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Gorilla's XJ


Owners Name & City-
Tristin Located in Sandy

Make, Model & Year of Vehicle-
2000 Jeep Cherokee

Engine-
4.6L poor mans stroker motor

258 crankshaft and rods (4.2L)
Cylinder Head: 7120
Sealed Power pistons
Mopar high flow Oil pump
Camshaft & lifter kit Comp Cams 68-232-4 4X4 cam w/lifters and t/chain set
Cam bolt,washer, pin & spring: Hesco (to be able to install a 96 and older cam into a 2000 Block)
Rocker arms: Going with Hesco's "performance set" was not pleased with wear on stock rockers...
Mopar Performance 5249464 valve springs, valve spring retainers, valve keepers
Reuse stock length 4.0, new from Hesco
Gaskets & seals: Summit Racing, Mopar Performance with Mopar Performance 0.43" compressed height
Flowkooler high flow water pump
Thermostats: Summit Racing (went with High flow)
High flow thermostat housing from Hesco
Using Stock Cylinder head bolts but new
Port and Polishing head with Three angle valve grind
Ford 24lb Injectors
APN manifold (for 91-99 to fit 7120 head)
Exhaust wrap for manifold (keep intake temps down, could cause it to crack but worth the gamble)
60mm Throttle body

Transmission-
Stock AW4

T-Case-
NP231 with Teraflex SYE and 2 Low.

Axles-
Waggy D44 front, lock-right, 4.56's, Chevy flat top knuckles using cross over steering, Trail gear hydraulic assit.
Waggy D44 rear, Spartan, 4.56's, IRO truss, Ruff stuff diff cover.
(hopefully soon to have alloys, haven't snapped out yet but fingers crossed)

Suspension-
Front- RE 5.5" springs, Rough country long arms
Rear - RE 4.5" leaf pack, HD shackle relocation brackets, RE shackle.

Wheels and Tires-
15" simulated bead locks, 35/12.50/15 KM2's or 36/12.50/15 TSL's

Winch-
Smitty build 8k

Favorite Trails-
Pritchett canyon, Rusty nail, The pickle, mashed potato.

Other-
Just building it to suit my needs as best as possible for a trail rig/DD.


Motor
all to goods waiting to be assembled
allmyshizz.jpg

Painted it Chrysler orange.
engine.jpg

manifold-1.jpg

I made some mounting straps for the coil rail
newcoilmounts.jpg


Steering
trackbar_zpsafc15525.jpg

ram.jpg


Some resent pics of the rig
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Golden Crack
goldencrack.jpg

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WW at the snakes
IMG_3366.jpg

Rusty nail
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Poison spider
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mashed potato
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I am known for being a flex whore (poser flex whore) But I just like watching it all move and work before I go play :D
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flein3.jpg

flexin-2.jpg

flexin3-1.jpg


Upcoming projects are Hybrid roll cage, installing a winch controller into the center console, and alloy shafts.
 
Last edited:
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gorillaxj

gorillaxj

Always building hardly wheeling
Location
SLC
OrvisKrawler said:
bout time you made this thread, this is a sweet cherokee!
Click to expand...

Thanks man, I have just put it off and now wish I hadn't lol

Bart said:
Nice looking XJ.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

gertsch said:
Clean, functional, flexy, I like!
Click to expand...

Thanks man!

Rot Box said:
Very nice. That's a LOT of flex :eek:
Click to expand...

thanks, I was trying to get as much as possible while not going over 5.5" with 35's. hopeing to run 37's with the same amount of lift. (eventualy, once its on a trailer)
 
gorillaxj

gorillaxj

Always building hardly wheeling
Location
SLC
A few things have changed in the last month or so with the XJ...

Forever I have wanted 37's, But the XJ is pleaged with small wheel wells, I came across a deal to get fiberglass fenders up front So I jumped on them, refinished them, had them painted (Thanks Cory) and threw them on, Added lots of room up front.

jeep1-2_zps0f086ae5.jpg


jeep3-2_zps7db6ced0.jpg


Before (closest comparison I could find)
2012-01-26_16-00-51_137.jpg


After
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They should now fit up front... Working on ideas for the rear.
 
Last edited:
gorillaxj

gorillaxj

Always building hardly wheeling
Location
SLC
More updates.... Stroker had some issues, all 6 pistons had scoring and where making knocking noises... So out with the stroker and in went a stock 4.0L bottom end with all the other goodies throw on. (cam,P&P head,TB, ect ect...I didn't think the machine shop was going to fix it for me) Runs pretty good so far but its no stroker lol (I got the 4.7L bottom end redone and put back together, selling it if anyone is interested) I almost sold the Jeep due to frustration and feeling defeated by the 3rd motor I have had in this thing... (I thought 4.0L's where a good motor? lol) But was convinced not to buy a few good people :) decided I might as well finish it and wheel it another time as I had all the stuff to do so.

Then Planed a trip to Sand Hallow UT to do some wheeling, I've been told I shouldn't go down there without a cage unless I wanted to loose a lot of body, So in the 72 hours before the trip I made a Hybrid cage to try and make my XJ last a little longer :)

Here is the cage (so far, still need more side bracing and an A-pillar spreader)

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So off to Sand hallow. We ran milts, the maze, smurfette, nasty half (lower),and a trip to the flinstone house. Then Saturday morning The gasket for the top cap on my gear box blew out and My jeep was dead in the water. no parts stored had one, So I rode along on double Sammy, and upper joint effort. Ended up leaving my Jeep down there.... anyway pics!

IMG_0374_zpsdc872141.jpg


Just had to for fun.....
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Last edited:
gorillaxj

gorillaxj

Always building hardly wheeling
Location
SLC
Thanks! I was a great rig and a ton of fun. I did sell it to move onto a Toyota 4runner (dark side in Derek's Eye's) as Toyota's are my true passion :)
 
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