Trimmy

Well I had a 1998 Dodge with a 12v cumimns and a 5 spd manual in it. Well it just wasn't doing it for me anymore so I put it up for sale with the intentions of buying a stock TJ. Well the more and more I thought about it I figured an XJ would be a better purchase for me needs. So while my truck was up for sale I started to build my xj on paper. I wanted an IRO 5.5" long arm lift, I was planning on ther HNT SYE, with a stock front shaft for the rear. I wanted a HP30 and an 8.25 rear regeared to 4.88s with a spartan up front and undecided in the rear. I also wanted a set of 33x12.5x15s undecided on the tire but wanted black steel 15x8s. I figured it would be a slow build starting from scratch since the lift, sye woiuld set me back close to 1700-1800 dollars. Well I spent some time looking around on craigslist for a 99 with the HP30/8.25. I ended up coming across a 99 hp30/8.25 already lifted on an IRO 5.5" Long arm lift. The problem was it had 251k miles on it. I passed over it quite a few times but the price didn't seem to bad at 3000. I ended up getting a call and a serious buyer on my cummins so I text the guy and he said he would come down to $2500 on the price so I asked to come see it. Well I get there and realized I had bought a car off the guy 4 years earlier and he was a great guy and a Mercedes Benz mechanic. I got talking to him about it within the last year he had replaced: the battery, IAC, TPS, had the ECM rebuilt, new timken wheel bearing up front, new exhaust, the whole lift, new floor pans, and some other odds and ends. After taking it on a test drive I was very happy with the jeep, way nicer and drove better then the 99 and 2000 I previously owned with half the miles. The plus was the A/C was super cold. I drove home to think about. I text him with a $2400 offer later that night. He accepted it. The guy who was interested in my truck came that next morning with cash in hand and within an hour of him driving away with the truck I had made my way to the guys work to pick the jeep up.

This is what it looked like when I picked it up




The 31x10.5x15 BFG At's had about 50% tread but they were old and dry rotted slightly, the tread was hard and made a LOT of noise on the road so I set out for a set of 33x12.5x15s. I found a set of coooper stt's with 80% tread for $500. I bought them and turned around and sold the BFG At's for $280. My buddy works at a shop and he mounted/balanced them for free.





Once I got them on the stock flares had to go. Here it is waiting the get trimmed up





I got the fenders trimmed and painted up and now I'm no longer rubbing.





I also added a set of shackle relocators to mix because the rear shackles were at a 90* angle and it was sitting on the bumper bolt causing it not to articulate very well and rode hard. At the same time I also deleted the rear sway bar and then built a set of disconnects with a set of pins I bought at Lowes.



After all this was done I decided it was time for a tranny cooler. I bought a Hayden 403 from pepboys and also bought the hayden 392 splice lines to splice into the rubber line on the under the balancer.





I also notice a small oil leak that was only covering the bottom of the jeep not leaking a spot on the driveway it was coming from the oil filter adapter, so I bought the reseal kit from crown and fixed that issue. I also believe the rear main seal is leaking so I'll leave that for another day because its sooooo minor I'm not sure if its actually leaking

I do have a leak from the pressure line in the power steering setup right at the bottom crimp in the hose so I'll have to fix that soon.

So Far this is where I'm at with the jeep. The plans for the future are

-33x12.5x15" Mt's (Cooper STT's
-New Header
-New Muffler (Replaced)
-New rear main
-New pressure line in the power steering (Replaced)
-Swap in my 8.8
-Regear my front to match the 8.8's 4.10 gears
-784 Injectors (installed, thank you programbo)
-Bored TB
-Build Cowl Intake
-Replace the rockers
-Build patch panels for a small rust spot at the bottom of both passenger doors and a patch panel for the rear hatch.
-Paint it desert tan (wanted a tan jeep since I enlisted in the military)
-Build a front /rear bumper
-Build rock sliders

Trimmy

Well today I cut out the piece of junk muffler that was on it and added a Thrush turbo muffler. Its not loud at all which is what I wanted but it has a decent tone to it. I am going to have a new 2.5" exhaust built from the headers back as soon as I get a set of APN headers.



I also replaced the power steering pressure line because it was leaking. Hopefully no more leaks.

Trimmy

Well I picked up a ford 8.8 today. I paid $200 for it, its 4.10 geared and factory LSD in it. Everything was in good shape. It has a leaky axle seal so I'm replacing both axle seals/bearings. I just ordered all new break parts except the parking breaks, not sure if I'm going to use it yet. I cut off all the brackets and was able to save the factory spring perches. I dont know if I want to spend $40 on new ones or just reuse these since there still in great shape. So far with all the new parts I have $275 in it. I still need ubolts, plates, 1310 flange and bolts. then it will be ready to bolt in. I am going to try to find a dana 30 thats already geared to 4.10 if not I'll spend the $300 and regear my stock axle luckily my buddy knows how to do it all and I understand it also so I just have the cost of parts no labor.

Trimmy

I replaced the power steering pressure line this week, also noticed it wasnt the only thing leaking. Turns out the front seal on the gear box is leaking also.

I replaced the stock 34t speedo gear for a 30t speedo gear and now my speedometer is within 1mph of my GPS.

Call-_me-Jordan

Looks great so far. Makes me want to lift my jeep more!

MichiganCherokee

Nice build. How do you like the IRO?

Trimmy

I love it the only thing I want to do is lower it a little. It has 4.5" coils and a 2" spacer up front, the 3.5" leafs and a 2" shackle in the rear. I want to remove the spacer up front and put a stock or maybe a little shackle in the rear. I blew out the drivers rear shock the other day, there just the cheap shocks that came with the kit so I'll be buying 5100's for it.

Trimmy

Well I got my brake parts from Rockauto today, Seeing them inspired me to order the rest of the stuff I needed from Ironrock. I just placed an order for Ubolts and spring plates, spicer 1310 adaptor, flange bolts, and spidertraxx 1.25" spacers. When this order arrives I will have everything needed to install my 8.8. Now I need to find an axle with 4.10 or order the stuff to regear my front.

LOCOXJ

Nice Ride man!!

Trimmy

Thank you sir.

motoo344

Good stuff, I like the way it looks. My oil filter adapter is leaking as well not a terrible fix but unfortunately the bolt that holds it in was rounded off by a previous owner. Its not a terrible leak, I haven't had to add any oil but it is annoying

Trimmy

That really sucks. Mine took a lot of trickery to get the t60 in there. The only one I could find was for a 3/8 drive and it was to long it, wouldn't fit because it was hitting the unibody. I trimmed the tip of the t60 and it was still to long so I cut the hex side off of it which left a small shoulder on it. I put a 10mm gearwrench on it which allowed me to put pressure on the bolt as I was spinning it. Well after 251k it did not want to budge so I got a pry bar on the unibody and pried against the t60 to make sure it was seated as far as it could go. I put a 10mm boxed end on it and put a breaker bar on that and it made a loud snap, I thought I broke it off or stripped it out. Luckily it just broke loose and I was able to loosen it by hand the rest of the way.

motoo344

Unfortunately I don't think there is much I can do to get that piece out with a rounded bolt. Overall Cherokee's are pretty easy to work on but this is a bit of a pain.

Trimmy

Well today I scored a high pinion dana 30 with 4.10 gears for $60 only problem is its a CAD axle but the plan is to pull out the ring and pinion with the 3.73 and up carrier and swap it into my HP30 with all new seals and bearings after I install my ford 8.8. I got an email from IRO saying my 8.8 swap parts are in the mail so hopefully next sunday I'll have the 8.8 in the Jeep.

Trimmy

Well I got more parts in today for my 8.8 swap. I ordered them from Iron Rock Off Road.

Spring Plates
U-Bolts
Spicer Flange
Flange Bolts
Spidertrax 1.25" wheel spacers



Here is everything I have for the rear swap so far.



Here are the 4.10 gears from my $60 hpd30 housing I scored the other day.