The Cheap Wrangler Build...

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Finished my corner armor and tail lights. The armor will smooth out in the bottom inside corners after I repair the tub behind them. That will be during the frame swap when I fix up the tub. I'm trying to do away will all rust...that leads to my next up grade


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Next upgrade is to replace my old fenders (with the flat fenders I did years ago) with some brand new fenders. Only this time I'm running them in a "high line) configuration.


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I'd like to know more about this - are you cutting up the stock fenders and making them flat fenders, or replacing them entirely?
 

My stock fenders were rusty in the tj spots (very top, mid way back) years ago I made some flat fenders where I cut the factory fenders apart and bolted on the pieces I made. I wanted to replace my old fender setup (the cut-up fenders with the pieces I made) with some new fenders. I ordered these from amazon bean new for $200 delivered. I'm mounting them higher up to create what people call high-line fenders. Basically it creates more tire room with less lift and allows you to run stock fenders and flares but gives you more tire clearance than if you were running aftermarket flat fenders. You can use your factory fenders if they aren't rusted. AEV used to (or may still) make a kit to do this however it cost around $2000.


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I will add a aftermarket fender flare (not sure which ones I like) before the Jeep is "finished". I still need to install the driver side and cut the hood. I will add pictures and keep this updated. If you have any questions please ask and I will try to answer them.


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Got the driver fender on and trimmed the hood down, I saved the pieces I trimmed off the hood so I can weld them on the bottom edge to “finish” the edge.IMG_0034.JPGIMG_0035.JPGIMG_0036.JPGIMG_0037.JPGIMG_0038.JPGIMG_0039.JPG


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Made a little more progress this past weekend...IMG_0119.JPGIMG_0120.JPG
I ended up having to use hood pins to hold my hood down. I didn’t want to go the hood pin route but I was unable to make my latches work with the shortened hood in such a fashion that I would be happy with them.


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In spite of their small size they seem to be super strong. I haven’t noticed any hood flutter with them as of yet. I’m going to be adding flares to the fenders and possibly changing up my front turn signals back to factory (🤞) before I store it for the winter.


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Pins look good. IIRC there are short bands for high lined hoods. I'll post back if I find them.

Also saw a video on someone bending some metal to fill on along the grill a bit tighter.

GenRight
Days tar
But most ended pinning.

Regards,
JPNinPA

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Last edited:
Thanks for looking those up. I will check them out. I like these pins a lot better than the generic auto part store pins. I plan to cut and weld in some sheet metal filler pieces to clean up the fender to grille gaps. I also need to cut off a bit more of the hood and re-weld it as well as weld back on some of the reinforcement I cut out of the fenders during the fitting process. I’m just running out of time for this year ugh...


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Finally got my fender flares on. I’ve had the fronts on for two weeks but haven’t had a chance to do the rears.

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What slowed me down is that I needed to trim the rear fenders out a bit and figure out where to mount the rears as I was trying to match the height with the “high-lined” fronts. Plus whenever I’m outside my neighbor is over asking for help or with questions about this.

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That tends to slow my progress down ugh


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It was finally above freezing for a bit so I dug out the TJ to put on the MBRP cat back exhaust I picked up for it. It was an open box return to amazon so I scored it for super cheap...not sure about the tip and during the frame swap I will probably tweak the routing a bit (I haven’t had a full out the back exhaust on the Jeep in 8 years) so I may have to shorten some of my modifications.


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I fitted a Grant wheel I got from my brother. I like the look and fit. As the TJ is going to be primarily an off road toy I don’t mind deleting the airbags as I don’t want hit with an airbag if I hit an obstacle too hard.


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