Streetable trail rig budget build take 2

[WTF]

No, you're not experiencing deja-vu; I'm re-posting again under the correct Screen name.


Well, I was not thoroughly impressed with my Acura's performance on the RTI ramp at Crawfords at the Crawl this year (It actually sustained minor body damage) and thus have been considering how to get my wheeling fix in since July.


Last week while perusing Craigslist I see " '87 Jeep Wagoneer, needs work $500" and it's relatively local (score!).

I find out that 'needs work' means the AW-4 won't shift out of 1st, but otherwise it sounds like a really clean, solid jeep. I got email pics and then showed up to be further impressed by this little jeep. So I cut a deal with the owner and left a deposit.

Had to go out of town last Friday and just got back today to pick her up

I had gotten some input from the OEM tech forum ('link' (http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=899232)) so I went today to write a check and sign the title, then went to the jeep unplugged the TCU and drove it home.

Here is my new toy :
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Wagoneer%20Day%201/100_0709.jpg

More Pics here ( Album (http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Wagoneer%20Day%201/) )

Initially I though it had a d35 in it; turns out it's a 44!


Plans include
- no more than 3 inches of lift
- 31's or 32's
- trimming
- armor
- eventually a traction aiding device for one or both ends.

'Bang for the buck' will be top priority throughout the whole build.



Anyone here in the Southeast who has parts to sell for this, please let me know!

[WTF]

Specs:

d30/44, 4.0, AW4, 242
178K on the ticker 40+ psi oil pres

-New Alt/AC compressor/PS pump/ fuel pump with < 8k Miles on them.
-new procomp shocks all around
-came with NIB steering stabilizer and brake pads & shoes
-super clean interior with OEM cargo cover.
-tape headunit and 6 cd changer
-not a dent on it
-Every light and guage functions as it should. (first time out of 8 sub $1200 XJ's)
-Almost every accesory fuunctions properly (except PS rear pwr window, 2 of 4 locks and the cruise)

I'm stoked to say the least!



WTB:

-Full guage cluster with tach (this one has every guage but the tach :dunno:)
-driver side seat base ( pwr or manual; dont care)
-Add a leaf
-gas tank skid.
-stock wheel for full size spare

[purplexj]

looks great for that price. I got one for my oldest daughter, $850 and white . Well, it was for me but she took it. It got dtolen a year later. The police never even looked for it. I know because a lady complained to them for a month about a Jeep parked in front of her house. Finally she tracked me contacted me and we got it back in one piece. But the tires had been swapped. I had already gotten her another car so now it's a parts car for my 92 2 dr XJ and 88 MJ.

[RenegadeStang]

Congrats on it being a D44! That's one less thing to worry about down the road. About the gauge cluster, if it has all the other gauges, why not just buy a seperate tachometer and just mount it to the steering column or A-pillar or somewhere?

[JLane99XJ]

what a turd

lol :D just kiddin

[WTF]

Well I've put ~500 miles on it thus far and so far, so good...

Not much other progress:

-thanks to new pads up front and adjusters out back, the brakes at all 4 corners are now participating in the stopping effort..

-changed the oil; P.O. had like 7 qts of 5w30 in it

-pulled those ugly front seat covers to find the seats in as good condition as the rest of the vehicle

Coming up:
-a New guage cluster is in the mail as we speak
-tranny and engine mounts are on the horizon
-i'll be bringing back armor and lift parts from home to be installed after Christmas.

[yellowxj]

hey WTF congrats on the rig. I've got a full size metal spare rim here at the shop if you want it. Too late to help you with the gauge cluster...I had that too...I might have the seat base or a whole different seat. Got to check the parts xj's for that...

[IntrepidXJ]

nice rig you got for a good price :)

[WTF]

While I was home for the holidays, I grabbed some stuff I already had and took a trip to the u-pull-it for some new Items.

Wound up with the following:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Wagoneer%20lift/IMG_0034.jpg

Coils from a 98 V8(5.2) ZJ
1.75" poly spacers
leaves out of a '98 blazer.
Low mileage stock track bar
V8 ZJ steering (not pictured)

Pulled into the garage around 7 PM friday evening and after 2 parts runs, 2 nightly trips to the bar :cheers: and a trip to the hardware store...
it rolled out like this Sunday at 7PM:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Wagoneer%20lift/IMG_0037.jpg

I netted 2.5" of lift at all 4 corners.
I installed a brake line drop dracket/ extension in the rear and redrilled the front brake line mounts as low as possible on the front. Redrilled and clearanced the trac bar mount and front shock mount plates.
There were very new pro-comp 3000 hydro's on all 4 corners so I raised the front shocks with BPE's made from the rear sway bar mounts that I scrapped on the rear; relocated the shock mounts on the rear:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Wagoneer%20lift/IMG_0036.jpg


Casualties:
I had one sway bar link shear off, and discovered that the el-cheapo digital camera I got for christmas sucks at taking pictures in anything but direct sunlight. Sorry for the limited number and crappy quality of the pics.

All told I spent:
$82 on the parts for the lift (springs, U-bolts, center pins)
$10 worth of metal fab consumables (2 cut off wheels and a sawzall blade)
$42 for the Steering and Trackbar.
~24hrs of solo labor

[WTF]

Still left to do:

*Install the t-case skid and rock rails I had laying around the house
*Install the one towhook bracket I had laying around the house
*Install the lock-right sitting on my kitchen counter in the 44
*find and purchase some tires to mount on my $7/each Chrome rockcrawlers
*Trim front and rear bumpers, fenders and lose the dorky mud-flaps

Wanted to buy:
-Front lower control arms
-Driver side Tow hook Bracket.

[WTF]

And another thing i feel was noteworthy.

Why, you ask, did it take me 2.5 days to do a simple 2.5 inch lift???

I did the whole project with the jeep pulled half way into in a 12'x18' single car garage that is shared with 4 rims and tires, the lawnmower and all the other yard tools, bike, camping gear, etc. using only what you see here:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Wagoneer%20lift/IMG_0041.jpg


yes; my camera really does suck this much...

[JLane99XJ]

yes; my camera really does suck this much...


i feel certain it may be operator error...

ie; because you suck :)


just kiddin man.. Good work on the heep!! ~and your narrative of the project thus far is simple/to the point and has had me lmao

[WTF]

Update for this past weekend's progress:

*Rock rails are welded & bolted on
*Transfer case skid installed
*driver's seat frame fixed



Still gotta install my solo tow hook bracket and the lock right, pick up/mount my 32's, perform some surgery on the fenders and it'll be ready for a shakedown run...

I'm not even gonna waste my time trying to take picture with the little tykes camera anymore :o

[kf_chris]

good stuff man, nice deal you got there. I have to get myself a welder and bigger compressor before I"ll take on any jeep project stuff though

[ZacSquatch]

Where's the beer? Can't be a project without beer...



And another thing i feel was noteworthy.

Why, you ask, did it take me 2.5 days to do a simple 2.5 inch lift???

I did the whole project with the jeep pulled half way into in a 12'x18' single car garage that is shared with 4 rims and tires, the lawnmower and all the other yard tools, bike, camping gear, etc. using only what you see here:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Wagoneer%20lift/IMG_0041.jpg


yes; my camera really does suck this much...

[JLane99XJ]

wer dem pics of the ride on the ~new~ tyres @ homie??

get them fenders trimmed yet??

[WTF]

ask and ye shall receive...

Had to go pick up some new batteries for my Playskool digi-cam.

So I picked up some 32x11.5x15 Mud king tires in AL this weekend (thanks Lane!)

bolted them on and it looked like this:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Wagoneer%20lift/IMG_0044.jpg

then I removed all this:


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Wagoneer%20lift/IMG_0045.jpg

and now it looks like this:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Wagoneer%20lift/IMG_0047.jpg


the rears stuff perfectly with stock wheels. the fronts stuff well too but rub like crazy on the control arms at full lock.

I have 4 new-used wheels in the garage and 2 of them will go on the front for now. Eventually I'll do a TJ flare on the rear to make some more room for a lesser backspaced wheel.

I also installed the lock-right in the rear on Sunday.

thats all for this weekend's update.


oh yeah i have just a bit over 9 bills into this whole rig :greensmok

[Tim88XJ]

Love the sign in the background. "Slow Children at Play"

The neighborhood must not want you to get hurt.
Looks good.

[JLane99XJ]

Love the sign in the background. "Slow Children at Play"

The neighborhood must not want you to get hurt.
Looks good.

LOL

thats some funny %hit!!

Andrew you need that front axle pushed forward about 2" looks to me..

otherwise for less than a G its SAWEET!!

[WTF]

I took it on the first trail ride this past week at Gray Rock ORV area in AL. The jeep exceeded my expectations, performance wise.

It was really muddy and slick out; I didn't get to do a whole lot of rocks, mostly mud and trail riding. I held it near the rev-limiter on several occasions and nothing blew up so I consider that to be a victory.

I put 8.5 ounces of airsoft pellets in each of the tires, but i can still not go past 69MPH or the shaking becomes unbearable/ un-nerving.


For those of you who haven't checked out the thread on the Gray Rock ride;

at one point on the trail it looked like this:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Gray%20rock%20aftermath/Onsidegrayrock.jpg

which then looked like this:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Gray%20rock%20aftermath/IMG_0049.jpg

and after a sponge and a couple of screws to re-mount the mirror, It looks like this:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Gray%20rock%20aftermath/IMG_0052.jpg

not too bad all things considered, I think.

All I really want to add after this ride is a traction aiding device for the front , maybe some longer shackles to get me more droop in the rear, and in the distandt future tube fenders are a thought...

[bsr26]

I may have some Lower Rusty's arms made for stock wheels and 3" lift up for sale hopefully next week. If your interested. I gotta get my RK 3-Link on. :)

[WTF]

Update:

I took the rest of the winter off of wheelin after camping in 15 degree weather at Gray rock where I laid the jeep on the side, and waited for warmer weather.

I replaced the transmision mount in the down time. The two bolts that hold the mount onto the tranny were finger tight :eek: . The mpount was shot and everything is much better now.

This past weekend, I went out on the first wheelin trip of the spring to River Rock orv park in Milledgeville, GA. It's an awesome park!!! lots of 'big rocks' and bypasses around the extreme stuff for us little guys.

I rode for several hours on Saturday morning with mostly rigs on 37's and up locked f&r. I attempted to keep up and was really pleased with how well my low lift budget beater did as far as keeping up with 'the big dogs'.

Carnage for the weekend was a popped bead while being winched up the position on the ledge pictured below and a lower radiator hose failure. (the previous owner had just replaced the radiator when I bought it in Dec, but apparently replacing the radiator hoses was too much additional effort:rolleyes: :smsoap:.) I spent the rest of the day getting to town to get hoses and replacing both radiator hoses and bleeding the hellish closed cooling system.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/RiverRock.jpg

all in all I was pleased with the performance of the jeep, but I decided I wanted an additional inch or so of lift on both ends, trim the bumpers at all 4 corners, and a locker for the front is now on my shopping list.

[WTF]

I added back the longest leaf of the stock XJ pack into the S-10 leaf mix that I had in there. This change netted me an additional 1.25 inches or so. This puts me around 3.5 inches total in the rear.

Results are pictured here with my new 32x11.5 dayton a/t street tires that i scored for 10 bucks off craigslist.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/springchange.jpg

I like this stance better than the last, but it isn't as soft as before which I liked.





Up next; surgery on the bumpers and rear quarters!

[roXJeepr]

Hell yeah! Now you're jakked WAY up in the air... like mine :roflmao:

Now... if you'd just learn how to drive you coulda got up that spot instead of winch :moon:

Dale

[Georgia Mike]

COOL! I love it when someone puts together an XJ on a budget! :) Congrats on the D-44, too. I could only have dreamt of finding a 44 under my XJ when I found it, but no! It had a 35 in it.......:passgas:

[WTF]

Hell yeah!...
Now... if you'd just learn how to drive you coulda got up that spot instead of winch :moon:

Dale

It was super dry and dusty out there this weekend; very close to sand wheeling, everything was under a solid layer of powder several inches thick. The front end just wasn't grabbing there; if i was locked up front i think i would have had a good chance to make it out.

Also I can't drive, and thus why I buy parts to add and make it look like i can :D..

But I also didn't want to flop and further hold up the 'big dogs' i was running with with a flop extraction

Hopefully I'll get a run in between now and the crawl to further fine tune the waggy. My brother will hopefully be bringing out the big XJ to the crawl and we can 'chinese firedrill' between the two rigs and the two of us:spin1: .

[WTF]

COOL! I love it when someone puts together an XJ on a budget! :) Congrats on the D-44...

Total investment has poked into the 4 digits after the tranny mount, hoses, Street rollers, and the LCA's (Rustys [ :explosion ], that I picked up used locally for next to nothin, went in before the weekend too; forgot to mention it) ; $1120 thus far. Knowing the rear axle is worth ~75% of that on ebay helps me rationalize the whole investment:D

I can't wait to check out your new rig at the crawl!:thumbup:

[bmanga]

Good stuff Andrew!! BMan from Offcamber here......

I do have to say a "REAL" wagoneer looks like this though..yank....yank ;) .....O I'm going to pay for that! :D

http://gfsj.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2659&d=1179959081

[WTF]

Hacked up the front bumper this evening. relocated the vacuum bottle and the horns while I was at it.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/frontbumpertrimming.jpg

And yes, I'm aware that they aren't quite even; the saw caught on the pass side and i had to just gol with it. A rock contact or two later, you will not be able to tell anyways :)

I had hoped to get a good start on the rears but sliced up a finger or two pretty good while trimming a bumper corner and called it an evening. It sucks not having a garage big enough for a workbench to work on.

[bmanga]

Your down in Peachtree City GA aren't you? I was going to say your always welcome to come over and use mine but it's a drive to Marietta GA.:banghead:

[MELKORsXJ]

looks good man... i hope to find myself a project XJ sometime soon... and it'll definetly be on a budget!

[roXJeepr]

Also I can't drive, and thus why I buy parts to add and make it look like i can :D..



Just ribbin ya man. I've seen you on lower 2... so I already know you can't drive. Again... just ribbin :laugh: I wanna see the Acura on the trails dammit!

Dale

[WTF]

I wanna see the Acura on the trails dammit!

As soon as I'm done making payments on it, I've got a little something in mind for it:firedevil

[TheDiabetic]

Your Jeep makes me happy. Can't wait to see mine with some 32's my lift looks stupid on 235's

[bmanga]

As soon as I'm done making payments on it, I've got a little something in mind for it:firedevil

Now that's funny I don't care who ya r! :laugh:

[WTF]

....I decided I wanted an additional inch or so of lift on both ends, trim the bumpers at all 4 corners, and a locker for the front is now on my shopping list.

UPDATE:

I put an extra leaf back in the rear end; it's at the height I want it but I feel like I lost some of the flex I had before. Decided I'm happy with where the front is at for now...

All 4 corners have been trimmed.

The front is now locked up (all 4 wheels are pulling, so I can now only blame my driving inadequacy on tire size and ground clearance). Build cost has been pushed to just over 12 bills :greensmok:
I'll try to get pics tomorrow

I've got some general maintenence to do before the crawl next weekend and will report back after getting her back on the trails.

[WTF]

Delayed update:

Took the rig to Tellico for the Cherokee crawl. It performed as well if not better than I could have expected. I ran lower 2 only having to get one tug through a V-notch because I just didn't have enough clearance at the rockers.
Of course, I have no photos to prove this and only appear in a few seconds of video ( I think the bigger guys didn't want proof that my P.O.S. made it ;) .) ; there were witnesses, but you'll just have to take my word on it :illegalflipoffsmiley:

I also ran several other trails (pinch-rock, guardrail/heliscopter pad, bypassed because I didn't want the fan to eat the radiator and I turned around at the ledge at upper 2; I could have been winched up it and probably destroyed the passenger side but I like to have my glass because the rig is stored outside)

The gas tank self clearanced and probably holds a few gallons less now in its new shape. My motor mounts revealed that they were pretty much shot and the radiator fan made contact with the fan shroud whenever I got on the throttle too judiciously.

For now my only plans are to replace the motor mounts, armor up the gas tank, tranny pan, and oil pan.

I could not be happier with what this rig is capable of for the very small investment I have made in it.

[WTF]

Update;

Finally hit the trails again... I replaced the motor mounts sometime last fall and made the trip to Morris Mtn, AL last weekend with a local jeep club. The jeep performed very well and did pretty much what I wanted it to. It was wet and sloppy out there with all the recent rainfall.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/aan12182/Morris%20Mtn%202-23-08/ugly13.jpg

I beat on her pretty hard and everything held together well.

Carnage tally:
-2 blown tires (1 sidewall gash, 1 tread separation 2 miles out of the park)
-1 broken shock mount
-1 bent t-case skid
- a few new battle scars


Plans:
-pick up some TSL Swampers
-Build a beefy t-case skid
-build or buy a fuel tank skid
-1/2 selection mod on the tranny.

[shelbyluvv]

Andrew, It's Bo from the SJ ride. I was your jack man for the NASCAR pit stop. And I was in the gray WJ. It was a blast watching you beat the tar out of that thing on the trail.

Hit up NEVER MONDAY on SJ and tell him you want the tank skid. It was supposed to be mine but I sold the XJ. You can have it if Pat will give it to ya for free.