Idaxj's build thread.

[idaxj97]

Hi everyone been on this site for awhile now and I figured it was time to do my own build thread. First off the specs on my Jeep.

97 Cherokee Country 175,xxx miles
4.0L
AW4 tranny
Dana 30 HP w/ ARB and 4.10's
Dana 44 w/ factory LSD and 4.10's
ARB Bull Bar
Custom rear tire carrier (now sold will touch more on that later)
31 10.50 15 BFG A/t's

So this is how she looked the day after I brought her home rocking 245 75 15 A/T's

Shorty after that I ditched the 245's and threw on some almost bald 31's and a roof rack i had laying around from my Samurai. After installing these I started exploring Idaho's desert.

So after awhile I bought a used pair of lightforce 170's from a EP member I finally broke down and bought new tires I went with cooper discoverer stt, kept going out as often as time and money would allow me.

 

[idaxj97]

So after awhile I got tired of my spare tire taking up space in the back and my wife and I started taking more camping trips so we needed some place to put extra fuel, water and the Hi-lift jack so we started looking at swing out tire carriers and we talked to a friend who said he would build me one for $600 and this is what came of it.

When the bumper was built I lost my end caps so the half flairs in the rear were bugging me so i found some 84-96 flairs and did a quick and crappy job to add full flairs. Now for the bad part about the bumper, It was heavy it took me and my brother-in-law to mount it and because it was heavy it kept blowing out the rear shocks and eventualy it sagged my 4.5" lift springs, and because it only used the stock mounts it started to rip the sheet metal apart, the bearings siezed twice on the second time i pulled the swing out off, and just the other day I sold the bumper and made it someone elses problem.

So i was content on how the jeep was running we kept taking the jeep out and about. Some small tid bit's that happened that was not photographed I broke out my rear window trying to extract a small rooted tree (boy was that fun), I then had to tear down the engine to replace the cam and broken header and replaced the radiator installed tranny cooler, I then wised up and bought a pair of tnt customs frame stiffeners. some random pics from our trips around Idaho.

More to come check back soon.

 

[heehawhardy]

Really cool, you had plenty of reasons to walk away from this, but you came back swinging! Love that black and white photo at the end

 

[88Xj]

Man I've seen those pics and you kicking around jeepforum for a while. Glad to see you starting a thread here!

 

[stomperxj]

We live in a beautiful state. Great pics. I'm subscribing

 

[d67u57]

very nice. its threads like these that bug my wanting to get a pathy for a change ideas

what mpg are you getting on the highway,and at what rpms do you keep for 100 km/h ?

 

[idaxj97]

Thanks guy for the kind words she has been a hand full and ive theatened to sell her more than a dozen times but my loving wife who isnt sold on the whole jeep thing but has stood by my side the whole time. Im not to sure on my fuel milage it ranges from 15-17 and my rpms are roughly 2200.

 

[idaxj97]

Ok so after fighting photobucket for 2hrs I can finally add another installment to the build thread. So in late summer 2011 the jeep's axles needed attention badly, I went ahead and bought new gears, ARB air locker for the front axle and complete new bearings and seals and I was allowed (by my wife) to buy a ARB bull bar, it took lots of convincing but eventually was allowed to spend the extra money. It was also time to retire the coopers the didnt last as long as i was hoping for but im not complaining I really liked the performance i got outta my last BFG A/T's so we went back to them this time. We had the gears and locker installed by a local dealership so i wasnt able to once again take any photo's. Just a quick note I suck at taking photo's of the installation of parts generally because me and my wife are both busy installing the parts but I have lots of after photos.

With the new gears installed the jeep drives better on the highway. Just after thinking I got most of my problems fixed more jumped up, at some point I ended up bending my tie rod and my steering box having lots a play, I once again, talked with the wife. Then we made a trip to the local pick-a-part and bought a 99 dodge durango steering box, and grand cherokee v8 tie rod and drag link we installed those in a day *note* looking back now I am once again working on the steering when we got the v8 steering the boots were in bad condition and we tried to get away with some universal boots what a joke that was they blew out in less then a week so now I went ahead and bought all new TRE and drag links so I will be able to get pics this time. So to end the tonights session here are some random trip pics.

Sorry for the size of the pics.

 

[BlackClassic]

Great looking build thus far. I dig your overall ideas and am going in a similar direction with mine. As for the rear bumper you check out some of the stuff from JCR, looks to be a world lighter by how they're built. Good luck!

 

[gas4blood]

Cool rig man. This is the one that used to belong to Frank and Christie right?

Funny how our love/hate relashonships with our Jeeps never seem to fade........

 

[idaxj97]

BlackClassic Thanks I have looked into jcr and liked some of their but my wife eailer this week bought me the detours tailbone swing out tire carrier.

gas4blood thanks I cant remember who I bought it from but the names do sound familier but i did buy it in pocatello, idaho falls now I cant even remember that. ya you gotta love the love/hate relationship you build with jeeps

 

[Yulli]

Nice set up. I'm trying to get my brother to buy an XJ so he can go camping more and maybe get more into the Overlanding thing.

 

[BlackClassic]

Oh yeah those detour's look like anice system. Have you got all assembled yet? Does it tie into your frame?

 

[idaxj97]

I haven't recieved it yet (4-6 week wait period) I should recieve it in time for my b-day, this is the pic pulled from detours usa's website it has 100x more bracing then my custom built bumper did. It doesnt tie into the frame to my knowledge but it does the rear most cross member

 

[idaxj97]

Ok so a quick update (I havent up loaded new pics yet) but the jeep has taking a turn in its plans, so I sent my leaf springs off and had them rearched and an add a leaf put in so when I got them back and reinstalled the springs the company over arched the springs making the total lift about 7.5", but the add a leaf was stiff and by stiff I mean a military tank has more suspension movement than my jeep did. So i pulled the A.A.L. which helped a quite a bit and lowered the lift to about 6.5". So I talked with my wife and I was allowed to finish lifting the jeep to the 6.5" lift. So I bought new coils and control arm drop brackets from Rough Country and a SYE kit from rugged ridge. Then on Saturday my brother in law and I went to the pick n pull for a cherokee front drive shaft and when we started to walk out into the yard what do I see 4 33 10.50 15 BFG A/T :wings: so I went and talked to the guy and asked if we could do a direct swap for my 31's he said yes, so now I have the tires ive been wanting since joining EXPO. Well I called my buddy and told him bout the tires and he firmly reminded me that he wanted my tires, (I kinda got tunnel vision on the tires) I got him the number to the P-N-P and he ended up buying my old 31's (FOR $50 A PIECE) these tires still have bout 80% tread left so he got one helluva deal. Will post pics here in the next few days. Oh and yes I did get my driveshaft i was after.