[99Greenmachine]

Originally Posted by IzaJeepThang

Glad to see you didn't sell it man. When I bought my Subaru, I traded in my 96 XJ 2 dr, it was lifted and such, 5 spd, I loved it. Spent a month rebuilding the drivetrain after the T-Case split in 10 pieces, only to trade it into the dealership for a measly $750. Hindsight is always 20/20, but it was the biggest mistake I could have made.

Yea, the way I looked at it was that it was paid for, 4.0L was barely broken in @ 115k miles, it looks awesome, people know me by it haha, I have massive amounts of technical knowledge about XJs, and I have way too much fun with it. It may not be a gas sipper, but I love it

Originally Posted by Project1

Man ... your jeep is lookin NICE!!!

Thanks man, it'll look a lot better once I finally get a decent lift on it.

[Project1]

Originally Posted by 99Greenmachine

Thanks man, it'll look a lot better once I finally get a decent lift on it.

I have faith!!

You don't even have far to go

[jeepbro's]

Hey i just saw a pic of your jeep in another thread and had to check it out because it looks familiar and i found this thread. Do you go to NCSU?? i swear i've seen this jeep in a parking lot across hillsborough from campus and in one of the parking lots on frat court.

[99Greenmachine]

Originally Posted by jeepbro's

Hey i just saw a pic of your jeep in another thread and had to check it out because it looks familiar and i found this thread. Do you go to NCSU?? i swear i've seen this jeep in a parking lot across hillsborough from campus and in one of the parking lots on frat court.

Haha what are the odds. I do indeed go to NCSU and I live in North Hall right across from Tompkins. I'm greek so you've probably seen me out there too.

You go to State?

[Spencer43783]

Glad you didn't sell your XJ man! If you did, you would have regretted it forever! I hear people all the time say "I used to have a _____, geesh I wish I wouldn't have sold it!" I'm glad you didn't buy that VW either...those cars are such a PITA to work on, and like everyone mentioned, expensive!

Did you ever get your squeal fixed? If it's mostly doing it when you start it up I'd say it's the idler pulley(if they have one, sorry I don't have an XJ YET). If it does it's an easy/cheap fix. The easiest way to figure out where it's coming from is grab a piece of rubber hose and start her up then put one end up to your ear and move the other end around till you figure out which pulley is squealing.

The next thing I'd tackle would be the head gasket and manifold. I'd save up and do them both at the same time, I imagine that'd be the easiest way to go about it! :-)
Just pick up a head gasket set and have a friend weld the manifold for you, or take it to a shop. It shouldn't be more than $100 for both.

Then I'd fix the water leak! Is it the window seal or leaking around the drip rail? I was a little confused by that one.

But anyway, love your XJ man! It looks great!

[99Greenmachine]

Thanks for the response man I'm glad I didn't sell it either.

Originally Posted by Spencer43783

Glad you didn't sell your XJ man! If you did, you would have regretted it forever! I hear people all the time say "I used to have a _____, geesh I wish I wouldn't have sold it!" I'm glad you didn't buy that VW either...those cars are such a PITA to work on, and like everyone mentioned, expensive!

Did you ever get your squeal fixed? If it's mostly doing it when you start it up I'd say it's the idler pulley(if they have one, sorry I don't have an XJ YET). If it does it's an easy/cheap fix. The easiest way to figure out where it's coming from is grab a piece of rubber hose and start her up then put one end up to your ear and move the other end around till you figure out which pulley is squealing.

IDK what it was, I think it was moisture related cause it hasn't come back to haunt me in a while. It may be the pulley but I think it was just a fluke thing kinda like my blue smoke on startup I had about a year ago

The next thing I'd tackle would be the head gasket and manifold. I'd save up and do them both at the same time, I imagine that'd be the easiest way to go about it! :-)
Just pick up a head gasket set and have a friend weld the manifold for you, or take it to a shop. It shouldn't be more than $100 for both.

Manifold head gasket is coming this summer once college is over with and I have some a) time b) money! I was going to do it over spring break but my dad pu$$ied out and wouldn't let me do it

Then I'd fix the water leak! Is it the window seal or leaking around the drip rail? I was a little confused by that one.

The leak hasn't been back in a while or at least I haven't noticed it really. I think it is the seal around the door/window that was leaking but I would need to test it. We'll see if it comes around again this summer when it starts thunderstorming haha

But anyway, love your XJ man! It looks great!

Right now I'm just fed up with the XJ's suspension. I don't know how to put it other than it flat out SUCKS!

The pro-crap suspension kit is really living up to its name now. I've had it for almost three years and let me tell you, the thing needs some revamping ASAP. The shocks are the worst. I feel every depression in the road regardless of the tire pressure. The rear springs are gone and my front end is vibing so bad at freeway speeds it is getting obnoxious now. I was looking into getting the RC 4.5 LA kit but it seems they are having production issues right now. I don't know what I'm going to do. May end up going another route who knows. All I know is that I need to fix this now while I've got the chance.

[Spencer43783]

Hmm that is odd about the squealing. They'll squeal if they get wet sometimes but usually it doesn't last for more than a minute. The idler pulley went out on my friends mustang and it started as a light chirp when he started it up and just kept getting worse as the weeks went on. Just out of curiousity have you check the condition of your belt lately?

Please tell me you're gonna have your bachelors degree before you're done with college!? I have an assosciates in business and can't find a related job. But engineering is a good field to be in right now!

I'm pretty sure that most people get away with doing a TC drop on a 3" lift but with 4.5" you wanna do an SYE. Maybe if you're on a budget you can do the 3" now, then upgrade to the 4.5" down the road. And on an engineers salary..that shouldn't be too hard! Haha. I know how it feels to be on a budget! Just got out of college and now I have a lot of bills and a low paying job! But the LA, SYE, and CV driveshaft will be around $2,000...but then again it includes a lot of stuff that you'd need to order seperate if you went with the 3.5"...
I wonder if I should do that instead of 3.5"? Hmmm........

Darn you Greenmachine! Lol

[99Greenmachine]

Let me respond to the last post

Originally Posted by Spencer43783

Hmm that is odd about the squealing. They'll squeal if they get wet sometimes but usually it doesn't last for more than a minute. The idler pulley went out on my friends mustang and it started as a light chirp when he started it up and just kept getting worse as the weeks went on. Just out of curiousity have you check the condition of your belt lately?

Belt is ok...enough tension, no significant cracking or anything. My jeep is subject to a lot of fluke-behaviors

Please tell me you're gonna have your bachelors degree before you're done with college!? I have an assosciates in business and can't find a related job. But engineering is a good field to be in right now!

I think you misunderstood me...I am just coming home for summer break, not dropping out or anything. I still have 4 semesters of Chemical Engineering to go

I'm pretty sure that most people get away with doing a TC drop on a 3" lift but with 4.5" you wanna do an SYE. Maybe if you're on a budget you can do the 3" now, then upgrade to the 4.5" down the road. And on an engineers salary..that shouldn't be too hard! Haha. I know how it feels to be on a budget! Just got out of college and now I have a lot of bills and a low paying job! But the LA, SYE, and CV driveshaft will be around $2,000...but then again it includes a lot of stuff that you'd need to order seperate if you went with the 3.5"...
I wonder if I should do that instead of 3.5"? Hmmm........

I really don't know WTF this about haha. I will try to quell the the confusion: I will be doing the RC 4.5LA kit this summer. I talked to my dad about it and we're prob going to do it with my dad paying for it.

Darn you Greenmachine! Lol

[99Greenmachine]

So I thought I would elaborate on my plans at the moment. Let me bring you up to speed on Greenmachine:

-Suspension is shot....'bout ready to fall apart if you ask me. Driving is becoming a real PITA.
-Shocks are TOAST...every micrometer of indention in the surface is felt with this thing...procomp ES3000 shocks are pretty crappy come to find out. Especially 4 year old ones that have had the pi$$ wheeled out of em.
-D30 needs an overhaul. Something is clunking BAD down there. My guess is Hubs, ball joints, or a combo.
-Exhaust manifold needs replacing. Still not throwing a CEL, but you can smell that raw exhaust when you stand next to it on startup.

Other than those major buggers, the XJ is going strong. Will be coming up on 116k miles soon!

SO HERE'S THE PLAN:

Assuming I get a decent job (FT vs. PT) we will be doing the following:

-6.5"RC lift (-TB)
-IRO SYE
-IRO Double Shear TB
-Swap in D44 (newly regeared to 4.56 and disc brakes)
-Regear front
-trim

Dad told me that he'd pay for the lift cause I'm going to need to do something soon anyway. Told me that I hadn't done anything to it in a while ( no crap...where you been last 3 years???). I figure I can take care of the rest. The disc brakes will be free...gears for D44 are paid for, all I'd need is front D30 4.56 gears and install kit and get the IRO SYE. I'm going to have ECGS do the regear...shouldn't be too bad labor-wise and I'm bringing them the axles themselves separately to hopefully save even more $$$. I need to go talk to them though. Depending on labor charges, I may have them do the lift install too (and SYE) if the price is right.

With what I got, prob end up being around $2000 for the kit, regear and SYE. Not too bad if you ask me.

Here's the thing though:

If I don't get a decent job, I've gotta settle for the 4.5" kit and 31s for a while longer.

Do yall think I should try to go for the 6.5"? I'm liking the way it looks WAY better than the 4.5" one.

Thoughts?

[Project1]

Originally Posted by 99Greenmachine

Thoughts?

Man Your jeep is one of my favorites !!! its just going to be SICK!!!

[99Greenmachine]

Originally Posted by Project1

Man Your jeep is one of my favorites !!! its just going to be SICK!!!

Thanks man its going to be A LOT sicker once that 6.5" kit gets on there

[biggn235]

Looks good Aaron

[99Greenmachine]

Originally Posted by biggn235

Looks good Aaron

Thanks man. I need to come up to ASU and go wheeling sometime.

[biggn235]

Originally Posted by 99Greenmachine

Thanks man. I need to come up to ASU and go wheeling sometime.

Yeah you do. Miles of trails and plenty of bogs.

[99Greenmachine]

Summer Update 1:

SOOOO, thought I'd give you guys an update now that finals are over and I'm enjoying summer. I got a decent full time job, but the only problem is I am CONSUMED with it. I get home at 6pm and have to be in bed by 10 so I have like 4 hours of free time a night.

Enough of my b***ing, now to tech...

I was looking to lift the XJ over the summer, but I am having second thoughts. I am commuting 100 miles a day roundtrip to work and I am thinking that if I lift more, it's just going to be less DD friendly. I have been keeping up with gas mileage and I am getting around 19-19.5 each tank. I feel that 19 mpg is pretty decent considering I have a vehicle that can literally climb over stuff . I wanna keep it that way as long as I can so lifting is out of the picture.

I am thinking about doing some improvements that are geared more towards safety/comfort than performance. I had a thread a couple days ago that hinted at my interest in doing the WJ Knuckle/brake swap. I am really interested in this and will probably end up doing it. So here are my priorities as of 5/20/2010:

-AC has to be fixed
-D44 needs to be taken care of
-Exhaust manifold needs to be fixed
-IRO SYE
-WJ knuckle swap needs to happen
-Swap in new 3" springs with D44


That's really the scope of things right now but i thought I would share a little. I don't get paid till June 11th, but when I do I will be getting a big paycheck so hopefully we can get some of this stuff rolling.

My plan is to pick up a WJ '99-'00 front axle complete from brake to brake and try to sell off what I don't need from it (shafts, gears, housing, etc) if I can to make a little back on it. I'm going to by new calipers ('03 model) and pads and rotors and depending on the condition, possibly new BJs. In addition, I think I am going to look into an alternate steering set-up. However, the more I think about it, the more I really probably don't need a new setup if I'm staying at 3".

I know there has been a lot of talk and no visible signs of progress thus far in this build, but now that I will have some $$$ i wan to get this underway.

Comments are more than welcome. Maybe some of you might feel that I should lift instead of doing the other improvements...