Project - Bleeding Knuckle
 

A few years ago, I bought this 99XJ from a dealer in CT. It took about 6 months to find one in decent shape with a 5spd. I picked it up and ran it to figure out what it needed, which was everything (in my head). It absolutely needed the main brake line to the rear, a tune up, and all the fluids flushed. It then lasted 2 years before needing tires and there was a light tone from the rear. I was going to push it to July and see if it would hold out from falling apart and then May came along and I lost the driver side front shock. So I thought, no time like the present, and put it up on stands and planned the build.

Stock Specs:
- 99 Cherokee
- 2 door
- dana 35 / 30 combo with 3.07's and bad bearings
- 6cyl 5spd (SOLID)

Additions:
- Rough country 4.5" full leaf kit
- AA SYE w/ tom woods rear shaft , reused front (stock)
- Completely rebuilt HP D30 4.10's Detroit Locked
- Completely rebuilt Ford 88 4.10's Detroit LS Disks 31spline
- New sheet metal
- 33x10.5 bfg km2 on crager v5 15x7
- corners with some fancy LED's
- Home brew exhaust with a super44 flow

After I got the rear out and cleaned up the mess, I started mocking up parts to the rear and realized that RC doesn't account for 8.8" axle tubes at 3.25". Ballistic fab and currie sent out some new ubolts and spring plates to account for that which also free'd up some time to fix the rust spot, build the exhaust, and put the corners in with the lights.

After that fun and some bleeding, I hooked up the e-brake, dropped that ***** down and put the front up. So not to waste time on shipping, I did the SYE and got the drive shaft ordered last Monday. The front needed a complete overhaul. Blown shocks, rotted spring pads, bad bushings and carrier bearings. Good hubs, bearings, and axles though (saved that **** for spare).

Enjoy more cell phone pictures...

Finished the sye and built the parts for the front.

Junked all that crap in the front and bolted up all the new followed by putting it back down on some bald tires.

Fedex came just in time.

As it sits today

Looking Good, can't wait to start working on mine!

now your just missing the wheelin pics, looks good man pretty cool turn around

While driving for a few days to shake out the normal issues, I get a decent clunk from the front end. Feels like the upper control arm.

Also, the guy I bought the 8.8 from had lower shock studs, it wasn't a normal low mount and they were missing the nuts and washers, so I installed the currie TJ lower control arm mounts and am having some serious problems there. It appears as though the metal has torn at the bent seam, so i welded the whole assembly up and it started happening again in a different spot. I am not sure why this continues to happen, stresses? One thought was the mount may be too high on the axle, but not high enough to bottom the shock out.

Any suggestions?