TheJeneral's 05 LJ (Unexciting mods and repository of very basic questions)

[TheJeneral]

I did a brief intro thread when I bought my LJ about a month ago. But I wanted to start a kind of journal as I learn about this Jeep and how to take care of it. Compared to the incredible builds here that I'm reading through, this will NOT be that exciting for any of you! But I would definitely appreciate any thoughts/answers to the incredibly basic, dumb questions I will be asking as I figure out what I'm doing. I'm not planning a "build" per se, but I'm excited to tinker with it and make it mine.

I'm NOT a mechanic, but I like learning how things work. I'm that person that will take the vacuum cleaner apart to find out why it's making that weird noise. I don't know anything about how vehicles are put together, so I imagine I'll be financing my mechanic's next vacation over the next however many months. That said, I'm really hoping that along the way I can learn how to do some things on it myself.

I'll start with pics of how it looked when I bought it, and go from there!

 

[TheJeneral]

So the first thing I noticed, of course, was that the soft top was shot. I bought a Replace a Top from Bestop, and when it came, went to take off the old one. That's when we realized the frame was broken. I had a moment of "what have I gotten myself into," but that was immediately followed by the realization that I hadn't just bought a vehicle, I'd bought a hobby. It was a mindset switch for sure.

While I researched hardtops, we took the topless LJ out for a spin. It was my first time driving topless and I was in love. No way could I close this baby up with a hardtop. So I returned the Replace a Top and got the Trektop frameless top instead. Over the weekend my husband helped me put it on, and I'm really happy with it.

Other small fixes:

• replaced the oh-sh*t bars, as the velcro in the old ones was literally disintegrating
• the door in the fuel door cover had broken off, replaced that
• added center tray and phone mount
• filled up a CD wallet with my best selection of 90s and early 2000s tunes

Next up, once I find my husband's socket wrenches, is to replace the front driver's side turn signal cover.