So, I had been gathering parts for the past 8-10 months, and now the transformations have begun. To recap, here is the way the Jeep (‘04 Auto) was setup before the tinkering began:
35x12.5x17 Tires on 17x9 OMF beadlocks
D30 Front, 4.88 gears, ARB locker, 15” Vanco big brake kit
D44 Rear, 4.88 gears, ARB locker
Rubicon Express long arms
Front: 4.5” RE springs, ACOS, RE monotube shocks with reservoir
Rear: 5.5” RE springs, RE monotube shocks
RE Front adjustable track bar
RE Rear adjustable track bar
Currie HD steering
Currie Antirock
Body Armor rear bumper and tire carrier
Hanson Front bumper
Warn 9.5Ti winch
Durango 4x4 rockers
Various skids
And a bunch of fluffy stuff
Some items will be replaced by the following:
33x12.5x17 Tires
HP D30 Front, 4.88 gears, Super 30 kit with ARB locker, Vanco 16” big brake kit, Johnny Joints.
4”
Currie springs,
Rancho 9000XL shocks with on-board controller
Poly Performance rear outboarding kit
Currie Front adjustable track bar
ORO dual rate manual SwayLoc
Hanson rear bumper and stock tire carrier
Currie rock rails
Setrab transmission cooler with fan defeat switch and dual trans temp gauge.
Some more fluffy stuff
Rear Bumper:
A few months ago, the first thing to come off was the Body Armor rear bumper / tire carrier. While it is an OK unit that was on the TJ when I bought it, I had to consistently adjust it to keep it from rattling. It also put a nice bend in my tailgate, but most importantly, it was really heavy.
I ended up buying a Hanson rear bumper to match the front one I already had. It is a very nice unit, adjustable in height to cover unsightly gaps, and it comes with a really good bracket system that sandwiches the frame. The instructions suck, but after identifying all the parts, install was a breeze. This bumper will allow towing the Kimberley Kamper without any worries and its design will also allow us to be a little creative with some future projects, like a water-to-water heat exchanger (stay tuned for a future thread on this).
The stock carrier will be reused for the spare and it will be modified to keep the spare as close to the tailgate as possible while making sure it rests on the rear bumper to alleviate any stress on the tailgate.
Tires:
As mentioned in an earlier thread, I tested a set of 33s to see how the TJ would perform with the 4.88 gears and the 4-speed auto. I was fairly pleased with the results at that time.
I ended up selling my 35s and got a line on some 305/65/17 Pro-Comp Xtreme MTs. Although generally not a fan of anything Pro-Comp, I figured that at that price it was worth a shot. I haven’t taken them offroad yet, so I can’t comment too much.
Anyway, since having the 33s on, I am even happier with the performance results. The Jeep is a lot of fun to drive and, on grades, it pulls really hard without wanting to downshift. It is very responsive and the steering feel is a lot nicer.
Front suspension:
Last weekend, I went down to Blaine’s to find out he already had put the Currie springs and the Rancho’s up front. It looked great but the TJ’s rear end was now way up in the air with those RE 5.5” springs and shocks. So, it was my turn to work on the rear by taking the rear shocks and springs out and temporarily installing the Currie springs. Wow, what a difference, the TJ now has great proportions.
We also installed the on-board controller for the Rancho shocks. This is a nice looking unit and we made a bracket to position it on the lower part of the dash , just forward of the shifter. We stepped into Blaine’s alfresco paint booth, placed the part on the coat hanger hanging from the rope tied between two trees, and we used some black wrinkle finish paint on the bracket. If I remember well it was a Krylon brand type paint and it matched the Rancho unit very well.
Now, by resting my forearm on the shifter, I can change the shocks settings from the comfort of the driver’s seat.
Tech Tip of the Day: If after drilling through the lower portion of your dash, you find yourself staring at a blinking “n0 FUSe” display on your odometer, you’ve probably hit the Accessories #2 wire. The other giveaway is that you don’t have the “key in the ignition” chime and your courtesy lights don’t work anymore. Guess how we found out 
. Pop the hood and replace the 10A fuse in the fuse box. If it holds, you’re good to go, if not, it’s time to take the dash apart and fix your boo-boo.
Rock rails:
When I bought the TJ, it had the Durango 4x4 rockers, and this transformation was the perfect excuse to get something different.
Blaine’s way of installing rock rails is way beyond what any normal person would do. If you blew the Jeep up, I’d be willing to bet that the only piece of body left, would be the one sandwiched between the rock rails and the aluminum backing plate. After asking me a bunch of nonsense questions like what is 3 & 3/8th minus 7/16th plus 5/8th divided by 1/16th (you guys have to start using the metric system, sheesh
), we drilled many holes, used a bunch of nutserts, preloaded each rock rail before bolting them into place, and used a 1/2” thick piece of aluminum as a backing plate. They were finally in place. The funny thing is that while torquing the hardware, it slightly bent the rock rail around the bolt head while the aluminum backing plate didn’t even flinch. Who says aluminum is not as strong as steel? My rock rails might look funny, but they are not going anywhere, period.
Front track bar:
Because of the RE drop bracket, there were going to be some clearance issues. We talked about a solution and I told Blaine to go for the Currie track bar. Since I had to go to work, Blaine installed the Currie adjustable track bar in place of the RE, see post above for his comments.
I apologize for the lack of pictures. I will take some next weekend and post them up.