Anyman's build

well, I've had my 2000 XJ Sport for about 4 years and started my build about 3 years ago now. Recently I was thinking I might as well start a build thread! (Better late than never:dunno

So here she is in her stock condition...


But I didn't get her like that, the previous owner had done what I would consider a pretty decent mild build to it:

• 33" Cooper STTs
• Cromoly shafts in the 8.25 with a True-Track locker and 4.56s
• Stock Dana 30 with a Lock-Right (lunch-box) locker and 4.56s
• RE 5.5" short arm lift with SYE
• Rock sliders, aftermarket bumpers, trany skid, Bushwhackers and a roof rack

It was a really nice set up, great road manners (I drove it 75mph all the way to the Rubicon and back) and great off-road ability (made it through the Rubicon and only lost the muffler).

But my brother-in-law made some serious upgrades to his XJ and then in Moab he was walking lines I couldn't... and that's where it all started!

So here's where I'm at today. Some more notable mods:

• Ford 8.8 with Cromolys, U-bolt eliminators, 5.13s and an ARB
• Waggy 44 with GM high-steer knuckles, TNT Truss, 5.13s and an ARB
• TNT Customs Y-Link long arm kit, front bumper, steering box brace and Frame stiffeners
• RE Track bar mount and frame stiffener/brace
• Clearanced fenders front and rear and folded rear quarter panels
• Rocker replacement (2x6, 3/16" square tube)
• Old-style 37" MTRs (on 15" steelies baby!)
• Winch, cowl air intake, on board air, interior roll cage, front bench seat, blah, blah blah ...

It's been slow going and I have a box of parts that was supposed to be on the Jeep a year and a half ago! I figure, if I start a build thread and keep my motivation up through the winter then I might have the rest of these mods done in time for 's 30th anniversary in Moab next October. That's the Goal anyway.

Here' s my to-do list:

• Finish battery relocation
• Install 2nd AC (converted to OBA)
• Install high-performance steering pump and remote resourviour
• Drill and tap steering box and install hydro-assist
• Build new rear bumper and tire carrier
• Install rear suck-down winch and in-cab winch controller
• Install LED ground lights (and figure out what to do with the old ground lights...)
• Mod pitman arm for double shear
• Fix leaking gas tank...

Of course I have a list of long-term mods (wish-list really) I'd like to do like 4-link the rear, gas struts, RCVs in the D44, removable doors, boat-sides... but I digress.

A couple things I want to point out:

1. Nothing I've done is new or original, I've come up with all my ideas from forums like this. I read and read and read until my brain hurts and then I grab some tools and get under the Jeep or go to a pick-n-pull.
2. I'm not a mechanic, fabricator, welder, whatever. I'm just your typical Joe Schmoe. I work a 9-5 from behind a desk and I didn't get into mechanics or Jeeps until about 7 years ago. (I never even held a welder until 3 years ago.) I'm the only person in my immediate family who does anything with or tools!

My point here is while I'm pretty happy with what I've accomplished on my XJ, trust me when I say that if I can build this Jeep, ANYONE can! All you need is time and some money - if you have more time then you need less money!

Lastly, I'm really looking forward to comments from the community! I'm a novice mechanic, fabricator and wheeler, so input is anxiously awaited! :yelclap:

I'll start posting pics from previous mods soon.

sounds intriguing...please post more pics and details

Okay, so the first real work I did on the XJ was swapping axles (Ford 8.8 & Waggy D44) and at the same time installing the TNT Y-Link kit with frame stiffeners, front bumper and steering box reinforcement. For some crazy reason I can’t find a single picture from that effort… Well, there are a lot of post about such installs on here so not much of a loss.

One issues I had though, when doing the instal, before adding the TNT truss on the D44, I cut and rotated the inner Cs to achieve a better drive line angle while maintaining proper(ish) caster angle. It also gave the added benefit of more ground clearance at the yoke ... while apparently sacrificing clearance with the Y-Link? :dunno: On my first trail run I broke the yoke off my front drive line when it made solid contact with the arm. :flamemad:

So, recently I cut off the upper and lower axle mounts to push them out and make more space. After 3 re-positioning attempts with no luck I finally pushed the top axle mount to the extreme driver's side of the truss:


As you can see I had to push the mount back an inch or so to create distance between it and the trackbar bracket at stuff:


So I put together this little support for the back half of the bracket:


I also rotated the top link on the Y-arm so that it sits on-top of the arm as opposed to canted to the side:


That took some serious re-working of the bracket…




Anyway, after about 3 Saturday’s of effort (I'm slow at this stuff!) I have it re-mounted and initial tests seem positive, here it is at full stuff using jacks in my garage with no springs installed:

(I did go back and grind that lip down and finish welding it up... :gee

I still need a good trail-run to make sure the real-wheeling application prove it out:


My biggest concern is that I've significantly tinkered with the geometry on that arm... but I couldn't find another way to deal with it. Well, time will tell if it was worth rotating those inner Cs!

Okay, someone asked in another thread about a bench seat in the front of an XJ, and it just so happens that I've done something like that in my build so I'm going to throw that up next. I'll start with re-locating the E-brake.

DISCLAIMER:
I do not recommend messing with your factory Emergency Brake/Park Brake. This is not a "How To" this is just something I did.

Okay, so I needed to relocate the E-Brake to make room so I decided to go with a foot brake. I selected one out of a Ford E150 (or 250 or 350?) Van. I like this kind because as my BL pointed out, it is the kind you depress to release, so no pesky release lever!

Here is where I'll be mounting the pedal, so I took off the cover and pulled the fasteners on the wires out of the side wall so I could maneuver them when I placed the brake:


The foot pedal goes right up in there:


I used 2 bolts I had pulled off of the wall there at the door to secure that end and then added a third at the back of the unit. Hard to get a good pic, here you can see the top bolt, that is in stock location. The bottom hex bolt is not, I drilled a new hole where I wanted it and threaded the bolt in. In the back, behind the hood release cable, there is a third bolt I added new:


You can see I relocated the hood release lever to just under the dash - it was simple, IIRC I piloted the holes then used some sheet metal screws and drilled them right through.

Here is the fender from the outside and you can see the new bolt, I had to make it long because the two front bolts were pulling the mechanism away from the wall a bit, at the start I could barely thread the nut on:


Okay, now with the pedal mounted I routed the cable along the driver's door and then under the driver's seat and into the trans-tunnel:


here it is with the seat pulled forward (The lower cable in this pic is for my CB antenna...):


And with the seat in riding position:




Then underneath it enters into the tunnel and connects to the stock E-brake brackets that I cut and welded:


The cables are from a ZJ IIRC - my notes show P/N 95342 (right) and 95347 (left) (Mopar P/N's 52008904 & 05). I had to shorten the coils on the brake end so that they would compress the brakes enough - of course this is for a Ford 8.8 rear axle...

Now here's where I'd really like to hear some feedback: I took some of the Ford van E-brake cable to a couple local shops looking for someone who could cut it down to size and put a "bung" on the end :dunno: and everyone said "NOPE!" So I resorted to some cable clamps in triple... so, to those who would know, will this hold fine??


I feel pretty good about it, the braking strength is stronger than ever when I apply it...

Anyway, here is the pedal with the brake up and down:




Just a ending note on thinking things like this all the way through before you break out the power tools ... now I have a nice hole in the floor right near this pedal where I originally routed the cable out. And THEN I realized I was going to have to pass the cable through the frame at some point - much simpler in my mind to put it through the trans-tunnel! :doh:

Okay, in my next post I'll get on to converting the bucket seats into a bench seat using the center-section from the middle seat in a Dodge Durango (3-row models).

I need to be able to fit the whole famdamily (6 total) in the XJ – we drive it to local trails and then when we tow it somewhere we drive it around town and of course to trails. I’ve worked pretty hard to keep it street legal with decent highway manners so I wasn’t going to let our most recent addition get in the way! :nono:

I considered a TJ rear seat or a jump seat to the cargo area or doing a bench swap up front but Wifey came up with an idea I thought would be both the simplest and best: add a seat between the Driver and Passenger seats in the front. My BL figured that the middle section of the 2nd row in a Dodge Durango would fit best (on the 3-row version, it has a 40-20-40 split seat)

Disclaimer: Again, the following 2 posts are not meant as “how-to” guides, just an account of what I did to my Jeep. Consult local regulation regarding seats and seatbelts in motorized vehicles operating on public roads.

So here is the seat and some modifications I made - I had to shorten the sides and shave some foam to give me the dimensions I wanted (keeping it level with the bucket seats) but despite the way it looks outside of the jeep you'll find it looks great installed:

Seat:


From the bottom with the cover material removed and the sides cut, re-bent and foam shaved:


More shaved foam:


I like the way the bracketing turned out, here is the stock seat:


I added a front square tube and rear strap: Front:


Rear:

Then on the inside you have to deal with 2 issues - the hole from the E-Brake and the Airbag Computer (pic taken after the consol and brake lever were removed):


E-Break hole solution (pretty obvious):


Computer mount is incorporated into the front seat mount, the seat mount is a piece of angle with some flat stock welded to it to form an "S" shape, you could also use C channel, i just used what I had:


Rear seat mount:


Another:


Painted everything up and used RTV on the plate, I also made a plate I welded bolts to which I RTV'd underneath for the front bracket to bolt to – I did this so I wouldn’t have to have someone holding a wrench underneath while I tighten inside:


Underneath, rear bolt and plate:


Front bolts welded to strap:


Seat belts are important, I used the belts out of the Durango and bolted them directly to the rear mounts, on the front seats. I did have to extend the female side:


So, preparing for final install, stretching the fabric, like I said, looked like crap right up until I installed it. The bottom:


Top view:


Then there was the issue of the center console, I didn't have time to fab up a custom selector indicator, so I used the stock stuff and just cut it down:

So here is how the seat ended up:

Shifter up:


In low:




Random shots:








Because of the airbags, we keep our 10-year old up front on the road but on the trails we switch out and put the 6 or 4 year old up front, they fit better..

Besides the center console, you also loose the heater vents to the rear seat... I haven't had time to address that yet.

In hindsite, it seems like the center seat from the front-row of a 2006ish 4-doorTacoma (with the bench seat option) would also fit. These are nice as you would get a storage area in the fold-down arm-rest... but good luck finding one for $20!

Not sure what's going o with the pictures... I'm going to try to re-post these. If it fixes perhaps I can get a moderator to delete the previous posts.

So here is a quick down and dirty on how I clearanced my front outer fenders. Many of you won’t have this problem because you don’t bother with flares, but I work hard to keep my rig street legal and UDOT says tires must be covered… We don’t have the most restrictive regulations, but we’re a far cry from NV!

I don’t have any in-process pics, so if you want to see something up-close after-the-fact, let me know and I’ll snap a pic when I can. :dunce:

With 37” MTRs I was looking for max clearance so I wanted to get the top of the Bushwhackers pretty much up to the top of my fender. I determined that I needed to raise them about 4”. So the easiest method I could figure to do this and not have a total hack-job was as follows:

1) Identify 2 screws you will initially raise
2) Take the flares off and using the plum bob method (nut on a string) to mark a new screw location straight up from the current hole (for me, it was 4” up)
3) Drill those 2 holes and thread the screws through them
Here is an illustration of what I’m talking about, the yellow is where I measured, the red circles are the screws I raised up 4”:


4) LOOSELY mount the fender with those 2 screws
5) Trace the lower flare outline on your fender – it won’t be perfect, doesn’t need to be yet.
6) Cut along your line (I used an angle grinder with a cutting blade)
6) Re-mount the flare and check for areas that need additional trimming
7) Remove the flare and use a grinding wheel to fine-tune
8) Repeat step 7 until the flare fits snugly along your fender opening –a tight fit gives great support and rigidity to the flare
9) Once you’re done fine-tuning the hole, insert a center punch into the remaining screw slots on the flare and give a slight what to mark the screw locations
10) Drill the holes, thread the screws, mount the flare and you’re done! :clap:

Here is the end result,
Before:


After:

:greensmok

I was going to trim the forward lip of the flare but after driving as-is for a while it’s not bothering me and I haven’t scuffed it yet on the trail … if it becomes a clearance issue I’ll revisit it. There is a gap now below the aft portion of the flare, but after putting in rocker-replacements that has been reduced to about 1.5”and it does not bother me – I know it would kill some of you… :moon:

Here is a close-up with the rocker replacements installed:


You can see that for the body portion below the fender I cut it at an angle. I didn’t like that at first but haven’t thought about it in months so I’m also going to leave that as-is for the time being.

The only issue you’ll have if you raise your flares as much as this is the windshield washer reservoir has to move (if yours is in the fender). There are MANY remedies for this, personally I have removed my stock air intake so I have temporarily stuffed my OEM reservoir in that void and secured it with a bungee… it will fit into other places as well.

You can also source a reservoir from a ZJ or an early XJ, and you can find a place to stuff those (make sure you get the pumps with it). XJs with the stock air intake may have the most success using the early XJ reservoir which mounts in between the brake proportioning valve and the inner fender wall – though you’ll have the finesse it in there.

Once I put in my permanent solution I’ll post up what I did, in the meantime there are lots of write-ups about relocating washer reservoirs. hasta

Moving on to the rear fenders, these were tricky... working with sheet metal SUCKS - I have mucho respect for all you auto body guys! :worship:

So on a 4-door XJ your options are pretty limited on the rear fenders before you have no choice but to cut so deep it requires welding. With the tire size I'm at, even with the rear quarters cut and folded, I still didn't have the clearance I wanted.

When cutting I decided I would follow the crease in the body just above the pinch-seam portion, then a slanted line to the rear (marked with the blue tape). measurements suggested that this would give me the rear clearance my tires needed:


Using the grinder with a cutting wheel I jumped right in and committed myself!:


Now, I've seen a write-up where they cut these slots in the inner fender, but I found this was unnecessary in my 4-door, so on the driver side I did not do this:


As I started to weld up the outer sheet metal to the inner flare I had to make some choices about how much to cut out. I don't like the way I did this as it required a lot of puzzle-piecing sheets to fill the holes:


On the driver's side I tried splitting the center pinch seam open and sort of filleting the fender. It did take less piecing together but was still a lot of work. If I were to do this again I would be braver about just cutting that back portion of the inner fender off all together. Then I think it would be easier to either put a bend in some sheet metal and get it to fit, or just cut two pieces and weld them up. [/BABBLING]

But back to how this actually went down: when welding the sheet metal I was just making a stream of tacks to hold the two pieces together. Looked like crap, but held pretty well and cleaned up fine later on. After it was all tacked up I came along with the cutting wheel and trimmed the excess off:


Then I had to get to work filling in the holes I had created:


So here is the passenger side 90% completed:


And then I think I won the award for longest time-out mid mod... I went back to school and added our 6th family member and moved and I changed positions twice at work and ... it's a sad song sung all to often on forums like these! Well, 18 months later I FINALLY got around to finishing the passenger side and moving on to the driver side!

Here I'm prepping for paint - I'm a terrible paint guy as well - but you can sort-of see the difference in the inside patching on the driver side in this pic:

(I used short-strand fiberglass filler)

Primered:

The previous owner had used some bed liner or undercoating on the lower panels on the doors and I like the way that looks so I thought I'd continue that along the fenders - these will be covered with the bushwhackers anyway but I liked it. Here is what I used:


The result:


And with the flares re-mounted:


But once I raised my front flares and added the rocker replacements I was going to have to notch these to fit them. I also didn't like how they extended lower than my fender - what's the point of all this work?? So I raised these as well.

The process I followed on these rear flares was different from the front. I started with the door piece and with the door shut I held them up where I wanted them to be (basically just above the rocker/slider and aligned so that the body portion of the flare would be as high as possible). Then while holding them in place I used a punch to mark the new screw location on the top screw. I put that screw in, made any fine-adjustments and then marked the lowest screw next. with the 2 screws in I marked the middle 2 locations.

Then with the door portion on I just lined the aft portion to it. While I like the result I'm not ecstatic about the "lip" that hangs off the door a bit, but there's no other option without cutting that trailing edge down, which I didn't want to do either. I suppose it's fine and it did give me the clearance I was looking for.

I don't have the best comparison shots, but here they are, before:


After:


Here you can see how it lines up with the rocker/slider at the bottom:


Here you can see the "lip":




If you're like me, some of these pictures make you think the tire will hit the leading edge of the fender at stuff, but it doesn't. In fact I tested it with a piece of string several times because it just seemed like it would, but it does not. Actually, I'll hit the top of the fender before the front or back touch - and I'll hit the bump-stops before I'll hit the top.

Here it is a few inches from the bumps:


And one last stuff shot just for kicks - still not on the bumps and not touching anywhere:


Part of the rear flare covers the front lower corner of the gas cap door, but due to the way the hinge opperates the door still has full movement.

My rear axle is stretched maybe 2-3" and the bumps are just the flat portion coming off the top bracket on my U-Bolt eliminators and then the stock rubber bumps on the frame - I didn't need to extend either. So I'm getting decent travel on the rear, but with the stiffness of the leafs I haven't really hit the bumps yet anyway...

I do still want to use the portion of the bushwhacker that I cut off and add it to the bare slanted portion and then tie it all together somehow. For now it passes inspection, besides, that effort might take me another 18 months to complete!

And there you have it, the only mod that took me more than a year to complete! (Though I have had a couple parts for 3 years that still aren't installed... :looser

very nice setup you have and i like the ideas...have any pictures of your cage setup??
i have the same xj and pretty cool seeing what it would look like with 37s..i DD my xj and try to keep it street legal as well...I found a waggy 44 and was wondering what you did with the bolt pattern matching it up to the rear 8.8...ik the waggy 44 is a 6 lug where did you get the conversion?

what height are you at all around still at the 5.5?

Outlander560 said:

have any pictures of your cage setup??

Click to expand...

Sorry, no cage pics. If the weather is nice tomorrow I'll try to snag some.

Outlander560 said:

i have the same xj and pretty cool seeing what it would look like with 37s..i DD my xj and try to keep it street legal as well...

Click to expand...

Right on man, I love seeing what buggys can do, but I always give respect when people keep them streetable.

Outlander560 said:

I found a waggy 44 and was wondering what you did with the bolt pattern matching it up to the rear 8.8...ik the waggy 44 is a 6 lug where did you get the conversion?

Click to expand...

For my Waggy 44 I came across a deal on some GM flat top knuckles, so I went ahead and did the GM small spindle setup - it converts it to 5x5.5. Another option is to get everything from the knuckles out off a Ford 5-lug D44, those are 5x5.5 as well.

Here is some straight forward info on the D44 conversion:
http://www.harshterrain.com/faq/

Another site with some PNs and details about years:Then you have to either get wheel adapters or get new shafts for the 8.8 that are drilled for 5x4.5 and 5x5.5 - I believe all the cromoly shafts are drilled for both. The stock axles don't have enough radius to drill them - I bought my rear already built and he gave me the stock shafts with it that had been drilled but a couple of the holes are paper thin on the outer portion... Also, I think you have to drill the disks :dunno: Sorry, I'm a little fuzzy on the 8.8, but there are some good writeups around here.

Another option is to have custom shafts made for the 8.8 that are 6x5.5, drill your disks and then keep your waggy 44 stock. A couple companies will do this. Either way you go, I would get the C-clip eliminator axles for the 8.8, that's a nice upgrade.

Or you can get wheel adapters for the 8.8 to make it 6x5.5 and just drill your disks - of all the options this may be the most cost effective...

Outlander560 said:

what height are you at all around still at the 5.5?

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I have no idea what my actual lift is anymore... I have the 5.5 springs up front but ACOS adjustable coil spacers which gives another inch or so. Actually, that may be false advertising, since I bought it with the springs and the ACOS I don't even know for sure that they are 5.5 springs, they could be 4.5... :looney: Also, the spring platforms on the TNT truss seem to be an inch or so above what stock would be. on the rear I got the tallest U-Bolt eliminators from TNT which add 1.5" and I had 2" JKS shackles but swapped those out for some liquid iron slider boxes which gave me at least another inch. (Again, no idea what springs are actually back there...:sad1 Anyway, from the garage floor to the bottom of my rocker I'm almost exactly 27" in the front and about .5" lower in the back (unloaded).

My BL has pretty much the same setup (minus the truss on the D44) and he put 8" springs up front and you can see that his is a bit taller than mine.

G2WANIT said:

Or you can get wheel adapters for the 8.8 to make it 6x5.5 and just drill your disks - of all the options this may be the most cost effective...

Click to expand...

Sorry, I'm not familiar with adapters as I've never used them, but reading elsewhere this morning I think they go outside the rotor, so you actually would not have to re-drill anything.

Okay, some roll-cage pics. I have to admit, this is a mod I did when I had only had the XJ for 4 weeks - we were getting ready to run the Rubicon and I wanted SOMETHING for additional protection. I had a welder who owed me some money so after only looking at the bolt-in kits I went to his house and we knocked this out in 2 days. I think it serves its purpose - to keep my family alive in the event we flop. It is strong enough to support the existing structure so that it does not cave in. This IS NOT a cage that will take 4 barrel-rolls and then drive on home...

So from the rear - biggest problem: no C-Pillar support... I've considered adding but decided I'm going to just cut this out at some point and go with a hybrid:


Here is the B-Pillar hoop:


On the A-Pillar I followed what has been done before and used a piece of .5" flat plate in the door-jam:


Another angle of how it ties in:


A-pillar roof area:


Looking back from the passenger seat:


So there you have it. I'm glad it's there, just not proud of the end result. But after watching a BL with a bolt-in cage do a full roll (and land tires down!) on the Rubicon, and then drive out (though worse for wear) I'm VERY happy to have it. My wife who was watching her brother roll with me (she had complained a little about the time I spent putting this together) turned to me and said, "Thank you for putting ours in!"

thank you for the info i appreciate it...i failed to mention i have a d44 in the rear. i will look some things up and see if i can pick adapters up so i can run the 5x5.5...all around great build and i always like lower rigs around 6" that run 37" tires..i agree with you on the cage but your 1 step ahead of me...i'm still trying to find the time to design one..i appreciate the links as well i will probably go the gm flat top part...keep up the build and keep me posted with what your doing next..

edit: i have the d44 with the 8.8 backing plates so i can figure something out

did you upgrade the MC with the d44 front braking?

BTW idk if it is the pictures but your shackle angle seems to be pretty close to 90* what length shackle are you running?

Outlander560 said:

BTW idk if it is the pictures but your shackle angle seems to be pretty close to 90* what length shackle are you running?

Click to expand...

He doesn't have any shackles. Check the last couple pictures of it flexed out.

Outlander560 said:

did you upgrade the MC with the d44 front braking?

Click to expand...

I did not. Since I upgraded both axles at the same time, with bigger disks up front and disks in the rear on the 8.8, I figured I would try it out. Works pretty well, and during inspection they test the breaking % front and rear and it tests fine... So I left he MC and proportioning valve stock and it's been great so far - on and off road.

Ian Christiansen said:

He doesn't have any shackles. Check the last couple pictures of it flexed out.

Click to expand...

It's true, sorry, my pics are a jumble of before and afters. I did have a terrible shackle angle, I was running 2" JKS shackles. I was looking at making some shackle relocators but fell in love with the liquid iron spring sliders:
http://www.liquidironindustries.com/product.php?productid=18222&cat=0&page=0&featured=Y

They aren't cheap, but I like them. Road manners are great and they flex well off-road (as well as lift springs can).

Ian Christiansen said:

He doesn't have any shackles. Check the last couple pictures of it flexed out.

Click to expand...

haha shit thats right an i read/asked about the sliders too :doh:

thanks for pointing that out