jmiller458

this is gonna be a copy and paste from another forum im on untill we get up to date.

well picked up this 98 xj couple weeks back and so far im loving it. it has a rough country 4.5" lift, pro comp lower control arms, quick discos, brand new 33s yada yada yada. i drove it 1.5 hrs home and it did great. few things i noticed was the heat sucked the oil pressure gauge didnt work check engine light for 02 sensor and few other minor things that werent a big deal. so anyway some pics.

the day i brought it home.



couple days later i flushed the heater core and got a good amount of my heat back. still not as much as i really want but tons better then it was. sorry no pics of that. also installed my cb and antenna and big thanks to Mike for tuning my cb in for me.

ordered new front bumper from logans metal products and aussie locker for the Dana 30



sprayed it with bedliner and got it mounted up and love it. super solid well built




ive been tinkering with it quite a bit cleaning and straightening few things up and tie up loose ends. took it in my back yard and flex a little bit. as you can tell its time to start cutting.



the plan is after this week i have 2 weeks off of work and my plan is to trim the front fenders and cut and fold the rear quarters and lowers then do some bedlineing.

burnt up my electric fan while playing in my backyard. not sure what that was about but it was pretty much on fire and smoking and smelt awful. so i pulled that and installed a slim fan i had laying around. bought it a long time ago and never used it for anything so worked out pretty good. also installed a new oil pressure sensor and bought a new thermostat and temp sensor just havent installed those 2 yet.

JUNK


woo hoo oil pressure. thats good to see



well yesterday i started cutting up the jeep. trimming the front fenders and doing the cut and fold on the rear quarters and lowers. didnt get it completely done yesterday but got a good chunk done.

sorry pics are from my iphone didnt feel like going in and getting the nikon.







well I got all the trimming/cutting and folding done. got my bedlining done and im very pleased how it turned out.






well got my knock off hella lights installed, maglite mounted and put a roof rack basket up top.







washed it today after a short day at work



added a thrush and built a tool/gear box




now up to date...

changed my gear oil yesterday and sprayed my diff cover while i was at it. the front will be sprayed to match once i get around to installing my aussie locker.





well thats all i got as of now. more updates to come. hopefully will be upgrading my steering here soon its pretty sloppy and other goodies as the budget allows

ryan_lerv

Nice jeep!

jmiller458

not much updates. took it in today and had my exhaust finished up. it was way to loud with just the thrush ending right under the jeep so i had a tailpipe put on. so much better now.

jmiller458

once again small update. ended up selling my roof rack to another member of michiana jeep club because i found another one i wanted. so out with the old in with the "new" to me rack. already like it alot better and im currently working on making gutter mounts for it. got about halfway done with the mounts and ran out of steel so ill be finishing those up next week.

Michael952

Sub'd
Nice build, I just threw the same muffler under mine a few weeks ago. I welded it too close to the floor and it smacks the unirail lol

jmiller458

so finally had the chance to finish up my gutter mounts and paint them. got everything installed this afternoon and pretty happy with it. the mounts arent anything fancy but the rack is solid up there. next up is a shovel mount for the one side.





might add some lights to the back of it. i have some zj fog lights laying around i might make mounts for and have some bright reverse lights.

jmiller458

got a few minor things done today. had my pass. side brake caliper freeze up on me twice in 1 week so decided it was time for some new calipers also it need and oil change and also added seafoam to my gas. time will tell if the seafoam will benefit me at all or not.




my brakes feel so much better now. on the downside my water pump decided to take a **** and is leaking coolant and the pulley is making all sorts of noise so gotta tackle that tomorrow. back on a high note i picked up a set of rear quarter armor with built in taillight boxes and a set of 4.5" leaf springs to replace my flat leafs sitting on blocks.

and the newest edition to the family. 01 wj we picked up for my wifes new DD. here soon it will be lifted 2" and maybe some 31s

jmiller458

alright so got my water pump swapped out. pretty easy job.




this past weekend decided to put my new full leaf packs in. i had been spraying bolts down with pb blaster for a few days and i didnt make the job any easier. took me and a buddy a few hrs to get it done which included a parts run for new bolts and U bolts.

these 2 bolts and the shackle bolts were both a PIA. had to cut the shackle bolts off and also had to cut the U bolts. never wanna do leaf springs again haha




i thought i was already at 4.5" but after i put these full leaf packs in which i was told was a 4.5" i ended up gaining 2" which im ok with. really liking the height right now

jmiller458

finished that up on sat. and went wheeling sunday. the jeep did awesome it was pretty sloppy and slick but it walked anything i put in front of it.






only carnage of the day to my rig



so today got my quick clamps and mounted my shovel. also got rid of my front sway bar all together. i had quick discos on it but driving home after wheeling i didnt hook it back up and didnt notice any difference driving and also got rid of the sketchy drop brackets the PO put on for the swaybar





thats where were at now. i have new TRE on there way also ZJ drag link and new rough country steering stabilizer. pretty excited about getting all the new steering on. i have a ton of play and its really sloppy. also need to get my rear quarter armor cleaned up and get holes in it for taillights and painted so i can get those on before i smash my quarters into a tree.

until next time

jmiller458

wow all sorts of love here lol ... anyway got my new tie rod ends and drag links today. i painted them and hopefully get it all installed this weekend

jmiller458

well this weekend got a bunch done. got my locker installed and let me say i love this thing you dont even know its there unless your really trying to hear it click. hopefully get to test it out tommorrow.



used a drill bit to punch out the pin




soaked the Diff. cover bolts over night in clr and they cleaned up really nice. took all the gunk and gasket maker off them.


then swapped out my U joint on the drivers side. the thing was toast




and to end the day got my new tie rod ends and zj drag link installed and gave it a alignment. drives great took care of the ton of slop in my steering. really happy with so far.



final touch was the Rough country sticker

jmiller458

picked up some 4.5" rough country springs from a buddy in the jeep club for 20$ and slapped those on and gained 2" to match the rear. put those in sat. night and went wheeling sunday afternoon. jeep did good flexed out great love the new locker.

i need to figure out my transfer case issue. even before i put the new lift on i couldnt get it into 4lo and if it did pop in it wouldnt stay in. so need to do some adjusting and fine tuning.

and pics from out wheelin trip

jmiller458

so got my quarter panel armor installed. had to cut the holes for tail lights and gas door cap. that pretty much sucked



the lights a bit crooked but oh well not that noticable once on the jeep. got them painted and installed with new hardware. pretty happy with the turn out.







then some back yard flexing and moto time