88Dutchman

Hey all.
Just wanted to say hello.
Here is my Jeep. I've had it for nearly 10 years now. Me and my family call him Norman. He's always around to get you there, not in any hurry but he'll get you there.


When I first bought him I installed a 4.5" lift that included new leaf springs. The old suspension was a bit tired so it needed replacing anyway.
However any tweaks seemed to end there for the next 7 or so years as he was just used mainly for winter driving or as an overall work horse hawling home improvement supplies and such.


My daughter started to drive it during her senior year and it went into what I call hyper accelerated aging due to overall teenage neglect. I did not have the hart to watch ol Norman head for the junk yard so the teenage abuse ceased after a just a couple of months of her driving it.


As I started to clean him up again is when I started to get the whole 4x4 itch. It all started out going to the junk yards and Craig's list to get this and that to fix all the little stuff. Then as with all the other cars I have owned in the past, everything started sliding down the slope faster and faster.


Before I knew it old Norman took on a whole new life.


I found a ready to bolt in Ford 8.8 axle with 4.10 gears that I could not pass up along with a front Dana 30 XJ axle. The front axle was bent but I did take it because it had the same gearing as the rear Ford 8.8 so I had the gears installed in my existing front axle. When I had that done I replaced all ball joint's, hub axle bearings and got upgraded stronger Dana 30 axles and U joints.


Other external tweaks include the Bushwhacker Fenders, off road lights, roof rack, custom fab front and rear bumpers along with swing out full size tire carrier.


Engine compartment updates include going to a 95 and newer cooling system and Cold Air intake. Also I recently installed a brand new distributor, cap, rotor, wires and coil.
Done just this weekend was installing a new brake booster, master cylinder, braded brake lines, new front calipers and rotors and brake pads.


The interior was cleaned up as well making sure everything works along with new front seats and full rubber front and rear floor mats.


I think that's it.....for now.


Anyway, here are some pictures of Norman.

dogger15

Welcome. The Colorado are isnt as active as it use to be on this forum. Naxja has a lot more activity. There is also a group of us on facebook. If you are on there search Xj Colorado. There is about 200 members on there.

cruiser54

Nice resurrection from a teenager's Jeep!!

Amphibole

Looks awesome. Hoping to resurrect mine in similar way.

cliffpenick

Nice looking jeep. I'm in westminster also. maybe we could go wheeling some time.

88Dutchman

Absolutely. Next chance I get I'll see if we can meet up. Doing a lot of spring preventative maintenance on the Jeep right now.