2004 Jeep WJ (Red Riding Hood)

[Overland-Indiana]

Ok, so i had a 1995 Blazer (S-series) I was building into my overlanding rig (Budget Built) was the title of the thread. It has since been sold, it got too expensive to keep repairing and working on all the time.

Sold it and bought a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited (WJ) with 95k miles on it.
Came with these wheels:

Then it was lifted 2in and these Cragar Soft 8's and Goodyear Duratracs were put on:

 

[Overland-Indiana]

I just picked up a roof rack i had custom built, it will be painted and mounted this weekend and LED lights installed

 

[Mad Garden Gnome]

Nice rig!

 

[roamingtimber]

Nice rig!

Nice! Good to see more WJ's being built.

 

[Overland-Indiana]

Update, Roof rack was painted and installed last night!

 

[Overland-Indiana]

Some updates....

Lights installed and mounted.

 

[Overland-Indiana]

Well, i was the first to try out the new hill behind work....
This hill climb behind my work didnt end so well.. My boss enjoyed pulling me down off there haha... I need more lift!

Had a MAJOR butt pucker moment coming down off of it. The dirt was so loose i started sliding off the side, i got pretty tilted, still was fine. Only issue i would have had was if it slid too fast then came to a sudden stop i may have tipped over. Moral of the story is: Pack it down a LOT before you try to climb it. Looks like ill widen it a it then drive over it 1000 times with the gators before i decide to try it again. It was fun though, even though i am still slightly puckered.

jbrooks19
Posts: 44
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2015 1:47 pm
Location: Kokomo, IN

 

[Michael]

Ha! Ya that crest looks just peaked enough to grab you. Did you get stuck because of wheel spin or bottoming out?

BTW, I'm really impressed with the progress you are making on the rig! @jordanbrooks

M

 

[Overland-Indiana]

Ha! Ya that crest looks just peaked enough to grab you. Did you get stuck because of wheel spin or bottoming out?

BTW, I'm really impressed with the progress you are making on the rig! @jordanbrooks

M

Thank you for the encouragement!

The cross-member that the transfer case is mounted to got hung up on the peak of the second hill. The cross-member hangs down about 2in from the bottom of the jeep and gets snagged quite often. I am working on a heavy duty skid plate for it, so i can hopefully glide over it rather then get caught up on it. After the ARB front bumper and a nice swing out tire carrier/rear bumper i will be doing a bigger lift and a little bigger tires also. The bumpers will be coming next spring during my busy season at work (I am a John Deere salesman and spring is when it is most busy) because that is when i work overtime and will have the extra funds, a wife in college and 2 kids (3 and 1, both boys) will eat up a 4x4 parts budget in a heartbeat. Haha, wouldn't trade those crazy boys for anything though.

 

[Overland-Indiana]

I also think if i had 1in taller tires i would have made it, i had wheel spin, in fact i had all 4 tires off the ground at one time when i got centered on the peak haha

 

[Overland-Indiana]

Added some more LED's.. A 20" Light bar behind my grill.

 

[Overland-Indiana]

Here is a pic of my Jeep i made into a meme, lol this was what my wife said to me after i installed the lights behind the grill..and my reply.

 

[Overland-Indiana]

Iv'e got to replace all front upper and lower control arms. This should be fun.

 

[Overland-Indiana]

Well.................Damn you 4wd parts and your coupons/sales... I am now the proud new owner of a set of Bilstein 5100 shocks. Should get them next week. Thursday the 29th I am hosting a wrenching party at my house where we all pitch in for the day and help fix each others rigs. I don't know what the other guys need to do to theirs but we are doing upper and lower control arms on the front of my Jeep and now also adding shocks to that list. I got a great deal on the shocks!

 

[TxTerra]

Here is a pic of my Jeep i made into a meme, lol this was what my wife said to me after i installed the lights behind the grill..and my reply.

thats what people were telling me. Im currently converting to all LED's, but when it was mostly all hologen lights, i had abour 140 amps of lighting. Its getting scaled down to about 90 amps total. Cant wait to finish wiring the roof lights back up and take a good night shot with them all on

 

[Overland-Indiana]

thats what people were telling me. Im currently converting to all LED's, but when it was mostly all hologen lights, i had abour 140 amps of lighting. Its getting scaled down to about 90 amps total. Cant wait to finish wiring the roof lights back up and take a good night shot with them all on

Iv'e got LED's on all sides of rack and have a 20in bar behind the grille. With them all on it doesn't even faze the electrical system in my Jeep. I love LED's and I'll be adding more soon. haha

 

[TxTerra]

ive changed the light bar to a 40", and replaced the round lights on top with a 32" bar.

 

[Overland-Indiana]

View attachment 443
ive changed the light bar to a 40", and replaced the round lights on top with a 32" bar.

Lol, just a few lights? Looks like you need some headlight lens restorer on your stock lights my friend ;)

 

[TxTerra]

tried it, doesnt work. that and when trail riding the LEDs overpower the halogens by a longshot so im not worried about getting new headlight assemblies

 

[Overland-Indiana]

Yeah true. Mine were a little yellowed and i used a turtle wax kit and it surprisingly worked. Your very right about LED overpowering headlights. I cant even see my headlights when i turn on the LED's