jeepjerry

A guy i know is going through some rough times and had to sell his trail rig. I was planning on building my 76 cj-5 into a heftier rig but i really want to restore it instead. My girlfriends 89 xj is set up nice for wheelin', but its her daily driver. This thing i can just beat on and not worry about it. I picked it up for a good price and i know its been wheeled hard and i'll have no problems doing the same.

specs are...
-91 cherokee sport
-3.5" rubicon express full spring lift system
-Stock 3.55 gears
-trussed non-disco front axle
-chrylser rear
-very weak 4.0 liter
-33x15.50r15 swamper sx's on 8" wide rims
-hd steering links
-custom front and rear bumpers
-built in 2x3" steel rock sliders on rockers

My plans are...
-Replace tired engine with the good 92 4.0 i have in a parts jeep
-add 2" front spacers and 1" rear shackles or blocks...(its higher in the back right now)
-Get the 15.50" wide tires on the 10" wide spare rims i have
-possibly set up a roll cage
-take front brush guard off and build or buy a stinger to weld onto the bumper
-swap in the rear dana 44 i have out of a 87 xj
-and in the distant future....re-gear and run 35"s

Pics are from the summer when i wheeled with him. its now got some trail rash on both sides.







Feel free to give any better suggestions you may have for the rig.

ZachsXJ

Maybe its the flex angle or something but in that first bit your tie rod looks way out of wack

jeepjerry

Not sure, its gotta be the angle. It might be better off with a drop pitman arm too. I havent really studied the jeep a whole lot yet, pretty much drove it and parked it in the storage shed after i brought it home since its so cold out and my garage has other stuff in it that needs to go soon. Id like to do the engine swap as soon as i can.

jeepjerry

took some pics of it today







those rear lift leaf springs are kind of stiff huh....

jeepjerry

Swapped my motor a few weeks back.....

Old motor...

Replacement in...



Now it can serve daily driver duty if it needs to with 31"s on it. I drive it when it snows.

jeepjerry

I took out the stock spring insulators and put in 2" lift spacers. This leveled the jeep out nicely. I have rubicon express 1.5 lift shackles and was going to put those on and add the 2" in the front, but im not going to go higher unless i have rubbing problems and i have to.....or if i step up to 35"s. Low is better......

jeepjerry

Got the 15.50" wide swampers on my 10" wide rims and they look sweet!




Did some short arm flex testing also to make sure im fairly clear of rubbing. It looked good when i turned the wheel lock to lock.

jeepjerry

did my own fancy exhaust work to get replace the rotted muffler and get the tailpipe out of the way.

ZachsXJ

your Jeep has cancer....

I would edit my previous post, but CF is being wacky and won't let me. Are you running ZJ steering parts? they look to be a bit beefier than stock but not quite full HD aftermarket.

jeepjerry

haha....yeah, it does, but what good is a pretty off road rig?

Im cutting up a clean 92 2wd that i have since i couldnt get a title for it and am going to weld some patch panels onto this one. not to be pretty, but just to do its structural part for the body

89eliminator

looks way better now

jeepjerry

Yeah, but i just about maxed out the lift on these short arms. I need adjustables or Wade, wanna help build some long arms??

Bimmer_2002

Nice rig!

krkx93

nice work with the exaust might do the same with mine

jeepjerry

I think the drag link is zj, but the tie rod is a stock one with a larger diameter pipe slid over and welded then smoothed. Not a bad idea.


Yeah, the exhaust turned out nice. Its louder in the interior and harmonizes in overdrive but its not annoying to me. Turn up the radio and its un-noticeable.