I'll trade you??
Seriously, you have my dream xj (with two extra doors though...)
This thread is bookmarked under the "Things to do" category. Thanks for the inspiration!

PS: This should totally be Cherokee of the Month!!!

 

Dang wish I had the money ha. But nice xj. I like your taste.

 

I appreciate the compliments, but I'd have to say no deal on the trade. How does one enter Cherokee of the Month?

 

Got word a few days ago that my roof rack was delivered to the powdercoater... so of course I took a trip down there to "pick up the mounting hardware". LOL I was drooling so much I forgot my phone (camera) in the Jeep, so I'll make another trip down later for all of you. I took a few minutes to get my measurements so I can make sure everything can be as ready as possible when the time comes to bolt this up. Plus I need to make a trip to Lowes for some additional bolts later.

So I took out the rearmost bolt and removed the rail endcap:


Took the stock rails off (they will be in the "for sale" section shortly):


Assembled the hardware clamp:


Attached it to the rail:




And best of all, I didn't have to drag out the ladder to get access to the top of my Jeep:


More stuff to come as I pick up the wiring for the lights and get it installed.

 

So here's a quick bit of updating:

My week has been a mixture of running wires, biting my tongue, installing speakers, nearly throwing my back out, and installing a permanent mount for my 1kw AC inverter (which used to just sit under my drivers seat).

Ugly wiring hanging out of my ceiling:


Rear panel torn apart:


Speaker comparison (new 6 3/4 on right, old 5 1/4 on left)


Old 5 1/4 inch speakers back - to be posted for sale soon:


Roof rack cable rolled up on roof, awaiting rack tomorrow afternoon:

 

More stuff

Inverter and small distrobution block installed (yes there is a space, and I'm planning for an air compressor to fit there):


Lightbar for front sitting on the junk in the trunk:


Switches installed in the overhead console:


Close up of the switches:


More to come tomorrow!!

 

Looks cool!

 

I really like the direction of your car overall! The LED reverse lights are a nice touch, I think I want to do something along the lines of that to increase rear visibility at night as well.

How is the ride with the OME suspension?

 

I actually just added some more rear lights to my vehicle ala the rear roof rack mounts. Although they are considerably smaller than the front, they have a 10 watt LED in each of them so they should be more than enough for occasional rear flood lighting.

2" 10 WATT SOLSTICE SOLO PRIME


I would say absolutely great, with one disclaimer: it rides much better on 35's that it ever did on 30's. The suspension has about an inch of "easy give" in it that keeps it from being overly harsh. After that you feel the stiffness of the offroad side kick in. Paired with the 35's makes it even nicer as you gain the larger area of impact and some additional cushion with all of that rubber/air between you and the road. I wouldn't say it's floaty or a cadilac by any means, but it is very smooth.I haven't had a chance to get the 35's offroad yet, but that's all coming after some much needed steering, brake and gear upgrades.

 

Well, last night after my last post I went web shopping for my next project: Steering (it's also the cheapest). After reading many user reviews and product analyzing I decided to go with these two pieces from Rugged Ridge:

Rugged Ridge 18050.82: SUPER HEAVY-DUTY Steering Linkage Kit (Also known as their "Crossover Steering" kit)


and
Rugged Ridge 18021.05: Heavy Duty Steering Gear Box Brace (which looks identical to the pictures I've seen of Rusty's brace, but I don't much care for Rusty's stuff)


I've got to get ahold of Dirk at DPG Offroad this morning and see if he can wrangle me up an OME Steering Stablizer.

I can't wait until 4 o'clock this afternoon to pick up my roof rack.

 

this is definitely one of the cleanest if not the cleanest builds. So are you going to put that light bar up front like people do kc's and hellas?

 

Thanks, and yes indeed that is the plan for tonight provided East Texas doesn't soak me like it looks to want to. Maybe if I get done in time I'll submit it into COTM. We'll have to see though, I don't think it's to that point yet.

 

Where in east Texas? That would be a very worthy entry

 

Longview

 

Rack Pictures.... finally!

Unwrapping the rack felt a little like my birthday






Front View


Everything still opens fine....


It sits about an inch higher than I had hoped, but I may be able to work that out in the future and fab/hack the mounts to bring it down. My skid plate and rock sliders are sitting in the back seat waiting for me to get them mounted up later this weekend hopefully.

I'm off to wire it up, with any luck I'll have some time tonight to get some pics of it running.