Soon to be chopped up XJ

[bitchofanxj]

Started with this. Stock


Lift and 31's




Trimmed, Tube Fenders



Concept, What it will look like by the end of the summer
A little photochop I did with paint just to give an idea of what I will be doing.

The idea is to maximize approach and departure angles, keeping it low with the existing 2.5 - 3" lift. Rear doors will be welded to body, all excess body will be cut off behind rear wheel wells for better departure angle. Rear wheel wells will also be tubed up to match the front. Front D30 will be stretched forward as far as I can go with my adjustable control arms. Prolly only 2-3" due to stock stearing and trac bar locations. I have a brand new set of 34" LTB's and an 8.8 out of an explorer that will also be going in by the end of spring (pics later). I have to descide what springs I will be running in the rear before I start chopping everything up. I will be doing a simple internal cage, scrub rails on the roof just above the doors, and along the side of the bed in the rear. I will be doing some flush mount bumpers also. Will be posting pictures when the work begins, just have to wait for all this snow to go away.

[CrewChief]

It's a nice rig how it sits now! Chopped will be cool though. Good luck!

[jakeWI]

real good looking jeep. cant wait for more progress.

[stamp]

thats gunna look good

how are you planning ondoing behind the seats you have a picture of a 2 door as your ultimate goal and you drive a 4 door so ... im curious

[4.3L XJ]

There are a couple of things you will need to consider to do this. first, to chop the back that much you will need to convert the rear to coils or 1/4 elliptic. Second to move the front axle that far forward, you will have to move the steering box too. You can only move it a little ways before you have to extend the frame unless you go to full hydraulic steering

[bitchofanxj]

Originally Posted by stamp

thats gunna look good

how are you planning ondoing behind the seats you have a picture of a 2 door as your ultimate goal and you drive a 4 door so ... im curious

I will be welding the rear doors to the body and shaving the hadles so it doesn't look like they were ever there. I will have my hands full with body work alone but I think it will be sweet as hell when all is said and done.

Here is a guy off of pirate that did it. He kept all the body behind the rear wheel wells though.

[bitchofanxj]

Originally Posted by 4.3L XJ

There are a couple of things you will need to consider to do this. first, to chop the back that much you will need to convert the rear to coils or 1/4 elliptic. Second to move the front axle that far forward, you will have to move the steering box too. You can only move it a little ways before you have to extend the frame unless you go to full hydraulic steering

I have thought of all of these things, I've been doing research on this for a few months and have thought of all my options. First I'll throw the tires on and adjust my control arms out as far as I can w/o any interference and if it still isn't as far forward as I would like to go I will be moving the box forward. As for the rear I am still taking measurments and have not descided on what route I'm going yet.

[bitchofanxj]

My 8.8 with all the crap that needs to be cut off and removed.



The 34x10.5 LTB's Brand new got a great deal on them, the guy I bought them from used them on 3 trail rides and they have never seen pavement.


I'm not sure what gears I will be running in the axles quite yet, maybe you guys can help me with that descision. I have 4.10's in my D30 and 35 right now and will probally get everything set up and test the tires out with my current axles and descide if I want 4.56's or 4.88's after that.

[bitchofanxj]

I got rid of my crapped out stock LCA mounts this summer and made some new ones out of some 3/16" plate. They mount right to the side of the axle tube now rather than below it like the stockers. They won't be dragging across any more rocks and my control arms sit almost level now. I welded a plate to the bottom of the bracket to join the two tabs and the way they were set up I had to weld the shock tab to the top of the control arm. Everything seems to work great and I won't have to worry about them breaking or the bolt holes wearing out. The RC X-Series arms are awesome too.

[Deepwater Jeepin]

Right on man, looks good. The chop will be a ton of work, but sounds like it will be pretty wicked in the end.

I like the idea with the relocation of the control arm mount. I smashed up the mount on my driver side on a trip one time... then, on the day of my wedding, it finally let go. It was like two hours before the ceremony and all i can think about is my damn jeep. It was great.

[bitchofanxj]

Originally Posted by Deepwater Jeepin

Right on man, looks good. The chop will be a ton of work, but sounds like it will be pretty wicked in the end.

I like the idea with the relocation of the control arm mount. I smashed up the mount on my driver side on a trip one time... then, on the day of my wedding, it finally let go. It was like two hours before the ceremony and all i can think about is my damn jeep. It was great.

Haha that's awesome! Sounds like something I would do.

[bitchofanxj]

Well I'm getting ready to throw the 34's on and have it re-aligned so I figured I needed to do something about the chincy ass tie rod. On the last XJ I bent the stock tie rod while running a set of 33x12.5 MT's, since the LTB's I'll be running are taller and a little more knobby I had to do something about it. I was going to buy a new V8 ZJ tie rod but I already had one new end for the XJ rod so I figured I'd just buy another end and beef it up a bit.

Measured out the tube and cut it in half, drilled 5 holes on each piece to plug weld it on each side.


Tacked and plug welded the first side on, held it in place with some vise grips worked great.



Welded on the other side and stitch welded at the seams. It added about a 1/4" to the overall diameter.




Do you guys think I should just keep the seams stitched together or do you think I should completely weld both seams together?

[tazjeeper]

should look good.
I do not understand why you say you have to change the rear from Springs 4.3... lots of people have change an xj to a chop like that and have not changed from leafs... he)) I have done it a few times without problems.... just asking your reasoning...

as far as the chop pic from pirate.... taht jeep has a Comanche roof and rear cab section on it.... something to think about as the roof on a MJ s taller inside then a xj and a lot stronger then a XJ.. another thing is that the cab rear is the same dimentions as the xj so its an eazy fab and they are stronger then whats left of an xj after you cut it up...
looks like a build to watch

[4.3L XJ]

Originally Posted by tazjeeper

should look good.
I do not understand why you say you have to change the rear from Springs 4.3... lots of people have change an xj to a chop like that and have not changed from leafs... he)) I have done it a few times without problems.... just asking your reasoning...

The rear springs go almost to the rear bumper, as if you didn't know. It looks to me like he wants to chop off enough that the shackle would be hanging in space or that he would have it sticking out far enough to hang up on everything. If he went to coils, he could chop that much or more and do what he wants.

[bitchofanxj]

Well the tie rod is done and the paint is drying. I descided to fully weld both seams, I was worried about the whole thing warping from the heat but I only welded half of it on each side then let it cool down before I welded the rest up. Worked out good, not pretty but a hellofa lot stronger. I'll post pics up tomorrow when I get the new ends put on.

Originally Posted by 4.3L XJ

The rear springs go almost to the rear bumper, as if you didn't know. It looks to me like he wants to chop off enough that the shackle would be hanging in space or that he would have it sticking out far enough to hang up on everything. If he went to coils, he could chop that much or more and do what he wants.

Exactly, I might be going a different route and not cutting as much off the rear as I originally planned. I will more than likely use the back cab of a comanche tho and I have read through his build about three times and know what all is in store. I don't think I'll waste my time with all the body work on the bed that he did tho, I'll probally start with a flatbed and build off of that with tube. Something like this.



It would probally be easier to just start with a comanche but I'm broke and laid off and have a cherokee so thats how its gonna be.