My XJ build thread

[dantheman!]

Hi there, im Dan.

Picked up my 92 Limited 2 weeks ago to be an offroad toy. wanted to build a cheap but capable rig. All my friends had kids and sold their sports cars and got jeeps. Still have the GTO's as well but i wanted to hang out with my friends. been playing offroad for 10+ years with my friends but never owned one of my own. So away we go!

1992 Limited
AW4 4x4
hp D30 and a D35
Leather, power everything(all works!), sunroof.
115k miles.

beginning goals are to keep the spend under 6k and have a competent little wheeler and hopefully keep up with all my friends JK's with 35s. Want to teach my wife the joys of offroading as well. She is a gearhead as well so she was all about starting another build.

Here she (and i) are after purchasing it for 2k.

Brought it home to show the wife then immediately took it out to make sure everything worked and there werent any weird issues.



The stock sealed beam headlights were garbage, replaced them with the rampage H4 conversion off amazon. Fan shroud was cracked so that got swapped today. Ordered some louvers for the hood to keep the underhood temps down when crawling.

So the tires make the rig, ordered the 33x12.50r15 MTRs for it (amazon had them for 222+tax with prime shipping and they took 2 days to get here). Rims are the JEGs brand 15x8 D window with a 3.75 backspacing. Going to paint them gold as a small homage to the stock mesh wheels.
(forgive the hobbit feet)



Going to need a BIT of trimming haha

Ordering the Rusty's 4.5in long arm kit on wednesday as well as their rock sliders. Hopefully have it on in a few weeks. Also a derale trans cooler is on the list since the trans got a BIT warm on tuesday morning when i took it back out to play on these terrible street tires again. wasnt happy shifting for a bit but once it cooled down it was fine. Fluid flush and a cooler and ill do some more testing.

Looking forward to sharing more pics as the weeks/months go on. We are planning a trip in the beginning of feb to Hidden Falls so im hoping to have it sorted and take it out there.

[Yeti87]

Looking forward to watching your progress! Welcome to the jeep club, be careful with that d35.

[dantheman!]

Thanks! Yea I'm already looking around for an 8.8 to throw in.

[RoyalXJ]

Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to seeing your build.

[planewrench]

Originally Posted by dantheman!

Thanks! Yea I'm already looking around for an 8.8 to throw in.

When you get that axle, (get one with disc brakes), try to get the companion flange off the donor vehicle's driveshaft. You can use that and a 1310/1330 conversion U joint (Google it) to bolt up to a stock type 1310 driveshaft. No expensive pinion yoke to purchase that way, and no worry about resetting pinion bearing preload (if you're not gonna tear it apart anyway). You still may need to play with driveshaft length. Get RuffStuff spring perches for $35.00. You can use your old shock mounts. You can re-use your e-brake cables by forming a loop at the end with cable clamps... hardware store. This will save quite a bit of coin over an "install kit".

[N20Jeep]

welcome. off to a good start

[planewrench]

Originally Posted by N20Jeep

welcome. off to a good start

I just read your entire build thread the other day and all I can say is "wow!"
Amazing skill and great Jeep.

[Bstew_]

Originally Posted by planewrench

I just read your entire build thread the other day and all I can say is "wow!"

Amazing skill and great Jeep.

His jeep is one to idle! The fact it's not a trailer queen is pure awesomeness.

[LilRhodyXJ]

Dantheman! Others might say otherwise but I see you want to flush the tranny and my recommendation is just to drain it before you put in the cooler with a new gasket, don't flush it. Old trannys get used to the slop and can run shifty if fully flushed, it's less of a risk to just drain it out.

My two pennies. Nice start though!

[dantheman!]

Wasn't going to flush it, but drop the pan and swap filter and throw new fluid in.

Headed to the junkyard to find an 8.8 today.

[SuperB60ce]

Originally Posted by dantheman!

Wasn't going to flush it, but drop the pan and swap filter and throw new fluid in.

Headed to the junkyard to find an 8.8 today.

The "filter" in an AW4 is nothing more than a mesh metal screen....the minute you shut off the engine, the trans flushes back thru the "filter". Just do a drain and fill and forget it.

[dantheman!]

Roger that!

Picked up an 8.8 today. Disc brakes, 3.73 with limited slip. Car showed 165k on the chassis.

A friend has a tj 3.73 d30 thats on his shop floor. So we are going to trade my 3.55 d30 for it since he was going to regear to 4.88 anyway. Score.

Ordering the lift Wednesday. Rest of the wheels showed up today. Excited to start turning wrenches and get this thing sorted.

[RoyalXJ]

Stay away from the TJ dana 30. It's a low pinion axle. Only good for anchoring ships.

[IslanderOffRoad]

Welcome.

I see you're in Houston. Come say hi in the red river chapter if you haven't already

[planewrench]

Originally Posted by RoyalXJ

Stay away from the TJ dana 30. It's a low pinion axle. Only good for anchoring ships.

And you're not gonna be happy with 3.73s and those new tires anyway.