My first true passion
 

Well I realize that this build is way over due considering I've had my XJ for 4 years now. This is my first and only vehicle. Many kids I know my age have had at least two or three cars so far and most of them didn't buy them. I'm happy to say that I made a good choice when I purchased my XJ and paid cash. Man did that feel good for a 16 year old lol. I bought it from my uncle back in 2006 for $4,500 with 87,000 on the clock. He owns his own shop and kept it in perfect running order.

This is the closest to stock picture that I have of it:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-a...56944_3198.jpg

This was right after I installed my 3" Rough Country lift with full leaf packs. I got some 15 x 7 Summit Racing Wheels from my uncle he had laying around his garage. I also threw on some 31x10.5 R15 Cooper Discoverer ATRs

I decided to do what every young guy loves to do and build my own sub woofer enclosure:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-a...56949_1900.jpg

It's made from 3/4" MDF and fully sealed it inside and out. It houses 3 10" Dual Audio Subs at ~300 watts a piece. I have two Dual Audio amps powered at 300 watts and on at 600 watts. This thing pounds too :head:

My mom hates it mainly because I rattle the dishes in the cabinets when I have it in the garage.


I built a "Cold Air" Intake system from pieces I got from Spectre Performance and I noticed a pretty nice improvement in throttle response.


https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...2101404-01.jpg

I did some minor wheeling with it for the first 2 years mainly just small obstacles and little mud holes and trails.


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-a...67645_4815.jpg

From here I started to get more and more ideas.

Recently I added a set of 15 x 8 Cragar Soft 8s with a 4" Backspace.


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6669247_n.jpg

This is how it sat after Christmas of this year:

http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs166...._7503836_n.jpg

I was looking at a list of jy upgrades that people on here had done and a gas tank skid from a ZJ caught my eye, so obviously I did it lol And it only cost me $20, not too bad.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...-photo0033.jpg

Here it is installed:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6902659_n.jpg

It really came in handy on this trip

I wanted to free up some extra cargo area in the trunk because of the large sub box. So I got a roof rack to mount the spare tire to.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...-roof-rack.jpg

I mounted the tire with a little idea help from my dad:

First I took a 3/4" eye bolt and pried the end open in a vice.

Here it's bent open a little so that I could wrap it with a #4 wire casing to that I didn't scratch up my rack:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...-photo0057.jpg


Then I slipped it around one of the bottom rails of the rack:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...-photo0058.jpg

After I did this I clamped it closed again with some channel locks.
I used the stock mounting cup inside of the wheel to hold it down. I used a stainless washer and wing nut to secure the whole thing to the roof:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...-photo0056.jpg

Then used a cable lock and a master lock for a little extra security:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...-photo0055.jpg

It was pretty simple to do and it works great!

I also strapped down a 5 gallon gas can on the roof for when I went wheeling at Rausch Creek this past weekend with some guys from the forum. That was a blast. It helped me to figure out what I'm lacking in my XJ.

Also did this that weekend:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7247816_n.jpg

:bangin::bangin::bangin::bangin::bangin:


Oh the joys of owning a Jeep.

Well on my to-do list (which keeps getting longer): Need some sliders, Install some hood vents, Differential Covers, Transfer Case skid, Add Rough Country coil spacers and lift shackles for more lift, Adj. Track Bar, Upgrade to V8 ZJ Steering, ZJ Drop Pitman arm, and I'm probably forgetting more lol

Hope you enjoy so far!

Made a quick paint drawing of how I want my sliders to be. Obviously it will be measured out better once I make them because this is just an idea of how to shape them.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/member...lider-plan.jpg

I'll make the side tubing from 3/8" walled 1" tubing and use that to connect to the 2"x4" 1/4" thick rectangular tubing. I figure 3 mounting arms should be sufficient.

Give me some feed back!!!

that will look pretty nice, plus a nice step :thumbup1:

Yeah I'm trying to model it after the JCR sliders

Got bored during class today so I complied a list of things I feel that need to be done for a trail worthy rig.

1. Rock Slider
2. Hood Vents
3. More LIFT!!
4. T-case Skid
5. Adj. Track Bar
6. ZJ Steering and Drop pitman arm
7. Longer Shocks (probably Rancho 9000s)
8. Bed line the rockers and bumpers
9. Diff. covers
10. Purchase 33" General Grabber AT2s
11. Replace my broken fogs on the bumper
12. Roof Rack Lights
13. Reverse Light on roof rack (due to tinting windows and tail lights :bangin: )
14. Dynomax cat back system
15. Sway bar disconnects

You really wouldn't need any spacers or shackles or anything to run 33's if you dont mind trimming a little. You can make it look neat and tidy and still use modified stock flares even if you want it to look more stock, you have the same lift I do and mine sits fine with 33's.

I agree definitely that some sliders and skids will help you out though. Now my rockers have to get cut out they are so dented.

Hahahah yeah mine are flat after this past weekend:hammer:

hey jersey it's looking good just got my new tires and rims on mine they look really sick, my aniversery present from the wife. lol i love her.

so when you drowned ur xj did you water lock it.

Thanks a lot!! Wish my girlfriend would get me something that cool lol

Thank God no I didnt get water lol It was way up over the hood though. My door seals didnt hold though lol About 4" of water inside though

What, you mean your springs?

EDIT: Nm, reread I think you meant your rockers. Yeah what im going to do is cut the mounting arms off my sliders and weld them in there. That way I get legit sliders but no clearance loss.

Rocker panels lol

Jeep's looking good man. Looks like you sunk your Jeep pretty good in that hole. I hope you shop vac-ed the carpet dry afterwards or your floors will end up looking like mine.

Yeah I did lol and used two cans of resolve carpet cleaner lol still not totally clean though lol

Well, that's no good. As long as you get all the water out, I wouldn't worry about any stains. I know I don't want to deal with rusty floors again because it sucks. All this rain and work schedule has been keeping me from finishing the cargo area rust. I dread going back to fixing it, but I have to. If you can't get all the water out, you might want to remove the carpet. After Cutting mine into pieces, I realized it wouldn't have been that bad pulling the whole thing out. Also, there's a whole bunch of that insulation underneath which acts as a sponge for water. My carpet must have weighed 100 pounds with all the water in it.

Well once I get home from school I have a really good carpet cleaner that I plan on trying because it sucks so much water out of carpeting. Should help some.