The tale of the $500 XJ

[JeepinSeal]

Thanks Luke!

So now after spending the day wrenching on the xj doing preventative maintenance, prepping to pull the axles, suspension, and drive lines for a major bushing upgrade and clean up, and drinking some beers, Im ready to post the next chapter of the $500 XJ.

Now...where did I leave off...OH YEAH!

So after breaking my lower control arm mount and fixing those oil leaks, I went on a trip to Mojave to run Last chance canyon with aeracer and some buddies.

I don't have any pictures of the wheeling, but I do have pictures of carnage and an interesting trail fix.

My friend Dustin had his tracbar break in half. and we had little bit of welding rod, some batteries, and jumper cables (MacGiver anyone?). We tried to weld it back together, but since we only had one set of jumper cables we couldn't get enough voltage to the rod to really get some good penetration. So we improvised again and I think we found the 102nd use for a Hi-Lift jack...tracbar!.

Oh and Easter had come! Yes I still dye eggs...I'm still young minded, mind you. And No that is not my hand in the picture, that hand belongs to my girlfriend.

Broken tracbar.

Aj attempting to weld the bar back together.

If you look close at the coil you'll see some sparks.

Dusty and Aj...The master mechanics!

Hi-Lift tacbar...kind of a good idea. It actually worked for all of a 1/4 of a mile. Long enough for a drag race...not long enough to get back to camp though.

After it was all said and done we got back to camp late at night and had to wait for a friend to come out with a real welder. So what did we do while we waited? How does spelunking sound? We parked my Xj and Aj's across the hole with a tow strap held super tight on the tow hitches over the hole and aeracer got his satch block out with his winch so he could raise and lower someone. I made a harness out of a second tow strap and went down the hole. No pictures of me going down since I left my phone in the Jeep. Kids don't try this at home.

The set up.

Aj attempting the plunge. You can really get an idea now of how the set up worked.

That hole had to be about 30 to 40 feet deep and I had to shout just for anyone to hear me from the bottom.

After all the fun was over we headed home...only to make it about 5 miles down the road before we had to stop again. Dusty had Major death wobble.

After that trip I went on the Molina Ghost Run, but I can't find any pictures of it. It was a great trip though. They closed out the Upper ranch in Hollister for us. I showed up not knowing anyone who was going but I ran into someone from Cherokeeforum, and we ended up camping together and wheeling together. If I can find any pictures I'll put them in a later post. Stick around!

 

[Goose_XJ88]

I've got a pic of you getting lowered into the hole ill text to you tomorrow morning considering its 11:30 right now. Haha

 

[JeepinSeal]

I've got a pic of you getting lowered into the hole ill text to you tomorrow morning considering its 11:30 right now. Haha

Haha! I got it today, thanks.

It looks like I'm saying "OH MY BALLS!" haha

 

[rocknxj]

...grease it up with some soap. I used lemon scented, but you can use any scent.

Classic

 

[JeepinSeal]

Here we are again, another chapter to the Xj story.
I went wheeling with my girlfriend and a few of her friends in Hollister after going to Mojave. While there the expansion bottle for the closed cooling system, kept popping the cap off. So I did what any guy would do, I ripped the whole cooling system out and replaced it with a new radiator with a cap, thus converting it from a closed to an open cooling system.

Old cooling set up. You can see the plate in the corner of the engine bay that used to hold the expansion bottle. Its not there in the picture because I had to remove it in hollister and connected the two hoses together.

Old radiator out. The intake makes a perfect place to lay wrenches.

Yay! New parts!

New rad in.

All done!

If anyone has ever owned a renix era xj, knows what a nightmare the
electrical issues can be. One of the big issues with the renix xj's is a voltage drop across the C101 connector...and that bug bit me right in the butt. I was having all kinds of issues with stalling at stop signs and lights, my fuel mileage dropped to the floor, and the torque converter lock up wasn't unlocking when under full throttle. So out came the volt meter and the shop book. At first I tried cruser54's renix ground refreshing, TPS adjustment, and C101 refreshing. (All very well written and very informative). When I pulled the C101 apart I decided to just eliminate it, because I didn't want to clean it and have it get dirty again. No point in doing a job twice. Warning! this job is not for the feint of heart.

C101 connector in all its "glory". I had already removed it from the firewall when I was tracking down voltages. You can see in the back ground I have replaced the old nasty braided cable with a 4 gauge cable.

I started cutting the wires one by one, and soldering them together as I went, as to not cross up the order.

More cuts and soldering.

Finally done!

Nothing like a cold one while wrenching.

That's it for this post. Hope you all have a good day, and enjoy a cold one!

 

[GordoSmasho]

I would keep an eye on that radiator. It has plastic tanks. They will crack over time. Not a matter of if but when. And with the high temp the 4.0s run at it probably won't be long. Try and find an all metal rad next time.

 

[JeepinSeal]

Thanks for the tip Gordo! What do you think of the ones from radiator barn?

 

[Forceful Llama]

Thinks that's where I got my 2 core all metal from. Never had an overheating problem or leak in almost 3 years.

 

[JeepinSeal]

Hmm. I'll have to look into them. That would be the worst to be out in the middle of nowhere and crack your radiator. If you don't mind, how much was the 2 row all metal one that you got?

 

[NorCalChris]

I paid 400 for mine as well. Actually offered him $408.96 or something odd like that, but he took the $400. I'm from Salinas, but I actually live down here by Pismo Beach.

 

[GordoSmasho]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000CFRL32

 

[JeepinSeal]

I paid 400 for mine as well. Actually offered him $408.96 or something odd like that, but he took the $400. I'm from Salinas, but I actually live down here by Pismo Beach.

Hahah $408.96 is a very random amount. What kind of shape was it in when you got it?

 

[JeepinSeal]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000CFRL32

Thanks Gordo! That's a really reasonable price.

 

[JeepinSeal]

After many months of absolutely nothing happening to the xj except for small trips around town, it came time for Christmas. For the holidays that year I decided to drive out to Fort Collins Colorado to surprise my parents. I decided to drive the 1,200 mile trip in a 25 year old 243,000 mile xj. What an adventure that was. Starting off I got stuck on I-80 just past Sacramento for a number of hours, boring! After much delay, we got moving. I think I made it to Donner Summit after about 2 to 3 hours. The snow was coming down heavy, almost a white out. The xj handled the snow for the first time like a champ. I made it all the way to Elko, NV, where I stopped for the night. I got on the road the next morning at 4. The whole day was filled with intermittent heavy snow, and ground blizzards. The last state highway I went on was 70miles of unplowed powder. I'm not sure on the exact depth but it went above the lip of the rim by quite a bit. I got to the house around 9pm that night. I made the whole trip through heavy snow, and icy roads with out an incident, until I got to the driveway where I hit the bush because I was going a little too fast and slid into it haha. The drive back was entirely uneventful because I took I-70.

Heading up I80 before I got stuck in traffic.

Stopped at a gas station somewhere near the summit.

Nothing like a good traveling companion.

Bulb wasn't hot enough to keep ice from forming on the lens. Anyone else have this happen to them?

Next morning in Elko

Driving down the 80 the next morning. This was the clearest the road was the whole trip.

Exited off the interstate to play in the snow.

So after passing through Salt Lake City, the temps started to climb at a rapid rate. See if you can spot the problem here? If you're too lazy to guess just keep scrolling down. haha.

Here is the answer. Ice was forming over the A/C evaporator core and blocking air flow to the radiator. That was a first.

Knocked it all off.

The next morning at the house. She did well. Shows just how reliable the XJ and Jeep platform really is.

I'm sure Moose was happy to not be in the Jeep anymore.

That was a trip to remember.

 

[NorCalChris]

Hahah $408.96 is a very random amount. What kind of shape was it in when you got it?

It was in good shape. 3.5 inch lift, new 31s, winch bumper was current on registration.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

Dude thats awesome

 

[JeepinSeal]

It was in good shape. 3.5 inch lift, new 31s, winch bumper was current on registration.

Geeze that has to be the score of the century!

 

[JeepinSeal]

Well here we are again, wasting another perfect evening in front of the computer reading a blog about someone's Jeep. As long as you're here I might as well give you something interesting to read.

So after getting back from Colorado I decided to ramp up my effort to find a dana 44 to slap into the back end of my XJ. It took about a month for me to find one. I found one in San Jose that was pulled from an XJ in the junkyard, which means that the diff cover had a hole punched in it and someone had taken the brake drums.

The guy selling it was really cool, He had an awesome 99 (I think). He fabbed his own bumpers, trussed axles, low pro winch, doubler with 3.8:1 low range, all aluminum radiator, fully locked. I think that's all.

Anyway here is the axle as I got it. I had already take the brakes apart by the time I remembered to take a picture.

You can see the hole in the bottom of the cover.

Before I did more to the axle I went wheeling in Hollister with my friend Justin, and ended up blowing out my drivers side unit bearing.

Old unit bearing

Bearing out

New bearing going in.

Done. Except for the retaining nut.

Now, back to the axle!

Painted in flat black

Second shot of it. You can see my Xj next to my old roommate's stock 2wd xj.

Another interruption happened before I could get more done. My friend was having trouble with his Willies truck. The aftermarket electric fans weren't turning on when the key was turned, but would work when jumped.

After that I got back on the axle. I opted to replace the stock cover with a SOLID cover. That thing is pure beef, super heavy.

Finishing up the brake rebuild. Flushed the lines, new cylinders and removed the glazing from the pads.

Finally!!! Time to replace the 35 with the 44!

Don't have any pictures of the 35 under the xj, but who hasn't seen a thousand of those already.

35 on the ground.

Awaiting the 44. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the 44 finally under the rear either. I was too tired after finishing the job to take any.

Beer time!

 

[JeepinSeal]

Well I think that's it as far as upgrades. I do have a poly master bushing kit on order from energy suspension. Hoping it shows up before King of the Hammers. My last trip out just ate up my control arm bushings, and I figured since those ones went, it was only a matter of time before they all went since they were all the original bushings with over 200K on them, that I should just replace them all. Has anyone had any experience changing bushings before? Any tips on how to do it would be awesome.

Now for some pictures from the most recent wheeling trip to Hollister.

aeracer and I.

Kevin pulling a guy straight on the trail, after he broke his rear drive shaft.

Tried to get a picture of all the Jeeps facing away from me, and everyone else decided to take part and face away too hahaha.

Just hanging 'round

The line up. Starting from the far end, aeracer, jeep450r, goodwilliejeeper, mike, and I.

Sam trying his damnedest to push Gordon off the big pipe.

Turns out he was really stuck.

Trail damage. Fell in a pipe. Time to upgrade!

Stay tuned for updates!

 

[JeepinSeal]

So I've been getting the $500 Xj ready to go out to king of the hammers. It had a few things that needed to be addressed. First and foremost there was a really bad popping sound and cracking sound coming from the front end under braking, flexing, and going down a bumpy road. Second was the lights just weren't cutting it.


After doing a lot of head spinning research on this and that and reading who knows how many reviews, I decided on a set of TuffLED 4" round led lights and an Energy Suspension master bushing kit. I ordered the bushings a week before the lights but the company who sold the bushings told me that they would need to be made and then shipped.

Old lights. Super bright, watch out!...

...NOT!!!

Thanks to the man in the big brown truck I had these waiting for me when I got home from work. Super heavy duty feeling, decent hardware included but no wiring harness included. Oh well, finally got led lights.

Old

New

All lit up

Finally the bushings showed up. Talk about cutting it close, but here they are.

I gotta get taller jackstands

Old bushings

New bushings

Id say this bushing has seen better days

Installed

Now its off to King of the Hammers!