Making my perfect bugout vehicle - 1999 Cherokee XJ
 

Okay, I've loved the cherokee for years and finally got a chance to pick up a 1999 Cherokee Limited in great shape. I want to upgrade this baby, but first I'm going to work on making it totally drive able. Fix every thing that doesn't work
, even the AC.

Here are pics of the stock unit sitting out at my shop just waiting to get going.

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Let the adventure begin!

BTW, this is my first post on here. Hopefully many more to come. I certainly have enjoyed the wealth of information on here.

Basic maintenance
 

I need to get the safety inspection done so checking the brakes was on the list. We checked the front disc and rear drum brakes, should pass. Afterwards went spinning around the pasture just for fun. Here's some pics.

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Welcome to the forum. I am looking forward to seeing how your bug out vehicle turns out.

I am kind of building mine with that in the back of my mind. Expedition/bug out type vehicle. Off road capable enough to get the heck out of dodge if needed!

Welcome to CF >>> :redx:

Took it to get safety inspection and the guy said I needed new ball joints(upper & lower). Said the brake pads were marginal but passed. I did some research on the forums and Youtube and decided to do the ball joint replacement myself. Waiting on parts and tools to do the job, so yesterday went and set the XJ up on jack stands and pulled the wheels to get some prep done. Removed the calipers and brake pads, got the caliper pistons compressed, and my son(great helper) pulled the left front rotor out. The back side was all grooved up, really badly. Wait a minute, how did he do that? Turns out, the rotors are held in by the axle nut, but the left front was apparently put on top of the axle nut, not behind it! Shoot, no wonder it has those large deep grooves top and bottom, it's probably had enough play to start its own band.

Anyway, decided to order new rotors to go with the new brake pads and the new ball joints. Then saw that the 99 Cherokee had a production change mid year where they switched from composite brake calipers to cast iron calipers. Which one do I have? Did some research(again on the forums), found the actual measurements for each one, measured mine and figured out I had the cast iron one. Now to make sure I get the right one when ordering online. Tricky, since none of the places I looked made any distinction for the 1999 model year. Found out that the cast iron rotor was used mid-year 1999 forward, so just ordered the ones for a 2000(hehe) to make sure I was getting the correct dimensions. Checked the specs on the one that came up, and sure enough it was the right height, which was the difference in the two calipers.

So to make a long story short(too late), I'm getting a totally new front brake system(mostly) along with the new ball joints. Hey, it's all good, since I want this guy to be bulletproof in the end.

No pics today, but sometime during the ball joint replacement I'll try and get some to show how it's going.

I'm hoping to have it mostly road worthy, but off-road capable enough to have a little fun with and eventually ready to take anywhere I might need/want to go.

Good luck with yours.

Thanks, it's already been a great source of info and inspiration.

Great to see another build in the same vein!

I know what you mean about fixing the AC, mine works but the compressor (or something around it) leaks coolant so fast it wont stay charged.

RegularGuy, do you also have a similar build? Post a link on here if you do so I can find it.

Status update:
I know it takes a little time to do the ball joint replacement(both sides, uppers & lowers) so I started pulling stuff off before I get the parts and tools. That way when I do get everything I'll be that much further along. Soooo, the last 2 days I got out there(I don't have a garage, so I'm working on the driveway, wheww, it's hot!). Got everything on jack stands, pulled the wheels and removed the calipers. Pulled the old brake pads off and pulled one rotor off. Couldn't get the other rotor to come off, no matter what I tried.

I decided to sit back and think about it, something that often works to the good. I looked at the 1st rotor, and was immediately impressed(in a negative sense) by the large grooves on the back side, top and bottom. What the heck?

Decided it was too hot to think anymore, so went inside and called it a day. So ended day 1(Tuesday).

I'm sitting in the cool, thinking about what was going on, and a light bulb came on. Why did that 1st rotor come off so easily? I thought I had to remove the axle nut to get the rotor off! Double checked, and sure enough you do. But that rotor just came off! I realized the driver side rotor was on top of the axle nut, not being held in place by it! No wonder it had those 2 big grooves on the back. Good thing I decided to replace the rotors.

Day 2(Wednesday). I get done with work and head to the jeep. It's hot, but it's summer in Virginia. Also, my axle nut socket for the impact wrench came in, 36mm, sweet! Took a second or two and the axle nut came off. Nice!

Still couldn't get the passenger side rotor to come off the hub. Darn it! After a while, I moved over to the driver side, got the axle nut off, pulled the hub and axle, very nice! I also got my tie rod - ball joint separator tool, you know the thing that looks like a giant fork? I told my son that was his new salad fork. What a look! Anyway, I used to push apart the tie rods, worked perfectly.

Removed the nuts from the upper and lower ball joints. I had ordered a ball joint removal tool, but it hasn't come in yet(neither have the ball joints), so I didn't try and remove them yet. That was ok, by this time I was already hot enough to fry an egg on my forehead.

Went back to the passenger side to figure out why the rotor wasn't coming off the hub. Still couldn't get it to wiggle, so decided to unbolt the hub from the back and pull the rotor, hub and axle out together. That worked! I then placed the rotor and hub back side up since I wasn't going to reuse the rotor, started banging on it with a hammer. It took a couple of whacks(or three or four) but finally got it to come off. I'm wondering if putting a little grease in there wouldn't be a good idea. I'm nervous about grease around the brakes, but this isn't on the friction part so I'm thinking it should be ok, right? Anyway, got that off, put all the parts back underneath the jeep so I can find them again, and called it a day.

Oh yeah, I had compressed the caliper pistons and replaced the brake pads. I checked them for clearance on the old rotors and they were fine with plenty of room to spare. So when I get the ball joints replaced and the new rotors on I just have to bolt the calipers in place.

Today(Thursday) rotors and ball joints are coming, but I don't think the ball joint tool set will be here so probably won't work on that.

However, my Roxolid front and rear bumpers are coming today, so if I get ambitious I may go figure out how to remove the stock bumpers so I can replace them with the Roxolids.

Whew! Who said that fixing up a Jeep was easy?

Can you guys see the pics I'm posting? I'm not seeing them. I'm using photobucket and typing in the direct link to the .jpg, but that doesn't look like it's working.

Pics aren't showing up as posted, and when trying to open them in a different tab, photobucket claims a page error.

Figured out how to get the pics to load, so a couple of previous posts have been edited with the correct links.

Rotors and ball joints came in today, but I'm still waiting on the ball joint tool to finish that up.

Roxolid bumpers came in. Whew! The Cherokee will fall apart and those bumpers will still be standing there. They are "rock solid". Tried to get the rear stock bumper off, but the rear leaf springs are making getting the bumper mount off a little tricky. Tried for a while, then decided to give it up and go camping. No, not in the Jeep, in my RV. I'll get back to the Jeep after the weekend.

Im excited to see what kinds of interior mods you have in mind.

If my dome lights worked (they did until the mechanic fixed my headlight switch.... along with my power locks that done work now) then i think i would put red filters over them. I might also remove the door open buzzer.
Here in Ohio they frown on lots of ways of transporting a firearm in a vehicle or else id have a fancy rifle mount behind the driver seat.
Cops get to have all the fun, eh?

I haven't thought too much about interior mods, except fir the cargo area. I like the idea of the rifle mount, but I'm wondering about the legality of that too :icon_rolleyes: I have been thinking about compartments for weapons though, preferably something discreet.

It feels strange having it sitting out on the jack stands, hopefully I'll get the ball joint tool in tomorrow and get it back rolling.

Waiting on tools
 

Got a few more pics. I'm still waiting on the ball joint tool, which should be here tomorrow. So, I did what I could.
Attachment 321682got the wheels and am looking at the muddy suspension.

Looking at the rotor. Discovered that one of the rotors had been put on over the axle nut,one(correctly) on behind the axle nut. No wonder one of the rotors had grooves the depth of a pencil on it.
Attachment 321683

Waiting on tools
 

Got a few more pics. I'm still waiting on the ball joint tool, which should be here tomorrow. So, I did what I could.
http://i84.ev.com/albums/k37/ruralgo...33A5294D_1.jpggot the wheels and am looking at the muddy suspension.

Looking at the rotor. Discovered that one of the rotors had been put on over the axle nut,one(correctly) on behind the axle nut. No wonder one of the rotors had grooves the depth of a pencil on it.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k3...196D9C0B_1.jpg

Got the rotor off and there's the axle.
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Got the hub off and tie rod disconnected.
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No autozone near your house to rent the ball joint puller for free for a couple days?

Yes, there is, but here's my logic(wink, wink) for getting my own.

I'm watching all these Youtube videos on changing the ball joints, right? And everyone says, "You can get these cheapo ball joint tools that may not be complete from your local auto parts store."

Ok, I'm thinking, they may work, they may not, and I'm already saving tons of money by doing the work myself, so why not check out what's available? I do, and find one where the review says, "Worked perfectly on my 1999 Jeep Cherokee XJ." Aha! That's exactly what I've got, so I spend the $60 and the tool is out for delivery today. Perfect weather for working on my ball joints(did that sound weird?).

Hopefully I'll have everything put back together this afternoon and then I can start trying to figure out how to get the bumpers off so I can install my new Roxolid bumpers. Sheesh, I guess I knew what I was taking on when I signed up for this XJ project in the first place :wallbash:

Well, spent the afternoons working on the ball joints. Thedriver side top ball joint came apart while still pressed in, so I still haven't got it out, pretty tricky. Finally decided to try the passenger side top ball joint, spent ten minutes working and got it about a quarter out. Yoohoo!

Then decided to call it a day. I'm hoping to find a piece of steel to use as a spacer on the driver side top one. Managed to borrow some plate steel from a neighbor sonhopefully tomorrow I'll get the old ones out. :wallbash:

I got a piece of steel plate to try and use as a spacer on the driver side ball joint. It's not as thick as I wanted, but I'll give it a try this afternoon and see what happens. This is work!

We'll, let me say this. Ball joints are not the easiest thing to replace. So far I've got the passenger side top one off, the driver side top one has a broken bolt that fell out, the passenger side lower is a bugger,defying all attempts to remove it, and the driver side lower is waiting on the top. Whew!

I'll feel a sense of accomplishment if and when I make it.

Whoo hoo! Spent a few hours this weekend working on getting ball joints in(dang, that's hard). Got the last one Saturday afternoon and now I'm thinking it'll be easy to get everything together and the wheel back on.

Nope. Somehow I bunged up part of the threads on the upper ball joint, driver's side. The castle nut would go part of the way on, then the whole bolt arm things would just spin around. Doggone it!

I try using a needle file to straighten out the threads. Looked a little better, but the nut still would hang up. Finally took the old castle nut and some vise grips and started working the nut on and off multiple times. Still seemed pretty hard to put on. Finally got too hot and decided to call it a day.

Okay, it's almost dark, but I'm feeling rested so I head out with a file to try taking the threads off completely. It must have seen me coming, because as soon as I put on the nut, it went right on without a hitch! What the heck? Anyway, got the hub and axle put back on and then it was too dark to finish up the brake pads and rotor so I called it a night.

Next morning finished putting the new brake pads and rotor on and remounted the wheel. Now keep in mind, I've been working on this new ball joints, brake pads and rotors job for about 3 weeks now, so I'm feeling a little punch drunk. Did I get everything put back on? Is it all in the right place? I don't have any left over parts, nothing's hanging down underneath so hopefully it'll all be good. Cross my fingers.

I remove the jack stand, lower the jack and clear the runway. It starts perfectly(which it should since I didn't do anything with the engine). I roll forward slooowwwly, so far, so good. I apply the brakes, they work, much better, actually. Steering seems ok. I head down the gravel road behind my house. Feels good, get up some speed, slam on the brakes. Lock up the brakes and skid. Didn't do that before. Head on down the road, up to 35 mph. Apply the brakes normally, slows quickly to a stop. Everything looking good.

I eventually get it out on the blacktop road and get up to 45 mph, also trying a panic stop. Stops so much quicker than before it's amazing. No problem with steering or driveability. Looks like it is ready for the safety inspection again, hopefully this time it will pass. Cross your fingers!

New Roxolid front bumper and winch
 

As I've mentioned before, it passed the safety inspection this week so I decided to work on the front bumper. I had ordered the Roxolid bumpers(front and rear) along with a Badlands 12000 lb winch several weeks ago. It had been sitting in my entryway for several weeks.

Anyway, this morning I started working on taking the front bumper off. I have the Limited so a little more complicated than the Sport bumper. Took some time to get it if, mostly because I couldn't find my air ratchet:help:

Finally decided to take off the end caps and then it was easy to get to the bumper bolts. Removed the bumper and had easy access to the bumper mounts so then it was easy to remove.

Took a quick break and had a drink of water and then decided to try putting the new Roxolid bumper on. That thing is heavy, so it definitely helped to have a second set of hands. Also found out that there is another bolt that didn't attach the bumper mounts that goes through the new bumper. Got them in with help from my son and then headed back to the house.

Started looking at the big winch and decided to try and get it mounted on the winch plate. It mounted pretty easy and I have the pics to show it. I still didn't get it wired but didn't have enough energy to finish it.

I love the look of the Roxolid bumper, tough but very Spartan. Instill need to trim some of the plastic that was behind the bumper trim on the passenger side to clean that look up.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...366f3b9324.jpg


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...6147c63e8b.jpg


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...103240fd57.jpg


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...22addd38c2.jpg

Fender cuts and folds
 

Spent this week removing the fender flares, front and rear. Trying to make decisions about things that I'm going to do. Decided I wanted to keep the inside rubber fender wells with some modifications. I decided to do a cut and fold on the front to use the folded in tabs to help secure the rubber fender well.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...fd5383f77b.jpg

I start making the cuts around the fender and the radius turns to make the tabs.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...2d2c3e391a.jpg




https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...91d3c1854a.jpg


I then trimmed the rubber fender well so that it would fit behind the tabs that I folded in.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...97dd35e650.jpg




https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...ab4f3d4725.jpg

I then folded the tabs and placed the rubber fender wells behind them along with the body screws that attach the rest of it to the body.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...f2c6111f1a.jpg




https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...363d30d7cb.jpg


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...fba73e5965.jpg

I then sanded down the chipped paint and a couple of the rust spots, taped it off and sprayed the metal with matte black paint. I think it looks good. Just three more to go!


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...449b501f8c.jpg




https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...420390e346.jpg

At least when I get done I can get the 31s on without the lift.

Neat!

I gotta say, i dont think id have the heart to cut the fenders on mine. I get way to attached to stuff.

You have your mind made up which tires you want?

Nice build. I'm thinking of cutting and folding my fenders and adding flares, but still not sure until I finish the lift and drive it around. Yours looks good with that bumper.

I did wince a little on the first cut, but it was so easy with just a jigsaw that I just kind of git into it. Finished up the last rear fender today. Should have some more pics tomorrow.

I'm going to go with some 31s for tires. They should be here tomorrow as we'll, so hopefully I'll have pics with new tires and wheels this time tomorrow.

Since I want to try running a little bigger without the lift at the moment, I pretty much had to do the cut. I really like the way it turned out. After I get the new tires on I'll see whether or not I need to add flares back.

I love the bumper; tough but minimalist.

New shoes
 

We'll I got the fenders, front and rear cut and folded just in time for my new shoes. When I started to put the hockey pucks on the front the bump stops were actually longer than I thought. Two hockey pucks would have filled the gap so I left them off for now. I haven't put rear stops on either because I'm still thinking about what I want to do. Here are some pics of the cut fenders and the new wheels and tires. I really like the look.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...d6117972d9.jpg


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...9b33ed3705.jpg


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...f5c5e42c71.jpg


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...3bc87a5688.jpg

Got the new Roxolid rear bumper on last night. Simple and solid.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...9a0d234ef8.jpg

Even though I did the fender cut and fold front and rear, I'm still getting rubbing, especially in the rear. I'm putting the stock tires back on until I figure what t do about lifting it.

I figured out that I have the Chrysler 8.25 rear axle.

It's titled perfect bug out vehicle. What are your plans for survival mods?

Good question. I want to get it so that it is a reliable off reader but fine on the highway. Reliable is the key, because I don't want to be left sitting on the side of the road.
I am thinking expedition type vehicle, with extra fuel and water as well as pretty complete tool set.

Other ideas are welcome, just keep in mind I'm not doing a zombie survival vehicle!

I was going to put the hockey puck bump stop thing to help with the tire rub, but look what happened when I got in there to clean up the inside of the spring.

Now what?


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...5cb3922cae.jpg

After I cut and folded the fenders, I put some 31 inch tires on. The rub, especially in the rear with bumps, was pretty bad. I ended up taking the 15x8 wheels and 31 inch tires off and putting the stock wheels and tires back on.

In the process of doing that I broke a wheel stud on the rear driver side. Yesterday I replaced the wheel stud and while I was doing that I noticed the rear leaf spring appeared to be pretty badly sagging, at least in my opinion. Here's a pic:


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...383fef086e.jpg


Anyway, I'm looking at replacing the leaf springs to get back to the stock height so that I can run the 31s. The wheels I got with the 31s have 4 inch backspacing. I came across some TJ wheels that have 5.5 inch backspacing. I tried them on(they have 33 inch tires already on them) just to see how they would fit. They definitely tuck into the fender well quite a bit more than the other wheels.

Here's the question: If I put the 31-10.5x15 tires on the TJ wheels(also 15x8) would I have any trouble with clearance, either front or back? Just wondering. I like the Cragar soft 8s, but just considering all options. Here's a pic of the TJ wheels mounted on the rear.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...e5debcec62.jpg


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...6431b36daa.jpg

You will not fit those if you are stock.

It rubs in the back on the wheel well liners, and if you go over a bump or have people in the back, the top of the wheel well. I had 245/75/16s on mine for a spell, which should be about 30.5", and they where fine up front (or would be if the P.O. didnt smash the bumper in a bit) but the back gave me those troubles.

Having the same plan for mine as you have for yours, and realizing that the big tires limited my choice of routes and terrain, i took them off. i enjoyed the inch and a half of lift they gave me, but i couldnt even go on some city side streets without a terrible "BRRRRRRR" noise. much less haul people or gear.

I think consensus is that you need 3" to wheel 31s but i could be wrong.

I guess the question is what condition are your leaf springs in? Mine are pretty beat up. I'm planning on putting bump stops in to prevent the top of the wheel well from hitting on the bumps. That, along with new leaf springs, I'm kind of hoping that the new leaf springs will give it enough clearance to run the 31s.

the new leaves might help you, if they are Upcountry or otherwise higher than normal leaves. Mine have zero sag and they rubbed.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/upc...195239/index2/
check the link in the first post here. The 700some pound springs have the same rating as OEM Upcountry packs, so those would help you out.