Project $300 Daily Driver / Camping Rig

[tribal_4x4]

So it all started with an unintentional find of a 1987 Jeep Cherokee Chief for $320 on Craigslist. Was listed as a good running truck but needed a new tranny and transfercase. I figured for the price I couldnt go wrong. 206k miles on the clock and it really does run like a champ. I have had the Jeep for about a month now and will update everything I have done up until now.

Here are pics of the Jeep at the previous owners house as I was purchasing it.

The Jeep is in amazing shape for its age besides a good dent in the lower part of the passenger side door. I didnt realize till I got home that it had the factory dana 44 rear! Score! This jeep just needed a good cleaning and thats exactly what it got. After getting it home a friend told me it was half off for tool kit members at pick n pull and I was able to get another BA-10 tranny and NP231 for it for a great price. I know... I know... why put another crappy tranny in it... well unfortunately I couldnt find any AX-15's and this one seemed to be in great shape. Good thing I was right. I installed a brand new clutch and fly wheel as well as the cleaned up *new to me* tranny and transfer case and it drives perfect.

Pic of the Old stuff

Pic of the New stuff all cleaned up

Also ended up doing a full tune up and scored free brand new distributor and coil from a friend who never ended up using them. Cleaned out the the throttle body, new fuel filter and installed Dodge 703 injectors (4 pin injectors). This thing couldnt run any better. Never had a cherokee run this smooth. Also did the open cooling swap. I did have one hick up where it died on me and for the life of me could not figure out what was wrong. I tested EVERYTHING... got impatient and sent it to Jeep to get diagnosed and was annoyed when I found out it was the CPS. I have delt with many CPS failures but never one like what this guy was doing. Oh well. runs great again.

Pic of it getting towed from where it died

Pic of it getting towed to jeep

Once I got it back I did some cosmetic upgrades. I put one a 97+ side mirrior. Unfortunately could only find one. Looking for the passenger side. 97+ door handles. Wagoneer Dash wood trim. Wagoneer Tail lights with silver trim painted black. Painted the factory steel wheels black.

 

[tribal_4x4]

And now to present day. Today I had a nice surprise when my parents felt generous enough to buy me some new tires. They are an off brand mud terrain but they look great and couldnt beat the price.

Here are current pics from today.

Ill try and get some updated interior shots of it soon. But my ultimate plan is to run a 3.5" lift with some 31's and go from there. Disk brake conversion on the rear. Swap out the front 30 with a non vacuum. WJ brakes and steering. Rear locker. 3.55 gears. I do have a 97 brake master cylinder and booster waiting to be installed as well.

 

[Alex E]

Nice find. Gotta tint the windows at least a little bit. My 87 didn't have tinted windows and sitting at stop lights at night I felt like a fish in a fish bowl with everyone looking at me. Haha

 

[tribal_4x4]

Nice find. Gotta tint the windows at least a little bit. My 87 didn't have tinted windows and sitting at stop lights at night I felt like a fish in a fish bowl with everyone looking at me. Haha

lol yea i know what you mean. I have a pretty big laundry list for this thing. Tinted windows is definitely on it. Ill slowly chip away at things.

 

[Alex E]

Yeah it never ends, it's a Jeep thing. Lists are useful but they depress me some times, lol, they get long quickly. I've gotten a lot of used stuff off here over the years and sold stuff on here. Keep an eye on cl too.

 

[tribal_4x4]

Yeah it never ends, it's a Jeep thing. Lists are useful but they depress me some times, lol, they get long quickly. I've gotten a lot of used stuff off here over the years and sold stuff on here. Keep an eye on cl too.

lol yea. the hardest part is sticking to your list and not venturing off. This is cherokee number 6 for me. I have been on here off and on for a while now. Never crazy active though. Hoping to change that. All my other XJ's were decently built on 35's and 36's. I just didnt want to go that route with this one. Im actually gonna be building a 2001 Honda Passport (Isuzu Rodeo) come this summer. I have been gather parts so far. Using a Waggy 44 front keeping the factory 44 rear. Chevy 63's in the rear... blah blah blah.

Here is my Passport now

Currently sitting on a 3.5" lift with 265/75/16 KM2s

 

[Mike1331]

love this, that thing turned out super clean. I love the paint job and interior.

 

[tribal_4x4]

love this, that thing turned out super clean. I love the paint job and interior.

Thanks! I felt it needed to be rescued lol it's next stop would have been pick n pull.

 

[Mike1331]

I respect the fact that you are keeping a 300$ beater mild and are leaving the more extreme shit for one project.
Have multiple projects that are all beyond mild is a royal PITA. Unless you have a fun factory like Tim of course.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

I love the mildly built XJ on like 31s idea. rear locker is a great call. That would be sweet for sure. Lots of camping, mild trails, bombing down dirt roads, beach trips, etc while keeping driveability and keeping some sort of MPG, as well as keeping the overall cost low.

 

[tribal_4x4]

I respect the fact that you are keeping a 300$ beater mild and are leaving the more extreme shit for one project.
Have multiple projects that are all beyond mild is a royal PITA. Unless you have a fun factory like Tim of course.

Thanks man. yea i have had plenty of "one too many" projects. Im just trying to keep it simple now.

I love the mildly built XJ on like 31s idea. rear locker is a great call. That would be sweet for sure. Lots of camping, mild trails, bombing down dirt roads, beach trips, etc while keeping driveability and keeping some sort of MPG, as well as keeping the overall cost low.

Thats exactly what im shooting for. I might even end up towing a little pop-up tent trailer with it as well. Ive tried doing camping trips (not including wheeling) with my crawler and it's a P.I.T.A. For now I might even just do the 2" budget boost until I can gather all the funds to do it right the first time. Im shooting for the 3.5" RE Super Flex kit and will probably do drop down brackets. Not sure how a long arm would be on a 3.5" lift... might be a little over kill for that height. I wanna take the axles out at that time to fully clean them up and rebuild them while doing the upgrades to them. So I get the chance to install everything and its ready to rock on one full swoop.

 

[tribal_4x4]

Im thinking next project on my list for it is building a false floor for the rear and have two slide out drawers. Gonna start pricing it out.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

I wouldnt spend a 1$ on long arms for your setup. not worth it. 44 rear locked up with stock gears will be great. As far as drops, you wont need after market control arms if you go DB on a 3.5, which will keep it simple and cheap. mudflaps.com has the 4.5" RE coils for 80$ shipped ,pretty cheap, and rear 3.5" leaves shipped for like 250$. Just an idea. you can run stock arms in the short run until you find a deal on used arms. And you can find some cheap DB'S.

 

[tribal_4x4]

So I am beyond pissed right now. Sorry to anyone that works at Oreilly's, but I have never buying a part from that crap shoot again. I had the 4th part in a month fail on me tonight and that was my slave cylinder.... Not even 3 weeks old!! Gonna have to pull my transmission AGAIN.... and unfortunately I don't have money to get a part else where so I am sticking with the warranty.... From here on out I am buying from either Napa, Car Quest or going to the Dealer...

 

[Forceful Llama]

Ya the internal slaves suck. I put in a Luk kit in last year and it seems to be doing fine. I believe I got it off Carolinaclutch for 200 ish and it came with slave, pilot bearing, and new clutch plates. Napa wanted 170 just for the slave, same brand. Figured I might as well do it all for a few bucks more while I had it out.

 

[tribal_4x4]

So after calming down with a good night sleep and checking my jeep in the morning I come to find that it wasn't my slave cylinder. It was my clutch line. The rubber portion rubbed and split open. Much easier fix. Sorry for my Oreilly rant last night lol it was a long day. Funny thing is I called EVERY auto parts store in the area seeing if they had the clutch line. No one had it. Then I called Oreillys and they have it in stock... :bs: oh well I sucked it up and got it from them so I have my jeep back. Now back to the fun stuff!

Here is a shot of where my clutch line split

 

[Rammin97]

I am diggin the budget build!! I call mine a budget build but its gone way over and over and over!!

 

[tribal_4x4]

I am diggin the budget build!! I call mine a budget build but its gone way over and over and over!!

Thanks! im getting really anxious on doing rear storage. I want to do something similar to this.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/32757-Rear-platform-storage-done-in-XJ

but on the back where the tail gate opens I will have slide out drawers and I want the storage section that goes over the back seat location to be removable so I can put my back seats in when im not using the storage. So it will be a 2 piece storage unit.
What does everyone think?

 

[16vvincent]

I am also loving the budget build. It is almost like what I am doing with my $350 XJ.
Are you the guy(s) that I came across at the Antelope P-n-P pulling the BA-10? I was there pulling a 8.8 for mine and looking for other stuff. You had just pulled the trans out from under the donor.
Check out the rear storage I did on mine by going to "Little Orphan Annie" build.

 

[tribal_4x4]

I am also loving the budget build. It is almost like what I am doing with my $350 XJ.
Are you the guy(s) that I came across at the Antelope P-n-P pulling the BA-10? I was there pulling a 8.8 for mine and looking for other stuff. You had just pulled the trans out from under the donor.
Check out the rear storage I did on mine by going to "Little Orphan Annie" build.

lol small world! yea that was me and my buddy pulling the tranny. I have also been following your build as well. Love it!