New guy intro, new to me XJ

[sorryaboutthestd]

Hi, I recently acquired and new to me XJ. A good friend of mine was on a vehicle purge and offered it to me a good deal. I plan to build this thing up as more of a expo rig vs a rock crawler. The truck is a So Cal vehicle with about 80k on the clock.

In its current state it has practically new (still have nubs on them) 35s, another friend of mine has dibs on them. It also has Rustys 3/4 in shackles, Rustys 4.5 in rear leafs and 3 inch Rustys springs up front and an ACOS up there as well. The shocks were ordered from them as well. All of these goodies have less than 500 miles on them and none of them have been off road. Another buddy of mine up north has dibs on the suspension goodies but if he falls through I will post them up for sale/trade here.

My plans include a 3in OME heavy duty suspension and some tall and skinny 33's. I plan on keeping the ACOS spacers as they will come into play when I get a bumper/winch. The fenders are trimmed and I am currently waiting on getting my flares back from my painter.

I basically want to make the truck able to support 2 people and an eventual dog for a week or so at a time. I am still torn between the RTT vs sleeping platform thing, I may just do both as the platform tends to offer a ton of storage. The XJ will be my every other day driver as I have a truck as well.

The Jeep also came with some RE drop brackets for the Rusty's adj upper and lower control arms. I think I am going to do away with them as I will only be going a RCH over 3 inches up front. The front axle is also located by a Rusty's 4 inch plus track bar (I belieive), I am thinking of using it for the time being until I can get another one. I hear the JKS is a nice piece.

I have been a long time lurker and am stoked to have something to start to work on.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I will throw up some pics once I get a chance and the fenders come back... I think you guys will dig on them.

 

[TRACTION]

You may have to trim the fenders some to run the 33s in the rear. I ran a 2001 XJ with a Rubicon Express 3.5" lift with 31s on wheels with 4.5" BS and it rubbed in the rear somewhat. I used an adjustable bumpstop that helped but limited my uptravel. There's some newer flares out for the XJs now that would help with this issue also.

Depending on what axle you have in the rear (either Dana 35 or Chrysler 8.25) you might have some issues with those tires though if you're heavy footed with the gas. With typical exploration type driving you'd probably be ok though.

The 8.25 can be fitted with a Tru-Trac which I ran as a daily driver and liked it. I ran one up front as well and it didn't effect my steering noticeably. I didn't want to go with a true locker since it was my daily driver.

Having slept in a Cherokee (I'm 5'7") I'd personally go with a smaller lighter clamshell type RTT since it can be pretty tight in there. You'll have more room for stuff inside that way also.

You'll need a bumper tire carrier for a full sized spare if it doesn't have one on it already. I had a Custom 4x4 fabrication one and the price was right.

Good luck with your build.

 

[TRACTION]

Missed the part about the trimmed fenders but the rest might help.

 

[bat]

Even with trimmed fenders 33"s on the OME stuff is not that much lift. You are taking a butch of good stuff off that with 33's would fit the build.

 

[sorryaboutthestd]

I may keep the parts for a while just in case. The vehicle has been trimmed pretty radically. It is cut in the front up to the water tank, and in the rear just shy of the rear door seam and to the point of needing some patchwork in the rear wheel houses.

Thankfully, the fender flares will cover most of this up. I will be working on closing out the rear wheel houses this wknd.

Thanks.

 

[Stumpalump]

Keep the drop brackets.

 

[sorryaboutthestd]

Keep the drop brackets.

My only reason for wanting to get rid of them would be to eliminate another possible point of failure as well as they look like they would inhibit ground clearance a bit...

I was under the assumption that they were only needed on larger lifts?

Thoughts?

 

[sorryaboutthestd]

Damn this time change. I spray bombed the OME yellow shocks with some UPOL satin black. FYI this stuff is way better than the consumer grade spray paints, you can find it at auto body suppliers. Another good brand is SEM. Both of these provide better results than Krylon.

Next on the list was an oil and filter change, threw in some 10w 30 and a new Fram filter. I also changed the plugs to some Champion Platinums, I read somewhere that the newer XJs came with platinum plugs factory this was due to the new coil on plug ignition. The coil is a single manifold of sorts, very odd.

Also I cleaned out the rear window squiter, it was barely throwing out any fluid. I took a pin and dislodged some crap out of the nozzle.... Works great now.

I was going to take off the fender flares and send them off, then it got dark and I got lazy. My wheels and tires are here at two different shops. I ended up with some 33x10.5x15 KM2s mounted on some Mojave wheels.

I should have the wheels and tires mounted and balanced by the end of the wknd. I may start on the suspension install this wknd as well depending on my work schedule.

 

[sorryaboutthestd]

You may have to trim the fenders some to run the 33s in the rear. I ran a 2001 XJ with a Rubicon Express 3.5" lift with 31s on wheels with 4.5" BS and it rubbed in the rear somewhat. I used an adjustable bumpstop that helped but limited my uptravel. There's some newer flares out for the XJs now that would help with this issue also.

Depending on what axle you have in the rear (either Dana 35 or Chrysler 8.25) you might have some issues with those tires though if you're heavy footed with the gas. With typical exploration type driving you'd probably be ok though.

The 8.25 can be fitted with a Tru-Trac which I ran as a daily driver and liked it. I ran one up front as well and it didn't effect my steering noticeably. I didn't want to go with a true locker since it was my daily driver.

Having slept in a Cherokee (I'm 5'7") I'd personally go with a smaller lighter clamshell type RTT since it can be pretty tight in there. You'll have more room for stuff inside that way also.

You'll need a bumper tire carrier for a full sized spare if it doesn't have one on it already. I had a Custom 4x4 fabrication one and the price was right.

Good luck with your build.

The fenders are trimmed pretty heavily, I wanted as low of a COG as possible. Being a later XJ I have the 8.25 rear axle, the Jeep has the tow package so I think it has 3.73's. I know that I will have to eventually re gear for the tires. I am usually pretty easy on vehicles, I have yet to totally destroy one.

As far as traction aids go I have access to a dana 44 and HP 30 out of an XJ with 4:10s. The kicker is they have ARB air lockers in them already. I would more than likely go through them and re gear to them to some 4.56's. They are complete from drum to drum and rotor to rotor, jI need to find out if they would jive with the newer XJ abs.

I am a hair taller than yourself and would fit fine at an angle across the back but with two it would suck. If I take out the rear seat bottom that would buy me a few inches.

I am on the lookout for some 2 door XJ seats as they fold a more to allow access to the rear seat. If if were to build a sleeping platform back there I could have 6ft with the 4 door front seats and more with the 2 door seats.

Meh, either way all of the above is still a ways off. I want to get the suspension on and flex it and establish where to bumpstop it.

 

[TRACTION]

As far as traction aids go I have access to a dana 44 and HP 30 out of an XJ with 4:10s. The kicker is they have ARB air lockers in them already. I would more than likely go through them and re gear to them to some 4.56's. They are complete from drum to drum and rotor to rotor, jI need to find out if they would jive with the newer XJ abs.

Definitely go the HP30/44 route. I'm not sure how the ABS would work out (my rig didn't have it) but given the use of the rig I might not be deal breaker if you can't get it to work. I may be wrong but I remember reading somewhere that the late models with the 8.25s never had ABS but I'd assume you saw (or felt) some indication of it.

Get some pics up when you get a chance. I never got around to hacking my fenders when I had my XJ so I'm curious to see how it comes out.

 

[TRACTION]

One more thing. I'd keep the drop brackets as well if you can get them to workout geometry wise. Reason being is they will improve your ride quality and also the perceived shock from hitting bumps, ruts, etc. Similar to a long arm in that it changes the angle of the shock from being upwards to somewhat backwards along the length of the chassis so you don't feel it as much. Alternately a long arm system could be used as well but that gets more complex and most of the commercially available systems are tall (4.5" or greater)

 

[sorryaboutthestd]

I just got the tires from 4wheel parts, I dropped them off at a local tire shop for mounting and balancing to be picked up tomorrow. Lettering and wheel weights inboard.

I am going to try and keep the brackets, I have done some reading and the improvement in ride and chances of avoiding death wobble are factors in this decision.

If I don't have work this wknd, the new suspension and tires should get buttoned up.

 

[sorryaboutthestd]

No abs on the vehicle, so the axle conversion should not be an issue...

This past wknd was a good one. I didn't have to work, so I wrenched. Saturday I removed the Rusty's shocks and springs from the front and replaced them with the OME shocks and springs, I kept the ACOS spaced at approx 2 inches. Sunday I took of the Rusty's setup off of the rear of the XJ. In went the OME heavy load springs and shocks. These springs are heavy as all get out. After a bit of wrestling and lots of jack stand movement around the install is complete. Both were a pita solo, but my friends all had stuff going this wknd.

I was worried that with the fender trimming the 33's would look small but they look good to me and seem to have plenty of room to travel. Time will tell. The tall and skinny's look a bit proportionate to me on a small vehicle as the XJ.

The Jeep seems to sit a bit high in the front, I am going to wait to adjust the front in case anything settles in the next few weeks. I also decided to keep the RE drop brackets, I also ordered the supports that go behind them and tie them to the frame as the XJ did not have them all ready.

I have pics but in the ultimate ********** move I do not have a card reader, I will get one tomorrow and post up.

Also is anyone else here into hot rods? I am working on a steel 1927 Ford T with a 331 Hemi, my GF is working on a 1932 Ford Brookville steel roadster and my good buddy has a 354 Hemi powered model A Ford on Deuce rails. The Jeep thing is quite the switch for me as with the older cars it is rare that parts just bolt up and work. Also, it is rare to just order parts out of a catalog and have them shipped to you. There is a lot of horse trading that has to go on to find some stuff. Generally, there is a good amount of fab work involved. I do like fabrication it is just time consuming, it seems that as of late everyone I know is working huge hours (I am thankful to have a job) but it sucks for project progress.

 

[bat]

Drop brackets are used when installing lifts over 4+ inches, I would say the OME lift is getting you 3" at best. It does not have do anything with the shock but the angle in which the control arms are at impact to bumps. They need to be parallel to the ground at best so the control arms movement is straight up and down. This is a pretty important part of the build it has everything to do with how it will ride. If this was my rig I would remove the drop brackets and try and use the adjustable control arms to get the front axle setup correct. This advice is with the notion you are going to stay around 3" of lift. I no longer have this jeep but in the build process it was important to ask how high and what tire. I did nothing of that and kept on changing things and spending money.

 

[97tjguzzy]

if you leave the brackets on with a 3" lift it should give you near flat control arm angles which should ride great. I would leave them on.

They only include the drop brackets with lifts over 4" because after 4" you "have" to use them. a jeep with a 3" lift without drop brackets will ride noticeably more harsh than with a 3" lift and drop brackets.