dan10101

It's far from a Beast, but She heard it with the mufflers off.

This is my 98 classic project. It was on it's way to be a Jeepspeed racer, but the owner got sidetracked and decided to get out.

It has 6" Full Traction long arm suspension that I need to finish installing. A bunch of frame reinforcements that needs to be finish welded. SYE kit that I need to install. Eaton Detroit locker to install in the back along with 456 gears and all the bearings/seals needed. General 33" tires and US racing wheels. Banks headers. Lots more. I know I'll probably ruin the 6" fenders running them in the woods, I may be building some tube exo-cage piece to protect them. The hood is custom and looks awesome. The interior is gone, except for the dash. I have a trip to the junkyard to see what I can scavenge to make it operational. It came with 1 PRP suspension seat that weights almost nothing. I was able to get it running by jumping the starter solenoid and it sounds pretty good. But he may have disconnected something important so it doesn't work with the key. It has an overheating problem that might be a cracked head, so a engine rebuild may be in the works. Oh, and I grabbed an AMC stroker crank cheap off craigslist. So i can spend the money on a good head if need be. Well, It's going to be a project, but a fun one.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1499896577

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1499896577

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1499896577

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1499896577

dan10101

Ok first question. (and I'll have lots)
With a 6" lift, would it be best to use shocks for the 5-6" or the 6-8" lift?
Crawling will happen, but it will be secondary to the primary use.

or

kyle96xj

It would be best to measure how long of a shock you need by taking measurements with the suspension at full bump and full droop, or at least figure out how much travel you want and measure at ride height then add +5" or however much down travel you want and opposite for up travel. In the rear you probably are going to want more down travel than up travel, and in the front those fenders give you lots of room to stuff so more up travel could be useful. Or if you don't want to measure just order the 5-6" and you might not be able to utilize all of your potential shock travel. Also subbed, I love the prerunner look

dan10101

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try to keep things updated. I hope things go quickly. I want to drive it!

MWMahoneyJr

Nice find. Yes, keep things updated. Give us some more shots of this thing. How is that prerunner attached to the bumper, just a couple of screws?

What do you plan to do with this thing? Have you owned a Jeep before? Were you looking for a Cherokee and came across this? Give us more background.

dan10101

It's bolted on solid, I believe it's more of a test or a work in progress than a permanent solution. I'll probably build something smaller for my purposes.

I had a Grand Wagoneer years ago. I was looking for something smaller to get into a variety of wheeling scenarios. Trail, Dunes, and most important some fun (and work) on our property. This one came up within the family for a give away price. Everything is a compromise for cost, time, effort. If money was no object, I'd probably be buying a RSR, but this will give me 90% plus the option of running it on the hwy.

So my current plan is to make it a 4 seater, minimal roll cage to eliminate headbanging. I'd love to see pictures of someone that has done this. Most of the cages don't have a back seat. So maybe the proper term would be roll bar. I'd love to use a fold down back seat like the stock one to give me some working room.

I currently have a dune buggy that I need to get rid of to fund this project. Anyone in the Southern Oregon area that's interested can hit me up.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500049071

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500049071

dan10101

Ok, on to the work in progress pictures. Well actually this is before my portion of the work starts. It's a good start. Some welding, some tightening of the bolts, Add Shocks and Dampener. Oh, and is this the rear trackbar?

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500050733

This is my weight loss plan.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500050283

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500050283

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500050283

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500050283

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500050283

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500050283

and finally it makes noise!

kyle96xj

There shouldn't be a rear track bar unless the previous owner had some really strange suspension in plan, I've never heard of anyone running a rear track bar on an xj with leaf springs

dan10101

Yeah, that's what I thought. I know he wasn't planning on coils in back, so
front maybe?

kyle96xj

Yeah I bet that's probably the front track bar that came with the lift/long arm set up but it looks like there is a homemade trackbar on the axle so the other one probably didn't work with the TnT truss/axle side mount

dan10101

Makes sense. It's something he would do.
It shows it on the kit.

I guess I'll drive it a bit and if its working, I'll have another part to pawn.


https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500074489

dan10101

Well, measuring doesn't work, since the lower shock mounts are gone front and rear. I'll probably go with the 5.5" shocks and move the lower mounts up as needed. If any one has a link to some examples of lower shock mounts above the axles, please share.
I know I'm not flexing it correctly. But it doesn't really matter.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500098929

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500098929

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500098929

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500098929

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1500098929

dan10101

Update.
I thru on the exhaust. only so I could see how it sounds. Pretty good I would say. Stock exhaust with flowmaster. I'll put the Banks header and probably change the stock pipe to a mandrel bent 2 1/2, but for now this works just fine.
No pict, but you guys have seen a muffler before.

Then I focused on the lower shock mounts. My Bilstein 5100 6" lift shocks came in and I need to make a way to attach the bottom.

I started by doing my best effort of simulating travel. So I fabbed up something to use my rack.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1501479591

I thought might flex more, but this should be enough for me.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1501479591

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1501479591

I'm fabbing up some stockish rear shocks for now (below the axle), I'll look at maybe going thru the floor for top mounts and raise up the lowers at a later day for now this will get me going. I'm using 1/4" plate that I got from the local metal scrapyard.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1501479591

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1501479591

I spent some time tightening the suspension bolts, making sure they were the right ones, cleaning off the surface rust and putting a bit of primer down to keep it from coming back. I've been putting off the SYE install, I need to get that done. I have 456 gears and locker for the back but I want to see how it runs down the highway with the stock gears. I borrowed the neighbors good welder, my Hobart 125 just made a mess and didn't really penetrate properly. But that means I need to change the plug on my 220 that also runs the hoist. I have a bunch of welding to do, this should help me do it right.

Still a long way to go. But it'll get there.

dan10101

I continue to make small progress on the build. I picked up some seats so I can actually have something to sit on. I have the front shocks installed. I wired up the radiator fans with a new thermostat. Then I needed to finally install the SYE so I could could set the rear pinion angle and then complete the rear lower shock mounts.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1503717444
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1503717444

I needed some additional interior parts, AC components, Spare tire, Dash pieces, and so on. One of the local Jeepers was selling a parts XJ for a resonable price, (about what I would pay for all the items I needed from a junkyard). So I picked up the whole 1999 parts XJ, with a working matching drivetrain to what I currently am running. Missing a couple engine pieces, but capable of running if I choose to do so. It's rusted beyond reasonable repair, so I have two choices, strip it of everything that is useful and sell it off for scrap. The other option would be to get it running and turn it into a ranch vehicle. That might be fun to do. Strip it down to a bare running drivetrain and use it and abuse it.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1503717444

dan10101

Please look my gear pattern for the D30 rebuild below, Thanks!


Updates:
I’ve had some setbacks and some progress.
First catching up on the project. I disassembled the parts jeep. (rust bucket). Pretty much stripped it leaving only the rear diff for to enable hauling it away to the new owner who plans on making it into a camper trailer of some sort. That should be interesting.

The parts enabled me to complete most of the interior. Fix a few things that were broken, and have lots of spares for down the road. (plus a few things to sell).

So I finally got the Beast roadworthy, but on the first drive I lost the front Diff. That lead to speeding up the timetable to put gears and lockers in front and rear. Not entirely a bad thing.
So I’m putting in Eaton Detroit Locker in the rear along with 456 gears F&R I added an Eaton True Trac for the front to give me some semblance of all wheel drive. The rear went pretty well, minor problems learning the ropes for my first Diff rebuilds. For the 7.25 Chrysler with Detroit locker I had to grind down the C-clips a bit to get them to seat in the locker. Other than that (and normal learning the ropes) it went well. Actually much easier than the D30.

The front D30 gave me lots of problems, so I appreciate a look at the pattern below to see if I finally have it close enough to call it good.

Drive side
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1506668501

Coast side
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1506668501

Rear diff
C-clips mod
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1506666428
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1506666428
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...1&d=1506666428