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Back in an XJ: Building a mild 1998 Sport

Thanks. I try to put as much info out as I can. I know when I started on Jeeps 12 years ago I learned a lot from forums. Silly thing is I always wind up building bigger than I need, selling off, and starting over. This time I plan to keep this Jeep at this level as a family rig and build a separate buggy for the stuff the family has no desire to participate in.
 
Its been a while but I'm back to doing little things to the XJ. I gathered up some parts over the last few months and am slowly putting them on the Jeep.

2 weeks ago I installed my Tomken fuel tank skid that took way to long to show up. Install went pretty quick/simple. Its not the beefiest skid plate on the market but it is cheap and stronger than a factory skid. As my XJ didn't even have one of those its a major improvement over what I had (or didn't have).
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I also got my led flood lights mounted up onto the front bumper. I haven't wired them in yet, but I wanted to get them on so that I could see how they looked where I wanted them.
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Then today I finally installed the Tomken sliders that I'd purchased "used" a few month back. I had to modify them a little bit as I have frame stiffeners. I just cut the mounting feet off the ends of the arms and welded them directly to the frame stiffeners. Eventually I plan to add 2 legs closer to the middle with a pinch seam tie-in spread between them both, that should keep them from buckling in the middle. As it is, they are kind of flimsy but were priced right for me.
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So that's that, I'm just doing a little bit here and there to keep improving on the mild trail rig. I've got some more parts taking up space in the garage that I'll get installed and then I need to build the tire mount for inside the hatch (it is still just leaned against the back seat and strapped down) and a rear bumper to match the front. I've got a tripped planned to run Chinaman and Holy Cross at the end of July, so I'll be trying to get that stuff done before then.
 
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Last week I finally got around to wiring up the LED lights. I used a wiring harness that had come with an LED light bar that I had left over from an ATV. I split the end of that harness and used GM Weatherpacks on the lights so that I could replace them individually as needed. I then drilled a 3/4" hole into the blank from the factory fog light switch to use the small switch that came with the harness. The harness itself includes a relay and gets battery power from positive terminal in front of the under hood fuse/relay panel. Nothing overly impressive or challenging, just a small step in getting the Jeep finished up.

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Did some work on the Jeep today in preparation for building a rear bumper. I added an upper tube to my “strut brace” that gets the spare tire off of the back seat. I also added the tie down points so I can use my old 3 point tire strap that’s just been collecting dust. Last thing to do is add some mounting points for the hi-lift jack that will attach to the main/lower tube.
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I also installed some cut/fold panels I got from the flop shop. To be honest I wish I’d gone with the Rusty’s ones. These try to be too fancy and makes fitment a PIA, even worse is they don’t come with instructions and my emails requesting some went unanswered. Still, they’re on and will work nicely with my bumper plans.
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I got the “strut brace” all finished up this morning. It holds the hi-lift up tight and out of the way and keeps the tire off of the seat so I can still fold it down to get to my spares, tools, and recovery gear. It also allows me to see halfway well around the tire in the rear view mirror.

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I got my bumper mounts made today, so tomorrow I'll be going back to a buddy's house to bend up some tube. I used 3 of the bottom "frame" rail bolts plus 3 of the stock bumper mounting bolts. I didn't use the outside bottom bolt holes because of interference with my shackle when flexing.

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I finally got the bumper all welded and painted tonight. Looks great in the dark LOL.

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When I did mine I made the receiver tie-in's as long as possible.
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Looks good Dutch. Very clean. Gonna do something with the exhaust now? Wheeled it much lately?

I went up to Moody/Crystal a little bit ago, but that's about it. As for the exhaust, I have no immediate plans to do anything. I do need to replace the exhaust manifold and the muffler as they're both cracked and leaking. Also, the tailpipe has no happy spot to sit in. Its either rubbing on the gas tank skid or on the shackle. So yeah, eventually the exhaust will be getting taken care of. First thing before Moab though is a roll cage.
 
Be care if your planning on using that rear bumper for recovery. You could easily end up like this one!
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Please don't compare your hack job of a stock front bumper turned into a "winch" bumper with anything on my rig. My rear bumper has 6 bolts per side attaching it to the jeep. 3 of which (per side) or the same "frame rail" bolts used by the hitch that I removed. A previous rear bumper of my design (using the same mounting points) was used to anchor an XJ to a tree as it winched a Ford Ranger back onto a trail. The effort causing the front suspension to be fully compressed and the rear of the XJ to be nearly a foot off of the ground. I designed and built both bumpers on that Jeep and had no failures as a result of that kind of strain. So again I ask, please don't pollute my thread with your hack job tech.
 
It's not mine, but what's likely for your with so little "anchorage"! Do have other pics of the backside of the bumper?
 
The tube welded to the plate for the clevis mounts has 2 gussets made of 3/16 to further tie it into the flat plate. I also placed the clevis tube on the bottom of the mounting plate and welded it to the forward section of angle. There are the 3 stock bumper mount bolts (minimal strength) and 3 5/8 grade 8 bolts going through the "frame rails" into the 1/4" thick angle. I also added a gusset on the back side to further tie that plate into the angle. The clevis mount itself is fully welded around the seam with the tube it goes into, and the tube that goes vertically from that to support the upper bumper tube was welded on after. I also drilled holes and added plug welds to further capture the clevis mounts. The two sides are tied together with the 1.5" x.120 wall tubing and the 16ga dimple died sheet metal is fully welded to the tubes. I also welded the ends of the top tube to the 3/16 plate cut and fold panels for the entire length that they meet up. Those are bolted into the body on both sides with about 5 bolts each into the inner fender well and floor structure of the jeep (not counting the 2 little bolts on the outside going into the side of the body). If this thing rips off its taking the back of the Jeep with it.

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It's not mine, but what's likely for your with so little "anchorage"! Do have other pics of the backside of the bumper?

Uh. He's got 6" of uniframe sandwiched between the bumper and his fuel tank skid. I think he'll be all right.

The example you posted had zero inches of uniframe sandwiched between nothing. Just bolted to the stock brackets. I'm surprised that dude didn't run over his own bumper after it fell off on the way to the trailhead.
 
After playing around with my new Willy's the last week or so I decided to get back to work on the XJ. I started out yesterday by gutting the interior a prep for installing a roll cage this coming weekend. Part of that included removing the poorly installed AMP and the extra 100ft of RCA cable and speaker wiring courtesy of Car Toys (as per the PO's receipts). I also replace the head unit adapter as it had cracked and soldered the radio adapter harness together now that I am using it for sound output instead of the RCA's. I also ordered Eastwood's 2:1 heat shield and sound deadening coating to try out while the interior is removed. Its similar to Lizard Skin, but you only need the one product and you can use a roller.
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Then today I finally did my rear disc brake swap and replaced the rear driveshaft with a new 2"x.120 wall one from Adam's Driveshafts. The splined section is way beefier than the stock front one I've been using. I'll be replacing the front with one as well and then have the two stock fronts as spares. For the disc brakes I'm using ZJ D44 units on my 8.25. I did have to open up the holes in the backing plates to fit over the tube, but my Dremel with a tungsten carbide bit made easy work of it. I then modified the rubber line bracket and welded a small bolt onto my axle as a mounting point. Rather than try to modify and reflare the stock brake line I just bought some assembled hard line from NAPA and bent it to fit. I still need to install my Durango master cylinder and modify my e-brake cables, but at least discs are installed and working. No more drums for this pig.
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Yesterday I swapped my master cylinder out for a 2000 Durango one that has a slightly larger bore. I haven't driven it far but the brakes seem to hold better in 4 low on my driveway than before the master cylinder swap.

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I've also been working on the roll cage the last 2 days. Its now ready for me to add the roof braces and then finish weld. I tweaked the kit a bit that of course resulted in more work for myself. The first thing I did was cut the tops of the b and c pillar tubes because they had them setup to go through the roof. They also only supplied the 4 main floor plates but since I wanted a plate underneath to tie into the frame I had to make a total of 12 plates and drill 48 holes into them for floor and roof plates. It was a lot of extra work but worth it for me. At the very least it made painting a lot easier.

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I also rotated the B pillar tubes differently than they had intended. This was to get the bottom part of the tube as far forward as possible to help with getting in and out of the back seat. I could have left it rotated correctly and done that but it but the bent in porting at the top right next to my head. So I spun the tube a bit and let it angle back. It actually works well as a handle/grab bar for getting in and out of the back too.

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