Starting point 10 years ago it was a mere baby

1994 Jeep Cherokee XJ Sport Automatic 4.0

 

We had a Dana 44 from a 1977 Cherokee FSJ so we had to retube the axle to get the diff on the proper side. Got a sweet set of brackets and mounts for the XJ suspension mounting points. ready to go!

 

While the axle work was being done we took a break and installed the front stinger bumper on the stock XJ looked pretty hilarious for sure at this point!

 

Time to tear the stock Dana 30 and 35 axles and suspension down and clean it up for the new 8.5 inch BDS long arm and Dana 44s.

 

Beginning to assemble the leaf springs and other parts for the BDS 8.5 inch long arm kit install

 

This is awesome. Subbed

 

Thanks man! Its been an awesome experience lots of good memories with this rig!

 

Yes we found out the blocks are a TERRIBLE idea later on but this is the flow of how our build progressed! Later we use a Iron Man Fab shackle relocation XJAX kit and took the blocks out way better. More suspension components being installed! Had to cut a few inches of the bottom of the front coils to get them to seat properly in our fabbed coil buckets on the front Dana 44.

 

Removing the stock NP231 Transfer case and replacing it with a junkyard find NP241OR from a TJ rubi...bolted right in with no changes...linkage and electronics are identical...HUGE upgrade

 

Rear end is together sans brakes and rolling on some donor waggy 6 lug wheels and tires...its a unusual Dana 44 rear axle from a 77 Cherokee FSJ as well with a Dana 20 transfer case so it is offest slightly which required us to run a special narrow muffler to avoid the driveshaft

 

Got the front end assembled and painted ready to GO! 4.27 gears and a Detroit will provide lots of trouble free wheeling crawl ratio at this point was set at 47.8 just shy of a stock Rubi automatic. Beginning the front suspension assembly and getting castor and other details ironed out takes time

 

Had 37s on my suburban at the time so we rolled them over for a test fit for fender trimming

 

Got the new tires and wheels in 37/12.5/R15s loved the look of this size back in the day...so much rubber hardly anyone makes 15 inch wheel sizes now

1st version of the Ultimate XJ Jeep is almost done!

 

Flex test and daily driver now!

 

Nice build. Why the blocks? looks like you cheaped out in the rear setup. Front looks good though. Wasn't sure if this was going to be a serious thread with that username