Make-A-Wish and Extreme Terrain team up to take this 2002 Jeep Wrangler TJ from mild to wild new 4.56 gears.
As you likely know, the Make-A-Wish foundation works with kids struggling with severe health issues to make a special wish come true. For a young man named EJ, his wish was to have his 2002 Jeep Wrangler fully restored by the folks at Extreme Terrain and in cooperation with the shop and a few well-known brands in the automotive aftermarket world, this wish came true.
The video above comes to us from the ExtremeTerrain YouTube channel and it walks us through the ground-up restoration and modification process of this young man’s 2002 Jeep.
EJ’s TJ
The video above begins with a member of the Extreme Terrain team explaining the build. This 2002 Wrangler is owned by a young man named Earl Jr., or EJ, and his wish was to have his Jeep restored and modified into an off-road machine. As you can imagine Extreme Terrain wanted to make sure that this build was perfect, so they performed a complete frame-off restoration before adding aftermarket upgrades.
Restoration Process
The first step with this 2002 Wrangler was cleaning up the interior and body, so that meant that the crew had to strip the vehicle down to bare metal. It was then sent to a paint shop where the exterior and the cabin were painted matte black bed liner while the seats were sent to an upholstery shop for a full refresh as well.
When the work at the body shop was completed, the Jeep was sent back to Extreme Terrain, where they began their preparations for the new suspension setup. Unfortunately, while staking out the underside of the Wrangler, they found that the frame was bad, so they dropped the frame and began searching for a new-to-them frame to replace it.
While waiting for the new frame to arrive, the team worked on the engine and transmission, cleaning up everything that would be bolted to the new chassis.
Once that key piece arrived from Ohio, the team outfitted the new frame and bolted it up to the body of the 2002 TJ. This included rebuilt front and rear axles with 4.56 gears, both of which were painted to work with the black-and-red scheme of the rest of the rig.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
