scaifenater

After years of driving a full size truck into the woods I started researching and looking into vehicles I could build into the perfect hunting rigs cause full sized trucks suck in the woods IMO. I stumbled into the world of xjs. I was looking for a vehicle that was affordable, customizable, and would never let me down on all the forest roads. Seemed like the xj was the answer.
After stalking craigslist for six months and looking over a billion xjs, I found her.
Here she is, Millie the xj....aka the high life...aka the champaign of jeeps.




She has 133k miles and all she really needed where some new shoes (which really gives me an excuse to start building right away).
First thing I did (after basic tune up crap) was paint the wheels.
All I did was remove the hub cap, clean them up real good and sand them down real good. I did 3-4 coats of matte black then 3-4 coats of matte clear finish. I thought they turned out pretty good. Before:



After:



I also picked up rustys 3" AAL lift, steering stabilizer and sway bar disconnect. I am fortunate to have an awesome brother who is a kick a$$ mechanic and has an awesome shop full of every tool you can think of. Needless to say, I relied on his skills and experience to get this all done. What would have taken me days alone, we got done in a few hours. Here are some pics.



















We dropped off the wheels at the local tire shop and they mounted the 31x10.5r15 cooper st maxx on the wheels while we finished the lift. Here are the after pics:











Next up will be bumpers and maybe some interior mods. I will also post up some pics once I get her into the woods.
Thnx for checking out my build!

JeepaholicNinja

Looks awesome! Nice and clean and a less common color!

scaifenater

Yeah. I love the color, hence the name! Not one you see very often

aka"dude"

nice start man, love that color

scaifenater

Got a rack from a buddy for next to nothing. It was a little faded and had some rust damage.







Nothin a little jb weld and paint couldn't fix.



After some paint and installed:




I like the idea of always having a shovel and axe on me when I'm in the woods and attaching them to the rack seemed like a good idea. Well after browsing the information super highway for mounts for a shovel and axe I only found some going anywhere from 30$ to 100$ dollars which seems stupid to pay so much for some cheap clips. There had to be another way. After a trip to lowes I figured it out. Clips for fencing to connect two poles together:




When I got home I soaked them in vinegar to remove the galvanization and painted them to match the rack.
I replaced the nut it came with with a wing but for ease of operation and here you go:








And all done:

GreenXJ98

Beautiful Jeep man! Looks great with the black rims and new tires. Keep up the good work.

Themrjsmitty

Good idea for the shovel and axe mounts. May have to steal that from ya.

BrawnyDog

Subbed

scaifenater

So I was out screwing around town today and swung by a yard sale and found this;




The guy was only asking 30$ soooooo done! I figure that even if it doesn't work out I can probably scrap it and get my money back.
So I need some ideas....how should I paint this? I was thinking either doing what I've done to my rims and rack (it seems to have held up well) or maybe a bedliner paint. What are your thoughts? Any ideas? Also I need to put some recovery attachments on it. Any ideas for that? Thnx guys for reading and your ideas!

Cheddarnut

How about some spears with heads or maybe weld on a rack to display your victims...oh wait sorry. After looking at the pic I went all mad max road warrior. Probably just do the d rings and paint it black.

scaifenater

I'm digging that idea! Always gotta be ready for the apocalypse!

scaifenater

Ended up just painting and mounting it. I will end up putting some d rings on later.








Still need a winch. I ended having to relocate the horns and the vacuum reservoir and trim up the plastic cover.

GreenXJ98

Dude, that bumper is nice as all get out for $30. Great find.