Mont-ster
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Citrus Heights, CA
First, I looked and couldn't find a general "intro" section, so I figured this was the closest chapter to home. If I'm wrong, can someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks!!
Howdy folks, I'm Monty. Been lurking for about a year, and y'all have helped me immensely so I figured I may be able to help someone else now?
I bought a 98 xj in October 2012 with plenty of car experience, but zero 4x4 experience. It was an ex-county jeep and was SPOTLESS. 140k, bare bones interior, aw4/np231/d35, white on grey. Exactly what I wanted. I got it cheap, spent a year DDing it doing the cooling system and all the little maintenance crap it needed. The lift was coming soon. I was in love.
Then, in December last year I got t-boned. HARD. Shifted the core support over 5", opened up the front axle C 3/4". I'm okay, the passenger was okay, and I had fat $$ in my pocket. So I bought a clean-ish dark green 95 with an np231 and an 8.25 for a thousand bucks from a buddy of mine and towed my crashed one to his house. The green one has just enough small body damage I'm not worried about modifying it and having fun. I was hesitant in the white one!
It already had a new cooling system, so I was dialed there. I've since put together my lift components, I still need a few more things, but here goes.
Things I have put on:
-Late model manifold. Definitely a good upgrade.
-703 injectors. Jake at Dr Injector in Rancho has become a bud, has a lifted 99 xj and is a seriously nice guy. He cleaned and flowed the neon injectors, and they were probably one of the best upgrades I've done, no lie. Between the manifold and the injectors, butt dyno says the torque curve migrated down and broadened out.
-New exhaust manifold. Needed to happen.
-Motor and trans mounts. Need to be done again, I'm going poly this time, they're already blown out. The fan rubs the shroud when I romp on it.
-New fan clutch
-Fuel filter
-JCR nut strips and a junkyard hitch. Put the damn nut strips in backwards by mistake and haven't flipped them around yet so only 4 bolts are holding it on.
-Other little stuff I can't remember right now
Stuff I have that's waiting to go on it:
-Used RE 3.5 coils and LCA's that will get spaced to match the:
-New OME 4.5 leafs and moog bushings
-33x10.50 MTR's on 8" canyons
-1.25" spacers to clear the canyons. I already have two, need to buy two more
-Advanced Adapters sye
-Stock front ds with new u-joints. I'll run it and see how it holds up. It's hard to justify a Tom Woods for the tire size and type of wheeling I plan on doing in a DD rig. (Camping, basic trails etc)
-ZJ steering with new ball joints.
-XJ d44 with a beefcake ram charger front diff cover. The diff is currently a 3.07 LSD. I'm planning on doing 4.10's and a mechanical locker of some type, so I'll hafta learn how to regear an axle. Never done it before, but no reason I can't figure it out!
-JCR steering box spacer
-Gas tank skid. I need to trim the plastic cover on my tank so the skid fits properly.
-Driver's side wing window. I love vent windows!!
-Stock TB, I'm going to straight bore it and get that stupid lip out of the bottom.
-Magnaflow and 2.5 from the cat back. Going to build the exhaust after the lift
-I'm pretty sure there's more, I'll add to this later too.
Stuff I need:
-U-bolts
-frame stiffeners
I'm planning on grabbing both of these tomorrow after work from RuffStuff.
-Hitch harness
-Front and rear gears
-Steel for making bumpers
-Relocate the puke can and put a later model windshield washer bottle on the fender so I can put a cone filter on the passenger side of the compartment.
-Cutting the beat-up rockers and replacing with some box.
-Bumpstops modified to work properly with the 33's.
-At some point I'll rework the front end and make long arm mounts and trans crossmember. I'm looking forward to seeing how the RE arms work though.
-OBA. Finding a gas station after a trip SUCKS.
-Interior LED's, half of my lights are burned out anyway.
-CB. Breaker breaker....
-Headlight relay harness.
-Fogs/spots
-A power steering pump.
-Trans cooler
-I'm sure I'll keep adding to this.
I've got a few questions though. Last time I got stuck snow wheeling, it was obvious I needed some type of front locker too. My Toyota buds (sorry to mention that blasphemy here) gave me an idea. They all weld diffs and unlock a hub on the street. Any reason I can't take a vacuum-disco axle, convert it to cable and weld it? Should be more than strong enough to handle 33's, unless someone knows something I don't? Hell, I can probably find one already geared correctly. Is there a cost-effective alternative mechanical locker and gear set that would be a good alternative?
Went looking at pick and pull today, and noticed the front flairs are taller than the rears. Any reason guys don't flip front flairs around and run them on the back for more clearance? Do people do this and I just don't know? I also saw another XJ D44 in a blue 87 out at antelope pick and pull, just a heads up if anybody's interested.
My power steering pump is HURT. It smells, feels and tastes bad. Don't ask me how I know. Anybody got some good advice on an upgrade/good replacement that won't cost a ton? I'll Lucas it and hopefully that'll keep it alive a little longer.
I can't figure out how to upload pictures... Anyhow, thanks guys! I'll figure out the picture deal and update as I build. It'll be slow, be patient.
Howdy folks, I'm Monty. Been lurking for about a year, and y'all have helped me immensely so I figured I may be able to help someone else now?
I bought a 98 xj in October 2012 with plenty of car experience, but zero 4x4 experience. It was an ex-county jeep and was SPOTLESS. 140k, bare bones interior, aw4/np231/d35, white on grey. Exactly what I wanted. I got it cheap, spent a year DDing it doing the cooling system and all the little maintenance crap it needed. The lift was coming soon. I was in love.
Then, in December last year I got t-boned. HARD. Shifted the core support over 5", opened up the front axle C 3/4". I'm okay, the passenger was okay, and I had fat $$ in my pocket. So I bought a clean-ish dark green 95 with an np231 and an 8.25 for a thousand bucks from a buddy of mine and towed my crashed one to his house. The green one has just enough small body damage I'm not worried about modifying it and having fun. I was hesitant in the white one!
It already had a new cooling system, so I was dialed there. I've since put together my lift components, I still need a few more things, but here goes.
Things I have put on:
-Late model manifold. Definitely a good upgrade.
-703 injectors. Jake at Dr Injector in Rancho has become a bud, has a lifted 99 xj and is a seriously nice guy. He cleaned and flowed the neon injectors, and they were probably one of the best upgrades I've done, no lie. Between the manifold and the injectors, butt dyno says the torque curve migrated down and broadened out.
-New exhaust manifold. Needed to happen.
-Motor and trans mounts. Need to be done again, I'm going poly this time, they're already blown out. The fan rubs the shroud when I romp on it.
-New fan clutch
-Fuel filter
-JCR nut strips and a junkyard hitch. Put the damn nut strips in backwards by mistake and haven't flipped them around yet so only 4 bolts are holding it on.
-Other little stuff I can't remember right now
Stuff I have that's waiting to go on it:
-Used RE 3.5 coils and LCA's that will get spaced to match the:
-New OME 4.5 leafs and moog bushings
-33x10.50 MTR's on 8" canyons
-1.25" spacers to clear the canyons. I already have two, need to buy two more
-Advanced Adapters sye
-Stock front ds with new u-joints. I'll run it and see how it holds up. It's hard to justify a Tom Woods for the tire size and type of wheeling I plan on doing in a DD rig. (Camping, basic trails etc)
-ZJ steering with new ball joints.
-XJ d44 with a beefcake ram charger front diff cover. The diff is currently a 3.07 LSD. I'm planning on doing 4.10's and a mechanical locker of some type, so I'll hafta learn how to regear an axle. Never done it before, but no reason I can't figure it out!
-JCR steering box spacer
-Gas tank skid. I need to trim the plastic cover on my tank so the skid fits properly.
-Driver's side wing window. I love vent windows!!
-Stock TB, I'm going to straight bore it and get that stupid lip out of the bottom.
-Magnaflow and 2.5 from the cat back. Going to build the exhaust after the lift
-I'm pretty sure there's more, I'll add to this later too.
Stuff I need:
-U-bolts
-frame stiffeners
I'm planning on grabbing both of these tomorrow after work from RuffStuff.
-Hitch harness
-Front and rear gears
-Steel for making bumpers
-Relocate the puke can and put a later model windshield washer bottle on the fender so I can put a cone filter on the passenger side of the compartment.
-Cutting the beat-up rockers and replacing with some box.
-Bumpstops modified to work properly with the 33's.
-At some point I'll rework the front end and make long arm mounts and trans crossmember. I'm looking forward to seeing how the RE arms work though.
-OBA. Finding a gas station after a trip SUCKS.
-Interior LED's, half of my lights are burned out anyway.
-CB. Breaker breaker....
-Headlight relay harness.
-Fogs/spots
-A power steering pump.
-Trans cooler
-I'm sure I'll keep adding to this.
I've got a few questions though. Last time I got stuck snow wheeling, it was obvious I needed some type of front locker too. My Toyota buds (sorry to mention that blasphemy here) gave me an idea. They all weld diffs and unlock a hub on the street. Any reason I can't take a vacuum-disco axle, convert it to cable and weld it? Should be more than strong enough to handle 33's, unless someone knows something I don't? Hell, I can probably find one already geared correctly. Is there a cost-effective alternative mechanical locker and gear set that would be a good alternative?
Went looking at pick and pull today, and noticed the front flairs are taller than the rears. Any reason guys don't flip front flairs around and run them on the back for more clearance? Do people do this and I just don't know? I also saw another XJ D44 in a blue 87 out at antelope pick and pull, just a heads up if anybody's interested.
My power steering pump is HURT. It smells, feels and tastes bad. Don't ask me how I know. Anybody got some good advice on an upgrade/good replacement that won't cost a ton? I'll Lucas it and hopefully that'll keep it alive a little longer.
I can't figure out how to upload pictures... Anyhow, thanks guys! I'll figure out the picture deal and update as I build. It'll be slow, be patient.