FleXXedOUT88

ok first off let me start by thanking ev1 on here who helped me out with this you guys were a life saver!

ok here we go i bought a bone stock 88 4 dr 4x4 4.0 auto with np231 has HP dana 30 front and dana 35 rear. i was told it had a blown head gasket cuz it had an over heating problem. turns out the closed cooling system wasnt burped properly so i picked up for 200 bucks.... i got a good deal on 31 10.50 15 pro comp mud terrains and eagle alloy wheels for 100 bucks so they went on but rubbed horribly so i put a 2in puck in the front and a 2in aal in the rear and it looked something liek this




i was planning on jsut flipping the jeep cuz i had hardly any money in it so i was gonna try and make some money off it. well i found 89 cherokee cheif that been rolled and was not fixable. but it had a 5.5in lift on it and a complete good drive train and i picked it up for 400 bucks.

i used teh 5.5 in lift and my 2in puck in the front with fixed lower control arms and stock uppers the rear was a dakota bastard pack with a 2in aal i reused the rear shocks and had to buy new fronts. the brake line extentions were trashed on teh cheif and i didnt wanna buy new ones.... so i went to oreilys and they had a cheaper route they were 12in in legth and had the proper thread pattern on both ends and they were 13 bucks a piece. which were cheaper than goin with some SS lines.

as far ad teh other mods done to it i gutted the closed cooling system out and swapped in a late model open cooling system which cost me bout 120 bucks put a high amp alt. cut the entire exhaust off just had a strait pipe
with glass pack i welded teh rear diff solid. and that is pretty much it.

here are some pics of it after the lift and all.





and here are a few of it in action

FleXXedOUT88

alright now not to long ago i had a lil spill i gently set the jeep down on the rear driver cornner of teh hatch.... it dented teh hatch an roof in about 6 or 7 in... and moved that rear i guess u would call it "c" pillar in about 4 in. so ther was really no easy way to fix it the hatch wouldnt close and it was broke it was def a bad deal.... so i took a big crazy step and chopped the top! and built a lil cage in the back nothing crazy more of a roll over bar vs. a roll "cage" ne way the main hoop is a hacked up cj-7 roll bar that i made work... its far from perfect but i think it looks cool. i also added a power steering cooler and 1300cfm universal electric fan in place of the factory electric fan. i also ripped the LCA bracket off the axle tube and replace them with heavy duty ones from Rustys. here are some pics!











i curently have about 1400 bucks in this entire project and this jeep actually suprised me at how capable it was. my future place are 0-8in fully adjustable upper and lower control arms 6.5in full coil in the front and then doin whatever i have to do to make the rear sit level with the 6.5in coil. also im gonna do 5.13 gears front and rear since it never sees the road jsut the trailer and the trails. i dont mud the jeep manly jsut crawl it. and once i regear it i will be puttin aggresive 33s on it. and then call it quits. oh it also has a cb with a PA and a the radio is a cheap jvc head unit from wal mart and i bought four wake board tower speakers im gonna mount on the roll bar. and dpending on how the front suspention holds up to the 33s i might do the 1ton steering linkage and hydro assist steering. i will jsut have to see how it goes. but im hoping to have to gears and tires in by christmas time. i was actually suprised at how cheap the gear sets are. i found 4.88s on ebay front are rear with full rebuilds and bearing kits for like 350 bucks. which i thought was cheap! so let me know what yall think and if you have any tip or opinions let me know! but remeber its PROJECT XTREME CHEAP JEEP! lol

COSXJFAN

If you still have the D30 front axle, the deepest gear set you can get for it is 4.88s...

FleXXedOUT88

oh ok then i guess 4.88 it is! lol. i was thinkin about d44 waggy front diff but i only plan on runnin 33s so i think the d30 will be fine. will 4.88s spin 33s pretty well?

a1racer

yeah the 4.88 is it for the front it may be time to get friendly with your junk yard

FleXXedOUT88

yeah i have some waggy d44s in the shed but it jsut seems like alot of work. and i think it woudl be unnessesary as long as i can turn the 33 well with 4.88s i think it will be good!

a1racer

i would put the 44's in if you can weld and fab some it should not be so hard. take a look at the great white build on here he put a front one on and it was not that hard

COSXJFAN

4.88s work great with 33s, that's what I have...

FleXXedOUT88

oh ok cool cool! i know right now with the 3.55 is has a lil trouble turring the 31s when it really gets a good bite. do you have any other suggest on the build?

COSXJFAN

What rear axle are you running??

My bad, just checked out your drop down. I would get rid of the D35 ASAP, if you can!! How do you have the cage tied into the Jeep. If it is just welded to the floor, you'll need to beef that up too. With the amount of lift you have, the short control arms are going to transfer a lot of shock into the unibody, I know because that is what I have. Try to fab some long arms, at least that is my plan, I'm unsure of your fabbing skills, but if you're able, that would be a great mod as well!!

FleXXedOUT88

the main hoop is welded to the unibody frame and teh the down bars are just welded to the floor... the jeep never goes more than 20 and i dont get super crazy! the worst i could ever roll it woudl jsut be on its side... its pretty flat down here in south texas... lol. but i think its pretty strong.... and control arms are so cheap i dont think its worth my time to attempt to fab them those 0 to 8 in adjustable hiem joint ones you can get on ebay for liek 110 bucks a set! as far as long arms i think you lose a lil to much ground clearnace with them. i know it helps alot with the road manners of the vehical but i dont think its worth the trouble to run them my jeep! and yeah the d35 ev1 says is junk but mine has held up pretty good! it gets bound up and beat on pretty hard! and has not broken yet..... i have an 8 1/4 rear outta that chief so i figure when i get read to do the gears i will swap to the 8 1/4.

offroadnut36

you get A LOT more flex with long arms than you do with short arms. and if you have good fab skills you should try swapping in those dana 44s. i think rubicon express or rustys makes axle bracket kits you can buy and then just weld onto the axle.

FleXXedOUT88

yeha i know it would flex better and i could proly fab them up but i dunno if its worth all teh work it depends on how exteme i go with it right now i jsut trailer it to local off road park... where there is more mud than anything. but i def prefere rock crawlin... but i just dont think i need that extreme of a rig... i mean it would be cool to do the d44s with long arms but i jsut dont think its worth all the work. i mean if i planned on takin this up north to some hard core trails i would def consider it... but it serves its purpose right now... but thank yall for yalls opinons!

offroadnut36

no problem.