project: wingin' it
 

ok so. tomorrow, I will be starting my build. bought a 99 sport in super clean condition a couple months ago with 160k for 2400$. I did valve cover gasket, manifolds, all fluids, and a couple other projects. Now it's time to install my 5.5" long arm kit from iron rock offroad. im going to try to make this build as picture intensive as possible because :worthless:

edit: any tips/input are welcomed whether i need them or not! this is my first "TRUE" build since my old xj with a 4.5" short arm was based off of an already built 3.5"

this is the last time any1 will see this saggy stock ride....

ok so i started at 8 am and ended at 8pm. gotta a lot done? that's what i woulda thought too....i guess when you've got 160k, barpins, control arm bolts, and every single thing is a struggle. plus it was me alone not noing what im doing for the first 3 hours, then mike, my girlfriends 14 year old brother, and shawn, the 6'10" kid. that made 3 people who didn't know that couldn't get out of eachothers way. Any how, ill quit rambling, ill give you some pics.....

heres where im at when i arrived.....

yes that's a chevelle with the 454...

and the wj next to mee is getting and engine swap. those damned v8's.... i like my I6

some pictures of the us at work.... was keeping the sway bars so i cut em instead of screwing with it for an hour...also look at the difference in the tracbar. that new one weighs about 15 pounds more even without the bracket... mikey is the short kid, shawn is the tall kid, and im the one with the fender shirt

and a few more pics of the take apart. I ended up going home with 90% of the front lift in, but was too pre occupied to remeber to take a pic of the final outcome of the days work. all i have to say is im impressed by iro's stuff already. my only red flag is the part where you have to drill and tap the unibody holes.... mine where already too big to tap..... so i have the old bolts holding it together now, tomorow ill weld them shut and re drill then tap.... and no i am not going to just weld the subframe on!

on the last picture, you can see how clean the body is... such good shape been garaged all it's life. i just wished the bolts and whatnot stayed as nice as the rest of it :P im glad i have an aceteline torch with the cutting tip, pry bars, a BFH, and basically every tool under the sun that was invented because some1 before me had a hard time with a similar application... basically, for the last 25 years(that my dad has owned his business), the tool guy comes by every week and my dad and my dad's employees tells him what they had a hard time with or could use in the future and the tool guy gets it. my dad allows up to 75$ a month per mechanic give or take a few in tools that he pays for. after that the guys have to pay for it themselves. but to cut to the chase 25 years of always getting cool doodads and trinkets, there aint nothing you cant find with out a little looking....

thats it for today.. ill post my progress and pics tomrow night. im gunna dub on it till 3, then going to work and watching the second half of dah supa bowl when i get out at 730... if you have read this far, thanks for following my build with my novice skills. my dad needs that middle slift by tuesday so im going to at least have it together enough to park it outside by monday night whether i have to stay till 1 am. :p

ok, so today, got the rear 100% done. the front had problems. the steering knuckle is hitting my lower passenger side sway bar mount at full flex. im going to get a drop pitman arm tomorow and hopefully that fixes that.... but it's a little discouraging...

looks like you got alot of helping hands and a nice place to do the lift. good luck and it shall look great when its finished with bigger tires!

oh yea its close to being done i can wait to slap my 31's on it for now and get an alignment.

looking good so far.. ready to see it on the ground complete

Waiting for a new pitman arm... Then I will be good to go to the alignment shop. also I need to put a 5 degree bend in the drag link to stop it from binding on my sway bar mount

tomorow or thursday i will be able to finish up and post finished lift pics!!!! im excited to get it running, even if its driving it round the parking lot

Jeeps lookin pretty good, have any pics of it finished, or after lift I should say.

I'll be doing this on my 99 soon, looks great. Is that a 70 Chevelle SS?

Your only supposed to drill and tap two holes for the crossmember...
You re use the four org. holes and the foward most hole thats not threaded, you need to drill and tap.

yea thats a 70 chevelle ss with 454. sounds mean. and I got the tapping and drilling part done. I just welded the holes then re drilled and re tapped :bangin: and I have had it on the road for 3 days now. been rainy and crappy and Ive been busy so I finally have pics.... just some quick cell fone pics. sometime soon I'll get some good ones of different angles

If and or when you want to get rid of those flares let me know.

alrighty. I dont foresee it in the near future since Im running stock rims, they look nice(to me at least) I am saving for college(bushwackers are $400.....) and I have other priorities over flares such as but not limited too: SYE(in the very very near future like next week...), high steer, rear locker maybe, and a few other odds and ends.... But if I do for some reason I'll let you know asap... Id love to support a fellow cherokee forumer with a set of nice flares. ;)

Chillipepper red parts are hard to come by. Got to snatch them up when you can

Oh yea trust me I no. been looking thorugh junk yards forever for a new vent up at the top of my hood cuzz mines cracked. I might just get the first nice one I see and paint it black lol.

speaking of which, I buffed my oxidzed trim pieces. It made them better but I still didn't like it. so I painted them with matte black rustolium. I didnt do the bumper end caps yet because Im still decided If I should or not.... I prolly will.

Chilipepper FTW! :thumbsup:

Oh and as for the flares, put me second in line haha Looks good man!

are those just 31's underneath that in the last pic? looks sweet!

yep only 31's... that's the legal tire size here in maine for a cherokee if you can believe it. im still gunna go 33x10.5 sometime when i get the money. maybe 32's but id have to buy new rims for that.

ok been a while. few small updates. I got rid of the rubicon stickers. thought I'd like them but decided that they weren't for me.... also updraded mt headlights to ipf h4 conversion headlights with IPF fatboy xenon bulbs. night and day difference. I will still need to upgrade the wiring harnesses to get the max light out of them. I also bought a bunch of 1" EMT conduit for a roofrack build. I'll be welding that up some time.

just ordered discos finally. been thorugh 3 jeeps in 4 years and this is the first time i'll be able to disconect sways on a whim.

also just ordered flowmaster44 with mandrel bent tailpipe, clamps, and hangers from performance curve shiped for 130$. thats a killer deal. mudfrog offers a 5% discount on it as well for those of you that are not familiar

ok so it's been a slow build with highschool and work and getting ready for college and what not. BUT, I just installed my discos. got some flex pics. took the stupid rubicon stickers off(I loved them for about 2 weeks then they were just blah...). I got my flowmaster and 2.5" tailpipe on. I'm slowly making progress. My girlfriend was like, "Is your jeep DONE now?" I just laughed at her. I'm just starting. I took pics of the flex on my girlfriend's brother's phone so when he emails them to me, I'll post them up.

i know those brake lines are tight, but they're the extented lines for up to 6" lift. I just have them tied up and forgot to cut the zipties. they have an extra 4-5" when They're cut

You jeep got nice flex to it! I need to get some sway bar discos for mine so mine can articulate a bit better. Could a used on my last trip.

thanks for the comment. and if you get discos, I would say you should go with jks. I went with the rc ones cuzz theyre 30 dollars less and theyre not that great. but they get the job done.

Chilipeper xjs all day! Nice build man

nice xj. always have loved the chilipepper xj's too! and thanks, its slow and boreing cuzz i dont even have enough money to buy a coffee in the morning. thats the downfall to being a college comuter hah.
:laughing:

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Sup kid? You ever look into those H4 HID's you asked me about? Sweet lookin' jeep man - lookin forward to the progress...

hey thanks. yea I have but I've been super busy and super moneyless with school. I have 5 classes this semester, plus some ecology research projects. on top of that I work on the weekends to fund my daily commuting to school. I haven't really had the time or money to invest into the jeep and what not.

Right on... I know all about that. I have a wife and three kids and we just financed a minivan (yup... I said it... a minivan) so there's virtually no money for anything extra on the Jeep and I'm right in the middle of harvesting parts for a 4wd swap :headbang: