cervelorod
Well-known member
I had hesitated to post anything on this, because besides paying for parts I hadn't actually done any of the work on it myself.
I bought this thing 2+ years ago, and in WA you can get lifetime registration for 30 year old vehicles for ~$30, so I decided I wasn't gonna register it but just start a build.
My goal was a forest road runner, and maybe a bit of dune driving by my house. A four place SxS is $30k, so I figured I could put $15k into this and have a pretty good 4 seater with AC and a heater.
I found a deal on some axles that had better gearing, 4.88:1. A beefed up D30 in the front and a Ford 8.25? In the back.
I had a guy working for me that wasn't to bad with cars, but was horrible working on airplanes, so I had him spend some time working on it.
I bought a set on 5 33-12.5x15's from a local guy, a SYE from the interwebs and he went to town. Little did I know he was as flaky as a box of corn flakes and he pretty much just broke bolts and didn't get too
much done. Since I had back surgery, the up and down of getting under a vehicle really does me in, so I would have him pull parts then we would work on them in the shop. We got the SYE installed and the front long arm x-member in, and the front axle in place. The rear was a mess. He broke all the bolts holding the springs in, and we ended up cutting the bolts to get things out.
Fast forward 6 months, and I have a new guy working, who is slow but shows up everyday. He spent a few days removing the busted up spring hangars and I booger welded a set of Barnes hangars in so we could get it to rolling state once again.
Yesterday was the day it was back on 4 tires. There isn't much hooked up besides the steering linkage, but I am clearing some space to put in a lift, that will make it much easier for me to work on it myself.
Plans are for a long stroke 4.2, swap a "built" auto for the 5 speed, and clearance the fenders for the 33".
Sometime along the way I acquired some longer shocks that will be added, but I don't remember what they are right now.
The wife has taken interest in Moab recently, and we are taking a trip over Labor Day down there with the golf cart, but next years trip will be taking the XJ.
I hope to set it up better for doing some rock crawling as we build further.
I bought this thing 2+ years ago, and in WA you can get lifetime registration for 30 year old vehicles for ~$30, so I decided I wasn't gonna register it but just start a build.
My goal was a forest road runner, and maybe a bit of dune driving by my house. A four place SxS is $30k, so I figured I could put $15k into this and have a pretty good 4 seater with AC and a heater.
I found a deal on some axles that had better gearing, 4.88:1. A beefed up D30 in the front and a Ford 8.25? In the back.
I had a guy working for me that wasn't to bad with cars, but was horrible working on airplanes, so I had him spend some time working on it.
I bought a set on 5 33-12.5x15's from a local guy, a SYE from the interwebs and he went to town. Little did I know he was as flaky as a box of corn flakes and he pretty much just broke bolts and didn't get too
Fast forward 6 months, and I have a new guy working, who is slow but shows up everyday. He spent a few days removing the busted up spring hangars and I booger welded a set of Barnes hangars in so we could get it to rolling state once again.
Yesterday was the day it was back on 4 tires. There isn't much hooked up besides the steering linkage, but I am clearing some space to put in a lift, that will make it much easier for me to work on it myself.
Plans are for a long stroke 4.2, swap a "built" auto for the 5 speed, and clearance the fenders for the 33".
Sometime along the way I acquired some longer shocks that will be added, but I don't remember what they are right now.
The wife has taken interest in Moab recently, and we are taking a trip over Labor Day down there with the golf cart, but next years trip will be taking the XJ.
I hope to set it up better for doing some rock crawling as we build further.