jay_sco

Being both broke and frugal, I'm always looking for deals!
Simple yet effective is pretty much the theme with this XJ. Not looking to reinvent the wheel, just want to get the wheel dirty and back home in one piece.

jay_sco

What's worse than a build thread with no building?!?! A lot actually, but it's still not cool.
I guess this can be considered progress, however minimal.
Got new ZJ steering parts! Are those wheels on my hood? Are those dumbbells on the wheels? Yes. Since I can't drive it yet (still waiting on trackbar) I'm limited on how to settle the suspension before torquing everything.

Battle

Nice settle method. I just let mine sit for a week while I traveled for work. I hate you for that deal on those tires. Truck looks awesome with those Canyons too.

The wait you're experiencing for that track bar is worth it. Easily one of the best mods I've ever installed.

jay_sco

Mine had been just sitting for at least a week, and didn't appear to have settled at all. Of course I never measured so I have no idea. Just from a couple days with the extra weight it looks like it has gone down slightly.
Thanks for the hate, let's me know it was a good deal! And I hope the wait is worth it, seems like it's taking forever! Any day now....

jay_sco

Ok! New stuff installed, steering stabilizer, track bar, ZJ tie rod

Jeep's first poser shots! It's so cute, thinks it's a off-road monster now!



Making a noise, posting vid in the "help me, I'm a noob" section.

jay_sco

Tracked the noise to the transfer case. Wasn't making any sound pre-lift so I'm guessing it's related. Doing a ghetto fab TC drop sometime this week. Probably get about 3/4" drop from it. Hopefully that "fixes" it,if so I'll fix it right later.
Pics to come.

In the meantime, here's a pic of some tire rub!

jay_sco

Thank god for ingenuity. Not me, other people's ingenuity that inspires me! Here's my 2 stage TC drop (the 2 stage is my idea!). With two big square nuts stacked it's about 7/8" drop. The plan is once the suspension settles I can take one off cutting the drop by half.
The noise is gone! Problem solved!

StuckBuck

That's a cool idea. I think I'd want something with more surface area but other than that I like it.

jay_sco

Well thank you! 1/2"x 2" solid stock would have been much better and if I had more time to play in the machine shop I would have gone that route, and I probably will soon. Today was busy at work and I just had time to raid the warehouse.
This was pretty much a trial run to see if this was the problem or not.

Picked my son up from class and took the long way home, through the construction site. Took pretty good dirt inclines with ease and had fun in the mud! Lady at the store liked it all mudded up. Jeep's first compliment!

StuckBuck

I love it when random people give you compliments. Like I get complemented all the time at the gas station, always brightens up your day!

93_xjcherokee

Looking good. I couldn't be happier with my red labels. Just be careful on rocks. The labels are literally glued on and mine are coming off from rock scuffs

jay_sco

Yup. I take pride in my rides so it does make your day when someone recognizes the greatness!

As long as the rocks don't make it through the sidewall I'm good.


As stated, the nut spacers for the TC drop was a very temporary thing just to see if that's what was needed. Had a few minutes to burn in the shop so I made these. 3/4" thick steel. Why the extra holes??? Because race car.

TFitzPat87

Nice build! What track bar did you go with? Is that a drop bracket, or stock size, just made for a double sheer?

jay_sco

Thanks. I went with the IRO double shear kit which includes the bracket. http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/10215.html
Haven't had a chance to really test it out but from the looks of it and just toying around it seems more than adequate for my needs. Highly recommended by folks on this forum.

TFitzPat87

Nice, how close does it come to your diff? I hear that with just 3 or 3.5" (I'm at 3.5") the drop bracket put the track bar pretty close the diff.