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Finally getting to starting a build forum on my 2000 XJ Build from last year.
Bought it bone stock with 136K with the 4.0 and AW4. Goal of this build is to build an over built XJ for Daily Driving, Hunting, Family Wheeling and Camping Trips. Build Specs from the get go: BDS 6.5" Long Arm Kit D30 w/ Yukon Zip Ford 8.8 w/ Disc Brakes and an ARB F&R 4.56 Yukon Gears 34" Falken Wildpeak AT4W Ruff Stuff Specialties-
Full Length Frame Stiffener Kit
Front and Rear Bumper
1 ton steering
F&R Diff Covers
Terra Flex High Steer Knuckle Cross over steering w/ tie rod Flip
And more parts as the project got going.
Here are some pictures of the jeep when I bought it; BONE STOCK. No major damage, No Major Rust (West Coast Rig) and just one door with bad attempt at a repair.
Better Look at the bad door with the "repair"
I found a paint match door w/ glass out of a Pick N Pull. Door matched perfectly!
Next I got the Ruff Stuff Winch Bumper installed as it was getting close to deer season.
Tear down starts...
After removing all of the suspension my buddy and I had a nice clean slate to start the build with.
I stripped off the undercoating in preparation to install the frame stiffeners. Then I coated the underbody with weld through primer (U-Pol Weld #2) prior to welding the frame stiffeners in.
"Frame" all cleaned up ready for primer U-Pol #2 is wonderful to use
It's a lot of prep work, taking longer than expected, however a very worthwhile step to an important upgrade, especially since I will actually wheel this jeep and not just take it down logging roads.
I coated the back sides of all of the stiffeners with weld through primer as well.
Ruff Stuff Stiffeners are 3/16" plate that is semi formed to fit the XJ. With that said a **** load of clamping and tacking and BFH action then tacking and more clamping. All in the name of a good tight fit!
The Floating XJ... its natural place...
Early on in the welding it became apparent that it was necessary to remove the interior to prevent burning the carpet. (Yes, I was being lazy and rolled the dice)
The stiffeners are welded on the entire length of the XJ; top, bottom and in the zillion round plug weld holes.
We figure we added about 33 pounds of welding wire just in the installation of the stiffeners.
Once the frame stiffeners were completed we overlay plated the leaf spring hangers and gusseted them. Amazing how flimsy these rigs came from the factory!
The 3/8" plate forward gusset has a 3/4" hole punched in it to attach a D Ring if wanted.
Both sides were plated the same way.
Finally we finished all of the welding for the stiffeners (really... this is a time consuming project all in itself). I painted them all up. It was now time to give the engine some attention from things we saw while on our backs welding.
The engine and transmission mounts were shot so I replaced them with Trail Proof Mounts.
The engine had a pretty good oil leak from the rear main. The engine also suffered from low oil pressure on 100+ degree days. Some thicker oil helped however that was just a quick fix. After chatting with my buddies favorite local engine builder it was determined that the fix was to install a high volume oil pump. The oil pump, rear main and bearing inspection went well. Before installing the oil pan a weld on skid plate from Trail Forged was installed. We needed to "massage" the skid plate a little bit before it had a nice fit and finish.
Finally the time has come to install the BDS lift kit and Axles.
The rear axle is a rebuilt 8.8 that I pulled from a 2001 Ford Explorer and had Yukon 4.56 gears installed with an ARB and Ruff Stuff Cover.
The rear axle spring perches and hardware are from Ruff Stuff. Don't mind the long U Bolts... They will get trimmed once the build is done.
I didn't like how BDS wanted to sleeve the frame for the crossmember bolts to go into the side of the frame. With that said, BDS designed their kit around an XJ without frame stiffeners, so I don't blame them. I decided to drill and tap holes into the frame stiffener for the crossmember bolts.
The picture below really shows the BEEF of the frame stiffeners. All of the hard work of clamping, tacking, BFH work is really necessary to make the stiffeners tight to the unibody. We stich welded the stiffeners to the entire length of the floor pan and only one door needed to be adjusted post all the welding. SCORE!
Front Suspension is up next....
If you have a buddy that says they love welding, test that love by having them weld the stiffeners on....
Thanks Very Red. This has become a very capable rig. I finished the main build about 9 months ago, just now making a forum about it. This is much more Daily Driver able VS my 1st gen 4runner I built years ago. That one was wheeled at KOH, Rubicon, Fordyce Etc and street driving it was no longer enjoyable LOL.
I picked up a complete TJ Front axle that already had 4.56 w/ a yukon zip locker. Turns out it wasn't the best buy every, however I did save some money and time VS building the stock front one. .
Soon after the front axle was installed we drove into what is called "Project Creep".
The BDS drop pitman arm was not something I wanted to use. There are better ways to go, however those ways are not easier or quicker.
Hard Pass on this Drop!
As everyone here knows the link suspension on XJ's cause a lot of steering headaches, especially when doing you want a lifted right that drives as good as a stock one.
I wanted to upgrade to 1 Ton Steering and didn't realize how that was going to complicate things a little bit.
After using some PVC for mock ups I realized the stock passenger knuckle just wasn't going to work for what I wanted. Thanks Terra Flex for the High Steer Knuckle!
While I waited for the new Knuckle to arrive we Installed new Ball joints, axle U Joints, Outer Seals and Unit Bearings (the cost savings kinda slipped away, however time was still saved with the TJ axle)
The knuckle was outfitted with tie rod flip inserts (again from Ruff Stuff) to improve steering geometry and tie rod safety. Offset 1 tons helped with clearance issues.
With the knuckle and steering attached we began working on figuring out steering and track bar geometry.
We eventually decided that we should get a preliminary alignment done before proceeding with the track bar axle bracket. Without a lot of space it was critical that we knew where the final axle placement and caster will be before fabricating the bracket.
Yes, I use CAD... Cardboard Assisted Design
Taking a break from the front after while we waited for an alignment appointment we moved back to the rear. My buddy buttoned up the rear break lines. The rubber lines are stock 8.8 RR Lines. They bolt up to studs welded to the axle tubes.
Slip yoke eliminator and a double cardan drive shaft from Adams Drive Shaft and correct spedo gear all installed. The T Case looked great inside and out.
Pre-Alignment Day finally came which mean some preliminary Flex Shots.
Thanks Bad Blood, I'll be continuing the build update here shortly. As mentioned above, Jeep has been built (not finished to what I want but driving and out on trails) for about 9 months now.
Now that a quick and dirty basic alignment was set we were able to continue working on the track bar mount.
Built not Bought---- Since there is an F ton of stress on the mount everything was built from 1/4" material.
Added the steering stabilizer mount
Decided to just modify the stock sway bar as the plan is to build something similar to a rock jock
Steering geometry is something so many don't like as it takes time to get it done right...
The track bar is 1 inch shorter than the Drag link and within 0.5* of each other. This means NO Death Wobble and ZERO bump steer evening doing 70 MPH down the high way. Jeep drives smoother and nicer than stock.
The above is how it sat for about 6 months. Then Ruff Stuff finally released their rear bumper...and I bought their fuel tank side plate as well.
Just as I with the front bumper, I degreased everything, then sanded everything with a DA and wire wire followed by self etching primer and epoxy paint.
Their rear bumper comes with tie in brackets as well.
Then time for some cutting after the stock rear bumper was removed.
Driver side has been cut out. Still needed to do Passenger side. Taking your time to make sure everything is cut clean makes the install smoother.
Next step was to install the bumper mounts.
The yellow highlights are where I ended up cutting even more to make things easier for me. Up to this point everything went well...
The Line is the 1" I cut out on the bottom on each side of the bumper.
If you have hands that are anything other than small petite hands you will struggle to bolt the rear bumper up. I cut 1" out of the bottom notches. This allowed my wife to reach up and start the bolts. Once she got them started I used two Wobbly joints and my 1/2 impact extension to snug up the bolts. Had I taken about another 1/2" out I would have been able to get my hands up and bolts started.
Thanks Very Red. This has become a very capable rig. I finished the main build about 9 months ago, just now making a forum about it. This is much more Daily Driver able VS my 1st gen 4runner I built years ago. That one was wheeled at KOH, Rubicon, Fordyce Etc and street driving it was no longer enjoyable LOL.
WOW - if 34's is you "holding back" your 4-runner must have been a real monster
@ Very Red- When I sold the 4runner she was sitting on 37s spooled front and rear, as built as you can build a Toyota front axle including the 6 shooter knuckles with double sheer steering arms and OG Longfield axles 5.29. hydro assist. chevy 63s on the rear stock axle, dual cases with the 4.7. (final craw ratio was about 150:1... at idle I was about 1 mph) Full exo cage, fuel cell, etc etc etc. HAHA. She was a lot of fun and had been beat on hard. Never left me stranded and pulled a lot of stuck trucks out. This little jeep build is so much nicer to drive on the road and as I said at the start the goal was to have a very daily driverable rig that was also way over built for hunting.
This is the MOST radical Toyota I've seen. It was on 40's - he was working recovery pulling lesser trucks out
But your XJ comes set up with a solid front axle and that's jeep's ace in the whole - indeed, an XJ is a great all-round SUV! But my 5'-3" wife doesn't want me to lift mine any higher. Fortunately, shelf roads with a modest lift are enough to scare my grandchildren!
Overbuilt Hunting XJ
