TWright33's XJ
 

I bought my XJ two weeks ago and have been slowly figuring out all the info I need to know on what I need for what I want to change etc.

She is a 2001, 144,000 miles. I am the third owner and I personally know the first two. She has been babied for the most part.

This is the day before I picked it up
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-41-21_679.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-41-39_460.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-41-52_381.jpg

It has a 3.5" Rubicon Express lift, 31" Nexen (sp?) tires, brush guard, black Cragar soft 8s. Nothing to extraordinary.

I like her how she is but I want 33" or 32" tires.

So now I get to looking around at info on lifting. I now have on the lift to purchase- Adjustable track bar, adjustable upper control arms, SYE. Also the YJ brake line and steering upgrade. I am also going to be building my own swaybar quick disconnects

I just ordered my CV drive shaft today from a donor grand cherokee. I have my spacers in the mail and I am contemplating on building a bastard pack or adding shackles.

My first plan was to put a good looking front bumper on. Since I program plasma CNCs for a living, this was a fun project. I drew her up in cad and burned out my parts last week. I just got around to assembling everything and I am mounting the bumper this evening after work. (had to let the paint cure)

To anyone that likes the bumper I am going to be releasing the actual print for all piece parts of this bumper so it will be easy for you to build. The only thing you have to figure out yourself are the bumper mounts

Anyways, enough jabbering, here is her progress so far.

(you can see in some picture of the bumper the modifications and fixes I had to do, these will be corrected in my print)
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-24-18_262.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-11-34_476.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-59-12_876.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._09/photo3.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._09/photo1.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...6_09/photo.jpg

The first revision I had to the plans. The line is showing where I will cut it to where everything it cut straight
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-40-59_185.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-35-23_431.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-05-49_160.jpg

I still had some grinding left to do
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-34-51_574.jpg

I will have finished pictures tonight.

And I removed my body moulding
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._09/photo2.jpg

Bumper looks good, dude!

Just a word of advice, if you plan on welding on d-ring tabs and doing any puling (recovery) with that bumper, I would highly suggest you extend the plating back to at least the steering box bolts. An easy way to do this is to simply buy JCR's tie-in brackets and then weld those to the mounts you've already made for your bumper.

Looking good so far, and welcome to CF!

I thought about this after the fact of me burning out all of my parts.

I burned out my d ring tabs from 3/4" mild steel. I welded them over the the area on the front of the bumper where the mount is welded to the backside.

Now that I have done some more looking I should have cut holes in the front face and somehow tied directly into the mounting plates. If worse comes to worse and the tabs fail I can just cut them off and cut holes on the front and start over on the tabs

Sorry shold have been a little more clear. The BUMPER MOUNTS need to extend further down the unibody rail to incorporate at least 6 bolts (the 3 originals, plus at least the 3 steering box bolts - you'll need 3 bolts for the passenger side). Pulling puts a lot of strain on the unibody, and it's honestly not that thick. Runnign the bumper mounts further down the rails will give it more strength. 3/4" should be fine for the d-rings once their welded onto the bumper's front plate.

I got the bumper mounted today. Also I already had it placed out to mount my bumper like you stated. Also the material I used is 3/16"

Want to make me one of those bumpers? You're hired! :D

Haha! Here's another picture of it I did a little editing on. Also picture of how it is mounted on the passenger side. The drivers side is mounted with the steering box bolts.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j..._09/XJEdit.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...-09-31_132.jpg

Also I want everyone's opinion on this. When it comes to lifting the rear of my rig 2 more inches, should I get shackles or should I make a bastard pack?

depends...do you have full leafs now? That passenger side of your bumper looks like it should still extend back a bit futher..those 3 bolts dont scream out RELIABLE to me.

bumper looks great man. jeep looks good as well really like the color

Thanks for the compliments!

I need some of your opinions.
Would you go with new Skyjacker Shocks or the new Rouch COuntry n2.0 shocks?

Tough crowd for a new guy?

Not a tough crowd you just stsrted your thread. I'd also like to say you need to extend those bumper mounts down the frame rail. You need more strength than that. Jeeps looking good though man.

Rusty's adjustable track bar, and CV driveshaft will be coming UPS today.

Rubicon Express 5.5" coils and quick disco's shipped yesterday too.

Ordering SYE, Control arms, shocks, and brake lines next Monday at the latest

As far as shocks id just go with whatever is cheaper, your not gonna have noticeable difference in the two. Id prolly go with RC, just cause they look cooler.