1987 turd build, DD camping rig
 

My kids affectionately call it the Turd. I picked it up for $1200. Has a d44 rear and hpd30 front axles and 4.0 auto with 242 t-case. Plan is for a mild build just for fun with the family. Several years ago I built a rock crawler and then the family started coming in and the truggy left. That was 12 yrs ago and now is time for the family fun wagon.

I have been gathering parts as I find deals hope to get started on it when I get back from Ecuador. So far I have picked up a set of jk Willy’s wheels with 285/70r17 Firestone destination MT for $600 for a set of 5.

I found a re6130 lift in unopened box for $700, and 4wd was running a special on the re mono tube shocks for $255 for 4. So far the budget is holding out decent.

At present the interior has been striped and seats sent off to be rebuilt with new Capet on the way. There’s some floorboard rust that I’m working on repairing, but to leave tomorrow and should be back on the 7th.


Here’s some pics so far.

1 the day I picked it up
2 Bedliner on the bottom and some xj decals on the rear

Welcome to CF. Looks like you're off to a good start, I look forward to seeing the build. Any other plans for it?

Also I visited Mena a few times as a kid, there is some pretty country up that way and I'd love to make it back as an adult.

Welcome! nice start to a fun build. I can't say i have ever noticed a gold Xj before. It's different and I like it. Keep it up dude

Yep I agree with everyone else coming along nicely and looking forward to the build process. Subbed for future posts!

long term plans in order are:
1. Regear to 4.88 or 5.13 with true track front and rear. I may go OX locker in the front depending on financial status at the time
2. Bumpers front and rear with winch
3. Roof rack with some led lights
4. Notch flares and possibly 35” tires, but this will be after the 285/70 wear out. They are about 50~75% tread left now.

This will take a long time to finish. ( like they are ever finished) The only reason I’m able to gather all of this up over the last month is because I sold a ural and my old s10. That gave me a real boost of funds. It will be a bit before the regear because I want to do all that at once. The original plan was for just a 3” lift with 31” tires, but the deal on this kit and on the wheels pushed me a little. Basically I’m going bigger for less money except for the regear. Which I would have done anyway when I put the tru trac in.

I like Mena there use to be a lot of wheeling in the area but the greenies shut a lot of it down when the local off road club fazed out. I’m still close to clayton and Poteau Oklahoma

Are those JK take off wheels? They should be 255s (they look small for 285s too). I wouldn't recommend 5.13, the tooth engagement of the 4.88 really makes me question the strength of 5.13s on a D30. Looks like a good platform to start and wishing the best.

They are jk wheels, but the owner went with the 285/70 with 2” spacers. He sold these to me and went custom wheels and 35”. They actually measure 32” but the Firestone site says 32.7

Just got back for Ecuador and took a few pics of the 4x4s there. They mainly drove land cruisers, sidekicks, and samurais. I did see about 4 Cherokees but they were all stock. A few full size Chevys as well.

Got the holes fixed in the floor board. Welded in new 18ga sheet metal and then sealed the weld with JB. The black you see in the pic is rust converter. I used it as a step to stop the current surface rust. Tomorrow I’ll top coat the floor with rust sealer and redo the underneath with undercoating.

JB makes a floor pan seam sealer?

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LOVE the spoiler, I can just imagine the HP boost they're getting out of that. Your planning to put a spoiler on the back of The Turd, right?

I’m sure that put it up to 60hp. That’s a Russian made 4wd car. No spoilers on the turd.

I did get the floor finished up and a good start on putting the interior back together. I did notice some rust under the carpet in the back, so pulled that up and luckily it’s just surface rust. So I’ll coat with rust converter tomorrow

Finished up the passenger area of the xj. Still have the cargo area to do, but at least I can drive it again. It’s my only Car.

Sweet! Sounds like a good plan. I will say that I just put 4.88s in mine with 35's and it's borderline too aggressive as a weekend vehicle. I don't think that I would care for them on a daily driver, much less the 5.13s. That's just my opinion, but it's something that you may consider looking into a little more before you pull the trigger.

According to the calculator I’m using, 4:56 and 35 would be same as stock and I would like mine to be a bit lower geared than what it is now. I have been driving the xj around in 3rd to see if the increased rpms would work for me and so far no issues. Granted we are in different areas and that may make a difference. I’m 80 miles to the nearest city and 90 miles to an interstate. That said the speed limit here is 55 except for the interstate and I don’t drive over about 60. Even with the stock set up I have to shift to drive running through the steeper hills here. Granted if I was driving 80mph much I could see needing less gear. I’m not real sure what will work best for me and don’t want to make a mistake and have to do it over. I would like for 4:56 gears to work just from the tooth engagement standpoint.

What rpms are you running at 60mph? That would give a better idea than a calculator.

Those are the exact same calculations that I ran and the same theory about wanting it just a little lower. Before I say too much, I just order a new speedo gear today, so that should help with the shifting, etc. Once I get that installed I can give a better update.

Looking forward to see what you think when that gets installed. Keep me up to date, I’m very interested

Looking good! I like the color too. Not sure that I've seen any gold models.

I thought about having my seats rebuilt/recovered as well. I've also looked at just buying some better seats and going with that. Can you give me a ballpark figure on recovering seats? I couldn't even venture a guess.

I visited Mena a few times in the 70's and 80's with a friend of mine. Nice country.

The lady in Mena did the seats and refurbished foam for $436 including tax. I went to some cities and they were double that price. It was $250 material and $150 labor.

Not bad at all, thank you sir!

Will keep an eye on your thread, promises to be an awesome build!

Started on the rear this evening. Got one spring and shackle in. It was a bear, I cut the spring eye off and it didn’t help at all. The bolt wasn’t stuck at all just froze up on the nut. Same with the shackle mount. Lots of popping like the socket was skipping but it wasn’t. So I cut a window to get at the weld nut and it wasn’t turning either. It was just the rust on the bolt, I guess.


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Did the cut-off eye rotate with the bolt? Usually the problem is that the bolt is rust-seized to the inside sleeve of the bushing.

Nice what size lift you putting on that? I see some nice tires about to go on that XJ?

The eye rotated freely. You could spin it like a top, no bind at all. On either end

It’s a 4.5 rebuicon express lift.

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nice build. i like renix era xj's and rubicon express lifts, so you've got me interested. and that renix era gold is a nice colour. the new seats look killer too.

but i gotta ask, why in the hell would you sell your Ural? I've always thought about getting one myself, there are a few up here, i've even seen a couple for sale. one day, but with one harley and another on it's way, i don't think the wife will let me have too many. she's good with the seven jeeps i have so far. oh well, buy now and ask for her forgiveness later. lol. once she sees i can ride a bike in 3 feet of snow, she will see why.

Yea I felt the same way till I got one. It run, but just made a horrible sound that wasn’t right. I’ve owned an old airhead and know what a right motor sounds like. I pulled the engine down and the crank was bent had over 30 thousandths run out and the Cylinders were scored from the force of the bent crank. Once I added up the parts it was more money than I wanted to sink into it. Top that off with a friend who just bought a new one, rode it for a few months, and then it was in the shop for months. I just decided it wasn’t for me. If I need a sidecar like that I should just build it out of something more dependable.

My Superglide is a blast to ride and for comfort the Indian Chieftain has it in spades. Bought this xj with cash and decided to get rid of the extra stuff around the house to build the xj up. It will never be what my old Toyota was but should be a good family rig.

nice rides :gunsmilie:

The rear if done so it time to turn the jeep around in the shop and start in the front. Right now I’m stink bug style :)


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Didn’t have much time today but got 3/4 of one side done. This is going to be a lot bigger than I expected, which isn’t bad.
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Wholly smokes look at that rake!!! LOL Looking great though so far can't wait to see the rest. I have a 4.5" RE lift going on mine as well soon. Are you or did you use relocation brackets for the leafs in the rear?

Oh since your doing the RE 4.5" kit did I ask already if you are using the full kit or did you piece it together? Reason I ask is do you have adjustable Lower Control Arms and Upper or all non-adjustable? Like I said the majority of mine is going to be RE 4.5" kit too so I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

I ended up getting the full kit with leaf springs. Got a great deal on it used, in an unopened box. The kit comes with adjustable uppers and fixed lowers. It’s a complete kit minus the sye and driveshaft. Depending on your rust leavels you may need new bolts. You should have a 5/16 and 5/8 drill bits on hand. This kit come with 3.5” lift springs and 1.25” lift shackles which should ride better than just springs, but will interfere with the tail pipe on your exhaust. I’ll just run an extension straight out the back. I would say this is one of the most complete kits on the market. I’m really glad I found this deal ended up paying $700 for it.

Awesome I was going to get the full kit but yea you struck a sweet deal on that kit. I probably will have well over that amount in mine by the time I get all the rest of the pieces I need. I just did it piece by piece so I can mix match some other quality parts.

I was defiantly wondering if you had Adjustable UCA's as so do I but I was also only going to order the non-adjustable ones so if yours is working out well with that setup then I will do that. I have 3.5" rear leaf packs as well and planned to use relocation brackets along with a new shackle.

Were you able to do this kit without extending the brake lines?

It could be done, but not wanting any droop, or unless one is fine with ripping out the OEM lines upon flexing.

You could do it without brake lines the kit comes with new ones. On the front if you reposition the lines you will be good. The axle housing bottoms out on the lower control arms before the brake line has any strain on it. Just remove the mounting bolt and then flex out the suspension and drill the hole where the brake line has room. I haven’t messed with the new lines yet, since the old ones seem frozen. Hope I can get them to break free with out having to do new lines :icon_sad:

For this who may do this same lift there are two items i’ve Changed. Both are on the swaybar disco. First I noticed that the swaybar had slack where it bolted to the aluminum block. The kit comes with a spacer that sits in the swaybar and it was too tall allowing s the bar to move up and down. Grated this xj has over 200,000 miles and the bar could be worn some. I used a washer large enough for the spacer to sit inside of and that took up the extra slack.


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Now on the quick disconnect part I added a washer so pin doesn’t ride against the rubber bushing


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The second side went a lot easier because I knew what had to be done. Hope this may help someone else out.
1. Remove shock
2. Disconnect brake line mount
3. Remove lower control arm
4. Remove sway bar link (mine wasn’t pressed in, normal bolt)
5. Remove spring tie down
6. Lower axle and remove spring
7. Remove upper control arm
Now just put on the new parts starting at 7 and working your way back to 1

I did use a tap to thread the bump stop mount instead of the self tapping bolt


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Tomorrow is the drag link install

She rolls now, not drivable, but moves. Need a new rear driveshaft.


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