My 88 XJ, Gumby

eXJunkie

eXJunkie

Gumby
Joined
Aug 26, 2012
Location
Charlotte
A couple years ago i picked up an 88 XJ. I always wanted to build one but never thought I would take it this far... I bought it with a 4.5" lift ant an aussie locker in the front. The first mod I made was a Warn8274 a poor mans bumper and some heavy ass 34" ltbs.View attachment 64213
This picture was taken the day before I decided that I wasnt goin wheelin EVER again until i built it right.
I not going to bore you with the long story about how when I hit the first mud hole, there was so much water it crushed the air filter and hydro locked the motor... got it goin again and broke an inner and outer axle and a lower ball joint. WITH A RENIX 4.0 WTF? I made a decision and stuck with it.
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The first mod I made was a long arm swap and long travel shocks. Then I decided that 30 seconds for the oil pressure to go up was a little bit too long. I put a H.O. 4.0 in and put some power to those tires, which lead me to my next problem... the turdy-five, that was next
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4.56s grizzly locker and 30 spline cromos
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then realized that the hp30 wasnt going to cut it. and set up a waggy 44
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I havent wheeled it yet and cant wait to. headed to URE this weekend. It took way longer to build this thing than these few pics... blood sweat and tears wont even come close to explaining it...
 
eXJunkie said:
more pics later, I have the attention span of a 5 year old...
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That's a really nice setup in the front dude, looks very expensive but very rigid!!!
hey, roundabout how much for this waggy 44 front set up to bolt in, I know you put tons of hours into the mounts and such so what would that cost to have done, or how far from bolting in are the waggy 44. i might have some XJ parts sold so instead of upgrading breaks, probably be better to upgrade to 44 finally..
 
88jeepster said:
That's a really nice setup in the front dude, looks very expensive but very rigid!!!
hey, roundabout how much for this waggy 44 front set up to bolt in, I know you put tons of hours into the mounts and such so what would that cost to have done, or how far from bolting in are the waggy 44. i might have some XJ parts sold so instead of upgrading breaks, probably be better to upgrade to 44 finally..
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Very rigid and pretty pricy too. you could get a 44 in an xj for alot less than this one, but it still aint gunna be cheap. I used a T&T truss on the front and it had all the HD control arm mounts integrated, i got the steering from ECGS and track bar kit from Ruffstuff specialties. Im afraid to put the cost down becaue of the overwhelming urge to gouge out my own eyeballs.

Because of the overwhelming cost, I had to buy a few parts here, few parts there and when I finally had everything I pulled the pin on the swap. This truck is my DD so I had to do this build in phases. It was a ton, I mean a TON of work. I will find out next weekend if it paid off.
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yeah i was afraid of that. would a junkyard waggy front 44 bolt in mostly without too much work or still require a lot of fabbing and money
 
eXJunkie said:
You goin? I just moved here and I dont know anybody to go wheelin with.
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Ill be at the jamboree but not to wheel, my dd is not really and trail rig and my trail rig is months from completion. Best thing honestly is come to the jamboree and talk to some people and see if you can tag along with a group that's gonna hit the trails. Most if the guys you meet in this sport are very friendly, it will really surprise at how 4x4 people are around here if you've never been exposed to them.


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88jeepster said:
yeah i was afraid of that. would a junkyard waggy front 44 bolt in mostly without too much work or still require a lot of fabbing and money
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It will require work, I'm pretty sure you can buy all the brackets that need to be welded onto the axle to bolt in. Be prepared to modify things though. Steering would be easy, just get Chevy one ton tre and som Dom tube and inserts.


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thanks I am definitely going to start looking for one at the junkyard and start picking up brackets and such. Now without being much of a fab guy or never doing anything outside of XJ stock diff. work, this swap is doable for regular Jeep Joe whose used to that? or would this require someone like Hcore4x4,Aaron, to do for me? I'd like to learn but don't want to screw up first 44 install either...
 
88jeepster said:
yeah i was afraid of that. would a junkyard waggy front 44 bolt in mostly without too much work or still require a lot of fabbing and money
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78-79 f150 front D44 & radius arms, rear ford 9" this is the easiest swap on a Cherokee...

Don't want to hijack this thread, start a thread in the tech section. you will get all kinds of advice on this swap.

Great looking build!
 
88jeepster said:
thanks I am definitely going to start looking for one at the junkyard and start picking up brackets and such. Now without being much of a fab guy or never doing anything outside of XJ stock diff. work, this swap is doable for regular Jeep Joe whose used to that? or would this require someone like Hcore4x4,Aaron, to do for me? I'd like to learn but don't want to screw up first 44 install either...
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You will for sure need some fab skills, this is the first rig I have ever put together. As long as you do your research first, you should be ok. If you need help let me know. I know a guy that dist did a waggy swap in an XJ.
 
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