Grand pops new toy needs needs to look not so plain

Welcome aboard!

No worries on the auto trans, they're almost impossible to stall when you're offroading, and almost all of the hard-core competition guys use auto transmissions.

A quality paint job can be expensive, depending on how much of the Jeep you want to have re-painted. If you skip the interior (coat it with Monstaliner or some other quality bedliner), it'll save a good bit of expense. Prep work is the primary expense on a paint job, pulling the carpet, seats and interior trim costs a lot a labor time. It might be cheaper overall to just get the hood fixed and add some accessories spray painted in the color of your preference like lights, bumpers, side armor, etc. Just an idea...

For wheels/tires, you likely have 15" wheels and 28" tires (15" is the inner diameter is used by hundreds of different sizes). A common cheap lift is a 2" "budget boost" that uses rubber spacers on top of the stock springs and longer shocks. That'll give room for 31" tires and enough clearance for offroading. It's sometimes coupled with a 1.25" body lift and 1" motor mount lift from JKS for a total of 3.25" lift with 32" or 33" tires. That lets you keep the original driveshafts and save a little install hassle and expense.

for the kid in a candy store experience... check out http://www.quadratec.com they have more than you can imagine.

Here's my jeep, it's a 97 but still a TJ like yours. I've got the lift that Whatevah is talking about along with 33s. Just to give you an idea of the look.

And....Welcome!

I'd look at just repairing the hood, and getting some vinyl overlays.

Yes you can put the new tires on your old rims.

But first question, what do you want to do with the Jeep? Trail rides? Rock Crawling? Beach jeep? Mall Crawler?
Lots of options.

As far as the money pit.... welcome to the madness!

Wheels depend on the tires you use. If they're too wide, they'll rub on the control arms (the ones that go under the frame to the axle) when you turn. 31" tires should be ok, as they're mostly 10.5" wide, but 32" and 33" tires will rub (11.5 and 12.5" wide, usually). You can find some 33x10.5" tires, though.

For suspension cost, it'll vary on the brand you choose, but there aren't many differences. They all use a dense rubber/poly spacer, the only noticeable difference will be in the shocks. Personally, I'd recommend the Quadratec or Rubicon Express lifts. Same price ($239.99) and similar ride quality (Hydro shocks are what you want). Those will give you a 2.5" suspension boost and plenty of room for 31" tires. If you want to go up a little bigger to 33" tires like JMack has, I'd recommend adding these two kits: http://www.quadratec.com/products/16067_00.htm and http://www.quadratec.com/products/16066_00.htm Those will raise the body up 1.25" and the engine 1". There are other body lifts out there that might be taller or cheaper, but they use hard plastic... an inferior material choice to the rubber/poly that JKS uses and will transmit more road noise into the body. The suspension spacers plus the body and motor spacers should run you around $435.

As for install, most of us do our own installs as they can be done with normal home garage tools. So, I don't know what shops in the area to recommend. There is a guy in New Castle that's on here, though. https://www.delawareja.com/forum/index.php?topic=38749.0 another member does installs on the side, but I don't know his schedule https://www.delawareja.com/for…x.php?action=profile;u=62

To build on what Whatevah said, I used to have 31s on stock wheels with no lift and the tires would rub the control arms. I did switch wheels in going to 33s because they wouldn't fit in the stock 15x7.

I've got 33x12.5 on 15 x 8 with 3.75 in backspacing now. No rubbing and no complaints.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg parts and cost wise.

It's a slippery slope, really depends on what you want to do with the jeep. I've started off roading with the club, so I'm looking at performance first, appearance second. Here's where I started....

I'm in New Castle. My son is a UD student so I go through that area all the time. I'll probably see you at some point.