Awesome build so far man! Ever thought of doing the cut and fold on the rear quarters I noticed yours was in bad shape like mine keeps from and mud and snow/water getting in there major difference and easy to clean after wheeling!

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Attachment 223446

I have considered it, and those are attractive points to doing that, but it just won't work with my flat flares. I'd have to trim the flares too, and I'm not willing to do that. Plus I've already repaired the rust.

Might as well throw this in here. Upgraded my reverse lights with 7w CREE LEDs I got on eBay.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...s-img_2569.jpg
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...s-img_2571.jpg

true I did see that in the build and I don't blame you on that they aren't cheap it would be tough to even consider cutting those those reverse lights are amazing by the way! I converted my wife's grand cherokee to full led in and out she loves it

Yeah! I converted the XJ and my daily driver to all LED interior (still got exterior stuff to do) and I absolutely love it. Great cheap easy mod.

Nice. More pics?

Pics of what, specifically?

Installation of the led bulbs

Copied from thread in my sig

Hey everyone!

So after some reading I decided to go with the SuperBrighLED's for my '98 XJ Sport. A very easy and incredible upgrade (although pricey) I highly recommend it. Please note this is a pic intensive thread and all of my pics are hosted on my own web server so it might be a little slow.

I'm sure this is for the '97 model years and up although the dome lights should work great for anything. One thing, my Sport has the push-button map lights. I have not replaced those yet due to the price (about $76 shipped) but will be doing soon.

Attachment 331625

Supplies:

• Scissors
• Needle nose pliers or small tin snips
• Soldering iron and solder
• Hot glue gun
• Packaging tape or possibly wire ties (to fasten floor well units)

The LEDs I ordered:

x2 1156-PCB-xWHP9: White 9HP-LED 1156 PCB Lamp (floors) $19.95 each
x2 UPCB-xWHP30: Universal LED Kit - 30 SMD LED PCB UPCB-CWHP30: Cool White (Front and rear dome lights) $16.99 each

Cargo Light

This was a little tricky. Here is the original lamp which features click button switch.
Attachment 331626

The other side has the light bulb that snaps into metal clips on either end of the bulb. Unfortunately I didn't snap a picture of the other side before I modded it, but go pop yours out and you'll know what I mean (they come out of the headliner easily). I tried to cut these off but my tin snips are beat, so I just used needle nose pliers to bend the tabs inward to make it as flush with the plastic frame as possible.

Then, you'll want to mount the LED board over top of them and run the wires through...
Attachment 331627
I used hot glue to glue it into place, I hope it holds. If you do some heavy offroading you may want to get creative and find another way to mount them. Now before you solder, make sure that you test that you have the right leads for the light on the assembly by plugging it in. You can see I marked them on mine so I'm sure you can juts use this to go off of and you'll be fine. Try to solder them the best you can--I had trouble with the solder sticking to the metal bracket, perhaps I had the wrong stuff.

And the front side of the cargo light:
Attachment 331628
Attachment 331629

Front Dome Light

The front dome light is similar to the rear except the original bulb has two hoops on either end of it that connect to the metal brackets. Luckily, these brackets can hold the LED panel pretty well on their own. You can wedge it between them and adjust it for the proper angle and again I used hot glue here to make sure it was a solid fit. You just have to solder them on carefully, same as the rear. Using my pic you should be able to match up positive and negative without a problem.

Here's the front without the lens cover--also I want to make note that now would be a good time to clean your lenses good. You'd be surprised at how dirty they get!
Attachment 331630

And behind
Attachment 331631

Floor area

These were really easy. No mod really necessary as they screw right into the factory mount. The only thing was mounting the LED panel...I just used clear packaging tape to wrap it around a wire hanging from the dash but now have ziptied it since the image.

Attachment 331632

That's really all there is to it! I'm really happy with the purchase. Hope this helps someone who might be trying to decide which LEDs to go with because there are so many out there now.

I'm not sure if I missed it but your rear disc brake setup would you happen to hve a link where you followed a thread in that?

Sorry I meant the installation of LEDs in reverse lol

This is the write-up I followed. Most of them have broken images.
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/z...-truth-607435/

Oh lol, well there's really not much to it. Remove 3 10mm bolts from the tail light housing, plug & play! Here's the thread that sparked the inspiration.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/up...lights-183964/

Which bulb did u use.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-White-3156-3157-Cree-Q5-7W-Projector-LED-Reverse-Backup-Light-Bulbs-/121219478683?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c393e749b&vxp=mtr
8 bucks for two shipped, can't beat it!

Or you just wait for him to order an extra set, then buy the extra set for 6 bucks. Haha, still havent gotten them installed yet, too much snow and no garage

Heh, actually, Neal--if you want to buy this set, I'll sell em to you. After playing today, I've decided that the light output is not sufficient for my needs. I'm going to closely watch that thread to see some updates from different bulbs others are trying. Anywho...


After toiling away in the garage for about 10 hours straight Friday night into Saturday morning, I got all of my Bushwacker flares on and some more rust fixed & protected, and the interior somewhat back together. I was trying hard to be ready for the snow storm on Saturday afternoon. A lot of this time was spent re-engineering my custom shift linkage for the 242, version 3. Since I had the handle assembly out I decided to do it right this time and drill an extra hole in the shifter. The new design works fantastic in all 5 positions and I'm quite happy with it--although another revision will be coming with some thicker steel and more refined cuts and only one hole drilled.

Attachment 331499

After all that and going wild with the Chassis Saver, I finally got to have a lot of fun over the weekend!

Attachment 331500
Attachment 331501

I also strapped my spare in the rear and left the backseat out for now.
Attachment 331502

Here's how the rust repairs turned out with a coat of Chassis Saver. let me just say this stuff is amazing, and holds up very well (it's a little dirty in this pic!). I wouldn't have any convictions about using it on the interior alone--but I wish to have that finished texture/look of the bedliner...considering waiting on warmer temps for that one!
Attachment 331503

While playing today, I managed to kiss a tree with my rear fender flare already. I can see why these things are not good for woodsy trails! :cursing: Got hung up on a log and had to do a lot of maneuvering to try and get over it in the snow. If I only had a locker...lol. My GF made a good point though--it protected the rest of the Jeep. I wish I had a pic of the tree--it took a sizable chunk out of the bark on the tree! They are definitely strong.

Attachment 331504

I'm thrilled with how it looks and performs now. The big limitation now is that I need to bumpstop on all 4 corners if I'm going to stay stock for a while...but I think lift time is coming very soon. I also have some other ideas floating around about keeping the NP242 around a while. I really enjoy the full-time feature here in Central PA, and I think it adds a new versatility to the XJ's ability.

Very cool... I like that chasis saver. So you're stock height on 31's right? I was thinking about trimming enough to do that but wasn't sure how well everything would work.

Yep, stock height. I was considering dropping in my 1.75" spacers up front to level it out, but I'm afraid it might raise it more than the rear sits. So I might just sit tight until lift time, and I can figure out my bumpstops until then.

Also you'll notice in the picture that the Chassis Saver is mostly only in the spots that needed it--but I'm going to do the whole rockers in it to get me through winter, and probably more of the floor inside too. Might look pretty cool to have silver rockers for the time being

Good to know... 31's and stock height it is!!!

Speaking from someone who's jeep suffers from a saggy rear, I'd say leave the front as is. I think it sits good as is.

Mine has butt sag too, but it doesn't seem as noticeable since the flares and bigger tires. I really do like how it sits, but I want to go bigger. Probably 33's on 3" lift, nice & bumpstopped. Low cog

Right on. My original plan was 3" and 33's, but then I realized something. Florida floods :) So 4.5" LA and 35's will be the eventual setup

that was similar to my own original plans. I decided to sell the kit I had because I didn't want anything "Rusty" on my rig! Real rust or the company! lol, and I was scared about cutting off the factory control arm mounts too...Maybe someday I will go long arm, I like what I see of the Rock Krawler and Clayton kits. Plus I was impatient so I wanted to do what I could with my budget

Check out Full Traction. You can get a 3.5" long-arm kit for about 1700 bucks. Team Jeep Speed uses them. I've seen some negetive reviews about them, but the negetive reviews are always sketchy and usually has rebuttals proving that the person didn't communicate with the company. I like what I've heard and read about them though.

Rock krawler long arm kit cost me only 688 bucks (just the arms itself) shipped to my door. Hit up AOR here on the forum. He's a vendor. I bought 4.5 RE coils from serious and a used 1.5 shackles from a member here.

I will eventually be moving on to 33's but for now I have 3" RC lift on 31's stuffs in the fender quite well

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Attachment 223746

Hey did u ever buy 2x6 tubing yet

That's why I'm seriously considering the RK kit. I ordered my Zone 3" kit from Allen after your suggestion and seeing him in the vendors section, he's a great guy to work with.

Lookin good!

Unfortunately no, the guys I'm working with I guess haven't ordered it in. Honestly I'm not in any hurry for that project now with everything else going on, and I decided to patch my rocker for now. But it's still in the plan book!

I plan to trade it for 2x3 tubing. It's getting too heavy for me lol.

Just ordered the first of many Christmas presents for the jeep...Flowmaster Super 40 cat-back exhaust from Performance Curve!! :) Can't wait. Still trying to decide on control arms and track bar...

i run the same exhaust setup with a high flow cat sounds like a v8

I'm very much looking forward to it! Going to be keeping the stock cat for now since it's in good shape. Run into any fitment issues? 2.5" or 2.25"?

i did 2.5" when I first put it on I wa stick height then I lifted it and it hit my drive shaft I just cut it and slid it back wards

Search flowmaster 40 on 99 cherokee on YouTube that's my jeep

Alright guys time for a little update

As usual things don't go as planned with the XJ. Monstaliner, I still have high hopes for it, but I just need to take care of all this rust first, or I won't be happy doing the Monstaliner!

Here's the rust I'm working with that will be fixed hopefully shortly after Christmas.
Attachment 331203

I'm getting a new bracket for the vapor canister, that sure will be fun to remove! I'll probably end up having to weld new bolts in, because I'm not hopeful those bolts are just going to come right out. I also took out the line that was all rusted, broke in my hands..

Attachment 331204

I got some 5/16" hose to replace it with. But, when I pulled the old one out, I also pulled the rubber connector right off of the fuel pump module. Tank drop to fix that--so new Carter fuel pump is ordered and that will be the next job! Hopefully I'll finally have a good working fuel gauge then, too.

Yesterday my Flowmaster exhaust showed up from Performance Curve!
Attachment 331205

Last night I was able to get it installed fairly quickly, but stopped when I realized I need a new hanger for the rear. That area is a pain. But I was able to fire her up and it sounds great so far with the Flowmaster Super 40! I'm excited to finish that job up (hopefully today). I did discover that at some point in this XJ's history, it was converted to a 2.5" cat back. I can't say that made the job any easier replacing it, however.

Other odds & ends...

-I now have a full set of 703 Injectors, I was able to pull another 4 from a '95 Neon at the JY. I'm ordering a rebuild kit for them before install.

-I have a 4x4 knob from a CJ that I plan on welding to the T-case shifter instead of the goofy stock handle.

-I got the rear bumper off and the rusty bolts were pretty good to me. Just one stubborn bolt is rounded off, preventing me from removing the bracket. Once I do this, I'm going to cut access holes into the frame rails so I can soak the weld nuts real good in PB blaster in preparation for future lift endeavors.

-I still need to trim the bumper caps for the flat flares, and fix the bottom mount of the rear flat flare that I managed to bust while wheeling.

-I'm also ordering JCR nut strips and installing my hitch. Once that's on, I have my eyes set on a Detours Knucklebone tire carrier.

Any pictures of the 4x4 handle?


I agree. The stock one look goofy. I want to do something about it too

I'm about to head out to the garage now, got the new hanger. I'll grab a pic for ya

My hanger was rotted out also I just fabbed one up good luck

So I got the hanger and tailpipe all situated...shown here without the rear bumper which I have since put back on. I think I'll need to get a tip or something to extend out past the bumper further. Damn PA inspections! I'm sure I will have more trouble in this area later once I get the lift on...

Attachment 331184

But, I've run into a few more problems. For one, the muffler connector refuses to stay in the cat. It will need to be welded. Which is fine since I can do that now...however, another problem. With the current setup, the muffler is too close to the rear driveshaft for comfort.

Attachment 331185

I'm going to have to re-situate the whole setup to work around this, and the best option probably is to get a new cat as well. :cursing: But, I did get it around the block earlier and it sounds GREAT! It's not too terribly loud.

Oh, and here's a pic of the CJ knob vs. XJ lever
Attachment 331186

That lever bolt in?

Lol no, I'm gonna chop the knob off of it and weld it to the XJ lever.