The "Jeep Jeep"
 

Well been on her for a bit and its time for a build thread. My "Jeep Jeep" is a 1999 Cherokee classic 4.0 AW4 HP30 8.25 with 208,000 miles on the clock and increasing daily. I purchased my jeep up in Burien from a rich couple with 176,000 miles with a stack of receipts from dealer for all the work done since it was out of warranty. They where asking $2500 for it and I got it for $1800. It has no oil leaks and has been most reliable rig I've owned yet.

This is the 3rd jeep I've owned, first was 89 xj sport stock height on 32x11.5s, second was 98 wrongler 4" lift on 32x11.5s. Now I would have preferred a green or white jeep but the only color I can afford is red. As all 3 jeeps I've owned where red.

Little about me, names John. Everyone calls me little John as I'm a short Irish prick. I've been working on cars my whole life, mostly Mopars. I'm a machinist at a company that builds some of the best waterjet machines around

Okay now here is a few pics since that is all you guys want to see anyways.

Here is earliest pic I have. It was stock when I got it but this pic has a 2" spacer/shackle lift and stock 235/75-15s on it

Welcome! Nice XJ

Next up was to get some mud tires on it. Got me a set of rubi take offs with a set of 245/75-16 (30.5x10.5/16). I gotta say if you are starting out these are some killer tires that are tough. And I went through 3 sets of these tires before selling them for my current km2s. They cleared the budget boost with minor trimming.

Next thing I got was some used 3.5" coils for $30 and whipped up a bastard pack. Rear sat a tad lower but I rocked it like that through many trails. Then I trimmed my fenders and raised my stock flares up 1.5"s.

Drove it for awhile then scored a set of jk shocks for $40 that only had 300 miles on em. I replaced every sensor on the motor after a few trips through some deep mud.

Next step was a set of shackle relocation brackets and bought a extra set of front doors off of MudderXJ for $150 I believe. It lifted back up about 1-1/4"s now my already too short jk shocks where even shorter so I built some 2.5" body side shock extetions for the rear. Now the rear drives so smooth and flexes so good I can easily max out a set of 12" travel shocks

Okay so about month and half ago a finally sold my mt/R's. I gotta say I was so nervous to get away from such a tough proven tire but my kms I got for cheap seem to be doing real good. I sold 6 of the Mtrs and 4 rubi rims for $300 and used a set of craigslist 16x8 w/4.25 backspace ions I got new in the box for $130 and throw on a set of craigslist km2's for $220. They are 285/75-16's. I then threw on some 1" spacers on top of my 3.5" coils. So I'm sitting 4.5 in the front and 4.75 in the rear. My front shocks don't give me much down travel now I gotta say. Jeep wheels great but shocks are in dire need of replacing. Next thing in purchased a spartan locker new for $255 off amazon and it was super easy to install and the Jeep Jeep just climbs up just about anything. So we are just about current on where jeep is now.

Here are a few pics from my last few trips to little naches.

Another good pic

One of my favorite pics

So far what I got for the jeep and modified/made currently

Unknown rail mount rack $(came with jeep)
Window vent shades (Ebay)$40
K/N air filter $50
16x8 4.25 bs (cl) ion rims $130
3.5" lift (cl) coil springs $30
1" coil spacer(Ebay) $20
JK (ebay) shocks $40
285/75-16 x5 (cl) BFG KM2's $220
Spartan locker (Amazon.com) $255
Front rugged ridge formed floor mats (Quadratrec.com) $60
1/4" thick black rubber mat for cargo are $Free
Shackle relocation kit and front doors (cherokeeForum find) to make half doors from $150
Bastard pack $Free
Raised stock flares and used heavy duty zip ties to hold on better $Free
Pioneer deck (WalFart) $109
2.5" Rear shock extensions $Free

This is right after I got wheels/tires out on but before the front 1" spacers

One of the things that really got me motivated was one day I realized the jeep I helped my mom get and fix was a bit bigger and nicer. She has a 1998 xj classic 5.5" lift with 33/12.5-15 KM1's. And I was still sitting on 3.5" lift and 30.5" tires.

Here is a side by side of that.

Nice looking jeep!

looks good.. i hope to put all the lift parts sitting in my garage on my cherokee to do the oregon trail

Thanks for compliments. My interior is the only real nice thing about jeep. Pics hide the trail pin stripes and dents.

I got a pair of black smittybilt seat storage covers coming.

Smittybilt storage seat covers came in, pics to follow after I get off work. :cheers::cheers:

A few play pics from naches trip this weekend. My tires are load range E and I had them aired down to 12lbs in the front and 11lbs in the rear and I've had good sidewall flex offroad. But in the rocks my sidewalls were wrinkled all the way to the bead on this climb. I was not using much throttle.

A few more. The flame red 99 is my Buddy Jon's. Oddly enough we have same name and both red 99 xj's.

So I had the smittybuilt seat covers on and this last trip was in the upper 80s all weekend. Now the one consistent bad review on these seat covers is the material doesn't breath and it is definitely true. I thought it wouldn't be to bad and it is. My girl and me both after just a hour of trail riding had soaked backs. So the storage is great but the seat cover section has got to go.

No progress on mine but I got a new roof rack for my moms jeep. Got the rack for $75 off craigslist and the bushwacker flares for $80 off craigslist too. Her wheels and tires I got 5rims and 5 33x12.5 km's at 85-90% tread for $200. And jeep was $2000. It came with a 3.5" lift and we added 2" spacer and shackles to it for a total of 5.5"s of lift. I think we paid $75 for the extra 2" budget boost we added. So we got a total of $2430 plus tune up stuff. Can't beat that :grin:

Couple more wheeling pics of the jeep jeep out at naches.

After work going to pick up a set of 35" km2's. Well they are actually 315/75/16s. So any locals interested in my current rubber I have 5 km2s in the 33.1" diameter with lots of tread for 16" rims

Here are pics of new used $300 rubbers :cheers:

Jeep Jeep all cleaned up and ready for some 35's. I'll be re-gearing here at the end of the year. I want to run 4.88's but I hear allot of people saying the pinion gets small (weaker) but I'm not really wanting to run 4:56 either. If I'm gonna re gear I want the steepest gear I can get (4.88).

I just put my new axles with 4.56 gears under my XJ a few weeks ago, and as of Saturday, I'm on 35's now. It's not too bad, but 4.88 might give you a bit more when driving on pavement. I'm more concerned with reliability on the trails & not concerned with Blacktop performance though.

You rig looks great, keep it up. Nice wheelin Picts too.

Thanks for the complement. Yeah I would rather have a good balance of trail reliability and on road performance. But if it's a negligible difference between ratio as far as strength I'll do 4.88.

Im looking forward to having these mounted. Im curious to see what a extra inch of ground clearance does, a extra 6lbs of tire on each corner, and I wheel in low range if there is a lot of climbing to help my trans from working to hard so I'm interested to see if there is a huge loss of torque.

I'l be going with 4.88's I think I'm just gonna spend the extra cash on a quality set of gears and have em cyro'd for the Dana 30.

Got the 35's mounted.
First pic is 33's

Couple poser shots.

Last couple pics got my Oregonian friend keep my rig for teetering. My jk shocks have a whopping 8" of travel. They are getting swapped for some 13" travel craigslist specials today. Then my stock control arms will be next on the list before I hit some trail again. I've got to trim my flares some more up front too. I'm getting some craigslist bushwacker today too but I don't think I'll use them on this jeep. I was over changing heater core in is 2000 wj. Oh what fun.

Just got a line on some limited doors that are same color as mine. Now I can make some half doors for the back too and replace my banged up ****.

Well i got my 35's for $300 and I paid $220 for the 5 33" tires I had on here and within an hour had them sold for $260 so I got my 35" tires basically for the cost of mounting them up which was $150. Now if I could just find some adjustable lower control arms..

Got my craigslist shocks on. The fronts are only 10" of travel so I'm better off than I was but I'll be swapping those for some with more travel later. The rears are 13" of travel and my jeep had no problems maxing those out in droop. I decided to throw on the bushwhaker flares until I finish my tube flares/fender armor. I only got the fronts on. Pics later today

Not too fond of these big things but they where cheap and they just stay till I get my flares/armor built. Still need to get backs on. The flares will be up for sale on here in next month or two. So any one interested they are not perfect but I'll let em go cheap. Make me offer. I'd actually rather sell and not put on back ones as you have to cut quite a bit to install them.

Thats a nice toy you have

Thanks for complement. Here is a little better shot of front flares

nice thread you got a better deal then i . and i drove to burien a few times looking at xj's, on one the carpet looked to be alive and molded into the floor board .every jeep i looked at smelled bad in some way haha, what do you type into cl to find parts i havent found anything after market yet, is edgewood in federal way

I type in jeep, xj jeep, wj jeep, tj jeep, zj jeep, offroad, cherokee, wagoneer, xj, rubicon, also try miss spelling cherokee. Comanche. Cherokee -grand works good when looking for a cherokee and tired of having grand come up. But the real thing that allows me to find the deals is I have all day every day at my job to search craigslist. Deals go within the first 10hrs or less. You just gotta look every day. If there is anything your looking for let me know. I got the time and could help you out.

Also if your looking for a jeep there is a 97 for $600 on craigslist and it looks clean and runs drives.

thats a great price is it still on there, mine starts ruff when cold has a little lifter tick but good power, exhaust has a stronger odar than it should, havent checked codes, my last 99 xj ran fine untill we had it scanned then it had a co2 proublem jeep couldnt fix, said they could maybe fix it for 1200 more
thinking i should try to find for wheeling
drive lines- starter- alternator- e fan-fuses relays, anything more i should seek
cleaner seats
and gota get a spare! how would i do with a smaller spare tire just to get back on the the street from trails? i got 33's maybe a 31 so it can fit easy in the back
need a truss or lca skids, i have a 90amp flux core harbor.f. welder or should i try to find someone with a mig on here or cl

wana get a locking box to protect tools and gear that takes years to collect
had them stolen before, thinking a wood box with good hardware ,a plastic one reinforced, steel but would add weight

maybe this how easy would it be to open with just a flathead or a big rock