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Boo Boo 2004 Rubicon

37457 Views 297 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  johncanfield
OK folks, time for me to start a build thread for my New to Me 2004 Jeep Wrangler TJ Rubicon.
My wife has named it Boo Boo for some silly reason because of the Geico commercial with the bears and some of the trail pin striping.

Here are some pics @Elwarpo sent me, so we have a base to start with.
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As you all can see, it's a properly used vehicle, in it's natural element and a fantastic base that is very solid mechanically. It has a couple of key items which made it a perfect ElffMobile.

Key things
AiROCK with OnBoard Air
Cross Over Steering
Out Boarded Shocks
Stock Moab Rims
MAC's CAI
Cool Locker relocation to get them out of harms way
Hard Top
A bunch of spare parts.
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While working out the sale, it was made known to me about the crack in the windshield. I fortunately have a great glass company 1 town over from where I work, so I let Mike know I would take care of that and actually scheduled that work for Wednesday this week and it's already replaced. Funny thing is, they transferred over the Inspection sticker, so as long as no PA Police notice the Sticker does not match the Plate state, I could go months without it being inspected.
LOL
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Blue tape is to let the seal settle and I left it like that until Saturday morning.
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Initial items that required immediate attention that are all squared away
Ran a new Airline to the Passenger rear Airbag and zip tie it above the heat shield.
Replaced the Circuit breaker in between the battery and painless wiring harness
Replaced the on Board Air 1 gallon tank
Replaced some push fittings for the AiRock.

Items that need to be looked into
Adjust the parking brake
Install the 2 new Spare Front shocks.
[I can then rebuild a full backup set and be able to do this for the life of the vehicle]
Investigate the Rear Locker. It was working on delivery but for some reason would not engage yesterday. As such, this is probably something really simple. Pump is working, so I will check for air leaks first, then move on to other troubleshooting
Clean up some surface rust.
Clean and vacuum the interior.

Yup, that is literally the list of issues. For a vehicle made in 2004, that's amazing. Kudos to Mike for keeping Blue, now Boo Boo, in great mechanical shape.
His dusting, cleaning and vacuuming skills, however, need some work
:ROFLMAO:
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My wife has CDO. She is so OCD that she alphabetizes it.
She is also a professional detailer on the side and was having agita over the state of the interior.
As such, We ripped out the original floor mats and have a full new set waiting to be installed.
I also ripped out the roll bar padding and covers. [I am not tall enough to hit my head]
The wife then went to town on the interior and I simply got out of the way. Multiple dining out dinners will be the payback for this. LOL My wife wants to touch it up one more time, but to me, it looks like it just came out of the showroom

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So that's about all I was able to get done because PA decided to feel like TX this week. Instead of working on the jeep this weekend, I already took it 4wheeling at Rausch Creek in PA. It performed great shy of the rear locked being finicky. I will address this when I change all of the fluids.

Boo Boo was all ready to go and was looking good Saturday Morning. My wife even refreshed the flares.
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Boo Boo in his natural environment
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And set to Offroad Height.
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After a full day of wheeling in some soupy humid and hot mild wheeling I have to say it was an absolute pleasure to drive home 1.5hrs.
I rolled up all of the windows, cranked the AC which felt SOOOOOOO good, and set the cruise control to 70mph.
I can drive with only a single hand on the steering wheel it is so stable. Once I replace the front shocks it will be even better.

Any way.
It's not even 1 week since I got the jeep and things are looking great.
More updates on the way.
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New Shift Boot from RedlineGoods.
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I have a shift knob from DV8 ordered to finish off this section
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HAHAHAHAHA
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Today I installed new Yokohama Geolander M/T G003 315/75r16 tires and put in the rebuilt front shocks. It really tightened up the street handling and going down 1 tire size will significantly preserve my drivetrain. Got a buyer lined up for the 37s already to offset the cost
Also removed the soft top and re-cleaned the interior in preparation for all new floor carpets, mats and a cool soft top/tonneu combination that I will run until November in which I will put the hard top back on.
OO I also rust corrected the Jeeperman skids and put a fresh coat of paint on them. Same for the rear cross member while I wait for the rear bumper to get here. Gonna hit the stock Rubicon Diamond plate this weekend after we give the outside a super deep cleaning, touch up the paint and polish it.
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O man, I thought you said the 35s were on steelies with Staun internal beadlocks and the Moabs had the 37s. I figured the tires did not matter. I was more interested in stock Moabs. They are truly one of the best rims ever made. No worries.
FYI these new tires balanced with practically no weights. I am very happy with them so far and am looking forward to see how they do on rocks

Almost done with the new carpet install. Just need to do the wheel wells and then I will take more pics to share. i am very impressed with the Quadratec kit. The pieces fit great and its made in America
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Finished up the New Carpet install and front floor mats. I am going to get ones that go behind the seats as I put my tool bags there, and get a large one for the back area, to protect the carpet.
The front Mats and the ones behind the seats were bought for with beer. :ROFLMAO: A coworker of my wife gave them to us, so we thanked him with some craft beer.
Anywho, MOAR PICS!!!!

Front Driver foot area
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Pic of the carpet tucking under the center console
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Passenger foot area
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Close up of the carpet tucking under the center console on this side
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Behind the rear seats
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The rear cargo area
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The notches on the side pieces are for the seat hinges, which I don't have. So they were by design.
I did pull out the center console to install this and now that locks down the front and rear sections nice and tight.
The longer the carpet sits, the more it conforms to the surface. Only thing left for me to do is cut out some slots for the remaining tie down locations and I am going to put some velcro in some corners.

If anyone is looking to do this, Here is a link to the kit I got. I highly recommend it.
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Did a couple of things today.

Elff Mod. [I'll let people search that to see if they remember this]

Painted the stock diamond plate to freshen it up
Painted the top, bottom and outside of the frame rails with some rust specific paint.
I will go back and do the insides on another day.

I troubleshot the rear locker as the dash light just blinks. I went through the following procedure
UNLOCKED Checked out
(1) Block tires opposite the axle to be tested to pre- vent the vehicle from rolling.
(2) Place transfer case in 4WD Low and automan- tic transmission in Park (1st gear if manual trans- mission).
(3) Raise both wheels of the axle to be tested off the ground.
(4) Turn ignition to the ON position and dash switch to the OFF position.
(5) Rotate one tire by hand. The other tire should spin in the opposite direction.
LOCKED Checked out
(1) Block tires opposite the axle to be tested to pre- vent the vehicle from rolling.
(2) Place transfer case in 4WD Low and automan- tic transmission in Park (1st gear if manual trans- mission).
(3) Raise both wheels of the axle to be tested off the ground.
(4) Turn ignition to the ON position and dash switch to the ON position.
(5) Try to rotate one tire by hand. You should not be able to rotate the tire.

I also switched the air lines on the lockers.
So the rear locker and pump is fine, but the dash light keeps blinking.

So I have to do a little electrical diagnostics now. It's got to be the INDICATOR SWITCH or it's plugs. I need a new battery for my tester so that hosed me today and since I had already done a bunch of stuff, I called it a day. Since the locker actual works, it's also a matter of how much I really care. LOLOLOLOL. If I had ARB lockers, I would not have an indicator on the dash.
One of the great things about being me and having an airock, is that I can put it on all up and just walk under the jeep.
:ROFLMAO:

I'll post pics when the first person replies what the Elff Mod is.
(y)
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Yea, I saw that in another thread but couldn't find any good pictures of what to look for once I have the rear diff cover off. As such, I was going to verify the wiring going to the connector as well as coming out from the Diff first.
Apparently this part is right behind the fill plug. I did try to back that out a couple of turns to see if that helped as I read that elsewhere.

This is from Chapter 3 page 63 in the FSM

LOCKER INDICATOR SWITCH
(1) Turn ignition switch off.
(2) Disconnect locker indicator switch harness (Fig. 27) from the differential housing.
(3) Measure electrical continuity across the switch terminals. Circuit should be closed (zero resistance).
NOTE: If circuit is not closed remove differential and replace locker indicator switch.

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I think this is what I may end up having to do

LUMPY85 said:
Pop the cover off, loosen the 4 bearing caps about 1/4 inch, pry carrier out until it stops (maybe 3/16) then put plunger switch back in, i wiggled the plate that it goes into. push carrier back in and tighten carrier bearing bolts and check locker switch.
From the following thread
Thanks, I will give that a shot.
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Got some updates.

First one you can't see. I got my Yukon rear Axle shafts installed and now have the stockers for trail spares.

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Upgraded the headlights with some Quadratec Heated Led Projector Headlights[Made in U.S.A.]
These are like turning on the Sun.
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First run of paint correction combined with a new MasterTop Ultimate Summer Combo in MasterTwill® Fabric [Made in the USA]

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Just look at how it shines! The color is freaking amazing. It changes depending on how the light hits it.
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Upcoming Preview
Last update for the interior is to install a new Car Play compatible double din radio
Got a new switch panel so I could work on it outside the jeep and will be replacing the power section with 2 powered USB ports.
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Upcoming exterior updates include installing a new OffRoadOnly Swayloc with the grease port to lube between inner and outer bars, sanding and repainting the front bumper and installing a Quadratec Q-Performance 10,000 lb Stealth Winch with Synthetic Rope
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Once these last updates are done, it's time to go Rock Crawling!
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Are those Jeeperman sliders? I have a set of Jeeperman's on my TJ Unlimited. I wish they were still in business so I could get a set for my TJ too.
Yes they are. I know some other companies make similar products, but the Jeeperman's were always great quality and take a beating.

Is the color Midnight Blue like my LJ?
It's Patriot Blue. In certain light, it has a purple ting to it.
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The rear light does flash. It just never goes solid. The front one goes solid.
Since the locker works, Ive been lazy and have not done any troubleshooting.
i did mount the pumps to the driver rear wheel well inside a little box I custom built.
tomorrow Im gonna upgrade the stereo.
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Stereo install was interesting.
The wiring and connections were cake. Crutchfield for the win. They splice the new radio’s connector to an adapter for the stock plug. So I literally unplugged the old radio, unplugged the old harness.
plugged in the new harness, antenna and the USB ports. I had to do a little more dremmel work than I expected. Apparently fits your vehicle is subjective.
i had to cut out the plastic piece that is above the AC controls that the stock radio must have rested on.
Got a whole new center section of the Dash custom fitted for the stereo and moved over the AiRock controller

ok long introduction for a shameless pic

Car Vehicle Gear shift Speedometer Motor vehicle

And some close ups of the different features. Its going to be awesome to have street maps and use Gia Maps for off-road on the bigger screen
Car Vehicle Gear shift Speedometer Motor vehicle
Car Vehicle Motor vehicle Gear shift Steering part
Motor vehicle Gear shift Automotive design Steering part Steering wheel
Car Gear shift Steering part Automotive design Steering wheel

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