sparkplug98

Been a lurker here since I bought my XJ in '12, figured i'd made enough progress with my XJ I should go ahead and make a build thread.

sparkplug98

So I'm young working full time & taking night classes so my build is pretty budget orientated.

My fist car was a 5.0 Fox Mustang that I absolutely loved, had to sell that bcuz of too many tickets
After that I had a '01 Crown Vic Police car that I loved almost as much because having people think youre a cop is a lot of fun. But then you also have to put up with a lot of BS when ppl think your a cop (show up to a party and everyone leaves lol). So I sold that and figured I hadnt gotten into 4x4s yet so I decided I wanted one.

I knew it needed to be dead reliable, simple, relatively cheap, and get better MPG than a full size bronco.

After researching a lot on here and various other forums. I decided on wanting an XJ instead of a wrangler or ZJ.

This is what i started with:
A 2000 Jeep Cherokee Classic, 4.0, AW4, NP242, c8.25, and 179,000 miles.
I over paid on it bcuz I'm the 3rd owner of it and the PO got it from his grandma who bought it new in Missouri. The PO also handed me a folder which had receipts and records of everything that had been done to it since they got it from their grandma who only had it for 5 yrs or so.



The piece on the bumper is a fishing rod holder I made by bolting a couple PVC pipes to a license plate holder that bolted to the bottom of the bumper.

sparkplug98

So the day I brought it home I fell in love with it. The only thing it needed when I bought it was a new rear main seal and a new tstat gasket.

Finally got up with some buddys and took it wheeling for the first time on some open land near where we grew up.






First wheeling trip went great, I was a little nervous as I had no recovery points and I was terrified of getting it stuck.

At the same time I found out my TC linkage was messed up and wouldnt allow me to shift into 4low...

sparkplug98

So I investigated, did a ton of research and found that my stock linkage was either worn out or broken.

At the time, the only aftermarket option to replace the overly complicated OE linkage was Novak's Cable Tcase shifter that looks like this:




So I installed this cable linkage which Novak advertises as compatible with both the NP231 AND NP242.

Turns out the cable was wayyyy too long and didnt solve anything for me. I still was limited to 2HI, 4HI(part time), 4HI (full time) and Neutral (only if I ripped the shifter back hard to force it into neutral).

I called Novak and they couldn't understand why it wouldn't work, kept asking if I installed it right which I did per their instructions.

I got frustrated and just gave up on it.

sparkplug98

So after a while of wheeling once a month when I had time in only 4hi my stock tires started to wear down. I picked up a set of 235/75/16 Michelin cross terrains off craigslist for 180 with maybe 10k miles on them.

I thought it was great


Drove it like this for a while before I started hanging with some friends who had some real Jeeps:

sparkplug98

So after trying to keep up with my friends I decided I really needed to do something about my TC linkage. Around this time, FST had just begun building direct heim joint adjustable linkage kits.

This is similar to what mine looked like. Unfortunately I cannot find FST's website anymore to give anyone who's interested a link.




Here is mine currently, all nice and dirty from wheeling:

sparkplug98

So I cant give anything but praise to FST for the linkage I have, shifts like butter into every position.

Around this time I decided some extra lights would look cool. So I did some research on different forums and decided that a Walmart light bar would be in my budget.


4 55 watt lights using my own wiring harness using 12 guage wire (overkill I know) to two 20(IIRC) amp switches by my tranny shifter to two 25 amp fuse holders and then ran direct to the battery.


Also around this time I learned that the rear sway bar is pretty much useless on XJs... So out it went

sparkplug98

Also around this time, as I was still pretty new to Jeeps I thought my front wheels out of balance was "death wobble" so I did the typical noob upgrade and replaced my steering stabilizer


Around this time I also trimmed my front splitter off as well as ordered C4X4 tow hook brackets and tow hooks.

(sorry for the potato phone camera quality, this was before I got my new phone)



Such beefy goodness
Progress pic of install:

sparkplug98

After the tow hooks I realized I needed some rear recovery ntm it wouldnt hurt to be able to tow stuff so I threw on a rear tow hitch unfortunately no pics of how much of a ***** those rear weld nuts are.

Also hit 200k around this time and in those 21k miles was only stranded once for a dead battery and starter motor

sparkplug98

After that I thought I wanted my spare tire mounted on my roof to give me more room in my trunk so I picked this up off craigslist:



Had some fun at work in the snow too

sparkplug98

I was becoming Buffalo Bill and was looking at lift kits every day at this point and learning to covet.
So I went with Zone Offroad's 2" budget boost
-2" coil spacer
-2" lift full length AAL
-nitro shocks all around

progress pic on my buddy's lift




Post lift pic:

Not the best pic but you can see my serious rake from my front sway bar still being on the rig ntm the rear leafs hadnt settled together yet

sparkplug98

I quickly figured out that my stock track bar just wasnt gonna cut it. My front axle was about 2-3 inches off center towards the drivers side.

So i picked up a JKS adjustable track bar which can adjust from 1"-3.5" lift which should work for me for the next few stages of the build




The difference afterwards was absolutely insane. Aligning it was kinda tedious but well worth having the front end tighter than a nun

sparkplug98

Thats all I have for now, I'll add more later. I know this seems like a slow, boring build but unlike Obamacare, it'll get better I promise

brandon.

sparkplug98