Jallen9

I bought this jeep about a month ago, and I'd like to start a thread to get some advice and help with technical issues. I'll probably ask a lot of questions because I'm new to jeeps, cherokees, and the off-road world.

Specs -

2000 Jeep cherokee sport
AW4 tranny
C8.25 rear, D30 front
150K miles
3" rough country lift with control arms and new leafs
31" tires on stock 15" wheels

Plans for the future -

NV3550 swap
adding a few factory options (leather seats, fog lights) and a decent stereo
Dent and paint repair
265/75r16 tires
16" ATX Mojave teflon wheels
detroit truetrac LSD front and rear
either a stroker or a GM L33 aluminum 5.3L swap


My goal is to build a daily driven Cherokee that gets fairly good gas mileage, is capable on rough trails (no rock crawling), and is pretty fast (mid 14's), limited by the unibody, transmission, etc.

Unibody - how much power can the unibody handle, stock? With unibody reinforcement? With a cage, or other reinforcement? suggestions?

I'm running on a grad student budget. I donate plasma for mods, which gets me ~$55/week. I'm also going to spend some money on creature comforts like a new stereo, leather seats, etc. These mods are a long ways off, and I owe about $700 on, well, the cruise control, overhead console, and lift (priorities!) that I bought already

O yeah, before I forget!



soon after I lifted it.

edit - i made a few changes. i think an NV3550 is a better choice than the NSG370, so i'm saving up for that instead. Also, i forgot that it's a 2000 and not a 2001. I used to have an '01 honda accord and I think i got confused.

Kamaran

Why do you want a 6 speed? Any reason you don't want a Ax15? I see the 6speed as a plus & minus! The first gear is short, but that'll help with crawling! Not rock crawling but like crawling along trails! The minus would be that I keep hearing those 6 speeds are trash and to not mess with them! Idk how true it is but thats the rumors!

31's and 3.55's is back to the stock ratio..actually its slightly better! So if you swapped in a manual and kept your 3.55's gear ratio thats in your axles you would be fine! Now 4.10s are nice but not needed in my eyes!
You want my advice? Keep the 3.55's swap in a manual trans! And get a rubicon transfer..the NP241. Thats my exact plan.
The reason being is the 3.55's will give me stock gearing & the NP241 will give me the 4.1 crawl ratio in my transfer case! So I'll have a great crawl ratio while still keeping close to stock gearing to keep the gas mileage up since its my daily driver!

Nice jeep by the way!

Jallen9

The biggest reason i like the NSG370 is because it's a 6 speed. I just have a thing for 6 speed trannies. I figure the range in gearing will allow me to run shorter rear end gears, still have a low 1st gears and have a high OD. I'm kind of nice really concerned with it handling lots and lots of power. I figure I'll use a fairly mild engine, like the L33, and not worry about making gobs of power.

O yeah, I do have another questions!

So I did the 3 inch RC lift. Is there anything I need to do to protect my suspension? I know that once you go over 3 inches, then you have to start extending your control arms and doing SYEs and stuff. Is there anything else I need to do? I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I like to have everything complete before I move on to the next step, which is an NV3550 swap. Thanks for the input! It is a nice jeep, it just needs a paint job (on an off-road vehicle? pppffffttt, i know).

I feel like I should explain this somewhere. I originally was looking into using a 5.2 or 5.9 magnum from the ZJ, or maybe a hemi or something. I figure if I'm doing to do an engine swap, I might as well keep it in the family. A lot of people swap GM engines into toyotas, and it just seemed soulless to me to just slap some engine in there just because the numbers added up better. However, when I started adding up the numbers, it seemed like a better idea to use a GM aluminum V8. It would be more expensive than a stroker, but they're newer and lighter (a LOT lighter), they get better mileage and have plenty of power. I can put some heavy duty bumpers and sliders and unibody stiffeners on there, too, if I want. Originally I am a GM guy, and I know a fair amount about GM engines. It doesn't matter so much because I won't be modifying it anyways, though.

Jallen9

anyone? I feel like there's some driveline vibration, but i'm not sure where it's coming from. i don't think it was there before the lift.

just_jeepin

hey man, sweet jeep and it sounds like you got some bada** plans for it. I wanna put cruise control on mine too but have no idea how to....any help?

Fai1ureByDesign

I wouldn't think you would need a SYE with 3inches of lift but it may be the driveshaft after all. Every jeep will have slight differences. But my guess is driveshaft or maybe even something like ball joints

customzj73

Provo huh? I'm in springville, nice plans hope you have a big wallet. Why are you wanting to make a cherokee out of all vehicles fast? IMO its not a great base to start off of. But kudos to you, I personally would swap in an 8.8 if you plan on that much horsepower with 33's and a heavy foot. Dana 30 SHOULD be fine,if you want to ensure the life of it then buy some chromos.

Jor2010dan

Hey I'm in sandy. I'm buttoning up my stroker if you wanna come see if you want to go that route

Jallen9

i think i'm cutting down the scope of my project a whole lot. i think i'm going to stick with 31" tires and not swap out axles or do fender flares. I hate to say it, but the whole thing will be mostly a DD (mall crawler?). It's pretty capable right now. I'd still like to do the whole drivetrain swap thing. i'm not going to do anyting to the engine, though. Also, I don't want to do an NP242. i like those, but, i'm trying to narrow things down.

I read that even a 3" lift can give you vibrations, especially with an auto trans and C8.25.

Oh yeah, i went to five mile pass last night and did some off roading and shooting and stuff. man that jeep handles those trails pretty well! I am thoroughly impressed with it.

I'd like to see the stroker. that would be cool, let me know dude.

Jor2010dan

You've been bitten by the Jeep bug, so youll wanna keep going at some point. Haha me, I'm less than two months from going on a mission and I'm doing the stroker

Visit pirate4x4 if you need some incentive to build something awesome.

Pm your number and ill text ya when its all done. There's a good machine shop in town too. 900 for everything but pistons and the crank!

Jallen9

man when i was 2 months home from the mission i was driving a 2wd 93 mazda b2200. i loved that truck but it wasn't any good off road. now i'm 10 years home almost and i'm definitely bit. i'll send you my #.

Jallen9

how do you know if you need an SYE or not? I'm only lifted 3" with 31s. I have the AW4. it vibrates a little bit from 25-30 and then at highway speeds, but it's not bad at all. Is that normal, or from the lift?

Jor2010dan

Could be a U-joint as well.
2 birds one stone = IRO Sye and driveshaft. 250.

Been running good for 6 months

When I did my buddies lift (2001) at 3 inches, His had a vibe till we did his T case drop. You can do that, but honestly its a bandaid and you'll wear motor mounts out quicker

at that speed its SYE or Ujoints.

Jallen9

well, my t case is leaking anyways. might as well do a sye while i'm at it.

Jallen9

well, looks i'm saving up for a that tranny swap now. I'll rebuild the Tcase and do an SYE all at the same time. From the research i've done, the NSG370 should physically use all the stock mounts, master/slave cylinder, etc. The only differences will be the CPS sensor, which can be relocated to the harmonic balancer with a kit from either hesco or advanced adapters. Also, the reverse switch will have to be spliced in to the stock harness. I believe I can use a manual ECU or jump the park switch if I use the auto one. I'd like to keep it as factory as possible so i'll probably just get the manual ECU.

So, I need to pay off ~$1000 and then save up about $2500 for everything else, just to be safe. That puts me at about... a year from now if I save all of my plasma money. yay.... :-/