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.
Washed it today for the first time in I dont know how long. Ignore the glossy *** tire shine, my sidewalls were stained brown pretty much, couldnt stand it lol.
As a side note, I believe I may be in the market for another set of 4.5" coils. Ive been in denial about my passenger side RE coil sagging for nearly a month now. Ive had the XJ "gangsta lean" going on with no swaybars hooked up, which is no big deal for the most part.
Ive blamed it on my AAL but upon closer inspection I dont think thats the case. The leafs look fine, and the lean is much more noticeable from the front than the rear. Ive blamed it on off camber parking spots, but no matter how I park its always the pass side that is lower. Ive hooked up my swaybar with no change, and its enough that I can tell the difference when I drive it. I have a bit of an OCD thing about symmetry... its frustrating. I wouldnt even buy an entertainment center my wife likes because I couldnt center the satellite receiver in the middle of it, as it had a divider. So, needless to say, THIS BOTHERS ME lol.
My Rubicon Express coils are some of their later production handywork, and Ive heard RE had been outsourcing some of the production overseas, and quality control has suffered. Im not sure how true that is but this isnt the first case like mine Ive read about.
Ive got a couple options. The halfass patch way, where I throw one of my spare .75" isolators on that side. Should fix the lean but Ill know its there so it wont really help my symmetry OCD thing, plus its likely the coil will settle more and there Ill be again.
Option two is go with another pair of 4.5's. Ill take suggestions on coils. Even though I consider RC entry level at best, I have ran their 4.5" coils on a previous XJ with much better ride and over results, and they sat a bit higher as well. I may go this route again but Ill shop around first, Ive got more pressing issues than this right now, even tho it drives me crazy.
Yea, I felt like venting I suppose. Ive got the Jeep parked in the yard right now and its sitting perfect, still a little low on that side but otherwise pretty close.
I need to swap to a full length AAL soon that goes eye to eye on the main, so Ill wait til then before I get too hasty just to make sure. Once I got that ruled out, if it still leans much Im ordering new coils.
Yea, I felt like venting I suppose. Ive got the Jeep parked in the yard right now and its sitting perfect, still a little low on that side but otherwise pretty close.
I need to swap to a full length AAL soon that goes eye to eye on the main, so Ill wait til then before I get too hasty just to make sure. Once I got that ruled out, if it still leans much Im ordering new coils.
Spent most of the afternoon in the garage, in a state of denial that my battery could just up and take a dump out of nowhere.
Its junk, not quite 3 years old. Anybody got any suggestions for a budget-friendly battery thats pretty good? This kinda hit at a bad time financially. Just blew a couple hundred bucks on **** I didnt need for one of my other damn hobbies lol
Spent most of the afternoon in the garage, in a state of denial that my battery could just up and take a dump out of nowhere.
Its junk, not quite 3 years old. Anybody got any suggestions for a budget-friendly battery thats pretty good? This kinda hit at a bad time financially. My other hobbies arent much cheaper lol
I don't see any date stickers on my red top, but it's about 3 years old. I am planning for a yellow top when I do the wiper cowl intake. Then I 'll be prepped for the winch.
Most all mods are in my sig, but ill do a quick breakdown of the suspension. Running Rubicon Express 4.5" coils, fixed LCA's, trackbar redrilled to center axle, 11/10" travel f/r shocks, add a leaf and 1" boomerang shackle out back. Running 32x11.5 Hankook Dynapro MT's on Cragar D Windows (15x8) and Aussie locked front.
With the exception of not being able to do **** in 2wd, I havent even noticed the rear being open. The front Aussie just pulls over everything. Never would have thought itd work so well.
Wheeling in the muddy rocks we have here I noticed that the rear would just quit pushing even while the front was, this sent me off the trail and that sucked! For the front I want selectable because in the winter I have to use 4wd some times on ****ty roads
Yea, winters are rarely bad here, and I almost always use 2WD on snowy roads. I only use 4WD if I need to get going then I swap back to 2. Even with an open front I always felt 4WD pushed too much in snow to feel safe hanging curves. If I was any farther North than I am I woulda def went selectable.
Here it's not irregular to get 2 feet of snow in one storm so I'd rather play it safe because with that much snow 4wd is needed to go anywhere haha... :cheers2:
Yikes. An inch of snow has been enough for school to be closed here, if we get 6 inches it is total chaos to everyone. Milk and bread disappears from stores, its pretty pathetic lol. We did have that ice storm thing in '09 where my whole area was without power for 2 weeks plus, but shy of a freak deal like that its very mild here.
In battery news, it appears I might not have to shell out the cash just yet. Upon closer inspection my battery is an 800cca Everlast from Walmart, still has all the stickers on it left by the PO and it has a 3 year free replacement warranty. Sticker on the battery shows it as new in Jan of '12, so I called Walmart and they told me to bring it in.
That will buy me some time to save up for a nice high end battery down the road. In all honesty though this damn battery has always cranked so hard, even after leaving the radio and dome lights on for hours. I dont know what happened but it just decided to **** the bed one day out of nowhere.
It's been a while since I read your whole build thread, so pardon me if you've already taken care of this:
In replacing the battery, I would spend a little time upgrading the charging/starting system's wiring, and get yourself some good marine grade batter terminals.
It's a VERY worthwhile project, that will definitely net you a noticeable difference in many aspects.
It's really not all that hard to do, or all that expensive. And the time involved is only about a couple hours or so, (and that's taking your time.)
I did a very pic heavy write-up in my build thread when I did this myself. Check it out HERE
I think my favorite part of this was the marine grade battery terminals.
... they provide excellent (superior really) connectivity to the posts, and give you a good mounting point for accessory hook-ups.
They also are near impervious to corrosion or oxidation, which pays for itself in the long run. (that and they look cool too!)
Good news about the battery warranty. When you get a new one look into P3 Platinum on Amazon. Basically multi-port battery terminals for running cb's, winches, etc.
XJ's lookin good.
I keep sayin, though, box in those rear quarters and black it out to the first fold in north of the fuel lid.
Good news about the battery warranty. When you get a new one look into P3 Platinum on Amazon. Basically multi-port battery terminals for running cb's, winches, etc.
Those ARE pretty cool, more show than go though. "Battery Bling" for sure.
These are very similar to what I am running, don't be dissuaded by the wing nut, a pair of channel-locks tightens em down beyond the ability to budge loose.
I have been running these for a while now, and there is ZERO signs of any oxidation, pitting, or corrosion what so ever. You're way more likely to break off/strip or otherwise screw up a little allen set screw on one of those fancy terminal blocks, (no offence JeepN4KC) ....and what happens after you run out of "ports?"......with these, you have an entire post to fill up with ring terminals.
Even better than those would be the military grade terminals from PRIME 4x4
These things are literally BOMB PROOF:
Playing around with an idea to break up some of the red up front, in bright sunlight it is almost an overpowering display of shiny colormatched-ness. Ive always dug the "base" look of a black grille on lighter colors, so I posted to the PS request thread and FireMedic hooked me up.
Soooo opinions? Stay colormatched? Paint it black (will be a low gloss paint)? Buy another grille/bezels to paint black and swap back n forth like clothes? Throw back some Bacardi 151 and think on it?
Side note: Bacardi is happening.... naow. Carry on.
Playing around with an idea to break up some of the red up front, in bright sunlight it is almost an overpowering display of shiny colormatched-ness. Ive always dug the "base" look of a black grille on lighter colors, so I posted to the PS request thread and FireMedic hooked me up.
Soooo opinions? Stay colormatched? Paint it black (will be a low gloss paint)? Buy another grille/bezels to paint black and swap back n forth like clothes? Throw back some Bacardi 151 and think on it?
Side note: Bacardi is happening.... naow. Carry on.
jus use the black spray plasti-dip on that section of the grille, itll stay on good an let you see if youll like it, then if ya dont you can jus peel it off
Went ahead and did my grille. Turned out just how I wanted, might become addicted to this stuff for oddball things around the house, pretty neat product.
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