April 2008 Cherokee of the Month: Ktmracer419

[EricsXJ]

Congrats to Ktmracer419 for winning the Cherokee of the Month for April! You pulled off the win by only one vote!

Ktmracer419
Base: 91 xj laredo
4.0L
aw4
np231


Front axle:
dana44
5:38 yukon gears
detroit locked
30 spline moser alloys
warn premium locking hubs
spicer 5-760x u-joints
rockcrusher diff cover

Rear axle:
dana60
5:38 yukon gears
strange engineering spool
35 spline moser alloys.

Suspension:
custom radius arm/longarm
about 4" of lift
tnt customs trackbar with bracket.
rustys coils
re 4.5" rear leaves (actual 2.5")
1.5" rock road outfitters shackles
dpg adjustable rear bumpstops
hockey puck front bumpstops
edelbrock ias shocks in front
old man emu shocks in back

Tires/wheels:
37" x 12.5" maxxis creepy crawlers on 15x8" white steelies with 4.0" backspacing.

Misc:
dpg belly skid
factory jensen "Accusound" 2 out of 6 speaker system with a $5 yard sale cd player.
recovery junk.
doorless, hatchless,headerpaneless, fenderless mod
factory gas tank skid
sye with front shaft

Exactly one year ago I entered it in COM and emerged victoriously, the jeep retired from street use in January and is about to undergo surgery (dismantling). It has served me well for the past year, and has taught me a few things (BEEF UP YOUR UNIBODY!!!). Ktmracer V2 is in the works right now and I hope to have it trail ready soon.





Click here to see previous Cherokee of the Month winners

[ktmracer419]

wooooooooow.... my very own thread.

With that, I present to you, the birth and death of a cherokee.

November 2005:

Purchased 91 cherokee with 121k miles on it for the price of $250, previous owner thought the jeep had an engine knock (which I later found out to be a cracked flywheel)

December 2005:

Installed 3" lift kit with comanche leaves in back and a 1.5" shackle, 3" rustys coil springs in front with cheapo control arms, homemade swaybar disco's and bds shocks. Put some 31" bfg all terrains on some cheap wheels and rocked it.



February 2006:

But I craved more... cleaned it up a bit, added some 32" kumho mud terrains on some generic black steelies and continued with this setup for quite some time.

Paragon, Beachinxj to the left, me in center, 94 xj 4.5" and 33's on right




Yes, i too was once a mudder


November 2006: since February i added a dana44 rear, edelbrock ias shocks, some skid plates, added another inch of lift, a tnt customs trackbar, tossed some 35" pro-craps on and wheeled once. That one wheeling trip I broke both my upper control arms, tore the passenger side upper control arm bracket off, and both axle seals began leaking and the jeep never drove straight again. I knew more was in order.

(THOSE TIRES SUCK)

February 2007: I finished my first major build up, jeep j-10 dana44's, detroit locker in front, ox locker in back, alloys, 33 spline in the back, the works. Also Built some longarms. 37" boggers.



the first day out flocksin




I ran the boggers for quite some time on trails all over the northeast.





to be continued......

[ktmracer419]

August 2007: i got into an accident, totaled a buick, jeep suffered no damage, but somehow one of my tires developed a bad wobble 63 ounces of weight was needed to balance it, and thats.... welll... impossible. so out came the wallet and i Purchased some 37" maxxis creepy crawlers (amazing tires)



I entered it in the first rcrocs and practice day was to be held on november 22nd. I went and proceeded to strip my ring gear in the dana44. I couldn't afford to have it towed home so it sat at a friend of mines house that was closer to Rausch Creek for the next couple weeks. (heavymetal thank you for the driveway space)



Missing the competition due to this was not an option, I proceeded to build up a dana60 over the next couple weeks, was short on cash, so i went with a spool, taught myself how to regear an axle and slapped some brakes on it. thursday night before the comp I drove down to get the axle installed, ran into a couple problems (wrong bearings, u bolts broke) so the next morning we went to napa and had everything in stock and resolved by noon and quickly proceeded on our trip.



here is the final obstacle i attempted.



and on the drive home this happened:



kept us in pa for another 24 hours, fixing it with primitive tools in a comfort inn parking lot.

was retired from street use shortly after due to too much needing to be fixed and it just wasn't worth trying to get the body back to halfway decent fairly straight condition.


and just a couple crazy pics










and of course.... the tree pic

[XJLI]

wintastic realness.

[xGArfx]

amazing looking rig congrats

[jetwrench]

that is a cool tree pic.....

[burton58]

kick *** dude. i love the life story of the xj. congrats!

[TheRo0sTer]

Wow I love the Tree pic! CONGRATULATIONS

[cox_xj]

congrats, that tree pic is sick

[Mitchell1789]

KTM, I think we need to see a tree video... that would be awesome.

[cox_xj]

after staring at the tree pic....i think im cutting the ends of my bumper off so i can get the approach angle needed to do that lol

[Krazors001]

The life story of one real XJ!

[ricot83]

Originally Posted by XJLI

wintastic realness.

I see your wintastic realness and I raise you

EPIC REALNESS

[ricot83]

Originally Posted by cox_xj

after staring at the tree pic....i think im cutting the ends of my bumper off so i can get the approach angle needed to do that lol

And you're gonna need to do a lot more than just trim your bumper to climb a tree like that

[TheEddie]

You paid $250 for it... and now I realize why you insist on tearing that thing apart. What do you have in store for v2?