bjefferies94

What's up jeep family! I guess it's time I start the thread for my jeep build.

So I bought a 92 xj with hopes of building a trail rig.... well this jeep turned out to be a terrible purchase on my part, but ya live and learn. However there was some good things about this jeep.
The good:
- Dana 44 rear axle thats Lincoln locked 😂.
- had 4 35 km2's with minimal wear.
- had a front drive shaft that can be used for an sye

The bad:
-had a terrible lift, 3" coil spacers and leaf spring blocks.
-the motor runs but not good at all

So here it is



So then after I realized I wouldn't be able to do much with this jeep I stumbled across another one and picked it up for 500$. It's a 91 xj perfect interior runs and drives smooth however it does have a terrible oil blown by issue.

bjefferies94

My plans for this jeep is to build the heck out of it. But I must also say I'm a broke firefighter and don't have unlimited funds to put into this jeep.

Even though it's gonna be a while for all of this here are my plans for the future
-Dana 44 front and rear
-4 link suspension
-roll cage
Maybe one day even a v8 swap, but that would happen when I have one tons

Ive already done a lot of work so I'll go ahead and show y'all what I've done so far.

So the first thing I did was swapped the Dana 44 from the old jeep to the new one. That involved cleaning up the axle and installing a new complete brake drum assembly.








Drum brake are a PITA!
As ya can see I swapped the "crappy lift" from the 91 to the newest jeep I bought just for the heck of it. That's why those leaf springs blocks are back there.

bjefferies94

Next I went ahead and trimmed the fenders. Since I'm running 35's I know they'll have to be trimmed.
I did the cut and fold on the rear, also did the cut and fold with the rear quarter panels.







This turned out pretty good! All that's left with it is tack welding the quarter panel up.





The last picture was just showing the suspension set up in the front. As said earlier it's just a huge spaced and some sort of aftermarket control arms. And I had this left set up on the jeep for about two weeks and then Christmas came early!

I decided to order A ROUGH COUNTRY (remember I said I was a broke firefighter) 4.5" long arm lift. Of course with that I ordered the RC SYE. Ordered everything through Morris4x4. Such an awesome company to deal with. My parts were here in 2 days and they also hooked me up with a nice discount.

Martlor13

...save up man!!! To heck with drums! Swap to disc. And I know you said your broke, but you should have saved for a more quality lift. Especially long arm. There's no need to rush into something. Like you did with the first jeep you got and with your rather quick pace on this build with low funds haha. No need to sprint to get everything.

Interested to see where you go from here. Subbed.

bjefferies94

I trailed the jeep to my dads shop and got busy right away. Unfortunately I didn't get too many pictures of the lift install because I forgot and my hands were dirty. All in all it wasn't that difficult to install but it definitely took longer than the 8-9 hours that rough country says it takes.




This is after taken the old lift off and getting ready for the long arm install.



Grinding the lower control arm mounts off. This took probably 2 hours and 6 cut off wheels.





Next we drilled the holes for the cross member. I used a half inch and three quarter inch bit



After installing the new leafs



Sye install. I left the transfer case under the vehicle and to my surprise it was fairly easy and didn't take too long. Another set of hands always helps though.













i used the front drive shaft out of my old xj and it fit perfectly. The other picture is of me pressing the old bearings out

bjefferies94

I know man! Luckily I got the complete drum brake assembly for 40$. And I went with rough country with the thoughts that if I need to beef their parts up later I can. Idk man I'm a newbie. I'm sure I'll make plenty of other mistakes during this build but I heard tons of good things about the warranty of their parts and how well they perform. We shall see!

And btw this build has been going on for a little while now I just haven't had much time to post a build thread

Martlor13

I've been on the forum for over a year. Learned alot of things so far. But I still consider myself a noob since there's so much info and things involved in vehicles. Your always learning.

Idk about those positive performance reviews or warranty praise haha. Most on the forum agree with neither. But it's coming along real nice. Any plans for armor?

bjefferies94

Well we shall see about the warranty haha. But as for armor my brother bought a zj for the axels and engine and I got all of the armor from it besides a front bumper that I already had. I've already put on the rear bumper and the front. I really don't like the front bumper but it'll do for now. I'm working on putting rock sliders on next week. I'll post some pictures in a few

bjefferies94

Before my first wheeling trip I put on the front and rear bumper. The rear bumpers needs to be a little bit wider but for free I'll take I! 👍🏻 I also hate my front bumper so I do have plans of replacing it in the future.


Here they are


Oh yeah and here is a picture of the lift after install.

Martlor13

I'll send this. I like the front bumper better then the rear haha! At least the front fills up everything whereas the rear looks like it doesn't reach the ends and has big gaps.

Coming along real nice

bjefferies94

Btw for those of you saying you need a 6" lift for 35's think again. With some fender trimming you're good to go. And BUMPSTOPS!



Time for some wheeling pics! My first trip out in the rig and wow it surprised the hell out of me considering I have no locker in the front.




Testing out the lift before I left for gulches. Which btw living 30 minutes from there is pretty great!





I had to pull over to take my exhaust off since it kept coming off on its own 😂 Everyone said it sounds better without it anyways.





My brothers tj. He'll be building his pretty soon. Doing a 5.9 swap, 4 link suspension and Dana 44's front and rear. I'm sure he'll have a build thread on jeep forum.







I wish I could post all of the videos I have!



Well I guess a busted light is better than a crushed quarter panel. It was a little slick Saturday and I slid right into a tree.



BUMPSTOPS!? What are those? I guess my next investment is bumpstops. I really don't wanna cut too much more off of my fenders

Martlor13

It's called a low center of gravity build hahah.

looks like it was some sick fun!!!

bjefferies94

Haven't been on in a while!! Well after a few wheeling trips and 15 dents later i can say that i should have put rock sliders on before. but ohhh well its a trail rig.

Lately ive been buying a few parts at a time and will doing some work to the rig soon!
my dana 44 is trashed and instead of spending tons of money on disk brakes, shafts, and new gears i will hopefully be picking up a 8.8 with 4.10's tomorrow. so here are the things ill be working on this month.

-ford 8.8 swap
-mid frame stiffeners
-plating the front and rear of the frame
-rock sliders
-bump stops... thinking of going with some hockey pucks.
I'll also be lowering my jeep just a tad since ive already flopped it. Id like a low center of gravity better haha