project junky
 

I figured I might as well start a build thread...
I bought a 97 cherokee sport a couple of weeks ago. Did some basic stuff like air filter, oil change, rust proofed it, a quick fix on the driver floor(ill need to cut the rusted part and weld in a new panel this summer, or as soon as the weather get better up here), had to change my water pump and belt last week-end too

Anyway here is the plan. I want to get all my parts, or most of them from the junkyard, I've been reading a lot over here and a bunch of other xj/off road forums and I think I have a pretty decent list of parts and upgrade I want to do to acheive a 4" lift and I would really like to run a narrow 32" but I might just end up on 31", so if you know any tires available in 32x9.5 or maybe 10.5 let me know something like a wrangler mtr would be great

So here is a quick list of tstuff i need to find and need to do...

-front coil out of a 89-97 thunderbird, v6 3.8l will give you the closest spring rate, about 20lb/in. Ill also need the top plate from the strut to support the coil properly
-leaf springs out of a Chevy s-10 im a bit confused about the year, I think I've seen some place saying they were all the same from like 82 to 04... I'll update this part once I have it figured out
-brakes line from a 87-96 YJ, front and rear
-relocate parking brake bracket
-Jk shocks 2007 and up are 4 inch longer, front and rear
-redrill track bar mount ( http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoTrackbar.htm lots of info on that website )
-I will try to find an xj/zj fuel tank skid plate too, or make my own
-transfer case drop, I'll make my own kit of spacer

that will probably be it for the first part of the lift and I am thinking of getting CA drop bracket because I've seen some adjustable CA measurment list and with a 4" lift and the bracket you can run stock CA. But at the same time running LCA from a grand cherokee 99-04 it remove tire rubbing, but the bushings are wider... I dont really like the way it was done on those two sites ( http://www.madxj.com/MADXJ/technical...rms/WJ_LCA.htm , http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoWJcontrolarms.htm ) maybe Ill just make my own CA drop bracket if I can find some measurement


here is some picture, I was bored 2 weeks ago, nothing special just some stock suspension flex

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...z_23/mine2.jpg


http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...z_23/mine3.jpg


http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...az_23/mine.jpg

Sounds like a good plan. I havnt heard of using thunderbird coils, mostly ive seen the f150 coils, those are supposed to be really stiff though so you wont get good flex. Also the rear ive seen that dodge dakota or durango leafs are good too. Although I am not a chevy guy which is why I dislike the idea of those leafs, haha.

Anyway here is a link for that stuff http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/...udget_Lift.htm

Good luck.

yeah I've read about f150 coils and they must be way too stiff, just looking at them you can tell you get a lift with a shorter coil...
im not a chevy fan either but once they are on it nobody will know... and I used to tell my friend with his yj that I will never own a jeep... so now I tell him its not a jeep its a cherokee

here is some slow progress, I just finished putting my cb in, still need to get my antenna mount, gotta find a nice way for a fender mount, ill go at the junkyard tomorrow probably and hopefully i can find a stock antenna mount and just put my cb antenna on the driver side so it look stock

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00315-1716.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00315-1715.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00315-1714.jpg
as you cant see on the first picture its hard to tell its there from the outside... two simple 90 degree mount that hold with the sun visor clip, i still need to get zip-tie and tuck the wire a bit better close to the radio otherwise its fine

radio is a Realistic trc-409 with 9 feet of coax and a 3' wilson fiberglass adjustable tip

its been a while since I updated on here. A couple off weeks ago I found on kijiji a 98 with a 4 1/2" lift for pretty cheap so I bought it... got the trailer hitch of the new part truck and towed it to my work and I started to slowly take it appart


http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00625-1522.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00625-1706.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00625-1817.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00625-1817.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00625-1817.jpg
So I got a picture of the 4 shocks and front coil spring and lower control arm, I got the rear leaf springs out but sadly they are a add-a-leaf and a 2 inch block... ok for now I guess I will keep my old set and try to make a bastard pack eventually
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00701-1409.jpg
here is my work bench when I work on the truck and my work is close...
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00701-1410.jpg


ANd at last I started to work on my antenna mount a little bit because I got bored
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00701-1518.jpg


Now I just need to take picture tomorrow of the lift set-up on the green machine because I got most of it done yesterday, just gotta finish my rear shock(broke 3 of the 4 bolt on top) and make some kind of say bar link for the front

sorry for the bad pictures, they were taken from my phone as usual...
here are a couple picture of the final product, well almost final.... still need shock and homemade front disco's
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00714-0803.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00714-0803.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...00714-0803.jpg

as of right now the front sits a 5 1/4" higher than stock and the rear a 4 1/2" so i'm thinking a 1" shackle will be needed or a 2" and I can reduce the blocks to 1". I'm not a big fan of the rear blocks but every full size I see around here uses them, but hey, it was really cheap and its does the trick for now.

This afternoon I will work on the rear shock bpe and front sway bar disco's and I have a 98 5 speed cross member that I will put on to see if I get rid of the vibe at 50-60 kmh. I've seen somewhere that it will give me around 3/4" tc drop with no ground clearence loss, I also have a 1" tc drop that came with the spare truck, so we will see later today

2'' block are fine, some trucks come from the factory with em. id be more leary of a 2'' extended shackle, keep that to a min of 1'' ext

Nice progress, now for some taller tires.....

yeah I need tires... I need to try my friends 33" tires to see how they would fit. I wish there was more option for 32" tires. I'm thinking Firestone destination mt in 31x10.5 for now...