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Well here goes nothing! I've done my first big job to the Jeep. I figure it was time I kicked this off!
My Jeep:
1998 Cherokee Sport 4.0 2WD Auto converted to 4WD
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Bedliner inwtall:
I started this 2 day project of getting my rust prevention going.
I started with this:
Pulled the door trim off hit sll the glue with a 3M eraser wheel from Napa and some 3m adhesive remover.
After a wash and all the work was done. After hitting it with a hose to see what was glue and what was dirt. All the dirty paint underneath Side shot after hose down. Close up of the dirt in the paint.
Masked it off and prepared it for the bedliner
Spraying the bedliner!
Finished product:
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Heater fix:
Against all better judgement and the advice of our HOA me and my dad hook the hose up to our apartment building and started to flush my heater core. We think there might be a hole in it because it was full of more stop leak than anywhere else in the system a small amount of coolant was on the passenger floorboard immediately after the flush but nothing sense needless to say the heater does work now
Since my last post it's been a lot of maitnence and keeping it running. But some new things have come up and my Jeep is about to undergo s big change .
on 1-21-2018 my Jeep got in accident when I had my first experience with black ice. We proceeded to rebuild it and am now in the final cleaning up stages of that project .
Damage Photos:
We rebuotrit the very next weekend with a used fender I got from FN Jeep .a local Jeep prepull yard. Used front clip from a Facebook user on a local Cherokee page. New marker lights new grille nee bumper and bumper caps and s new fender flare
Rebuild Photos:
I'm installing it's flare tomorrow to finish the job.
With all that done I also installed a Ksuspension H4 headlight upgrade harness and it's getting it's 4WD Swap next week. Unfortunately I won't be the one doing it as I live in an apartment complex .And they don't like us working on cars.
I never posted any photos of the four-wheel drive swap but I do have some it went off relatively well but I did end up going through about three transfer cases...
Overall the swap went well. We had some bumps with transmission computers and transfercases... But after all was sorted out with driveshaft lengths all seems to be well with it and it's stable.
Lift axles and tires
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The lift is done! (Kinda...). We decided to go all in. We regesred to 373s threw a Ford 8.8 in the back. Did a Rubicon Express 3.5in lift. Bilstine shocks. It looks great but as it came from another jeep it still has issues to be ironed out. It has a rubbing/dragging sound from the rest end and it vibrates like CRAZY after 55MPH. Not the steering. The whole car .So we have to figure that out.
The Ford 8.8 in Mtmy dad's Jeep with parts swapped around. His was the source of the parts. Mine half done. The whole process was paused for a week . The rear of mine still on jack stands. Front just done. The front of his Jeep with no axle .
The finished product:
I'll be taking it for a wheel balance and alignment tomorrow to see if it helps. It's been down for 2 weeks.
I ended up needing a SYE BAD That got installed and everything stabled out for a while.
In December of 2018 i decided to get new wheels and tires as i was offered an amazing deal on a set of 5 JK 5 spokes with new Duratracs on them for $200+ the $200 for the adapters at 4WP. (fun fact: a set of 5 32s will fit in the back of an XJ)
Also in December of 2018 i picked up a Viper remote start kit and me and my good friend Chris wired it in ourselves. It has a 2 way remote and is a really clean setup. (it didnt look clean when we installed it but man did it turn out nice and has been amazing 5 mo with it.) (i love my OBS 4wd lever too!)
Bumpers
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I used my tax returns to buy the front and rear smittybuilt XRC bumpers. Smittybuilt actually didnt have any made so we had to wait till about march to receive them.
We got the front bumper with the small bull bar and have a tabor 9k winch installed.
(best pic i have is next to some rando XJ)
and the rear bumper with the swing out tire carrier (it already broke)
Unfortunately i've had some nasty side affects of this bumper install.
We had to trim the exhaust back due to it being too long and i had plans t put a new tailpipe on the next week. we didnt think it would be that big of a deal... (it was)
trimmed old pipe plastic melting from exhaust 1 plastic melting from exhaust 2 new pipe 1 new pipe 2
the heat somehow killed the amp in my Kenwood head unit unfortunately. so i am currently looking into a new head unit to get my oe one back out of there Double din maybe?
Front End
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i ended up buying the rustys YJ style steering setup to make things stronger up there. After installing i had to remove my steering stabilizer temporarily. when i did that it removed the slop hiding some serious front end play. In the hunt to find the issue i replaced the upper control arms and the track bar hei joint. Nothing fixed it and i was probably $500 in the hole for P/L. When i was looking arund down there i noticed the frame bracket for the track bar was loose. i tightened the bolts and its perfectly fine now.
(not many pics of this process)
Thats kinda where we are now! the jeep gets driven daily and its just a overall robust vehicle! More to come!
I've I've been slammed with six 12 hour shifts a week so I've just been trying to survive life wise. But I get off of work at about 4 in the morning when it is about 40 degrees. Which is why I rushed that heater core fixed so I can get some kind of heat when I'm driving home other than that the XJ is been having some torque converter lock-up issues and other than that issue and other than that issue it's fine for the moment. Burned less then half a quart of oil in 5k miles so the motor is super healthy.
I've I've been slammed with six 12 hour shifts a week so I've just been trying to survive life wise. But I get off of work at about 4 in the morning when it is about 40 degrees. Which is why I rushed that heater core fixed so I can get some kind of heat when I'm driving home other than that the XJ is been having some torque converter lock-up issues and other than that issue and other than that issue it's fine for the moment. Burned less then half a quart of oil in 5k miles so the motor is super healthy.
08-29-2017, 07:48 PM
Cammy's Jeep build
