RyanHardin1

Picked up this '96 XJ about three months ago for $3,200 on Craigslist. Probably the best purchase I've ever made! It was already pretty well modded when I got it with a 6" Iron Rock Long Arm lift kit and tilted rear axle. I especially loved the 33" mud terrains that were on it in really good condition. This is it when I bought it in Cedar City, Utah:



The guy I bought it from was kind enough to tow it all the way down to me in Ivin's, Utah after we met up with him up there and paid for it.

This is it in my backyard:



After I fixed the clutch slave cylinder and clutch master cylinder all I had to do was get replacement drivers side mirror and tailight, fix the front side marker light, get a new headlight bezel, and rip off the window tint up front (it was too dark I guess). After it was registered I took it out on the trails almost every day for about a week straight. Now my buddy in his YJ and I go wheeling regularly. Some pics from the trails:





I've just recently started doing some upgrades with it. I'm not made of money though and I'm still only in high school so nothing major. Picked up some Hella 500 fog lights for the front bumper:



They give a really wide spread of light for good visibility off to the side in front of you. Pretty sure you can use them on the road as well (not sure though).

The next step was a sick roof rack of course. I was going camping with some friends so I finally decided to pick one up for the trip. I found out though that racks can run anywhere from $300 to $800 dollars and almost no racks were the 4' x 6' that I wanted. So I decided that I could just make one myself for under $100. All the piping was only about $75 and the rest went to fasteners, a metal cutting miter saw blade (which got torn to shreds on our last cut), couplings, and 1/8" steel plate. I got some help from a friend who had all the right tools and we put the whole thing together over two days. This is the bottom frame:



And the finished rack:



Mounted it up to check the fit before the paint went on:



And all painted and mounted:



All thats left to do is make 4 more mounting brackets out of the rest of the steel plate to get a total of 8 to carry more weight and make the whole thing a lot more secure. Also I'm going to get some lights thrown up top; 4 in the front (probably Hella 500 driving lights) and 2 in the back (probably some Hella 550's). Overall I'm really pleased with how the rack turned out and so is just about everyone else who sees it. Keep in mind that it was built for under $100 and we didn't weld any of it. It's a lot easier than it may seem.

Anyway thats it! Let me know what you think. I'm way excited to get out there and test out the rack's carrying abilities on the trails. Also if you're young like me then don't let that hold you back if you want to build your own XJ. It's been going smoothly for me so far and has been a ton of fun for me and my friends.