- Location
- Columbus, IN
With everyone documenting their rigs I got jealous and decided to put something together.
Life of the Chili Pepper… Hopefully a never ending story.
After owning and wheeling a couple other rigs I decided it was time to go back to the beginning. I wanted a Jeep that did not require a trailer. I wanted something I could take on weekend adventures, drive to work, and simply enjoy.
My Goals:
Around 3” of lift
Daily Driver
Body Armor
Everything heavier duty than stock
Based on the Carfax report I believe I am the seventh owner of this XJ. I spotted it with a for sale sign at Winterfest 2011 and started arranging a trade… We got something worked out and I took possession a week or two later.
This is it fresh off the trailer with 194,000 miles on the clock.
Two retreads, one MT/R with a broken belt and one nearly worn out MT/R
Bent frame rail
Missing a hood latch and something else under the hood, it’s been a while.
Both bumpers bent
No front sway bar
Oil leak
Howling front pinion bearing
Dead hatch struts
S shaped leaf springs
Damaged rain gutter
Roof rack partially torn off
Sagging headliner
Open straight pipe
Broken windshield
Worn steering parts
And more…
So right away I fixed the struts.
Over the next few weeks I moved onto other parts in need.
I don’t have pictures but the Chili Pepper immediately got front unit bearings, carrier bearings, axle shaft u-joints, and pinion bearings. Also without pictures it got a muffler to tame to tame things down a little.
Massaging the rain gutter and dent from the roof (back to acceptable)
Then inheriting a roof slider that I had helped Pat build for his rig before he moved to an exo-cage
Just in time for JCR’s annual tax sale I was able to work out the funds for both front and rear bumpers
The front bumper never really mounted perfect because of the bent frame rail so I decided to ask Pat for assistance in straightening it out a little. As you can see in the pictures we used one ram, one XJ, a come-a-long, hammers, and liberal amounts of heat. We jammed a pipe between Pats XJ and the bend to act as a fulcrum. We attached the come-a-long to the frame rail. From there we turned the wheels of my Jeep so they would push off against Pat’s Dodge Ram, hopefully giving us some more push on the frame rail from the gearbox pushing.. We got some movement and things look much better now.
I was able to take it wheeling for the first time at the Redbird clean-up, fall of 2011
I learned that I needed clearance but I didn’t really want to lose my fenders on this DD rig. So I decided to raise the factory fenders in the front.
Stock fender location
Material removed
Life of the Chili Pepper… Hopefully a never ending story.
After owning and wheeling a couple other rigs I decided it was time to go back to the beginning. I wanted a Jeep that did not require a trailer. I wanted something I could take on weekend adventures, drive to work, and simply enjoy.
My Goals:
Around 3” of lift
Daily Driver
Body Armor
Everything heavier duty than stock
Based on the Carfax report I believe I am the seventh owner of this XJ. I spotted it with a for sale sign at Winterfest 2011 and started arranging a trade… We got something worked out and I took possession a week or two later.
This is it fresh off the trailer with 194,000 miles on the clock.
Two retreads, one MT/R with a broken belt and one nearly worn out MT/R
Bent frame rail
Missing a hood latch and something else under the hood, it’s been a while.
Both bumpers bent
No front sway bar
Oil leak
Howling front pinion bearing
Dead hatch struts
S shaped leaf springs
Damaged rain gutter
Roof rack partially torn off
Sagging headliner
Open straight pipe
Broken windshield
Worn steering parts
And more…
So right away I fixed the struts.
Over the next few weeks I moved onto other parts in need.
I don’t have pictures but the Chili Pepper immediately got front unit bearings, carrier bearings, axle shaft u-joints, and pinion bearings. Also without pictures it got a muffler to tame to tame things down a little.
Massaging the rain gutter and dent from the roof (back to acceptable)
Then inheriting a roof slider that I had helped Pat build for his rig before he moved to an exo-cage
Just in time for JCR’s annual tax sale I was able to work out the funds for both front and rear bumpers
The front bumper never really mounted perfect because of the bent frame rail so I decided to ask Pat for assistance in straightening it out a little. As you can see in the pictures we used one ram, one XJ, a come-a-long, hammers, and liberal amounts of heat. We jammed a pipe between Pats XJ and the bend to act as a fulcrum. We attached the come-a-long to the frame rail. From there we turned the wheels of my Jeep so they would push off against Pat’s Dodge Ram, hopefully giving us some more push on the frame rail from the gearbox pushing.. We got some movement and things look much better now.
I was able to take it wheeling for the first time at the Redbird clean-up, fall of 2011
I learned that I needed clearance but I didn’t really want to lose my fenders on this DD rig. So I decided to raise the factory fenders in the front.
Stock fender location
Material removed
Last edited:
