98 DD/Weekend Bruiser

[Dozor]

Ok so ive been around Cherokees for a while and I haven't really posted much, so before I get to much into this build id like to give you guys a little back round of where I started with my Cherokee madness. ill start with my first Cherokee which is pretty much a pavement hater these days..

In January of 06 I purchased my first 01 Cherokee bone stock, started with a little budget boost and 31s and didn't know shit about what I was doing or what I should do but eventually I got it built with a 4.5" lift and 33s


had some fun!


then I went to rausch for my first real wheeling trip and broke my leaf springs... such a noob!


found some ford axles 44open and 60locked and some bald 35ish at's did some armor



then I found some 37s and that's pretty much how it sits now and till I have enough money to actually finish it the right way it will be this way for a while, hoping at some point to build some sort of long/mid 3 link for the front, would also like to build a hybrid cage, hydro assist and some 39s and rcv's

[Dozor]

Ok so now onto the subject at hand, I love my jeep but honestly I wanted something more practical for daily driving with good "road manners" but could also go out and beat the piss out of it every once in a while and still be able to drive it home at the end of the day, so this past winter I picked up a 98 cherokee from dexter, some of you may know him by (murdered out manche) stock height, trimmed with 31s a dana35 with a bad pinion and cooling issues. Replaced the radiator with a csf 3 row a new heater core and hoses and flushed as much rust as I could out of the block. Picked up an 8.8 with 4.10s, limited slip, and disc brakes from the local u-pull bought some 1.5" shackles for the rear, between the axle diameter and new perches I gained about 2" and just through some 2" spacers up front. I was lucky enough to have a friend find me a 4.10 front axle to match the rear, and an even better friend that let me barrow some 33s for a little while..


then I got some of my own 33s on my moabs, plated the front bumper with 1/8th inch plate, d-ring mount, reinforced the mount and plated the lower axle mounts

[Dozor]

Been busy with this project lately so i guess its time for a little update. I didnt mind the flare-less look but ive been recently looking at jobs out of state and figure it wouldnt be a bad idea to prepare for what ever fender laws i might run into, plus its nice not having my side windows covered in salt during winter.
Besides after market flares being expensive i dont really like how most of them are wider then the tires and i thought about using some tj flares but i had the stock flares from the white jeep still laying around and after looking at them i figured out a way to reattach them and still have a decent amount of clearance..
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here you can see how i attached the front flares, the rears were attached the same way but they were a pain in the ass to get on.
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test flexed to check clearance and nothing hits anywhere, also put extended bumpstops up front
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and im finally almost finished with mounting up my dirtbound diy cut and fold rear bumper

[Luke95]

Sweet builds man!

[Chaos]

I'm really liking how it looks with the stock flares back on. Since nobody wants mine, I think I might try to reuse mine as well.

[Dozor]

So i finally got some pics with the bumper actually finished finally. Im pretty happy with how it turned out.
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I also desided it was a good time to have a little fun
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[murdered out manche]

looks bitchin..... wanna sell it??

[Dozor]

thanx! and nah i like it to much, sorry..

[Ruepart Hoaxley]

Looks good. This is the one you had at the meet and greet right?

[Dozor]

Looks good. This is the one you had at the meet and greet right?

thanks! yes sir!

[Dozor]

well i guess i could throw a little update in here.. i got a cheap 20" light bar from amazon to mount on the front bumper, it was only about 111 dollars shipped so i figured what the hell ill throw it on there and if it breaks ill get a blacknight to put on.



i also put in some 3" front coils and added an extra rear main to level it out in the rear, along with a clayton track bar and bracket kit. i mounted the plate to the bumper all fancy like with stainless fasteners and im hoping its over enough to clear a fairlead when i mount a winch behind the front cross member.



i finally desided that i would build my own mid arm 3 link so i ordered all this stuff...




I am still waiting on my artec truss and inner c gussets, im thinking i will probably make my own front stiffeners out of 1/8th inch plate, and at the same time build a new front cross member for the winch to set in. then i will just have to deal with the rear shocks, steering and an sye

[Dozor]

Got the body side stuff done this weekend, being my only dd i couldnt really afford to put it in hover mode. Mid stiffeners and 3 link mount brackets are done so hopefully next weekend or the weekend after i can get the artec truss on and the links built.

[Dozor]

A couple long weekends of wrenching and my 3 link is done! everything turned out as good as i hoped it would if not better. Now i just need to get some kind of steering figured out and an sye for the rear and should be good for a while..

i started by cutting the upper bracket off and getting the truss in so i could get the upper length figured out then just measured the for the bottom ones with it sitting on the ground at ride height

http://[URL=http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/coco_man77/media/2014-03-08_15-00-28_540_zps271b4dd4.jpg.html][/URL]

after getting all the arms in i set it down at ride height and set the caster, dont mind the stock brake hoses... dexter stopped and picked me up some yj brake hoses and i extended and routed all new lines, including deleting all the abs bull shit.

http://[URL=http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/coco_man77/media/2014-03-09_14-48-19_364_zps730acedf.jpg.html][/URL]







first thing i did when i got done with it was take it up a real shitty road at about 60 and i have no abnormal wobbles or shakes, its still hard for me to tell but it doesnt seem like it rides any rougher hitting bumps with rodends then it did with the bushings, seems to ride stockish if not better!

[crosbike]

I like it.

[Dozor]

Its been a little bit sense i have done an update so here goes! shortly after the mid arm build i found out the stock steering was starting to show its weekness and after a long debate of weather i wanted the currie currect lync or the 1 ton steering i ended up ordered the currie ultimate steering from savvy offroad, im happy with it so fave and its stood up to the abuse i have put it through thus far..

April 26-27th a group of us made the trek down to Rausch for a weekend of thrashing and im pretty happy with the over all performance of how she did, only major issue was the transmission cross member but thats to be expected running 3.5" inches of lift.

http://[URL=http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/coco_man77/media/2014-04-26_10-53-51_655_zps4b2f934b.jpg.html][/URL]

















This last weekend i finally got around to getting he crossmember built, im pretty happy with how it turned out and i got it fairly flush with the bottom and i plan to make some skids for the trans and transfercase.