Had to join in the fun here, but try to keep up with these sweet Jeeps at the same time. For all of you ADHD ppl out there - you're going to like this thread....there's not really a nice flowing story line here.....just a bunch of "hey I want to do this" ideas that become reality I want to take a quick sec to thank everyone on this forum: this is a great place for ideas, trials/errors experience - 1/2 of this stuff would not have been possible for you guys. At the same time - that's where i place all of the blame for the MOD BUG
In the past I've owned a TJ, ZJ and now this WK. I've loved all of the past flavors and figured i wanted to try the ZJ's grandson - new and improved, with HEMI.
This Jeep started off a 2006 5.7 Limited. I had a great experience acquiring this Jeep:
At the time the only thing i new is that I wanted a JGC, BLACK, HEMI with lower miles....dont care about anything else. After searching nationwide for about 2 months, my Mom calls me up saying that she passed one where she lives (Chicago). I live in STL. Got the background on it (35K miles - 1 leaser) clean past. At the time my ZJ was on it's last leg - 210K (not all from me). The day before XMAS eve (2 years) ago, i got to Chicago to check out this Jeep. It looked great and i took it out for a spin (it was a Chicago winter): test drove in ice/sleet. I floored it all over and this thing grabbed and didnt loose control. I bought it right there.
After the purchase, i drove to my Mom's house to get her luggage, cuz we were due in Detroit for XMAS. The beauty was that we took this Jeep (first ride ever) through a 5 hour ice/snow storm up to Detroit and back through a different storm. I had no idea on expectations and with all stock equip, had no issues there or back - i was SO impressed. So impressed, i couldnt wait to see what this thing could do all MODDED up Let's get to work:
Before i get to "modding" i need proper lighting - at least something better than what was in my garage - so a few garage LYTES to setup shop:
I really dont have any "before" pics, so i'll have to start with this one - only mods showing are window visors, painted calipers and brush guard and rear tail light guards:
Speaking of - the 1st mod on this thing was a brush guard. The only reason why this is the 1st one is because i hit a deer with my ZJ. That wasnt it's ultimate demise. Crappy story too - I'll make it short - was coming home from a buddy's house (in a rural neighborhood) (going 20mph) a deer popped out of a street and tucked into someone's shrubs. As i slowed down to look where it jumped in, it jumped out in front of me. I hit it doing about 12-15mph. It bounced off my grille, hit the ground and popped back up like WTF. WTF to you deer - i have 2 guns on me and can't use them! Anyway - that cost me about $200 for new header panel, grille and headlight.
Not to be made a victim like that again (and soon to take my revenge on deer in Missouri) i put the Aries brush guard on and took some time to do a grille mesh (JJ helped and added the same mesh to her KJ ). We took gutter guard, cut it, plasti-dipped it, cut it to grille hole length, bent them a little for better fit and glued the edges with Gorilla Glue. At the same time, i did the rear Aries tail light guards.
After some light protection on the outside, i took it inside: i could not handle the stock radio! Did a little upgrade: ordered the DVD NAV bezel - $75 eBay, i think and a Pioneer AVH-4200. It's a double-din with DVD, SD card...AUX inputs, camera - yadda, yadda. When i put all this in, i also wanted to watch movies when i drove (of course), so referenced this link for the DVD override.
Stock:
Relay:
New:
At the time of radio installation, i ran an input (for iPhone) through the center console and up along side of the drivers seat. I also ran a video/red/white wire into the glove box, in case we need a console system on a long drive :thumbsup:
While i've been liking the driving experience, i wanted to give it a little better sound than stock, so researched and ended up going with the MagnaFlow 16631 cat-back. Here's a comparison to the stock - i believe same diameter piping:
Side by side:
Tip comparison
In the past I've owned a TJ, ZJ and now this WK. I've loved all of the past flavors and figured i wanted to try the ZJ's grandson - new and improved, with HEMI.
This Jeep started off a 2006 5.7 Limited. I had a great experience acquiring this Jeep:
At the time the only thing i new is that I wanted a JGC, BLACK, HEMI with lower miles....dont care about anything else. After searching nationwide for about 2 months, my Mom calls me up saying that she passed one where she lives (Chicago). I live in STL. Got the background on it (35K miles - 1 leaser) clean past. At the time my ZJ was on it's last leg - 210K (not all from me). The day before XMAS eve (2 years) ago, i got to Chicago to check out this Jeep. It looked great and i took it out for a spin (it was a Chicago winter): test drove in ice/sleet. I floored it all over and this thing grabbed and didnt loose control. I bought it right there.
After the purchase, i drove to my Mom's house to get her luggage, cuz we were due in Detroit for XMAS. The beauty was that we took this Jeep (first ride ever) through a 5 hour ice/snow storm up to Detroit and back through a different storm. I had no idea on expectations and with all stock equip, had no issues there or back - i was SO impressed. So impressed, i couldnt wait to see what this thing could do all MODDED up Let's get to work:
Before i get to "modding" i need proper lighting - at least something better than what was in my garage - so a few garage LYTES to setup shop:
I really dont have any "before" pics, so i'll have to start with this one - only mods showing are window visors, painted calipers and brush guard and rear tail light guards:
Speaking of - the 1st mod on this thing was a brush guard. The only reason why this is the 1st one is because i hit a deer with my ZJ. That wasnt it's ultimate demise. Crappy story too - I'll make it short - was coming home from a buddy's house (in a rural neighborhood) (going 20mph) a deer popped out of a street and tucked into someone's shrubs. As i slowed down to look where it jumped in, it jumped out in front of me. I hit it doing about 12-15mph. It bounced off my grille, hit the ground and popped back up like WTF. WTF to you deer - i have 2 guns on me and can't use them! Anyway - that cost me about $200 for new header panel, grille and headlight.
Not to be made a victim like that again (and soon to take my revenge on deer in Missouri) i put the Aries brush guard on and took some time to do a grille mesh (JJ helped and added the same mesh to her KJ ). We took gutter guard, cut it, plasti-dipped it, cut it to grille hole length, bent them a little for better fit and glued the edges with Gorilla Glue. At the same time, i did the rear Aries tail light guards.
After some light protection on the outside, i took it inside: i could not handle the stock radio! Did a little upgrade: ordered the DVD NAV bezel - $75 eBay, i think and a Pioneer AVH-4200. It's a double-din with DVD, SD card...AUX inputs, camera - yadda, yadda. When i put all this in, i also wanted to watch movies when i drove (of course), so referenced this link for the DVD override.
Stock:
Relay:
New:
At the time of radio installation, i ran an input (for iPhone) through the center console and up along side of the drivers seat. I also ran a video/red/white wire into the glove box, in case we need a console system on a long drive :thumbsup:
While i've been liking the driving experience, i wanted to give it a little better sound than stock, so researched and ended up going with the MagnaFlow 16631 cat-back. Here's a comparison to the stock - i believe same diameter piping:
Side by side:
Tip comparison