Looking for a shop in Western PA to breathe life into our 2007 JK

[ScottPA]

Hello all.

I have a 2007 wrangler unlimited x. The Jeep has served her years pretty much stock and is now matured and ready to get jeeped out.

We are in Gibsonia, PA and would like to find a shop who knows Jeeps and who is not afraid to go past Chrysler's "recommendations". You'd be surprised how many places say they can't go over 32".

We are looking at getting her running well again and might need some serious tuning, along with suspension, tires and some other goodies.

I posted this on the wranglerforum, too, and received some replies suggesting Meridian in Butler and Pittsburgh Drivetrain. Pittsburgh Drivetrain suggested Meinert Truck and Auto in Lawrenceville.

Does anyone have any experience with Meridian and / or Meinert?

Who have you all used? Who would you recommend? I do not have the knowledge nor the time to do most of this myself. I'm going to put her in the hands of a professional.

[Krod]

Meridian would be my recommendation if you are having a shop do the work. Jeff (TJBlair) is a great guy and mechanic and would likely be doing the work up there.

Where in Gibsonia are you? Always good to know more Jeepers in my neighborhood.

[tjblair]

Meridian would be my recommendation if you are having a shop do the work. Jeff (TJBlair) is a great guy and mechanic and would likely be doing the work up there.

Where in Gibsonia are you? Always good to know more Jeepers in my neighborhood.

Thanks for the referral. Yes I would be the one doing the work. And I was also the person that ScottPA spoke to on the phone today.

Stop by and we can go over what you would like to do.

[ScottPA]

Jeff and Krod, thanks for the replies. I plan to bring the jeep in to Meridian in the coming weeks.

There is another part to this, though, which involves ensuring the Jeep is reliable, running well. As it stands now, there just seems to be an awful lot of corrosion and the transmission is missing a little, the top leaks like a sieve and, after the long winter, my wife wasn't too thrilled about her wet butt while riding in it.

After calling around to several places, I'm almost leaning towards going into Diehl or Mick's and letting them go over it as though they were getting a used car ready to sell. They are asking ~$100 just to look at it, which I'm not wild about, but it would at least give me a number to budget for and piece of mind to know that we can drive down to NC, FL and TX and not worry.

The dealer really isn't my first choice but I'm not sure where else to go to cover all that. Thoughts?

[JeepGeneral]

Just call Dave!

Gibbs Auto Service
3233 West Liberty Ave (rear)
412 327 1920
Inspections/General auto repair/Modification

[ScottPA]

I just called Gibbs and rambled on the phone for a little while. It sounds like they do pretty much everything that we need. Now we have a decision to make. I went from having no leads to having too many. That's a good thing, so thank you. Both Gibbs and Meridian sound reputable and friendly.

The next thing I'm going to want to do is to find some places here in PA to get dirty. I grew up in South Texas where we would spend every weekend of hunting season at our hunting lease. Off road driving was simply getting from point A to point B and it's where I learned how to drive. I know there are lots of public game areas here, but I'm simply not sure of what is acceptable and what isn't as far as simply driving around. I suppose I'm in the right place to ask about that.

[flimmy]

We are looking at getting her running well again and might need some serious tuning, along with suspension, tires and some other goodies



Dave can do all this.

[Azzy]

Dave does good work. lots of us here have used his shop.

[RedRaider]

My recommendation would be Gibbs (Dave), for what you need. As far as the tranny goes, I've heard the early JKs (07-08 have many tranny problems, mostly manual trannies so if you got one, there might be a recall. I've even heard rumors that Jeep assembly line employees weren't ensuring quality control during that time due to the thought the would be laid off from Chrysler's bankruptcy, before Fiat announced they would buy Chrysler. Just a rumor I heard, don't know if there's any truth to it and it's not just cause I prefer Toyotas. :062:

[highlandercj-7]

Gibbs is great.

[Super Scout]

Is it me or did everyone on this forumn just take big dump TJblair, lol.. Both are good shops.

[Deadman 94 xj]

My recommendation would be Gibbs (Dave), for what you need. As far as the tranny goes, I've heard the early JKs (07-08 have many tranny problems, mostly manual trannies so if you got one, there might be a recall. I've even heard rumors that Jeep assembly line employees weren't ensuring quality control during that time due to the thought the would be laid off from Chrysler's bankruptcy, before Fiat announced they would buy Chrysler. Just a rumor I heard, don't know if there's any truth to it and it's not just cause I prefer Toyotas. :062:

At least our frames aren't falling off and our brakes seem to be holding up...

:flipoff2:

[RedRaider]

Is it me or did everyone on this forumn just take big dump TJblair, lol.. Both are good shops.

I agree, they're both good shops. I think people recommended Gibbs over Meridian because everyone knows they can both do the offroad mods great, but Merdian isn't known for auto repair like Gibbs is, at least to me. Merdian obviously has the knowledge to do it, but they're just not known for it.

[JeepGeneral]

I recommended Dave based on the original posters need to have some mechanical work done, not just offroad modifications. I wasn't aware that Dave is a distributor for any parts/accessory companies, whereas that is Meridian's bread and butter.

[flimmy]

Same reason I quoted " We are looking at getting her running well again and might need some serious tuning, along with suspension, tires and some other goodies"

He's looking for more then just susp. , tires and goodies.

Dave has also helped me on a problem I had with my old Tacoma. I couldn't figure out why I was getting codes and it was running like crap even after replacing what the codes were telling was wrong. Took Dave 15 mins to figure it out and got the parts fast and problem solved.

[ScottPA]

All I have to say is THANK YOU to all of you who recommended Dave Gibbs. He and Shane have been extremely helpful and just really good guys. The Jeep isn't done yet, but I will post pictures when I can. I still have a soft top, doors, and possibly a rear bumper to put on, though that might go to Dave too!

This isn't to take away from the other possibilities or recommendations. But, for what we needed, Gibbs Auto Service worked out perfectly.

Is Flimmy the one I need to speak to about LED fog lights?

We are going to be wanting to hit the trails with all of you here pretty soon. My wife and kids are pretty excited now that we can leave that RubieSue in the garage!

[flimmy]

Scott , yes I sell led lights. Give me a call when your ready 724-433-7846

Thanks
Scott

[ScottPA]

I called Scott (flimmy). He shipped them out immediately and they arrived the next day. Quick and easy install, ducked it, still need to heat shrink, but they work! and put out a lot of light. Thanks Scott!

Also, Dave is awesome and so is Shane. He knows his paint and bodywork as good as, if not better than, anyone else. And Scout's a pretty good dog, too. They are even taking on my wife's RubieSue. They do it all and then some.

[flimmy]

Thanks Scott and post some pics