orvisdriver

Hi everyone,

I'm Dan from eastern PA (Philly area, more precisely). I'm a college student and have had my '99 XJ Sport since high school. I bought it in fall '07 at 102xxx miles, and today it's at about 164xxx. We've had our share of minor accidents and mechanical problems, but the Jeep has always survived my idiot teen ways (thankfully over now) and I love owning it.
It's also worth mentioning that although I've done some basic maintenance and repairs on the XJ before, I am by no means a skilled mechanic. I love learning as I go and I am indebted to two good friends whose Jeep skills helped me get the job done right.

Anyway, this fall I decided to do a bunch of work to my Jeep since I'm graduating college soon and hoping to keep it as my primary vehicle for as long as I can. I'm also hoping to maximize fuel efficiency as well, since prices are only going up. I needed new shocks, tires, and rear brakes, so I took the advice of many folks on here and decided to upgrade rather than replace.
After a lot of research on CF and other forums, I decided to do:
- Rough Country Stage I 3" lift w/ full leaf packs
- 31" Falken WildPeak A/T tires (on stock wheels)
- new fog lights and mounting bar

I also wanted to do some other stuff to increase my XJ's longevity and efficiency, most of which I've done already:
- full tune-up (rotor, cap, wires, plugs, air filter, serpentine belt)
- new rear drum brakes (drums, cylinders, shoes, hardware, etc.)
- new brake lines from master cylinder to rear drums
- replace fluid and gaskets in differentials
- replace fluid in transfer case
- grease all fittings in front steering / suspension
- replace filter, gasket, and fluid in transmission
- remove rear sway bar
- fix oil leak near filter (probably the adapter O-ring issue)

Anyway, here's an album with some before and after pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/FDe1v#0

I couldn't have done this without the advice on this forum and help from my friends, and I'm sure I'll be coming back to get advice on fixing more things!

- Dan

The Rooster

nice Jeep and I am glad to hear the forum helped you out...
but if I can offer some advice for you
1st thing I would also do besides what you have planed is a set of H4 headlight upgrade... it is a night and day difference and it a very cheap but amazing mod... here is the set I have in my jeep.. it is also plug and play... took 10 mins to put in
http://www.ebay.com/itm/87-95-JEEP-W...f6e2e8&vxp=mtr

The 2nd thing I noticed is you have no front tow hooks if you plan on mudding like you pics showed it would be a good idea to have a front set of tow hooks... and the last thing is does your Jeep have skid plates...? if not you might want to get a set from your local junkyard
and lastly your jeep looks great good luck with it...

orvisdriver

Hey thanks! In the future I certainly planning on getting front tow hooks possibly fabbing a new front bumper. Skid plates are on the list too and I'll likely go do some hunting at a junkyard, once I have some more time and money.
However, I have a bunch of other stuff to do first that I think is more pressing, including aligning the wheels and steering wheel (knocked it out of alignment on my first 'real' wheeling trip this past week), getting an adjustable track bar, fixing my oil leak, replacing the U joints, and dropping the TC (still have pretty noticeable vibes / noise on deceleration). So those things (and the upgraded headlights you suggested) will probably have to come later, but like I said I'm planning on keeping my XJ as long as possible so these things will happen in time.

The Rooster

sounds like a great plan... I was just out in pa and i brought a set of skid plates from a xj 10 bucks for the front skid and 5 bucks for the tc skid... I got the from ez-pull in new ringold... hope that helps with your budget if you are wheeling you want those parts protected...

ol"blue

Hey Dan, Welcome to CF.

91 limited owner

Welcome from Wisconsin.

1ATony

Welcome to the site