Hodges 2016 Bilstein Build

[hodge-xj]

That's a lot work but should pay off in the end.
Good luck with it dude.
I keep thinking overhauling my 01 WJ, got a slow oil leak thinking the rear main but i'm not sure i want to put up with the repairs and i'm thinking to sell it and get me an used motorcycle or Corolla or something like that to use it as my real DD. I'm around 10-11MPG city only with the RAM

Yea, it's for sure a large project. And as I get into it I keep tearing more and more into it. It's so clean rust wise it's worth the effort. For the east coast it's a unicorn. Gonna try and make a good all around vehicle out of it. My gf wants to drive it so I will be keeping it agreeable and safe. I don't have room for a trailer at my current home or my old xj I'm parting out would be a trailer queen and I'd not be doing this. Still not in love with it so I may sell, we'll see. For now it gives me something to do.

As of now I've pulled motor trans and t-case. Gonna do a freshening up under it and sling all my upgraded stuff under it. I might be able to swing them all in connected with some thrifty rigging so fingers crossed as that will minimize alot of work. Still unsure of what I'll do with the suspension. It sits like 7" right now so I'm thinking I'll drop it to 4.5" on 33s. With 4.56s I'll get some grunt back and mpgs as well as need much less trimming. Idk, I was fighting funky angles with drag link and track bar causing bump steer and I'm not looking to go OTK and start custom fabbing. Easier to drop it down and get geometry back. I do love solid axles. Right now my ecodiesel is pulling 25+ mpg so that's why I'm leaving it alone and building something else. I love the ram tho. 21mpg towing this jeep home through the mountains.

As for the wj. If you have a 4.0 id put money on valve cover and oil filter housing leaking before the rear main.....to be honest I know a lofted jeep won't pull much better mpgs. So I'd do a quick once over to make it marketable and sell it as an overland build! Should sell like hot cakes.

What are the details on it?

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[hodge-xj]

Awesome Jeep. Congrats on getting it back. I had a 92 and loved it. It was also my high school rig. I wheeled the crap out of it. Looking forward to seeing your progress with it. Let us know if you need any aftermarket goodies for it

You can't not love a jeep. I had a 93, 96, 01, and 92. Now I have this Franken **** going together. Lol. I HATE the word, but it's gonna be "overland" style. Very well rounded. Easier to load it up for adventures with the family than empty my work truck for a quick trip.

This will fill the void for a little. I'm hoping to run it until all the stuff is ironed out and turn it for a profit. Next step after this xj is a power wagon, which is my ultimate goal. Just not quite there financially yet.


Who do you guys carry for jeep vendors, once this is together and running in gonna have a big punch list of things to do.

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[Nick@GotExhaust]

You can't not love a jeep. I had a 93, 96, 01, and 92. Now I have this Franken **** going together. Lol. I HATE the word, but it's gonna be "overland" style. Very well rounded. Easier to load it up for adventures with the family than empty my work truck for a quick trip.

This will fill the void for a little. I'm hoping to run it until all the stuff is ironed out and turn it for a profit. Next step after this xj is a power wagon, which is my ultimate goal. Just not quite there financially yet.


Who do you guys carry for jeep vendors, once this is together and running in gonna have a big punch list of things to do.

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Love the XJ's . Not as popular as most other jeeps but its a very good platform. good daily and good for wheeling. Just doesnt have the cool factor of a wrangler in most peoples eyes.

We have access to a bunch of manufacturers in different fields. Let us know what type of parts you need and we can go from there.

 

[hodge-xj]

Love the XJ's . Not as popular as most other jeeps but its a very good platform. good daily and good for wheeling. Just doesnt have the cool factor of a wrangler in most peoples eyes.

We have access to a bunch of manufacturers in different fields. Let us know what type of parts you need and we can go from there.

Sure will.

I do enjoy the xj being a back burner model as of recent. Parts are plentiful and cheap. Trying to squeeze in as much as I can before the season changes and it gets cold again so expect to be hearing from me soon!

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[ram1500rsm]

Yea, it's for sure a large project. And as I get into it I keep tearing more and more into it. It's so clean rust wise it's worth the effort. For the east coast it's a unicorn. Gonna try and make a good all around vehicle out of it. My gf wants to drive it so I will be keeping it agreeable and safe. I don't have room for a trailer at my current home or my old xj I'm parting out would be a trailer queen and I'd not be doing this. Still not in love with it so I may sell, we'll see. For now it gives me something to do.

As of now I've pulled motor trans and t-case. Gonna do a freshening up under it and sling all my upgraded stuff under it. I might be able to swing them all in connected with some thrifty rigging so fingers crossed as that will minimize alot of work. Still unsure of what I'll do with the suspension. It sits like 7" right now so I'm thinking I'll drop it to 4.5" on 33s. With 4.56s I'll get some grunt back and mpgs as well as need much less trimming. Idk, I was fighting funky angles with drag link and track bar causing bump steer and I'm not looking to go OTK and start custom fabbing. Easier to drop it down and get geometry back. I do love solid axles. Right now my ecodiesel is pulling 25+ mpg so that's why I'm leaving it alone and building something else. I love the ram tho. 21mpg towing this jeep home through the mountains.

As for the wj. If you have a 4.0 id put money on valve cover and oil filter housing leaking before the rear main.....to be honest I know a lofted jeep won't pull much better mpgs. So I'd do a quick once over to make it marketable and sell it as an overland build! Should sell like hot cakes.

What are the details on it?

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She's an 01 WJ Laredo with the inline 6 4.0L engine, 4 speed trans (42re i think) and the NV242 transfer case. D30 front, D35 rear, 4" RC long arm lift kit and 295/75/16 tires.
And you know what i was looking down there this morning and you're right it looks like the oil is coming out either from the valve cover or the oil filter housing or both.
Asides from that, i have to manu shift the thing when the trans is cold. Once it reaches normal operating temp i don't have to do that. When cold it seems the trans starts out in 3rd gear so i have to manually drop the shifter to 1st and then of course do all the shifts manually. either than or i have to press the gas really down to get it to downshift to 1st. Once the trans has reached certain temp (i have no idea what that temp is or why it does this) i can start out in drive and the trans will start its cycle from 1st gear as expected and do everything normal.

 

[hodge-xj]

She's an 01 WJ Laredo with the inline 6 4.0L engine, 4 speed trans (42re i think) and the NV242 transfer case. D30 front, D35 rear, 4" RC long arm lift kit and 295/75/16 tires.
And you know what i was looking down there this morning and you're right it looks like the oil is coming out either from the valve cover or the oil filter housing or both.
Asides from that, i have to manu shift the thing when the trans is cold. Once it reaches normal operating temp i don't have to do that. When cold it seems the trans starts out in 3rd gear so i have to manually drop the shifter to 1st and then of course do all the shifts manually. either than or i have to press the gas really down to get it to downshift to 1st. Once the trans has reached certain temp (i have no idea what that temp is or why it does this) i can start out in drive and the trans will start its cycle from 1st gear as expected and do everything normal.

Sounds like a fun little toy. Aside from junky shocks the Rough country Isn't a terrible lift either. I usually buy them, and with the money saved I can upgrade the joints and shocks and still be under the cost of most others. D35 is junk but whatever not worth a hassle to swap.

Those 2 spots are notorious, normally guised as a rear main, until you swap it and realize it's still leaking.....ask me how I know.

I'm not sure on what tranny the WJ had but I think it is the 42re. If you were closer I'd say we could do the aw4/231 swap and cure your problems, but alas, it's a bit far. Sounds like your bands are worn out. Possibly a solenoid. Weird that it functions properly warm.....

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[ram1500rsm]

Sounds like a fun little toy. Aside from junky shocks the Rough country Isn't a terrible lift either. I usually buy them, and with the money saved I can upgrade the joints and shocks and still be under the cost of most others. D35 is junk but whatever not worth a hassle to swap.

Those 2 spots are notorious, normally guised as a rear main, until you swap it and realize it's still leaking.....ask me how I know.

I'm not sure on what tranny the WJ had but I think it is the 42re. If you were closer I'd say we could do the aw4/231 swap and cure your problems, but alas, it's a bit far. Sounds like your bands are worn out. Possibly a solenoid. Weird that it functions properly warm.....

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Changed the valve cover gasket. it was leaking pretty bad towads the middle.


Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr

Went with a Felpro gasket for about 20$ from amazon. Easy peasy job. didn't know if it was som damn easy in this model.

And here she is

Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr

 

[hodge-xj]

Changed the valve cover gasket. it was leaking pretty bad towads the middle.


Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr

Went with a Felpro gasket for about 20$ from amazon. Easy peasy job. didn't know if it was som damn easy in this model.

And here she is

Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr

It's crazy how brittle the gasket gets in short order. Pretty quick but messy job, especially if it's been leaking and gunky.

That thing is a sweet little rig!

How's the rough country lift treating you? I'm considering their long arm upgrade as it's a pretty nice price point and pretty simple. My project is full snowball.

Found about 6" of interior water hiding in the foot wells from poorly run wires so I had to weld the floors in some spots. Gonna try and get the carpet in today actually.

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[hodge-xj]

So I've been absent from my thread but I'm still lurking. Haven't touched the ram. No desire or need as it's doing perfect.

Been spending all my time getting the jeep together. Motor/trans/t Case all swapped and turn key. Need to swap axles and suspension as well as a full brake conversion to non abs. Excited to actually make the progress. Suspension and stuff will be much more fun and fast paced compared to trying to wiggle around under a stock rig reaching for **** I can't see.

I'm reusing all my old parts so it's a triple whammy. Disassemble, recondition, modify and install than install junk stuff under big jeep to keep it mobile enough to junk it. All this is solo with no power tools.

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[hodge-xj]

On 35s [emoji854]

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[ram1500rsm]

On 35s [emoji854]View attachment 184864

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Dude you're on a mission, glad to see it coming through

 

[hodge-xj]

Dude you're on a mission, glad to see it coming through

I have a build thread in a jeep forum that you'd be proud of! Lol.

I can honestly say there isn't one single thing I haven't had apart on this thing.

Hung up on a fitting for the ABS delete that apparentally doesn't exist by itself, but other than that it's coming along.

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[hodge-xj]

On the road. Getting my 315s put on it Wednesday than I can take care of the rim color.

Viva El Stuffed

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[ram1500rsm]

How much lift you have in the XJ hodge ? What brand bumper are those ? Do you know about cheap WJ steel bumpers ?. Everything i see around is $1000 lol i remenber i paid $300 for the chitybuilt i had my JK in the front, never had any issues with it and rocks didn't care chinesse steel was hitting them

 

[hodge-xj]

How much lift you have in the XJ hodge ? What brand bumper are those ? Do you know about cheap WJ steel bumpers ?. Everything i see around is $1000 lol i remenber i paid $300 for the chitybuilt i had my JK in the front, never had any issues with it and rocks didn't care chinesse steel was hitting them

So it's got about 4.5"...as far as I can tell

I have unknown front coils and I made my own leaf packs, with shackles and Relocator brackets for shackle angle out back. I need to find stock numbers to compare my height to, but the tires on this are 32s and they have miles of room.

I made both bumpers. JCR OFFROAD has diy kits, as does dirt bound offroad I believe. I'll nose around online a bit and see if I can find some stuff. I'd bet you could get someone local to you to help you put a diy kit together. I'm sure it's out there, but with the JK and JL/JT out aftermarket made a hard swing towards popularity. Even so, you can surely get front and rear bumpers for your jeep for under 1k no problem. I'll do some hunting!

I gotta play with driveline angles and chase down the stupid vibrations I'm getting on the highway. I HATE VIBRATION ISSUES




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[ram1500rsm]

I had a lot of DW myself with the WJ. it was chitty to drive over 55mph and hit anything that resembled a bump it didn't matter if it was big or small, potholes were the worst. i had a hub bearing that was toasted, trackbar was loose on the frame side, draglink loose on the pitman side, the bushings on the control arms didn't have grease. Dude that owned the Jeep before wasn't paying any attention to her. oil leaks everywhere, axel boot seaping grease, poor thing was a real cluncker

 

[hodge-xj]

I had a lot of DW myself with the WJ. it was chitty to drive over 55mph and hit anything that resembled a bump it didn't matter if it was big or small, potholes were the worst. i had a hub bearing that was toasted, trackbar was loose on the frame side, draglink loose on the pitman side, the bushings on the control arms didn't have grease. Dude that owned the Jeep before wasn't paying any attention to her. oil leaks everywhere, axel boot seaping grease, poor thing was a real cluncker

Gotta love jeep guys, they are either on top of their rigs or let them go to hell. I have too much OCD to let any of my vehicles get too far unmaintained.

I am chasing vibrations right now and it's driving me up a wall.

Drove the ram today and man is that thing cushyyyyy.

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[hodge-xj]

@ram1500rsm

Getting my 315 70 17s mounted on my stock jk wheels tomorrow. Duratracs off my old ram setup. What you think I should run for psi. 20-30? Jeep should scale about 3500lbs so one tire can almost support this whole thing...... You're the tire guru let me hear what you think.



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[ram1500rsm]

@ram1500rsm

Getting my 315 70 17s mounted on my stock jk wheels tomorrow. Duratracs off my old ram setup. What you think I should run for psi. 20-30? Jeep should scale about 3500lbs so one tire can almost support this whole thing...... You're the tire guru let me hear what you think.



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i'm running 295/75/16 at 25 psi in my WJ. Start there and see if they feel good, go up and chalk if you want to experiment but i think you'll be fine on those at 25psi.

 

[hodge-xj]

i'm running 295/75/16 at 25 psi in my WJ. Start there and see if they feel good, go up and chalk if you want to experiment but i think you'll be fine on those at 25psi.

You the man! Thanks!

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