The "WAR-J" - 1992 XJ
 

In September of 2007, while stationed at Camp Lejeune, I purchased my first Jeep: A 1992 XJ with 4.0L, AX-15 transmission, 231 transfer case, Dana 30 front, Dana 35 rear, 3.07 gears, and 336,000 miles on the clock. I talked the seller down from $1500 to $1200. Upon initial inspection before purchase, the Jeep had no rust, decent factory gray paint, aftermarket rims, ran great, a 3.5" Procomp lift, tiny bald tires, and a dead battery. The first tasks I did were changing fluids/filters and throwing on a used set of 31x10.50x15R BF Goodrich All-Terrains for $200.

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After wheeling through the beaches, swamps, and forests of the OBX of North Carolina, the factory paint job was loaded with deep scratches. In February of 2008, I decided to paint it, with rattle cans, satin black to give it the blacked-out look. I spent a whole weekend taping off, sanding, priming, and painting. I was surprised by results.

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I didn't do any further mods until June of 2008, when it was time for me to travel back to Ohio with a side trip to Michigan after receiving an honorable discharge after 4 years of active duty. The Jeep wasn't my only vehicle, so I had to figure out a way to get all of my stuff and both vehicles home. I bought a tow bar and had a mount for the brackets welded to frame rails at the front of the XJ. I loaded up all of my belongings into the Jeep and Suburban and went to the scales. Over 11,000 pounds total among both vehicles, two full fuel tanks, and all my stuff.

Ready to drive the 1000 miles to Michigan (to see my parents) and down to Ohio.

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Rest stop in Virginia:

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I successfully made the long trip without any troubles, although the brakes on the Suburban heated up pretty good in West Virginia while navigating the mountains. That summer, I finally acquired a spare wheel and tire. The 31" tire was too big to keep in the cargo area, so I purchased a temporary roof top car cargo rack to store it on. It was basically a rack with plastic foot that anchored onto the gutter rails with straps. I used a few ratchet straps for extra strength. Also in the summer of 2008, I installed an old CB I had along with a Wilson 1000 Antenna, and I mounted an LED 3-D Maglite to the front pillar and the bumper jack I bolted onto the front bumper using u-bolts.

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The Maglite:

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Notice the rear starting to sag? I address this later...

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In January of 2009, the WAR-J experienced its first snow. I pulled out multiple stuck vehicles during this snow. Needless to say, the Jeep did excellent in the snow.

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In March of 2009, while on my way to classes at the University, the Dana 35 darn near caught on fire thanks to the wheel bearings being shot. I limped the XJ all the way home on the back roads when class was over. Thankfully, spring break was right around the corner. I quickly hunted down a replacement rear, and found a 29 spline Chysler 8.25" with 3.55 gears. I cleaned it up, replaced the brakes, brake lines, and oil, and painted it. The only problem with it was the damaged shock mount brackets, so I cut them off. I removed the "nipple" part of the shock mounts from the Dana 35 and had them welded onto the center of the 8.25's housing for better ground clearance. I ripped out the Dana 35 and installed the Chysler 8.25. To temporarily correct the rear sagging problem, I had some 1" blocks and load-bearing leafs sitting around so I installed them during the swap.

The new axle ready to be installed:

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All bolted-in and complete, shocks and all.

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The rear end went from sagging to standing way up above the front, but it leveled-out once the load-bearing leafs broke-in.

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Spring of 2009:

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In the summer of 2009, I got tired of seeing everybody else running around in Jeeps and trucks with the blacked-out look, so I decided it was time for a new paint job. I served in Iraq in 2005, so I saw it fit to go with a desert-tan color. While the roof rack was off for the painting, I made a more permanent roof-rack mount using gutter rail racks made for cargo vans. I took off the plastic mounts from the cargo rack and bolted the rack directly onto the rail racks. I threw by bumper jack up there, too.

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I didn't do anything else to the WAR-J until the fall of 2009. At work I found a piece of scrap metal grating that I believed would make an ugly, but functional grill guard to protect the radiator against pointy tree branches and flying stones. I bolted it to the front bumper.

Winter was approaching fast, and I still only had 2WD because of mis-matched gears. In addition, the BFG A/Ts were full of plugs, nearing baldness, and needed to be replaced. I found a set of 3.55 gears for the Dana 30 to match the rear and had them installed. I then, after much contemplating, settled on a set of 31x10.50R15 Goodyear Wrangler Authority A/T tires from Wal-Mart. I was curious how these tires would hold-up in the snow.

New tires and grill guard:

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On February 5th through 7th, the new tires got their first big test in the snow. We got hit with 15-20 inches of snow. The tires worked magic in the deep snow. I ended up recovering a lot of snow-stranded motorists that weekend.

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Abandoned cars were everywhere when I decided to drive towards the city of Youngstown to do some exploring in the snow. I'm glad the WAR-J decided to not join the stuck and abandoned vehicles in the middle of the road. It blasted through the snow effortlessly.

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The WAR-J survived its second Ohio winter, but not without bodily injury. After 17 years of existence, rust finally paid the Jeep a visit. I found a few small patches of light rust on the underbody, and addressed them with enamel and a few coats of tan paint.

Spring finally arrived, and to celebrate, I ditched the ancient Realistic CB radio and installed a new Uniden Bearcat CB with weather channels.

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I also decided to spray some actual 2nd Marine Division RUC numbers onto the rear hatch and on the hood to make the WAR-J look government-issue. If I can find stencils that are small enough, I want to stencil "TP-35" above each tire and "Unleaded Fuel Only" above the gas cap.

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In March of 2010, I came across a clothing rack at work that was thrown out. I thought it would make a perfect replacement for the crappy roof rack I had, so I snatched it up. I cut off all the unnessary parts with a grinder and bolted it up to the gutter rail racks. I also picked up a spare tire cover for the spare wheel. I then put the spare tire, an axe, and a shovel onto the new home-done roof rack.

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In May of 2010, I purchased an 8000 pound winch and a Warn receiver-mounted winch cradle. I wanted to mount it on the front, so I had a custom-fabbed front hitch receiver made. I also got a heavier-duty tow bar that used 5/8" hitch pins for the brackets. I had the brackets welded-on to the custom front receiver. I then painted the winch, installed it, and wired it up. This is what WAR-J looks like as of May 17, 2010:

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Evetually, I want to get a rear locker and maybe chromoly axle shafts, but other than that, I have no other major plans for this build.

Great job.

As for the stencils... If your willing to do vinyl, Spencer over at JeepStickers.com might have them or could make them up exactly to what you want.

Thanks for serving !:tank: I dig the tan paint and all the winter pics.
I too grew up in OHIO and Michigan(Toledo and Detroit) before i had a career in the Army.Good luck and Godbless, looking forward to more pics and stories of you and your Jeep.....OllllO.....

sweet looking xj props

Nice job. I learned a lesson the hard way when painting a truck once. I did it in my grandparents garage and when I was done there was yellow paint all over two of their vehicles.......luck for me it all came off easy.

Very nice XJ what did you do out at lejune? my sister in law was stationed out there you might know her???? but not sure can't quite remember when she joined. last name is goodspeed, is a corporal now..not sure what she would have been then

nice rig!

Thanks for the compliments, guys!

n_csmith, my specialty in the fleet was artillery tech, but I hardly messed with any Howitzers at all. When I went to Iraq, I was an augment to a 2nd Mar Div grunt unit, the now disbanded Small Craft Co. We were Security Co. in Ramadi and we did patrols on foot and in vehicles as well as escorts, raids, and observation posts. Then after that I was sent to the 26 Marine Expeditionary Unit to go to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. I can't recall a Cpl. Goodspeed, but chances are we may have crossed paths at least once.

SGT ABN XJ - Thank you, too, for serving, brother!

Havensov - I'll have to look into those, thanks!

Jeep look sweet! I'm loving the stencil-work too!

Thanks, man!

On a side note, I'm starting to wish that I had just gone with an aftermarket front bumper that can hold a winch... My custom front receiver sits a little low and my approach angle suffers with the winch in place. :001_unsure: I still need to get some quick-disconnect cables for the winch so I can switch it from the front to the rear and vice-versa. That way, for now, if I'm worried about the approach angle I can at least take the winch off without having to remove the solenoid or disconnect the wiring from the battery. Live and learn!

Sooo...Why not just buy a winch bumper for it now?

Nice rig bro, I think its the ugly *** grill guard and kick *** tan paint job, but this just became my favorite XJ on site. Really though that grill guard is awesome :tank:

Oah rah!

Update May 19, 2010
My low-sitting winch has been bugging me the past couple of days, so I came up with a temporary solution. Now, I could always just go out and buy a winch bumper, but I don't really want to spend the cash on one right now. I have the cash, but I like to have at least a $4-5 thousand for a buffer. So, I picked up a $20 multi-use hitch. I hacked off the hitch part and left the accessory receiver. It sits up nice and high. I then drilled new 5/8" holes into the multi-hitch to get it into the reciver as close as possible. Finally, I painted it and installed it.

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I also ditched the fairlead that came with the winch and picked up a Smittybilt roller fairlead. The old fairlead was the non-roller type, and it didn't line up with the slot in the Warn winch cradle correctly.

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Of course, if I need to do any heavy winching, I will want to lower the winch down into the hitch receiver, as I question the strength of the multi-hitch for such tasks. It was designed more for allowing the use of cargo racks or bike racks while towing.

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Please reinforce the vertical tube with a gusset or something!! I don't wanna see/hear about too much leverage snapping that vertical tube off. Just trying to keep you safe!