21 Sahara U pre-build

[Whiskerfish]

Age is creeping up (mid 60's) so Wife has given the go ahead to start reducing Goldwing wrenching/ riding time and start building something with her 21 Sahara Unlimited. It has about 55,000 miles on the clock now. I previously upgraded the Track Bar with a Yeti due to a predictable Death Wobble, certain bumps on thruway on ramps would set it off every time. The track bar has stopped that. Still some wiggle on those bumps but it does not progress into DW. Over the next few months I want to start a mild build on this. Hard decisions regarding lift etc have not been made yet but a couple inches and some 34/ 35 inch tires, winch, skid plates etc are in the future.

So in prep just to tighten things up I am thinking I should do the ball joints as a minimum. Obviously i will do a inspection but what else should I consider upgrading as a starting point??

I have a set of teraflex in my cart. Are thos still well regarded ??

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[grandsrus]

I have had the TF BJs now for 30k miles and love them. Meaning no wobble or shimmy anymore with 35s.

 

[Whiskerfish]

Thanks. I installed all 4 TF's 2 weekends ago and the wife is very happy with the ride now. Have gone this far so looking to upgrade the rest of the steering components next.

 

[Whiskerfish]

NEWB Looking for more guidance. Track bar and BJ's are done on the Wife's 21 Sahara U. Looking at either the AEV or the Mopar for a couple inches. The AEV is currently not in stock.

But before I get to that I would like to finish upgrading the steering parts. I see numerous after market kits offered. Right now I am leaning toward the MC HD Steering system here: https://metalcloak.com/jl-wrangler-...3RyQTF1s_jnyPu9uPZQVDwuYMf7zLhPwaAlRiEALw_wcB

Are there other things I should consider upgrading at this point before moving forward?

 

[Whiskerfish]

MetalCloak Steering system was received a few minutes ago. I went down and talked to the local independent Jeep shop and he offered me a decent price for the build so I don't have to spend the time crawling around on the cement. His supplier has a Mopar 2 inch kit on the shelf so they will install the metalcloak steering system, the 2 inch Mopar kit, some wheel spacers, and get it aligned next week. Plan is to put the stock 32's back on for now and that will give me some time to determine and source the 35's I want.

 

[Whiskerfish]

Before and after. I think she is done for this year. I have other things that require my play money for a while

So far

Yeti Track bar
Teraflex Ball Joints
Metalclaok Steering system
Mopar 2 inch lift
35x12.5 Toyo OC AT III on 18x9 RC Rims
HD Spare Tire bracket

Next Year will look at Bumper systems and winches

 

[Whiskerfish]

As these projects usually go, you think you are done for a while and no you are not. Wife is too short and "Her Beastie" is too tall. She manages but it is a struggle to climb in. I picked up a set of lightly used OEM rock rails this morning. Now to wait on Nxtgen to release their removable steps then I can swap out her stock running boards for a better system. We also went to a graphics shop to contract some vinyl for the hood shoulders. Should see some design choices in a day or two.

So now a week later and I have to say the mopar lift and replacing all the major front end control parts has this thing riding pretty darn nice on the 35" tires. About 75 she starts feeling a bit boundy but up to that she feels better than some of her other Wranglers when they were brand new stock. We are both very pleased. Steering is light and a hair more sensitive (especially to road crown) than it was with the stock rubber but generally it feels planted and stable.

 

[Whiskerfish]

Wife's graphics and yesterday I swapped the floorboards for the rock rails and installed the nxtgen steps.

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