Thanks! Make sure to "like" us so you get updates as the season progresses. Tell your friends too, it's always nice to be able to tell potiental sponsors that we have decent exposure.
I would really push for the add-a-leaf because it will stiffen it up and keep it from rolling in corners thus improving handling; shackles would have the opposite effect.

Good plan on the junkyard springs. Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about the rear brakes; we ran two races on our stock D35 drum brakes (we just did the 8.8 swap before our last event) and they did surprisingly well. We didn't notice any braking improvement with the rear discs. Part of that is our light weight, but I don't think you're going to be all that much heavier.

ZJ Grand Cherokee's are coil sprung, so you'd have to do just as much work as any other complete swap and you're not buying yourself much; the D35 is a step down in strength, and the D44a is the goofy aluminum one that has little aftermarket support. Really, the 8.8 swap makes the most sense:

I assume your 8.25 is an open diff and 3.55 gears? Probably the single biggest performance improvement we noticed was due to the LSD (with the stiffer rear leafs, it had a tendency to spin inside tires in corners a lot more) and deeper gears we got with the 8.8. It would cost far more to add those to your 8.25 than just swap it out. You get a stronger axle and disc brakes out of the bargain too.

I can find 8.8's for ~$300 out here with LSD's and either 3.73 or (ideally) 4.10 gears. You're going to have to do just as much work to make the 8.25 sprung under, and you can probably sell it to somebody with a D35 in his XJ for ~$100 pretty easily. Worth every penny to upgrade, IMHO (I spent a lot of time debating this in my head).

I'll keep you posted on the shifter, it should be a great option as it can run fully manual, or with the flip of a switch it can be changed back to full automatic control.

As to the wheels, I'd buy 'em from Allied/Raceline. They're huge supporters of the offroad racing scene, land use efforts, and one of my sponsors too.

-Matt

 

Just thought I'd post a reference picture of the Jeep sitting on level ground to show the ride height. Keep in mind with flares on, it would look a bunch lower:



Cool picture of our pits from Buttonwillow. We brought out the now semi-retired King of the Hammers Cherokee (www.teamnaxja.org) based buggy to show just how versitile the XJ platform is:



-Matt

 

I'm not questioning the durability. Performance wise though you are suffering with the aw4 over an ax15.

Swaps can be done relatively cheap, and as long as you drive it right your times will improve.

Just my 2 cents...

 

Hahaha, you are the man! You win 1o,ooo internets!!

But seriously, you've got my props now good sir.

And bonus points for the Goodyear decals.

 

Good fun stuff, thanks for shearing and good luck racing.

 

what a lot of fun that has to be... great thread... thanks for sharing..
One of the best threads ive seen on here...great vids..

 

I'm a big fan of the 24 Hours of LeMons, and I love that you're running an XJ in it! I know Car and Driver covers, and competes, in the event each year. Have you been able to talk with them at all, get your XJ published?

 

that looks like a blast. i wonder how well an xj would do in a rally

 

Sick build man. 24 hours of LeMons is my favorite road-racing event ever. Already "liked" on facebook. Wanna bring it to NC so I can drive it?

 

Ive read a lot fo your posts on NAXJA, and am very glad to see you over here with all the detailed information. I know my cousin has a lowered 2wd XJ, and him and his brother are buidling a stroked and possible turbo MJ setup for SCCA/autoX racing. Id love to find a 2wd cherokee to lower a bit and use as a DD. Thanks again for posting up all this info!

 

I'll concede we're probably losing a little bit to the auto, but in the long run over the 800 miles we run in a weekend, it doesn't amount to much. The reliability of the AW4 and the ease of driving it for long periods of time are well worth whatever I give up in drivetrain losses.

We've never been at the same race as the CandD guys (they run East Coast stuff mainly), but we were in JP Magazine a while back. At every race there're always cool and interesting people to get to know, that's really one of the coolest parts about being involved.

 

Also, thanks for all the positive comments guys! I just noticed that not a lot of people visit the Advanced Tech section...should I build another thread in Cherokee Chat or Off-Topic about the team in general with more pics and info about the overall event?

-Matt

 

the advanced tech section is fairly new, as it was pulled apart from the standard "cherokee tech". with all teh tech information i think its very good in the section, but i think it could fit in the chat section as well with all the general info and team info you have. Id ask a mod just to double check what they think.

 

Cool! I like how in the initial set of pictures, there was progressively more body damage.

 

Yeah, we try to race clean, but $hit happens when you've got so many cars on course together. Almost all of that damage wasn't our fault FWIW.

-Matt