*The Dude*

Well, after many years and building three XJ's for my boys as they got older, I have finally gotten me one again. My first was a 1987 back in 2000. This one is a cherry 1997 with the armor package. Also has hand crank windows but power mirrors. Also has cruise control and a clean interior. Only 121,000 miles and purrs like a kiten. I alrready ordered a used factory roof rack. Soon will decide on either 3 or 4 1/2 " lift. Not sure yet. I have built both and my old 1987 was 4 1/2. But my sons 3" looks great and handles great with 31" tires. I am thinking of doing the 4 1/2" with 32s again. I'll let you know when I decide.

Stay tuned for the build.

aka"dude"

GreenXJ98

Nice, clean looking XJ man.

*The Dude*

Thanks man. I read through your build thread and yours looks great too. What lift do you think you are at with the different pieces put together.


I am on the fence about the 3 or 4 1/2 " lifts. I am also up in the air about going with 31s or 32s. Back in the day I had my 87 that had the 4 1/1" lift from rustys. I had 32 x 11.5 x 15 Goodyear MTRs. Worked great, but it was the 5 speed and I was always running in 4th because it would bog down like a dog. Also had the 4 banger too so that could have been a big part of it.


My second inline son has a 97 just like mine with the 4.0 that has 265 x 70 x 17s that runs out fine. Those are supposed to be just like a 32 so I am thinking should be fine with the 4.0 and an automatic with the 32s. What do you think? I need to get under the jeep to see what gear set it has, but it feels some where round 3.74.

JandDGreens

Love you jeep, Red is a great color.


The auto tranny usually have axles with 3.55 gears. I also have a 5 spd. like your old XJ, but with the 4.0. I swapped in the axles from a XJ auto tranny (went from 3.07 gears to 3.55 gears), I believe on the road you will be fine with 32" tires. Off road you will do ok also, But I would rather have 4.10's and 32" tires, That would be best for the combo DD/4 wheeling. Since mine is basically for recreational purposes I am planning on going with 4.56 gears and either 32"s or 33"s when I up-grade in the future.

GreenXJ98

I'm at about 4.25 inches of lift.

*The Dude*

Your spot on. I was under it this weekend insuring the NP231 was in good shape and just looked to make sure and confirmed it has the posi 3.55.

I also found out that the reason the cruise was not working was the cable was disconnected. Took it apart and found it was froze up so I ordered a new one and I picked up the rear trim peice that covers the license plate mount because mine was all broke up. It will be nice to have a good looking one since thats the only real flaw in the appearance.

Next will be the rear axle bearings due to a little bearing noise on the drivers side. While I am in there I am going to go ahead a rebuild the axle with all new bearings on the outside and new R&P bearings as well.

That will be a fun Saturday...

I also got the used luggage rack that I am going to instal this Saturday. I will do a write up on installing that in a XJ that didnt originaly come with one. I will take some good pics too.

Thanks again...

*The Dude*

Thanks. Thats what I was thinking. Your Xj looks nice and gives me a lot of motivation looking at it.

*The Dude*

The Dude Does Abide.....

aka"dude"

*The Dude*

I did my first part of the build. I had to replace the rear license plate light cover. The old one was all cracked up and looking bad.

*The Dude*

I also pulled the headliner to repair the drooped one. I am deciding on what to put on it now....maybe something custom looking and with some kewl LED lighting down it to add some outdoor mood lighting when entertaining out in the sticks....(look for the write up on it later)

JandDGreens

My head liner is on my to do list also. I have been looking for some custom headliner material but have not seen much that appeals to me yet.

*The Dude*

Well the headliner is in. I got it off flea bay for $35. It came in rolled up nice and has the 3/16 foam backing and feels nice to the touch. It was easy to apply with the glue I got from the parts house. ($20 a can !!!!) You can see a little imperfection but thats from the old backer board where I tore the old liner out incorectly. I should have skinned it and then used a bruch to remove the particles. But I just tore it all out leaving smal imperfectiosn in the backer that is noticible. But it looks much better and doesn't hang on my head.

*The Dude*

BigRed was also stumbling when cold started. So I decided since I did not know what the PO has done, that I should do a tune up and since the heater was not blowing hot and the temp was not going up like it should I would also flush the heater core and change the thermostat and the antifreeze.

This was what I found when doing the tune up. Did new plugs, wires, cap, and rotor.







Then I got around to flushing the heater core and got this junky water out. A lot of debre came out and it took awhile, but after a bunch of pressure back and forth in both directions it finally came clean. The inlet side was completely stopped up when I tried it first.



I think the PO must have ran this one with plain old water for some time because it took me some time to flush the block. The thermostat was a 160* stat so after I put the 195* original stat back in it has ran perfect and the heater now blows hot as an overn.