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I picked up a 99 xj 4.0 5 speed for 800 bucks with rusted out brake lines and floors but it sounded ok and the price was more than ok for me.
Also had rusted out power steering lines...
I bought this to build a cheap(ish) 1 ton mj looking chop top. leaf springs on all 4 corners cause i like leaf springs and theyre cheap.
4 inch yj procomp springs up front, 6 inch xj skyjacker springs in back
Picked up a semi float dana 60 with a lsd and 4.88 gears for 250$
found a 14 bolt full floater for 200$ so i picked that up and sold the 60 (made 50$ so i got lucky there) also found a dodge dana 60 front cad axle for 50$ so i grabbed that.
kept the drums the guy had just replaced the shoes and springs so thats fine by me. (opel gt in the garage is another project that seems to get nowhere)
The keyway that holds the bearing retainer nut on the 14bolt gave me hell, i ended up drilling it out and making a new one.
got a mj tailgate locally for free (guy had 3 laying in his yard) latches work and everything so thats good.
tore down the rear and welded up the center chunk.
painted knuckles and drums while things were apart.
stripped down the front 60, new ball joints, 5.38 gears
made a football helmet diff guard thing, idk i like it.
more paint, new seals, re gear and the rear is done.
chromoly CAD delete kit for the dodge 60.
made an inverted T steering.
ordered 25 ft of brake line to redo everything from the distribution block back.
slapped the dodge axle back together.
quick power wash
cut some angle iron for a front cross member to mount spring hangers. measure once cut twice right. im not an amazing welder but good enough for me.
this will be in my yard until its part of the earth if anyone wants it in NY area. the 29 spline 8.25 is going under my miata with slicks so that wont be for sale.
the pictures speak for themselves, just building brackets and measuring/checking over and over. i actually like making the little parts. At first i used the lower control arm mounts to hang the front springs, but you will see that changes later.
Mock up of front Re used stock rear pads On its own weight Put a drill bit through my finger Paused to paint my girlfriends yj Put another drill bit through another finger mounting her rock sliders, they ended up saving her tub recently so it's ok I guess Another pause cause my dad bought a pile of jeep that needed everything Girlfriends jeep and her miata, (we both have a jeep and a miata) coincidence? Finishing up my dads jeep did a new 4 inch lift new floors new leds and paint (i'm ok with a rattle can) Custom cheapo ebay lights for dad Mock up Done with these little wranglers back to my jeepTook my girlfriend to vegas for her 21st stopped at 4wd to look around. I would never buy a pre built bumper those things were more than my jeep was Back to cleaning the garage Good enough Found a ford hp super duty Dana 60 for 450$ so out with the dodge and in with more gears, joints, seals and the welder. This one is manual hubs so the spiders are welded with a 1/4" plate in the center, I don't have a pic but you can imagine a welded diff with a plate in there How I wrote down measurements Fixed the little kink that happened when I cut the wrong spot on my front x member More precise measurements This is how I remembered where to put the holes on the new brackets to keep the wheelbase even, it's stretched forward as far as I could with stock steering box. Wheelbase ended up at 111" in the end. Lining things up with incredible precision Perfect.. for me Springs are straight ish. That's probably fine Spring mounts I made to outboard the springs in order to fit the super duty spring pad width Hate working in the dark but it is what it is Much better 3/16 stiffeners front to back, these are the cheapest ones I could find 300$ for all 6 panels 1/4" bracing Scrap bracing Stuck it on rollers to keep the big tires in my garage Made Ram 2500 adjustable control arms for my girlfriends dads 5" lift Then my girlfriend wants 1 tons too She got a semi float 14 bolt for 100$ not bad And a 97 f350 Dana 60 4.10s and welded for her too This is all cause she asked me to do an 8.8 rear and I told her 1tons will be just as much work so she jumped on it Back to my jeep again got the rear in Cut more fenders because why not Made my own brake lines 30" an SS lines with adapters to standard brake line fittings so replacement lines are only 14$ not bad. I made the little clip thing too that mounts it to the frame Started a front bumper because i didn't know if I wanted to chop it into a 2 door quite yet. Steel was free so that's what I used Winch plate cut up and gussetted Finished building my miata engine so now I'm more focused on getting the jeep done This is how it stands currently I will take better pics of how I did the bed. It's all 1/8" no rear tubs 5' bed with functional tail gate Filled in the corners above the tail lights Here's my girlfriends yj with the mtrs on h2 wheels, much narrower. I have her 16x11 beadlocks with tsl swampers and tractor tubes inside.
Things to finish:
patching pass rear corner, mount hydro steer (already tapped the box and have the ram/lines), traction bar, shocks, body work, exo cage, winch, lights, paint (camo) test drive and fix things that aren't right.
swap out t case (I hack n tapped mine and used a 97 f350 front drive shaft with a 65 vette yoke, ujoints fit and the length was perfect.) but when I moved the jeep it made horrible sounds in 4hi and one hub locked. It also clunks when idling so I'll just swap it with one out of the pile in my garage.
another thing is the blinkers, they blink a few times then just stop.. no matter what. I'll be posting here I guess to find out what's going on with that. I'll get some more/better pics up her soon
So ... just to be clear, I take it you're doing a couple simple mods to this XJ?
WOW! Cool build thread! You're fearless.
Question, with the rust in the unibody, are you doing an exoskeleton, roll cage, re-framing, whatever to stiffen it all up?
yea just a few bolt ons... lol but the unibody was straight and no rust anywhere just the floors and brake lines rotted. I welded in new pans and plated the whole unibody from the front bumper to the back, plus the 1/8" plate that the bed is made out of adds a ton of rigidity. The cage will tie in to the frame in 8 locations. That's actually my next project. I use the old sand trick to bend hrew tubing with my 90$ pipe bender.
Made a rear bumper. It's just a cut up smittybuilt bumper for a yj I had laying in the yard. Here's how I rigged up the tailgate/chain/latch. And filled in the missing corner where the hatch used to be Just bent some bolts to fit in the latch, works great
Worked more on the bumper today, bent the hoop around the grill. I use a harbor freight pipe bender to bend 1.75 hrew tubing. Fill the tube with sand first and no problems. Eyeballed the angled piece Almost identical, the second side is always harder because you have to match the first side. I used 1" black pipe for the slants to save on tubing I only have 90' of tubing for the cage so scraps will be used wherever possible.
12-07-2017, 12:42 PM
99 cheromanche 4 to 2 door
