Streetable trail rig budget build take 2

No, you're not experiencing deja-vu; I'm re-posting again under the correct Screen name.


Well, I was not thoroughly impressed with my Acura's performance on the RTI ramp at Crawfords at the Crawl this year (It actually sustained minor body damage) and thus have been considering how to get my wheeling fix in since July.


Last week while perusing Craigslist I see " '87 Jeep Wagoneer, needs work $500" and it's relatively local (score!).

I find out that 'needs work' means the AW-4 won't shift out of 1st, but otherwise it sounds like a really clean, solid jeep. I got email pics and then showed up to be further impressed by this little jeep. So I cut a deal with the owner and left a deposit.

Had to go out of town last Friday and just got back today to pick her up

I had gotten some input from the OEM tech forum ('link') so I went today to write a check and sign the title, then went to the jeep unplugged the TCU and drove it home.

Here is my new toy :


More Pics here ( Album )

Initially I though it had a d35 in it; turns out it's a 44!


Plans include
- no more than 3 inches of lift
- 31's or 32's
- trimming
- armor
- eventually a traction aiding device for one or both ends.

'Bang for the buck' will be top priority throughout the whole build.



Anyone here in the Southeast who has parts to sell for this, please let me know!

Specs:

d30/44, 4.0, AW4, 242
178K on the ticker 40+ psi oil pres

-New Alt/AC compressor/PS pump/ fuel pump with < 8k Miles on them.
-new procomp shocks all around
-came with NIB steering stabilizer and brake pads & shoes
-super clean interior with OEM cargo cover.
-tape headunit and 6 cd changer
-not a dent on it
-Every light and guage functions as it should. (first time out of 8 sub $1200 XJ's)
-Almost every accesory fuunctions properly (except PS rear pwr window, 2 of 4 locks and the cruise)

I'm stoked to say the least!



WTB:

-Full guage cluster with tach (this one has every guage but the tach :dunno
-driver side seat base ( pwr or manual; dont care)
-Add a leaf
-gas tank skid.
-stock wheel for full size spare

looks great for that price. I got one for my oldest daughter, $850 and white . Well, it was for me but she took it. It got dtolen a year later. The police never even looked for it. I know because a lady complained to them for a month about a Jeep parked in front of her house. Finally she tracked me contacted me and we got it back in one piece. But the tires had been swapped. I had already gotten her another car so now it's a parts car for my 92 2 dr XJ and 88 MJ.

Congrats on it being a D44! That's one less thing to worry about down the road. About the gauge cluster, if it has all the other gauges, why not just buy a seperate tachometer and just mount it to the steering column or A-pillar or somewhere?

what a turd

lol just kiddin

Well I've put ~500 miles on it thus far and so far, so good...

Not much other progress:

-thanks to new pads up front and adjusters out back, the brakes at all 4 corners are now participating in the stopping effort..

-changed the oil; P.O. had like 7 qts of 5w30 in it

-pulled those ugly front seat covers to find the seats in as good condition as the rest of the vehicle

Coming up:
-a New guage cluster is in the mail as we speak
-tranny and engine mounts are on the horizon
-i'll be bringing back armor and lift parts from home to be installed after Christmas.

hey WTF congrats on the rig. I've got a full size metal spare rim here at the shop if you want it. Too late to help you with the gauge cluster...I had that too...I might have the seat base or a whole different seat. Got to check the parts xj's for that...

nice rig you got for a good price

While I was home for the holidays, I grabbed some stuff I already had and took a trip to the u-pull-it for some new Items.

Wound up with the following:


Coils from a 98 V8(5.2) ZJ
1.75" poly spacers
leaves out of a '98 blazer.
Low mileage stock track bar
V8 ZJ steering (not pictured)

Pulled into the garage around 7 PM friday evening and after 2 parts runs, 2 nightly trips to the bar :cheers: and a trip to the hardware store...
it rolled out like this Sunday at 7PM:


I netted 2.5" of lift at all 4 corners.
I installed a brake line drop dracket/ extension in the rear and redrilled the front brake line mounts as low as possible on the front. Redrilled and clearanced the trac bar mount and front shock mount plates.
There were very new pro-comp 3000 hydro's on all 4 corners so I raised the front shocks with BPE's made from the rear sway bar mounts that I scrapped on the rear; relocated the shock mounts on the rear:



Casualties:
I had one sway bar link shear off, and discovered that the el-cheapo digital camera I got for christmas sucks at taking pictures in anything but direct sunlight. Sorry for the limited number and crappy quality of the pics.

All told I spent:
$82 on the parts for the lift (springs, U-bolts, center pins)
$10 worth of metal fab consumables (2 cut off wheels and a sawzall blade)
$42 for the Steering and Trackbar.
~24hrs of solo labor

Still left to do:

*Install the t-case skid and rock rails I had laying around the house
*Install the one towhook bracket I had laying around the house
*Install the lock-right sitting on my kitchen counter in the 44
*find and purchase some tires to mount on my $7/each Chrome rockcrawlers
*Trim front and rear bumpers, fenders and lose the dorky mud-flaps

Wanted to buy:
-Front lower control arms
-Driver side Tow hook Bracket.

And another thing i feel was noteworthy.

Why, you ask, did it take me 2.5 days to do a simple 2.5 inch lift???

I did the whole project with the jeep pulled half way into in a 12'x18' single car garage that is shared with 4 rims and tires, the lawnmower and all the other yard tools, bike, camping gear, etc. using only what you see here:




yes; my camera really does suck this much...

WTF said:

yes; my camera really does suck this much...

Click to expand...

i feel certain it may be operator error...

ie; because you suck


just kiddin man.. Good work on the heep!! ~and your narrative of the project thus far is simple/to the point and has had me lmao

Update for this past weekend's progress:

*Rock rails are welded & bolted on
*Transfer case skid installed
*driver's seat frame fixed



Still gotta install my solo tow hook bracket and the lock right, pick up/mount my 32's, perform some surgery on the fenders and it'll be ready for a shakedown run...

I'm not even gonna waste my time trying to take picture with the little tykes camera anymore

good stuff man, nice deal you got there. I have to get myself a welder and bigger compressor before I"ll take on any jeep project stuff though

Where's the beer? Can't be a project without beer...

WTF said:

And another thing i feel was noteworthy.

Why, you ask, did it take me 2.5 days to do a simple 2.5 inch lift???

I did the whole project with the jeep pulled half way into in a 12'x18' single car garage that is shared with 4 rims and tires, the lawnmower and all the other yard tools, bike, camping gear, etc. using only what you see here:

yes; my camera really does suck this much...

Click to expand...

wer dem pics of the ride on the ~new~ tyres @ homie??

get them fenders trimmed yet??

ask and ye shall receive...

Had to go pick up some new batteries for my Playskool digi-cam.

So I picked up some 32x11.5x15 Mud king tires in AL this weekend (thanks Lane!)

bolted them on and it looked like this:



then I removed all this:




and now it looks like this:




the rears stuff perfectly with stock wheels. the fronts stuff well too but rub like crazy on the control arms at full lock.

I have 4 new-used wheels in the garage and 2 of them will go on the front for now. Eventually I'll do a TJ flare on the rear to make some more room for a lesser backspaced wheel.

I also installed the lock-right in the rear on Sunday.

thats all for this weekend's update.


oh yeah i have just a bit over 9 bills into this whole rig :greensmok

Love the sign in the background. "Slow Children at Play"

The neighborhood must not want you to get hurt.
Looks good.

Tim88XJ said:

Love the sign in the background. "Slow Children at Play"

The neighborhood must not want you to get hurt.
Looks good.

Click to expand...

LOL

thats some funny %hit!!

Andrew you need that front axle pushed forward about 2" looks to me..

otherwise for less than a G its SAWEET!!

I took it on the first trail ride this past week at Gray Rock ORV area in AL. The jeep exceeded my expectations, performance wise.

It was really muddy and slick out; I didn't get to do a whole lot of rocks, mostly mud and trail riding. I held it near the rev-limiter on several occasions and nothing blew up so I consider that to be a victory.

I put 8.5 ounces of airsoft pellets in each of the tires, but i can still not go past 69MPH or the shaking becomes unbearable/ un-nerving.


For those of you who haven't checked out the thread on the Gray Rock ride;

at one point on the trail it looked like this:



which then looked like this:



and after a sponge and a couple of screws to re-mount the mirror, It looks like this:



not too bad all things considered, I think.

All I really want to add after this ride is a traction aiding device for the front , maybe some longer shackles to get me more droop in the rear, and in the distandt future tube fenders are a thought...