Rusty Red Rebuild
 

Hello, here is my 'ol beater.. a '93 Cherokee 4.0 liter H.O with an auto transmission, Chrysler 8 1/4 rear, Dana 30 front, and NP 231 Command Trac.I picked this XJ up 3 years ago for 250 bucks from the kid next door. he had smashed it into a Chevy pickup and totalled out the radiator, fan,AC condenser and front fiberglass pieces. I replaced what was necessary to drive it and jerry rigged the grill,and was driving it the next day. :icon_biggrin:This little truck has been my DD since then,and it runs great, by the way, but then rust reared its ugly head. :icon_sad:I spent last winter cutting out the entire floor except the driveshaft hump, and riveting new metal in. Thank God that part is almost done. I also wound up throwing a timing chain and distributor in it this week, and I need a front u-joint and tires, which I will be doing tomorrow, along with some fender cutting. This aint my first 4x4, I've done quite a bit of wheeling in the past with an '83 Dodge Ramcharger that I lifted and fixed up. This my first Jeep, and I must say I really like the little bugger. This build will continue to be my daily driver, and it will be designed to handle my needs for fishing and other outdoor stuff. I dont much care about looks, function and durability is what I'm interested in. Plans include air compressor for inflatable boat, fishing rod racks,fender cutting for 30 inch tires,tube steel bumpers, roof rack, auxiliary lights, and rear cargo area mods. Also have a bunch of other stuff to fix, LOL. So far aside from replacing the rusty floor, I've added air shocks and a new hitch. So here she is right now...

What a steal, got rust on mine too. I think cherokees can typically fit 30"s stock if the suspensions in good shape. You might have to trim the flare a little but it shouldn't be much.

on my old cherokee i had 31s on stock lift but i trimmed the fenders a little bit

Well, as you can see on the rear quarter, the rust went way up the panel,its even worse on the passenger side, where I did basically the same thing to fix it lol dryer skins and undercoat. the rear flares were all cracked and broken, so I dumped 'em. I'm going to dump the front flares and cut the front fenders tomorrow. The 30's I have will maybe last out the year, I bought 'em mainly for the pepper shaker rims, I hate the look of those dang spoked aluminum wheels. whacking the fenders now will allow me to fit up a 31 when its time to get new tires, probably this fall. oh, and the stock suspension up front seems in good shape, but the rear springs were pretty saggy, thats one reason why I installed air shocks,I will be also be towing a boat and plenty of gear. Wish it was tomorrow morning already lol cant wait to get started

Ok!!, yesterday's work went good,'cept I ran outta time, I wound up having to break the tires beads with my Hi Lift and replace the valve stems,so didnt get to fender cuts. Only other problem came with this sucker.Wouldnt take grease, so I got out my secret weapons....Meet Take Grease or Explode, this tool I bought many moons ago, works every time, fill it with grease, put it on the fitting and whack it with a hammer.:) And of course an air powered grease gun heheh. gotta love air tools. Put it all back together, with with a new u-joint and plenty of antiseize lube, and bolt them tires and wheels up. Looking a lot better now. Tomorrow we chop some front fender, and, beat the passenger front fender back into something approximating stock shape. LOL I think I'm going to rattle can it camoflage , like I did to my old Ramcharger.

Interesting how the rear fender lip is bent outward, most I have seen bend them inward.

Are you going to lift it?

Hi razor, thanks for taking a look. No, I dont intend to lift it yet. It's got a bunch of stuff to fix yet. I'm just going to cut fenders for now. That rear fender lip is not bent out, thats just whats left of the factory lip after I cut all the rust out. I'll be cutting and folding that in today, along with the front fenders and beating out the crunched passenger side fender.

Good morning, time to head out and do some more work on the XJ. I have a jeep question needs answering. While I was driving to work yesterday on the bigger tires,all was well, except some bump steer. Nothing bad, just enough to be annoying. I plan to replace the factory steering stabilizer to correct this, and to prevent any death wobble issues I keep hearing about. Will just any aftermarket stabilizer do as well ? or should I get the factory replacement?