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Back in an XJ: Building a mild 1998 Sport

I hooked the main power for the compressor to the same cable that runs directly from the battery to the amp under the rear seat. The power for the on/off switch is spliced into the cigarette lighter right above it. It's key on power only so that way if I accidentally leave the switch in the on position I don't have to worry about my compressor killing the battery.
 
Are those dirt track AERO bead locks you have? I was thinking of trying a set of them. You balance them or beads or not going to worry about it?
 
Yes, they are Aero beadlocks. The little hand grenades or air soft bb's are what I used for balancing. I got them on Amazon and each one should have a bit over 6oz of beads in them. Hopefully enough to balance the tires, but if not I'll just order more.
 
I had thought about using these, i called Aero and they said the only problem they have had is that the bead on larger mud tires is too wide to get adequate clamping of the lock ring.

The lock width is made for 3/4" wide beads with a max of .850 bead width. Im going to measure a new set of tires and if i can get that im going with these wheels also. Let me know how they balance out.

You doing any road driving?
 
Minimal road driving. The beads on my KM2's are just under an inch. There is a little bit of gap between the inner and outer rings, but I've had that with every set of beadlocks I've ever ran. I just tightened them down as tight as my 1/4 drive air ratchet would go, going around the circle a few times until it wouldn't move any of the bolts anymore. Once aired up I sprayed soapy water on them to check for leaks and had none so I think they'll be fine.

I've had Allied steel beadlocks, Trail Ready aluminum, and DIY beadlocks. They all had a slight gap between the inner and outer rings once tightened down. The only thing I might do with these later on (if I have issues) is drill out the other 16 holes and run a more bolts. The outer ring has 32 holes but the inner ring only has 16.
 
Working on uploading some pics now to update this. I will say that I've put over 100 miles on this thing so far and its great. The KM2's with just over 6oz of airsoft bb's are smooth down the road, the steering is nice and tight with minimal bump steer (no sway bars or steering stabilizer), and with the 4.88's this thing has no problem running up the Peak to Peak to get to Rollinsville. The rear limited slip and Yukon Zip Locker are working very well together. It turns very tightly on the trail still but made the Gate Keeper at Spring Creek look like a walk in the park. I haven't had any issues with the Aero bead locks, they've been great and the widened stance is nice and stable. I don't rub when on the trail, even when loaded down with 4 adults and way too much food/drinks for 1 day on the trail. All in all I'm very happy with this little XJ so far.
 
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Ok, picture time.

Once I got the onboard air sorted out and installed I was able to move onto my steering. I went with the Dirtbound Offroad heim steering over the CavFab only because it was about $40-60 cheaper shipped. I've been happy with the few things I've received from Dirtbound thus far, although their communication and shipping expediency could be improved.

Painting the steering links
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I did manage to break my 5/8 drill bit on pitman arm, so that sucked. Otherwise it was a pretty straight forward install.

Jump ahead and here it is on the Jeep.
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Once that was done I mounted the front wheels/tires and then moved onto finishing up the re-gear on the 8.25 out back. Ron's Machining Service promptly shipped my new gears to me and once the incorrectly ordered ones got to them they called me right up and sent me a refund. I'm very happy dealing with them.

You have to grind the teeth down on 4.56 and numerically higher gears with the 8.25 or you won't be able to get the cross shaft in or out, as its a c-clip axle that is a problem. One thing I like about the factory limited slip is that it has a smaller cross shaft, so there is a little less grinding. Still, this grinding of the ring gear and that its a c-clip axle is why I personally refuse to run a locker in the 8.25 when running 35's. I've also always had good luck with the factory trac-lok limited slips, plus they're easy to rebuild.

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And in the axle.
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I didn't take a picture apparently, but I also installed a Solid brand differential cover onto the 8.25 rear.

I got it finished up on Saturday, the day before the Spring Creek run with the chapter. I decided to test drive it and make sure it was good to go by running over to Trent's house to pick up my spare 35 and some spare 8.25 shafts. I then drove to another buddy's house in Firestone and bs'd with him for a bit about his Early Bronco project, and finally drove it down to Thornton to meet up with a friend and catch the Carnage on Larimer car show.

Spare tire "fits" in the back.
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Jeep in front of my friend's house in Firestone and ready to go to Spring Creek.
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Because I wasn't sure if I was going to need to trim more up front I removed my windshield washer bottle from under the front fender before Spring Creek. My trimming and bumpstopping turned out to be just right however and I was able to put it back in. I also decided that I like the spare tire sitting where it is so I'm going to make another cross bar/hi-lift mount for behind the back seat that will also have a support for the tire. I'll add better tie-downs and use my 3-point tire strap too.

After I got back from Spring Creek I decided to finally add some front tie-downs to my friend's trailer. I sold it to him a few years ago for pretty cheap with the understanding that I can use it pretty much as needed. I also try to do maintenance on it when I have it to help him out.
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This last Monday with my mom and baby (he's 21 :D ) brother in town we decided to load up into the Jeep and go up Rollins Pass, Jenny Creek, and most of Kingston Peak. My buddy Jim also came up and brought his 2 Polaris ATV's so my g/f and brother were able to take turns riding the extra ATV, at least until the one broke a control arm coming down from a very respectable jump. As usual I suck at taking pictures when on a trip so this is all I really have.

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We stopped at Ned's in Nederland for dinner and overall had a great day.

I have drill this weekend but its just our Family Day and only on Saturday. The plan for Sunday is to put my Warn winch back together (the gear housing was crudded up and wouldn't free-spool), install the winch into the bumper, spool up the synthetic rope, and wire that all up. Then I'm going to try to get that spare tire support made so I can lower fold down the back seat again to get better access to my tool bags and spare parts that are under it.

My buddy Nick made me a bit of custom bling for the winch install too.
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That looks sick man!!! I need to do more trimming to get 35s on my 5in Clayton. Awesome thread.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
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Bump stops make a big difference. This is the second rig I've built with a 4.5" lift and 35's. In the back I just beat the lip in and hammer out the fender to open it up as much as possible. It moves really easily with a mini-sledge. My door gap is actually smaller between the rear door and the fender. Up front I just used the stock flare as the guide for my plasma cutter. I've then got 6 hockey pucks glued and taped together inside the coils as front bumpstop extensions and out back I've got a 2" bumpstop on a set of dirtbound u-bolt plates. It still flexes and rides good but I'm not all in the fenders flexed out and I'm not having to make drastic body mods to clear either.
 
Bump stops make a big difference. This is the second rig I've built with a 4.5" lift and 35's. In the back I just beat the lip in and hammer out the fender to open it up as much as possible. It moves really easily with a mini-sledge. My door gap is actually smaller between the rear door and the fender. Up front I just used the stock flare as the guide for my plasma cutter. I've then got 6 hockey pucks glued and taped together inside the coils as front bumpstop extensions and out back I've got a 2" bumpstop on a set of dirtbound u-bolt plates. It still flexes and rides good but I'm not all in the fenders flexed out and I'm not having to make drastic body mods to clear either.
Ya I was gonna cut along the same line as you mentioned but just can't decide on if I wanna go a little higher for 37s or not. But the stance on yours is great. Alot of things you did are similar to what I have planned for mine.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
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That's your Christmas card right there, man!
 
Finished up the winch install today. I started on this last weekend but ran out of time and got annoyed with it. Now that its done though I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I started out having to take the gear housing apart on the Warn winch. This was a nearly new and free to me winch but it was so crudded up inside from sitting outside it didn't want to work. You couldn't turn the free spool lever at all and it took a few presses of the switch before it would spin. I took it all apart, cleaned it all up, and greased/oiled everything. It works good now, but the free spool still wants to hang up so I might take it back apart and hit it with some emery cloth to remove the last of the corrosion in there. The winch itself works though so I'm not too worried about it.

After all that was done I began by cutting out the front cross-member.
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I also had to bend over the flange on the inside of the passenger side frame rail. This was because the winch mount was offset for an XRC8 or some other winch that my buddy was running when he designed it.

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As you can see, with the Warn XD9000 there is enough room between it and the steering box that it probably could've been mounted centered.

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I then used one of those light bar mounts to attach the solenoid box to the bar. I'll eventually order another one and then run cubes on either side instead of the short bar I was going to run.

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If a rock gets up under the bumper in a manner that it would hurt the winch rope I'm sure I'll have other issues.
 
Like from hitting a rock with the front of the bumper? I'm not too worried about that either. The bumper itself sticks out less than the OE bumper did, so I've got a pretty darned good approach angle for only being on 35's and not having stretched the wheelbase any. Also, there aren't a lot of trails I'll be taking this thing on that I have to worry about that. Spring Creek and Holy Cross are probably the hardest trails this thing will ever see.
 
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