Nate's crappy 93 XJ

Nate's crappy 93 XJ "Snowflake/Ice Princess"

Owners Name & City- Nate, West Jordan, UT


Make, Model & Year of Vehicle- Stripped-down 1993 Jeep Cherokee Country buggy thingy


Engine- 4.0L, HD motor mounts


Transmission- Aisin Warner 4-Speed auto, gear selection switches, big tranny cooler


T-Case- NP231, stock


Axles - HP Dana 30 front w/4.88 gears, Aussie locker, Torq-Masters Chromo shafts with JK joints
-Chrysler 8.25 rear w/4.88 gears, Aussie locker, Riddler diff cover, shaved a bit


Suspension- 3" coils + 2" spacers in the front w/custom 3-link mid-arm, center limit strap, hockey puck bumpstop extensions; stock leaf packs in the rear with additional springs added (7 total) + lift shackles, homebuilt traction bar


Wheels and Tires- 35x12.5r17 Maxxis short course stickies on Raceline Beadlocks


Winch- Guys pulling on a strap usually does it


Favorite Trails- Hell's Revenge, The Maze, Green Day, Nasty Half, Sliplock, Pritchett


Other- Cut in half; power steering cooler; Custom heim steering & tracbar; JCR skid plate; RCI Race cell with Walbro pickups; LED rock lights; Unibody stiffeners; custom boat-sides & bumpers

 

[I Lean]

Updates?

 

[N-Smooth]

Not a ton to report. Was planning on having it ready to go to Silver State the end of September but then Ryan sold his truck and gooseneck so I bailed due to not wanting to pay for all the fuel. Big mistake, should've kept the deadline just to stay motivated...
After SSRC (in Ryan's Jeep) now it's home improvement season before our second offspring arrives this Thanksgiving. Fence, bedroom stuff and now doing floors in the front room and kitchen. I'm hoping I can take this crazy working attitude I have on the house and apply it on the Jeep shortly.
I also got tired of working on everything by my lonesome. Dan has come by and helped a couple times but other than that it's just me. Trying to rig something up to hold tubes in place gets old! It is what it is though and I should not let it stop me. I just need a goal so I can make a timeline and go after it. I guess it needs to be done before TG/baby time.
I'll get some pics later

 

[N-Smooth]

Myself and the fam have been sick this week but I got here the other day. Most of the "main" structure is complete but I have about 50' left to put in.

 

[Kevin B.]

That looks awesome.

 

[N-Smooth]

Thanks! It looks way different in person. My friends are all calling it the pope mobile from pics cause it looks tall (I'm tall so it has to be) but in person they all say it looks better

 

[BlueWolfFab]

Looks good! Kinda surprised to see you're sticking with leafs out back

 

[N-Smooth]

Ryan and I discussed it quite a bit and based on the fact that they're already on there and they work so well, they're staying. I'd love to link it and I totally left that door open with the design. I can actually obtain great geometry but to get a well performing spring/shock combo, airshocks or c/o's would be too expensive. I'd likely need a swaybar etc.

Hopefully it works as well as it did...

 

[N-Smooth]

Got to work on it for a "full" day today... finally! I got a bunch of tubes in and finished all of the main structure. Now it's just tons and tons and tons of bracing.





Brought home a new little man on the 19th and I get 8 weeks off. I'm really hoping I get to work on this plenty and get it done!

 

[kmboren]

Congats on the baby. Thats awesome. Wow 8 weeks of father materinity. Must be nice. Is that all paid?

 

[N-Smooth]

Congats on the baby. Thats awesome. Wow 8 weeks of father materinity. Must be nice. Is that all paid?

Thanks and yeah, you better believe it. I'm taking it two weeks at a time with one week between. My wife works for the same company and she gets 14 weeks paid. It's not the worst...

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

I've gone over your thread a few times and really like how you kept with the leaf springs. Probably going to steal some of your ideas for my new build. I'm excited to see the finished cage.

 

[N-Smooth]

I've gone over your thread a few times and really like how you kept with the leaf springs. Probably going to steal some of your ideas for my new build. I'm excited to see the finished cage.

Thanks! The leaf springs really made the cage design suck since there's no way to make the shackle mounts look good but it's alright. I actually finish welded all but a few tubes today so here's the the cage-



And a pic from a few days back that shows the cell in there. I'm going to offset it to the passenger side to counteract my weight and to free up storage space.

And a random pic of the shackle mount. Some nice detail from Carlos with the dimples. My Jeep does not deserve dimples...

 

[N-Smooth]

Drove this thing on Saturday, with no rear shocks and cut up exhaust. It was still fun. Yesterday I got the shock mounts all figured out and mounted then fixed the exhaust. Getting excited for Sand Hollow this weekend with friends!





Still have a lot of details to figure out but it's good for a shakedown run!

 

[hammerdownxj]

It's back!!!!! The mantis numero dos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[N-Smooth]

It's back!!!!! The mantis numero dos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha right? In a lot of ways it is similar

I want to get an emblem that says "mantis edition"

 

[N-Smooth]

Wow I haven't updated this forever! Pics will be added when I have time...

Went to Sand Hollow after WOTR, it was awesome as always. Rig performed very well, had to adjust a little to the rear end being even lighter. No problems other than breaking Spicer u-joints like it's my job.


Went to EJS for my 15th consecutive year (woooooo!) and had no problems at all with my rig. Got some new chromo shafts from Torqmasters, the best sponsor ever! Haven't had a single issue since.

 

[N-Smooth]

Got my new Racelines (another sponsor yay!) and some General shortcourse stickies installed- still had stock gears but went to the Offroad Expo (or whatever it was called) meet and greet at Rattlesnake nonetheless. Hung out, did a little wheeling, no problems. Needed gears.


Got my 4.88 gears installed with the help of Ryan just in time for WERock in Cedar City. Had an awesome time and won Sportsman C class by a bit which is always fun. My rig performed almost exactly the same as it did with the body on it which made me happy. Knowing your rig is a huge part of the battle when it comes to competing IMO.


Two weeks later I got some skins on it and headed to OSRC to compete in Legends. Had a great first day in a class with some real killers and ended the first day in 2nd place. Day 2 my sector shaft decided to shear at the pitman arm on my first course. Due to Delta not having any decent parts stores (Carquest and NAPA can both suck it!) I wasn't able to replace it so that ended my weekend. I think I finished in 12th place after getting 50 points for the remaining 3 courses so that's no fun but breaks happen. I really didn't want it to happen that way because it will likely be my last year competing in OSRC due to changes that are coming to my rig that will push me out of Legends. ProMod just doesn't make sense for me.


The next step is getting hydro assist on tomorrow to get prepped for Idaho X Rocks next weekend. I'm so excited for this comp season! Hope to see some RME homies out there!

 

[I Lean]

it will likely be my last year competing in OSRC due to changes that are coming to my rig that will push me out of Legends

What changes are you planning?

 

[N-Smooth]

What changes are you planning?

Dovenose will be the big one. Besides that I'm sick of people complaining about me so it'll just be easier to stick to events where I fit the classes better.

 

[I Lean]

Dovenose will be the big one. Besides that I'm sick of people complaining about me so it'll just be easier to stick to events where I fit the classes better.

Yeah, but....complainer-types can suck it.