Oh_Sweet

So Ive been working on this project for a few years now, and decided its time to go back and document the start of my jeep build and will continue to update as my jeep changes in the future.

Okay to start my Sophomore year of high school I got sick of driving my ford taurus and decided on something more exciting and something I could build off of. What better than a jeep XJ. So I got online checked out a bunch of jeeps and being from New England I couldn't find one without any rot. Conveniently enough on the way home from school one popped up about a mile down the road from my house for $1600. I went over that night and scooped it up.

Heres a picture of it pretty much exactly how I bought
it



I then had a bit of good luck when I ran into a friend of a friend who had a 1998 xj with a blown motor that was off to the junk yard. It happened to have a 4.5 inch rubicon express short arm super flex kit that for $500 I couldn't pass up on.

Here it is, Yes it was pretty beat but for the money I could survive.



This was about 2 years ago, I will try to post to get up to date quickly

Oh_Sweet

So come summer before my junior year I finally had time to swap everything over. The blue xj was and abs auto with a lp dana 30 in the front and a dana 35 in the rear. I basically took the entire front and rear suspension (RE 4.5 inch Superflex) out of the red jeep in two pieces HP dana 30 and Chrysler 8.25 and put those into the blue Jeep. Along with a cheap set of 32x11.5 r15 BFG all terrains. In the process swapping out some axle seals and control arm bushings. after a front end alignment and a quick hack n tap with a front driveshaft in the rear she drove great, heres a few pics of her. I also threw on a few kc lights because I like that more old school less is more look.









So as time went by I experimented with a little fender trimming and rust repair. Then I decided I wanted new rims. Like I said, I like the old school look. Most people disagree with me here but I went out and bought a set of deep dish white wagon wheels. I Thought it looked pretty good.







At this point I was thrilled with my build, I had the perfect DD/Weekend Warrior. I live in a small town so everyone knew me as the jeep kid, I actually convinced a few of my friends into getting xj's we had a nice little crew going.

Oh_Sweet

Like I said at this point everything was going well. Loved the way my jeep was turning out besides a few electrical issues that were holding me up, I was saving for new tires when one night I got rear ended. My rear bumper and tow hitch took the majority of the damage and everyone was fine... besides the jeep. the tow hitch bent down cracking the frame on both sides and twisting the body. obviously totaled because the jeep only had about $2200 into it at this time.



I was pretty upset at the time, It was time to start over.

Oh_Sweet

So surprisingly insurance treated me well, and yet again i lucked out with a pretty good deal scoring a 1997 xj rust free from colorado with around 128k on it and the two best parts, manual locks and windows (No more electrical problems) and an extra pedal (ax15 5 speed trans)






I bought the blue jeep back from insurance and took everything out of it like before. and got ready to install it all in the new red jeep. This time going up to 5.5 inches, 35x12.5 r15 BFG All Terrains and adding shackle relocations in the back

Oh_Sweet

Some people were mad at me for taking apart such clean little jeep but I did it anyway. Here are a few pics along the way. Keep in mind this is the summer before college and I'm trying to work as much as possible to save up some serious money



Here are the 35's



Then a few more extras

Jeepasarusflex

Sucks about that other XJ getting totaled out but it looks like you lucked out with that red one.... The only clean AX-15s here in Ohio are non existent... Most of the ax-15s here that were clean got picked up by High school kids who just throw stupid parts on and don't actually appreciate what they have. anyways rant over. Build is going to be sweet! you have any other plans for the build or are you just going to leave it the way it is for now?