Expedition Build: Yellow Jeep XJ

[F.N.G.]

Expedition Build: Yellow Jeep XJ

Now
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This is my XJ Expedition Project.
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Then
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That was my stock 2001 Jeep XJ...
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Backstory:

This is my first real Jeep Project.
When I got the jeep the previous owner had installed a 3inch Suspension lift with 2inch spacers on the front and 2 inch Lift Shackles on the rear, sitting on 31inch tires.
He provided me with a picture of the vehicle stock, before the lift.
Everything else was stock, including the broken Sway Bar links.
It had a death wobble from hell, which I found out the hard way on the highway coming home after buying it.
Once we hit 40 mph and a bump, it shock extremely violently until it came to a complete stop.
The experience was like an 8.7 on the Richter Scale, inside a giant paint shaker, while trying to steer.
Any of you that have experienced an actual legit full fledged Death Wobble in all it's glory know what I'm talking about.
And I still had a 2 hour drive home from the sellers house...
So it was at this point that I decided to strip it down and start from scratch in regards to the steering and suspension components.

How it sat when purchased
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Phase: 1

We worked on it slowly, a little bit each day.
I don't have a shop, so we worked in my driveway, weather permitting.
We diagnosed many of the causes to the "Death Wobble" symptoms through trial and error.
One of the by-products of lifting a Jeep Cherokee 5 inch with no modifications or upgrades to the stock steering or suspension.
We would be removing the present lift in favor of a long arm lift kit.
I also started prepping for some of the exterior mods we would be putting on as well.

Front/Rear Bumper Removal
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Parts List

I started ordering parts, and one by one they began collecting on my front porch.
Once my porch was full, parts began collecting inside.
We were living in a Jeep Parts Shop, and kind of interesting.
Here is my part's list bellow


Suspension:

• RC 4.5 inch Long Arm Lift Kit:
• Lifted high flex coil springs
• Long arm Crossmember
• Adjustable upper control arms
• Adjustable lower control arms
• Transfer case skid plate
• Sway-bar quick disconnects
• Adjustable track bar
• Pitman arm
• Stainless steel braided brake lines
• Full Leaf Spring Packs
• Performance 2.2 Series Shocks)
• Rear Leaf Spring Shackles

Steering:

• New bearings,
• Moog upper and lower ball joints.
• Currie Currectlync Heavy Duty Tie Rod and Drag Link.
• Steering Box Brace.
• Upgraded Heavy Duty 2.2 Steering Stabilizer.

Brakes:

• New Rotors, Calipers and pads in front.
• Drums and shoes in rear

Tune Up:

• Air Filter
• Champion Copper Plugs, and wires.
• Oil change Mobile 1
• Change transmission fluid
• Coolant flush and fill
• New Thermostat

Drive Train:

• Slip Yolk Eliminator
• Custom Tom Woods Rear Driveshaft

Exterior:

• ARB Deluxe Bull Bar Front Bumper
• Warn 8000 Winch
• 2 IPF Spot Lights
• JCR HD Rear Bumper/Tire Carrier
• AJ's Super Rails Rock Slider
• Roof Slider
• JCR Gas Tank Skid Plate
• Bushwacker Flat Fender Flares
• Lower Rear Quarter plated on both sides
• Underneath re-coated

Wheels:

• 5 Cragar Soft 8 rims
• 5 Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac 33x12.5 inch tires
• Gorilla Chrome Lug and Lock set

Exhaust:

• Custom exhaust from the headers back
• Flowmaster Super 44 Muffler.

Miscellaneous:

• Fixed wiring on driver side door, passengers can now control power windows again.
• Fixed Rear Wiper.
• New Windshield Wipers

Parts:
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Phase: 1 Complete

Everything installed and tested.
After a little tinkering it road great.
Great articulation, good clearance, and no vibration at all.
The only thing steering/Suspension related that is still OEM in the vehicle is the actual sway bar itself, everything else was removed and upgraded.
The roof sliders had a bend to it, so we flipped them in the meantime until we straighten them out.
They are actually supposed to come down just above the door to protect the sides.
We had help from a shop installing the Lift and some of the equipment because we simply ran out of time.
The weather was upon us and we were working out of my driveway. So we put the project on hold and finished it in the spring.

Currie Currectlync Heavy Duty Tie Rod and Drag Link
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Rough Country 4.5 Inch Long Arm Lift Kit
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JCR Gas Tank Skid Plate
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2001 Jeep XJ after Phase: 1 of the Expedition Build
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More to come...

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[DieselSJ]

The 33's look good with that lift and the flares.

 

[chesterbuggle]

How about some close ups of the roof sliders

 

[F.N.G.]

Bumper Integrated LED Reverse Lights

Installed LED spot lights in the JCR Rear Bumper, wired to my reverse lights.
Stock reverse lights were too obstructed by the JCR Rear Bumper to be of much use.
Decent lighting upgrade with major improvement for night visibility while backing up.

LED Reverse Lights

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[BlurpleXJ]

Looks like a quality build. How do you like the Rough Country long arms? I decided to stick with short arm on a 4" lift, but went with OME springs and shocks.

 

[Luke95]

I have the rough country arms and so far so good. I am very happy with them.

 

[tom11919]

RC Long arms with Currie Johnny Joints here. Ride is soooooo much nicer than stock links (went directly from 4" springs and stock links to long arms).

 

[Luke95]

RC Long arms with Currie Johnny Joints here. Ride is soooooo much nicer than stock links (went directly from 4" springs and stock links to long arms).

This is what I have as well and love

 

[Cottontail]

You had some body work done. Did you do that yourself? I'm referring to the second to last photo in post #1.

In the photo where you took the rear factory bumper off, I saw rust on the rear quarter panel, and also, you'd have had to drill out the rivets holding on the bumper cover brace.

It looks like a clean repair, and good color match on the paint.

 

[Ian Christiansen]

Near the top he says he did lower quarter armor. Maybe it's just covered up. Looks goood either way.

 

[F.N.G.]

How about some close ups of the roof sliders

Per your request

Roof Sliders

I picked this rook rack up second hand from a guy parting out his build.
Solid construction, simple rugged setup.
Strictly for side protection purposes as a roof slider setup, obviously not intended for sufficient cargo use.

Roof Sliders

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[POSJ]

The roof sliders look upside down to me...Would they fit flipped over?

 

[F.N.G.]

The roof sliders look upside down to me...Would they fit flipped over?

Good eye. Yes the sliders were originally intended to be flipped, but
due to a bend in the sliders themselves the curve went opposite of the bodyline/roof.
Aesthetically speaking, it looked bad.
So until I could get them bent the proper direction we simply flipped them temporarily, and ended up liking the look of it so I kept it.

 

[F.N.G.]

Looks like a quality build. How do you like the Rough Country long arms? I decided to stick with short arm on a 4" lift, but went with OME springs and shocks.

Personally I like the long arm set up much better than the short arm.
Better articulation and an all around better ride in my opinion.
Plus added protection underneath is a plus.
All in all I like the Rough Country Long Arm Lift Kit.
The arms, coils and leaf packs are good.

However I have already replaced the quick disconnect sway bar links and will be replacing the shocks with a more rugged alternative.
The quick discos failed multiple times with light use and broke on me fairly early. And the shock bushings are bad after a year of use.

 

[F.N.G.]

You had some body work done. Did you do that yourself? I'm referring to the second to last photo in post #1.

In the photo where you took the rear factory bumper off, I saw rust on the rear quarter panel, and also, you'd have had to drill out the rivets holding on the bumper cover brace.

It looks like a clean repair, and good color match on the paint.

We did have some body work done just on the lower rear quarter panels behind the rear bumper's plastic end caps.
I don't have a lot of experience with bodywork, so we had a guy that knew what he was doing help us out and do it right. Used thicker steal, so now it is armor plated on the lower rear quarters.

 

[F.N.G.]

Interior Upgrades

Smittybilt G.E.A.R. MOLLE Seat Covers, Quadratic Heavy Duty all weather floor and cargo mats, and started outfitting the interior of the rig.
MOLLE gear (Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment) was the best way for me to maximize space, organize equipment, and customize on the fly.
Went with the heavy duty floor mats because they can handle all elements in all seasons. Easy to clean, regardless of terrain. Very low maintenance.

Smittybilt G.E.A.R. MOLLE Seat Covers:
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MOLLE Gear Outfitted with:

Ka-bar and assorted knives, Axe, Hatchet, Kukuri, Spetsnaz Trench Shovel, Maglites and various flash lights (battery operated and manual wind up), canteens, maps, compass, ponchos, Fire Starters (Flint and steel, wind proof matches, lights, etc) Med Kit, Multiple Tool sets, Jumper cables, Survival gear, bungees, ratchet straps, recovery equipment (Tree saver, snatch strap, tow straps, snatch block, d-rings) and a lot more. Just to give you a general idea of the setup.
Customized seats, and made some alterations.

In back a Mechanic's Tote that includes: (Coolant, oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, PB Blaster, Spark Plugs, oil filter, Duct Tape, Electrical tape, fuses, assorted wrenches and screwdrivers, electrical/crimp tool, Quick Steel, Super Glue, zip ties, tape measure, scissors, bottle opener, etc etc)

Equipping MOLLE Gear
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[jeepdreamer]

Nice build sir! If you get bored I have a few threads around with my 01 build. Expedition portal is a great place to kill some time and snatched ideas too.

 

[F.N.G.]

Partial Exhaust and Coolant System Replacement

Replacing the Radiator, water pump, thermostat and thermostat housing, thermostat inlet tube.
Decided on doing an A.C. delete; removing the compressor, condenser and canisters.
Replacing with an A.C. bypass pulley temporarily until I relocate the alternator to the former A.C.'s location.

Also replacing the pre-cats, the 4 O2 sensors and the front pipe.
This is the second step of the exhaust replacement.
In our first step we previously replaced the exhaust from the front pipe back with some custom work and a Flow Master Super 44.
All that will be left to replace is a new header, that will be step 3.

Parts
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[yossarian19]

WTF do you need that much cutlery for?
If you need more than a 4" folding knife and a hatchet, you're doing it wrong. Come to think of it, I've spent an ass-ton of time in the woods and I'm doubtful you need the hatchet.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

OP, is your shackle angle REALLY that turrable?

WTF do you need that much cutlery for?
If you need more than a 4" folding knife and a hatchet, you're doing it wrong. Come to think of it, I've spent an ass-ton of time in the woods and I'm doubtful you need the hatchet.

The Obacalypse could be near..