Budget...what budget....(build).
 

Well here goes yet another build thread. I've been looking at buying a Cherokee for close to a year as a toy for my son and I. We found this beauty:


http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...0531101039.jpg

This thing had all the items listed in my sig already installed. I have several plans for add ons and changes.

First I traded for a Warn 10000# winch that will fit in the front bumper.

I have a new Tom Woods front drive shaft on order. (original shaft shot).

I have the square tubing purchased to build the roof rack and, I also have a 4"x4" tube to build a back bumper.

I found one of the nice wheels cracked so that gives me and excuse to purchase some nice black wheels :thumbsup:.

Some more long term projects include:

Fender trim and flares.
Lights ( lot's of 'em )
Replace shackle and add a leaf rear lift with some real springs.

Any way here goes......

sounds like an awesome plan! good plan to do a lot of do it your self fabrication with your son! cant wait to see those build threads on the bumpers and roof racks in the fabrication threads!!

I got my 10,000# Warn winch today. I was going to install it when I discovered the "winch ready" ARB bumper will have to come off in order to get the winch up into it's very tight space. Now this project is on hold untill the air conditioned shop is cleared out, it's HOT in S.E. Texas.

Here's the winch:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...y21/Winch1.jpg


...and here's the limited space it has to fit in:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...21/WINCH-1.jpg

Nice!
I m noticing a lot of S E Texans doing the Father/Son project here lately. I live in Houston myself.

Yes, it's gonna be great, he's fired up about it.

I've noticed a lot of XJer's from our area, I might try to make the monthly round up I've read about on here.

Well with my heavy work load right now things are slow going, however, I did get my "woody" driveshaft installed and made a test run with it. Now I'll have to wash it before I put it back in the shop again.
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...0703101042.jpg
It was fun anyway!!

Looks like a great start for any project, but especially a father and son project!!

Nice project! Have fun with your son on it.

Looks pretty good as is. What are the specs on it? Type of lift? Tires? Etc.?

Red jeeps are getting very popular on this forum :icon_rolleyes:

YEP

Looks nice. How much lift is that and what is the black accents on roof and the area below the doors?

Well we finally found time to work on the XJ. After some carefull measuring we determined the Warn winch will not fit inside the bumper after all. It would require some major re-fabing on the bumper. I decided to mount it on top of the bumper which will keep it up out of the mud and water.

Here is a picture of the bumper before we started:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...forebumper.jpg

The middle bar with the light mounts on it had to go, break out the plasma cutter. Now the winch will fit in between the uprights on the bumper:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...y21/mockup.jpg

The mounting hole on the winch body were hanging off of the front of the bumper so I welded a 1/4" angle to the bumper to extend the mounting pad:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...1/newmount.jpg

Next I marked the holes and drilled them, I also re-enforced the underside of the bumper where the winch sits with a 1/4" plate that reaches between the bumper to body mounts. This will keep the winch from twisting off of the top of the bumper:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...llcomplete.jpg

I added the lights and the fairlead and now it is ready to wire. that will be the next project.

A couple of weeks ago I had my son choose between several different wheel styles that he might like on our XJ. Today I suprised him with the ones he chose:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...1/newwheel.jpg

I think we will put some 33x12.50 mudders on these and sell the 32 BFG A/T's. I post pictures when we get them on.

looks like a great project for you and your son also nice fab work on the bumper