Swank's XJ Cherokee Overland build (slow)

Bought this 2000 Cherokee Sport 4x4 just about 3 years ago for $3000. Super clean, ran great, i was ecstatic to pay that price for it. Aisin AW4, NP231, Chrysler 8.25, no ABS.

SWMBO drives this. Got her to and from work, me hauling a bunch of motors and transmissions with nary a complaint. Only stranded us once with a dead starter.

It's been the victim of two "incidents." The catalytic converter was stolen off of it in January, and more recently, a large sign fell on it at SWMBO's work. With the insurance payments, we'll just say that this thing doesn't owe me anything anymore.

Unfortunately, with 190k miles, the original suspension (mostly, i'll find out shortly that the shocks had been replaced.) and steering components were destroyed, and the old Wrangler tires were trashed. Truck had pretty bad death wobble.

So what better time to start an overland-style build? We want to take this pig across the Arctic Circle/Northern Canada in a couple years, so i figured i'd get a head start instead of refreshing with OEM junk.

XJ Cherokee Kit!

Parts list:
New tie rods/all that steering crap, i don't speak truck (ZJ 1 piece upgrade)
Rubicon Express RE1600 adjustable track bar
Rancho RS9000XL adjustable shocks front and rear for 3" lift
Rancho RS66000 lift kit
Rancho 2.5" rear leafs
Rancho U-bolt and poly rear bushing kit for 8.25" axle.
New upper control arms + bushings
New OEM rear suspension hardware
Previously installed a Performance Curve Magnaflow exhaust

And "while i'm in there..."
New wipers
Silverstar headlights
New fog lights
Valve Cover gasket
PCV/vc vent
Lower radiator hose
Alpine CDA-9886
Alpine KTP-445 "power pack"
2 pairs Polk DB651s

Let's get movin'!

Soo... apparently when the book says this about the driver's side front upper control arm bushing: "Inspect bushing. If replacement is necessary, take vehicle to dealership." They aren't berkeleying around. This was completely awful. Putting the new one in wasn't any better.

Front things. My buddy (indymx6) creepin'.

Rear finally going together. This is a bit after i realized that someone had previously broken the rear upper shock mount bolts for me. FUN. I will probably purchase a rear shock relocation kit shortly.

Annnddd... complete!

Front is done. This is before i realized i needed an adjustable track bar, so before the Rubicon Express RE1600 went on.

Pile of old E36 M3. EVERY, and i mean EVERY part i pulled off of this thing was completely trashed. Every bushing, every joint, the shackles were really rusty.

Maiden voyage to get some gas.

Alignment is berkeleyed.

Wish i had gotten a better angle on this picture. It's comical how much higher mine was than the stock one (that stock one is my favorite color for these, btw.), despite mine not looking crazy in the slightest.

Added a set of 30x9.5r15 Yokohama Geolandar AT-S at the same time.

So now i have about 25-26" of frame-to-ground clearance, i need to measure diff clearance.

This thing is pretty much done with "Stage 1." I need to replace the windshield and flush the fluids, but she's ready to go for winter. Then in Spring i'll do some rust repair (not really necessary yet, but i want to catch it before it IS necessary), add some metal bumpers, roof rack, winch, full-size spare mount, and lights to round out "Stage 2." After Stage 2, we'll concentrate on interior stuff. We're planning on sleeping in it and using it as our tent.

Very nice 8)

Ya. Those rear shock mounts always break. Pia. I love me an xj.

Why no spring isolators? Must be noisy. Make sure you have a LOT of clearance in the rear for the swaybar. Did a cheap lift on a buddy's XJ a few years back and the sway bar endlinks broke, chewed into the rear tires and blew both out at the same time. Pretty scary, but luckily, he was about a half block away from my house at the time. $400 XJ problems.

beans wrote: Why no spring isolators? Must be noisy. Make sure you have a LOT of clearance in the rear for the swaybar. Did a cheap lift on a buddy's XJ a few years back and the sway bar endlinks broke, chewed into the rear tires and blew both out at the same time. Pretty scary, but luckily, he was about a half block away from my house at the time. $400 XJ problems.

Are you talking about the "pucks" in between the leafs? They're there.

The endlinks all look good.

Oh wait.... like... the things that go under the front springs? Hrmm... guess i should get some of those. There weren't any when i pulled the old ones out. The bump stops had also completely disintegrated as well, so i need those, too.

Swank Force One wrote: Oh wait.... like... the things that go under the front springs? Hrmm... guess i should get some of those. There weren't any when i pulled the old ones out. The bump stops had also completely disintegrated as well, so i need those, too.

Those, they're pretty cheap. They're like the #1 go to for suspension noise on WJ's. I think they're about $20 or something from the dealer. Not sure. Check Rockauto. Do you have the uppers at all? If they weren't there since your ownership.... all the other suspension issues don't surprise me.

Let me see if my dad has the stock ones from his TJ laying around anywhere. I know he has a TON of stock TJ stuff sitting in his garage.

Very cool! I'm not a Jeep guy, but these are definitely my favorite. I'm assuming it's a 4.0 straight six? Man, I need to get me a garage and one of those scissor lifts...that thing looks sweet!

Well... looks like i have uppers.

I don't think these things have lowers...

sethmeister4 wrote: Very cool! I'm not a Jeep guy, but these are definitely my favorite. I'm assuming it's a 4.0 straight six? Man, I need to get me a garage and one of those scissor lifts...that thing looks sweet!

Yep it's a 4.0 i6, later "Power Tech" or whatever, which means that the head should have cracked in half 100k miles ago or something. Shows no signs of letting up, though, so i'm not going to worry about it.

After more research, apparently XJ's didn't have them. ZJ ones are pretty stiff and I believe have a metal sleeve, and are stackable. WJ's are 100% rubber. It's a good upgrade, will give you less noise and like an extra 1/4"-1/2" of lift. They're like $8 or something.

I don't really need any more lift right now... when i move to 31s, i may go ahead and get a poly isolator with a 1/2-3/4" lift or something to go with the shackles i want.

Whatever, BRAH.

I asked the question on a WJ forum a few years back if it was safe to remove the front isolator from under the spring for a little drop, I swear they wanted to ban me for heretic motions. It was like I was asking if it was OK to challenge Jesus to a wrestling match.

beans wrote: Whatever, BRAH. I asked the question on a WJ forum a few years back if it was safe to remove the front isolator from under the spring for a little drop, I swear they wanted to ban me for heretic motions. It was like I was asking if it was OK to challenge Jesus to a wrestling match.

LOL!

Yeah, i still have a slight popping in the front, but i think it's just things seating in, and i'm really not going to worry about it until everything is aligned. The ends of my swaybars are a little worn, so i'm wondering if they're just not working properly in the endlinks.

slightly OT: how do you like the scissors lift? I've been thinking about one for my shop. I typically do chassis/brake/interior/electrical, so I think it would be quite handy. my concern is for the occasional engine/trans/rear end jobs I have to do, and for LOW cars with header collectors that are even lower. id be afraid of crushing stuff or the lift being in the ay of doing other work. I only really have one work bay in my shop, so that bay has to do everything.

what do you like about yours? what don't you like? what do you wish you had purchased?

Michael

That's not my garage or lift, but i'll answer anyways.

1) I like that it makes brake jobs and normal suspension jobs pretty easy. Oil changes are cake, as well as general under-side inspections.

2) I don't like that it pretty much means you can't work on exhaust or driveshaft things, which makes any sort of serious work a pain in the ass. I also don't like that on shorter cars, if you don't park it just right, the tires get wedged on the ramps.

3) I'd rather a 4 post lift, but if space is preventing that, a more traditional scissors lift would get my vote. Or one of those sunken-into-the-floor deals.

One other really cool thing about this one, is that it makes a DANDY workbench/sitting around and BSing table.

Will follow this, lifting my XJ is still not out if the question, but its quite expensive when you get down to it.

Nice, lookin' good. You said you want to drive this in northern Canada/the arctic, you should consider beadlockers for running super-low pressures in the snow. For an overland build you want to be able to carry two spares ideally...if you can't fit two then carry tire mounting & repair gear instead.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: Will follow this, lifting my XJ is still not out if the question, but its quite expensive when you get down to it.

This was relatively inexpensive, especially when you look at the money i was going to have to spend for OEM stuff, anyways.

The lift itself can be found for a touch under $500, comes with AALs, though. New springs were $130 each, the rear bushing/u-bolt kit was around $60.

Can go with RS5000s for some cheaper shocks, i figured i just wanted the adjustability to keep some road comfort.

I'm in to everything i did in the last week including tires for about $2k.

GameboyRMH wrote: Nice, lookin' good. You said you want to drive this in northern Canada/the arctic, you should consider beadlockers for running super-low pressures in the snow. For an overland build you want to be able to carry two spares ideally...if you can't fit two then carry tire mounting & repair gear instead.

Well... we'll probably be going in "summer," but yes, there are many things for me to consider for the next wheel/tire/spare setup.

Hey before i forget.... what bump stops are recommended for the front? And are they installable without removing the front springs entirely again?

Every time I see one of these in good shape, I want one. The aftermarket is just great for them, but the price premium around here just aggravates me.

In reply to Swank Force One:

Speaking from experience, summer at the Artic Circle is freaking cake. The question is how far north of there you want to go. You'll still want an air compressor, tire plug kit, gas cans etc etc stuff to worry about later.