97 Jeep TJ

[Endless Trails]

I figured I should start a build thread for my son Shane's Jeep. This way I can keep the thread for my Megacab just Megacab stuff.

Shane bought the Jeep May 26 2023. It is a 97 Jeep TJ 5spd. As it came it was on 2.5" lift, stock arms, junk shocks, stock alloy wheels, 33x10.5" BFG AT tires, 30/35 axles with gears and lockers.

The price was good but it needed work right off the bat. We ended up putting all new steering linkage on it right away. We went with the stock Grand Cherokee stuff as it is slightly more beefy than the TJ stuff. It still had some handling quirks and we found the rear track bar bracket extension to be loose. After tightening it and it coming loose again real quick, we welded it directly to the axle.
It is good being the son of someone with rad friends and part Point Mugu 4x4 club with cool members. He got some hand me down steel wheels from Ryan Fenner, got some real nice arms from a club member who went to long arms, and found some Cooper 33x12.5x15 tires on market place for a good price.
He switched to a Bimini top when the rear window zippers failed. He took advantage of HF sale on winches and grabbed a 9500 Badlands and a winch plate. We had fun moding the winch plate to work with the stock bumper and sway bar. The swing out on the rear bumper was real loose so it came off and the tire went in place of the rear seat. I think That brings us to the present.

 

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I had borrowed his jeep to do the annual Lockwood Valley trail cleanup / clearing. What a difference driving that up the trail vs my 160" wheel base Megacab.
But packing stuff on top of the tire didn't work well. So we built this wood platform before going up to Monachee.

 

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He has been wanting to put a real cage on the jeep for a while and we found one on a jeep getting scraped on market place. It has all the bars in the right spots and the price was good with belts and a good clean PRP rear bench. It came out of a TJ so how hard could it be...
We after stripiing the dash, steering wheel, and center console out we finally got to try and get it in place. Only to find out the trans tunnel is in the way. I don't remember the one we pulled it out of having a cut tunnel so I don't know if it is a model year difference or manual to auto tub difference? After cutting the tunnel and notching the dash we were finally able to get it to sit on the floor. Only took 4-5 times of lifting it in and out.

We are going to sheet metal it back in, but we have a few more things to do before pulling the cage out again.

 

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Other fun is the wind shield frame contacts the cage. So I pocket cut it to clear. This took a bunch of tries of cut, check, cut some more. I Got both sides real close and one side filled in with some sheet metal. Still need to finish off the other side and detail sand it .

 

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Still to do:
Finish other windshield frame pocket.
Sheet metal in the trans tunnel.
Cut out seat brackets (built for PRP seats, Mastercraft seats have wider mount points)
Remove cage to drill mount holes.
Weld in seat mounts and finish weld other stuff on the cage.
Paint the cage
Bolt down cage
Figure out the dash notch behind the vents.
Hope all the dash stuff works when put back together.

 

[Endless Trails]

I got the other pocket fit and welded. I started on the trans tunnel notch. Need some more abrasives. Need to patch in a few spots that the big pannel missed. Shane should be welding all the spots on the cage that the previous owner skiped today.
Nothing finnished and crossed of the list but a few things are closer.