• Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Project Cheap Xj

But on a brighter note, the brakes all the way around have a ton of life left (i cleaned and adjusted the rears), and the front end is surprisingly tight! Oh and my rear upper shock bolts just spin..... So im not sure what the hell im going to do about those. Maybe ill just cut a hole in the floor and take the easy route.

Heres the part that makes me sad :(






And this........... So ugly.. Hopefully it wont look so gross with new springs and shocks.

 
I took her on her maiden voyage after the lift tonight. I don't have any vibrations or anything like that, but I did notice an occasional growling noise, almost like a bad wheel bearing that seemed to be coming from the rear/middle. I'll have to inspect that further this weekend. Maybe I need to do the t-case drop? Who knows....

I also replaced a bunch of AC o-rings and charged it back up. I'll find out if it's holding or not when I take it hunting this weekend.

So far so good though. I put about 20 miles on, and I'm at 34 in the front, and like 33 3/4 in the rear, and it no longer nose dives every time I hit the brakes lol.

 
She got some more shake down time today. Still no deer yet, but hopefully in the next week!

And I have 150 miles on it or so since the lift. Im still 3/4 shorter in the rear.



 
I think I fixed a major leak today. I was checking the trans pan since it was leaking all over the place. I checked the bolts, and they were ALL at least 3/4 turns loose! Half if them wouldn't even get my ratchet to click when I spun it, they were that loose.

So I snugged them down on the cork gasket, and cleaned off the trans fluid that was coating the entire underside. Hopefully that does the trick! It's got some other leaks, but that was by far the worst.









Here's a before picture where you can see how bad it was leaking and blowing all over everything.

 
I ordered up a light bar today. These ones had good reviews for what they are. I wasn't about to spend more on a light than I spent on the Jeep lol





I ordered up some stickers and a wiring harness too. It should be here by the 18th and it will probably be installed that night!

 
Well I finally got my light bar installed tonight. All in all with the bar and the harness, it was a pretty painless install (other than I didn't have a 3/4" drill bit for the switch).

I need to aim it up a bit, but I'm pretty happy with it so far!





 
I took Betty on our first family outing this morning. She did really well, and I'm finally comfortable enough with it to haul the little man around, and I'm pretty surprised with how well the car seat fits!

I'll be driving it for the next few days with the 8-10" we are expecting. It will be tested this week for sure!

I also scored some tow hooks off my brother in laws Silverado, since he had to remove them to mount the plow. I'll have to figure out how to mount them somehow.





 
On a side note, the 3rd stereo is a charm. I bit the bullet and got a brand new one with Bluetooth and wireless calling and Pandora and all that. I'll see how she works tomorrow as I sit in traffic for hours due to the incoming snow storm....



 
Well i got to test out the 4WD this morning, it works great even though the light on the dash doesnt come on.

I did figure out that this thing doesnt have ABS, which kind of sucks. Ill have to get used to that, but i cant argue for what ive got into this thing.

It even stayed clean on my 2.5 hour drive into the office this morning :)

 
Well we finally got some Jeep weather! About 6", with a bigger storm expected on Monday and Tuesday.

I went out and fired her up, to make sure she's ready. It started right up and everything is still working, so that's good lol. I'll see how she does in the deep stuff a little later :)

 
So i found these yesterday............ The guy wants $250 for them with 2 decent Wrangler MT/Rs, and 2 other tires on them. They are 245/75/16, so about 3" taller than my current 225/70/15, and the 5x4.5 will bolt up without adapters! I may have to take a short road trip and grab these :)

 
Well I just got home with her new shoes! They look good sitting there. I'll probably have to wait until spring to take the snow tires up and bolt these on. It looks like I may need to do some trimming also.





 
I finally got around to backflushing my heater core. I went through it a few times, and now she's nice and toasty! Granted it gets warmer at higher rpms, but it will work lol.

Here's some of the crap that came out, and yes, that is a giant chunk of crud in there. This is only some of the crap that came out after one of the times I went through it.





AND here's what it looks like when you open the garage door when it's 45 inside, and -3 outside....

 
Well it looks like it's time to order some shackles and bushings and u bolts, it's time for the Jeep to gain some altitude!

I just picked these IRO 3.5" leafs for $70, and they even already have the leaf pins!



 
Damnit........

Apparently now that the heater core has good flow, it allowed my pressure to build and found a weak point. Ugh, I guess I'll be putting a radiator in this weekend before I get started on the lift.

 
Well, 7 gruesome hours later, she's all finished up! I ended up not needing the t-case drop, and after 7 hours of sitting, the radiator didn't leak a drop, so I'm holding off on that for now.

With the help of my father in law, we got the rear leafs replaced, and all 4 shocks, including taking care of the stupid shock bolts that just spun, and fishing in new ones. I'm glad to say, not a single bolt broke, they were all just a bitch to get out lol. I still may end up adjusting my rear shackles up since they are currently on the lowest setting. I also need to invest in an extended rear brake line, which will probably involve replacing all the lines in the rear since they are all rusty.

On to the pictures!





Apparently this is all that was holding my drivers leaf spring on....















 
I also noticed that my heat still sucks. It worked well when parked, but it got colder as I got moving. So today, I made a piece of calibrated cardboard and put gorilla tape over it (for aesthetics, and to protect from the elements) and stuck that behind the grille. Hopefully that will help it slightly, but I guess we will see tomorrow.

We're also supposed to get 3-4" tomorrow, so we will see how the MTRs mixed with the ATs will work. At least they all have good tread. If they suck, I'll be putting my snow tires back on tomorrow night.



 
Well i drove her into work today. I have heat again!!! The whole way here at sat at the 165 where it usually sits, and bumped up slightly when i was idling in my work parking lot, but the heat worked great the whole way in.

It also rides pretty nice with the extended shocks. There is some creaking coming from the rear, but im assuming that its probably the poly bushings... I hope lol

This is as hot as it got this morning, and i actually had to turn my heat DOWN for once, thats a first!




And here she sits.... I really need 2 more MTRs :-(

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

E
Steering Redo.... Questions before I dive in.
2
Replies
28
Views
1K
RCP Phx
R
L
Manual to Auto transmission swap
Replies
9
Views
220
lvcanyoneer1
L
T
XJ shackle with custom springs question.
Replies
11
Views
220
XJlimitedx99
X
W
WJ knuckle and unit bearing swap with custom RCV axles
Replies
15
Views
79
wkoehn
W
D
Durango master cylinder? Booster? (2000 XJ)
Replies
6
Views
1K
89Mock
89Mock
Back
Top