So I am feeling pretty dumb for buying this thing, flame on me if you want, I still want to build it but what was I thinking? Oh yeah the couple hundred bucks it cost, for my first car, an XJ. I totally missed so much inspecting it, but I was expecting rust and problems so I didn't look too hard. Anyways, here's what I got going on and maybe you can suggest something or maybe you can suggest me scraping it, IDK what to do honestly.

TO THE ACTUAL QUESTION:

Should I replace my sway bar? Where can I find one if so? The links obviously need replacement. If it was driven this way much could I be in for a lot more problems? What about the wood blocks? WTF is that? Any ideas why the hell someone would do that, only thing I can come up with is some ghetto way to make it look raised or something?



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Any way you could get a better picture from the top to see that wood? i would guess some sort of bumpstop extender?... idk. Your sway bar is fine just get new unibody rail bushings and endlinks.

 

You are a beautiful friend for making me not feel like a complete fool hahaha. I will get better pics, it's night time so that's about the best I can do now. When I go back out I'll try and see if I can shoot a better one.

 

Is the block of wood loose in there or is it attached to something? I don't see how that would help anything except making the bumpstop travel less.. hmm very puzzling

 

my guess... the 2x4 might be there to prop up a weak spring and level out the ride.

 

It is on both sides though. Pics in a second... So you think that it is to level it with the rear end? Should I just replace the springs right away? Wire brush and paint everything with rust?



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Your sway bar looks fine with only a little bit of surface rust that you could take off with a wire wheel and repaint. You might want to replace your end links though, they only go for $20 each. As for the wood block, it's probably to level it out as others have said.

 

That's not rust, you can clean it up and rust paint it no problem. As for the wood blocks, loose em fast! If you are going for fresh front springs, Napa #277-5360 coils for V8 Grand Cherokee ($120 pair) will fit in and give you 1.5" lift over stock right out of the box. Will ride stiffer, you can still use the stock shock. Other than that your in good shape.

 

jy v8s a lot cheaper

 

I suspect the wood blocks were just added to raise the front end. IIRC, someone made aluminum "spring spreaders" to do the same thing back in the '70s.

 

Squigles, you don't say where you are from, but I have a set of stock springs, sway bar links and sway bar bushings I will send you if you want to pay the shipping. Another idea is to go to a pull-it-yourself salvage yard and get a set of ZJ V8 front coils. Probably about $25 a pair and a little time and grunt. You can likely find the other parts at the SY too. Beyond that, a wire brush and Rustoleum works wonders.

I'm laughing a bit over the wood blocks. Somebody's wacky idea. XJs are pretty resilient to abuse.

 

IMO any time we can get a jeep for few hundreds that's a good deal. Appears as the PO had some hard landings. May want to check engine and trans mounts too.

 

Just regular ZJ coils will work for 1.5" of lift or do they have to be up country ZJ coils?

 

Sorry for my ignorance, PO? I was planning on replacing the engine and trans mounts. With a hoist is it something I could handle (i am mechanically inclined, just never worked on cars much) obviously with someone who know what they were doing. Can I pull the enginee and trans at the same time and do both? Or do I have to pull the engine apart from the trans. Again sorry for my ignorance.

 

PO= previous owner

http://www.naxja.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1010882

There's a decent link about the mounts!