Fish & farm 98 Sport
 

Figured I'd start a build thread so i could get some feed back and mainly because my wife is tired of hearing about what I've done or am going to do with the Jeep. I told her it was better & cheaper than getting a Porsche and a young girlfriend but she didn't find that funny.

Picked this 98 sport up in Nov with 141K on it. It has a few dings and scratches but nothing major. Guy I got it from had the front drive shaft removed because it was giving him some trouble and he didn't want to spend the $ to fix it. He lived in town so the jeep never saw 4x4 while he had it. Heater also didn't work so between that & the 4X4 I had pretty good leverage on the price.

First order of business was changing the fluids, go over it with a fine tooth comb, and add lots of stickers. All good!

Second order of business- flush heater core. 20 min later we have good heat- Yeah!

Got a 2" hitch of CL & scored a roof rack (complete w Zombie Hunter decal which my kids love) and 4- 6" lights to boot

Tore off the plastic trim & took the heat gun to the "sport" decals. Still need to finish cleaning up the sticky.

Drove like that for a month before putting the front drive shaft back on. I replaced the u joint before reassembling since it was a lil stiff & rusty. Rode around the farm in 4x4 climbing up hills and through ditches & all seems good.

Was planning a fishing trip to the coast over Christmas so I built a 8 foot PVC rod holder for the top. The boys were helping and we decided it would be much cooler if we added fins & painted it to look like a missile.

My wife said I had to get the windows tinted so no one can see her riding around in a jeep with a missile on top. :brows:

After Christmas I added 2 of the off road lights to the bumper & got them wired up. Nice & Bright!

Also found my old cobra cb & k40 antenna. Got them tuned up and installed. Now we can talk with other zombie hunters during the apocalypse (according to my kids)

This week I built a light bar for the top so I could mount my other 2 lights "mickey mouse style" .

I also built a rod rack holder for the front bumper out of an old 1 1/4" receiver & some 4" angle iron I had sitting around in the shed. I'll post pics later.

nice to see another white xj :thumbup1:

Nice rocket! LOL. Do you take your fly reel off before putting them that holder? I dont really need a fly rod holder because all of my fly rods are 4 pieces. But, I was thinking about putting one on my 98 just for days where I need to drive to another spot and dont feel like breaking it down.

i haven't tried out the fly rod in the missile. i think i could get one in there with no problem. i thought about using 6in pvc but had this piece of 4 in lying around. my fly rod is a 3 pc so i mainly built it for my 12 surf rod.

Ohh ok, right on. Well then, when I throw one together I will let you know how well it works.

light bar
 

I decided to add my other 2 lights as Mickey Mouse ears up top but didn't want them on the rack so I made a separate light bar for them. I had a neighbor with a metal fab shop bend a piece of 1/8" steel into a 2" channel, added a few scraps to keep the wires up and then made 1/4" legs angled to match the factory tracks. I plan to make 2 more for mounting the rack on since I don't like the flex of the plastic stock bars. I still have to wire up the lights.
Attachment 168056

Attachment 168057

Attachment 168060

Since I don't have the skid plate under the front to put teeth on I opted for the smaller bumper version. It's made from scrap reflective trailer tape so it looks really cool at night.

Attachment 168061

Here's the front rack hitch I made from some scraps. Working on a cooler and rod rack now.

Attachment 168062

DOGS LOVE JEEPS!

:thumbup1:

been raining here for 2 days. The thought crossed my mind to take the jeep out on the farm and play in the mud but i wasn't sure how the pigs would take to being invaded......

Got my AEM air filter in the mail yesterday. It took a lil scrounging around the sheds to find suitable materials but I came up with enough pvc pipe to construct an adapter for the filter. Now I just have to finish making the heat shield and it'll be ready. pics soon (if it works that is.)

always nice to see another NC Jeeper! nice xj :thumbup:

more goodies
 

Just ordered an Accel ignition upgrade, Rancho steering stab, & Skyjacker shocks. May not be the best stuff but should be a nice improvement.

The goodies arrived yesterday and today.

Now if it'll just stop with the freezing rain I can get around to working on this stuff. Went to the farm to check on all the critters and ended up doing doughnuts in the pasture with my 6 yo riding shotgun then climbing on some frozen compost piles - farm fun!

updates
 

Haven't been on here in a while but here are some updates. After a trip to fort fisher at Kure beach in May i decided it was time to start looking around for tires and lift options.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...48cca8f8e2.jpg


Gone fishing!

Scored a set of like new 31" BFG ATs and rims off a facebook swap group. Settled on a budget boost with a block in the front and an add a leaf in back. Also finally get to put on those shocks i got a year and a half ago. I think my wife was glad to have them out of the corner of the dining room.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...135c461610.jpg


Before


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...7768b95e8f.jpg


Height before

Start the deconstruction... First problem -busted rear shock bolts.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...e1c96fab47.jpg

A quick search of the Cherokee forum and the problem was solved!

Got em in

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...0756281966.jpg

Add a leaf added

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...849112d8ed.jpg

Now to the front

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...4f959634a3.jpg

Tires back on and ready to go

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...666e3fc734.jpg


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...fa9d7c0abf.jpg


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...799f080235.jpg


After height!