The Wrangler Duratracs are so much smoother and quieter than the beat up old MTZs I had on there that I can now hear my ball joints straining and popping. Guess that's a good thing! (it also explains the weird cupping I was getting on the old front tires!) I got the Load-range-E rated tires because they have the extra plys in the tread and sidewall for puncture/cut resistance and stability. I bet the Load-range-C version of the Duratrac are even smoother and just as good if you don't plan on crawling sharp rocks like I do in CO & UT. I was worried after the mechanic said his ride got noticeably stiffer with E-rated Duratracs, but he's driving a Duramax Dodge mostly on pavement - not quite the same weight distribution as an XJ!

I'm VERY happy with their dry pavement and loose gravel performance. I floored it at 35 on a loose gravel turn, and barely had any wheelspin even when I tried to get it to fishtail! I have yet to test them out on slickrock, mud or snow... but it just dumped 12" here in the Icebox of the Nation, I've got the day off, and I fully plan on doing some test driving after breakfast!

The only thing I'm a little worried about is deep, clay mud because the lugs are closer together than a "true" mud tire. They use the E-rated Duratracs on all the CDOT plow trucks that plow/drive the mountain passes on the Continental Divide - so I'm sure they'll be awesome in snow!

If you don't need extra puncture protection, the load range C tires are a good bit cheaper than the E-rated ones - they'd probably be fine in New England where there aren't so many sharp rocks! I lived in VT for 9 years, and the best tire I found for snow there was the Firestone Winterforce, but they didn't have the Duratracs when I was there, and the tread is way more open on the Duratracs so I'm betting they are a much better all around mud/snow tire! They are a bit pricier, I got my Winterforce about 6 years ago in a 235/15 for about 100 bucks each. My Duratrac E-rateds were about 240 each in a 265/16 last week!

I'll be sure to keep updating as I test more & continue to do the fixin!

 

Now that i'm single again, the dogger shares the jeep with me more than anyone else, so I figured why not customize the passenger area for him! hehe He definitely likes his platform and it's holding up better than I expected! When we go outside for a walk, he always aims for the Jeep, just in case he can talk me into going for a ride - it seems that's his first choice... unless the backyard fox is running around of course!

I'm pretty sure after another year or so, my beagle will be ready for his ASE Certification test - he's patiently watched every mod/fix I've done on the Jeep. When I take a part off, he gets up and comes over to sniff it. I make sure to explain what it is and what it does too! He's even figured out to stay behind me so when I spray PB or paint or whatever at stuff I don't get him! Gotta love it!

EDIT: he's WAY more LOYAL than the wench that ditched me when I lost my job a while back, so if you ask me he's earned his custom interior mods!

 

lucky! man i wish it would snow down here.

 

I appreciate the info. Looks like I'll go with the Load Range C in the Duratracs. I have a set of new Wrangler GSA's on Ecco wheels to swap over during the summer months, so that'll work great! WV, OH, PA, VA, KY, and NY are my normal routes, and they'll get a good winter workout for sure. I did 1 trip in my 2WD Nissan Titan last winter and was "white knuckled miserable" - even with just a sprinkling of bad weather. Anyone with one of those trucks can understand. That's why I'm building this Jeep.

Thanks again, man!

 

Just finished driving around in the snow. Seems the plow guys are being lazy so I got some good testing done! I drove into a plow pile about 2ft high and at least the length of my jeep, going up a slight grade - it slowed me down when the snow (heavy & wet & half-packed already) hit my axle tubes and diff. covers, but I just gave it some more gas and it churned it's way up the hill without any struggle! I woulda been stuck for sure with the MTZs I had previously.

The duratracs have way better lateral stability, and are great for traction & braking too. They seem to pack up with wetter snow at slower speeds, but if you spin the wheels they unload very nicely and the XJ churns along like a champ! I did all my testing today at 32psi which is what I've been driving on the roads with, so I'm sure if I aired down even just to 20 or 25psi it would be a ton better, not that I'd need that from what they can do at 32psi. In a foot and a half of untouched snow, it drives like the snow's not even there and in my opinion better than on pavement. All testing done in 4H. VERY SATISFIED!!!

 

Yea, I love snow - was born to live in the high peaks. I was bouncing around like my dog this morning when I woke up to see the deep stuff! I'm very likely to try and get some skiing in up on the divide tomorrow, even if I have to wear my body armor! hehe

Unfortunately I grew up in central PA and I was very twitchy until I made my break for the mountains! Now I live at 9000ft above sea level, so it's a good bit different up here. The drawback is you have to like shoveling snow. A lot of shoveling. For days on end. Every morning & night. For weeks & weeks. I've seen -40F on a yearly basis too, so it's not for the beach-lover in ya! It does making the driving to work and such a lot more fun & exciting though!!!

 

great looking jeep man.
whats the code for the dash led's if you dont mind?

 

Thanks!
2nd post down from the pic of the green gauges on page one of this thread has bulb numbers and locations and then some!

 

25. Replaced ancient parking brake cables so I can get everything properly adjusted. Those things were really rusted on there. Unfortunately I renewed my hate for threaded rods during this process. The adjusting nut on the threaded rod attached to the lever-assembly was and still is rusted solid on there. I've been hitting it with PB for weeks and tryin at it randomly but it still hasn't moved - it is now time for some Destruction. I plan on getting a couple of new nuts to match the threads on the threaded rod. Then I'm gonna cut/destroy the old nut off, use one of the new nuts to chase the threads, then put a different new nut on there so I can tighten the cables properly. I should have planned on doing this when I did the cables, but I guess I'm just persistent. I plan on applying at least 12oz. of grease to the whole thing when I'm done so it's covered in a nice protective layer of goo. I think the only thing worse than a threaded rod is a barrel adjuster between two threaded rods. At least I'm not facing one of those!

I'm once again sad that mankind sees fit to use a device such as a threaded rod, when it's well known that all they do is rust solid and then twist, bend, or snap. Somehow they are always twisted into some convoluted shape which is, of course, part of a much more expensive assembly too. Anyway, the cables look nice and new, at least - guess I'll have to wait a bit to see if they actually work properly... stupid threaded rod!

 

26. repaired adjuster bracket with stupid threaded rod, performed final adjust on new drums & parking brake lever. Got it all working better than it ever has under my ownership! Ended up taking a hack-saw to the nut on my threaded rod adjuster. That was really pissing me off so I just decided to get rid of it. Found a few M8x1.25 nuts at the HW store with washer to match. Used one nut to clean up the rusty threads on the rod with a ton of PB blaster, then put the washer and new nut on and started adjusting. Made sure the drums were just barely dragging, then got the nut tight so it holds the jeep with the lever at about 5-7 clicks. New cables made a huge difference, but replacing the old rusty/seized nut with a new one that works was key! I'll take a pic next time I'm under there... probly won't be long. Those new tires are grinding plastic at half turn so I feel a fender trim coming on...

27. Not my work this time, but had the nearby shop put 4 new ball joints in. Those things were so old I'm pretty sure I'd never have gotten them out even if I did buy a fancy press so couldn't risk it with the limited budget I'm on. but WOW did that make things quieter and smoother! I was getting kinda creeped out by the noises they were making after getting new tires, and once I saw how much play they have I knew it was way past their time. That's it for new parts for a while though- the jeep's fixed and I'm all broke again!

 

So my brother really likes the platform I built for the dog - he says it's way better than the factory arm-rest! Still holding up to the Beagle abuse as well.

The new tires are friggin AWESOME in the snow. Best snow tire I've ever had by a long shot. I've only had to use 4WD for black ice and snow deeper than a foot. It churns around in deep snow in 4WD like it's dry pavement too. I haven't even had to back up for a running start, even for 2+ft plow piles! They show no visible signs of wear after about 3K miles, other than chips from before I trimmed the fenders a bit. The only complaint I can think of is that I can feel/hear just about every crack in the pavement - but I think that's because of the Load Range E with extra plys and stiff sidewalls combined with old shocks and springs so I don't really even blame the tires. If you have good shocks and get the Load Range C version which are softer, they would likely feel like proper passenger tires, but wouldn't be as good under load or as resistant to puncture as the E-rated ones. Definitely worth every penny either way!

The latest experiment is "Will my PS pump last the winter?" - it's slow to kick on when I start the engine below 0deg F, and it screeches like a banshee when it does. After a few minutes it quiets down and works normal. Sounds/works fine when it's warm or after sleeping in the garage. I found the fluid was brown and viscous like water and smelled strongly of burning, so I replaced it twice and it's a much more normal color. No noticeable performance change though, so I'm pretty sure it's on it's way out. Not surprising with 197K in miles and running what looked to have been burnt coffee in place of PS fluid for I don't know how long!

Still no more leaking of any color, except for the slight seepage around the oil pan seal. Less than a quart loss between 3K-mile oil changes!

No major projects planned until the weather warms up. Then I'm gonna put a cowl-vent on my hood and start work on gutting the interior and replacing floors, rockers and anything else that looks rotten. Probably rig up some kind of storage device in the back with a hidden drawer for my arsenal & tools and a slide scabbard under the window for a Mossberg 500 too. Think I'm gonna get me a MIG welder with my tax money this year! If that happens it'll pretty much absorb the rest of the summer I bet...

 

Ok, so I went a different route - I spent my tax money on guns and ammo. Got me a sweet 45 colt SAA replica and a nice little .380acp that just loves hanging out in jeeps. The 96 XJ is still running just fine, the PS pump hasn't done anything weird in a while so I guess it just wanted new fluid.

This will be the last post on this thread as far as updates for my 96 XJ because I am selling it to a friend... because I finally found a 99 XJ in near perfect condition for a price I was willing to pay!!! Woo Hoo!!! The 96 will definitely always have a special place in my soul but the new 99 is soooo clean and perfect.

I'm pumped I don't have to deal with the rust anymore, and can build the suspension with proper parts from day 1 instead of constantly replacing the cheap parts that were on the 96 when I got it! I'll start another build thread for the 99 since this one is kinda long winded and all, what with my story of how the 96 convinced me the XJ was the best vehicle ever made!

 

when you got new tires did you keep the same size? i like your proportions and im thinking about doing that to my xj, from what i understand that jeep when you got it had 3'' lift with 31s? correct me if im wrong

 

Actually, it had 3.5" lift and 32" tires. Now that I'm doing a build from scratch, I'm going to do one thing differently though. I think that lift height was about perfect for what I do, but the 32" tires were just a little too much with stock gearing. It didn't have very good acceleration or low end torque, and wasn't very fast on long, steep hills. I'm going to put a 3.5" lift and 31" tires on my new XJ so i have slightly better performance until I can afford gears & lockers. Eventually I will be getting new gears when I put lockers in it, and then I'll probably put 33" tires on - but that won't be for a while. I think anything over 31" tires you should really get new gearing for the axles, now that I've felt the torque range of a stock setup. I have a lot of things I want to do before I spend money on gears/lockers and since I drive in deep snow a lot and over the continental divide a lot, the extra torque with 31s instead of 32s will be welcome. Unless you do a lot of rock crawling or really deep mud, my opinion is you don't need much more lift than 3.5" of lift; and once you get up past 4" of lift there are a lot more expenses like driveline & steering corrections. Whatever you do, go with real, new springs and not the add-a-leaf or worse yet blocks!!!