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Well decided to put up my build over here, the big one I had on Cherokeeforum is starting to peter out a little bit and hoping to to get some more useful commentary from over here as well.
Well anyways, the direction im planning on going with it has changed drastically in the past month or so now is as good a time as any to make a new one, but anyways lets start from the beginning.
I bought my Jeep just over a year ago now in April 09. It was an 01 with like 50,000 miles on it and it was on its second owner, looked in pretty good shape. I ended up walking away with it for $5400 not a terrible deal in my opinion. After bombing it through the woods that very same day it got home to look like this.
Started wheeling some extreme trails right away
Sat the same way till I picked up a Rough Country 3in Series II and some new 31's a couple month's later.
I saved up for a few weeks and bought myself an Aussie locker for my rear axle. Went to test it the next day.
A few days later I sideswiped some tress and broke the flares and bumper endcaps off. The paint was really scratched so I decided to paint it flat tan. While I was at I bought some Bushwackers and trimmed the fenders.
Before
After
Money got tight over the winter. Still managed to pick up a Warrior Products front bumper and some used soft 8's.
Went back to working full time around February, bought a gas tank skid, JCR tire carrier and some 1.5" lift shackles.
Last pic of the Jeep on 31's.
Picked these up brand new for half price a few days later. Mounted them on a friends machine and balanced them with 0.25 airsoft bb's.
Looked like this after the new tires.
Then I wheeled it some more.
Right afterward I swapped in a High Pinion D30, ZJ rear disks and a ZJ proportioning valve. Stops better than it did stock now and no more
replacing brake shoes every 5,000 miles due to dirt.
In early April I went to Rausch Creek for the weekend, met a couple of the guys on here and had a blast. Was a great trip and i'm definitely going back ASAP. Learned alot about what my Jeep needs too.
Haven't done any mods since then though, had a bit of a career change so I haven't been putting as many of my paychecks into the direct deposit slot on my Jeeps dashboard.
Im getting back to the point where im working on it again, as of now its sitting in my garage with no seats, carpets or interior panels. Im gonna bedline the floors and spray paint all of the bare metal inside and im gonna be leaving all the plastic paneling besides the dash and door panels off, the stripped bare look has been growing on me.
The future:
-Finally install the 4.88 gears sitting in my garage.
-Cut the rockers out and weld my old KOR rock sliders in their place.
-Beef up my rear bumper mounts, cracked and stretched the stock ones.
-Full length Frame stiffeners (Thinking about these http://www.rocdogfab.com/index.php?p...mart&Itemid=59 )
-Eaton E-Locker or OX Rear Locker (Replace Aussie), leaving the front open to eliminate breakage.
-Alloy Shafts front and rear
-HD SYE w/ Front Shaft or cut down a junkyard driveshaft out of an old Chevy truck.
-Belly and Oil Pan Skid
-Racing Seats in front, 1 short back bucket seat in the rear and weld plate over the rest of the floor to make storage boxes.
-Remove Bashwackers, run flareless with fender armor. Maybe JCR corners in back and weld some 3/16th over the fronts.
-Bedline entire exterior, maybe ill get red doors and a red hood.
-Buy my own welder so I dont have to keep begging other people to weld stuff for me.
Basically my entire goal is to build as rugged and capable a vehicle I can but still keep it street drivable since its highly unlikely i'll ever have a tow rig, comfort and looks aren't really of any concern to me anymore though.
I've been thinking for a while I'd like to take it out to Moab, maybe next summer if everything is all finished. I'd like to go out that way and drive around since i'm considering moving out that way after i'm done with college. Also after seeing the one episode of top gear with the cheap 4x4's in the Amazon its a dream of mine to go and explore down that way, not necessarily extreme offroading but just sightseeing and rugged roads. So for any sort of a trip like that reliability and strength is another must.
Well that's about it, if you ended up reading all of that and have any further ideas or suggestions let me know, I'm definitely not an expert with this and like to learn about stuff other people have done. Thanks.
Well anyways, the direction im planning on going with it has changed drastically in the past month or so now is as good a time as any to make a new one, but anyways lets start from the beginning.
I bought my Jeep just over a year ago now in April 09. It was an 01 with like 50,000 miles on it and it was on its second owner, looked in pretty good shape. I ended up walking away with it for $5400 not a terrible deal in my opinion. After bombing it through the woods that very same day it got home to look like this.
Started wheeling some extreme trails right away
Sat the same way till I picked up a Rough Country 3in Series II and some new 31's a couple month's later.
I saved up for a few weeks and bought myself an Aussie locker for my rear axle. Went to test it the next day.
A few days later I sideswiped some tress and broke the flares and bumper endcaps off. The paint was really scratched so I decided to paint it flat tan. While I was at I bought some Bushwackers and trimmed the fenders.
Before
After
Money got tight over the winter. Still managed to pick up a Warrior Products front bumper and some used soft 8's.
Went back to working full time around February, bought a gas tank skid, JCR tire carrier and some 1.5" lift shackles.
Last pic of the Jeep on 31's.
Picked these up brand new for half price a few days later. Mounted them on a friends machine and balanced them with 0.25 airsoft bb's.
Looked like this after the new tires.
Then I wheeled it some more.
Right afterward I swapped in a High Pinion D30, ZJ rear disks and a ZJ proportioning valve. Stops better than it did stock now and no more
replacing brake shoes every 5,000 miles due to dirt.
In early April I went to Rausch Creek for the weekend, met a couple of the guys on here and had a blast. Was a great trip and i'm definitely going back ASAP. Learned alot about what my Jeep needs too.
Haven't done any mods since then though, had a bit of a career change so I haven't been putting as many of my paychecks into the direct deposit slot on my Jeeps dashboard.
Im getting back to the point where im working on it again, as of now its sitting in my garage with no seats, carpets or interior panels. Im gonna bedline the floors and spray paint all of the bare metal inside and im gonna be leaving all the plastic paneling besides the dash and door panels off, the stripped bare look has been growing on me.
The future:
-Finally install the 4.88 gears sitting in my garage.
-Cut the rockers out and weld my old KOR rock sliders in their place.
-Beef up my rear bumper mounts, cracked and stretched the stock ones.
-Full length Frame stiffeners (Thinking about these http://www.rocdogfab.com/index.php?p...mart&Itemid=59 )
-Eaton E-Locker or OX Rear Locker (Replace Aussie), leaving the front open to eliminate breakage.
-Alloy Shafts front and rear
-HD SYE w/ Front Shaft or cut down a junkyard driveshaft out of an old Chevy truck.
-Belly and Oil Pan Skid
-Racing Seats in front, 1 short back bucket seat in the rear and weld plate over the rest of the floor to make storage boxes.
-Remove Bashwackers, run flareless with fender armor. Maybe JCR corners in back and weld some 3/16th over the fronts.
-Bedline entire exterior, maybe ill get red doors and a red hood.
-Buy my own welder so I dont have to keep begging other people to weld stuff for me.
Basically my entire goal is to build as rugged and capable a vehicle I can but still keep it street drivable since its highly unlikely i'll ever have a tow rig, comfort and looks aren't really of any concern to me anymore though.
I've been thinking for a while I'd like to take it out to Moab, maybe next summer if everything is all finished. I'd like to go out that way and drive around since i'm considering moving out that way after i'm done with college. Also after seeing the one episode of top gear with the cheap 4x4's in the Amazon its a dream of mine to go and explore down that way, not necessarily extreme offroading but just sightseeing and rugged roads. So for any sort of a trip like that reliability and strength is another must.
Well that's about it, if you ended up reading all of that and have any further ideas or suggestions let me know, I'm definitely not an expert with this and like to learn about stuff other people have done. Thanks.
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