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.

 

[kmboren]

Looks awesome buddy, can't wait to see it at WOTR!

Thanks Nate. Still nothing compared to yours but it works.

 

[kmboren]

So this has had some nice updates to it.

I cleaned up all my fake beadlock rings and gave them some color to match the jeep.



It got some mini boatsides.



Oh yea and it got a CAGE

 

[N-Smooth]

Can't wait to see it next weekend and scratch some paint off those tubes

 

[Gravy]

Finally. Looks good.

 

[airmanwilliams]

That cage really follows the body lines well. Makes me want a cage now but I need to actually get out and wheel with my rig if I did that.

 

[kmboren]

Thanks guys. I am really happy with it. I helped with design but the hard work I paid for. Glad its done and I love the final results.

 

[kungfufighter06]

Looks soo good!

 

[Trate D]

Everything survive the roll over in sand hollow?

 

[N-Smooth]

I love wheeling with Kevin. Once we found out he was okay I laughed... a lot

 

[jmaxj]

He forget how to drive in sand? Haha

 

[kmboren]

Yea a stupid mistake. Was Climbing the hill at speed and was on a angle and didn't have enough momentum to go up so it went down. I was told 1.5 rolls. It happened so fast. The roof pushed in some just behind the windshield were the sand pushed through the the bars. Other than that it was fine. Ran another trail after this roll. Glad I got the cage built. I had about 30 lbs of sand I cleaned out.

 

[kmboren]

So I have been enjoying the jeep a lot and having fun with it. I have scratched the EXO a lot and it is nice not having to worry so much about my windows. I drove it over to Kanab to do a little exploring and it started making a noise while I was on the Throttle. After some investigating I decided to pull of the rear diff cover and found this. It also took out the outside Pinion bearing.

 

[kmboren]

Also a long time in the coming was a hydro assist kit. I had different friends with the parts to piece together one so I went for it. A friend had a box that was already ported for Hydro assist. Another friend had a brand new PSC ram that he never installed that I purchased. Then I paid someone to put it all together. I got it home last night and excited to go try it out on the rocks. I drove it around on the streets a little and if feels pretty good not weird like some people say they can be. It should be useful at Old School Rock Crawl.

 

[N-Smooth]

You're doing OSRC for sure? Sweet!

 

[kmboren]

You're doing OSRC for sure? Sweet!

YEP i am planning on it. Just need a spotter.

 

[N-Smooth]

YEP i am planning on it. Just need a spotter.

Hmmmmm. Too bad you couldn't make it to the pretech. We could've put you in our group and I could've been your spotter. Our group might still be available when the even starts, I guess we'll just have to see

 

[kmboren]

What is this group thing you refer too? The pre tech was a little far for me.

 

[N-Smooth]

There are 8 courses or at least there were 8 last year. You start on a certain course that's assigned to you with a group of 5 rigs. Class doesn't matter. Within your group you have an order you go in and the second day the order reverses. The group will do half the courses day one and the other half day two. Since Mike and I are spotting for each other we chose to be position 2 and 4 in our group. If you were in our group you could be position 1 or 5 and I could spot you. That's what was really cool about the pretech this year is Craig let us pick what course we started on and position.

What is this group thing you refer too? The pre tech was a little far for me.

 

[kmboren]

There are 8 courses or at least there were 8 last year. You start on a certain course that's assigned to you with a group of 5 rigs. Class doesn't matter. Within your group you have an order you go in and the second day the order reverses. The group will do half the courses day one and the other half day two. Since Mike and I are spotting for each other we chose to be position 2 and 4 in our group. If you were in our group you could be position 1 or 5 and I could spot you. That's what was really cool about the pretech this year is Craig let us pick what course we started on and position.

I will have to see if I can get in your group then.

 

[kmboren]

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 measures about 38 inches across and 36 inches long. The front is odd shaped making room for the front drive line and the upper 3rd link.



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. Left is to finish the flat bottom skid plate. Weld some nuts into my ruff stuff frame stiffiners and by some bolts. I also need to clearance my floor some to compensate for the 12.5 degree turn.