I've had lots of off road toys; Motorcycles, Quads and in 2011 we picked up a RZR4. The RZR is a lot of fun, but not totally compatible wheeling with a Jeep group. After several trips to the desert with my brother's Jeep group my wife decided that she wants to get a Jeep. It will be nice to ditch the helmets and be able to roll up the windows and turn on the AC. The initial plan is to get something that can play hard and we won't be too worried about scratches and minor damage to the exterior. She only wants a 2-Door so it is a little smaller and she doesn't want to get stuck in the back seat of a 4-Door.
I hop on the Internet and Google something like "Best Off Road Jeep". I find the LJ Holy Grail Article. I decide if we are going to spend money, we might as well start with a good base vehicle. With the Covid thing in full effect I have lots of time to search the net. I was initially looking for a Low Miles, nearly Stock LJ Rubicon. I scoured all the usual suspects: AutoTrader, Cars, Car Guru, Craigslist, etc. Did you know that you can search for cars for sale on the CarFax Site? I guess they maintain a list of requests from dealers and individuals. After some weeks of searching I found this forum and the Classified section. That opened up a couple places I had not checked; Offer Up, Facebook and eBay. I never even considered bidding / buying a car from an online auction site. So many potential issues. I did learn that you can hire someone to go inspect a potential purchase and it was only about $100 (https://wegolook.com/). I don't know ANYTHING about that company, but interesting that you can get a car 2000 miles away inspected for about $100.
So after about 3 months of searching I thought I found a good candidate. It was an 04 LJ, but had 05 Rubicon Dana 44s installed. It had lift kit, long arm, 35" tires, armor, wench, etc. It had 80k miles and was only $16k. The wife Vetoed it. She wanted a hard top.
I found a very nice Jeep on eBay. It was a no reserve auction that ending in about 4 days. 04 LJ with LOTS of upgrades. The auction was stalled at 20k for 8 days. I sent a message to the seller and spoke with him on the phone. Seemed like a legit sale. After some discussion my wife and I came up with a max bid and waited for the final day. We were outbid with less than 1 minute on the auction. It was disappointing, but not tragic. We will find something...
4 Days later I get a call from Colorado. The winner of the auction couldn't get his finances figured out, so he was calling to see if I wanted the Jeep. After a quick discussion with the wife we decided to buy it. We flew to Denver 2 days later and drove it home. I'll start another thread on the drive, but briefly:
5 Days
1400 Miles
4 States
5 National Parks (Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion
Amazing Trip!
So, on to the Jeep itself
The PO tells me that this Jeep was built for the Red Rock Easter Jeep Safari in Moab. The PO has some kind of relationship with Teraflex and Nemesis Industries. So they put just about everything available onto the Jeep as a show vehicle for the event. The event was canceled due to Covid. He tells me that they built a nearly identical Jeep a couple years ago (and I did track down some post about it prior to the auction ending). I think this is my Jeep on the Nemesis site: https://nem-ind.com/weltpixel-instagram-widget
I call this a "Cheater" Build, because I really didn't do ANYTHING. I had all sorts of research on suspension, gearing, axels, armor, tires, lockers, etc etc. But in the end I just ended up writing a check.
This isn't my perfect Jeep, but with all the upgrades and the total cost it was too good to pass up. Plus, IT'S ALL DONE.
I'm going to try and spoiler the parts list, so it doesn't scroll.
I hop on the Internet and Google something like "Best Off Road Jeep". I find the LJ Holy Grail Article. I decide if we are going to spend money, we might as well start with a good base vehicle. With the Covid thing in full effect I have lots of time to search the net. I was initially looking for a Low Miles, nearly Stock LJ Rubicon. I scoured all the usual suspects: AutoTrader, Cars, Car Guru, Craigslist, etc. Did you know that you can search for cars for sale on the CarFax Site? I guess they maintain a list of requests from dealers and individuals. After some weeks of searching I found this forum and the Classified section. That opened up a couple places I had not checked; Offer Up, Facebook and eBay. I never even considered bidding / buying a car from an online auction site. So many potential issues. I did learn that you can hire someone to go inspect a potential purchase and it was only about $100 (https://wegolook.com/). I don't know ANYTHING about that company, but interesting that you can get a car 2000 miles away inspected for about $100.
So after about 3 months of searching I thought I found a good candidate. It was an 04 LJ, but had 05 Rubicon Dana 44s installed. It had lift kit, long arm, 35" tires, armor, wench, etc. It had 80k miles and was only $16k. The wife Vetoed it. She wanted a hard top.
I found a very nice Jeep on eBay. It was a no reserve auction that ending in about 4 days. 04 LJ with LOTS of upgrades. The auction was stalled at 20k for 8 days. I sent a message to the seller and spoke with him on the phone. Seemed like a legit sale. After some discussion my wife and I came up with a max bid and waited for the final day. We were outbid with less than 1 minute on the auction. It was disappointing, but not tragic. We will find something...
4 Days later I get a call from Colorado. The winner of the auction couldn't get his finances figured out, so he was calling to see if I wanted the Jeep. After a quick discussion with the wife we decided to buy it. We flew to Denver 2 days later and drove it home. I'll start another thread on the drive, but briefly:
5 Days
1400 Miles
4 States
5 National Parks (Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion
Amazing Trip!
So, on to the Jeep itself
The PO tells me that this Jeep was built for the Red Rock Easter Jeep Safari in Moab. The PO has some kind of relationship with Teraflex and Nemesis Industries. So they put just about everything available onto the Jeep as a show vehicle for the event. The event was canceled due to Covid. He tells me that they built a nearly identical Jeep a couple years ago (and I did track down some post about it prior to the auction ending). I think this is my Jeep on the Nemesis site: https://nem-ind.com/weltpixel-instagram-widget
I call this a "Cheater" Build, because I really didn't do ANYTHING. I had all sorts of research on suspension, gearing, axels, armor, tires, lockers, etc etc. But in the end I just ended up writing a check.
This isn't my perfect Jeep, but with all the upgrades and the total cost it was too good to pass up. Plus, IT'S ALL DONE.
I'm going to try and spoiler the parts list, so it doesn't scroll.
Teraflex parts:
3" Enduro LCG long arm lift kit
Falcon 3.0 shocks
Falcon Nexus EF 2.2 fast adjust steering stabilizer
Bell up skid plate
Transmission skid plate with anti vibration mount
Oil pan skid plate
Gas tank skid plate
Steering box skid plate
1" body lift
SYE Heavy Duty Short Shaft
Heavy duty diff covers
Spare Tire Relocation Bracket Kit
TJ: 3rd Brake Light Extension Bracket Kit
Nemesis Industries parts: All Painted or Powdercoated
Titan tub Armor
Billy Rockers
Crawler stubby front bumper
Crawler stubby rear bumper with shackle mounts
Crawler replacement front fender kit
Crawler flares front and rear
Front inner fender liners
Inner fender relocation kit
Battery relocation bracket
Other Components:
Super 30 front end kit with 4:88 gears 30 splined Chromoly shafts and ARB locker
Rear Dana 44 with 4:88 gears 35 splined Chromoly shafts and ARB locker
ARB compressor
Currie heavy duty steering kit (CE-9701 Currectluync)
Currie Anti-rock sway bar front
New heavy duty drive shafts front and rear
New exhaust routed to clear the long arm kit
Custom ARB switch panel
5- Method MR702 wheels 17"
35" BFG all-Terrains (33" Spare Tire to save weight on the door)
Warn VR EVO 10S 10,000 lb winch with synthetic rope and Factor 55 flat link
K&N cold air intake
Odyssey Red top battery
Spidertrax Wheel Spacers
Spline Drive Lug nuts
3" Enduro LCG long arm lift kit
Falcon 3.0 shocks
Falcon Nexus EF 2.2 fast adjust steering stabilizer
Bell up skid plate
Transmission skid plate with anti vibration mount
Oil pan skid plate
Gas tank skid plate
Steering box skid plate
1" body lift
SYE Heavy Duty Short Shaft
Heavy duty diff covers
Spare Tire Relocation Bracket Kit
TJ: 3rd Brake Light Extension Bracket Kit
Nemesis Industries parts: All Painted or Powdercoated
Titan tub Armor
Billy Rockers
Crawler stubby front bumper
Crawler stubby rear bumper with shackle mounts
Crawler replacement front fender kit
Crawler flares front and rear
Front inner fender liners
Inner fender relocation kit
Battery relocation bracket
Other Components:
Super 30 front end kit with 4:88 gears 30 splined Chromoly shafts and ARB locker
Rear Dana 44 with 4:88 gears 35 splined Chromoly shafts and ARB locker
ARB compressor
Currie heavy duty steering kit (CE-9701 Currectluync)
Currie Anti-rock sway bar front
New heavy duty drive shafts front and rear
New exhaust routed to clear the long arm kit
Custom ARB switch panel
5- Method MR702 wheels 17"
35" BFG all-Terrains (33" Spare Tire to save weight on the door)
Warn VR EVO 10S 10,000 lb winch with synthetic rope and Factor 55 flat link
K&N cold air intake
Odyssey Red top battery
Spidertrax Wheel Spacers
Spline Drive Lug nuts
