My "New Favorite Toy" build
 

Hey guys,


Thought I would do a build thread. Ive been reading a lot of here the last few weeks and very excited to get started on this project.


Little Background:


Just before winter, I sold a car and did a partial trade for a 95 Jeep Cherokee. Completely stock, well maintained, etc. I drove it for the winter and really enjoyed it. Then, As I do with all my cars, I wanted to Mod it. I decided it would be easier and cheaper (since Im just learning Jeeps) to sell the stock Jeep and buy one already modded with stuff I wanted to do to it.


So, I sold it, found one in NJ and bought it. Pretty Impulsive overall. He offered to deliver it on a trailer for another 100, since it was too big for uhaul trailers and I didn't have a second driver.


Anyway, of course the seller wasn't anywhere near honest in anything to do with the Jeep, but it DID only have 105k and a lot of stuff on it. I bought it, brought it to PA, took it to Jeff Daniels for inspection and a thorough look-over....which led to a $3,000 repair bill/inspection cost....Talk about pissed. So, Im up to $7500.00 spent on a jeep I haven't even been able to legally drive. That doesn't include the new tires and rims I bought.(another 1200).


So, sh1+ happens. I was considering selling it to try to minimize my loss, but after all I spent, Im just gonna drive it til it wont drive anymore.


Right now, Im not a big offroader, so its just a DD, but we'll see how that goes.


And so the journey to Un-F$#k this jeep begins....


Stock Red 95 Jeep
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The 99 Cherokee as it sat when I bought it:
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When I Bought it, he stated the following:
-~14" over stock(8" Rusty's long arm kit, plus 2" spacers plus 36" superswampers)
-Powertrax Lock Right Locker in front
-Custom made Front bumper (claimed by him)
-Custom made rear hitch
-D40 front / Chrysler 8.25 rear end
-4.56 gears
-plus the visual stuff you see...KC daylighters, roof rack, hi jack, etc.


What I had to do to pass PA inspection:
-front Diff/axles needed new seals/bearings
-new front driveshaft
-front brake calipers were seized
-Drivers side floor pan hole repair
-fix front sway bar mount points and tighten


In addition, I had them:
-Replace the front steering with UTK 1-ton steering from JCRoffroad
-Remove the lift blocks and spacers
-mount NERF bars I ordered
-Mount new Mickey Baja 35x12.5R15 on new Cragar wheels
-Remove the front locker and put stock spider gears back in (if I get into offroading, I may put it back in)


Here it is as it sits today:
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And some of the interior and exterior:
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http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...ps1434ee91.jpg


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As of today, I have only been able to modify it a bit:
-Wink 5 wide rear mirror
-Kenwood radio with X-Ram phone mount
-Replace the crappy 4 AWG trunk battery cable with 1 awg welding cable.
-Unstuck rear door
-clean it out some...once it gets warmer, ill hose down the floor....there was sand EVERYWHERE
-Cut out some of the rotted kick panel on drivers side (again, FILLED with sand.)


Parts ordered and en route:
-Durango Steering box
-Borgsen(sp?) Steering shaft
-upgraded fuel injectors
-Airtex Fuel pump Assembly
-interior LEDs for instrument panel
-6.5" front coils from rusty's (Front sits 2" higher then rear currently due to 8.5" springs and 6.5" leafs)
-Front sway bar drop bracket
-Rear Sway bar from Quadratec 7/8" (apparently needs one for inspection, but they let it slide)
-Upgraded h4 headlights parts...harness, lights, bulbs, etc.
-new speedo gear for 35's
-Rust Bullet Truck underside kit
-APN header, thrush muffler (single in dual out), high flow cat, 2.25 exhaust piping to dual tips
-Rear Disc Conversion parts
-Replacement rocker panel for driver side
-I think I bought more stuff, but I cant remember right now...


I am also considering doing a 02 Grand Cherokee Brake Booster and Master Cylinder to help with stopping power, since its a little slow to stop.


Additional things I want to do:
-Fresh Herculiner along sides (faded) and interior floor
-remove KC daylights and replace with LED light bar
-replace all the rusted brake lines and fuel lines (may break when trying to replace brake parts and fuel parts...we'll see)




Needless to say, Im taking on a lot, but Im like a crack addict when I get interested in a project...you should see some of my other cars. I'm use to low and fast cars, so this is a nice change/addition. Got the have fun with it just yesterday with some local flooding...everyone else was stopped and stuck, and I just kept on trucking through the flooded roads. Loved it.


Anyone want some 36x12.5LT15 Super swampers and rims ???????

it could be worse lol. thats alot to pay, but 105,000 on a 99 is pretty nice, thats half the miles on my 92 lol. and it looks nice. personally i would take it down to like 5.5 of lift and do the cut and roll on the fenders which i think should have been that way from the factory, and keep the new 35s because those are nice. even if its not a serious trail rig the trimmed fenders give it the right stance rather than the body being so high above the tires. either way its a clean looking rig and should run for a long time.

You want to reconsider that airtex fuel pump, I would go Bosch.

I read on here a few guys using airtex and no problems so far. It was a decent price for the entire fuel assembly on partsgeek

An "almost there" update:


I stockpiled all the parts (most of them at least) so I could try to do everything at once.


Bought some brown dog motor mounts, and those took a month to get here...


Anyway, while I was waiting for the mounts, (I kept everything taken apart I was working on until I got the new mounts in to keep it an easy install once they got here) I stumbled across www.jeepsuperchargers.com , and having a credit card with a zero balance....SWIPE IT! lol. I picked up a sidemount supercharger kit from them so I didn't have to have any holes in my hood, like the topmount.


I guess I'll just list what I have finished so far:


Done so far:
-Sidemount Supercharger (98% done....just need to hook up vac lines)

-Brown dog "superkit" motor mounts

-Rust Bullet'd the entire underside of the Jeep, and coated the inner frame rails with rust inhibitor from Everlast (the green "seepthrew" in the underbody pictures)

-Swapped out the Rusty's Trac bar for a IRO double sheer trac bar.

-changed out the 8" front springs with 6.5"


-Swapped out the crappy rusty's shocks with bilstein 5100s

-installed Durango Steering box with upgraded solid steering brace from
"Creep(?)" Customs.

-Installed APN header, coated Black.


-Flushed out the old antifreeze


-Uninstalled the ghetto 12,000lb(according to seller) hydraulic winch that came with the car(guy who sold me the jeep forgot the winch controller when he delivered the jeep, and refuses to mail it to me now.) I think it was messing with my Power steering because it was t'd into it and not on its own pump, but I don't know enough about that stuff to know for sure.


-Plastic Dipped my hood sides and center...the sides were painted black by the PO, and were starting to chip, so I plastidipped over it and added the center. I like how it came out, especially with the other flat black parts with the blue.


-Took off and sold the KC daylighters, and bought a 20"(bumper) and 41.5" (Roof) LED bar to replace them.


-Installed spacers to bring the front sway bar down 2"(welded and bolted) which will allow me to shorter the end links(they were practically maxed out)...shorter endlinks = better handling :tongue_smilie:


-Installed new SS hood pin plates (old ones were scratched up chrome plated.)


-Upgraded the headlight wiring harness and headlights to H4 lights and bulbs


-Fixed a slew of electrical issues, all battery related.
The PO had a ghetto "dual battery" setup in the car, which turned out to be pointless. He had the stock battery location with a smaller-than-stock battery, then he had a large battery in the trunk. Now, This took a while to figure out what was wrong, because the jeep kept having power issues. Turned out, he used 4 AWG wiring to run the trunk battery to the engine bay battery, had a crappy ground on both, AND AND AND Coated the terminals on both batteries with ANTI-SEIZE...:brickwall: The rear battery was fully charged, yet wasn't properly connected and the front battery wouldn't hold a charge. So, I ran 1 AWG welding wiring, doubled up the grounds, deleted the engine bay battery and installed new terminals, cleaned off the antiseize, and presto. No the slightest issue since.


-Installed Borgeson Steering shaft
**** Now, this MotherF#%#er was a little PITA. Bought it from Serious Offroad, supposed to fit my 99 Cherokee, right? WRONG. I got it, installed it, and 1) it was about 6 inches too short and 2) it had a Double "D" end on the steering wheel end, instead of a 3/4" 36 Splined end. SOOOO, couldn't find a number to contact "serious" about it, so I just called Borgeson directly. After a little bit of arguing with them, I finally ended up having to basically buy a whole new "uncut" shaft and the two ends individually and assemble them myself. Not a big deal, but still a hassle dealing with it all....when they say something is suppose to fit up to a '00 XJ, and it doesn't, and all they have to say is "well, it should fit"...Just annoying.


Anyway, got it sorted, and all better now, just waiting on my refund for the returned parts. Don't get me wrong, in the end, it worked out, but getting from Point A to Point B, was a mini headache, especially when Im telling them the issues and they are just saying "well, it says it should fit, are you sure you know what kind of jeep you have?" Maybe Im just a drama queen. lol***


I think that about wraps it up. Here are some pics. I just need to hook up all the vac lines, install the split second controller for the charger and put the rad, front grille back on and set the trac bar, and we should be GTG.




Then its off the have a stinger installed :)




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Almost there !! :cool2:

I have a question for anyone who reads this:


I have adjustable length 1-ton UTK steering...any reason I can't ditch my drop pitman arm and put a stock one back on? Is there a difference in having one over the other, steering-wise??

Looks great man! Doing a lot of awesome upgrades that'll keep that thing runnin and drivin good for a while!

As long as your drag link and track bar are at the same angles leave the pitman arm. If the track bar is steeper you can go back to stock arm to raise the drag link up to proper angles.

Hey. Glad I could make it over to you and help you figure out a couple things on your supercharger install. :sailor:

Can't wait to see it when you finish up the last couple things on the install and get your suspension/alignment figured out. :gunsmilie:


SuperSub'd for sure.