I picked up this XJ to replace my current project scrambler. Thanks to my dad, my son has been wanting to go muddin after watching videos on youtube with him. I know, I know..mud sucks...but what makes my wheelin partner happy makes me happy, so I'm going to build a new crawler that will be able to get dirty. Orginally I was going to just buy a full top and keep the scrambler, but a new top for it was a little over a grand. Started looking on craigslist and found this Cherokee that runs, drives and even the A/C works and picked it up for $675.
Specs:
1993 4 door Cherokee Country, 4.0L , AW4 auto tranny, 309,790 miles.
The inside is dirty and stained,smells like a cigarette, headliner missing and a dent in the driver door, but it has speakers everywhere! :laugh:
They lost the key, so they pulled the lock cylinder and now uses a "master key" aka needle nose pliers.
First mods were taking off the ugly honeycomb style wheels and putting on the factory tire/wheels from my LJ. Definately improved the looks. Then washed it, cleaned it out and a buddy who works for Stanley Steamer deodorized it for me.
The motor runs good and tranny shifts good so I think I'll leave em
Dana 300
Front Chevy Dana 60 with 5.13s (from the scrambler)
Rear 14 bolt with 5.13s and a Detroit Locker (from the scrambler)
40" Iroks and H1 wheels (from the scrambler)
3 Link the front, maybe airshocks
Think I'll keep the leaves in the rear for now and 4 link it later
Cut the fenders to keep it low
Maybe a slight front and rear stretch
Frame Stiffeners
Bedline the interior
Roll Cage
Body Armor
Build Bumpers
Have to strip the parts from the scrambler and sell the rest of it before to much can happen. Gotta have the cash for parts.
Thanks guys, hopefully I can get the axles pulled from the scrambler pretty soon and get things going. The 14b had already been regeared and the detroit added when I bought it. I think the lowest setup that came factory is in the the miltary cucv with 4.56 and a detroit.
I thought long and hard about replacing the scrambler. I had alot of work into it but hopefully I made the right decision. The main deciding factor was a full top was $1,000 and a hot rod a/c setup was about $1,000. So $2000 vs $675 with about the same amount of work in both of them to get them how I want them.
Im following this build closely. Im looking to go 9" rear 44 front in the future and would like to get 37"s under her. Im sure your advice and build thread will be a huge help.
Did that swap you mention back in 1992 to my 85 Cherokee Chief XJ 9" centers 44 w Detroits 35 BFG Baja's Dana 20 t-case Boss 302 (289 w 351 heads) & a C4 auto. I recently swapped the axles to a 95 I had flipped a Dana300 w 231 rock box. I'm now running 36 15.50 15 MTZ's. I'll try and post some pics. I swapped everything to make it smog legal. I plan on going back and building the 85 w 60's and 38 to 40's for trail only.
Well very interesting, and will follow along with you. Have you considered going thru the drivetrain at all with putting those rubbers and 1 tons on it? It would seem that the engine and trans will be stress tested more quickly with the 300k miles already on it.
Not necessarily true. You have extreme amount of negative resistance with the added diameter and wt with the tires and rims, and also the nearly double the wt with the 1 tons, and that is what I am referring to. Gears are only allowing less rpm effort with the higher gear ratio and less strain on the trans from having to shift up and down constantly, along with fuel economy.
But, as they say, if it ain't broken, no need fixin. So we will see, and indeed it will be a tuff SOB to break in the mud, axle wise that is.
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