WJCO's Build Thread, 1999 WJ

[WJCO]

I wanna see the photos of you shoving the 10 pounds of shit into the 5 pound bag, i.e., you installing the winch rope onto the drum of your Zeon!
I'm going to attempt that tomorrow. Looks like lotsa fun!

Oh it is lots of fun...Not! It will go in there, I promise, but as soon as you attempt it, you'll doubt it. Check out this video of a Warn rep installing the Zeon....you'll noticed the rope attachment part has been edited out, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTBNdHMsOrI

[Goldeneagle1LC]

I didn't mess with the headlights. I did get a generic buffing wheel kit for my drill at Sears that came with rubbing compound. I cleaned them up and that definitely helped, but I agree the low beams suck. Most of the other guys with WJs say they've cleaned them 3-4 times and eventually replacing them was the only thing that helped.

Ok thanks. I'll look into that. The whole only being able to see five feet in front is a pain. Thanks again for the idea

[longarmwj]

The more WJs the better!! I hopefully will have some updates to mine soon lol

[WJCO]

So got the Jeep back finally. Turns out after the axle bent, in just a short one mile trip to the shop, the brakes gave out completely. The rotor broke apart due to the bent axle. I'm thinking it should be easy to fix. I'll just whip up a mix of Loctite and JB weld and piece it back together.

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[jedg]

So got the Jeep back finally. Turns out after the axle bent, in just a short one mile trip to the shop, the brakes gave out completely. The rotor broke apart due to the bent axle. I'm thinking it should be easy to fix. I'll just whip up a mix of Loctite and JB weld and piece it back together.

yup... the bonus is that JB weld is sand-able and paintable!

[MedixJK]

So got the Jeep back finally. Turns out after the axle bent, in just a short one mile trip to the shop, the brakes gave out completely. The rotor broke apart due to the bent axle. I'm thinking it should be easy to fix. I'll just whip up a mix of Loctite and JB weld and piece it back together.

Yes. Id say that and some light sanding and youll be good. Maybe some wd40 to prevent all that surface rust.

[catahoula]

Love your rig! I would love one of those. Question. Are those wrangler wheels? If so what years are the bolt patterns the same?

[WJCO]

Love your rig! I would love one of those. Question. Are those wrangler wheels? If so what years are the bolt patterns the same?

Thanks. They're not too expensive around CL, that's why we bought it. It's been a really fun build and my wife and I both like the body style. They are Wrangler wheels. I believe ALL of the WJs are 5 x 5 lug pattern, so they fit the JK wheels. The 32 inch tire will require some lift and trimming on one though. The wheel wells on these things suck. They require trimming for most any larger tire mod. The WJ was the last body style for the Grand Cherokees that still used a coil spring/solid axle suspension. I have the D30 in the front and the D44 in the rear. I believe some had the D35 in the rear though. I also have quadradrive on mine, so mine has LSD differentials in front and rear whereas most of them run the open diffs. What's nice is the aftermarket industry has really expanded for WJ mods, compared to what it used to be.

[WJCO]

So every now and then on certain 'wavy' roads, around 40-50mph, I'll start noticing my tire carrier bouncing just a little, but I don't like it. When you get out, if you hit the tire hard enough, you can manually create this same oscillation as well. The issue is that it's the whole carrier, not just the tire. So I had this idea similar to the stock carrier on the Wrangler of creating a bump stop or something similar to keep the whole carrier tight. It worked! I just took a piece of scrap steel and welded it on to part of the carrier so it pushes against the hatch of the vehicle. On the vehicle, I installed some rubber bushings for it to rest on. The only reason I angled it downward as you can see in the pictures is for drainage purposes so water/snow doesn't sit on it. Not the best welds, but for a flux-core 110V, I'm happy and it's not going anywhere.

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[ScoobyCarolanNC]

So every now and then on certain 'wavy' roads, around 40-50mph, I'll start noticing my tire carrier bouncing just a little, but I don't like it. When you get out, if you hit the tire hard enough, you can manually create this same oscillation as well. The issue is that it's the whole carrier, not just the tire. So I had this idea similar to the stock carrier on the Wrangler of creating a bump stop or something similar to keep the whole carrier tight. It worked! I just took a piece of scrap steel and welded it on to part of the carrier so it pushes against the hatch of the vehicle. On the vehicle, I installed some rubber bushings for it to rest on. The only reason I angled it downward as you can see in the pictures is for drainage purposes so water/snow doesn't sit on it. Not the best welds, but for a flux-core 110V, I'm happy and it's not going anywhere.

Nice work!