CarolinaCrawler
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- North Carolina
I've had a cherokee with a chopped top for a few years now and have had a lot of fun with it all over nc an tn.
About a year ago I had twins. We've always been a wheeling family, and I finely talked my wife into letting me take the twins riding when they turn 14 months old. That was the age I took our 4yr old wheeling for the first time. So after a little discussion with the better half, it was decided we needed a better ride for the family. One with windows, heat, air, and doors.
Enter the new project.
I bought this jeep about 2yrs ago off govdeals for 450$. It needed a fuel tank and pump. The only downside was it was 2wd. I didn't know that when I bought it but hey, it a cherokee. It was my primary parts runner and dd. I was changing the axles and transfer case so it kinda made sense (the major thing was I already had it).
My first stop was at RIDES of conover. I picked up some currie johnny joints with bungs and 2" .250 wall DOM. I also got a set of brandon's boatsides. I really like them because they are made of .250 plate, require no cutting, and double as a frame plate since they tie the "frame rails" with the body. They come with holes to nutsert or screw them on, but I welded them on.
I'm running a ford cast wedge d44 with 8 lug outers. I sleeved the factory ford radius arms with 2" .250 wall tubing. I cut the top and bottom of the tubing off and slid it on. Then I burned it in. Then I topped it all off with a bung and 1.25" currie johnny joint. I've never used these before, I've always used heims. Brandon at rides talked me into it since I'm going to drive it on the road a good little bit.
I welded link pockets to the boatsides. I had to weld tabs on the pockets because the whole in the pockets were 3/4" and I needed 9/16". It would have been better to get link pockets but the tabs only cost me 1.50$. All my brackets come from Mudpro Metalworks. Scotts a great guy to deal with. Then bolted it all together.
The front going in
Front done, starting on the back
The boatsides
The link pockets
The joints in the pockets
This is the semi finished product
The front axle was moved forward 3". I'm going to install 52" chevy leaf springs to stretch the rear 4". With that comes cutting the rear wheel tubs and fenders.
It has a hp d44 with a d60 rear. 4.5 to 5" lift. 38.5" sx tires. It has a 231 with a teralow 4.1 and tom woods hd sye. I have two tom woods driveshafts to go in it when the rear stretch goes in. Both axles are "miller" locked with 3.50 gears. Thank god for teralows! The next thing on the list is hydro assist and gears.
About a year ago I had twins. We've always been a wheeling family, and I finely talked my wife into letting me take the twins riding when they turn 14 months old. That was the age I took our 4yr old wheeling for the first time. So after a little discussion with the better half, it was decided we needed a better ride for the family. One with windows, heat, air, and doors.
Enter the new project.
I bought this jeep about 2yrs ago off govdeals for 450$. It needed a fuel tank and pump. The only downside was it was 2wd. I didn't know that when I bought it but hey, it a cherokee. It was my primary parts runner and dd. I was changing the axles and transfer case so it kinda made sense (the major thing was I already had it).
My first stop was at RIDES of conover. I picked up some currie johnny joints with bungs and 2" .250 wall DOM. I also got a set of brandon's boatsides. I really like them because they are made of .250 plate, require no cutting, and double as a frame plate since they tie the "frame rails" with the body. They come with holes to nutsert or screw them on, but I welded them on.
I'm running a ford cast wedge d44 with 8 lug outers. I sleeved the factory ford radius arms with 2" .250 wall tubing. I cut the top and bottom of the tubing off and slid it on. Then I burned it in. Then I topped it all off with a bung and 1.25" currie johnny joint. I've never used these before, I've always used heims. Brandon at rides talked me into it since I'm going to drive it on the road a good little bit.
I welded link pockets to the boatsides. I had to weld tabs on the pockets because the whole in the pockets were 3/4" and I needed 9/16". It would have been better to get link pockets but the tabs only cost me 1.50$. All my brackets come from Mudpro Metalworks. Scotts a great guy to deal with. Then bolted it all together.
The front going in
Front done, starting on the back
The boatsides
The link pockets
The joints in the pockets
This is the semi finished product
The front axle was moved forward 3". I'm going to install 52" chevy leaf springs to stretch the rear 4". With that comes cutting the rear wheel tubs and fenders.
It has a hp d44 with a d60 rear. 4.5 to 5" lift. 38.5" sx tires. It has a 231 with a teralow 4.1 and tom woods hd sye. I have two tom woods driveshafts to go in it when the rear stretch goes in. Both axles are "miller" locked with 3.50 gears. Thank god for teralows! The next thing on the list is hydro assist and gears.
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