1994 ZJ build turned into a WJ build.

[makayo911]

Hey everyone. So after some long deliberation, internet research and forceful hair removal I have finally decided on which vehicle will be my trail rig. To start with I am from the great state of Indiana. I've been off roading most of my life and have had a few 4x4s. I think I'm gonna slow it down a bit and enjoy whats around me more.

Now my choices were a 2001 Silverado and a 1994 Grand Cherokee. The silverado is DD and the jeep was purchased last year with the idea of a bug out vehicle. So after a long list of pros and cons we decided to go with the jeep.

I found this jeep in the side yard of an abandoned farm house and was able to score it for 500.00. One battery and five gallons of gas the jeep fired right up and drove home. After arriving home I started listing all the things I needed to fix. 2500.00 dollars later I've replaced all the steering components, a rough country 3.5 inch lift Chapparel 31 x 10.50x15 tires, a roof rack, led lights, cb radio, blue-tooth radio, new exhaust, fresh coat of matte green paint, new headlights and taillights that the body shop where I work smoked them for me, a hand built storage system, and 4 steel jerry cans. That's were it sits right now.

None of these new parts have seen over 10 miles as I kept this tucked away in the garage so it would be ready for a rainy day. That being said I feel as though that is such a waste of money. So I tried to sell it but had zero offers. Seems kinda meant to be that I finish this jeep and reconfigure it to be an adventure rig.
beforesomewhere in the middle and closer to the end.

 

[makayo911]

So know we are going to finish this up and I plan to document the rebuild. We will be ordering offroad front and rear bumpers, a winch, snorkel, roof length roof rack, rebuilding a new "camping oriented" organizational system in the rear, wider steel wheels and a nav system. Oh and a new paint job my wife and my kids came up with.
We drew 11 of these and voted and this was the winner.

 

[akpostal]

You can trim the front of the rear fender and flatten the front pinch seam and run 33" tires with a 3.5" lift.

Take it out, have some fun.

 

[makayo911]

That's the plan if my ocd will let me get it out of the garage lol.

 

[makayo911]

So my ocd won.

Well looks like my O.C.D. won out and we are leary of pushing a jeep this old too hard. So we will be selling it. We did a lot of comparisons online and we've decided to keep it Jeep.

Our new to us overland rig.


It is a 2001 WJ Limited. 4.7 V8 Leather and loaded. Got it for 2500.00 with a misfire. I'm addressing that right now.
decided to keep it simple 2 inch lift, winch mount, 9500 lb winch new tires, extended roof rack 21 inches, some offroad lights.

As it stands the misfire was a lifter kicked out of number 7 cylinder. This was a good excuse for me to tear the engine down to the block to ensure no bent valves. So basically an upper end rebuild. Turns out the lifter struck the intake valve and bent it. A quick trip to rock auto and morris 4x4 and the parts are on the way. Also ordered a rockerlock kit to avoid this in the future.

 

[makayo911]

The new parts had already started to arrive. Here's what I have so far.


2 inch lift, smittybilt 9500 lb winch and a winch mount that passes through factory bumper.


Engine parts buwahahaha


In case anyone was wondering these are rockerlocks. The washer goes under the valve lash adjuster antd the clip goes on the rocker.


Like so.

 

[makayo911]

Got the lift on yesterday about 9:00 pm.


And setting up the winch. At least until my valve gets here.

 

[Capercrew02]

Glad to see another wj being build. They are fantastic rigs, and a great overlander!

 

[makayo911]

I like it so far. As always cant wait to see the finished product.

 

[jpat30]

Awesome find; always good to see another WJ saved from a life spent at the mall. They really do make a great DD/ Weekend explorer..

 

[makayo911]

Awesome find; always good to see another WJ saved from a life spent at the mall. They really do make a great DD/ Weekend explorer..

Thanks Im looking forward to this more than I think I have any other vehicle I've owned.

On a positive note.............................MORE PACKAGES!!!!!

 

[JeepN95YJ]

The new parts had already started to arrive. Here's what I have so far.

View attachment 390664
2 inch lift, smittybilt 9500 lb winch and a winch mount that passes through factory bumper.

View attachment 390665
Engine parts buwahahaha

View attachment 390666
In case anyone was wondering these are rockerlocks. The washer goes under the valve lash adjuster antd the clip goes on the rocker.

View attachment 390667
Like so.

Who make the rockerlock? I've never seen those before.

 

[makayo911]

Rockerlocks.com

 

[JeepN95YJ]

Rockerlocks.com

I looked at it yesterday. Looks like he is grinding down a $1 spring clip and charging $15 each. I have never heard of this before and am skeptical of their practicality.

Correct me if I am wrong. This is just a clip that attaches to the rocker arm that makes it more difficult for the rover arm to slide off the top of the lifter? Seems like a novel approach. I see no reason it shouldn't work. I'd say a person could make one in about 5 minutes. What does the washer do?

 

[makayo911]

The washer goes under the valve lash adjuster. As far as the quality goes when I first seen them I thought the same thing. Now that I have them I realize that these are made from a thick spring steel. Less likely to succumb to fatigue overtime. I spent some time as a Chrysler technician and I can say that if this was branded Mopar they would be 30.00 a piece. What I find interesting is that the washer and the clip are two different ways to fix the same problem. When I was researching this I found a posting of the washer method and of course the clips were the other. I had no idea when I ordered them that I would get both. As far as cost goes I view it like this, Chrysler knows of this problem but will not do anything about it leaving alot of these motors in the junkyard. I've read countless posts where people replace all the affected parts and have the same problem in just a few hundred miles. So if this gentleman took it upon himself to not only design but produce a fix than I feel good supporting the cause. When you look at this stuff you have to keep in mind aftermarket companies start somewhere.