Expedition XJ Mods for Under 10K

[BlueGerbil]

any other ideas for the 'perfect' expedition XJ would be much appreciated. thanks

That´s a nice budget to start with - should lead to a pretty capable vehicle.

My ideas: Keep it low, keep it reliable and use high quality parts.

Your OME HD suspension is a good point to start with. I´d finish it of with:
- Currie upper and lower control arms
- Currie Johnny Joint at axle housing
- Currie HD steering
- Currie trackbar
- should your shocks wear out: Fox shocks w/ external reservoir, adjustable to your needs
- OME 10mm spacers
- slightly longer shackles, not too much - the MJ ones should net about .5" - otherwise: Currie makes some as well

Engine reliabilty:
- complete tune up (all fluids, new plugs, new wires)
- replace everything driven by your engines belt - and keep the working parts as spares
- replace battery with Hawker Odyssey AGM battery
- replace cooler with a heavy duty 3 row unit, new hoses, new thermostat

Axles:
- keep what you´ve got, good enough for 30-31" tires
- truss both axles
- control arm skid plates
- 4.10 ratio
- Detroit Locker rear
- no locker in the front to keep expenses down
- later: ARB locker and on board air setup to run it
- if you need to change any axle shaft: replace it with chromoly shafts with as much splines as you can get - but do that before you buy the locker

Rims/Tires:
- nothing wrong with a good looking rig! No need for boring steelies! Don´t believe anybody who tells you that you can hammer out a bend rim with a hammer. He hasn´t done it or he can´t drive.
- my personal choice would be a set of 8x16" Rubicon TJ alloys
- wrap them in a set of 245/75R16 BFG MT KM2 tires (around 31")
- learn to fix a tire and buy the needed stuff
- Kaymar makes a great rear tire carrier w/ a jerry can carrier for the XJ - quite expensive, but very sturdy - I ran that unit for years

Electrical stuff / lights
- install second battery instead of stock air filter box
- install a cone filter setup in an enclosure - Spectre seems to make a fine one - and mate it to your snorkle
- use a good dual battery controller - IBS from Switzerland makes great units
- upgrade your headlights wires with a relais cable kit - the 4x4 shop I work for has a partner down in OZ who can get you the cables and the IBS if you can´t source it locally
- replace the old headlights with a set of euro-spec H4 headlights from Hella
- replace the bulbs with Osram/Sylvania units
- replace all internal bulbs with LED units
- buy a good quality fridge (Engel, or if you can swing it: National Luna)
- mount it secure in the back of the vehicle
- don´t cut corners on the wiring - write down where you run which wire
- put a marine style fuse holder/power and ground distributor from Blue Sea Systems under the rear seats and run all accessoires from there
- buy good quality device mounting brackets from Brodit for your navigation system, smartphone, etc.

Roof:
- Frontrunner Slimline roofrack
- Maggiolina roof top tent
- some smaller Vision-X LED lights (Solstice 1100 for example) for "camp lighting" mounted below the roof rack
- one or two bigger Vision-X LED lights (as big as you want to afford) for "I need to see lighting" mounted below the rack facing forwards

Other stuff:
- Radio with SD card slot, no CD (just sucks in the dirt!)
- ham radio
- first aid kit (and learn to use it!)
- good quality headlamp and flashlight (Fenix, SureFire) with a set of spare Lithium (!) batteries for each
- basic tool kit
- jerry can

 

[88Xj]

That´s a nice budget to start with - should lead to a pretty capable vehicle.

My ideas: Keep it low, keep it reliable and use high quality parts.

Your OME HD suspension is a good point to start with. I´d finish it of with:
- Currie upper and lower control arms
- Currie Johnny Joint at axle housing
- Currie HD steering
- Currie trackbar
- should your shocks wear out: Fox shocks w/ external reservoir, adjustable to your needs
- OME 10mm spacers
- slightly longer shackles, not too much - the MJ ones should net about .5" - otherwise: Currie makes some as well

Engine reliabilty:
- complete tune up (all fluids, new plugs, new wires)
- replace everything driven by your engines belt - and keep the working parts as spares
- replace battery with Hawker Odyssey AGM battery
- replace cooler with a heavy duty 3 row unit, new hoses, new thermostat

Axles:
- keep what you´ve got, good enough for 30-31" tires
- truss both axles
- control arm skid plates
- 4.10 ratio
- Detroit Locker rear
- no locker in the front to keep expenses down
- later: ARB locker and on board air setup to run it
- if you need to change any axle shaft: replace it with chromoly shafts with as much splines as you can get - but do that before you buy the locker

Rims/Tires:
- nothing wrong with a good looking rig! No need for boring steelies! Don´t believe anybody who tells you that you can hammer out a bend rim with a hammer. He hasn´t done it or he can´t drive.
- my personal choice would be a set of 8x16" Rubicon TJ alloys
- wrap them in a set of 245/75R16 BFG MT KM2 tires (around 31")
- learn to fix a tire and buy the needed stuff
- Kaymar makes a great rear tire carrier w/ a jerry can carrier for the XJ - quite expensive, but very sturdy - I ran that unit for years

Electrical stuff / lights
- install second battery instead of stock air filter box
- install a cone filter setup in an enclosure - Spectre seems to make a fine one - and mate it to your snorkle
- use a good dual battery controller - IBS from Switzerland makes great units
- upgrade your headlights wires with a relais cable kit - the 4x4 shop I work for has a partner down in OZ who can get you the cables and the IBS if you can´t source it locally
- replace the old headlights with a set of euro-spec H4 headlights from Hella
- replace the bulbs with Osram/Sylvania units
- replace all internal bulbs with LED units
- buy a good quality fridge (Engel, or if you can swing it: National Luna)
- mount it secure in the back of the vehicle
- don´t cut corners on the wiring - write down where you run which wire
- put a marine style fuse holder/power and ground distributor from Blue Sea Systems under the rear seats and run all accessoires from there
- buy good quality device mounting brackets from Brodit for your navigation system, smartphone, etc.

Roof:
- Frontrunner Slimline roofrack
- Maggiolina roof top tent
- some smaller Vision-X LED lights (Solstice 1100 for example) for "camp lighting" mounted below the roof rack
- one or two bigger Vision-X LED lights (as big as you want to afford) for "I need to see lighting" mounted below the rack facing forwards

Other stuff:
- Radio with SD card slot, no CD (just sucks in the dirt!)
- ham radio
- first aid kit (and learn to use it!)
- good quality headlamp and flashlight (Fenix, SureFire) with a set of spare Lithium (!) batteries for each
- basic tool kit
- jerry can

I'm agreeing here as well..pretty good list, some items being more personal choices that anything. But if you want them, go for it! i think rubber on the axle side both upper & lower in the front is easier to manage maitenance wise!
The only disagreement point for me is axle shafts..don't stray from stock 27splines on your 30. Theres upgraded 30spline shafts but that means you need a 30spline carrier & what to do about spares? If you break a ujoint and it takes out the shaft ears, you will be screwed. In the rear yes up splining is fine..up front where more things happen than snapping a shaft, I would stick to stock splines. You don't need to snap a shaft to render it useless. If you break a 30spline you must replace it with a 30spline. If you break a 27spline, any junkyard in the world will have a spare shaft that'll get you home

Remember expo rig, not crawler here! So keep things simple so you have the parts availability to fix parts that WILL break! Especially when out overlanding!