Jeep Nathan and Tanja's 99 XJ Build up

[RockChucker]

looks like a fun project. you do great work. as to your front bumpstops, if they are the same as a TJ's bumpstops (I think they are), TeraFlex sells bumpstop extensions that will work. They are actually for the front of a JK, but they work in TJ's and I think XJ's. It is basically a cup that fits into the existing cup and moves the bumpstop down like 2-2 1/2 inches. and they are cheap to boot. and if you need more after that, i'm pretty sure that daystar makes a pretty good poly bump to replace stockers that are longer.

 

[Gravy]

hockey puck in the bottom of the coil bucket. drill a hole through it and run a bolt into the axle

 

[thenag]

hockey puck in the bottom of the coil bucket. drill a hole through it and run a bolt into the axle

Yeah I came across that idea, the problem is that it is more like 5 hockey pucks, at least on the driver side front.

But I figure I am going to have to bump stop the rear quite a bit too so I can pick up about 2 dozen pucks and be good.

I like cheap and effective, where is the cheapest place to get hockey pucks?

nathan

 

[DaveB]

I should have a seat belt if you still need one.

 

[Gravy]

I just stuff tennis balls in my coils. poor man airbumps. seems to work well. I jump my Jeep all the time

 

[thenag]

I should have a seat belt if you still need one.

Still need one. It is the rear driver side. Beige preferred but will take anything.

It is for a 99, I don't imagine that there is any difference so long as it has the shoulder belt. (instead of just a lap belt)

PM sent

Thanks!

 

[thenag]

I just stuff tennis balls in my coils. poor man airbumps. seems to work well. I jump my Jeep all the time

I saw that on your build thread.

Do you ever have one squeeze out?

Nathan

 

[N-Smooth]

I like cheap and effective, where is the cheapest place to get hockey pucks?

nathan

i get them at play it again sports cause it's close to my work in slc. i think they are just under $2 each. i have 3 on each side in the front and they are glued to the coil pad (and eachother) with liquid nails. it lasts about 4 moab trips before they break apart so i just reglue them. it's easier than pulling my coil and rigging a way to bolt them in and i'm lazy

 

[thenag]

Did a few things during the week.

I spent what seemed like a lot of time but was probably only about 2 hours cleaning up where the leaf springs were mounted.

Since I cut the leafs out with my ARC welder they looked like this

after some time they looked like this

I did spray some paint on them but forgot to take pictures. I also painted most of the frame and rear part of the suspension and rear axle truss etc. Just imagine everything is black now...

I got to start thinking about the transfer case again. I picked up this little mount that I will hopefully be able to use to support the back of the d300, it was $4.99

I added a vent to the np231 and cut off part of the spring so it will shift easier.

On the d300 I filled the vent hole with aluminum welding rod

added a vent that I latter realized prevents access to a bolt, not a huge deal I just have to un-thread the vent to remove the tail cone thingy.

I put the 231/300 together. One bolt in that picture has to be put in the plate before the plate is bolted to the d300. (the black one that the threads are sticking through)

I have to work some this weekend so I am not sure how much I will get done, I will get some stuff done. I also want to hit tear-a-part for a few things. Hopefully I will get the d300 mount made and the tcase in for good, or at least until I pull it again. I also want to start figuring out how to shift the tcase. I am still thinking air cylinder for the np231.

nathan
-99 xj sitting on two wheels.

 

[sixstringsteve]

lookin good!

 

[thenag]

Like I said this past weekend I had to work some but I did get the transfer case together. I also made a trip to tear-a-part and did some other things.

I wanted a basic transmission mount to put behind the d300. with the bronco I felt like I had so many issues with transmission and tcase bolts loosening up because the different mounts. The 460 was in pretty good and behind the 205 was really tight but I think that the middle tranny mount kind of sucked.

I found this guy at O'Reilly

put a vent line in the 231

cut the spring so the 231 will be easier to shift

filled the factory vent hole with Al welding rod on the d-300

added a vent on the d-300 realized that I put it in the way of a bolt, it just means I have to un-screw the vent to get to the bolt.

made a little cardboard template for the d-300 mount

nothing says amateur fabricator like having to slot a hole... doh

and put it in for good... or at least til it is driving

I was able to measure for drive shafts and I will have both shafts at about 32 inches. So that means I can carry one spare for both front and rear. Both have a 1310cv on the tcase side. The 14 bolt has a 1350, and the d60 has a 1330 but I think I will pick up a new yoke for the d60 to simplify things.

I also started to look at shifting the t-cases. The two sticks for the d300 shouldn't be to hard, they should about fit through the factory hole in the floor and center console. The 231 I am still going to try to air shift. I mean if the range box doesn't shift from in the cab I can reach under and shift it. Plus it is one less stick to put through the floor. I should be able to do the whole air shifter setup for about $50.00 for the 231.

I looked at re-routing the brake, fuel, and charcoal canister lines. And I started to look at making the ford expedition master cylinder work with the xj booster and lines.

My father in law has a saying that goes something like this "80% of the project takes 20% of the time and the last 20% of the project takes 80% of the time and is not usually the fun part"

full album still here;
http://picasaweb.google.com/thenag

(woo-hoo page 3!)

Nathan
-99 xj working on it

 

[sixstringsteve]

great work! It's amazing how much you get done in so little time.

 

[crawldaddy]

I looked at re-routing the brake, fuel, and charcoal canister lines. And I started to look at making the ford expedition master cylinder work with the xj booster and lines.

Make sure to post up what you do to make this work. I have an xj booster and need a bigger master cylinder for 4 wheel disk brakes. I'm 3 for 3 and still haven't got one to work. By the way its looking great!

 

[thenag]

Make sure to post up what you do to make this work. I have an xj booster and need a bigger master cylinder for 4 wheel disk brakes. I'm 3 for 3 and still haven't got one to work. By the way its looking great!

Yeah there doesn't seem to be an easy answer for xj boosters (throw in the xj hood and that limits you even more). The best seems to be a 2500 ram van with a home made push rod.

What combo's have you tried? What year xj is you booster out of?

Have you seen this thread?
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=575345

Post #35 uses an expedition master with a 92 xj booster. I don't like the way he extended the push rod, also I don't think I will need to make a seal plate, I think I can just silicone it to get a vacuum seal and run a home made grade 8 push rod. It only needs to be like 3/8 inch longer with what I have, if I measured right, which I may have not. (I have thought about sleeving the grade 8 bolt too.)

The expedition MC is 1 1/4 bore which is probably too big for an xj booster but I am not sure what else to try other than going hydro boost.

Nathan
-99 xj in progress

 

[crawldaddy]

Yeah there doesn't seem to be an easy answer for xj boosters (throw in the xj hood and that limits you even more). The best seems to be a 2500 ram van with a home made push rod.

What combo's have you tried? What year xj is you booster out of?

Have you seen this thread?
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=575345

Post #35 uses an expedition master with a 92 xj booster. I don't like the way he extended the push rod, also I don't think I will need to make a seal plate, I think I can just silicone it to get a vacuum seal and run a home made grade 8 push rod. It only needs to be like 3/8 inch longer with what I have, if I measured right, which I may have not. (I have thought about sleeving the grade 8 bolt too.)

The expedition MC is 1 1/4 bore which is probably too big for an xj booster but I am not sure what else to try other than going hydro boost.

Nathan
-99 xj in progress

I have a cj7 but the PO swapped in a mid 90's Cherokee motor and tranny. The Booster isn't stock cj stuff so I figured that it must be out of the Cherokee? I tried a 70 something corvette MC but the mounting bolts don't match. And its a 1 1/8" bore which is what I currently have. I found a early 90's 2 door blazer at the local pick and pull that had 4 wheel disk but it wont fit on the current MC. The bore is WAY to big. Then I tried a ford explorer late 90's and it almost worked but my brakes felt the exact same in the end. I plan on pulling my booster and MC and taking to pick and pull next time. Then i can have a reference point as I scrounge. All of this guess work is getting expensive and the pile of MC's in the garage will tip over if I keep adding to it. Ill update you if I discover anything.

 

[thenag]

I have a cj7 but the PO swapped in a mid 90's Cherokee motor and tranny. The Booster isn't stock cj stuff so I figured that it must be out of the Cherokee? I tried a 70 something corvette MC but the mounting bolts don't match. And its a 1 1/8" bore which is what I currently have. I found a early 90's 2 door blazer at the local pick and pull that had 4 wheel disk but it wont fit on the current MC. The bore is WAY to big. Then I tried a ford explorer late 90's and it almost worked but my brakes felt the exact same in the end. I plan on pulling my booster and MC and taking to pick and pull next time. Then i can have a reference point as I scrounge. All of this guess work is getting expensive and the pile of MC's in the garage will tip over if I keep adding to it. Ill update you if I discover anything.

It sounds like you need to figure out what booster you have.

read up on this article if you haven't already

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Brakes/

basically it says you should get hydro boost but it talks about the relation to pedal length, booster, mc, and calipers.

Nathan
-99 xj

 

[thenag]

I had a full day yesterday of working on the jeep (had to go into work on the weekend, had Wednesday off)

But I am going to start with tonight, the proper front springs came in so...

:thumbs:

(front drive shaft 31.5 inches, rear is 32 inches so hell ya only have to carry one spare shaft)

I also got the track bar in. I got to do my first ever "if this single weld fails I die" weld. Welding the nut insert to the DOM on the track bar.

Wow with that I can't remember what I did yesterday...

oh yeah, brake master cylinder and d-300 cross member...

So I figured I would remove the rubber seal in the proportioning valve and keep the proportioning valve that would allow me to use the oem brake lines and keep the brake warning light. (assuming it works at an angle...)

put back to together without that pesky o-ring

I had to grind the bracket a bit

all in and the hood even closes

now I just need to make a push rod for the MC, vacuum seal the MC and booster, and put in the rest of the system so I can find out how well it works.

*edit (I did NOT use the Ford master cylinder, I bought a Dodge truck 2500 MC and made a custom pushrod)*

a few pics of the d-300 cross member

it was cool after I put that up there I actually dropped the main cross member so I could have access to the area around the tcase for shifters. No jacks or anything under the transmission, just the motor mounts and the d-300 mount at the back of the tcase.

speaking of... these are the twin sticks I had in the bronco. They were meant to be temporary but have out lived the bronco now. I grew pretty fond of the simple shifters, I may re-use them.

full album still here
http://picasaweb.google.com/thenag

next up we are actually going to put the driver seat in temporarily and build linkage to shift the d-300. Then I guess I should start running the rest of the brake lines and fuel line and vacuum lines...

Nathan
-99 xj getting there...

 

[sixstringsteve]

this rig is downright sexy. Great build. I thought it'd look rediculously wide with tons under it, but it looks great! I'll bet you could make it street legal.

 

[thenag]

this rig is downright sexy. Great build. I thought it'd look rediculously wide with tons under it, but it looks great! I'll bet you could make it street legal.

The plan is to keep it legal.

The rear axle is 63.5 and the front is about 63. Stock jeep is about 62.5. Those wheels have 2.5 inches of backspacing. So actually with those wheels on it is about where regular wheels would be on it with like a d44/ford 9 from a late 70's f150.

you can look at page 9, post #124
http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/project-turquoise-medallion-94-xj-27850/index9/

that is an RME-er I hope he doesn't mind me linking to his build thread. He is on a 44 and a ford 9 that is not narrowed and his tires stick out about the same.

Also if you look back at the pictures of my jeep on the pair of small GM wheels they are completely covered by the fenders so yeah the width of those axles is pretty good for the xj.

When we go with 17 inch wheels we will probably go with 3.5 inch backspacing which will bring each tire in one inch on each side, so still have a stable wide platform but not quite what the stick out is now. Plus the one thing I hate about these wheels is that the the brake hardware is not protected by the wheel at all. (which is exactly why I can run 15 inch wheels with 1 ton brakes)

It is still really high, I know the springs will settle a bit.

The realization hit me that the next big thing to purchase (now that I have ordered my Ruff Stuff steering) is exhaust, so I have all the big things to get it together and running.

(and of course after that is writing a big check to Terry over at Rigidco for bumpers and sliders...)

nathan
-99 xj on 37's

 

[Herzog]

Nate - looking awesome. Keep it up! You have skills.