Project Mammoth

So after selling off my old XJ, my first car and first jeep I ever had. Was my dream car I had built for over 5 years. 98 xj with 5.5" lift, Hp44 front, 44 rear, ARB's, 4.56's, 35's maxxis treps, caged and armored to hell. Went everywhere I wanted it and still DD'ed it.

The day I picked her up



What she had become



What she did to me after I hydrolocker her 2 months before





This all happened on halloween. She sat like this Till the 1st of December



One of my regular guests that comes into my bar got to talked and wanted to come look at it. Asked if I would sell it whole, as I was thinking of parting her out. I said sure for the right price. Well after some bull****ting we settled on 6 grand for her. Then next night she was off to her new home



He has since put a brand new motor in her and is running great. So I was back to start a new project. Wanted a TJ but just couldent leave the XJ world. After a few weeks I found this little guy. $3300 later its a 2000 with 73k on her





Build plans -

Frame plate front to back
T&T long arms
HP 44 front
9" rear
ARB's
5.13
5.5" RE coils
3" OME leafs
1" UBE
1" shackle
relocation box
231 & SYE
rock hard cage
stretched to 107
37's

Parts have been stored and wating on a few last things







Donner axle

Front HP 44




Tore down









Rear 9"





Test fit 37's? Alot of cutting to do!



Planning out truss work



Lots o parts!



Jeep smelled a little after driving her around lot. So I started tearing out inside to see what was up. Found out mice had been living in it! So I had to do some major detailing. Tore out everything inside, clean it all and painted the floor. Smells so much better, and looks amazing inside now





New drums



As of right now, The 9" is at rock rash engineering getting geared and locked up, the front 44 is at crawlertech getting set up with all its brackets and mini truss. Once he's done Ill finish off the truss work and send it off to rock rash engineering as well to be set up. Need to order the long arms, and rear set up.

Thats all for now guys, hope you will stay tuned in with me.

Subscribed!!

Hmmm, wouldn't you have been time and money ahead to just find a lower mile engine and do a bolt in swap? Just curious........

XJEEPER said:

Hmmm, wouldn't you have been time and money ahead to just find a lower mile engine and do a bolt in swap? Just curious........

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x2


Either way, your old jeep was sick, makes me really want treps for my next tires:gee:

I would not bother with the OME rear leaves. Mine sucked. Even with the extra top leaf in, I did not get 3" of lift with them and had to add some to make a bastard pack. The frame side eyes got stretched after while too, so they wouldn't hold the bushing anymore.

Looking forward to watching the build!

with your old setup did you narrow the hp44?

XJEEPER said:

Hmmm, wouldn't you have been time and money ahead to just find a lower mile engine and do a bolt in swap? Just curious........

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I had other problems I dident want to deal with to. Like unibody problems. It had been wheeled hard before I even got it and unibody had taken a toll. I had plated it and did as much as I could but alot couldent be fixed. So it was time to start over. Nothing wrong with starting fresh. Its alot of fun to do.

twodoorXJ said:

x2


Either way, your old jeep was sick, makes me really want treps for my next tires:gee:

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I loved my treps!!!! best tire I had ever owned. Out did my brother 35MTR's on his wrangler. Will buy another set after thesse MTR's wear down

jdbwrx said:

I would not bother with the OME rear leaves. Mine sucked. Even with the extra top leaf in, I did not get 3" of lift with them and had to add some to make a bastard pack. The frame side eyes got stretched after while too, so they wouldn't hold the bushing anymore.

Looking forward to watching the build!

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Really jason? mhm interesting. Im glad to head that. My other idea was to snag leafs off a S10 or ZR2 blazer which will stretch is 1.5" and use those..... Im not sure though.

Outlander560 said:

with your old setup did you narrow the hp44?

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Yep it was narrowed. To roughly 62.5" wms to wms. D30 with spacers width

jeepfreak1020 said:

Really jason? mhm interesting. Im glad to head that. My other idea was to snag leafs off a S10 or ZR2 blazer which will stretch is 1.5" and use those..... Im not sure though.

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might want to rethink that.

a buddy of mine has a ZR2 blazer that he SASed. he was complaining about axle wrap. first think i noticed after looking at his springs (other than the obvious "S" shape) was the fact that stock they only came with 3 leafs. i know those things weigh a lot more than our cherokees, but your going to be running bigger tires than his, and im sure as deep if not deeper gears. your looking at a traction bar to make those leafs last. which, some will argue doesnt take much more work to just build a 4 link if your going to go through the trouble of making a well engineered traction bar. regardless, i dont see stockers from such a vehicle as a long term option. especially at the price that a local spring shop custom built him a set of leafs.

just some food for thought.... i wouldnt trade my RE springs for stock ZR2 stuff just to gain a bit of stretch. no matter how many beers you feed me.

jdbwrx said:

I would not bother with the OME rear leaves. Mine sucked. Even with the extra top leaf in, I did not get 3" of lift with them and had to add some to make a bastard pack. The frame side eyes got stretched after while too, so they wouldn't hold the bushing anymore.

Looking forward to watching the build!

Click to expand...

mhm interesting. Havent heard that before. Thats a big deal to know then

VAhasnoWAVES said:

might want to rethink that.

a buddy of mine has a ZR2 blazer that he SASed. he was complaining about axle wrap. first think i noticed after looking at his springs (other than the obvious "S" shape) was the fact that stock they only came with 3 leafs. i know those things weigh a lot more than our cherokees, but your going to be running bigger tires than his, and im sure as deep if not deeper gears. your looking at a traction bar to make those leafs last. which, some will argue doesnt take much more work to just build a 4 link if your going to go through the trouble of making a well engineered traction bar. regardless, i dont see stockers from such a vehicle as a long term option. especially at the price that a local spring shop custom built him a set of leafs.

just some food for thought.... i wouldnt trade my RE springs for stock ZR2 stuff just to gain a bit of stretch. no matter how many beers you feed me.

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Ya thats the big problem, those leafs and explore leafs only have 3 or 4 to. Whish kinda sucks. I really wana get that stretch, but not if the leafs are going to suck. Thats a waste of time. Might have to re think the rear end then.....

Anyways.........
Look whats sitting in my garage after yesterday









3rd member is getting geared and locked will be done soon. Need to get the truss finished on this and then send it off to Toby to get geared and locked. Also found out tax money will be in my account this week, so T&T long arms will be on there way as well!!!

jeepfreak1020 said:

Ya thats the big problem, those leafs and explore leafs only have 3 or 4 to. Whish kinda sucks. I really wana get that stretch, but not if the leafs are going to suck. Thats a waste of time. Might have to re think the rear end then....

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if you can source a set at a cost reasonable to you, it may be worth it for mock up, and to build your mounts to accommodate the stretch. but like i said, i dont see a set of leafs as old as the jeep being a good long term solution for a wheeler this serious.

the local spring shop made a set of springs for my buddys blazer, military wrapped them and all, for under $400. they were even able to custom build them to the spring rate he asked. they guaranteed their work, and after seeing them in action, ive since sent multiple other people to them for custom springs. call around, it never hurts to inquire. i dont know your area, so they might give you an outrageous quote, or you may end up with a deal.









is it just me, or do the front of those coil mounts stick out really far? though i dont think itll be an issue if you add another high steer arm to the passenger side and run the tie rod up high. going heims or TREs?

also, shes painted all nice and NOW your going to truss it? :gee:

do you plan to add gussets to the Cs too?



(i dont mean to be a stickler or harsh critic, honestly. you obviously intend to build it "right" from the start, and have more quality parts than i could dream of throwing at my XJ. that axle is dang purdy. :sad1: id just hate for you to decide there is still more to do once its all installed.)

VAhasnoWAVES said:

if you can source a set at a cost reasonable to you, it may be worth it for mock up, and to build your mounts to accommodate the stretch. but like i said, i dont see a set of leafs as old as the jeep being a good long term solution for a wheeler this serious.

the local spring shop made a set of springs for my buddys blazer, military wrapped them and all, for under $400. they were even able to custom build them to the spring rate he asked. they guaranteed their work, and after seeing them in action, ive since sent multiple other people to them for custom springs. call around, it never hurts to inquire. i dont know your area, so they might give you an outrageous quote, or you may end up with a deal.


is it just me, or do the front of those coil mounts stick out really far? though i dont think itll be an issue if you add another high steer arm to the passenger side and run the tie rod up high. going heims or TREs?

also, shes painted all nice and NOW your going to truss it? :gee:

do you plan to add gussets to the Cs too?



(i dont mean to be a stickler or harsh critic, honestly. you obviously intend to build it "right" from the start, and have more quality parts than i could dream of throwing at my XJ. that axle is dang purdy. :sad1: id just hate for you to decide there is still more to do once its all installed.)

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Ill give some shops around here a call, or maybe Ill just get some RE leafs for now since I get them at a pretty good price thanks to a buddy. Ill check into that more.

They stick out as much as the stock coil monts on a 30. I have a buddy who built a 44 for his LJ with the same brackets and does not have a single problem with hitting. Im not adding another high steer arm to the driver side, Im not going to have enough room to mount the tie rod up that high since im not going more then 5.5" So it will just stay OTK. Ill be running all heims on the steering. Joints for the trac bar. Im trussing it now, because a local shop set all the brackets up and welded them on. I was planning on trussing it eather way. I dident know he was going to paint it though lol.

Started work on the truss today.




Axle bridge tied into the upper mount, tied into the trac bar bracket, all boxed in on the front and back, not yet finished

when are you going to be ready for the juice at my house?

i guess this is the reason why your selling your other hp44? but why did you have the other one shortened and all?

Re: Re: Project Mammoth

jeepfreak1020 said:

Im not going to have enough room to mount the tie rod up that high since im not going more then 5.5" So it will just stay OTK.

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Not sure what makes you think that's not enough lift for a highsteer setup ... its about what I'm running and my tierod is the least of my concerns when it comes to clearance. In my experience your draglink and trackbar will be your limiting factors.

Don't get me wrong, axle is looking great, I'm just saying don't let that be the determining factor for chosing OTK. Nothing wrong with OTK either, if you like it better then rock on.
:thumbup:

Update, truss fully welded now. Gears and locker get installed the next few days

Took some time off away from the jeep, to have a different vacation. Get a little sun



Sun has never been to nice!!

Got some parts while I was gone



But got back hard at it and front it pretty much all together, except the calipers/breaks and steering built

Alot for me to update! Both front and rear ends are done. Middle frame stiffeners have been welded on. Rear end of the jeep has been lifted and is almost finished. Ran into alot of snage with swapping the t-case and installing the T&T belly skid. Could not for the love of god get the last nut off the t-case to drop the old 242! Wrench would hit the exaust and or the tranny. Finaly was about to get it free. Then ran into alot of problems swapping the cases. The speedo dident mat up So I had to source one off anoither 231 since mine dident come with one. The sensor that says your in 4wd dosent mat up eather, so Looks like Ill be cutting and re-wiring on it to make it work. Also the yoke off the 242 dident work on the 231, so I had to source a yoke. That took about a day alone lol. Then when we were drilling the holes for the crossmember, we found out that they filled the frame after the jeep got hit and totaled. My buddy works for a body shop and said they do it once a car has been wrecked. They fill the frame with this foam like stuff that expands and then hardens and makes the frame stiffer. Well that was a PITA to drill 3/4" holes all the way threw. Finaly got all 6 holes drilled but or the price of my buddy almost loosing a wrist! Rear is all set under its own weight and we are wating on the driveshaft to get finishe, which should be today. We start the front end tomorrow!

Onto the pics!!















On the rear nothing hangs below the tubes, between the 1" T&T UBE kit, 1.5" shackle and HD offroad relocating boxes I came out to roughly 5.5" lift in the rear, and she has a really nice shackle angle and flat springs. She comes out to be 81" wide, and 74.5" to top of the roof! Sounds like a good LCG to me! Not going to get the 107 wheel base like I wanted. shooting or 103-105 now with front.

Wow, subscribed.

Your old Jeep looks super nice as well. Is that a custom rack on top, or part of a hybrid cage? Would love to see more pics of that.