Hey so I'm about to get a 96 xj. I plan on fixing it up completely making it the most bad a$$ jeep in my town, but I have no clue what to start with when it comes to the upgrades. Anyone have an idea what I should do 1st? Then 2nd, and 3rd and so on. Thanks

 

First fix any leaks and or mechanical problems, and if you plan on lifting it over 3 inches look into long arms and frame stiffneners most people seem to like those mods the most.

 

Number one will always be do any and all maintenance before dropping a dime into anything aftermarket. Number two IMO is address any bodywork that needs to be done (rust).

As stated above, welding on frame stiffiners is the best possible way to start any build. I sure wish I did before doing anything else.

If the jeep needs rocker panels, skip the stock replacements and weld in some 2x6 bar steel to have solid rockers.

From there you would have a solid start point for a badass build.

But let's be realistic now because most people don't jump right into these super heavy mods. Some great starter mods are upgrading to H4 style headlights and harness, disc brake swap the rear axle (or swap to an 8.25 if you don't already have one). Add a CB radio. Upgrade your speakers and headunit for a kickass sound system. The list goes on and on, never ending.

How about some things to avoid: tinted taillights, chrome anything, cutting off your exhaust, cold air intakes or throttle body spacers, HID headlights, lift blocks for rear leafs or anything else that can be related to hanging fuzzy dice from your mirror.

 

And plasti dip angry eyes

 

Hey!!! I have tinted tails, had no exhaust, anf a TB spacers!!!! lol

 

sound like u now know what to get rid of

 

Full tune up a 3 inch lift 33s and skid plates.

 

Appreciate your comment and everyone else's, but let's say we're in a perfect world where everything's fine with the jeep, basically I should fix up everything on the inside, aka speakers and all that, then should I move to tire with a lift and then work on lights? I'm trying to make a step by step list of what I should work on first and then last

 

Meh im waiting till it all breaks off. have exhaust now, but the tails and tb spacer remain.

 

Wheel it first. Go see what it can do.

Then decide what size wheels/tires you want to shove underneath. That will dictate lift height.

Normal order is 1) Lift 2) tires 3) armor.

Tire size pretty much dictates everything.

If you KNOW you want to go to 42's then you will NEED to upgrade the axles first. Don't waste time and money with smaller tires/axles if you KNOW you want massive ones.

If you have small tires, then you need better armor underneath. Bigger tires, means you are riding higher = can get away with less armor down below.

I'm on 35's with 6.5" lift, and while I have a JCR gas tank skid (which I MAYBE hit twice a year) and Ruff Stuff diff covers, (the rear is DEFINITELY a good investment REGARDLESS of what size tires you are on), I haven't bothered with a TCase skid. Sure I've dinged it a couple times on some REALLY hairy stuff, but since I am so high I go over a lot of stuff that a lower/smaller tire vehicle would hit the tcase on.

Tires pretty much dictate all. The bigger they are, the bigger axles you need, the bigger stuff you can run, the more you need to be prepared for trail damage.

 

First, it's not a bad idea to change all the fluids. As part of your mechanical/fluid refresh, thoroughly flush the cooling system and check to make sure everything is working properly. XJs have temperamental cooling systems and require routine attention, more attention than the maintenance schedule in the owner's manual suggests. You can run a chemical cooling system flush through it or use Amway laundry detergent to get the same result. If you have ANY indications of overheating (above 210°-220° during regular operation), you might want to do a complete cooling system overhaul.

One thing people often neglect in a mechanical refresh is motor mounts and transmission mount. Check their condition and replace as necessary. If you're planning to wheel and looking for a great upgrade, Brown Dog motor mounts are awesome.

Some years of XJs actually have a weakness in the mounting of the engine brackets on the passenger side of the engine, resulting in the bolts failing and the engine tilting into the radiator. I don't recall whether '96 was affected, but Brown Dog also sells a set of engine brackets that takes care of that issue for good. The mounts and brackets are pricey, but BD gives forum members a 10% discount if you request it.

After mechanicals, the first mod I would do is install a headlight relay harness. The headlight circuit on these things runs full power through the headlight switch. Over time resistance builds up in that wiring, which causes the headlights to dim significantly. It also generates heat, which eventually causes the headlight switch in the dash to fail, sometimes so catastrophically that it causes a fire. That switch is also a pain to replace.

Installing a relay harness powers the headlights directly from the battery instead of running full current through the switch and only requires enough current running through the switch to trigger the relays. You not only have brighter lights, but also less heat damaging the wiring and no continuing damage to the headlight switch. Some people use the Putco harness, but lately a lot of people have had better results (for cheaper) with the $20 "Ebay" harness. There's actually a member here who sells them on the board:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f74/he...pgrade-219596/

A great upgrade that goes along with that is to use H4 bulbs in European e-code headlight housings. Because they are the European standard, they aren't strictly legal under US regulations, BUT I defy you to find a cop who can see the different just by looking at them. The advantage of the e-code housings is that they have much better cutoff, so you can run a higher wattage bulb that doesn't blind oncoming traffic. They are considerably superior to the US standard.

Cibie and Hella make the best housings. You can get a reasonably good result from Autopal for much cheaper. Make sure you get the version for left-hand drive vehicles, because the cutoff has a tilt to it that will tilt the wrong direction if you get the right-hand drive version. Put normal colored bulbs in them. Those stupid blue bulbs attract unwanted attention from law enforcement.

After that, I would suggest stopping and doing a lot of research to plan your build. Some things are better done first before others, like the frame stiffeners. Read this board every day, especially the OEM and modified tech boards, and you'll get lots of ideas.

 

You need to make the decision of where you want this build to go. Questions you should be asking yourself are things such as:

What do you want to primarily use this vehicle for? (Daily driver, dedicated woods rig, long trips, weekend camping rig etc etc)

What kind of wheeling do you want to do? (Mild trail riding, rock crawling, blasting mud pits, sand, all of the above)

How comfortable are you working on a vehicle? (Never touched a wrench, comfortable with basic jobs with instruction, full blown fab)

As well as things like your short term and long term budget, and also whether or not you can afford to have the vehicle off the road for extended periods of time for mods/maintenance.

For now, get it running like a top and do as much preventative maintenance as you can. Do some small fun projects to get aquatinted with her before you go all the way, if you know what I'm sayin. Take it out wheelin a little bit to figure out exactly what you want it to do.

 

Not sure how long youve had the Jeep, but I always start by putting 1k miles on my new rig, then seeing what leaks, what needs to be fixed, and start from there.

I HIGHLY recommend building your rig right the first time, don't cheap out and buy rough country or other junk..save the money and buy quality components.

Id start with first determining what you want to do with it..are you building a mall crawler? Do you plan on dragging it over rocks and actually wheeling it? Or are you wanting an overland platform?

Follow some build threads and get ideas on what you may want to do with yours.

With that being said here is a shamless plug of my buildthread

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/xj...j-10-a-222581/