My lowish back woods xj build!

We'll I finally bit the bullet. I bought a 1995 xj 4.0 5 speed for $800 about 7 months ago and have been making it reliable for some back country wheeling so I rebuilt the 4.0 all new sensors alt,starter,clutch ported the head stuck the new style hyper pistons with the metric ring pack out of the hole 7thou and added mopar performance mls head gasket so compression is a bump above 10:1 runs really good on 92 and has great power I also used a new cam for a 1996 and newer cherokee so the torque would come in 1000 rpm sooner this all helps with the fact I still have the sad as hell 3.07 gears in her. As far as off road mods I cut the fenders and stuffed 31in cooper stt's under her. After all the reading I have done on here and other forums and the type of wheeling I do I decided I wanted to keep her low I am always putting her in off camber situations and don't really want to roll it but I'm also on a budget. So I ordered a rough country lift this week now what I have coming is a 4.5 x series coming but I had them swap out the springs for 3in springs this will give me a flatter spring in the rear for better flex and ride and less angle on the control arms again aiding in the ride. So I am hoping to do a complete write up on this lift combo for anyone that wants all the good stuff that comes with the 4.5 x kit but only wants to go up 3in.

Ok how do I upload pics?

you can post pics if you become a red letter member, OR put the pics on a host site and put up the link.
and welcome. sounds like a cool rig you are building. a build thread would be way cool.

Dam that sucks so I just have to put up a link. [/URL][/IMG]

The lift should be here this week so I'm hoping to do a write up with pics by next week sometime.

very cool. i stand corrected, you got a pic up. when i was a black letter it said i did not have that option and that only red letter members did. though i am sure it was my misunderstanding.
i will be looking forward to seeing the build.

those are the biggest 31's I have ever seen........

I miss my 95

The lift kit just arrived so I'll take some pics and post them tonight!

Ok so I have unpackaged the lift everything was there I am very impressed with the weld quality and the size of the lower control arms the uppers are very nice as we'll just small compared to the lowers but they don't get sat down on rocks either. I did assemble the x joints into the arms there very smooth and went together nicely. I was also impressed that the kit came with u bolts for both the dana 35 and chrys 8.25. The sway bar quick dicos look good as we'll but seeing I don't have a sway bar and don't plan on it ever making it back on the jeep they will go un used. Now the shocks um yeh they seem just a wee bit stiff but well just have to see how they are on the jeep. Oh and the adjustable track bar seems pretty beefy to I can't wait to beat on this stuff! So here are some pics for you guys.

There is more in the kit but I just wanted to cover the important parts.

Dam front spring eye bolts won't come loose the bushing sleeve is stuck looks like it time to pull out the angle grinder!

looks like "Jeep candy". cool garage too, i need to put a bed in mine some day. lol

Ok we'll I got the rear lifted today what a pain it took forever but I got every bolt out without breaking a bolt or weld nut! Victory for me! I'll post some pics tomorrow night. The shackle angle doesn't look to bad for fresh springs not strait up and down but not quite a 45 ether. The only other problem I had was the rear brake lines were frozen to the soft line so I had to make new hard lines. Other than that it went great.

"tube of grease and a rubber glove in the bedroom"

There's something wrong with rubber gloves and lube in the bedroom? Lol. So I got the front end out I'm replacing the axle u-joints one is totally gone and then I'm bolting everything back together today so more pics to come.

Ok so it's all back together and all I can say is wow! It's brand new and rides better than the factory stuff it is not rough or harsh it's firm and controlled I also am using the shocks from the 4.5 kit so there 10in travel I can use all of it up front full flex I'm showing 10in of shock shaft on the drivers side and just over 9in on the passenger side I would have the full 10 but the stock steering binds up lol so curry correct a link here I come. I did cut a little off the lower shock mount the control arms were just hitting the corner of them. I am really impressed so far I'm going to go beat on this thing this weekend and get back to you guys some more on the ride and flex this weekend where I'm going is very rough narrow 4 wheeler trails I'll take pics but for now here are some poser shots.

Before lift
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After lift
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Some flex shots
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There is more travel to be had than what's in the pics I just have to go to a better place than my neighborhood to find the obstacles.

Looks great in the simplest way possible.

Question though... Where's your front bulkhead? Did older XJs not have one between the front rails?

Edit - looked closer and it looks like it was cut or ripped out :shocked: . Might wanna reinforce that before subjecting it to too much more stress (it flexes quite nicely).

Yeh I'm planning on building a cross brace in there just haven't gotten to it yet. Thanks I'm really enjoying the ol jeep.