KingsColor

Hey guys, first post!
Well, I just bought an XJ the other day and I have no idea about jeeps whatsoever or suspension or off-roaring or anything but ask me about camaros or mustangs or engines and things and I'd love to sit down and have a discussion. Anyway, back to the jeep. Well I purchased it with the idea of having it to go mudding and rock crawling and yet still be able to drive it to work and enjoy the drive. I drove it about an hour home on the highway and it wasn't very pleasurable.

What the jeep currently has:
4" skyjacker lift (is that brand good?)
33" tires, that will need to be replaced soon (any suggestions on brand?)
Trimmed front fenders
Folded rear fenders
Fabricated rear bumper
Cut front bumper
8.25 rear end (I don't even know what that means, gear ratio? Name? I don't know)
Dana 30 front end (again, ??)

What I want/going to do:
Replace headliner (current is sagging bad and I found a great kit to replace it)
Grille guard (want to have lights or a winch so I want a full one, any suggestions?)
Roof rack (suggestions?)
Tow hitch (got things to tow, yo)
Replaced battery

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated

Current problem is the handling when I'm on the highway. The previous owner told me that he didn't balance the tires because there wasn't much tread on them or something I'm not sure I believe it. But anyway, when I'm driving it's pretty rough, I understand because of the tires and lift it's not going to be a Cadillac but I expect it to ride a lot better than that. I will be getting it aligned and getting new tires and I hoe that will be enough but if it isn't, what kinds of things can I do to improve the ride but still keep the lift and still be able to take it mudding and possibly rock crawling? Sway bars or something?

It squeaks kind of when I put my foot on the gas at one particular part, put on more gas and it goes away, let it out a little bit and it goes away. It's just that one specific point, any ideas on what that is?

Are there any kits to get a double din in the console? I like having the touch screen head units but I hate those flip up ones so I was wondering if there are any kits so I could fit a 7" in there.

Also, anyone from around Olathe, KS?

And finally, here's a picture of the fine lady after I took her out mudding the first day, nothing too bad.

andrewmp6

Does it have a front sway bar now or did he take it off?

helmut

So much to learn haha.
99 has the good axles. Your 8.25 has 29 spline shafts as opposed to earlier 27. Your front dana 30 is high pinion as opposed to later low pinion units and has stronger ujoints then the earlier models. My favorite winch bumper with a hoop is dirtbound offroad, but there are tons of options. For towing you could get a hitch or killtwo birds with one stone and get a bumper with a hitch insert for about 300$. Your lift is sagging, your front is way lower so new coils are called for. Also there are tons of good tires. I run Goodyear mtr with Kevlar and could recomend them. But there are tons of reason an XJ would drive like crap. Yes I would start with new tires and balance since you need them anyways but dont be suprised if it needs 10 more things corrected afterwards. Good thing is that things are cheap and that you could find answers to all your questions on this forum.

KingsColor

The lift is fine, rear driver tire is on top of a rock pile.


I'm not sure about the sway bar, I didn't get a chance to look. I drove it hour home like I said and it was a bit rough and then I took it out mudding and hit a pretty bad ditch which rocked me back and forth, I thought everything was fine. Then I took it to class today on the highway and it felt like it was getting a death wobble at 65mph-ish (speed hasn't been calibrated to the bigger tires...)

salad

Grats on the XJ and welcome to the addiction!

Yeah balance those tires lol. There's a big part of your highway problem. From the second pic it looks like the front sway bar was removed entirely. Another ride quality bit I can see from here is the rear shackle angle - they're pointing almost straight down. To fix that you'll need some relocating boxes and possible new shackles.

A major factor in death wobble, usually with vehicles that have balanced tires lol, is the stock track bar wears out fast. I have no idea if a 4.5" SkyJacker kit includes a replacement. If you wanna post some pictures of the front steering and suspension we can help you determine what's been done to the Jeep

No double DIN on these guys, going to have to be 100% custom, gotta trim that bezel to fit it, too. A few guys here have done such a mod and it involves a lot of plastic work!

Chrysler 8.25: Rear axle made by Chrysler (shocking, right?) with an 8.25" ring gear. Best axle on the late model XJs, can take larger tires locked if you're nice with it. Will serve you fine.

Dana 30: Model 30 axle from Dana Corporation, only front end the XJ ever came with.

Lots of stuff here to read! Build threads and tech questions will give you a LOT of insight! Check out the writeups section too, common repairs and mods will help build your familiarity and give you a few ideas.

exjay1027

Replacing those shocks with quality ones like bilsteins will make a huge difference in your ride, as well as what others have said, shackle angle and sway bar. What's it have for control arms? Can't tell from the pics

98cherokee531

When I bought my 98 it had a clean looking older pioneer head unit in it that took up the entire din space. No hacking and it was nice, but I removed it for a ken wood single din and had to use the big plastic install kit as well

KingsColor

Thanks for all of the responses guys, I guess I need to find somewhere I can learn about suspension because I don't understand half of the stuff you guys are referring to haha.

As far as pics go, where exactly would you like me to take pictures of? I'm at work right now but I'll take some pics once I get a chance.

I didn't realize how expensive these tires will cost me, $800+ just for some cheap ones. Yikes.

As far as the double din headunit, I figured something out. I pulled off the faceplate and checke it out and sure enough with some fabrication of the air ducts and plastic in there I could fit one in. I ended up cutting the faceplate with a dremel as well so I could fit the screen in. It took me quite some time to hook it up plus I put in some new speakers as well but I got everything in there in working order and it's pretty awesome. Unfortunately it doesn't look very pretty because of some separation between faceplate and my makeshift deadspace cover up, but it looks decent to me until I get a chance to make something that looks good. It's a Pioneer AppRadio 3 and some Kicker 5.25s for the doors. I'll post up some pics if anyone cares.

andrewmp6

The best picture you can take is the front suspension,Bend down and get a picture of the whole front suspension from the front if you can.And yeah off road tires are pricey just remember bigger tire bigger price tag lol.

cruiser54

Congrats on the new ride. You'll have fun learning about Jeeps and have found a good place to do it.

Gotta ask a question here though.

Have you checked diff, trans, and transfer fluid levels and condition yet?

KingsColor

Front:


Driver's:


Passenger's:


Rear:

Jhuff70

Hey welcome!!! I'm from Olathe and new to Cherokees too! I'm currently in Roeland Park and going to UMKC. Any more pics of the rear bumper?

andrewmp6

Looks like he took the front sway bar off fully.

helmut

Spacers upfront. Double shear track bar is a good thing.

KingsColor

What makes the track bar good if you don't mind me asking?

As far as the sway bar removal, is there any good reason why he might have done so? If it serves a good enough purpose to remove it I might just leave it off, otherwise any good suggestions on replacements?

Also, I've recently noticed some rather annoying squeaks from under the hood. The electric fan seems to squeak bad when it turns on and also a pulley that squeaks which I haven't identified which yet.. Also, the worst and most annoying is that the steering seems to squeak when the engine isn't warmed up enough. It might be a lack of steering fluid, I haven't checked yet but I'm hoping that the steering pump isn't going out because I'd hate to have to replace that. Any ideas on what to do to identify if I need to replace pump?