Looking good Tommy. One other thing you might want to consider are some mini-skids on the front lower control arm mounts. Any muffler shop should be able to weld those on.

 

Good word. What do you think of these from Currie?

 

Thanks Tony for the advice on trimming another inch-or-two from the backside of the front wheel openings. Decided it was about time to finally fold that inner fender seam while I was at it. Didn't get pictures after I cleaned it up with a flap disc. I'll do that tonight after I paint. We have a New Year's Day Jeep run with Midwest Jeep Thing, so have to get it all done before then!



Cut that sharp corner off the bumper too.

 

That's what the instructions say to do for the flares I installed. Looks good and no worries about rubbing there now.

If those are the factory brake lines you might want to think about switching those out too. I used ones from a YJ. They bolt right on and are a few inches longer.

Yep, those or the JKS ones should work for you.

 

Serious Offroad has the JKS plates. Think I'll go that route and save a few.

Ha! Ya, brake lines are a definite necessity. After I posted that pic and saw the brake lines, I figured someone would notice. Thanks for letting me know on the YJ ones!

 

No problem! I love building other people's jeeps behind the keyboard. Lol. You can use the YJ one for the rear too, all bolt on replacements.

 

Love the build... reminds me of Tim's first jeep before the MJ and the now YJ

 

I really like the CB antenna mount I picked up from fellow CF member thatXJguy. Here's the thread to order your own.

 

It's been a while since we added to the build thread. Since the last post, we added a JKU to the fleet, so the XJ is now exclusively our daughter's DD/trail rig. She's wheeled it solo on two runs as of this post, and continues to amaze us & others in the club with how well she does. (it helps knowing daddy will fix it if it breaks! haha)

That being said, the XJ got it's first significant battle scar during the last trail day. Passenger fender took a shot. Here's the YouTube of when it happened and a description of what happened. If you watch close, you can see the trim go flying off to the side.

 

Took the fender off, did some shade tree hammer & dolly work, then covered up the mess with bed liner. Although it makes painters cringe, I stuck with my garage method of roughing with 80 grit, cleaning up all the dust, then rattle can a few coats of cheap Ace Rust Stop satin black, then Dupli-Color truck bed coating.









Looks kinda cruddy with the wheels all dirty, but you get the idea.

 

Turns out that last trail run did more damage than I thought. Floorboard/rocker/pinch seam all took a good shot under the p/s toward the center.

In other words, time for rock sliders. RK Kustoms has been helping out local Jeepers for a while now. (check out their Facebook page) From the work I've seen at local runs, it's really tough stuff that looks great and serves its purpose on the trail. They hadn't worked up XJ rails yet though, so our XJ was the first. They now have a jig done so they can keep cranking them out.

We pick it up tonight! Here are pics RK sent over.

 

Regarding the antenna mount.... It's definitely a slick setup, but not too trail worthy for tight fits, unless you're running a pretty soft spring. The mount and/or the 3' Firestik catches on trees now and then, and it's bent back the bracket a few times now, which then starts scraping on the edge of the hatch door.

Sorry to hammer on the mount, but it is what it is. If you don't trail where there's a lot of tight fits, then you'll be good to go. Otherwise, I'd suggest mounting it at the front or rear. I'm going to fab up a bracket and drill it straight to the hatch towards the middle, leaving about a foot above the roof line.

 

Looking awesome!