95 Expo Ckee

[chromerunner]

As some know on here ive been out of the jeep/4wd game for a little bit. I have been battling some heart problems and it has really kept me from the trails/woods. Ive had two surgerys so far but im finally getting back around to being able to do some wrenching and etc...

This build will lean heavly on the Expo/camping side more than trail/crawler. Although living so near Uwharrie it will see some trail use.

Found this at a local auction....
One owner 95 Aqua Metallic Jeep Cherokee
(title signed stright over from The Nature Conservancy)
Pretty clean/orginal XJ. Never been really beat on and i assume fleet maintained.
Paid more than i should have but it came home with me.

Stats are
4.0/aw4/231 183k
D30/8.25 (unknow ratio at the moment)

Plans for stage 1
*3.5 RE kit (still up in the air on size and brand at the moment)
*JCR winch bumper
*bfg a/t's and 16" icons
*Confer roof basket
*Cb


The jeep came with a sweet old school Warn 5K. This will get replaced down the road but will stay for stage 1...
Stage 2 i will focus on the interior and setting it up for overnight and cargo duty along with ride/on road comforts..

 

[chromerunner]

The Big brown truck dropped this off today.


Shipping was super fast and looks to be a quality product as expected from JCR.



install will be delayed a little due to im missing the driverside drip rail cover and they are needed for clamping pressure...I will be pulling a drip rail hopefully tommorrow at the local salvage yard and welding some supports to attach the confer to.

Here is the rack i will be installing. As you can see I have installed/welded in some expanded metal to help with the cargo load and etc..

 

[NickMaul]

Looking forward to this build. I started mine the same exact way and I have done good not to go overboard in any area. My jeep has run out of things to build for it Makes me want to start over. Good Luck!

 

[untchabl]

Good to see you back in an XJ Corey. Glad to hear that you're doing well, hope to see you at URE.

 

[chromerunner]

Picked up a nice set of BFG's and Jeep Icon wheels this afternoon from another board member.




Also scored a sweet old school Galaxy CB. Ill run a simple 4-4.5 firestick off a taillight mount.

 

[ml4x4buggy]

good to see a kiss build and great to hear your going to be able to do some wheeling hope to meet you on the trail

 

[91oneton]

looks good man glad to see your back at it

 

[chromerunner]

Thanks.

*Update*
I pulled the trigger on some parts middle of the week and the first few came in today. Super fast shiping by RC..Also placed a order with SOLID,Seriousoffroad,JCR....So more updates soon when they arrive!

Really like the feel of the RC trac bar..For the price its pretty beefy! with the cost of everything starting to add up i tried to save some money in the shock department...i will be saving up for better but these will do for now (RC n2.0's)

 

[chromerunner]

2nd drop off by the big brown truck just arrived. Two more trips and i should have everything and be ready to start the install...

Todays drop off included RE 3.5 superride kit from
http://www.seriousoffroadproducts.com/

And a SOLID D30 cover. From
http://www.solidaxle.com/

Im still waiting on my rear leaf packs and u- bolts from SOP...

 

[88 BII]

watching

 

[chromerunner]

Last of the Seriousoffroadproducts.com order arrived today..
Props to UPS for smashing/throwing/droping and draging the package all over from here to CO...
Also while the package was busted open someone lifted the 8.25 u-bolts or they fell out OR Serious forgot to pack them..
(you have to order them seperate as the kit comes with D35's)
**Update**
Seriousoffroadproducts.com handled the missing ubolts super fast. Within a few hours of a email I had a tracking number with the missing u bolts headed my way..top notch customer service..I highly recommend them.


Here are the REsprings and UPS's nice work!




Now here is the issue at hand. Im worried with the new spring my shackle angle is going to be crap and it will ride like such. As this jeep with see 2x the road as it will the trail im really looking for a decent ride so the angle is going to be a problem...

I figure I can solve that with one of the many relocation box's on the market..I will go with RC or ironman4x4.
Now that solves that problem but opens up a downward spiral....After the shackle box the jeep will be +1 at least in the rear over the front...And RE is known for giving a tad more lift than they list anyway..So now i need to help the front out since there will be extra weight from the JCR bumper weighing the springs down already..I plan to order and run the JKS ACOS system..That will give me nice bumpstops and adj height to help out the bumper and level out with the rear..

But now i will be 4.5-5inchs or more...and i do not want this jeepto be that high due to i will 100% need a SYE (it was/is in the works but was not planning on it asap like i will need now) plus at that height i will need upper arms and longer shocks and also now the tires will be pretty small..which walks into wanting bigger tires and jumps into needing a regear sooner than normal....Like i said a downward spiral all because of shackle angle!

I have been seeing some of the companys offering no lift relocation boxs...I may look into those.....
that could solve the problem without throwing everything out of wack trying to figure out that extra 1inch of lift...

 

[NickMaul]

seen http://www.hdoffroadengineering.com...oducts/no-lift-xj-shackle-relocation-brackets ?

 

[chromerunner]

yes..those are one of the few kits on the market that offer no lift..I wonder how much trouble the install is compared to the other ones. As these you have to remove the factory shackle box.

 

[chromerunner]

Started tear down today. Got the whole front suspension removed and inner fender wells removed..
The motor had a nice valve cover leak for years so I decided to take the whole front out for power washing and general clean up/maintenance

 

[chromerunner]

..Its been slow progress. The heat seems to not play well with the Meds im on at the moment...and I tire out quickly. So most work has been in limited hours during the morning before the heat gets to high..but slowly im checking small things off the list and moving forward.

Today was a scary day...remove the bull bar,winch,factory bumper and Cutting the fenders/flares.

The jeep has a total loss title due to hitting something and denting the bumper/bullbar and chiping the grill...I expected to see some damage behind the bumper once i removed it...and here is what i found.

It dosnt look bad in the picture but was a good little crinke. It would have made the jcr bumper install a pain so it had to be fixed...A little bit of heat and misc tools/BFH and it was acceptable..not pretty but it will work

most of the time the flares are in the trash long ago..leaving the plastic on sort of makes this a pain...but this will be a expo rig and not knowing where it may go or what state it may be traveling through it will be nice to have flares and possibly save me a ticket or two..so now to the scary part

chop chop chop...It turned out ok. not to slopy..the pic makes it look like the plastic is jacked (bad angle) but its a stright cut..

 

[chromerunner]

A little more cutting this AM.
Inner fender pinch seam...

Undercoated

 

[chromerunner]

Got the front axle painted and solid cover installed.

Then started to tackle the front suspension..

 

[chromerunner]

Came out a little tall but there is a bumper and winch to add so it should settle some..going to tackle the rear tomorrow

Going to need to order extended brake lines.,,

 

[chromerunner]

Installed the Rear today. It came out way to tall but maybe it will settle and then a little more once i get the rear tire carrier and some weight on it.

Drag stance

 

[mrzack]

Looking good man

 

[BigFish]

very clean

 

[chromerunner]

Winch bumper arrived today. I dont like to say anything bad about JCR because they offer a NICE quality product at a very good price..BUT there ship time is silly. It took 16 work days (mon-fri) to leave there place. Once ups got it in there hands it got here quick so that was a plus but 16 days to build a xj bumper...Come on.
I had plans to go with a tire carrier and sliders from them later in this build but the wait time may be a killer...

Anyways here is some Bumper porn.. Its pouring cats and dogs here so no test fit today..

Very clean with nice lines..they do offer a nice product for the price...

 

[chromerunner]

3rd times the charm...the plan for the bumper was originally silver then changed to semi gloss and finally after a few coats and a few trips to the paint store ended with flat/matte black as it matched the flares the best.

Unibody tie ins are installed and I'm ready to mount the bumper sometime tomorrow.

 

[chromerunner]

Took longer than I thought to mount the bumper. Had a few holes I needed to clearance. All in all it went as plan/expected. I will say that next time I will wait till there is a spare set of hands around the shop. It's a major pain for a solo install.

 

[chromerunner]

Ups man dropped off some bling this am.

1x0.250 Dom tie rod upgrade from Jody Treadway at Jody's 4x4


Got to my door super super fast and it's beef compared to the stock unit. Shipped with moog premium tie rod ends so all I have to do is plug and play pretty much....can't beat that!
Stay tuned for the install.