Trucks Tv Xj build on Spike TV Sunday

[rifle6]

i missed the episode and have not seen it come up again.
i really wanted to see the door hinge fix.
does anyone have link or pics that show the fix in detail?

 

[Smittty9785]

did anyone get it on tape or tivo?? Id like to see it. Maybe post it up on you tube

 

[HaleYes]

did anyone get it on tape or tivo?? Id like to see it. Maybe post it up on you tube

See post 194 of this very thread.

 

[XJ Stryker]

did anyone get it on tape or tivo?? Id like to see it. Maybe post it up on you tube

or you can just check here


http://www.jeepstrokers.com/cheepjeep/

 

[Muad'Dib]

I guess some people dont read

 

[AlabamaDan]

Well I enjoyed it and even more knowing the guys came on here to post. I know they spent more money that we'd have to, but hey they were probably given a budget of 10K and do you see most of the stuff they build!

I like the Bushwacker flares. Ok, to let leave them off but at the prices KT paid why not. Nothing wrong with having a dent free truck for a few more hundred.

BTW, I had DuPont's Imron on my 1973 Ford Torino Sport and that's great paint! It looked good even after having been broadsided into a telephone pole. Probably looked good sitting in a junkyard for years afterwards. That's what I'm going to use on my XJ if I ever get through the drivetrain and stop that stupid leak!

 

[AlabamaDan]

AND, did you notice that Ryan even chimed in on a couple of tech threads. Good for him!

 

[Tito_73*]

Wow what a long thread, it's been quite sometime since my last post. I just finished reading this informative thread. First of all kudos to Kevin & Ryan for posting. I watched all 4 episodes & I have to say I really liked the way project cheep jeep turned out. I am pretty new to the wheeling scene. I bought my 89 Laredo 4 door in July of 2005. I thought I didn't need 4X4 so I bought it. Okay so I underwent a 4X4 conversion. It cost me around $350 for the drivetrain parts, ( h.p. Dana 30, np231, AW4). I've also installed a skyjacker 3" lift kit with leaf springs. Procomp extreme polished alluminum wheels 16", Yokohama LT265/75R16's, rebuilt my Dana 35 (mistake I know), & the best upgrade I think rebuilt my 4.0 & stroked it using a comp cams camshaft and sealed power pistons, & blah blah blah now I'm just ranting sorry. My 2 cents is if you really want to be cheap, be cheap. I think as long as you feel that your money was well spent and your rig performs the way you want it to then that is what counts. I do want to thank everyone on this forum as your advice is great when I need it. I know now to check naxja when planning something else for my XJ. Oh yeah one last thing Trucks! Has gotten better since Stacey left. My totals, over 5K not so cheap but she's a gold digger!

 

[hollywood32]

Now I have a question........ what's the cheapest XJ that anyone here has built? Tell the truth!, add up all the trips to the parts counter, every little added on part..... let us know what a dirt cheap budged build is over here.... This is an honest question not a counterpoint.... wew know we could have been a little cheaper without a winch and high lift jack.... off road lights, E-locker blah blah blah.... but tell us your story.



KT.

Okay mine is pretty close to yours except not a daily driver but is still street legal as long as they don't look to closely. I will say that if mine was a daily driver I would spend the extra 300 bucks for a selectable front locker as you did. Price seems pretty close I did fab some stuff that you bought and you fabed some stuff that I bought so it should was out.



93 XJ 4.0L 4x4 country 4 door invovled in minor wreck $350.00 4.5 lift w/h 33" tires & Wheels + Brake lines+ lower arms + adjustable track bar $1,200.00 12 cans of PB blaster $50.00 Front Aussie locker $250.00 Custom Cage $500.00 AJ's Front Bumper $350.00 Home fabbed Rear bumper and gas tank skid $75.00 AJ's Rock Rails $250.00 Mile Marker 8000lb Winch $400.00 Synthetic Winch line $125.00 CB + Antenna $80.00 Hunsacker suspension seats $250.00 Paint (Not done yet but supplies are purchased) $135.00 MISC… Nuts, bolts, spray paint, etc… $200.00 Power steering cooler $30.00 Junk yard rear dana 44 (planned but not purchased yet $350.00 Junk yard front axle shafts upgrade $125.00 PRP rear suspension bench $325.00 4 Crow 5 point Harnesses - Good deal on expired racing straps. $200.00 membership (essential for my fabrication plagiarism) $35.00
$4,930.00

 

[redkling]

where can I find a parts list of the parts used?

 

[rstrucks]

where can I find a parts list of the parts used?

If you go to PowerblockTV.com and look under "TRUCKS!" and "episodes" it will list all the parts used in that show. Just click on the episode you want to find parts info on.

Ryan

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Downloaded and viewed all four episodes the other night - saw the first on TV a while back, the rest were new to me.

Honestly I thought the build came out great. I'd agree that for winching/recovery that probably the front bumper mounts should have followed the design of the OEM tow hook brackets you pulled off, but that was really the only thing I think I'd disagree with from a technical standpoint.

I do have a question about the door hinge repair - I like the idea of putting a thicker piece of metal and bolting the body-side hinge plate down, but by welding that thicker plate to the existing unibody, haven't you just created a new version of the same stress point that originally failed in the first place? I'll admit that I've never welded a thing and probably wouldn't know which end of the welder to hold, but if the weight of the door is enough to crack the factory welds, why wouldn't it crack the welds joining the reinforcement plate and the body pillar? Does mounting the plate flush with the body make the plate more "integral" after burning in and therefore stronger than the original attachment scheme?

Finally, it was cool to hear that Kevin had something of an XJ "awakening" - these so-called "grocery getters" never seem to fail to surprise folks when they show their mettle on the trail. I'm starting to think that in offroad terms, the XJ's practically a sleeper vehicle in stock to slightly modified form.

Rob

 

[dave92cherokee]

Tieing the plate into the unibody for the hinges will stop the hinge problem. The hinge problem arises because the factory welds the top, bottom, and front but not the back of the hinge to the unibody. So when the door swings out to hard it starts cracking the welds from the back where it isn't welded and pushes the front in.

 

[markw]

Finally, it was cool to hear that Kevin had something of an XJ "awakening" - these so-called "grocery getters" never seem to fail to surprise folks when they show their mettle on the trail. I'm starting to think that in offroad terms, the XJ's practically a sleeper vehicle in stock to slightly modified form.

Rob

Heh, that's why there's http://www.gotgroceries.net

 

[markw]

Wow! Thanks for the kind words!..... where are all the guys that were hackin on us? LOL! I agree, there was about a season and a half that we were sorting things out...( diplomatic statement #223) Thanks for hanging in with us. I think Ryan should market that bumper design..... aparently it added structural rigidity to those frame rails, because it didnt pull off the unibody even once.... I'm not disagreeing that those mounts may be a weak point, it's just that we never intended on hard-corring a basically stock rig, so it's all about dose-and-duration and the whole scope of the build didnt call for the added weight of a multi point mounting system. The way they're made it would be very easy to attach some supports and tie it into the frame.... maybe a future episode? Thanks for the tip on the brakelines as well... out back it was a non- issue with the new rear axel, we locked them well out of the way.... out front we didnt have any issues, even with the wheel stuffed, but it's something to consider regardless.... no brakes = no brakes = not fun wheelin.

Now I have a question........ what's the cheapest XJ that anyone here has built? Tell the truth!, add up all the trips to the parts counter, every little added on part..... let us know what a dirt cheap budged build is over here.... This is an honest question not a counterpoint.... wew know we could have been a little cheaper without a winch and high lift jack.... off road lights, E-locker blah blah blah.... but tell us your story.


KT.

The brakelines I'm refering to are the front ones. I almost ripped a set off, and I've watched them get ripped off. No brakes are not a good thing.

Mine's somewhere around yours in price. Built it over a couple years. Sat on the lift kit until I had axles and SYE.

Bushwhackers in socal are usually not seen as we have rocks, and more rocks. $500 on a set of flares that will break on your first trip to Johnson Valley isn't money well spent.

There are a ton of socalxj guys and guys in the naxja socal forum who haven't found socalxj yet that wheel these things on 33's and 35's on some of the toughest trails around with hardly any damage.

Maybe they should have some sort of cheap jeep challenge. The wrangler guys would get their rears handed to them from the XJ crowd. Now I need to go back and research the $70 paint job and sign up for the autobody class at the adult center this summer to get use of their booth.

 

[92XJT]

Mine seems to be a lot cheaper then a few on here, did get some good deals on it. I still have the XJ episodes on my DVR - overall a pretty good build.

Here's my build price / specs:
92 XJ sport 2 dr, 4.5" lift - $1300
sold spare items: -$310
5 - 33x14x15 boggers - $600
4 new rims - $142
8.25 rear axle with 4.56 gears and locker - $350
extra 8.25 shafts - $30
D30 4.56 gears - $100
Gear install + axle seals, and pinion yoke - $300
Master install kit - $150
Herculiner - $60
O-ring oil filter kit - $4.95
1.75" blocks - $5
Rear bumper with tire carrier - $200
CB - $50 with antenae mount
winch - freebee from my old truck when I traded it in
Rusty's winch bumper - $200
Rear storage deck - $50
D30 shafts - $50

3281.95 for a total current build. Now if you want to get technical, I have two more parts I bought but haven't installed:

1 - metal tail light housings with lenses - $90
2 - 4.5" lift upper control arms - $125

So grand total for everything would be - 3496.95

 

[92XJT]

Okay let's try the pic thing again - lol, sorry

 

[aparke4]

yeah that build is way better than the one on trucks because it really is budget built - i mean their total was over 6k right?shoot you can get a great rig already built for that... i wish they had scrounged more in the yards but it came out pretty clean

 

[markw]

I T-boned a 98 Dakota and totaled it, had the factory tow hooks and front receiver hitch. Minimal damage, bent bumper, broken factory fogs, cracked 1 rib on the grill, broke a clip for the headlight. I recovered $1400 out of them and spent $900 on an AJ bumper and summit AW-9000 winch, so my total budget spent decreased by $500 right?? Same with my D44, found it and an 8.8 in the JY, got the 8.8 for $75 and the 44 for 150, sold the 8.8 for 300, so I started with negative 75 in the D44, still spent a grand on locker and shafts and gears. (Yes you can snap a stock shaft with 33's.) Building them completly from junkyard parts can be done, but carry spares. We frequent places like Johnson Valley a lot, and break stuff you guys back east would never break.

 

[cherokee chuck]

my son bought a wrecked 95 for $400. with the same type of front end damage only on the drivers side. We used a my 10 ton porta power to straighten the frame & square up the inner structure,straightened the bent axle{since replaced} straightened the fender, used J.B.weld to repair the header panel & replaced the tie rod with an $18.50 pull-a-part used one,set the toe in.centered the steering wheel and he was driving it,A set of wrecking yard wheels and tires {$100.}quadratec budget lift{$112.95} and we had a cheap presentable Jeep for less than you guys had in your ford 8.8 .He now has real suspension w/alcas & procomp rear leafs & Maxis bighorns.It;s now a real trail rig and sharp looking too, for about $2,000 total investment. Now that is a cheap Jeep.But being a retired body and fender tech did help.Don't get me wrong, I watch your show every weekend & love your not so cheap Jeep.Wanna trade?