Build thread for project "why am I doing this"
- Thread starter adanymous
- Start date
- Location
- Southern Maryland
surprising amount of dedication for first-time XJ owner
Rear stiffener on and primed. This is all I have for now. Rear and mid stiffeners on. Fronts after front pans are in. Got the D side 85 percent today. It was being a bear and had to pull it down with screws before I could weld it. Gonna hold off on the cargo area pan til the 8.8 is in. I wanna weld the shock bolt heads to the brace after the new shocks are located.
I ordered a 5.5 inch long arm lift from iron rock offroad. Heard some recent nasty reviews on RE. And their guy couldn't tell me their spring rate. I bought iron rock cause that guy knew the spring rate and suggested the 5.5 to compensate for the weigh I'm adding to the body. I hope it stays close to 5 with spring spacers up front. I have a set of 1.5 or 2 inch
- Location
- Hammertown, USA
I don't know much about XJ's but I am guessing this guy will build a nice one...
- Location
- Middle Tennessee
Just up the road from you in Suwanee is Omix-Ada and they have some original OEM '96 front and rear floor pan stampings. I bought a front one when I reworked my floors. They also offer the rear. It might same you a little time. They are cheap and the dealer I bought it from online let me go pick it up at the warehouse to save on the high crating and shipping fee.
Great job so far! I'm going to have to follow along on this build.
You need to come see us over in the SEC forum in the
Chapter section. We have several guys in the Atlanta and Chattanooga areas that could help answer questions and give inspiration. We are having a wrenchfest here in TN on Jan 31st and there will be several here with the 8.8 axles and low lift.
Great job so far! I'm going to have to follow along on this build.
You need to come see us over in the SEC forum in the
Chapter section. We have several guys in the Atlanta and Chattanooga areas that could help answer questions and give inspiration. We are having a wrenchfest here in TN on Jan 31st and there will be several here with the 8.8 axles and low lift.I may check that out. I may actually be moving to the chattanooga area. Found a pretty big piece of property there Were going to look at in a few weeks. I'd love to live on the Cumberland plateau. But honestly I'm not a jeep guy, I just like the work. I recently restored an old forklift cause nobody thought I could. I just like to tinker with stuff. And cars are great cause you get all the metal fab and mechanical work and you end up with a cool product.
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Thought I'd add before someone asks. I'm not going to RE install the front seat mount. I'm not sure I'll be putting xj fronts back in and I wanted to leave flexibility to fab whatever seat mount I like. I realize.they give some lateral structure, but I'm sure the square tubing I use to fab the new mount will be WAY better.
- Location
- Middle Tennessee
Where did you get the replacement floor pans?
Ordered a 5.5 long arm lift from iron rock. Their guy knew the spring rate and made the recommendation to go that high due to my added body weight. Was gonna get the RE but that guy didn't even know the spring rate...on a suspension kit they design....WOW
- Location
- Henderson, NV
Its been done before. It depends on if you want the factory gauges and HVAC to work, or if you can live with aftermarket gauges.
Here's a thread a guy swapped the interior in his MJ, basically the same.
http://comancheclub.com/topic/11232-project-onyx/
Also, if you look on my build you'll find a little bit of 8.8 swap info. Its a pretty easy swap. Buy the Ruffstuff swap kit and new brake hardware and she's good to go. The main hurdle most run into is hooking up the emergency brakes. I used the factory XJ cables and cut the Coiled spring off that covers the end of the cable, then used a cable clamp and wrapped it around the brake horn.
There are several different vehicles that you can pull an 8.8 out of, but I think the most popular is out of a 96+ explorer mostly for the disk brakes. These axles are defiantly beefy, and heavy.
There are also some out there with 4:10s and some have LSDs.
let me know if you have any other questions.
Here's a thread a guy swapped the interior in his MJ, basically the same.
http://comancheclub.com/topic/11232-project-onyx/
Also, if you look on my build you'll find a little bit of 8.8 swap info. Its a pretty easy swap. Buy the Ruffstuff swap kit and new brake hardware and she's good to go. The main hurdle most run into is hooking up the emergency brakes. I used the factory XJ cables and cut the Coiled spring off that covers the end of the cable, then used a cable clamp and wrapped it around the brake horn.
There are several different vehicles that you can pull an 8.8 out of, but I think the most popular is out of a 96+ explorer mostly for the disk brakes. These axles are defiantly beefy, and heavy.
There are also some out there with 4:10s and some have LSDs.
let me know if you have any other questions.
Wiggleworm
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Crystal City, Mo.
You want a 97-01 explorer 8.8. You get disc brakes and 31 spline axles. There's no carrier break so 5hats a plus also. Here's a page with the door codes.http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/axle_codes.shtml
So I got my IRO 5.5 LA lift today. Seems pretty beefy. I see a bunch of people rip on the 1 10 mm bolt thing. Hope that doesn't turn into an issue. Their instructions kinda womp. I have no clue where the rear leaf bracket is supposed to go unless on the bottom of the sub frame where the bump stop is. The thread where everyone was complaining about the bolt was from 09. Any fixes for this yet?
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