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Project jeep of the week

GottaBeJeep

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Colorado Springs
Did some work on another Jeep this past week. This is getting to be a regular thing. I was thinking, I enjoy watching American Chopper and Monster Garage. The way things are going, maybe I should have my own TV program...American Monster Jeep.:D

This had to be one of my favorite Cherokees to work on. Everything came off and went on very smooth. I didn't break a single bolt or even draw blood. Anyways, here it is. It's a former government jeep, 1997 SE with 42,000 miles on it. I would love to get a two door in this color, would go great with my whole Rock Lizard thing. Anyways, it was stock when it rolled into the shop, and even had WalMart hubcaps. I installed the RE 3.5" kit with OME shocks and JKS discos, adjustable trackbar and BPE's, RE "Hack and Tap" SYE and High Angle DriveLine CV shaft and 4* shims, trimmed the fenders, and put on 33x12.5 ProComp MT's on 15x8" Tech 1 Rock Crawlers with 3.75" BS. It ended up sitting 5.25" in the rear, so I had to add a 3/4" spacer to the front to even things out. I also added hockey puck bumpstops to the front, which I am working on a writeup right now, DPG Adjustable Bumpstop Plates in the rear, DPG Disco Cables in the front, added YJ front brakelines and relocated the hard line, and an RE SS extended rear brakeline. I don't have the stock pictures uploaded right now, but I will try to add those later today. Who's says you can't fit 33's on the RE 3.5" kit? :drool:

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The ProComp tires are undersized (actually measured 31.5" on the jeep) and are extremely loud. I personally don't care for them, but the guy got one of those buy 3, get 1 free deals. Other than the road noise from the tires, the jeep rides smooth without any vibes. I was almost tempted to trade my jeep straight across for it, then I remembered I had 37's. :rofl:
 
That jeep is lookin right. I love that color. A guy offered to trade me straight across for a TJ on 37s(stock axles with 4.88s), but then I remembered I just did long arms and custom axles :laugh3:

Ary
 
That looks great. I have a 97XJ Country that I am just about to add the RE3.5 super-ride add a leaf, Adjustable Control Arms and Teraflex Disco's.

What is the BPE's you mentioned and why change what is there?

I wich I could do the other items you listed but can't afford them at this time.
 
BPE= Bar Pin Eliminator. It replaces the stock bar-pin on the shock with a traditional bracket that mounts to the XJ so you can use conventional shocks. Why change it? There are so many more shocks out there w/o bar pins. Or, if you like to lube the bar pins and drive them out of the old shocks and into the new shocks when you replace them, some would argue that the bar pins mounting system is not as sturdy as a u-bracket (or whatever you wanna call it). Those are my pennies.

-Rich
 
BPE's are bar pin eliminators. Your jeeps uses bar pins to mount the shocks. If you look at the lower front mount and the upper rear mount of your shocks, you will see a bar that goes through the bushing of the shock that is pronged so it can be bolted to the jeep. The bar pins, besides being a pain to install in the shock bushings if they aren't already, allow slop in the shock bushing which lets the shock move around, which usually wears the bushing and causes clunking. The JKS bar pin eliminators bolts to the stock mounts, but clamp the shock bushings, which keep them from getting sloppy. Definately a great modification.
Here are some pictures of the front JKS BPE's:
100_0306.jpg

Here are some pictures of the JKS BPE's in the rear of another XJ I worked on:
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100_0243.jpg
 
Thanks for the response on the BPE's.

I guess if I have to add new shocks for the 3.5 lift, it would be a good time to add BPE's and do the job the right way.
 
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