Father/Son project - 2000 XJ Buildup as first car.

[DIRTCREW3]

Hello all! I decided to share the buildup of my 15 year old sons first car. I have been a jeeper for 20+ years and have owned many jeep over the years. So naturally, when it was time for my son to get his first car I was happy that he wanted an XJ. I currently have a linked YJ on tons and a 1994 XJ that I am currently doing a full build on so like father, like son. He was already driving my 94 in Ocotillo Wells and Glamis so an XJ is a no brainer. One more jeep in the family. I was a little slow in starting this tread so some of the pics are several months old. The project is still underway so current pics will be added as work is performed. Hope you all enjoy our project.


We searched high and low to find a clean one owner, low mileage, post '97 (because as a father, I wanted my kid to have airbags), and had to be Patriot Blue. Very tall order but we pulled it off. I found this 2000 one owner, 119K, Patriot Blue 4x4. It only took about 3 months of searching.

All the work will be performed my me and my son. After all, its his car so actually he will be doing (has done) most the work with my instruction and help.

Plans for the jeep are as follows:
Full maintenance and repairs of all necessary items.
4.5" Long Arm kit
33" General Grabbers
15x8 Methods
Led Lightbar with custom built mounts
Glass front fenders
Audio
4.56 Gear sets
LSD's
SYE kit
Custom bumpers front and rear
Roof Rack
More to come....

Over the next several days, I will post pics in order of how we are building it. This is an ongoing project so there will be plenty of pics and info.

The day we surprised him with the XJ..

 

[Alpine Jim]

Nice! Looking forward to the build-up. I know the time I have spent with my sons building their cars ('66 Olds F-85, '68 Plymouth Sport Fury) is time well spent, for sure.

 

[DIRTCREW3]

So the first order of business was checking out the car, see what it needs, and do the general maintenance. Oil change, diff services, trans service, and T-Case service. Overall, the jeep was in great shape.

Figure out OG gear ratio and weather we had open or LSD. No luck, Open on the rear.

 

[DIRTCREW3]

Now the fun begins. After doing quite a bit of research, we decided to put a raduis arm kit on. I like the idea of a 4-link kit but in order to keep this a low cost, daily driver that can still perform. After looking at all the kits on the market, as well as me fabricating my own setup, radius arm just made more sense. I settled on the Rough Country 4.5" kit. Dollar for dollar this is actually a real good complete kit. Sure, some people don't like RC but for what you get, its hard to complain about. When the kit showed up, I inspected it and actually was surprised at the quality of the kit for the price. Let the games begin!!!

Quite a lot of hardware in this kit.

Here we go....

Building the links and Joints. Of course I taught him how to do it first, then double checked his work to make sure everything was good.

No turning back now. Link arm brackets are history. Don't know what I would do without my plasma cutter.

 

[IslanderOffRoad]

good looking rig!

 

[831_xj]

Awesome start! Wish somebody had shown me a thing or two.. Clean looking rig

 

[biztyke]

looks good so far. good on ya for doing this with your son, pretty cool project to do at 15

i happen to be running that 4.5" RC long arm kit, have been for over 2 years now. for the money it is a very good kit to get the ball rolling. i know a lot of people hate RC, and fact is their quality isnt the greatest in many areas.......but the price cant be beat and their CS is pretty darn good.

just a heads up on things to look out for. RC has been battling with their joints for a long time, i got my kit right after a major change in joint manufacturing and so far i havent ad to deal with them. but, they are said to fail.....good thing is you can replace them all with johnny joints when they do. the leafs and springs arent fantastic, but they do the job. dont expect excellent ride, and expect some sag over time. keep an eye on the rears, i had a set replaced because one side sagged bad while the other didnt resulting in a bad gangsta lean. the sway bar discos are not very tough. i have managed to keep them working, but you have to keep an eye on them. they tend to loosen up and lose parts, one side i had to completely drill out and re-tap for a much bigger bolt just to save it. ive had issues with the trackbar that came with my kit, but looks like they include a different one with it these days. either way, i would suggest you weld the new trackbar bracket to the frame rail along with bolting. lastly, the shocks may not last. seems to be hit or miss on how long they last, but they work well when they are working.

all in all though, i think it is really good bang for buck with the RC kit. if i had to start with an OEM XJ again i wouldnt hesitate on another RC kit.

 

[twinhauler]

That a very good and clean find for your son. Such a good father son project. All your items on your build will make a very good all around Rig. Good Luck and have fun!

 

[clean4drxj]

If you're doing mild wheeling with stock axles a RC kit will handle the task just fine. The jeep looks like a great start. The only real problem with RC is the leafs tend to sag, just keep an eye on it and make the call when it happens or just add a shackle and level it out and get a better ride in the rear.

 

[xcm]

Cool build. Ditch the rough country shocks.`

 

[DIRTCREW3]

Thanks for the props guys. This is going to be a basic, trail rig that's going to see a lot of back and forth to school and weekend trips to Big Bear, Ocotillo Wells, Ect. Nothing crazy, just a daily driver that is capable of going out and having a good time.

If you're doing mild wheeling with stock axles a RC kit will handle the task just fine. The jeep looks like a great start. The only real problem with RC is the leafs tend to sag, just keep an eye on it and make the call when it happens or just add a shackle and level it out and get a better ride in the rear.

When we ordered the kit thru Inland Jeep in Rialto Ca. we ordered the kit with the rear leafs not the add-a-leaf. As things would turn out, the kit arrived with add-a-leafs not the spring packs. Sean (owner) was a cool guy and tried to get is swapped out on the springs but RC was out of stock. So he went one step further and got us a set of Rubicon Express 4.5 leaf springs. So long story short, luckily the RC leafs wont be a problem.

As far as the shocks, were well aware of their problems. When they let go, we will replace them with something else.

 

[DIRTCREW3]

Another update. Some of these pics a little old but they show the progress.

Starting to gut the front suspension. Pulling the pitman arm to put on the dropped arm.

Pulling the rear shocks.

I like to work on clean parts so getting the front end cleaned up was in order. Also mounting the rear crossmember.

Cleaned, prepped and painted. I know is gonna get dirty but at least it started out clean.

 

[DIRTCREW3]

Coming along. I know this has been a basic run of the mill build so far and not very exciting but stay tuned. Later on is when we start doing the custom work! Were going to make his jeep not so boring with custom made things like bumpers, light bar brackets, tire mounts, roof rack, ect...

A few more. Luckily for us, I have a friend that works at Americas Tire and got us hooked up pretty good on the tire and wheel package.


33x12.50r15 General Red Label Grabbers and 15x8 Method Double Standards.

Front end is just about done.....

Out of order pic....Teaser shot with the tires mocked up next to the jeep...The front or rear end wasn't finished yet and still on jack stands but you cant bring home new shoes and not mock it up to see what it look like!

 

[bentroia]

Great project and write up so far. Keep us posted and let usu know how the thing drives and other key learning - experience..

Thanks

 

[clean4drxj]

Thanks for the props guys. This is going to be a basic, trail rig that's going to see a lot of back and forth to school and weekend trips to Big Bear, Ocotillo Wells, Ect. Nothing crazy, just a daily driver that is capable of going out and having a good time.



When we ordered the kit thru Inland Jeep in Rialto Ca. we ordered the kit with the rear leafs not the add-a-leaf. As things would turn out, the kit arrived with add-a-leafs not the spring packs. Sean (owner) was a cool guy and tried to get is swapped out on the springs but RC was out of stock. So he went one step further and got us a set of Rubicon Express 4.5 leaf springs. So long story short, luckily the RC leafs wont be a problem.

As far as the shocks, were well aware of their problems. When they let go, we will replace them with something else.

Good deal I had good luck with my RE springs until I went to bigger axles and tires.

 

[DIRTCREW3]

Ok, finally had some time to come post a few updates. The suspension is now on and everything appears to be tight. Now that the outside was presentable, it was time to turn our attention to the inside. Overall the jeep was in pretty good shape inside except the headliner was sagging and the seat belts need repair. The previous owner had a dog and that dog seemed to like chewing on seat belts. The webbing on both front belts were trash. So we pulled the headliner and the belts.

Pulling all the trim in order to get the headliner and set belts out. Lots of screws to keep track of.

Got the seat belts out and took on the task of figuring how to get them fixed. They are not reproduced but I did find a company that repairs and restores the belts. Boxed them up and sent them off. Not sure what to expect but we'll find out.

With the headliner finally removed it was time to start prepping tearing it apart. The fabric came off fairly easy but it left a decomposing foam layer that needed to be cleaned. We took a stiff plastic bristle brush and just started to scrub and scrub. It worked fairly well and we managed to get all the old remnants of the headliner off.

 

[DIRTCREW3]

Now that the headliner is out and were waiting for the seat belts to come back from the repair place, we decided to tackle some more interior mods. As everybody knows, ya gotta have tuned while your running around. So we got a new head unit and I taught my son how to solder and read a wiring diagram. Under my watchful eye, he soldered the radio to factory harness adapter together. Wrap up the wires and time for install.

After we finished the radio, it was onto the headliner. I had a tough time finding suitable material for the liner. I know you can use just about anything that is not too heavy but I wanted to stick with a factory look. After quite a bit of internet searching and calling around, I found some grey headliner material at a local chain craft store. I think Michaels Crafts(?). We used 3m headliner glue since I didn't want to take a chance on it falling down later. The stuff wasn't cheap, about $19.00 a can and I used 2 cans. We also picked up a roller at Lowes so We could secure the material to the liner. Things went very well and we had no issues with the install. Including around the rear speaker holes.

 

[SuperB60ce]

Nice job so far. I cannot wait to do this with my son, just dont know if it will be a Jeep or some old british sports car...either way I wont care

 

[thesteveyo]

That headliner looks great! There is definitely a lot to keep track of when you pull the interior trim. I just did mine recently. Using the roller seems like a great idea.

 

[yossarian19]

My boy just turned one, I don't know how many XJs will still be on the road in 15 years but I hope to do the same. Good for you both! Build looks great, looking forward to seeing more.