Se7en62's '97 Cherokee XJ "GROOT" Overland Build

[Se7en62]

I love my Destination MTs. Good tire!!!

I have a cowl induction in my XJ...That way I can use either the stock or the cowl set up. I toss the stock in for around town, and then when I hit the trails I put the modified one in.

A) How many miles are you getting on a set of Destination MT's?

B) That's a good idea, but i'm looking to relocate the intake to make room for a dual battery setup in place of the factory airbox.

 

[WyoCherokee]

THOR is bringing back their version of the cowl intake

 

[Se7en62]

Yay! Deliveries. :wings: This is going to take some effort to get through this weekend.

Rough Country Winch Bumper
Rough Country Winch Plate
Dynomax Stainless Catback Exhaust
All New Brakes (Everything)
New Powdercoated Oil Pan
Rust Bullet Rust Inhibitor and Top Coat
Ellipsis 8" HD Tablet
RAM Tablet Mount and Suction Cup

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[Se7en62]

Everything arrived minus the rotors, roof rack, and rust bullet top coat. This ought to keep me busy for the next couple of weeks.

I was doing a lot of reading and found that many XJ owners have issues that stem from upgrading to any plugs that isn't copper. This XJ was running fine, but with intermittent misses before it went into the garage. When I replaced the plugs, I found that all six Bosch Platinum's had completely eroded their electrodes.

Next easy upgrade was this custom headlight harness I bought from a guy CherokeeForums. It was $18 and the install was easy enough. If it were 6" longer, it would allow the relays to be mounted a bit further up on the inner fender. Since it's not, I had to mount it next to the battery.

There's a large cut out in the inner fender where this relay ended up fitting. What I did to mitigate excessive water entry, was to cut a thin sheet of polythylene and apply RTV to the border. Then I hung the relay's over it.

I was also able to assemble the bumper and start cleaning up my bumper mounting points, but realized I bought the Corroseal Cleaner and not the Rust Convertor. I ordered the convertor tonight, so it'll be here Wednesday and I can hopefully get the bumper installed Wednesday or Thursday.

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[Se7en62]

A buddy and I took some time to go down to the local junkyard today. For $103 I scored a new rear seat, replacement vent glass for the passenger side door, a replacement for my cracked rear taillight, a handful of spare bulbs, and a new switch panel for the driver's side door. We're probably going back tomorrow, because I want to snag a WJ Sway Bar ($18) and a new rear driver's side door ($100) since mine is jammed and it's looking like we're going to have to cut it open to get it opened.

 

[jswift716]

A buddy and I took some time to go down to the local junkyard today. For $103 I scored a new rear seat, replacement vent glass for the passenger side door, a replacement for my cracked rear taillight, a handful of spare bulbs, and a new switch panel for the driver's side door. We're probably going back tomorrow, because I want to snag a WJ Sway Bar ($18) and a new rear driver's side door ($100) since mine is jammed and it's looking like we're going to have to cut it open to get it opened.

Before you buy a new door, pop the panel off from the inside and spray wd40 or pb plaster into the lock from the outside and from inside the door cavity then work the push rods for a bit. One of mine froze up like that and it was just dried grease from sitting it worked for me

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[SoCalMonty]

Nice score!

I found a writeup about the WJ bar, but I was curious...how do you connect the ends of the car to your sway bar end links? The XJ/ZJ bars have holes oriented vertically, but the holes in the WJ bars have holes oriented horizontally...???

 

[Se7en62]

Before you buy a new door, pop the panel off from the inside and spray wd40 or pb plaster into the lock from the outside and from inside the door cavity then work the push rods for a bit. One of mine froze up like that and it was just dried grease from sitting it worked for me

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I've done that several times to no avail...However, THIS time, I reached in there with a prybar on the only moving piece I could see. It was just enough leverage to get the latch unlocked!

 

[Se7en62]

Good news and bad...

First the good: I got the door open! It was exactly what everyone said, a stuck lock actuator that was full of grime. I ended up just using a pry bar on the tiny tab I could see inside the door.

Now for the bad: There's a good amount of rust from what appears to be a bad body repair. I knew it was in the rocker panels, but this bit goes up onto the door sill. Luckily, it stops there, so a section of 2x4 tub steel will get tack-welded in as a 'rocker filler', then a boat side rock slider will get fabricated under that and tied into the frame.

 

[SoCalMonty]

Here's what i thought was strange - I ordered some RC XJ Swaybar disconnects yesterday off Amazon. Check out the picture...they're listed for an XJ, but both ends of the link are horizontal...but then I think I figured it out. There's an extra bracket that serves as a horizonal receiver, that I think attaches to the XJ swaybar, converting it from vertical to horizontal. So to run the WJ bar, you just omit that bracket.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C0XC56C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Se7en62]

Here's what i thought was strange - I ordered some RC XJ Swaybar disconnects yesterday off Amazon. Check out the picture...they're listed for an XJ, but both ends of the link are horizontal...but then I think I figured it out. There's an extra bracket that serves as a horizonal receiver, that I think attaches to the XJ swaybar, converting it from vertical to horizontal. So to run the WJ bar, you just omit that bracket.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C0XC56C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Good call! I can also confirm that is the case with the JK quick discos. Mine have a bracket on top that make them work for the XJ, so they should work just fine for the WJ sway bar.

I ended up doing a ruck march with some friends for Memorial Day, so I didn't get much else done for the Jeep today.

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[Se7en62]

Would anyone recommend me going to the junk yard and cutting out the entire section I need, then tack-welding it in place? Keep in mind that I plan to cut and fold the rear fender, and replace the entire rocker with 2x8 w/ 1/4" wall rectangular steel tubing. All I'm looking to cut and replace is the door sill down to the seam where it will blend into the rock slider, and the dog leg up over the vent.

 

[jswift716]

I wouldn't replace it with factory sheet, just add some thinner angle onto your 2x8 rockers or do mini boat sides

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[Se7en62]

I wouldn't replace it with factory sheet, just add some thinner angle onto your 2x8 rockers or do mini boat sides

How do you mean? I know what boat sides consist of, but how would you recommend adding the thinner angle onto it to fix this hole?

 

[jswift716]

Instead of welding in factory replacements, do your 2x8 rockers and add angle to the top of them to replace the door sill and patch the hole. Or bump the rockers up to the bottom of the sill and trim the door to fit accordingly

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