99 Ohio Expedition Rig
 

First off this build has been in progress for the past 2 years, but I have pics of what Ive done so far and as you all know.... a Jeep build is NEVER done!

I bought my XJ 2 years ago with a near mint 47,000 miles on it. I searched for almost a year and a half before I found what I wanted, a low mileage 99 that ended up being only 2 hours away from me! Ill post a before pic of when I first bought it and then go in order of the mods I did up until today (which I just ordered JCR rear 1/4 armor about 20 minutes ago)

Here she was when I first got her:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/9924593853/

More pictures! More info! Lol

I knew I wanted an expedition type rig because I do a lot of camping/hunting/fishing so I added a Rough Country Series II 3 inch lift and then put some iOn Alloy 171 15x8 wheels with Federal Couragia 31x10.50 tires on.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7427/9...77e51334_z.jpg

After I added that I knew I needed a little help with my steering so I got a RE Steering Stabilizer.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5323/9...9014e488_z.jpg

Definitely need to see where you have gone with it!

Oh Ive got tons of pictures lol Im just trying to remember the order of what I did and going thru all my pics. Its gonna be a late night

What part of Ohio you from?

I drove it like that for a month or so and decided I needed to trim the front fenders because I had minor rubbing on full turn.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3820/9...308194fb_z.jpg

I knew eventually the 3" lift alone wouldnt be enough because I had minor sag in the rear, so I ordered RC adjustable shackles along with a set of TeraFlex coil spacers for the front.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2813/9...24a232e5_z.jpg

The Shackles were a you know what to put on. I fought with them for a few hours before white flagging and buying an air hammer for assistance :surrender:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5448/9...ef5cdd8b_z.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3795/9...70f0df8f_z.jpg

In the last pic I had them set on the lower setting, I ended up moving the bolt down to get more lift.

Millersburg

As everyone knows lights are a problem. I swapped out my stock lights for some Silverstars and ordered some IPF lights for my front bumper. I made my own tabs and welded them on.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2823/9...cac53fcb_z.jpg

Here they are when they came in and then mounted (My woman sent me the pic when Mr Brown truck dropped em off)

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2872/9...637ca25a_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7360/9...0cfb4b93_z.jpg

Ok after all I did I decided it was roof rack time. I needed more room for hunting/camping gear and I sure as heck wasnt spending a butt load on a rack so I decided to make my own. Basically I made it over the winter on days I got off work early, My boss was cool and let me pick a spot in the shop to work on it. In a nutshell here it is from start to finish:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/9991274135/http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/9991009695/http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/9991018444/
Pretty close to being done now, just adding some middle bracing to strap things too
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/9991027875/http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/9991036764/I used JCR Offroad gutter mounts and welded them to my rack to mount to my XJ. Overall I was pleased with the rack other than the fact it was heavy as all hell. Its no longer in the same configuration but that will come later in the build. Here it is mounted on my Jeep.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/9991191233/
How I park at work :thumbup:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/9991137746/

Random fun in my Moms woods (50 acres to have fun on... when its not Deer season :gun_bandana:)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/9991100635/

Next thing I did was a cowl induction. It was easy since I have an SE with no ABS to route around. I got a slight difference in gas mileage, usually 4-5 more mpg, but obviously when the 1 ton roof rack was off I got more around the 7-8 mpg.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7303/9...2bbd1c98_z.jpg

I also rewired my old fog lights and turned them into back up lights. Even tho they are cheapy lights they were a huge jump over the stock back up lights. :batman:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2861/9...eb194df4_z.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2872/9...bb097c52_z.jpg

I ended up taking my front bumper ends off as well.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3808/9...f07a90b0_z.jpg

Next thing on my list happened because I was in too much of a hurry and broke about 3 bolts on each of the fender flares so when I wanted to rehang them they didnt snug up. :oops:
I just took all the flares off and painted the lips along with the lower 1/4 of my XJ with bed liner. I used DupliColor bed liner after trying out 3-4 different brands. Its been on for over a year now and has worked great.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2853/9...69161171_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5519/9...fb69e809_z.jpg

Nothing big, but I mounted a fire extinguisher to my spare tire mount
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/10002214236/http://www.flickr.com/photos/unruinable/10002158584/

Well were pretty close to where I am right now, 2 months ago I put a JCR front bumper on. I was happy with it, the look I love.... just needed a little bit of massaging to get some holes to line up. I also got the Uni tie in brackets and beefed up steering spacer and just did it all at the same time.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3783/1...d5aeba94_z.jpg

I ended up painting it with the bed liner black and its held up well!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7423/9...5df3b245_z.jpg

It took me a few hours to get it all lined up and mounted since I was working alone, my fiance (who was 8 months pregnant at the time) ended up giving me a lil help when the curse words flew the most :brickwall:
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3696/9...3733f670_z.jpg

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