New XJ, looking for advice

[clean4drxj]

First and foremost get yourself a good hitch and front bumper or tow hooks,skids,and then go for the 8.25 (cheaper than a d44) and lock that. Last but not least.. go with longarms for flex and ride comfort.

 

[dsapper]

Have you shimmed the rear axle?
Maybe your drive shaft angles are off.
Possibly see if the front driveshaft is the problem.

Yes shimmed and measured by a reputable local 4x4 company, all angles were checked. Yeah, I'm thinking of pulling the front drive shaft, will it leak if i drive it without the shaft installed?

 

[dsapper]

First and foremost get yourself a good hitch and front bumper or tow hooks,skids,and then go for the 8.25 (cheaper than a d44) and lock that. Last but not least.. go with longarms for flex and ride comfort.

Got the new jcr front winch bumper and rear bumper with swing, jerry can and hi-lift,

Already have the 8.25, my mistake on what axle it was. Will get the tnt longarms and dual arb's installed next month, its all on order

 

[Chrisp929]

I read horror stories but hate to put 2k in a dana 44 with lockers in a jeep I paid 500 for.

Thanks!

:shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:

Thats highway robbery... you should be arrested for that ..
:sad1:

 

[shawnhancel]

if you plan on going on trips out to no where you really should replace your rustys track bar, mine broke a month ago turning into a parking spot at the bar. And look into a place for a spare tire. And FWIW my roof rack makes absolutely no noise but I have a gutter mounted style. Nice rig and good luck with the build!

oh yea, car-parts.com should help you find a Dana 44 near you.

 

[z06elmo]

$500 for a jeep like that is an outright steal man. good job. i'd estimate the jeep is worth around 3-4K easy.

I'd do a roof rack as well. i have a thule setup with a basket and there isn't any noise, gas mileage might suffer a bit.

lockers might not be required depending on the terrain.

 

[David_Bricker]

I'm sure there will be differing opinions, but I'd think long and hard before I changed out the stock cooling system. Radiator, perhaps, for an all aluminum 2 row, but keep the stock fan clutch system and electric fan, if equipped. If you don't have an electric fan (came with a/c), then get one for a junkyard, for year 97 or newer.

I went down the triple electric fan route (NOT Webdog's) and it failed miserably. We spent a boatload of time fighting cooling issues, and it was mostly resolved by going back to the stock setup. My Heep lives in Death Valley, so we've got you beat in the heat department by a little bit.

The only potential cooling upgrade is to use a fan clutch from a ZJ (not heavy duty). It locks up at a higher percentage of pulley speed. the downside is the Jeep will sound like a 737.

If you want the sordid details of all that we did to deal with desert cooling issues, let me know. I even have spreadsheets with thermal readouts of the various things we tried.

David Bricker / SYR

 

[David_Bricker]

Great choice on the ARB lockers. I have them, love them, and their service is absolutely second to none.

Just be sure to get the largest compressor ARB sells, and a third solenoid setup, so you can use the compressor to air up your tires.

David Bricker / SYR

 

[Mpeckham22]

Ok, some help please

I've had a shaking in the vehicle starting at 55mph and up, its loud and very annoying. The whole vehicle shakes and all the panels rattle. It shakes under throttle, off throttle and in neutral. There was no shaking at all with the stock lift.

could be your motor mounts. ive had that problem recently, new pair of mounts would fix it, i cant think anything else now that you have checked all that

 

[dsapper]

if you plan on going on trips out to no where you really should replace your rustys track bar, mine broke a month ago turning into a parking spot at the bar. And look into a place for a spare tire. And FWIW my roof rack makes absolutely no noise but I have a gutter mounted style. Nice rig and good luck with the build!

oh yea, car-parts.com should help you find a Dana 44 near you.

I got the jcr rear bumper with the tire carrier/hi lift carrier etc. Which rack do you have that doesnt cause noise? I'm skipping the Dana 44, my rear isn't as bad as I thought

 

[dsapper]

I'm sure there will be differing opinions, but I'd think long and hard before I changed out the stock cooling system. Radiator, perhaps, for an all aluminum 2 row, but keep the stock fan clutch system and electric fan, if equipped. If you don't have an electric fan (came with a/c), then get one for a junkyard, for year 97 or newer.

I went down the triple electric fan route (NOT Webdog's) and it failed miserably. We spent a boatload of time fighting cooling issues, and it was mostly resolved by going back to the stock setup. My Heep lives in Death Valley, so we've got you beat in the heat department by a little bit.

The only potential cooling upgrade is to use a fan clutch from a ZJ (not heavy duty). It locks up at a higher percentage of pulley speed. the downside is the Jeep will sound like a 737.

If you want the sordid details of all that we did to deal with desert cooling issues, let me know. I even have spreadsheets with thermal readouts of the various things we tried.

David Bricker / SYR

No staying with a stock fan but replaced it with a stock replacement. I got the high volume water pump, 180 high flow thermostat, 3 core radiator, ported thermostat housing and two huge vents in the hood.

 

[dsapper]

could be your motor mounts. ive had that problem recently, new pair of mounts would fix it, i cant think anything else now that you have checked all that

Thanks, The motor mounts look good. I would think the tranny mount first?! I guess I have to order a bunch more stuff and try it out (hubs, u-joints etc, bah)

 

[dsapper]

I'm going to try replacing the u-joints on the front drive shaft and 2 front axles. Which spicer's do you guys run? Its a stock front end/axles on a 1999 cherokee

 

[Ben824]

You can try and find a factory dana 44 from an early XJ (most seem to come from 87-88 that I have seen) and it will already be the right width and have all the proper spring perches and shock mounts already welded on. The only thing you will want to check for is if you have ABS brakes. Most late model XJs only came with a Dana 35 if they had ABS brakes. So if you switch to a chrysler 8.25 or dana 44 or Ford 8.8 you will need to ditch the ABS all together or come up with some creative fab work to keep your ABS which can be done I might add as some on here have done it.

You can add long arms to your current lift and many would advise doing it as it has better flex and a much better ride quality over short arms. I cheaper alternative would be control arm drop brackets which return ride quality and and give you a little bit better flex.

Lockers are always always always a good idea if you have the money. I don't think I have ever met a Jeep owner that didn't have lockers on their wishlist.

Racks can make noise depending on their construction. I looked at alot of different rack manufacturers and I finally landed on Kargomaster since they had the most aerodynamic design that wasn't just outrageously priced. It was more expensive than say a Surco rack but construction is good and I haven't seemed to notice much more road noise. I mean lets be honest these vehicles have the aerodynamics of a brick so your going to have road noise no matter what haha.

The transmission cooler is definitely a great idea and I highly recommend it.

Also re-gearing is a good future plan but wait until you have the tire size you think you will be running for a very long time. Don't want to re-gear for 31s and then later want 33s.

Good luck and welcome back to the Jeep community!

 

[djlarroc]

I'm sure there will be differing opinions, but I'd think long and hard before I changed out the stock cooling system. Radiator, perhaps, for an all aluminum 2 row, but keep the stock fan clutch system and electric fan, if equipped. If you don't have an electric fan (came with a/c), then get one for a junkyard, for year 97 or newer.

I went down the triple electric fan route (NOT Webdog's) and it failed miserably. We spent a boatload of time fighting cooling issues, and it was mostly resolved by going back to the stock setup. My Heep lives in Death Valley, so we've got you beat in the heat department by a little bit.

The only potential cooling upgrade is to use a fan clutch from a ZJ (not heavy duty). It locks up at a higher percentage of pulley speed. the downside is the Jeep will sound like a 737.

If you want the sordid details of all that we did to deal with desert cooling issues, let me know. I even have spreadsheets with thermal readouts of the various things we tried.

David Bricker / SYR

give us more info on that.. the triple fans were going to be one of my next mods.. not sure who i was going to go w/yet tho..

 

[dsapper]

Huge update, due to lots of research and advice, the jeep has started its modifications.

Swapped the wheels due to balancing issues with the steel ones for now.

First cooling, I swapped the radiator to a high flow 3 core, high flow water pump, thermostat housing and 180 degree thermostat. New fan, heavy duty trans cooler, fan and two huge vents in the hood.

I installed JCR front and rear bumpers and AJ's frame sliders all powdercoated wrinkle black. On the front bumper I installed a 10000 pound warn winch with synthetic line and 2 HID warn lights. I also am in the middle of installing true HID's for headlights.

Under the hood I installed dual batteries using wranglers dual battery setup and battery tray and spectras cowl kit to make room for it.

On the roof I installed the jeep liberty HELLA lights and the antenna for the wilson cell phone amplifier.

Inside its a full electronics suite. Ipad 2 3g for offroad and onroad navigation, stereo with xm and blue tooth, inverter under the seats. All lights are wired into the factory fog light switch and the western battery switch goes in the blank 4th spot from the police switch bezel I bought.

In the back I installed some gun racks for recovery gear and a box I bought from hammered. I also ran a few 12v plugs and a 3 way 120v from the inverter under the passenger seat.

Still to go on is the arb compressor under the hood, arb front/rear lockers, riddler diff covers, tnt long arm kit, genright gas tank, assorted skids and the rear shackle relocation bracket.

 

[dsapper]

So an annoying shake from the rear in the vehicle. Perfect alignment to rusty's specs, new rear drive shaft, new transmission mount, rear is shimmed perfectly. New wheels and tires balanced well, switched back to stock and it still shakes. The jeep tracks straight, no shimmy in the steering wheel, brakes fine, handles fine.

Its at about 50-55 and up. Shakes the whole vehicle, can really feel it in the seats, panels shake and squeak.

Any ideas?

 

[Frank Z]

Bent axle shaft.

 

[dsapper]

Rear or front? Any way to check without pulling the axles?

 

[Frank Z]

You said vibe from the rear.
Jack it up, spin the tires, watch them to see if they are turning true.