Project Bruised: 2000 XJ Limited Build Thread

[2000XJ]

First off, building this rig has been a huge learning experience, and I'm amazed at how much I'm capable of doing now compared to when I brought it home. I do alot my wrenching with my friends because it helps get it all done faster, and we all contribute to each other's learning curves. Plus, what's better than wrenching with your buds while throwin' back a few cold ones and shooting the breeze?!

Rig:
2000 Jeep Cherokee (XJ)
Color: (Mostly) Burgundy

This is going to follow the ongoing process of building my Jeep. I'll start with a recap of what I've done over the past couple years and then I'll get into the nitty-gritty of what's coming in the near future, and what my future plans may hold. There isn't a whole lot of XJ Tech on here, but there has been a recent flood of XJ's into the club so I hope this can be helpful to some.

I got this Jeep in June '05 with only 25,000 miles on the odo, and now I know this may sound cliche, but I had no intention of wheeling it because it was so "pretty". It wasn't long before I got bit.

This is what it looked like shortly after I brought it home:


First thing I did was to find and OEM Mopar Roof-Top Tire Carrier, and put the spare on the roof. I also found a great deal on some ZJ rims, and put those on, and added vent visors. Finally, I got a set of BFG AT's in 235/70R16 (which measure to just about 30x9.50).


In the summer of '07 I heard about the NJJC, and thought that wheeling looked like alot of fun. I had to prep for my first trailride with the NJJC, so I added the typical CB Radio (Cobra 19), speaker (Radio Shack), and antenna (Firestik II). I also added front tow hooks (C4x4), and a rear hitch (Reese) - in addition to all the other pre-reqs.





During the July trailride, I got over that initial fear of breaking or scratching the XJ while out on the trails when I shattered both ofmy front fog lamps and crushed my driverside rocker. As many of you know now, my fear is all gone now.

Between July and August I added my first major mod, the Rubicon Express 2" Budget Boost with full-length AAL, new shocks, extended rear brake lines, and JKS Quicker Disconnects. I also ditched the rear swaybar.





The lift was great, I noticed a difference on the greens and low blues, but then realized that armor would be essential to keeping the rig in mostly one piece. I wheeled without skids until January, when at the end of December '07 I added a Tcase Skid (Skid Row), Rock Sliders (AJ's Heavy Duty Sliders), Front Diff Skid (Warn), Dana 35 Glider (Rock-It), and a front bumper (JCR Offroad). At this point I also added the Currie steering setup, and a Teraflex Heavy Duty Adjustable Trackbar. A month later I added a Rusty's Engine/Tranny Skid.

Sliders:


Bumper:


Rusty's Engine/Tranny Skid:


Skid Row Tcase Skid:


Finally, pre-Big Dogs June, I added a 750 Watt Power Inverter.

At this point, the rig has been "done" (I use the term loosely), and I've just been wheeling the heck out of it since it's been all armored up. At this point my rig and I are ready for that next step.

By BLB '08 my plans are to swap in an XJ Dana 44, install a Rubicon Express 4.5" Superflex Lift Kid, Slip Yoke Eliminator, Driveshaft, 33" tires, gas tank skid, and maybe a rear lunchbox locker.

More to come...

[2000XJ]

This installation can be applied to any ?97-?01 Cherokee (XJ). However, the overall gist of the installation can be applied to almost any car.

Necessary Tools:
- Wire Crimper
- Wire Strippers
- Butt Splices
- 16 Gauge Wire
- 2 In-line fuses (10 amp)
- Stud Ring Connectors
- Drill
- Electrical Tape
- Screwdriver

Step 1:
Decide where you would like to mount the CB. I kept in mind how often I?d be using it, where I?d be able to hear it best, and where it would not interfere with other passengers or myself. I chose to mount it on the center console, on the passenger side. I know many may say that this would interfere with the movement of the passenger seat, or the passengers themselves, but I haven?t had any problems thus far, and my passengers have said that it really doesn?t interfere with their legs.

I installed the mount with the screws provided with the CB, and since this CB is so small and light the console has been strong enough to hold it (even after various wheeling trips).





Step 2:
I bought 24? of 16 gauge wire, but did not use anywhere near that much for the installation of a single wire (I used the extra wire for other projects). The way I measured out how much wire I would need was by taking a small rope and running it from the battery through the firewall (more detail on this later) to the back of the CB, and then cut the wire a little longer than what I would actually need. The wires for the Positive and Negative wires will be the same length since they will both be running to the battery. I will leave all of the splicing and stud ring connectors until the end. I found it easiest to have all of the wires run, and then add the splices at the end.

Now many people have many different ways to run their wires. Some drill holes in their firewall, others find holes or grommets already in use for factory accessories. I took the latter route. I ran all my wires (including Antenna coax through a grommet for one of the main wire bundles that is installed from the factory. All I did was take a utility knife and put a small hole in the rubber just big enough to run the wires through.

Here is a picture of the grommet I am referring to. It is just to the left of the brake pedal, about parallel to the steering components. You can see my Red (Power) and White (Ground) wires running through the grommet. The black wire is the Coax for the antenna (more on that later).



This is the same grommet, but on the engine bay side:


I then ran the wires behind the brake and gas pedals, making sure that they did not interfere with their movement. Then I ran the wires behind the center console. One way to do this would be to remove the part of the console that runs vertically (where the Radio/AC Controls/AC Vents are) and just tuck the wires back there, or you can take something stiffer such as a wire hanger, cut it, straighten it, and GENTLY push it behind the console until it comes out the passenger side. Then you can tape (Electrical Tape) the two wires to the hanger and pull them through. Both ways are really easy.

Once the wires are run to the CB you will want to strip the ends of the wires running to the battery and the ends of the wires coming out from the CB radio. Using a butt splice connect these wires (Red to Red for power, and then the ground wires). Make sure that you do not have any wires connected to the battery yet, that will be the last step. Now your CB is ready to be connected to the battery.



Step 3:
At the battery end of the wires you will want to use a Stud Ring Connector on each wire. This is done by stripping the end of the wires, and putting on the Connector with crimpers. Then you will want to take the nut off of the bolt that holds down the battery cables to the terminals, and slip the connector over that bolt and replace the nut. You will want to do the power wire first, then the ground. Power goes to the Positive terminal, and the ground will go to the Negative terminal.

Here is how everything will look under the hood. As you can, I ran the wires (Red and White) around the back of the engine bay, away from any moving parts. The wires were small enough that I was able to run them through the zip ties that hold the factory wire bundles together. The second picture is of the wires connected to the battery terminals. I used electrical tape to make sure the wires stayed together and away from other things, creating a ?mini-bundle.?





Step 4:
Now it?s time to connect antenna. I decided to use a hood mount, and have the antenna mounted on the driverside, about parallel to the OEM antenna for the radio. This turned out to be really easy, and all I had to do was drill 4 holes, and screw in the mount. Others opt to mount their antennas to the rear of their Jeeps. Either is fine, it?s mostly personal preference.

I ran the Coax for the antenna through the same grommet, following the same path on the interior of the XJ for the power/ground wires. The PL-259 connects are pretty big, but making a little bigger hole in the grommet will allow you to push it through. You will have plenty of Coax left over if you use lengths of 9? or 18?, so you will want to make sure that you wrap it in a manner that it does not make any sharp bends.

I used a small white clip to secure the wire against the quarter panel to make sure that it would not get crushed or damaged by the hood. If done properly, the hood will not even touch the coax preventing any damage.

Once the coax is run, connect it to your antenna and to the back of the CB






Step 5:
Connect the Mic to the front outlet of the CB. In terms of where to mount the mic, I found that putting it on the panel just left of the Vertical center console, behind the windshield wiper stalk was a great place because it keeps the wire behind the shifter and is generally out of the way. The mount for the mic should come with the CB. All that needs to be done is to drill two small holes, and then screw the screws for the mount through the holes.



This is how I mounted my CB in my XJ, however the way I ran lines to/from the battery, and how I mounted the antenna can be used for almost any type of Jeep. Personal preference can allow the CB to be mounted anywhere you want. I highly recommend disconnecting the negative battery cable for the duration of the installation just as an added precaution. Some also prefer to use inline fuses near the battery on the wires leading to the CB as a measure of protection. I did not, but this is easily done by picking some up at Radio Shack and splicing them into the power/ground wires.

Another thing I?d like to add is that putting the CB that far away from the driver?s ear will make it difficult to hear people, even with the volume turned up. I really wanted to mount mine on the roof between the driver and passenger seats, however the overhead console prevented me from doing this. In my case, I added an external speaker which I mounted to the OHC so I could hear the CB.

Finally, this write-up only describes how to install a CB radio and Antenna. After everything is installed, you will need to tune your CB radio, and an SWR meter is necessary for this. There are also many places (such as www.firestik.com) that have good descriptions on how to tune your antenna.

[2000XJ]

About two weeks ago I came across an XJ Dana 44 out of a 1987 XJ. When I was done reading the for sale ad I called the seller and bought it. These things are rare, especially since they're direct bolt-ins for XJ's. A few days later I drove out to PA and picked it up. My immediate plans are to get this ready to be bolted in so I can rid of the Dana 35. When I picked it up, it had a bent backing plate, other than that it looked like it was in good shape - for the exception of a much needed brake job.

Here it is the night I brought it home:


Here is the bent backing plate:


And here is how the previous owner took it off the donor - chopped the driveshaft right off:


This Friday I decided to take the cover off, drain the fluid, tear down what was left of the drum brakes, pull the shafts, and check everything over.

When I pulled the cover off and drained the fluid, chunks of metal came out. Now from what I understand, some metal shavings are normal, however, actual chunks of metal are not. In addition, the gear oil was old, and it had probably had not been changed in years.

Cover off:


Metal chunks that came out with the gear oil:


After draining the gear oil and putting the metal chunks aside, I pulled the axle shafts to take a look at the splines. I wanted to make sure that they weren't twisted, and that they were in good shape. I wanted to make sure that everything was in good shape because I don't want this axle to fail over something stupid that I could've caught.

Pulling the shafts is easy. All it takes is unbolting the four bolts on each side that hold on the backing plates, then you slide the axle shaft out. The axle was pretty old, so the axle shafts were pretty hard to get out. With the help of a hammer, I gently convinced the axle shafts to come out. We checked out the splines, and they looked like they were in good shape.

Axle with the shafts removed:


After further inspection of the carrier and all gears, I noticed that the gear oil was actually caked onto the gears, and that some gear teeth looked pretty worn.

Later on in the day my friend came over, and like a true doctor, he brought all of his tools.

He measured the backlash of the gears, and said that it was ok, but that there was room for improvement (no pun intended).



We then removed the carrier so as to get a better look at everything:



Carrier removal:


After closer examination, my friend said that the metal chunks that came out with the gear oil was part of the trac-lok. This presented a problem because now this wouldn't be the safest thing to be driving around with, especially out on the trails. I'm still undecided as to what I will be doing in terms of the axle, but as of now it looks like I may be doing a temporary gear swap to get this thing on the trails.

[2000XJ]

With the carrier out, we took a closer look at the inside of the housing. It was filthy and very grimy. Some cleaning up is definately in order, and will be happening this week.



The axle tubes were also full of gunk, which will also be cleaned thoroughly.


There will be more to come...

[2000XJ]

Today I spent more time cleaning the axle. It was absolutely filthy. There was some RTV still stuck on the surface of the housing where the cover goes that I couldn't take off with a gasket scraper, and there was the factor silicon that was falling apart at the begining of the axle tubes that I need to get rid of so it wouldn't fall off and into my gear oil and gears down the road.



First thing I did was to remove the carrier brackets that I had put back on so I wouldn't lose them when we removed the carrier over the weekend. Remove the four bolts (in my case I had put them on only finger tight), and then put them in a safe place, as they are necessary for reconstruction later.



Housing will look like this without the brackets:


This was the silicon I was referring to before. A putty knife did the trick, I was careful not to dig into the metal. It was really loose as it was, so it didn't take much effort to get this out.



After removing the silicon from both sides, I stuffed some newspaper in the housing (to prevent particles of junk getting in the tubes), and in the axle tube holes because I was going to use the angle grinder with the wire wheel to clear off the rest of the RTV and small rust spots that were on the perimeter of the housing. It was also very dirty and grimy, so I figured this would be a quick way to make the surface clean again.



Dirty:


Here the left half of the picture shows the dirty side, and the right half shows where I used the wire wheel... pretty significant difference:


All clean:


Now I had to clean the grime off the pinion. I used a shop rag for this. Sorry no "after" pictures, but all the orange and black is gone now.





I then sprayed down the entire housing with Brake Clean and let it dry out. It looks great (again, no "after" pics)

[Kyle]

Nice looking build you have here, keep us updated as you go along.

[2000XJ]

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, the driverside backing plate is bent, so I took it off to replace it. The only thing holding it on is the 4 nuts that hold the axle shaft in place. Once you pull the axle shaft you have complete access to remove the backing plate.

Before you remove the backing plate, you have to remove the brake line from the backing plate. All you need is a 3/8" wrench. It's not on all that tight, and then once it's loose you just pull it back and out of the backing plate. After I took it off, I just bent the line up and out of the way.




You'll see the four bolts here, the axle shafts were removed earlier so they're already out of the way:


The backing plate was pretty fused with the axle tube, so I took my ball peen hammer and tapped it off, evenly (top, bottom, side, side) until the backing plate came loose. Then I just pulled it off with my hands.






The surface where the backing plate rests was a little rusty and so I took the angle grinder and cleaned it up. It now looks like the perimeter of the housing (sorry, no after pics)


I repeated the process on the passenger side because I'm anal and symmetrical. The passenger side backing plate is fine, but I wanted to clean up the axle tube.

Reinstalling the backing plate is just the reverse process.

[2000XJ]

Originally Posted by Kyle

Nice looking build you have here, keep us updated as you go along.

Thanks Kyle, still have quite a few more posts to add to this compilation

[2000XJ]

Finally, the last thing I did today was to remove what was left of the old driveshaft which was torched off, and remove the old U-joint. At first I was going to hold on to the old U-joint, but after looking it through after I removed it I noticed that it was most likely the original U-joint, or very old and not greased at best because under the caps it was very corroded and the pins were all dry. Not worth keeping.

This was pretty easy as well. Only tool necessary was a 5/16" wrench. You undo the four bolts holding the U-joint clips in place and then remove the U-joint.





U-joint removed:

[2000XJ]

OK, so I finally have some time, so I'll post up a summary of what went down the day I did all of this work on the rig. I had a few of my friends help me out.

Up she goes......


Once it was in the air we started to divide up the To-Do list.

Passenger side front U-joint replacement. I had done the driverside a few weeks earlier and just didn't have time to get to the passenger side. The Axle Shaft was removed because this makes changing out U-joints much easier.


A few of us started to tear out the Dana 35 because that would no longer be needed. We first started by taking the drums and all associated brake parts off because we needed to save the E-brake lines on each side for use on the Dana 44. Once we had those out and saved, the brake lines were all disconnected from the backing plates as well as from the driverside axle tube. They were tucked up, waiting for them to be used on the Dana 44.



Once the Dana 35 was all disconnected, we put the jack under the axle and unbolted it from the leaf springs, unbolted and pulled the rear driveshaft (wouldn't need it anymore because of the SYE and new driveshaft). The axle was now completely balanced on the jack (with one person on each side for some additional stability), and it was OUT OF THERE!







Nice Empty Space - Hungry for the D44:


While all that work was occuring on the rear of the rig, a friend of mine started to tear down the front end. We wanted to pull that axle as well because so my other friend could weld skids and box the control arm brackets, so this was easier with the axle off the XJ in order to attain the most accurate measurements, as well as provided alot of space to weld. All the control arms were removed (not needed anyway as the lift kit came with new adjustable uppers and lowers), as well as the brakes. The trackbar and steering linkages were also removed.

Part of the disassmbled Dana 30.


While most of us were working on the tear down, two of my friends who knew how to set gears and such took on the task of installing the Powertrax, and reassembling the Dana 44.

Backlash looks pretty good

[2000XJ]

The leaf springs were easy to remove and then reinstall because I had just had them off a year ago, so the bolts weren't seized (like they were last year). This was probably the easiest part of the entire day.

Immediately following the installation of the new leaf packs, the Dana 44 went in \/ =D>
D44 on it's way to its new home:




Here it is being bolted to the leaf packs.

[2000XJ]

Another thing on the agenda for the day was a new exhaust. Needless to say, I had mangled mine, again. This time I did an extra special job and made a W out of it. It was also rubbing against the driveshaft, hence the reason why part of the DS is nice and shiny.





This is how bad it looked after we started to tear it apart. We decided that the easiest way to get that thing out of there was with a Sawzall. We cut it off right by the crossmember.

Another problem we ran into was that since I had done such a great job with my trail-bent custom exhaust, my cat wouldn't fit after straightening the pipes out again. My downpipes are actually bent, and required a relief cut at the 90* bend by the oil pan in order to straighten it out enough to fit a new muffler on there. I went with a Cherry Bomb because I figured I had mangled a stock exhaust, and then a $150 replacement exhaust, so $20 muffler and some spare pipe my friend had lying around was a much more cost effective fix.



Making the cut:


After bending the pipes back, we matched together an exhaust and welded it all in. There are no leaks, and it sounds great. The Exhaust from the downpipes back actually fits perfectly now for having been so torn apat. Unfortunately, no pics of the new setup.

While the front axle was out of the XJ, we welded some sheetmetal to the passengerside UCA bracket to reinforce it, as well as made some skids for the LCA's.


My friend welding the skids for the LCA's


Final products:
UCA Bracket reinforced:


LCA Skids:


After the skids were done, and the brackets were welded into place, the D30 was ready to go back in. At this point the new uppers and lowers were mounted at the body, and the springs were in place, so in went the D30.

[2000XJ]

Another task at hand that day was the Slip Yoke Eliminator. I have the NP242 (Selec-Trac) Transfercase, so my options were pretty limited in what I could do for a SYE and driveshaft. I chose the more cost effective way, which was the Rubicon Express Hack 'n Tap SYE with an XJ Front driveshaft in the rear. The pros to the setup are saving money and being able to carry one spare driveshaft for the entire rig versus two. Cons are that some say that this setup is not as stout as a true SYE, however I haven't read of one failing thus far, so I chose it.

The hack and tap consists of cutting about 1.25" off of the Tcase output shaft (the Hack part) and then drilling and tapping a hole to hold the adapter in place (the Tap part). I was pretty nervous about this hole procedure, because this is a pretty essential part of the rig. You also only get one chance at this, so measure plenty of times before cutting and tapping.
At this point the shaft had already been cut with a cutoff wheel, and smoothed off with a 4.5" angle grinder.

We put the adapter back on the output shaft to use as a starting guide, so here Marc is drilling the first pilot hole.



We took our time on drilling the hole, so we also took turns. We didn't do one pilot hole then jump to the big bit for the size we needed. Instead, we went up in increments. This was my turn:


Finally the hole was drilled, then we tapped it, then we put the adapter and driveshaft back.

In order for a front XJ driveshaft to function as a rear driveshaft, I needed a flange. This is a Spicer part, which allows the driveshaft to connect to the SYE that is bolted to the tcase output shaft. It is held on the driveshaft with a u-joint, and the other end of the flange has four holes in it so that it can be bolted to the adapter on the output shaft.
Full driveshaft with Spicer flange installed:


Close-up of Flange:


After all the installs were completed, and everything was reassembled, we bled my brake lines. After the brake lines were done, we did a quick alignment because the toe is different after a lift. This would reduce any front end wobbles during the drive home, a professional alignment is recommended, however, just to get everything spot on. We used the tape-measure method.

This pretty much sums up what went down the day we did all the work.

[2000XJ]

Well not much has been happening with the rig as of late. My friend and I spent about 7 or 8 hours one day pulling dents and bringing it back to life. The majority of the dents have been removed, and it looks alot better (relatively speaking!).

Another thing I took on recently was trimming the fenders a bit. I was looking to keep it very neat, and for it to look like it still had some sort of lip.

Here's what I started with:




Basically, my goal was to get rid of the parts where the holes for the fender flares were, and to fold the fenders over at that crease in order to keep a "flared" look to it.

Process:
Take an angle grinder with a cutting wheel on it, and make numerous vertical relief cuts, especially where there may be any curves in the fender.

Relief cuts:


Then with a rubber mallet just hit the pieces that are cut in an almost perpendicular fashion, and they'll start to fold right over towards the inside of the wheel well.




This is what it looks like inside of the well:


I also took this opportunity to drill out the rivets holding the brackets for the bumper endcaps out in order to clean it up a little bit.


Finally, my other friend gave us a lesson in painting because God knows that me an rattle cans don't mix well... we covered all the corners of the XJ with some painters tape and newspaper, sanded, primered, painted, and clearcoated all of the "flares" for a nice clean look.



All in all, the trimming gave me about an extra 1.5" inches of clearance at each corner. My rears don't rub all that much, if at all (even pre-trimming). My front fenders were a completely different story however. They rubbed alot. Now they rub a little less, but I can't really trim all that much more as this is a street driven Jeep, and I can't push my luck that much.


The next installment: Disc Brake Conversion on an XJ Dana 44

[finneys98xj]

nice heep.