thetastelingers

Hello and welcome to this XJ Journal.

I've been 4wheelin' for years. Started out with a K5 blazer that I got from my dad in my late teens. Wheeled it at a local mountain every weekend for years. About ten years later, I sold it and took a break from wheelin' while my wife was in College.
Came back with a YJ on tons after she graduated. Wheeled it for a couple of years until my son arrived, then sold it to spend time with my family.



When he turned 4, I picked up a really nice TJ on 35s long armed, locked with an Atlas 2 speed Transfer case.



Ended up selling this Jeep last year to pay off some bills.
I got the bug to be in the woods again, so I started looking. I thought I wanted an FJ80. Read up a good bit on them and went to drive one. It drove fine, but didn't really click with me, so I decided against getting one.
Got home that night and started looking again. I couldn't find a TJ in my price range that was nice, so I remember seeing this Cherokee that was pretty nice. Talked to the guy and loaded up the trailer and headed to LaGrange, GA to look at it and possibly bring it home.

It ended up being nicer than I thought it would be, so I came home with it.



The interior is almost immaculate. 66k miles on the body. Stock Engine, Auto Tranny and transfer case.

Dana44 front 5.13 gears, Yukon grizzly full locker, nitro chromo shafts, nitro Excalibur joints.Clayton truss, ballistic fab coils and lower control arm mounts, Rusty's long arm cross member with ruff stuff long arms, all dom and heim steering with psc hydro assist. Ruff stuff diff cover, warn premium hubs, bilstein shocks.

Dana60 Rear 5.13 gears and Yukon grizzly full locker, disc brakes, ox solid diff cover

There has already been some 2x6 tube cut into the body under the doors. They need to be tied into the frame stiffeners.
Front fiberglass baja fenders. Maybe they will last a while.
ARB front bumper with Warn 8k winch.

37" Pro comp MT2 tires on 17" wheels.










I did receive a spare and a warn swing out tire carrier with it, but the tire carrier is damaged, so I'll have to repair that before mounting that.

After I got it home, I looked around it looking for weak spots. I went ahead and put a water pump, belt, hoses and thermostat in it, so I wouldn't worry about any of that. Changed the oil with some synthetic and changed the filter with a wix unit.
Had to order a firestick and spring for the CB, put LED interior lights in, swapped out the Alpine unit for my Pioneer unit to play the ipod. Ordered some weather tech mats to help preserve the carpet.

It had a vibration in the rear when I got it that I knew about when I purchased it. Come to find out, the Pinion nut on the rear end was loose. I tightened it up, but I think the bearings may be shot. I'll have to drop the cover and do some inspecting. I am going to get the driveshaft checked for balance while I am at it. It looks a bit beat on.

We've got a wheelin' spot on the mountain I live on, so I took it on a shakedown run a couple of weekends ago. It did well. I need to get it on some more difficult terrain, so I can see where it needs improvement.







The Hydro assist is weird to drive with. The steering is heavy and doesn't want to center. Not sure if that is a characteristic of the assist or if that can be fixed.

thetastelingers

Plans in no certain order.

Repair the rear end/vibration
Repair Tire swing out and install.
Atlas II transfer case - (The case in my TJ ruined me LOL)
Replace the ARB bumper with a JCR unit like @jeepology is putting on his with the BWE Comp winch mount. I freaking love that setup. The ARB hangs pretty low and it's a pretty heavy unit.
Find a solution for a parking brake setup on the Dana60.
Brace the rock sliders to the frame
Gas tank skid plate
LED Headlights of some sort.

I'm sure I will be adding to this list, but so far that's it.

Hope to add to this journal and take part in this forum.

Thanks
LOTS of armor. I want to keep this jeep as nice as I can.

tinytrax78

my hydro assist was like that too i ended up running a smaller pulley to overdrive the pump to get it more stock like feel . nice jeep man ,welcome to the dark side

thetastelingers

Good to know. Thanks for the information.
Guessing if you are overdriving the pump, you added a cooler?

TX RamRod

Beautiful Jeep, it looks like it's been done right. I'm looking forward to following this one.

If you're looking for suggestions on lights, I picked up these Truck-lite knock offs on Amazon for a quarter of the price. I've been extremely pleased with them so far. They don't heat up to defrost like the others do (if that's a factor).

thetastelingers

Thanks for the props.

I had some trucklites on my TJ and never thought of them being able to melt the snow while I drove until it happened. HAHA!

XJwonders

Nice jeep, and nice score.

unidentifiedbomb

Looks great! For my 2x6s I ran 2x3 3/16" angled supports to tie them into my stiffeners.

thetastelingers

I was thinking of something similar.
I like the tube you have on the slider as well. Anything to keep the trees and rocks further away from the body.

Thanks!

adriaanvn99

Jeep looks real good, seems like it was properly setup. Looking forward to your build

unidentifiedbomb

Thank you, yea I really like having the tube there for the extra protection and added foot support when getting in/out

tinytrax78

no cooler...... yet but in the plans , i also need a external trans cooler my 34/10.50/15 bias ply swampers are giving my trans a workout

thetastelingers

I had a bit of time last night to get under the Jeep and look at it.
Pulled the rear cover off and inspected everything. Nothing looks bad. Gear pattern looks good. Bearings rotate freely.
Oil looked great as well. VERY impressed with the OX Locker rear cover. You can see the CNC cuts on the inside of it.

Pulled the driveshaft out. I'm going to replace all the U-joints in the unit and take it to Chattanooga driveline and have them check to make sure it is balanced.
There is also a grease zerk that was torn off on some rocks at the slip joint. Going to get that replaced.



ALSO, look at this!!! I don't think this was doing anything for the flex on the hangers. The long bolt was keeping it from rolling back. It was this way on both sides.



Pretty hard to get to the bolt, so I cut it with a sawzall. If I ever have to remove the bolt, it'll clean the threads as it is removed.
You can even see where it was creating an indention in the metal.

thetastelingers

Where would you go about finding a smaller diameter pulley? Aftermarket item?

Pinkyman

Beautiful Jeep you scored there!

Do you have any close up pics of the rear cut fenders? It looks like it goes above the pinch seam, but it looks super clean!