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desertrunners 97xj

DesertRunner

DesertRunner

NAXJA Forum User
Location
covina, ca 91724
Ive had my build in my local chapter for a long time and i realized it wont really help anyone there.

97 4door 4.0L AX15 231 dana 30 chry 8.25

mods:
5inch IRO coils
Dirtbound midarm
RE ss lines
pro comp shocks
Currie track bar with joint twisted 90* and custom mount
JKS quick discos
RE 3.5" leafs with extended shackles
IRO hack and tap SYE
automatics front shaft in rear
33 10.50R15 bfg's
DirtBound Mojave front bumper with tube kit
DirtBound Mojave rear cut and fold with tire carrier
DirtBound mini belly pan t case skid
DirtBound gas tank skid
DirtBound rear frame stiffeners
Dirtbound quarter guards
Dirtbound front frame stiffeners
Aussie rear locker
C-Rok steering box plates
M.O.R.E. steering box brace
RuffStuff chassis stiffeners
hand throttle
5150 rocks sliders
a-pillar single 10w led lights
im sure theres more but im drawing a blank.

mods to come:
custom shackle boxes
custom longer shackles
roof mounded led bar
gears and front locker
led tail light boxes
eventually a cage

on to the pictures:
















 
took the jeep yesterday and did another adopt a trail day we ran quite a few trails the most fun was had on holcomb creek where i got to test alot of my armor! also for some reason my CEL kept coming on during down hill descents (engine braking) in 4l 1st gear would go off after not doing it again for a while but as soon as I'de do another decent it would return. all in all yesterday was a blast!









smacked a tree in the tight corner


used the tank skid to support the whole rear after i fell off my line


that tube saved that door!




one of the highest peaks on the mountain i think they said 9k feet


hood open with lake arrow head in the background
 
Took the jeep up to Azusa canyon a couple weekends ago. Would of taken her to big bear last weekend but the rear double cardian joint decided to turn to dust.

Pictures from azusa
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Managed to find a hard line up there the one and only haha
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When we got back I decided it was time for a color scheme change

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Flexed on a chassis
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That's a pretty good looking jeep
 
so i need some opinions i don’t really want to post a new thread just to search but cant find any info! i have fox 10" and 12" 2.5" reservoirs with the 7/8 shaft that i would like to toss on here they are new and i bought them for another project. (a gofast baja bug) i dont want to cut through the rear floor. im thinking the 12's in the front and the 10's in the rear! i do a mixture of go fast and crawling! i have a serious passion for go fast! any jeep speed guys wanna share and point me in the right direction?
 
a few weeks ago my jeep decided it was time for some attention! made a ton of noise to get my attention. so i did some checking and found the issue it was the rear drive shaft that i had pulled out of the jy a couple years ago! took her down and got her rebuild! now shes better than new!



today my battery took a dump on me so i took a battery tray we sell at dirtbound and modified it to fit a group 34. im really happy with the way it came out!

 
Got my hands on a pair of vision x Optimus dual prime lights this week I didn't like how the looked on the bumper. So I decided to build a light bar for the roof.










 
Last week I was able to get some fox resi shocks for the xj got 12's for the front and 10's for the rear. Over the weekend I adjusted the front mounts to accommodate the "bolt in" shocks







This setup will do until it's time for a full truss.


Full droop


Ride height

I also welded on some skids on the LCA's and build some new rear shackles



 
VAhasnoWAVES said:
is it just me or are those a bunch of tacks?
Click to expand...


They basically are. A lot of very hot circular tacks. Welding a full bead without disassembling the suspension would of killed the bushings.
 
JWheeler said:
Why did you need to change the shock mount location? Just to run a longer shock?
Click to expand...


I had 11" stroke procomp shocks on this jeep before. The 12" stroke fox's have a much longer body about 1.5" my bump stops were set for the shorter body shocks. So with the foxs mounted they would of bottomed out before my bump stops. Which over te would be bad for the shock and shock mounts not to mention rob me of usable up travel.
 
Thanks. I think those are the same ones I was looking at getting for mine. Just wanted to make sure that was it. I don't want to have to do that.
 
JWheeler said:
Thanks. I think those are the same ones I was looking at getting for mine. Just wanted to make sure that was it. I don't want to have to do that.
Click to expand...


It looks like the 10's would bolt in without issues.
 
VAhasnoWAVES said:
good call... i would have dropped an arm and ran full beads.

but im knit picking. jeep looks great!
Click to expand...

Thanks
if time wasnt a concern believe me i would be done! when i redo this axle with a full truss all will be fixed haha! just gotta make the mone and time!

condonsation said:
Love this build. Im slowly building a prerunner xj. Got 10" long travels for the front and 14" for the rear. Im gonna cage it and tie them in....once I get the money lol
Click to expand...
thanks its a build of passion! make sure to toss up a build thread!
 
realized today i hadn't posted on here since the axle swap. nothing major still d30 chry 8.25. i stumbled across a pair of axles from a jeep part out both locked both geared to 4.56 (within one year old) both locked with lunch boxes and currie steering. i also got my hands on a second hand currie anti rock.

this swap made me realize all the little things ive done to the jeep in the past year. also gave me a chance to address my rear shock mounts. the front axle i had to redo the shock mounts like i had just done. had to add the skids and sway bar mount extensions i had also removed the passenger upper. the rear i had to pull the shafts and put my rear discs on and decided to keep my aussie rather than the powertrax locker that was in this axle. just cause the pure simplicity of the aussie

the big test is this saturday doing a run in bb.

on to the pictures










sorry my phone took horrible pics.
 
The new gears and axles did great. Took all the hard lines. Even took some lines I didn't think I could make. It totally rocked!

Had some clearance or driving issues haha gotta pull this aluminum cover it won't take much more abuse it's missing a good chunk after this weekend.







 
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