so here's my 1988 Jeep Cherokee Limited. I bought it at 186,000 miles, it now has around 209,000 and I've had it two years. I've put somewhere in the 3000 dollar range into it sense I've owned it. Mostly old parts, such as, water pump, alternator, fuel pump, map sensor, crank shaft position sensor, thermostat, radiator, radiator reservoir, and starter.. etc. But it's been good.

I recently swapped my rear axle which was originally the Dana 35, for a Chrysler 8.25 that i got for free from someone who wanted this stripped jeep out of their yard. I took the leaf springs as well and made a double spring pack for the rear. And i found some coil spring at a local junk yard which i believed to be off of an old ford f-250 because it had a 460 on the chassis. i think it's about 4.5- 5 inches of lift considering i run 32's with no rub except at full turn, of if i hit a huge bump going really fast with a fully loaded rear seat. And no, it's not an extremely smooth ride, nor does it flex like a long arm kit, but it's good, considering the lift, not tires and rims, cost me 80 for the front shocks, and 50 for hardware, tires and rims for 180, the rest was free.
tell me what you guys think.

 

very cool budget build. We need these here with some alternative lift options. Any driveline shakes with the lift?

 

What year coils from the f250. And what did u use for the rear?

 

thanks. Yeah, i get death wobbles between 45-55.. i hear this is common. so I'm not too worried about it. I'm in the process of getting a Drop Pitman Arm and maybe anneal the trac-bar straighter so i get the axle shifted to it's original spot. I'm not sure what year of truck it was, all i know is that it was older, there was no body on it, it was just the front half of a chassis, and it had a 460. so my best guess is early 80 late 70 ford f-250... I don't know much about ford myself though.

 

i used double spring pack. like i said. I took the other leaf spring off the other truck, took them apart. took mine apart, packed them both together minus the other overload spring, and whalla.. a lift.

 

I had to get some new front tires. I just bought some more 32"s for the front but i got a deal on some american racing rims. I have to pain them black though so they still match the theme. And i just put my new MSD Blaster Coil SS on. Works good.

 

so three days before christmas my friend decides to go out and conquer this GIANT mud puddle with his Bronco ii. He got stuck, asks a friend with a 4runner to help pull him out. The 4runner got stuck. They ask our friend with a Rodeo to pull them out, needless to say he got stuck no more than 6 feet in, and they are about 200 feet out. I then decide on christmas when i got back that i would pull them out, and wound up getting stuck myself. We asked a friend with this HUGE *****'s jeep to pull us all out. We all got out. But it took about 4 hours. Then on the way to the car wash, my friend with the 4runner's brake shatters and locks up the tires, we fixed it in the middle of the intersection. lol. Merry Christmas.

 

nice to see you trimmed the front bumper up. got cut the fenders a little more and find some 33s for it.

 

jeeps are happy when there dirty

 

love the build. ive been planning/doing the stuff you've done to yours. blacked reflectors, fender flares off, bumper and front cuts soon to come. all in all im really diggin the look of your rig!!!!

 

thanks man. i have some cutting to do on those fenders, maybe tomorrow.
but i REALLY have to to do an alignment. So i'm gonna do that as well. and get the rims on the back tires. I need to make a trip to a junkyard for some parts. ZJ tie rod and tracbar. and some WJ rear disk..

 

here are some pictures I took today. I did a self alignment on it. and i painted some american racing rims 15x8 and slapped those on there. but i still need to trim my fenders.

 

i forgot to tell you that i didn't disconnect the sway bar here. i didn't have time. and i don't have disco's yet.

 

Very nice build!!
My buddy was looking to do some of those late 70s ford springs as well.
Are they really that rough or still DDable? And I know its a Jeep so its not going to be perfect haha

 

thanks, yeah, the springs are pretty rough on little bumps. but they handle any kind of large long bump ,that you might have originally bottomed out on, great.
they're good in my opinion. i would recommend it. i love junk yard builds. =)