Action Fab

Hey guys. Figured I'd post up the little XJ I started putting together for myself and to showcase my products.

First I'll introduce myself. I am Chris Welch, owner of Off Road Specialties. My shop is a small custom fab shop mainly catering to hard core rock crawlers. I build buggies, cages, multi-link suspensions... ext. But I have always been a Jeep nut, mainly of the frameless variety. I've built a number of crazy one ton/linked monster Cherocars and figured I'd keep this one basic and small. I have been wheeling for close to ten years now. I started Action Fabrication in 2005 shut down to manage another shop in 2007. Then re-opened under the name Off Road Specialties in 2010. Literally all I've ever done is built crawlers.

So with the introduction out of the way The idea behind the build is 'simple'... I want something that drive well, is fairly comfortable while being capable and tough. I do a lot of hiking, mountain biking, climbing, kayaking, ext. And I want this to be the rig that gets me out there.

What I bought was an ex K-9 unit police jeep. Pretty basic 4.0/aw4/231/hp30/8.25/3.55. It had 189K on it when I bought it and was mechanically in perfect shape.



Remember I said it was a K-9 unit. Well, it looked like Chewbacca lived back there. Even my own dog thought it was filthy.



Sadly it did get into a slight fender bender which is why it was decommissioned and the new owner "fixed" it up with some spray on bedliner. So the grill and flares were screwed.

I was able to sand down the grill and shot it with some primer. I went ahead and just removed the flares. While I was at it I added one of my Extreme clearance Stubby Bumpers.



Now I know these are a bit overkill for my intended purpose. But I had them laying around from a past jeep and figured they'd certainly be good insurance. 17x8 TrailReady bead locks with world rings.



And for tires I went with some factory JK rubicon BFG 255/75R17's. As of right now, with a little fender trimming and the factiory bumpstops, it doesn't seem to be rubbing. But I'll get it out on the trail this weekend and see. If it does rub, I'll add a shackle and some 2" coils along with a little longer bumpstops/shocks.




So, future plans are:
-Superwinch EP9.0
-4.56's
-some kind of lockers... have not made up my mind on what I want to put in.
-frame plating
-rear bumper
-skid plate
-sye with 1310 CV shaft
-FOA 2.0 emulsion shocks.
-HD steering
-HD track bar.

Action Fab

A little update... if anyone cares. LOL

I added a 2" and some longer bumpstops. Also rolled the rear fenders. Then I mounted up a pair of SuperRally light recessed into the grill. Mounted up my winch and relocated my control box under the hood. Also went ahead and welded the rear diff. I'm just going to build a 9" or 8.8 for the rear so I'm not going to waist my money on a real locker for the 8.25.





Flexed it out and everything clears/tucks nicely.





Going to take it out for the Sam's Off Road event at Superlift OHV park for a shake down run this weekend.

odgreen

I like the stubby bumper! Not sure why I'm the first person to comment on this. Lol.

Four play

It looks good. I like the whole rig. Thumbs up!!!

billytoad631

wheels are a bit over kill, i think they would look 10x better with a black bead lock IMO. clean little cherokee regradless. i like how the winch is hidden

N20jeep

sweet!

Action Fab

Thanks guys, I'm very happy with how it's coming together. It sure was ugly before. I know of quite a few other guys here on this forum who run my ORS stubby bumpers.

JWB37

I'll be following this. I like your winch bumper too! I might order one for my birthday here in a couple months. It makes me curious what other cool things you can make for cherokees. Do you guys build tire carrier rear bumpers too?

Action Fab

It's in the works but I haven't come up with a design I'm happy with yet. I like to build products that are unique and target a market that is otherwise unfilled.

I can always do custom orders for anything though as well as make modifications to any of my current products.

Action Fab

So I spent five days on out on the trails. Ran a bunch of really good, tough trails and was very impressed with what the little jeep would do. It's been a very long time since I wheeled such a stock rig and it refreshed my skills for sure. My buddies were all on full width's and for the most part 39's and up. My buddy Brian was on some 35's but still locked front and rear with full widths. This lead to quite a bit of body damage on my part. I was running a lot of four and five diamond trails (scale is 1 to 5, five being the hardest).

So, the carnage consisted of a broken motor mount. Over heated the PS pump and now it's weak. Puked out two gallons of coolant and didn't know. Then drove around all day without coolant in the engine. Not sure if I'll have problems later from that. So far so good there. I pealed the rear diff cover back on a rock, mangled the new Borla muffler I put on just before heading out to the trails. I cut a tire, broke out the rear glass on the hatch, caved in both rockers, caved in the passenger doors, rear quarter panel, dented both front fenders, both driver doors, and the radio fell out.

I was still able to air up from 6psi and drive it home with one finger on the wheel, smooth as could be. I ran by Lowes and got a sheet of clear lexan and fixed the rear window and now she's water tight again. The plan is to cut out the rockers and add box tube like I've done on my past jeeps and then just knock the bottom of the doors off. as of right now everything opens and closes fine and the seals up nice so I'm not sweating it.

Onto some pictures.









here are a few pictures I got on the trail. Some friends got a few pics and videos of me but I'm waiting to get them.

This is the kind of stuff that clearanced my rockers for me.


Some left over rubber from my tires.




Here's how I'll be fixing the rockers and frame.

this was on my ZJ








And how I did the XJ

Action Fab

Bought a D44 for the rear today.

Lowrange2

Jesus! That's one hell of a carnage list.

I really like the small builds. Keep it simple.

Action Fab

I'm really a hardcore guy. This little mall crawler crap just doesn't suit me. I'm about to start myself another buggy this summer with what's left of my TJ. Till then, this little turd is my new trail mutt. I'm going to swap in that 44, truss/shave both front and rear axles, add a rear AAL, a detroit in the front, some 4.56's and probably call it good for now.

here is how I do my shaves.

Tylerzap

Sweet man!

PocketsEmpty

Damn that is awesome...I always admire the guys who have unbelievable fab skills like that. Great work!