Koda6966

Figured it was time to start a small build thread for my Cherokee, now that I've had it for a year.

How it started out.

1997 Jeep Cherokee Sport. 4.0, 4x4, auto, the usual. Was a trade in at a dealer in Syracuse, a small local dealer buy's wholesale out there and resells for a little profit.



Pretty decent shape for the year around here, has a little bit of rust here and there but overall not bad at the time. Now it has almost no rockers but hey, who needs em.

First thing that I did was install a stereo. I've been kicking around the same old pioneer for years, it does everything I want. I decided that with the extra room in the back I'd order a little boom.



Overall I was impressed with the subs for the price. I did end up upgrading the amp, it was WAY under powered for what the subs can handle. Yeah, I'm one of those jerks that rattles your windows as I drive by.

Then BOOM. Water pump went. Once again my Cherokee impressed me. I limped it home and took my truck to the parts store. Shocked by a cheap part, and even more shocked when I changed it. Easiest water pump change I've ever done.

Decided to do the valve cover gasket and my noisy wheel bearing while I had it down.

Not much happened for a few months. Painted the OE rims black, got new tires, replaced the other wheel bearing since was doing the U joint and ball joints, made sense. Lost the alternator, figured with my subs it would go eventually.

I like keeping my toolbox with me, so I decided to make myself a rear tire carrier so I'd have even more room in the back. I originally had plans to modify this Bronco II swingaway to work with my Cherokee, but the amount of reinforcement I'd be doing didn't float well in my book. Too much body work.



I wanted to start practicing some of my welding skills a little more, but I don't have a large amount of metal available to me without buying new. And I'm a cheap bastard. I managed to find some 1/4" stainless steel plating, and some 2" square tubing in the scrap bin at work to play with. After cleaning it up, it's more than usable.

I'm aimed to have the whole unit with tire to only weight about 100lbs. If I go over it's no big deal. Right now It's only going to have a 235/75R15 but I'm setting the distance for the wheel mount to a 10.50 tire on my AR rims since they will eventually be on the Jeep. Magically, the stock Cherokee rim's backspacing actually ended up being close to what my AR rims from my Ranger had. (31/10.5 tires on those)

Sketched up a quick plan of what I'd be doing. Also need to make a plate holder while I'm at it.



Started welding it up shortly after. It's mostly tig'd but anywhere I met the axle shaft I had to mig it. Hardened steel doesn't like tig apparently.

Start of the bottom bracket.



How it fits in the receiver compared with the rear bumper. Yes my Jeep has nuts. Flame away.



This is how I plan to have it pivot/latch. I'll be using a 1/2" bolt for the pivot, the latch will be 5/8 since I want something easy to handle. I'm only going to allow it to drop at about a 45° angle. This will be accomplished by not trimming the end of the tube, it can only travel so far before it runs out of room.



I wanted to still be able to tow my small trailer around from time to time, so I added a ball mount to it. Sectioned a cheap draw bar like so..




I do NOT recommend this method. I decided to add the ball mount halfway through. There are much BETTER ways to do this. My favorite is to use an extended draw bar for the main tube instead. I plan do do that if I ever make another one of these. I also added a grade 8 bolt besides the weld for "just-in-case" reasoning.

And basically all welded up. It's being painted right now. Once I finish the plate holder I'll install it. The other side of the top bolt (one with a washer melted to it) is a cotter pin, for easy removal.




I'm VERY open to criticism and suggestions with this. Feel free to voice any opinions or concerns. And yes, I'd rather have built a bumper with a swingaway. But I have about... $30 sunk into this carrier. Total.

Since I acquire so much "scrap" materials at work, it was mentioned to me that there was a rail change scheduled on one of the machines soon. Basically they're 3/8" or so thick stainless rails that chains ride on. The more I looked at them the more I saw the possibilities. I have a ton of them now. So far the only thing I've used them for is to make a light bar for the roof. Ground down the edges, drilled a 1/4" hole in each side, made locations for four lights and drilled/tapped locations for ground screws. Done. Quick and easy job.





And mounted up to the Jeep.



Total cost for the light bar - $50 (lights, fuse holder, and switch) I don't count hardware or wire in the cost. I already have all that. Also had to pick up some grommets to run the wires in (it's not wired yet in that photo) but the cost for that was negligible, 40 cents or so.

I get TONS of complements on the light bar. Some of the people at work can't believe I made it from scrap machine parts. They always think I went out and bought it somewhere for $250+

And that's about where we're at now. Sorry for jumping around a bit, and some of the stuff isn't exactly in chronological order.

pittman71

I'm digging it so far. What are your plans for it?

Koda6966

Just a small lift (3" or so) with 31's. Custom bumpers front and back. Nothing too major, it's my daily driver. I may take it off the road in the summer and drive my Ranger in the warm months, depends on if my truck is still street legal when I finish the rebuild on it.

pittman71

Sounds good. Looking forward to updates.

Koda6966

Forgot to add the plate holder in there. I still have to lengthen the top "studs" and I decided to paint it before install. Waiting on the light anyway.

Real basic design. Had to drill out two more mounting holes in the middle since I forgot to tack it down before I welded. Got a little curly on me.

Koda6966

Depending on how thick the mounting section of the light is, I may just grind down the edges of the top two hex's a little and slide it behind the plate instead of over it.

Koda6966

Got a firestik and a little cobra CB for christmas. Looks like my next project will be fabing up a CB antenna mount. I've seen alot of guys run an angled mount out from the hatch, and hang the CB under the dash on the passengers side. Both look clean, might do it up that way. I have some scrap (of course) stainless angle somewhere that I have a few ideas for.

Koda6966

Got the tire carrier mounted up this morning, took it for a test drive. I have about an inch (at the top) of side to side play, should be able to take care of that with a little shim stock.

Plate light works good too. Cracked the mount on install, my bad. I welded the plate mount up to accept just the plate with nylock nuts and washers. Had to use jam nuts/lock washer and skimp on the flat washer for the top mount to fit the light. Tightened it a little too much. Oh well, it's still secure. It's plastic anyway, still serves it's purpose. Might paint it black too, I'm not too fond of the "chrome" look.






Next on the list is to get around to finishing my roof rack, and get new leafs in the back.. man she's sagging.

Koda6966

Too much going on with that hitch now. I think I might castrate my Jeep and retire the "truck nutz" for a while. At least until I get a bumper made with a swing-away.

Koda6966

Haven't had much progress with it lately. I was driving it daily since my truck was stuck on my lawn. (typical Chevy)

Now I have a new truck that isn't a pansymobile, and I can finally get back to working on the Jeep! Just got started with that 3" lift install.