91Laredo

Hello all,
Jake here. Might as well begin at the beginning. My first vehicle was a 1996 Ford Ranger 2WD that i saved up to buy from a neighbor for $500. Anyways, as fun of a truck as it was, i really wanted a Cherokee. The ranger needed a clutch, so i saved the 200 bucks for the clutch kit, installed it myself (legitimately) and sold the ranger for 1300. Found this XJ on craigslist a month and a half later for 1400, but talked the guy down to 1100 since its a Search And Rescue rig.

Anyway, heres a pic of it on 7/25/08, the day i got it.


As soon as i pulled in, and turned the wheel, i noticed a grand smokeshow coming from underneath the hood. I immediately shut it off and popped the hood to find that the power steering hoses doubled as "Super soakers" and that the pump was nearly shot. After a trip to Auto Zone for a new pump and hoses, I was set.

I was going to leave it stock, but then I saw all the potential this little thing had after realizing that my stock DD could become as cool as my fathers SaR rig.
(95 XJ, Custom front/rear 1/4 inch steel tube bumpers. Custom fabricated roof rack, 10,000 LB winch, a million lights and strobes, Custom fabricated Diamond Plate armor, 4.5" Rough Country lift and 32x11.5 BFG A/Ts)



Anyways, I decided to try to take a stock wheeling trip after I removed the side rails and the stupid mud flaps.



Relized that stock vehicles are not very good at wheeling. I only made 1 hill climb.

SO...
Thusly, i bummed a 2" rough country lift off of my dad.

Snapped a pic real quick.






And here's after the lift, in my front yard.



Then, i bought a set of 30x9.5 BFG A/Ts from my friend for $200

I decided to take a wheeling trip one day, and kissed a tree with the drivers side of the bumper, bending it in a little bit and then bending the air dam mounts, as well as the fender flares. It goes without saying that the grinding wheel came out.

Heres a pic with one side of the flares cut even with the endcap, as well as with the BFGs.


And the grinding didnt stop until it it looked like this next picture. After the air dam and fender flares were chopped, i had a SaR buddy make me some vynil lettering for my truck. Heres a pic with both of those things done.



So needless to say, I took a trip to Ocean Shores to go wheeling.





Got A little flex for being pretty much stock.

Anyways, got home and picked up a brushguard for $25 from an antique store, that came with big jon deere floodlights. Decided that i needed to take the stock trail lights and bumper caps off.

Took a little trailing trip with a friend and heres what it looks like today.



Will put up some pics of the brusguard and lights when I get them mounted. Thanks for tuning in. Soon to be on is a Rough Country 3" Lift and the brushguard. Stay tuned!

mobilecherokee4

nice lookin jeep man! cant wait to see the brush guard, wish i could have gotten mine for that much haha

91Laredo

Haha yeah, i really lucked out. Had to sand and respray light covers and the brushguard itself. Just gotta weld up some brackets for it. Thanks a lot man!

offroadnut36

nice jeep dude!

91Laredo

Thanks a lot! I really like the look of the Laredos, theres just something a little different about them from a regular XJ.

91Laredo

So here are the pics of the day I got the Brushguard. I had one of my good friends/wheeling buddies hold the brushguard up so i could step back and take the pics.







SO

Then i got home and cleaned it up. After 3 coats of rustoleum black paint on the brushguard and light covers, here it what it looks like today.




Check it out and let me know if you think it was worth the $25. I just gotta figure out how to mount it :/

Drewdertuder

wow u did great cleaning that brushguard up

mobilecherokee4

dude that looks great! heck yeah it was worth $25! goood luck mountin it it will look sick

91Laredo

Thanks a lot guys! If you guys have any suggestions on how to mount or about anything else you think would be good let me know!

mobilecherokee4

well lookin at those mount holes on the brush guard you might can cut a hole on each side of your bumpper and weld it to the unibody behind the bumper and under the bumper, just a suggestion maybe it will help with some ideas

91Laredo

Sounds like a good idea! I'll get outside tomorrow and take a look at how i could possibly do that. Thanks so much!

mobilecherokee4

no prob man

mobilecherokee4

heres what mine looks like, this was before my 4.5 lift and 33's. but thas the bumper and brush guard i got

91Laredo

Wow, that looks really good, thats what I want mine to look like. I gotta cut into my bumper i think though, it doesnt seat properly and i gotta weld it to something since my brushguard wasnt designed for a cherokee.

mobilecherokee4

yeah but it will look got once you get it fabbed up and stuff