98 XJ New Adventurer Build

[jeepinspence]

I've noticed a little performance hit going from stock to 3" lift with 235/75/16s! I'm a little bummed about that since it was SO peppy in stock form!


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[vonguido]

Do you feel all the weight from the bumper/sliders/oversized tires/etc.?

I only have 31" tires and a roof rack, but coupled with camping gear and the RTT man does the XJ feel underpowered!

Have you done any engine modifications?

Looks great though, I've always loved the red XJ's!

I haven't installed anything new yet so I can't speak to the weight but I'm sure it'll be noticeable. Regearing for the larger tires will help a great deal. I still need to regear but I'm waiting till these tires are almost gone and I move to 33s or 35s

Haven't done any engine mods because its got 207,000 miles on it. When I swap motors down the road I might but nothing planned right now.

 

[Huffster]

Another update.
I decided to go ahead and order my rock sliders. I went with AJ's Offroad Super rock sliders. The price was right and saw Mcobray put them on his old XJ and loved them. So I'm looking forward to getting those hopefully by the end of next week.

Also just got shipping notifications for the JCR winch bumper and the LED bar and compressor, the Smittybilt winch is on back order by about 5 days which is fine because I still have to paint the bumper when I get it. So lots of pictures to come very soon!!! Hopefully this stuff will trickle in before/or on my birthday on Thursday. Glad this build is picking up some steam.

I'm looking at the same rock sliders for my XJ. I saw them on MCOBRAY's rig and knew that's what I wanted. I'm in Dayton...have you found a powder coating solution near you or are you going to do all of the painting yourself?

I'm enjoying your build!

 

[vonguido]

I'm looking at the same rock sliders for my XJ. I saw them on MCOBRAY's rig and knew that's what I wanted. I'm in Dayton...have you found a powder coating solution near you or are you going to do all of the painting yourself?

I'm enjoying your build!

The sliders should ship out on Friday I just spoke to AJ's earlier. I will more then likely paint them myself. There are a lot of options here in Columbus for powder coating but to powder coat my bumper its $150 and the sliders are about the same. Painting it myself will run $30-50 for both items and a couple hours of my time. So that's $250 that can be spent on new lower control arms or springs or even my drawer system for the rear.

 

[vonguido]

Just got this in the mail today. 40" LED bar.

 

[GenPatTuck]

Just got this in the mail today. 40" LED bar.
View attachment 234121

I have the same light bar on my sand rail. if I could figure out how to upload a video from my computer, you could see how bright it gets.

 

[vonguido]

I have the same light bar on my sand rail. if I could figure out how to upload a video from my computer, you could see how bright it gets.View attachment 234134

20,000 lumens is bright I can't wait to use it. That is a slick machine you got there. Lots of sweat and money spent.

 

[GenPatTuck]

20,000 lumens is bright I can't wait to use it. That is a slick machine you got there. Lots of sweat and money spent.

.

It is a nice machine. It still needs wiring, some other minor electronic like LED's to make it more trick then a paint job and graphics. The 400 hp motor probably wont be enough for me. I have plans on either doing some internal work on that Northstar and then putting a super charger on it giving it around 650 hp or buying a crate motor LS3 with 630 hp (good thing about the latter option is that I can add a super charger down the road for more HP).

I hope to have it done before the dune season starts in November. This pre-runner might make it into the expedition portal soon as I plan on using it to pre-run the baja peninsula which is a grueling journey of over 1000 miles.

 

[vonguido]

.

It is a nice machine. It still needs wiring, some other minor electronic like LED's to make it more trick then a paint job and graphics. The 400 hp motor probably wont be enough for me. I have plans on either doing some internal work on that Northstar and then putting a super charger on it giving it around 650 hp or buying a crate motor LS3 with 630 hp (good thing about the latter option is that I can add a super charger down the road for more HP).

I hope to have it done before the dune season starts in November. This pre-runner might make it into the expedition portal soon as I plan on using it to pre-run the baja peninsula which is a grueling journey of over 1000 miles.

That sounds like a lot fun. If I had the extra money I would love to build something like that.

 

[vonguido]

Update:
Got the light bar the other day and today while I was watching tv the fedex guy arrived with my sliders

Pure Beef! Now I have a bumper and sliders to paint. I'm still waiting on the ARB compressor and I just found out the winch is on back order for another week or two. So hopefully that will be here well before the end of the month.

 

[vonguido]

Bumper and updates

Ok everyone, finally got around to painting the bumper and the sliders yesterday, but only got to install the bumper today so the sliders will have to wait till I have some more time off from work. I also received my new track bar and bracket. Huge thanks to my buddy Scott for letting me use his garage to paint and his help putting the bumper on. Pictures!

 

[GenPatTuck]

Looks good. Are you going to have a similar bumper for the rear or swing out tire carrier?

 

[65BAJA]

How much lift are you running and how much bump stop do you have on the drivers side? The reason I ask is the RE1665 bracket hits the drivers side coil pad at full compression if you don't have at least 3" of bump stop. You should trim the corner of the pad so it clears if you are running less bump stop.

 

[vonguido]

Looks good. Are you going to have a similar bumper for the rear or swing out tire carrier?

Yes, eventually I will end up buying JCR's redesigned rear tire carrier but I haven't decided yet when I'm going to get it. I have some frame rot in the passenger rear uniframe right where the bump stop should be and about 6-8" behind that. I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it to repair or keep building on this one for now then buy a clean XJ from out west w/ low mileage which I already have my eyes on in Phoenix, AZ.

 

[vonguido]

How much lift are you running and how much bump stop do you have on the drivers side? The reason I ask is the RE1665 bracket hits the drivers side coil pad at full compression if you don't have at least 3" of bump stop. You should trim the corner of the pad so it clears if you are running less bump stop.

The lift in total is about 5" and honestly I'm not sure of the bump stops, that is something on the todo list to be redone. I will have to check it out and get back with you on that and thanks for the heads up.