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CheapCherokee's all purpose MJ Build

so...things have been going slow with the MJ

still slowly pecking away at that JCR bumper....fab work sucks at my place

but now im thinking about what to do after i finish the bumper. i have a plan in my head of parts i want to add but not sure which ones i should do first. to give you an idea of what im wanting to make this truck heres a list of stuff i plan to add at some point:

2x6 weld in rockers
bilstein 7100s up front
longer 7100s in the rear (thru the bed)
33x10.5 KM2s
front bumper of sorts
RE superflex arms (upper and lower)
3.5" deaver progressive coils
matching custom deaver pack in the rear
8.8 locker (probably spartan)
RADesigns baja shifter


and that would get my truck to a nice point where i could wheel it enjoyably for awhile. i dont want to regear again and i dont want to run 35s on 4.10s (and the d30 nonetheless), so i feel if i go past 33s i'll be treading into new front axle territory. i would want to design a custom 3 link and such which is why i dont mind investing in quality short arms now with the turdy. at only 3.5" lift short arms will perform fine.


so basically i have thought about redoing either the front or rear suspension. my current set up is as follows:

front

junkyard 3" coils of unknown brand (they are super soft = bad for speed)
rancho LCAs which are horribly thick and hit the LCA mount limiting my droop
stock UCAs
worn out BDS shocks


rear

MJ/F150 bastard pack. spring under, around 4" lift
8" bilstein 7100s


im leaning more towards doing the front since its more of a limiting factor. maybe get the control arms and deavers now, then save for the bilsteins. oh yeah, i would be building custom upper and lower shock mounts to fit the longer travel bilsteins up front. i was thinking the 12" short bodies would be a safe bet, but it'd be better to wait and measure when i get the control arms in and can cycle the suspension.


yeah, so rant over. opinions are welcome. i can't wait until i get the rear bumper finished btw
 
So I'm going smaller because I like how your truck sits. And now you're going bigger? :)
 
oldskool023 said:
so where about do u go wheeling? ur comanche looks alot like mine nice
Click to expand...

been to cleghorn a couple times recently.... mostly go to the sierras, cleghorn, and big bear on a regular basis.



so i have some updates!

did a night run on cleghorn:




the ruff stuff HIDs work amazing! tons of light, more than my buddies explorer with 3x the lights. only thing i regret is i got them both in spot beam, which works great but on trails i think a flood would be more useful for seeing around corners and stuff.


i've also installed upper and lower RE superflex adjustable control arms on the front of the rig. they are working just like i thought, giving me a good amount of short arm flex. now my shocks are limiting my droop haha.

the latest addition came from the past couple days of working on it. first i removed the front bumper, tow hooks, lights and grill so i could install a new transmission cooler since the old one had a slow seepage. after that i went to town and trimmed my fenders and in the process relocated the fender flare up higher on the fender. this was all done because through craigslist i got a sweet deal on 5 33x10.5 KM2s which were just begging to be mounted. so today i made it happen:





and then i framed out a couple night shots:







so far im very satisfied :D i could feel power took a slight hit, but it still feels very tolerable. in order to clear these tires on the control arms i had to add soem 1.5" wheel spacers, but other than that it looks like they are going to tuck in nicely.

Some updates on parts is in order. a while back i picked up a used older model JCR front bumper for the front of the jeep, with a similar basic design like the rear so i need to bolt that up. also i got lucky and scored an 8.8 aussie locker for pretty cheap so i'll be locked in the rear soon enough. the jeep should be very solid now! can't wait to wheel this setup and see how far it takes me
 
This is a great looking truck! I just sold my KM2s of the same size when I upgraded to larger tires. They worked just great, but it was time to move to a 12.50 for me. Keep the updates coming!
 
Since you already have the RS HID's pick up an LED light bar. Even a small bar should shed some light, so to speak.
 
so apparently im really bad at keeping a build thread...over 6 months and no updates :anon:

so a lot has happened since then

33s work pretty well.

wheeled the sequoia area
sherman 4x4 trail:





trip details here: http://fourwheelfriends.boards.net/thread/202/monache-meadows-august-2013

did another cleghorn night run:








and then i scored some more Expo friendly equipment.

started off by picking up a used roof top tent :greensmok

built a basic rack off the bed rails of the truck out of some angle iron and square tubing and tried her out on a casual camping trip






and lastly i aquired a used ARB fridge. no pictures of that setup yet, but its just mounted right behind the tent portion of the bed so i can still open the fridge all the way (the fridge is really tall). so needless to say multiple day off road trips are a little more enjoyable now :)


and then i was given a 350/th350 combo
and then i killed my bastard pack hauling it home


and of course i sold the engine/trans. don't worry, no carbed 350 chevy is coming near the engine bay of this thing.


At this time i also acquired a new friend for the MJ.

meet my $2000 ZJ, in the 5.9 flavor




all i've done is secured a proper grill and traded the custom plates for the correct wheels



Power is Fun :D
 
so with this new equipment i took the MJ out to the mojave road for some good ol fun. sadly i took no good pictures, but the over all trip can be read about here: http://fourwheelfriends.boards.net/thread/228/mojave-road-dec-6-2013?page=6

on the way there:


and the best part of the trip, SNOW!
IMG_3039_zps71483ddc.jpg


love having the fridge and tent already. its going to be very useful in the upcoming month (more and that later).

At this point i finally installed an Aussie locker in the rear 8.8 which i scored awhile ago for $120. now this thing REALLY hooks.

most recently i did a day trip through cleghorn with a facebook XJ group....took the whole day to shuffle all the rigs through cleghorn alone, but i still managed to have some fun







lastly, i was given a reese tow bar, minus the vehicle mounts. so i took care of that and tested out the tow bar with the Grand



not really planning to intentionally drag it anywhere, but more for in a pinch if i need to be towed home, and whatever else may come up.


so thats pretty much as current as it gets.





working on some more goodies, stay tuned :eyes:
 
Last edited:
Looks great! When are you going to finish those rockers? lol
 
max angle on those tow bars is 5 degrees, you could run into some serious issues if you exceed that (which you are). Jeep's looking great though! I'm jealous about the 5.9.
 
yeah get a drop hitch and put the ball in it upside down and run it flipped, that should help quite a bit with the angle.
 
xj dreamin said:
the mj looks great! did you install the bilsteins yet? what was wrong with the grand? you good a killer deal on it.
Click to expand...

its got them in the rear, fronts are close to going in. i've been accumulating some other stuff to go with it.

the Grand has a salvage title, slightly warped brake rotors, needed the steering wheel straightened, tires were kinda shot. i fixed the tire issue when i scored the correct wheels. other than that it hasnt needed much. i added a big trans cooler because they dont come with anything factory. The thing even came with current registration, i was very happy to pick it up for what i paid.

I even entertained the idea of making it my new off roader, after seeing how comfortable and powerful it is. I'm too far into the MJ to change it up now, plus i cant see myself beating on that thing like I do the MJ
 
some more bling for the MJ




to go along with them i bought what was advertised at 3.5" lift deaver coils



obviously thats more than 3.5" lol. im pretty sure they are still deavers (it has tighter wound coils on the bottom, indicating progressive rate right?) so im guessing they are custom or maybe 5.5" version.

the prothanes are the standard 8 ring versions. planning on cutting them down and then using the extra on the ZJ. the 7100s are 10" shortbodies, which if i measured right will work great using the stock ish shock mounting locations and using the prothanes as extended bumpstops. i originally was planning on fabricating an upper mount similar to the T&J jeepspeed mount and welding tabs for the lower mount, but im running short on time so for now i purchased the JKS shock conversions.

why am i running out of time you ask?

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/122037-Epic-Utah

i think you need an expo account to view that

if you cant read that, basically im doing a Utah expedition for 8 days, leaving on March 22nd. I am beyond excited but i still have to get the MJ fully ready. :rof:

my failing bastard pack isnt gonna hold up to the weight of the stuff this trip requires, so i'm talking with Deaver and going full baller status and having a custom leaf spring pack made with them :cool:

and as you see i'm trying to get my front end up to par as well. before i threw in those springs tonight i measured out my old ones and discovered they were only netting me 2" lift. yeah so they're pretty sagged out and a light spring rate to begin with. I'm not sure what im gonna do with front springs at this point, might wait til the rears are in and see how it compares :dunno:
 
Had a blast this past weekend:







Yes, that is at Hungry Valley SVRA. the mud pit is a little deeper than it usually is :anon:


fear not though, shut the engine off as soon as i realized water was over the hood. towed it out within 10 minutes, by then the water level was almost up to my gauge cluster in the cab :laugh:

first thing we did was pull the plugs and crank out the water. no coolant came out so that was a good sign

everything was soaking (duh) so of course we pulled the distributor cap and other stuff to dry. also pulled the carpet and seats right there and started to let them dry out.

put the now dried ignition stuff back together to see if there was a chance of it starting. couldnt get spark, and i was sure there was other stuff wrong so i had it towed home



got home around 5 PM. immediately started working on it.

water got in the fuel, and the fuel pump was not working. yanked it out and jumped it with some 12v. coughed up some watery gas and then quit.

also diagnosed a bad CPS (AC volt test)

ran to Orielly and got a fuel pump, CPS, cap, rotor, some other crap

new Precision Brand fuel pump was garbage and fit like crap, returned it on sunday for a refund. tried out the original Bosch again and what do you know, it fires right up! threw a new strainer on it and slapped it back in the tank.

Then we went through and cleaned EVERY electrical connection and ground. I have a spare ECU so i swapped that in too. the old one had water coming out of it lol.

and finally, last night she came back to life:





Now that i know she runs i can go through and replace all the milkshakey fluids





oh yeah, Jeeps dont make good boats
 
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