NathanT78's "Project Princess"

[Nathant78]

2000 Jeep Cherokee 4x4
4.0 Auto 120k on it when bought
Dana 30/Chy 8.25 3.55 gears

To take a bone stock 2000 Cherokee and drive anywhere in the country, camp and make it home in 1 piece.
armor front, rear, sliders
roof rack
front and rear axle locked and loaded
bulletproof steering
platform built in back half of jeep, drawers or enough room for action packers. storage room for electrical devices as well in compartments
water and gas storage on roof or rear carrier

Its going to be a slow going build up. Thankfully we have a large Jeep club here and have good friends. Friend gave me budget boosters, front shocks, rear blocks. Another friend is giving me a pair of 4 inch skyjacker coils, yet another friend is giving me a 4 inch lift minus shocks with full leaf pack.

The name is Project Princess because she is small cute and white, innocent. Her name is Sarah which goes along with it because it means princess in hebrew.

First Mod

 

[gasman]

cool i will be watching to see how this one comes together for you,, i miss my xj , dont use the rear blocks though , you're askin for trouble there, ive seen to many with blocks come apart on the trail, good luck with your build
this was my baby

 

[Nathant78]

as of right now im thinking about mixing the leaf pack that im going to be getting with my stock ones. i dont really want 4.5 inches of lift. but then again i might want it since im going to be putting in a sleeping platform.
Its going to be SLOW build up (like everyone elses)

But this site has been inspiration to me. took me over a year to find "her" and oddly it was at the dealership down the street from my office

 

[Token]

Yeah.. This is gonna be an interesting build up.. Hope you've got deep pockets..

I wonder how much it'd cost to cut the top off and turn it into a popup..??

 

[gasman]

the first lift i had was a 3.5'' rubicon express and 31's,, with a light foot and chosing my lines i could keep up with most of the big boys
then i went to 6.5''BDS long arm and 33's it was way better,
then 35's and 4.88 gears, the jeep went most anywhere but was a pig on gas,
prolly for what you want 3.5'' to 4'' is all you will ever need, i dont go rock climbing anymore or mudding, so my new build will be geared to the expedition type build,

 

[codybutz]

I have an 01 xj with a rubicon express 4.5" lift and coil spacers which levels it out at about 5" lift.

I was just telling somebody the other day, that if i had to do it all over again, i would only go about 3" of lift. These jeeps stock are more then adequate when it comes to off road. of course bigger is always better but I think the money difference between the 4.5" and 3" lift and bigger tires, could have been better spent in armor and other things. On my mj i'm not going over 3" of lift.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Nathant78]

Well the lift finally came together. begging friends for spare parts finally paid off.
4.5 inch leaf springs from a buddy whos brother upgraded (rough country brand)
4 inch skyjacker coils, he upgraded to long arm and 6 inch coils
JK take off shocks, upgraded to a 3 inch kit but front threads were boogered up
front pro comp es3000, i have a friend at 4wp and customer upgraded and didnt want shocks

parts had to buy
front BPE from rough country
set of nuts for front shocks

Started at 9am, was done at 4pm
Before

After

Owe thanks to a lot of people who helped me yesterday.

Things still need to be bought:
ubolts, yes i know your not suspose to reuse them but cant find them locally
lower control arms
adjustable trackbar with bracket (rc model)
sway bar disconnects

building transfer case drop bracket, vibes at light acceleration

oh and how do you like my 12 dollar roof rack from the pull a part?

 

[Nathant78]

I am a horrible person, not a single picture taken as of late
She now has a ARB Bullbar bumper that i bought used out of St Louis
Still the same tires, but suspose to be trading with a friend for a set of used 31's just to get me by.

 

[bldeagle10]

beautiful XJ, and im kinda sad cause i want a white XJ and i was going to name it project princess lol.

lets get some pic updates!

 

[Nathant78]

Ill try to take some pictures this weekend

Ubolts were replaced with new ones
installed RC sway bar disconnects

Still need to make bracket for cb antenna and wire up my ham radio

 

[Nathant78]

Yet another year has passed and I have failed to keep a thread going, stupid ADHD!
part of transformation

well used 31 all terrains off craigslist with ARB bumper
MFJ 2 meter 5/8 wave that was a mag mount. 2 drilled holes and its great
it as of couple nights ago

Walmart Goodyear Authority 31x10.5s they are really nice riding and not too loud
I now have a Rough Country 12K winch with the control box mounted under the hood. They provide a wireless remote but I do plan on extending the wiring for the hookup on the bumper in the future

I just got a roofrack the other night and it was dark before I remembered to take a picture of it.

I promise I will take more pictures, and get on the trail

 

[Septu]

Damn that ARB looks great in the XJs. Very nice, clean looking XJ. Makes me miss mine. Absolutely love my JK, but it's not quite the same as the Cherokee's.

 

[rdonahe]

Another white XJ ******! :safari-rig:

 

[jknobler]

Hey, I love the Jeep! I'm just now looking at getting into 4x4 expedition, and while I really would enjoy a Land Cruiser, I think I'm going to end up getting a '98-'99 Jeep Cherokee like what you've got. Let me know how it gets on when you take it on the trail. That's what I'd really like to know, because if it'll do just as well as a Cruiser for short (1-3 week) expositions I'll spring for one of these over the Cruiser because they're way cheaper, and I'll be buying this myself most likely!

It looks great! If it preforms half as good as it looks, I know what I'll be driving shortly!

 

[88Xj]

I was going to say..I think you were talking about blocks or adding leafs.
I would buy shackle relocation boxes, and a longer shackle. Itll net you about 1-2" of lift, and it'll ride better and flex like mad! Thats what I doing..

1" OME HD replacement leafs, with a RE 2.5" full length AAL..rides perfect, flexes like made..with relocation boxes & longer shackles it'll only get better