my "wannabe jeepspeed" grand cherokee build

[grandrunner]

hey guys,im ryan im 21 from southern california. just joined up on here seeing theres more info and build threads on jeepspeeds and prerunners. cant really get any info on the other sites im on(dezert rangers, nagca.com) because no one builds jeeps, or doesnt build grand cherokees. thought id get more help, guidance and advice from from the more experienced xj crowd. ill just continue my build starting here. well anyways enough talk heres my ride:

1995 ZJ ORVIS EDITION. 5.2 V8

mods:
iron rock offroad front 3link long arm upgrade
rubicon express 5.5 xj coil with 1inch coil spacer
jks adjustable rear trac bar and front shock mounts
kevins offroad adj. front trac bar conversion
front to rear swap in rear with 1inch spacer
32 11.50 15 bfg km2's on eagle alloy rims, 2 spare goodyear mtr's
mcneil racing 4in bulge front glass
custom bumper
custom roof rack
limit straps
fox 2.0 x10 non resi front.
14inch resi rear into the cab in a bedcage
crawler ready HD motormounts
driver and passenger twisted stitch suspension seats(still fully adj)
tnt zj unibody stiffeners

ive been building this for a while now and have made great progress and im happy with how its turning out.

future mods include high pinion d30 swap and truss it, t&j upper shock mounts. 2.5x 10 front resis(maybe bypasses one day), cage. otk steering, rear long arms, front and rear unibody plating and the list goes on.

and this is the most recent pic with the 5.5inch front lift longarms and 10in shock. its up on a jack measuring for straps.

this will be built on monday, i added the red bars and the spare tires will sit in the outside bars and the shocks will conect to the main hoop.

and the CR motormountswill be goin in next week aswell


so any help info and suggestions please post up!! thanks

 

[dwchkypmp20]

looks good my friend

 

[srimes]

Looks good. What do you think of the iron rock 3 link? How does it handle?

 

[Ryan93]

looks sweet, what rims are those?

 

[besthaticouldo]

nice build man. nice to see someone else building a zj.

 

[grandrunner]

thanks guys. the iro kit is pretty awesome it was very easy install and didnt run into any problems at all and it works perfect with tnt unibody stiffeners. my buddy has the clayton kit on his zj and he was pretty impressed with the overall look and handling of them.

as for handling it is great, you would never know there isnt a passenger side upper arm. ive takin it through whoops at 40+, jumps, bumps mostly prerunning so far, this weekend ill be testing out the crawling abilities at the TDS jeep run in truckhaven.

the wheels are eagle alloys dont know which ones just bought them off some guy and rattle canned em black with a silver lip.

 

[Ryan93]

the wheels are eagle alloys dont know which ones just bought them off some guy and rattle canned em black with a silver lip.

Awesome, reason I ask is I have some wheels that look exactly the same and have been thinking of painting them black myself, they look good!

 

[dirtbagXJ2103]

nice jeep, how are those seats?

 

[grandrunner]

thanks man, they are super comfy! huuuuge difference. only ones ive really sat in besides our rail but i got them for deal to hard to pass up so i got them. very happy with them

 

[Baja_XJ]

looks good! I usually dont like lights mounted off a roof rack you that actually looks surprisingly good! gives me ideas

 

[tone]

Is that light bar on the rack fabbed up or just a option on that rack? Looks good! Welcome to Naxja.

 

[ChaseN]

Nothing to add, except I normally don't like ZJs, but that thing is badass! I'm diggin the wheels especially. Good work my man.

 

[dirtbagXJ2103]

are they the pros?

 

[grandrunner]

Is that light bar on the rack fabbed up or just a option on that rack? Looks good! Welcome to Naxja.

the roof rack was custom built. i bought it off a friend. the rack is adjustable with heim joints and folds back and bolts on different mounts when your not using the lights.

ChaseN- dont hate on zjs!!! hahah jk thanks man.

dirbagxj the seats are the twisted stitch APEX model.

 

[GoSlowGetStuck]

Looks awesome, always cool (but rare) to see a ZJ built up for the faster stuff. I've been looking at the IRO kit for my build, primarily due to price. Good to know it handles well at speed. Do the control arm mounts just use the two stock crossmember bolts and then four more through the pinch seam?

Also you mentioned "front and rear unibody plating," do you know of a source for that or will you be making something custom? I've been looking all over and it seems like XJs have more (and better) options for unibody plates than the ZJs do.

Actually the whole aftermarket seems better for XJs, guess we're supposed to be using our rigs for grocery getting!

Nice build!

 

[grandrunner]

Looks awesome, always cool (but rare) to see a ZJ built up for the faster stuff. I've been looking at the IRO kit for my build, primarily due to price. Good to know it handles well at speed. Do the control arm mounts just use the two stock crossmember bolts and then four more through the pinch seam?

Also you mentioned "front and rear unibody plating," do you know of a source for that or will you be making something custom? I've been looking all over and it seems like XJs have more (and better) options for unibody plates than the ZJs do.

Actually the whole aftermarket seems better for XJs, guess we're supposed to be using our rigs for grocery getting!

Nice build!

yes, it bolts to the pinch seam. and uses the stock mounting holes too.

shaffers offrad and temper-mental offroad make the front plates and i think shaffers does the rears too not sure.

but yeah its been a PITA trying to find parts to make this thing the way i want it. very little is available or its custom work haha

 

[grandrunner]

heres progress on the bedcage. the hoops are 4130 chromoly and the crossbars will be out of DOM. we changes up the idea for the looks of it. still going to have the 2 vertical standing tires, bar in front and back to hold it, and the middle will be dimple die plated shut. it will be finished tomorrow,

and still waiting for the stupid motor mount bracket.

 

[DirtBound]

i reallly like the way that looks. looks like if you left it like that you would still have a good amount of cargo space... i wouldnt mind having a similar set-up on my xj...

 

[Mike1331]

cool build. i've always been curious to see how a 3 link would hold up to speed...does the caster adjuster ever come loose after a hard hit or a run through the whoops? I wonder what a 3 link would do at a 70mph run at some whoops...

 

[live24wheel]

cool build. i've always been curious to see how a 3 link would hold up to speed...does the caster adjuster ever come loose after a hard hit or a run through the whoops? I wonder what a 3 link would do at a 70mph run at some whoops...

I've got the RK 3 link front and bomb stuff all the time. Im building a 4.7 now because I run out of motor and can't go faster. lol So far it has handled everything really well.