Jake's XJ build.

[Jakeleverett]

Hey everyone, love this website, very pro.
My name is Jake, I have always loved offroading, and I have always loved the outdoors.
I had previously done a ton of backpacking in remote areas but am now getting into more civilized camping because of my girlfriend.
"Overlanding" is a good compromise of the two. That's where my Jeep's story begins.

I bought this XJ bone stock when I was 18.
It was my first car and I had only had my license for about a month when this Jeep fell into my lap. I would love to "overland" with a landcruiser as my family has had about seven different years/styles and they have served their purpose extremely well or a G wagon or something because they are just plain cool but as I have been officially "on my own" for some time, my budget will not allow.

Back to the Jeep.
It is a 1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ
SE (means that I am lucky that the darn thing has a clock basically)
4x4
4door
I was lucky enough to have AC and cruise control as well.
Unlucky in that that is about all it had.
I love the basic seats and the tan interior as well as the overall simplicity of it.
It also has ZERO rust and is EXTREMELY clean inside and out.

I got it from a friend who buys and sells Gov't auction vehicles.
It was originally owned by the US Forest Service and had 63K original miles.
It was also an awful blueish-purple. Unacceptable.
Its first two changes were done by the friend who found it for me. He had it painted the nice dark blue it is now as well as rebuilt the brakes and some of the electronics.

I have to say I love it!

First day I got the little guy:

And I was bored (supposed to be shopping), found an embankment at the mall and remembered seeing all the cool guys flexing their jeeps anywhere they can...
So what do I do?... What any other sensible person would do...
Drive up it!

As you may have guessed, I did not get too far.

Also, you can see a scrape on the drivers side door... a couple months after I got it, an illegal immigrant (b**** had no license, no registration, no insurance, no nothing. Im surprised she spoke what little english she did... "No police, por favor.") ran a stop sign and right into me, she wasn't paying attention because she was yelling at the kids in the back seat. I just applied the brake but couldn't swerve due to other cars so i just held on tight and prepared myself. I was so mad at this lady that I immediately called the police and my girlfriend before I strangled her there in the middle of the street.
My frown eventually turned upside down because AAA told me I would be getting a check for almost $2k to fix the scrape. Thats about 1/3 of what I paid for it!

 

[Jakeleverett]

Plans Include:
-Lift (~3-3.5")
-Tires (~31", probably BFG A/Ts)
-Creature comforts
-Storage (everywhere)
-Stereo (I hate the radio, I need control)
-Bumpers (as lightweight+high clearance as possible)
-Recovery (Winch eventually+Tow straps)
-Locker(s?)

I have many other plans but these are the big idea.
I basically want something self sufficient that I can travel and camp out of comfortably for short and longerish trips.
I have no interest in doing month long trips at this point but definitely a week or two.
I am also learning this overland thing and will try to do as much as I possibly can on my own for a few reasons:
1. I want to learn it so I can fix it if it breaks.
2. I don't see a need to waste money having somebody else do something that I could probably figure out anyway.
3. I want this to be MY jeep in every way, not a funded-by-me Jeep, I just like the idea of "built not bought".
4. I am more satisfied by my own accomplishments than by other people's accomplishments.

Before I could do any modifications, a couple of my friends invited me out to a local desert for some off road excitement, some shooting and some camping.
Our group consisted of two Cherokee's(mine and my friend's), a Landrover(D2) and a barbie jeep(turquoise coloring and all haha).
The LR's hood somehow popped open on the freeway coming out of the mountains and the wrangler lost a muffler. Our two Cherokees survived unscathed.
It was a good learning experience(don't go with a bunch of dummies that are all my age who have unreliable and poorly maintained vehicles.)
I ended up driving back early because they weren't being smart with the guns.

At least I got a chance to do some legal off roading other than Fiesta Island after a rainstorm...
I also got some cool pictures:

 

[JakeC]

Great looking Cherokee, I'm rather partial to this style.

Learning to work on your own vehicle will save you loads of time and money. I've saved so much cash from working on my own vehicles, that going to a dealer or repair shop literally scares me and I learned the same way that you plan on learning. Good luck man!

Quick question for you though, I thought that was an older front end? (The chrome grille and headlights). Or is that common on the SE models? I don't know a whole lot about Cherokees and expect if you don't know the answer that someone will eventually chime in.

 

[Jakeleverett]

Haha as far as I know it is stock unless it was replaced at some point by the forest service. It is a 1996 which was the last year that they used this style of front end/body/interior. It almost completely changed aesthetically in 1997 as well as other aspects of them. I personally prefer this style inside and out and am 100% happy with it!

And yes I have heard some real horror stories about slimy "mechanics" (most of them being slimy from my experience).

I originally had planned to have my lift installed at Off Road Warehouse here in San Diego. That changed quickly as I had been spending time there getting a feeling for their shop, I noticed that one of the service techs that was working on installing a lift kit on a F-350 had broken a couple pieces of something(not sure what) by using a crescent wrench to hammer on something, quickly looked around to see if anyone saw and hid the pieces up in the mud liner in the wheel wells. I was shocked and immediately decided to do the work myself where I knew it was all done correctly and without careless damage.

O and thank you! Stay tuned as I have done a few things to it including a lift kit and custom rack(My dad is a metal fabricator by profession).

 

[Jakeleverett]

Here is a more current picture as kind of a "sneak peek"

This was right before a trip to big bear for some snowboarding with my girlfriend and her mom.
Ill post some pictures of that sooner or later.

 

[Jakeleverett]

Oh... and I just got my new RTT in the mail from Tepui tents!
Im waaaaay excited for this!

And this is just a cool little beach that I ate lunch at while waiting for my girlfriend to get out of her doctor's appt.

Just while sitting here I saw about four Defenders that were quite nicely done up...

My cousin may be getting a little Defender 90 Soft top soon, He previously had two of them, then an M5 then came back from the darkside to an 80's series Land Cruiser and now has a little 4runner. All very cool vehicles but his Defenders are always my favorite.

 

[MCObray]

Cool build. I love your wheels... I just recently switched to the Sawblades myself. And just like you, I just purchased my first RTT two weeks back... I am still stoked that I have it. I look forward to your updates, keep it up!

 

[206WJ]

Nice! I'm looking at that same tent too. Let me know how it goes for you.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

nice XJ...welcome!

 

[JakeC]

Haha as far as I know it is stock unless it was replaced at some point by the forest service. It is a 1996 which was the last year that they used this style of front end/body/interior. It almost completely changed aesthetically in 1997 as well as other aspects of them. I personally prefer this style inside and out and am 100% happy with it!

And yes I have heard some real horror stories about slimy "mechanics" (most of them being slimy from my experience).

I originally had planned to have my lift installed at Off Road Warehouse here in San Diego. That changed quickly as I had been spending time there getting a feeling for their shop, I noticed that one of the service techs that was working on installing a lift kit on a F-350 had broken a couple pieces of something(not sure what) by using a crescent wrench to hammer on something, quickly looked around to see if anyone saw and hid the pieces up in the mud liner in the wheel wells. I was shocked and immediately decided to do the work myself where I knew it was all done correctly and without careless damage.

O and thank you! Stay tuned as I have done a few things to it including a lift kit and custom rack(My dad is a metal fabricator by profession).

If your dad's a metal fabricator by profession, you seem to have a great upper hand if you ever decide to build some armor like rock sliders or bumpers. Great looking roofrack!

Not all mechanics are bad, but I have yet to find one that I truly trust. Haha.

Also, digging the Coheed sticker on the back.

 

[Recce01]

nice Cherokee! We too are in San Diego County. Let me know when you plan to go camping. We are always looking for fellow jeep owners to hit the outdoors with!

 

[eflosd]

fashion valley flexing?
post some pics of the lift

 

[Jakeleverett]

@MCObray, thank you, I do love them as well, I had originally planned to change them but after I saw them with the lift I don't think I want to anymore! everytime I walk past the tent I get super exctied and I cant wait to use it, Im sure the same goes for you!

@206WJ, I had to set it up on my rack just for fun (before we modify it to hold the tent better) and my initial thoughts are that it is extremely well made. In every way I am impressed with it! I haven't used it yet but just setting it up at my girlfriend's house it seems like it will definitely last forever. It is kind of heavy though, I had trouble getting it up there by myself but it is very doable in a bind. In my post about the tent I will also have a testimony to how awesome their customer service is! They are a great company to do business with!

 

[Jakeleverett]

@Gregb_00XJ, thank you!

@JakeC, Yes, yes it does... It just takes some effort to get him to "work" on his days off now, hes getting old haha. Its also difficult with the coordination of both of our schedules! I do plan some armor in the future but I need to get some heavier duty springs first and maybe do some engine mods because of the weight being a factor. I just bought the mega duty tire carrier hinge from A to Z fabrication and a heavy duty receiver hitch so now we can get working on a rear bumper... With the bumper will come an integrated gas tank skid. We also talked about making a custom gas tank that will either hang down less or have a higher fuel capacity(maybe both?) but that was just for fun, its not super high on my priority list. What is high up there are sliders. We drew some up while planning the bumper that would include cutting out the rocker panels and welding them in place there as well as frame stiffeners. I am on the fence about the frame stiffeners throughout the entire frame. For the kind of offroading that I enjoy I think they may be overkill. Definitely the bumper/tirecarrier and sliders though.

There is one, and as far as I know, ONLY ONE that is trust worthy. His name is Marty Kennedy. He is the "Kennedy" of Kennedy Truck Sales and Kennedy Auto Electric. He is the guy who found my Jeep, as well as my friend's Jeep(which was similar condition to mine but with only 43k original miles!) and he is the ONLY mechanic that I trust my Jeep to. He has helped me out with many a Jeep dilemma and is an awesome guy to work with. He'll tell you if what the other mechanics say is BS and how to fix it yourself. He has saved both mine and my Jeep's lives on multiple occasions! He knows the Jeep Cherokee in particular inside and out and two of his three kids have XJs!

BTW most people(including my dad) say when I tell them how low mileage my Jeep and my friend's Jeep are, they immediately say that he must have reversed the speedo. He has all of the DMV and Gov't paperwork proving their mileage!

Haha and thank you, that was the first thing that I did to it!

 

[Jakeleverett]

One of my first modifications to the Jeep was to get rid of this:

Purchase this:

Install it:

For a much better result of this:

In the pictures the console top is grey, it has since been changed to a tan one that matches along with a set of cupholders. When I was at the junk yard buying this console the matching top had two holes cut in it, I think resembling cup holders? Kind of funny and a little ingenious(?) but definitely not to my taste! So I grabbed a clean grey one and swapped it when the junk yard got a better one in.

I did this because I couldn't handle the "mini console" any longer! The whole install took my like 4 hours including breaks and distractions but I did it right!