Well, I've deactivated my Facebook account and I am making my way back into the forums... Never was too active on this one, but then again my Jimmy was basically stock. Been getting a lot of work done to it in the last year so I think it's time for a build thread! If anyone is also on Overland Bound you might have seen me there as "Forte". Named the build thread there and here "AT4" after the new off road package on the GMC trucks, it's not a ZR2 but it does has some additional capability over a stock Jimmy!

Here is how she sits today:




First a little history, I picked up this Jimmy back in 2013 while I was in college with 134k miles, completely stock. For the next 7 years I did a whole lot of basic maintenance and just drove the thing, it has been exceptionally reliable. Took my wife on our first date in the thing, took our second baby home from the hospital, lot of memories.... But after 40k miles the 235/75s were just about wore out and I knew it was time....

Before pic:



Trump stimulus money came in and the 31's were ordered. Went with Goodyear Wrangler Authorities because they're cheap from Walmart. Picked up a PA body lift new in box on craigslist for $50, what a steal.



Body lift wasn't too terrible, I didn't cut or extend the fuel filler hose at all, I imagine that's more required on a 2 door truck. And she's on 31s!




The rear bumper was probably the most work required for the lift. My truck has a factory tow hitch that is integrated with the bumper brackets. I ended up cutting off the bumper tabs from the factory brackets, then bolted the lift kit brackets on over. I had JUST enough room in the bumper slots to get the bolts through, but we are good to go now.



Of course had to trim the rear bumper. Made sure to hit everything with rust converter black spray paint to protect the bare metal. Definitely got my money's worth out of my Harbor Freight angle grinder....



And done, bumpers and all!



Continued in next post....

 

After the lift and tires I packed up and moved back to Arizona. Since then I've been fighting to keep this thing cool in the summer. First step was an electric fan swap using a set of Chrysler Concord fans.



I wired up a little fuse box in the place of the washer fluid reservoir to provide 12v for the fan relay signal. Two large 40A relays run high speed and low speed for the fan. One relay is controlled by a temp switch in the thermostat housing, the other relay signal wire runs into the cab to a manual fan switch. The Concord fans are interesting, when either relay turns on both fans run low speed, and when both relays turn on both fans run high speed.



Fan brackets were made from aluminum, lower bracket slots into factory shroud location. Upper brackets bolt to the two outer upper shroud bolts.



And the fans are in, look at all this room!



To be honest I'm still having a hard time keeping this damn truck cool. Heats up to 225ish on the highway, might be time for hood vents? I am very open to suggestions!!

 

Next up, preparation for the first real test off road.

First step was to address the front fenders, I had basically no rubbing with the 31s and 2" BL during every day driving, but hitting curbs mid turn or taking a quick romp in the wash made it very clear I was going to have to break out the angle grinder again. Here's how much I took off. An BFH took care of the fender after I made the cut.



Next I removed the front bumper so I didn't destroy it off road (good move), but realized that with the BL, my oil filter housing was pretty exposed. I turned to every redneck's source of skid plate material, a road sign. You can see the final fender cut in this picture.



Drilled some holes and popped some rivets and we were in business.


Next step was to fab a quick CB antenna bracket for the rear right above the taillight.



Used a couple of rivnuts into the body and a couple large nylon washers for support. It's strong enough but we will see how long it lasts. Drilled a hole behind the tail light for the wire.



After this I was pretty much ready to hit the trail. Shakedown run occurred on Broken Arrow trail in Sedona, AZ and she did well! I kept up with my buddies overland built Frontier on 33s with minimal complaints!

 

Not a bad build! You cut your fenders about the same as mine. What are your plans for future mods?

 

Nice start! Will you be doing a suspension lift too?

 

Thanks for the replies! Got busy with kids so I didn't quite finish posting everything yesterday...

Thanks! Next mods I have lined up is a 2 door rear tire carrier, and after that I have an Envoy rear spoiler. I also have a full set of the Kevlar composite skid plates knocking around that I have to clean up and figure out hardware for. Might swap to the earlier flange style CVs for ease of replacement and then sliders will likely be mandatory too. Also I have a winch plate sitting around that I need to practice my welding on haha, a bit of a hoarder I guess on the parts.

Thank you! Suspension lift is a likely plan but nothing too wild, I actually already have shackles and a slight tbar twist but that was mostly to counteract the sagging comfort package springs. Figuring an AAL and a bit more twist is in the works, I don't mind the forward rake and I definitely don't want to max out CV angles. Might look into the diff drops I've seen on ebay... I also have Proforge tie rod ends on it and Rancho shocks so the front end is pretty solid right now.

 

Solid look jimmy! Looks like my moms ride... mom doesn't want it lifted, but upgrading shocks and adding the tire carrier

 

Well it's been over a year and I've gotten only a few things done with the Jimmy... But more importantly got my life sorted out a bit. Bought a house, got a new job that isn't 24/7 on call, and (most importantly to this build) bought a new daily driver.

The Jimmy has officially been upgraded from daily driver to weekend toy! Also with the new job I'm hoping to have more time to wrench and more time to take the family camping.

I did finally get that tire carrier mounted:


Later my buddy upgraded his Wrangler from 31s to 33s so he gave me his spare tire. I also finally got the passenger bumper cap trimmed up to fit around the carrier after 10 months driving around without. The Jimmy also hit a huge milestone. Sept 2022 marked ten years I've owned the truck.

​​​​​​Finally it was time to renew my registration so I went for a custom plate. Officially AT4 Jimmy! At the same time I cut back my exhaust pipe about a foot and installed this tip I had laying around. I think it looks mint.






Took the family out a few weekends ago on a mild trail with my buddies brand new Ranger tremor. 2wd the whole way, just needed to get out of the house and have some fun in the desert without worrying about breaking anything. Stock front bumper is back on. Plain steel one is pretty ugly, I'm gonna get the winch plate mocked up soon and I will probably end up fabbing a new bumper from that.





And now we are caught up. A few things in the works next...

Truck needs and idler arm and the tie rod boots are torn and leaking grease. Suspension also pops and creaks. Really itching at the idea of doing a solid axle swap now that I have another car to daily. Might do an idler in the meantime and replace the boots so I can continue to drive it as I collect parts... Working on clearing space in the garage and then I'll be parking her and sorting out some serious plans.

Cheers!
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Looking good! That's a pretty cool build.

Did you ever figure out the engine cooling thing? I have the same fans you do (but with an aluminum radiator) and I never see over about 210 degrees, even in the middle of summer.

 

Nice!

How did the spare tire carrier mounting go? Any advice for those of us planning on doing the same?