PocketsEmpty

aww man, not Rusty's....Well, I think the Rusty's uses stock TREs does it not? Heck, I'm surprised you bent one with those tires you're running. Usually doesn't happen until bigger. I'm sure the Rusty's will do you fine until you upgrade more

I'm running the ZJ bar and it's very stout. I know some guys running it who beat the hell out of their rigs with 35's and they don't break them. I got it new at Autozone for like 80 bucks or something.

How close are you to York? I have a York County XJ group, but maybe I could change it to South Central XJs...anywho, we have about 18 members, you're welcome to join. We're trying to get a meet together maybe Sunday.

Lyanheart

A couple of my jeepin' buddies are big fans of Rusty's and know the guy personally, and the price was decent, and yes, uses stock rod ends. If I frak up that one I guess the next stop is a solid iron rock rod... LOL I didn't really break it... just bent... when smashed off a rock...

I'm a little north of the Harrisburg area, so not to far from York. I'd still qualify as "south central" and would be glad to join you guys sometime. Going wheelin or just a meetup?

PocketsEmpty

We've only had a couple meets so far and one wheeling trip (to Trails Rd) but it was only a few of us then. Some guys in the group don't participate, one of the guys sold his and is all about his subaru now..BS! lol...I'm debating on removing them from the group but they still know XJ's so I'm on the fence. Now that it's getting warmer out we will probably see some Rausch trips.

Lyanheart

OK, so got the new tie rod, and a front diff skid plate, and I've got a set of rocker skids on the way, the kind that have the bars that tie in to the uni-frame rails. I'm more or less reinforcing everything I was landing on last weekend Not being lifted really puts a beating on those rockers! I'd like to get a plate under the gas tank, too, but I didn't seem to have any close calls back there.

Can't really think of anything else I want to do before the next excursion... other than some bedliner work to the cargo area once I have a decent day outside to do it.

PocketsEmpty

I just picked up a ZJ gas tank skid for $40 for my XJ. Requires some drilling but bolts up otherwise. Might want to look into that if you don't have $200+ to drop on an aftermarket one!

Lyanheart

I have a lot of little odds and ends to do but have not had the time to do it, and the weather has not been cooperating. It was decent yesterday, though, so with my afternoon off I got around to this:





This is one of Hammered's "cargo cubby hole" storage boxes he makes. I was lucky to get one from his latest batch. Easy spraybomb job of Kylon hammer finish dual paint/primer and it looks pretty good. Ingenious design, and very heavy-duty. See thread here: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f58/ca...lution-177968/


I also started to rip and scrape up the cargo area for a coat of bedliner. I THOUGHT it did have a coating of some sort on it before, but it ended up just being some textured paint, and that was just sprayed over the old matting. Out with the old, and this is what I'm left with:



Need to scrub some of the dirt out of there, but then I can put down a good coat of bedliner. Probably get rid of what's left of the carpet under the back seat while I'm at it. There were tons of little holes drilled (again, WTF previous owners??) around the taillights that were letting the muddy water in. I filled them in with silicone and ran a bead around the hacked up taillight holes. Hopefully it prevents so much water from getting in.

PocketsEmpty

Nice box!

And yes, it is totally bedliner season! I started on my project yesterday. I'll be updating my thread shortly.

I think the PO you are referring to about the holes might actually be the factory. I have annoying little holes, some not even cleanly drilled back there. I was thinking of Bondoing them shut or something, I'm not really sure what to do--I want it to be solid under the bedliner. I do have some epoxy putty now that I think of it, and I will probably use that.

Lyanheart

I'm happy with how it looks after a fresh coat of bedliner.
Much better than before, anyway. Now I won't feel so dirty putting my cargo back there! Now I wish I could find a pad or something to go over the back of the seat to get rid of that ugly carpet.