell the hard top, and probably sell the doors, throw a bikini top on it and maybe look for some half doors. It needs either new shocks or a lift as the previous owner put units in that are too long and they have about 2 inches of up-stroke at ride height. Other than that it just needs a good going-through. Eventually I would like to try flat-towing it behind the van. Could be fun to take them both to various places around the state, and to Moab.

    The picture makes it look cleaner than it is. The paint is pretty thrashed, the body has some damage and light rust in a few places. Runs well and seems mechanically sound so far. I am looking forward to wheeling something that I have zero cosmetic attachment to, and something that is not my DD. My old 06 TJ used to be my only vehicle, so there was always the worry about breaking something and not being able to get to work.

    But the big challenge now is sitting on it and waiting for the DMV to open back up again for new registrations.
         

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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    Congrats!

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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    Should be fun!

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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    Good to have an only for wheeling vehicle
    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    FINOCJ previously posted:
    "Good to have an only for wheeling vehicle"

    Or nice to have a tow vehicle to pull the van out when it gets stuck! I can't recall if the van has a winch? Based on the rest of the build, it probably has one.

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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    Heck yea!

    hey I have a bikini top that I never used and I might be interested in the hard top .... maybe a trade + $ on my end. Let me know if you wanna chat at some point. I have two TJ Rubicons and love them!
    ___________
    2005 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon TJ
    2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Xtreme Recon edition
    2023 Ford F150 Raptor


  7. #7
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    Its on my list, but no winch for the van at the moment. Bumpers with winch plates are expensive for vans, and a receiver mount for a 12K winch might be a bit much.

    The TJ came with a badland branded winch. I think that's a harbor freight unit. Not sure if it works yet. I dont have a controller, and I want to try and hotwire it and make sure it works before I spend any money on it.

    Wrestled the hard top off this morning. I probably should not have done that alone. Neck is a little sore now. Fit up a bikini top and header bar the seller threw in. The fabric that wraps around the bar above the door is pretty loose. I think my 2006 had a thicker pad. I might try stitching on another strip of velcro to make it fit tighter, or look for some cheap door surrounds which it appears to also clip into if installed.

    For things like a center console lid (broken latch) and door surrounds, what do you guys think about that FN jeep place down in the springs? I'm guessing they would be at least a little more expensive than a junkyard, but more likely they would have what I was looking for on the first try.

    RockyMtRebel... i'll probably post the hard top in the classifieds here before i put it on craigslist. I want to go through it thoroughly first... find out everything that is and is not working.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    Trevor? previously posted:
    "For things like a center console lid (broken latch) and door surrounds, what do you guys think about that FN jeep place down in the springs? I'm guessing they would be at least a little more expensive than a junkyard, but more likely they would have what I was looking for on the first try."

    FN is better than Republic Park 4x4! I find their stuff to be expensive enough that it often better to get aftermarket replacement - albeit I am often looking for old cj parts which may go for a premium compared to newer stuff... Sometimes aftermarket isn't an option and then its fine...I have probably bought 5 things from them in 20 years or so (I think the first thing I bought was a cj side mirror when they were located at fillmore and Nevada - before they moved down south a bit...most recently a front bumper and steering wheel for my cj5 quite a few years ago). I will also say that I find their 'inventory' is difficult to search online (they used to only have a FB account) and they rarely answer the phone or respond to my FB inquiries about parts. But when I've been their in person, i've gotten decent help, so I guess I am mixed review....if I lived closer and could easily stop by to check on parts, it might be better.
    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    When I had my TJ this was my go to place for used parts.

    www.daveysjeeps.com

  10. The Following 2 Members Say Thanks to newracer For This Post:

    open_circuit (April 24th, 2020),Trevor? (April 24th, 2020)

  11. #10
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    newracer previously posted:
    "When I had my TJ this was my go to place for used parts.

    www.daveysjeeps.com"

    James, have a look!
    https://daveysjeeps.com/inventory/1946-willys-jeepney/

  12. The Following Member Says Thanks to open_circuit For This Post:

    FINOCJ (April 24th, 2020)

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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    open_circuit previously posted:

    Now I would like to see that thing on a trail! Lol.
    ___________
    Tom
    -.- . ----- .-- - -.-.

  14. #12
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    jeepneys - common in the Phillipines....
    https://theculturetrip.com/asia/phil...tional-symbol/
    ___________
    James Orofino
    1970 CJ5
    1958 Willys Wagon

  15. #13
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    You could do tours on Black Bear with it.

  16. #14
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    Nice looking TJ! Great choice for a trail rig, sooooo much aftermarket.

  17. #15
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    Trevor? previously posted:
    "Bought a 1999 TJ yesterday. It has the 4.0, 5 speed, and a D44 rear axle."

    Sweet!

  18. #16
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    Tinkered with the TJ this weekend. It came with a CB antenna installed, and although I am no expert it seems to me like there were quite a few things off about the installation. For starters is pretty short and mounted pretty low. There's a significant portion that is parallel to the tub which can add quite a bit of capacitance making tuning difficult I believe... but maybe not because the base was screwed to the plastic end cap of the bumper. Any antenna install on a Jeep is a bit of a compromise, but I cant imagine this would have been much better than yelling out the window. But who knows... maybe it worked just fine for the previous owner.

    Got to cleaning the interior. Started with a little ArmorAll trying to get some of the gunk off of the interior plastics and that quickly devolved into tearing the seats and carpet out and getting after it with the hose. Previous owner really liked sunflower seeds. I even ended up disassembling the seats and soaking the seat covers in Oxyclean. You can see the color of the water in those buckets with rocks weighing down the covers. They came out pretty good.

    Found a rust spot next to the parking brake bracket. Tried to grind it off but quickly found that I could punch through it with the handle of my grinder. Ended up cutting it out and welding in a patch.

    Managed to get it all put back together on Sunday, except for the carpet.
            

  19. #17
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    The jeep came with one aftermarket bracket to move the drivers side mirror from the door to the a-pillar. The passenger side had home made bracket made from a slice of square tube mounting the mirror to the door. I figured it wouldnt be too bad to make a copy of the aftermarket bracket using the one I had as a template seeing how I had the steel laying around. It came out pretty well. A little crooked but its hardly noticeable. While bending the one part with a hammer and vice I couldn't help but think about how nice Brucker's finger press must be.

    I also tinkered with the winch. It didn't come with the wired remote, but I hot-wired it and found that it appears to work. Went digging through some old boxes and found a warn wireless remote and the contactor housing from the M8000 i had on my old jeep. I had mounted the contactor under the hood and removed the cover, but i figured I could cut out the integrated connector and graft it to the case of the badlands winch. It took some fiddling, but I got it working with the warn remote. I think I'll want to hard-wire a switch in the cab, as I wouldn't want to be completely reliant on a battery powered remote.
               

  20. #18
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    +1 on in-cab winch wiring.

    (though there is one downfall - it's difficult to monitor winch line stacking / building up)

  21. #19
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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    More tinkering... there was a sizable leak out of the end of the steering box. I think the issue was a damaged o-ring on the cap opposite of the input shaft. It was easy to remove and would have been easy to replace, but none of the stores near me had a kit with that seal in it. I ended up biting the bullet and getting a reman box from OReilly. It feels a bit tighter anyway. The only other leak is a small one coming out of the back of the engine. It runs down the transmission side of the inspection cover. Probably the rear main? It could be the rear of the oil pan gasket... the pan looks to have taken quite a hit at some point.

    The exhaust looks to have been replaced somewhat recently. The only issue is that it appears whoever did it opted to cut the exhaust hangar that hooks on to the transfercase and did a poor job of butt-welding the rod back together. It was broken and the catalytic converter was just resting on the transfer case skid. I am in no position to be judging other people's welds, but this was pretty bad. I didn't have any 1/2 inch round stock but a piece of rebar seemed to do the trick. Bent it to shape with a mapp torch and welded it in after cutting all of the old rod off of the mounting point on the pipe. It would have been nice to finish weld the mount outside of the vehicle but from the manifold back this appears to be all welded together... no joints. I figured it would be hard to get it up over the rear axle without a lift and opted to weld it in place. It was difficult to get a good torch angle on the top side of the rod. I had to hold the gun with one hand, reach over the joint with my other hand to operate the trigger, and weld the joint with the gun pointed toward my face about 5 inches from my nose.

    I removed the radio. It had the incorrect DIN adapter and none of the holes lined up, so the radio was just flopping around in the dash. Waiting on a new $10 adapter and I rebuilt the harness. I've never liked butt-connectors, so I soldered it. Staggered joints, and adhesive lined shrink tube and some harness wrap makes for a clean install. The ash tray is missing. Anyone out there have one they removed to install a 2nd switch panel? It would be nice to fill the space for now, but not for some of the prices I have seen online.

    Lastly, someone put one of those sealed beam to HR4 bulb conversion kits in it and the passenger side lens is cracked. There's no manufacturer name anywhere on the part and I am struggling to find a place that sells the lenses individually. Any ideas out there?

    I can't wait for the DMV and emissions stations to open up again. I scanned and submitted some paperwork last week in the hope I could get a temporary tag, but haven't heard back.
          

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    Default Re: I bought a TJ



    I replaced my OEM headlights on my LJ about 18 months ago. I still have the original lights in a box if you want them. They work just fine, but I wasn't happy with the brightness and one of them had a very small rock-strike style ding in it.

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