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Crazy Kevs 3rd and Hopefully Final XJ build.

Owners Name & City- Kevin Hurricane Ut.


Make, Model & Year of Vehicle- 1996 Jeep Cherokee


Engine- 4.0 straight 6 with cheap warm air intake


Transmission- Automatic


T-Case- 4 speed Atlas with 5:1


Axles-
Rear: Ford 10.5 Sterling 4.88 gears ARB
Front: Ford dana 60. Artec steering and truss with arb 4.88 gears.

Suspension-
Hybrid: Rear IRO 5.5 leafs with 1.5 inch boomerang shackles.
Front is Rock Kralwer 3 link Long arm kit with with 7.5 inch Rubicon coils.



Wheels and Tires-37 Maxxis trepadors stickies with inner air bead locks.


Winch- Warn 8000


Favorite Trails-Hanging tree trail, The Squeeze, Sand Hollow area and Moab area. Any trail with Friends and family having a good time. The harder the better within my rigs ability.


Other- Custom front bumper with below radiator winch mount, custom rear bumper, Armor ect...

My 1994 is on the right and the New build 1996 is on the Left. I took a couple before shots and comparison shots before I started.





 
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kmboren

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
So I did OSRC and rainbowed my cross member so it is time for some changes. I had some spare metal laying around so I got to work. I started making a flat bottom belly.

It is not finished yet but a good start. In test fitting I realized my t case hangs down to low so time to clock it. Fortunately a good friend already had one so after a quick trip in the mail it was in my hands. I ended up clocking it 12.5 degrees. I punched the holes then drilled them with 1/4 and then the 7/16 needed. I put a 1/2 in and just kissed it to offer a slight taper like stock.


Then today I got out some 7/16 steel rod that I purchased and cut them to length and JB welded them in place to offer extra strength for the tail housing since it still had holes in it.





This is where I have left it. Let it dry and maybe intall tail housing tomorrow. Its hot so can only stand being out side for so long.
 
kmboren

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
I got the skid plate all finished and painted. I will install it tomorrow. Test fitting it it fits great. Cant wait to see how much more I clearance things now. I used a hole saw and cut out parts of my ruff stuff frame stiffiners and then welded some nuts in place. I bought some bolts that are rounded to help the rocks slide better. I will take some pictures after I get it installed.

 
kmboren

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
I got it finished up tonight. I am really happy with the results. Should work very well. In these pictures the edges hang out some but I took a big hammer and beat them into the frame so now it is formed nice and tight to it. When it is light again tomorrow I will snap another picture of it. The frame does come up some from front to back but the plate was flexable enough that I was able to put one of the mounting bolt there and suck it up so it is formed to the up curve of the body. For being an amuture fabricator I was pleased with how it came out.









 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
Looks legit! How does it shift?

I'm excited to get mine done this winter. It will be a great improvement
 
kmboren

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
xj_nate said:
Looks legit! How does it shift?

I'm excited to get mine done this winter. It will be a great improvement
Click to expand...

It Shifts through gears fine. It was not staying in 4 low again but it just needed some little adjusting and I think I got it dialed in but I guess time will tell. I might go out tomorrow morning before it gets too hot.
 
kmboren

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
So a couple updates. I broke a rear axle last Easter in Moab. Bought some replacements and it wouldn't go in. Finally figured out that my housing was bent Doh. Without any extra cash for a while it just sat in the garage. Finally had the opportunity to do some work on it. I lucked out and found a bare housing in vegas off a TJ that had a Tnt truss on it. Bought it and went to work. At a friends house we cut brakets off both axles and got it put back together. Got looking at my spool for install into the new housing and discovered that while I was forcefully trying to get the straight axle into bent housing I messed up the splines on the spool so I was the on the prowl for a new rear locker. As luck would would have Davy had a new in box yukon zip locker laying around he was not going to use. I already had an arb compressor so that worked out nicely. I had another friend help me install that into my housing. With my driveline off I pulled my t case out becasue I heard some noises I suspected were coming from that. Glad I did becasue the planetary gears where falling apart. I had a old tcase from a dodge laying around that I knew had the 6 planetary gears vs the 3 in mine. So just for the cost of some labor I was able to make my t case stronger. So I now have a trussed selectable rear locker with alloy shafts vs my spooled stock shafts in my old xj dana 44. With a upgraded tcase with stronger 6 planetary gears. Also before moab last year I installed a anti wrap bar on my rear axle. Just finished lutting it all back together. Now its time to get it registered and back out on the trails in time for the winter jamboree.
 
kmboren

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
With the selectable locker and chromo shafts it shoult hild up up a lot better. Spools are hard on shafts and gears. I am excited.
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
How are you liking the Maxxis Short Course tires? They almost look like a motorcycle trials tire! I would imagine they have really soft tread?
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
I hope you love them as much as I love mine!
Also, the ones you have on the rear will last a lot longer on the front due to all the siping. They chunk more since the tread blocks are so small.
 
kmboren

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
So it's been awhile since I updated this. I trashed on my jeep so much that the TJ Rubicon 44 housing finally gave up the ghost.

I decided to upgrade to some Ford Excursion axles. Dana 50 and Sterling 10.5 Price was very much right so with the help of the friend that I got them from we went to work putting it under my jeep. Decided to build it right so we ordered an Artec super duty steering kit and a new longer hydro ram. Went with an ARB and Yukon gears and Fox remote shocks Valved for JK weight. After the axle was under and operating well I decided to put some Tubing I have had laying around to good use. Made some tube doors right before Old school. Love the tube doors. Not sure my normal doors will ever go back on living in Southern Utah.

After old school I decided it was time to pull the rear 44 and sell it to fund the rear axle build. Again doing a truss and ordered the Ubolt eliminated leaf perches from Ruff stuff. Old axle and left over front stuff finally sold so ordered the rear Arb and gears. After old school the Race was mean to my rear bump stops and shocks so decided to upgrade and reinforce the rear section of the Unibody.

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