Jeep Cherokee Forum - my $600 two door xj

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my $600 two door xj

well it all started when i was about 15 years old and a friend of the man i worked for had gotten a xj for free that the PO had thought had a bad motor when it didn't, so the guy said he would sell it to me because he didn't need it, but he had second thoughts and kept it. so i was kinda disappointed and of course i just wanted an xj even more. then a year of so passes and my mom and i go snowboarding with a friend of hers from work, who just happens to have a '90 two door xj with a 5 speed and a moon roof sitting in her driveway because she just got a new car. i ask her if she wants to sell it, she says yes for $800, but a couple days later my dad fixes her dryer and she ends up selling it to me for $600. to get it home i had to have the starter rebuilt then i was able to drive it home. here is a pic of it a couple months after i got it.

http://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?...8&id=645351583

it had the factory mudflaps so i took the front ones off when i got a set of 31 inch cooper st's. around this same time my dad and i fab'd some 2.5 inch rear lift blocks and shortly after that we also installed two inch spacers up front. also somewhere around that time 4wheelparts was having a 30% off sale on procomp rockcrawler rims which have something like 7 or 8 welds, so i decided to buy 4 of them. well the website was having problems and it ended up selling them to me for 60% off so with lug nuts i paid $155 for a set of black steel rims. so now i with my BB and my black rims i thought i was hot stuff and i took some poser flex pics.

http://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?...9&id=645351583
http://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?...8&id=645351583

here it is in the snow in front of my house.
http://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?...2&id=645351583

and in the mud.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...0&id=645351583

sorry about the quality of the pics, i took them with my cell phone.

now this last summer my 31's were still rubbing with my BB so one day i was feeling adventurous and got my dads jigsaw and his sawzall and went to work on my fenders, now i didn't really know what i was doing and i ended up cutting the rears a little too much and now i need to weld them. also this last summer i saved up and 4wheelparts were having another sale and i was able to get a set of 31 inch Super Swamper SSR's which had a lot more tread than my old coopers and so i was back to rubbing on my fenders.

here a few pics with my BB and Swampers.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...6&id=645351583
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...3&id=645351583
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...d=287929351583

even with the lift that i had my tires still rubbed when i tried to flex so when i got out of college on break i talked to my dad and he ended up fronting me the money to buy a Rubicon Express 4.5 inch lift with full rear leaf pack and shocks. so here are a few pics of what i had as far as my BB.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...3&id=645351583
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...d=243049171583

here is a pic of all the major components of the lift.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...6&id=645351583

the kit that i bought came with:
-adj. upper control arms
-fixed lower control arms
-adj. track bar
-swaybar discos

-front bumpstops
-front and rear extended braided steel brake lines
-front and rear twin tube shocks
-transfercase drop kit
-rear ubolts
-3.5 inch full leaf pack
-1.25 inch lift shackle
-4.5 inch front springs

and a lot of stickers that i have not put on yet. :dunno:
some things that i hope to do in the near future are:
-JCR or C4X4 front bumper
-SYE
-double cardan rear driveshaft
-rear Dana 44
-4.10 or 4.56 gears

but enough about what i want to do, here are the pics of the build.
got the back done first.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...d=243055486583
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...d=243055501583

lower control arms and brake lines in.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...d=243059861583

bumpstops, front springs, shocks and upper control arms installed.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...d=243059881583

all done except for alignment and sway bar discos.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...d=243069336583
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?pa...d=287896541583

Sounds pretty sweet man. your pics aren't workin...at least not for me.

thanks man! i think i just got them to work :icon_cheesygrin:

much better. Thats pretty sweet man. I take it your floorboards aren't rusted through cuz you would have had all sorts a mud it your Jeep if that water/mud was a little higher

yeah i am from Cali and they don't salt the roads out here like they do in the mid-west and on the east coast so we don't have as much trouble with our floorboards rusting out.

haha, yeah I didn't even think of that. I swear everytime I get under my Jeep to do something I notice another little spot (granted I've only had it a couple months)...I should probably just pull seats and carpet out and fix it all at the same time. But not during the winter in Utah.

oh man thats no fun! cool is it your first xj? pretty nasty out there during winter? we've been having a pretty nasty storm for the last week here.

Yeah first XJ, had a Rodeo before that I had a ton of fun in, got it for 400 and beat it down then sold it, and bought this, put a 3-3.5 in skyjacker coils and LCA's + Bastard pack (best Junk Yard find EVER), new shocks, new wheels & tires (also awesome deal) could keep going, but there is so much more I'm gunna do when its not snowing.

right on man! sounds like you have a pretty nice rig.

well when I installed my lift the rear was standing a little bit higher than the front and I assumed that it would settle out pretty quick. well it hasn't so I have decided to get a set of 3/4 inch spacers for the front to correct the rake, I have not ordered them yet but i plan to this weekend and get them in soon after

well I got the 3/4 inch spacer in and it helped a lot to level my jeep. I've been at school so i haven't had much time to wheel but a couple weeks ago i got to, but i only took a couple pics with my cell camera so sorry about the quality.

http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...227101654a.jpg

http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...227101654b.jpg

I am really happy with how well the RE lift flexes and how well it rides on the road and freeway, i have a 2 hour drive to my parents house to school and it does awesome through the mountains and on the highway.
got a couple more pics of my jeep in my parents driveway and in the parking lot of my apartment complex.
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...321101204a.jpg

http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...311101305a.jpg

I love two doors, yours looks just right too. I used the RE 4.5 kit as well. I installed mine two years ago, it will flex even more as it ages. Nice rig.

yeah I love two doors too! thanks a lot! right on! I love the RE lift! oh thats good to hear, I am thinking of going to 5.5 inch springs in the front with the spacers and 4.5 inch springs in the back instead of 3.5, I hope to be in the 6 inch range then. thanks a lot for the complement!