CheapCherokee's all purpose MJ Build

[boots4]

Why not extend the plate past the bottom of the uni-body rail and use it as the spring hanger? It would be pretty strong. Would it be the wrong width? Not trying to be smart, just a question.

 

[cheapcherokee93]

Why not extend the plate past the bottom of the uni-body rail and use it as the spring hanger? It would be pretty strong. Would it be the wrong width? Not trying to be smart, just a question.

wow, never though of doing this. good idea, but too late now as i've already welded on the spring hanger.

i think i still would have gone this route, as its already the correct width and size hole etc. all i had to do was position it right, and measure a bunch of times to make sure i got it in the right spot and then burn it on. the stiffy's will go on next, but not until wednesday because i have work and have school tomorrow so theres no time. looks like i'll get to use the plasma my dad bought recently looks like I'm just a days work from being drivable

 

[Explorer 1]

Look'n good, get that thing ready so you can hit the trail with us Nov. 4,5, &6th.

By the way don't forget your other part-time job of helping us part out and sell Jason's XJ!

Thanks,
Fred
Explorer 1

 

[cheapcherokee93]

well i finished fixing the frame rail. no pics as of now but i will get some soon. after that i found out that my rear drums were not even working, so i got new wheel cylinders and shoes for it. now I'm replacing the front brakes because the rotors are warped as you can feel the pedal pulsating when you stop. but the best thing off all happened today......





IT PASSED SMOG

arty:


now i can officially wrap up the registration process and get the real plates for this thing now that the biggest major hurdle is over, i can focus more on fixing odds and ends, like the floor boards and rocker panels and such. what a big relief.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Not MJ specific, but here's a neat camper/tent idea http://slo.craigslist.org/cto/2583548290.html

 

[cheapcherokee93]

update

first things first, i did finish fixing the frame rail. shot it with duplicator undercoating. can hardly tell it was repaired:

next, i've pulled the carpet and discovered the extent of the rusted out floor. this is pretty much it:

i've found replacement panels online but I'm hoping to find a rust free MJ in the JY and use that to save some coin.


i've also cut out the rusted part of the rocker panels. planning to cut out replacements from an XJ or MJ from the JY soon.

other side isn't as bad.

while in auto body class at Cerritos, i decided to start sanding the clear coat off the roof. i think i'll buy primer, base coat, clear, etc and do the roof, rocker panels, fender flares, and drivers side A pillar and fender that was damaged by the PO

so thats what's coming up with the MJ. here's a few shots of how she sits

also notice, I'm now officially CA licensed :greensmok

and FINALLY, heres some goodies being sent off to Rob at rwkhaussupply

this Dana 30 will be getting 4.10s and a detroit locker still on the hunt for a 4.10 ford 8.8 for the rear, crossing my fingers for half off sale this weekend

 

[xj dreamin]

how much is rob quoting you for the install? pm me if you'd like. you going to ecology this weekend?

 

[cheapcherokee93]

$125 labor and $75 install kit...so a $200 job, but you don't have to go with a full install kit. I also provided the locker and gears, but he sells those also.

And yes, I'm hitting up ecology either saturday or Sunday

 

[cheapcherokee93]

making some head way on this build

i used it the haul off a cut up XJ carcass to the scrap yard. only weighed in at 850 lbs and my rear springs were really close the the bumpstops. I'm not liking the old saggy leafs.

now for my axles. i did find a 4.10 open 8.8 w/discs on half day, so i'll be rocking the 8.8 soon enough arty:


ordered SOLID diff covers and put 'em on, they look so prettyful

and now begins the fun of putting the new one in....

ordered new brake parts for the 98 unit bearings that I'm using, thanks chasdb for the knuckles, calipers and spare unit bearings!

today i started removing the old front axle. got this far in just 2 hours working alone, against rusty east coast bolts

 

[xj dreamin]

lol, i was going to grab that axle that day because it was the only 410 axle around. I wanted an ls 410 so i left it

 

[cheapcherokee93]

well thank you kind sir :worship: i just wanted 4.10 at all lol. hardly see 4.10s especially on half day so i wasn't gonna be picky. figure i can throw a lunch box locker in it which i couldn't do on the LS, which would probably be worn out anyways. but until then, its an open rear end i will run

EDIT: just realized, were you the one that pulled the cover on it??? there was a nice oily mess that was left there for me. ya know you can check for LS by the door tag right?

 

[xj dreamin]

lol, i didn't do that. if go check for expo axles i always check the door tag only.

 

[praetorian]

Glad to see your rig's still making progress.

 

[cheapcherokee93]

alright, well i have some updates but hardly any pics

got back today from a 3 day wheeling trip across the Mojave Road. the past weeks i was scrambling to get the 30 and 8.8 in so i could go on the trip, and i did get it finished in time. being in a rush i didn't really think about taking pics so you can only see the finished (for now) product. not many pics were taken on the trip, but heres just one of what it looked like after:

you may notice a little lift now

basically i had some 3" lift coils and shocks lying around, so i figured i'd put them in while i had the front end apart. for the saggy rear leafs, i made a bastard pack out of junkyard F150 leafs and they seem to work pretty good! brought the rear up and now it doesn't sag as much with a load. i'll go more into detail on the 8.8 swap later but i will say that the 8.8 worked great and i actually love the 4.10 gearing on 29s

as for the trip, i was a little weary taking out a freshly installed suspension and axles, but i went for it anyway. the only suspension related problem i had was the rear shocks ended up being too long (because the ruffstuff simple swap kit brackets bring them up from stock) and i lost a lower shock bolt because i forgot to use lock washers. doh! plus, one shock bushing was toasted so bad that on any rough hit, the bushing was useless and you would hear a harsh metal to metal clanking. took a while to figure this out, but with some new shocks it wont be a problem anymore.

now after camping and wheeling the MJ for the first times here are my comments concerns:

gear

while it is nice that vs. an XJ i have more storage, it is kind of a pain to have to tie everything up after every time i need to get something out of there (IE stopping for lunch on the trail). i think a camper shell would be awesome for this, since i could just throw stuff in the back and go and not have to worry about losing my gear on the trail. perhaps i could also come up with an easier way to secure things, but with only 4 stock tie down spots on the MJ my options seem limited. then i also question whether on tighter more tough trails if the shell would get in the way and get damaged (since it is just fiberglass). or maybe I'm over thinking this since i could just take the shell off on these tougher trail runs.

sleeping

while i have thought about sleeping in the bed, this trip kind of discouraged me from doing so. while we aren't always in harsh weather, this trip we encountered rain and snow and unless i have a camper shell, getting decent shelter over the bed would be a challenge. so that leaves me the option of pitching a tent. yeah, its not always fun especially in the rain. I really like the roof top tents and there are a couple guys in our group who have them mounted in the bed, so thats an option I'm considering; only problem is finding one reasonably priced. the flipac camper looks awesome, and i'd get the best of both worlds with the camper shell AND tent, but they look very pricey and hard to find so i don't think that will be an option for me. something I've thought about is maybe having a camper shell, and mounting the Roof top tent on top of it? but then comes the question of how to secure it. do i make a lumber rack type deal and wrap tube on the outside of the shell up to the tent and secure it , or do i try to make some internal cage deal and tie it into the cab while I'm at it? hmmmm decisions decisions.... obviously i have tons of time to figure it out so its not that big a deal right now lol

suspension

no real complaints here for now, except i wonder how it would have handled had i had good, correct length shocks in the back. i do get a vibration at freeway speeds, I'm already looking into wheel balance and alignment and making sure every things tights and blah blah blah. i do also get a little wobble and sometimes death wobble on bad roads at high speeds. i think its my alignment, as i just used a tape measure and kinda sorta guessed on the caster adjustment (hey i was in a hurry, give me a break). the suspension now is OK as it went though everything i pushed it through, but i would LOVE to make it better. eventually i want to be running deaver jeepspeed coils, bilstein 7100s, air bumps, long arms, currie steering, and some decent double shear track bar. for the rear, custom deaver leaf springs, air bumps and 7100s through the bed. if i ever do get to that point, i'll be curious to find out how i manage to do all that and still retain the versatility and camp-ability of the truck.


traction

the whole trip i seemed to do just fine, i would use 2wd everywhere i could, only pulling it into 4 when i couldn't make it through something (only used it like 3 times). BUT the main issues came towards the end in the sand. we did sand and deep sand in parts during the whole trip, and it would do fine in 2 as long as i kept it going. well in this end part i just kept on bogging down and down, couldn't say on top of the sand. i never got stuck but i would have to use 4 wheel from time to time to keep from getting stuck (keep in mind i have a detroit locker up front). it seemed like no matter what i did i would always end up bogging down. sometimes i would find traction and pick up speed but this was short-lived and i would just bog down again. tried airing down the rear tires more and that didn't help. tried staying in other people ruts vs new sand and that didn't help either. there was even a bone stock XJ fully loaded on low tread street tires that was able to get around better than me. i dunno, i don't get why it was fine before but crappy later. i had my foot in it both times lol. I'm going to be looking over the whole truck soon just to make sure everything is cool or discover any new problems.


engine

now for the biggest of my problems. its hard to explain so i'll try to make it simple. basically i get oil seeping out of every hole from the valve cover, as in the oil fil cap, where the vent line comes out and goes to the intake manifold, and where the tube goes from the valve cover to the intake box. i had never really driven it on the highway long enough to see it do that, so this is a surprise for me. i've been thinking that its either rings, or something holding the oil back from dripping down the head and block. i want to think its the later of the two since i don't seem to have lost any compression and still have great power, but who knows. a compression test should figure that out (which i'll be doing soon). but anyways, i went through so much oil on the trip (over 5 quarts) so i really want to get this fixed and its now at the top of my priority list. I'm very tired of leaking and burning oil everywhere (it hits the exhaust pipe, not burning internally).

well, thats all I'm going to rant about for now. overall i still love wheeling the MJ

 

[boots4]

http://www.softopper.com/Softopper_Model__TN73C-details.aspx?TruckDetails=1986-1992%20Jeep%20Comanche%2073%20inches

I kinda like this camper shell. I don't actually have one but would like to eventually get one. You can put it up/ down in like a minute.

http://www.comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=25155&hilit=soft+topper

 

[cheapcherokee93]

thats a pretty cool shell, although now I'm leaning more towards a hard camper shell. i'm looking into this: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/pts/2687549262.html

i'll be going up north after thanksgiving so i'll be in the area. for the price i may just bring it home and see if it fits, but looking at the measurements it may be a little long. i'm curious how that pop up tent works, does it just go up leaving a canvas extension or does it have have some sort of platform to sleep on? i've never seen them before but for $75 i think its worth looking in to.

EDIT: upon a google search it looks like its a wildernest tent camper :http://www.tacomaworld.com/gallery/data/500/medium/IMG_01624.JPG
measured again and i think it will fit i can't pass this up

 

[cheapcherokee93]

Lookie what I picked up today

More later....

 

[Johnnie Walker]

With a locker out back, you should be able to do more in 2wd

 

[karstic]

Score on the Wildernest.

 

[moneypit_k5]

I bet your oil problem is coming form a plugged crankcase vent.... check em.