Hey!

I'm looking to do some mods, but am on a tight 'student' budget. AKA, like $320 a month if I'm lucky, and a good deal of that needs to go towards new BFG Mud Terrains, as well as towards an instatrunk, new brake pads, and getting my front end aligned. So while I might not be able to do much now, I'd love to hear your ideas for the future! I'm looking for cheap, but capable things like
• F/R Off Road Bumpers
• Winch
• High Jack (Where's the best place to mount one also?)
• Ways to reduce the wind tunnel that is created when I have my doors off. (My sunglasses almost got blown off- this doesn't happen in the CJ8 Scrambler that I used to drive)

Thanks for your input and I can't wait to hear from y'all!

 

Plenty of good cheap ideas here. Check CL for take-offs and eBay & Amazon have cheapo Chinese knock-off bumpers if you want to go that route.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modi...d-done-125817/

 

You might get some good ideas from this thread.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-g...-build-334748/

 

Welcome to the forum, always happy to help students,

Consider lightly used tires sold in the classifieds and forums. If you're patient, I'd bet you'll find plenty of choices in whatever size you're considering (let us know what ??). Very often, guys will switch tires (larger/smaller), or go big then back to stock. Check craigslist and all the many Jeep and 4WD forums --- it's buyer beware, so make sure the sidewalls are untouched, and has decent tread, many mud tires will last for ~50,000 miles. Also, be ready to jump at a deal, you won't be the only one trying to get a good deal.

 

I'd highlight real quick that the only thing an alignment shop can do for you is center your steering wheel and set your toe in (assuming you don't have adjustable control arms). Might be worthwhile to check that yourself and save that $70 or what not.

 

When I rotated my wheels, the front two tires had less tread on the outer tire and more on the inner tire. For that I spoke with my father and he told me to get an alignment, this is correct, right?

 

Not a fan of wayalife, but this is a nice comprehensive write up. Post #5 details toe in -

Basic Do-it-Yourself Jeep JK Wrangler Front End Alignment

You could also go have them check it, but decline to have them adjust anything. It's just kind of a waste of money if you have stock components as there's not much they can do besides straighten that steering wheel and adjust your tow in (which you can easily do yourself).

If you're thrifty and do your own work, you can get quite a bit done on a tight budget. I would just say that once you get in to modding your suspension it takes larger chunks of money at a time since there are so many things that start getting addressed. If you try to do it on the cheap and shortcut things, you will likely not be happy with the outcome. Research and read as much info as possible on the this and various other sites and ask lots of questions if you're uncertain about something, or want to double check you're not overlooking something before you pull the trigger on making a larger modification.

 

If you bought the Jeep used, it might be worth a professional alignment just to see if there are any uncorrectable problems. For example, excessive negative camber could indicate a bent axle tube. My concern that seeing this wear pattern may indicate this issue. The only way to know for sure is to see how far out of camber it is on an alignment rack and compare that to what is in spec.

If you do choose to get an alignment, I think Firestone offers a lifetime alignment deal for a reasonable amount. You can take it back to them and have it aligned again without paying the money again.

 

Sounds great, thanks. I did get it used. Thanks

 

That is a decent point I hadn't considered. No telling what a previous owner did to the thing.