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I got this XJ about a year ago, moved to Alaska, spent a year acquiring parts. Its a 1999 2 door 5 spd. Its in great condition, 96k. So here is the plan so far. I have a buddy who's a pro at welding/fab. Our group of friends call him Gandolf, the Wise Jeep Wizard. He did all the wending and fab for the stiffeners, shackle re locators and steering strengthening.
HD off road stiffeners-INSTALLED
No lift shackle relocators-INSTALLED
APN header-INSTALLED
Custom steering box/bumper reinforcement. Plated 3 side of the rail.- INSTALLED
RE 4.5 coils
RE 3.5 leafs
Bilstien 5100's + bar pin elimators
RC long arm
Currie HD Y steering
rebuilt 231 with SYE
Generic black rims with 33/12.5r15 Daynapro MT's
Red Head stock upgraded steering box
Dirtbound Manta Ray winch bumper
Rockhard rear bumper w/ tire carrier
Complete D30 E-locker 4.10 30-spline shafts
Complete 8.25 Ox Locker
Parts i still need
Cheap-ish winch
Gas tank skid
Non crappy cat back
Cowl intake...because it sounds cool
GOOD offroad LED lights. In Alaska the winter is very dark. Sun is up from 2-10 hrs depending on the time of year.
BONUS!!! Decided to indulge in a good burnout, went to grab second for more smoke. More smoke did not happen, instead............
The interior is plain Jane black. It's a Sport so just cloth seats, power windows/locks and full gauge cluster.
The dirtbound kit comes with a controller. If you just think out each wire it's easy. Mine has the following:
Power from battery
Ground
Keyed power....I ran my own from the cig lighter
A/C switch...I just tapped into the wire for the clutch
Temp...I chose to use the probe that goes in the fins.
Fans...just connect it to the fans. Actually has 2 power wires for the fans. Two fans share one power wire but it's more Amps so it all works out even.
The Radiator was OK, for the price it should be GREAT. Welds are passable. I set the fans to come on 210. I've never have it over 220.
Swapped the Tcase. I got a used one and rebuilt it. It already came with a SYE. Really I just replaced the shift forks, pads and chain. Oh and I sprayed the crap out of the filter. I thought about a 4.1 low kit. I decided for the kind of wheeling I do 2.72 is good.
Front end is almost together. The Rough Country long arms want to reuse the factory axle side bolts for the control arms. I'm not a huge fan of 17 year rusty bolts holding my axle on so I scrounge around and found some that fit. Why doesn't the kit includes all new hardware? Also does anyone have any tips for setting the caster/control arm length for Rough Country long arms?
Here is a closeup of the steering reinforcement done. It's plated on 3 sides. The box is a from Redhead steering. I wanted to keep the fast stock ratio but not go with a Napa reman. I've only heard good things about their boxes.
Last edited by SWtecki; 09-05-2016 at 05:15 AM.
Reason: Messed up pic order
Subbed! I'm running the same springs and long arm kit and love it. There is a lot of crap talking about RC, but my rig has been a weekend warrior and DD for aprx 1.5 years and over 20k miles and have yet to have an issue. Be sure to keep us updated, and happy wrenching!
For being a 99 the brake lines are in poor condition. Both front lines fell apart when I went to install the longer hoses.
Now what'd ya go and break them off for? LOL! Almost done the same to my 98 and it's a southern rig with zero rust. Looked into replacing the passenger front line and it seems to be a bieotch. If I'm not mistaken you can buy a new nut and re-flare the line were it broke off at. Otherwise you have to run new hard line all the way to the master cylinder. Good luck, and keep us posted.
09-02-2016, 07:34 PM
Planet Express Jeep
