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VegasGT's "Clifford The Big Red Unibody"

274K views 3K replies 88 participants last post by  S8NNG8 
#1 ·
EDIT. Current Photos as of 10/31/14:




Not new to XJ's by any means, Ive had several and I had no intent on making a build thread for my latest. I have no extreme plans, as the Jeep is my primary DD. Things never go as planned though, and my original plans of Rubi wheels and no lift were quickly tossed out. However the new XJ is pretty clean (dent and mostly scratch/rust free), so the build will be based around the ideaology of a mild yet capable rig thats easy on the eyes without going all out on spending.

Jeep is a solid '99 XJ, 4.0/AW4 with hp30 and 8.25. Bought it off an old man that took good care of it and stayed up on maintenance for the most part. Has lots of new gaskets and everything is in nice shape in and out.

Heres a few pics to get started from the day I got it.





More to come!
 
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#5 ·
Luke95 said:
Needs updates.
Hahaha xD that's funny... I agree, this build thread is taking too long... Haha but seriously.. That's a good looking jeep to start with!
 
#7 ·
Haha thanks^

For the sake of keeping this moving, heres some more progress.

I went cheap on the lift as Im not 100% certain that I wont upgrade to 4.5" down the road. Used FatBobs garage 3" spacers (same as I used on my 01 with good results) and a long add a leaf. Until I track down fair priced JK Rubi shocks I just spaced up my lower front shock mounts for now.

Prior to tearing anything down I PB Blasted all the bolts for a few days. My last 99 XJ was options wise the same exact Jeep but a lot rougher, and I named it "Resistance" because it fought me the whole way through. Seemed like I broke every bolt I touched on that Jeep. Broke trackbar bolt, u-bolts, swaybar links, LCA bolts, nearly everything. With how clean this Jeep was I expected things to go much smoother.

Starting with the trackbar I noticed it was wore out badly so I pulled the frame side off first. Took a BFH but it came out without too much fuss. By taking frame side off first this guaranteed me that the axle side bolt would not be under any extra pressure. I put a lil pressure on it and broke the head off almost instantly. Piss. Cut the old bolt out and replaced it with 10mmx75mm 1.5p metric grade 12.9 bolt and grabbed a new tracbar. With exception to one swaybar endlink the front end went smooth otherwise.

The rear went downhill. The Hulk torqued down my u-bolts, so I had to slowly muscle those off, but otherwise all was ok until i got to the shocks. Rear upper shock mount breakage has been well documented, and lets just say ive been there a time or seven. I left those alone since I did not have any replacement shocks at the time. I went to unbolt the nut on the lower mount and snapped all the threads off. Uhhh ohhh. Other side? SNAP.

Checked the forums to see others with the problem cut and drilled it all out but thats a big job. The load bearing shank was still instact, only the threads were absent. Ill get pics of my fix later on but I just grinded the remaining threads away, welded threads from a grade 8 bolt back on and put it back together. Holding up great. To sum it all up, the rear end had the sparks a-flyin'.


Finished height on training wheels. :D
 
#8 ·
The height was right now, but it definately needs more appropriate shoes. In the meantime however I had some other things to address. Bumper caps and trim were faded so I put them in my little "has no use at all" pile with a couple rear swaybars. :D

Painted the bumper caps with Duplicolor Trim Paint. Nice finish for the job. At the time of photo I had yet to gain the motivation to remove the door trim tape.

And fixed here:


After that I placed another order to jegs. Overused rims but they just work and I dig the look/backspacing (4").
 
#10 ·
Haha one of these days Im going to have a trail only rig and Im gna beat the everliving **** out of it just for you lol. :D

This one will likely see some damage in time. My lil girl is big enough to go along on rides now so I can get around to wheeling more often. Im going to try and snag some ungodly wide sliders to do the tree pivoting for me. From past experience after the first dent you just dont care anymore haha.
 
#12 ·
^ Thanks man! Better things to come!

Forgot to mention but somewhere along the line I added Autopal H4 lights and clear marker lights. I am going to wait til it warms up some for a harness upgrade. The housings alone increased usable light enough to keep me happy for now.

 
#13 ·
Also, ive got 3 Firestone Destination MT's of the 31" variety Im going to pull out of retirement to mount on the Cragars. Ill just order a 4th one to fill the set out. The others are 50-60% tread, they wear really well so Ill likely buy one or two at a time til I end up with an all new set. Keep from having a big hit at once and Ill have several good spares that way.

This is what they look like for those not familiar.
 
#16 ·
Haha just gotta find the perfect one. So far this is the cleanest and most mechanically sound Ive had so I plan on it to hang around as a long term DD so I can move on to other projects (namely building another Pony car). The Jeep will be getting things a little at a time as money comes available. All thats still sometime away though so its all Jeep for now.

Got dark on me so no good pics, but heres a quick phone pic:


Better pics later and hopefully a little wheeling soon.
 
#17 ·
Some offroading lighting will be next. I cant decide if I wanna run 2 on the bumper like usual, or maybe try to stuff 3 on there. Just not sure if that would look right. Also toying with the idea of picking up Detours a-pillar mounts or even doing hood mounting again like my 01. Decisions!!
 
#18 ·
Had some time before work today to come up with some longer rear shocks locally. I have a hookup at the local Advance Auto so I can get some discounts, so I walked in back and after a while on the computer and doing some measurements I scored two new Monroe shocks for less than 40 bucks out the door.

They are listed as for a '96 (and other years Im sure) Ford Explorer rear. They are already setup like XJ rears (bushing on bottom/barpin on top) but they do require some modding. The bushing has a small metal sleeve and the barpin needa the end opened up. The barpins take about 30 seconds with a cutoff wheel to mod, but Im sure if you tried to push the sleeve out of the bushing youd have a bad day lol. I drilled em out real fast and re-used the bushing from my existing shocks. Mine actually had replacement Monroes already but the principle should be the same.

After those couple tweaks its a bolt-in ordeal. The new shocks measure at a generous 25" eye to eye fully extended, so should be plenty for lots of lift applications in 3-4.5 range.

Explorer top, XJ bottom. Full extension.


Modded barpin on the left next to out of the box shock.


Installed


And for anyone who has ever broke the threads off the lower rear shock mount and doesnt want to go through the drilling and cutting, heres my fix. Grinded the old threads down to the end of the shank, took a grade 8 bolt with a nut threaded on it and welded it to the center of the flat shank. Then I cut the head of the bolt off leaving plenty of thread, then backed the nut off to ensure clean threads. Holding up great, end result: (excuse the crappy pic)
 
#20 ·
Fantastic! Explorers are similar in size and weight so it really feels spot on and I have a ton more droop now. Itd be a great option for someone wanting cheap shocks, mine were 40 brand new, but Explorers are plentiful in JY's so these could be had for next to nothing.

Pretty day but since I gotta work and cant wheel here is a clean pic.

 
#22 ·
Id like to! If not this weekend then next. I still have some stuff I need to get done but its ready enough to go as is. Need to get somewhere to get some hockey pucks for my front bumpstops and pick up a couple cheap harbor freight lights.

Im hoping it dries up a little, I hate mud!
 
#25 ·
Set a date to do a little night wheeling on some private trails Friday with a buddy of mine and his XJ. Ill try and snap some pics, im going to go into it with a "tear somethin up" attitude, which is semi-likely. We believe in lots of skinny pedal around here haha.

Before Friday I need to address a leak in my tranny line where it connects to the radiator. Nothing major right now but I dont want to give it a chance to get that way. Also I need to pick up some hockey pucks by then if Id like to disco my sways.
 
#28 ·
Fixed leaky tranny line and installed a new cheapi steering stabilizer just for the hell of it. No problems but the stabilizer was original and changing it wouldnt hurt. Slapped on a Jegs sticker for 50hp gain.
 
#31 ·
Haha not much to tell. I was wheeling around down at an old spot and hit a hole we used to always do only to discover that someone has been wearing it out, made it almost out and almost got stuck but was able to rock out of it. My buddy wasnt so lucky. Had a friend with a fullsize pull him out, as I didnt really have any recovery stuff with me.

So thats my next direction in the build (should have been the first), to get some decent recovery points going. Ill cover that as I make progress.

In other news, picked up some tools, a couple 6" lights, and some other whatnots at Harbor Freight today. Will try and mount the lights up soon. Til next time, heres a pic of it parked up in a yard during our little ice storm. It was the only place to park where I couldnt slide the Jeep sideways from blowing in its general direction haha.
 
#32 ·
Not much of an update, but I got my lights mounted/wired up. I copied what I did on my old XJ by mounting them back on the hood. Really worked out well to illuminate on past what the headlights dont cover. They are a pretty tight beam so glare isnt an issue, and I still have full range of hood travel.

Definately not for everyone, but I really enjoy the setup and it performs well for my needs. Pitcherzzzz!
 
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