XJ Stryker

Well I had this thread on here for awhile but accidentally deleted it yesterday

Thanks for all the previous comments and as always if you have any questions about this build feel free to PM me or comment on this thread.


I bought my first Cherokee this past Feb. I did most of my wheeling in my youth with a Bronco II. Which I loved, after it I had a 98 Chevy Blazer ! Not a great vehicle for trails just mediocre.

I picked up a Jeep Commander about 2 years ago and LOVE IT. But too expensive to wheel

So after extensive craigslist searching I found my Jeep. Guy wanted a 1000 after negotiating i still paid a thousand but got him to deliver it to me from Cincinnati.

Here she is when I got her It was a mess. Wasn't driveable due to Bald tires and bad water pump.











The guy drove it off the trailer and Right in too my Garage so I knew it would start and move when I got it which was a .

XJ Stryker

Once the Jeep was in the Garage I got too work. Tore the old water pump out and thermostat. Cleaned some of the engine compartment out.



Had some rust issues I wasn't prepared for. I thought it would be a simple fix till I started poking the floor with a screwdriver. UGH!!!

Pulled seats out working my way to get the carpet out. The torque screws were a PIA for the seat belts.




Got the carpet out and decided to take a break to CRY OMG the rust.

XJ Stryker

Well after a lil crying and swearing i got out the ole angle grinder and dremel. Tried grinding alot of it a way initially but then just went to cutting as the rust was pretty bad.

XJ Stryker

Once I got the holes cut out I went to work looking for sheet metal. I don't have a welder so I got a rivet gun and some drill bits and went to work popriveting new floor in. I sealed it with RTV and put in a lot of rivets. Painted to protect from rust while i figured out what to do next.







I sprayed alot of rubberized undercoating underneat to help protect from future rust also. And used about 4 tubes of RTV sealing up as best I could. I did however forget to put drainplug back in place. May be a future mod when i get motivated enough too pull the seats and carpet back out.

XJ Stryker

So I let me floor sit for a lil while and continued with my attempt to make this a worth DD/trail ride. Drained the old diff fluid, tranny + filter, t-case. Most of the fluid seemed pretty clean no metal shavings.

D30


D44


Grinded the rust off the diff covers and repainted


Reinstalled


Had huge problems with the Tranny, I don't think I will ever do the filters my self again. Drain plug would not come out. So I had to pop it loose full of oil, Couldn't get the dipstick free so I had to weasel that out of there. Just and altogether PIA.

Some how this sucker wouldn't come out but doesnt leak so Oh well

XJ Stryker

Finally finished putting the Tranny all back together.

Restarted the engine to fill it up with tranny fluid well I was holding the brake like you are supposed to and all of a sudden my floor goes to the floor.

SO a B what now!!! Well rust had decided to finally eat through my brake lines. Some new 3/16th from auto zone and I was ready to roll... well stop!!! lol



So made my 25th trip to autozone, They actually recommended compression fitting and me being a mechanic knew better but hate flaring tools so I used them . Made it a simple fix and have still yet to fail and they have been tested.



Decided to finally finish my floor decided to go with some RhinoLining

XJ Stryker

Decided to finally finish my floor decided to go with some RhinoLining well actually Plasticoat from walmart. Perty good stuff and cheaper also.

First had to finish the last hole. (ran out of sheet metal) Found some old license plate and my buddy had just installed hood vents so combo of those too gave me enough.



Now it is time to line it

Prep work is the most important here. I sanded and grinded all the paint i put in there and started rolling it on.



3 coats up front and 2 in the back before i ran out. This stuff is great.

XJ Stryker

So I finally found some matching tires on Craigslist got all four on rims for 250 bucks and made me a lil trip to pull-a-part. Got a few lil engine items front Skid, side mirror

Tires








Installed new JY mirror



5 dollar engine skid


Finished up with the Engine now. I thought

XJ Stryker

Found me a new bumper since the front one was rusted through. Lil more expensive at 50 bucks for a JY one. But no rust and it shined up nice.



Trimmed


Installed

XJ Stryker

Was having problems with windows not really working well. And I have read some where that XJ's have ground issues so I took out my nasty main ground cable and replaced it with some heavy duty Stryker Ground cable. Jeep loved it everything worked better.



Will finish this build thread here in a lil while

finneys98xj

Nice work!

jeepride

Jeep is coming along good work

BlueXJ

No fair using Stryker parts on your Jeep. That will tend to make it bulletproof. Can you hear the ENVY coming out?

JustinG

Looks nice, but man when I first saw that rust I about **** my pants. That would **** me off, since I am assuming you are spending more than $1k on just fixing it.

XJ Stryker

Time to get that nasty Hitch off. If you can't tell by the pic there isnt much left of the hitch it is rusted through. I broke 2 of the weld nuts on the nut strip so I had to get the dremel and grinder out to get them off another PIA to get. Had to use the Dremel on the 2nd one cause there was no way to get to it with the grinder. There are TWO irritating Torque screws right in the center. If you own an 87 forget about trying to reef on them. Might as well cut them out also as I did.