Start of another Expedition XJ

[hankimus]

Well I have been working on my XJ the last few weeks and thought I would post up some pics and details. I ordered everything the same day, and the T&T stiffeners showed up first. So in order to keep busy, those go on first.

The underbody of my XJ is super clean, no rust and rot. So cleaning the unirails was easy.

Took me about an hour on the passenger side, and about 2 on the driver side. Holes had to be drilled for the E-brake bracket, along with some trimming by the control arm bracket, and leaf spring bracket.

Me welding the stiffeners

I fabbed up some rock rail sliders a few weeks ago, ill post those when i install em.

My tires/rims/and showed up today, to ill get on that tomorrow. Went with the Rusty's 3", sure glad I did after I just read about the RE thing...I got the whole kit, with braided lines, bar pin eliminators, all the mumbo jumbo. The tires are Goodyear somethin, dont have the model by me now. For the rims I went with 4 Crager Soft 8's with the stock center caps, ill have those on soon...

I spend more time in here than I do in the house!

 

[JChatary]

This looks like it's going to be an interesting/fun build for you. I look forward to seeing the progress! :coffeedrink:

 

[alexfm]

What size tire did you go with? I'm contemplating the Rusty's lift as well, so Im curious to see how yours turns out. :sombrero:
Also, if you dont mind me asking, how long did it take for the lift to arrive after you ordered it?

 

[hankimus]

I live in Chicago, and the lift took 2 days to arrive. I had to make 2 orders for parts. First order was just the lift and front bar pin eliminators, second order was for rear bar pin eliminator, brake lines, shock boots, and sway bar bushings. Just to note, the shock boots dont come with the kit. And I suggest getting the rear bar pin eliminator. My 97 has no rust at all, and all spring bolt came out no problem, but the shock bolts all broke. So with the pin eliminator, you can weld them in. The brake lines are a little long, so I have to do a little fab. I was super lucky with the spring/shackle bolts, not one of them broke. Pics to be up soon. My tire size is 31x10.5x15

 

[Nathant78]

my 2000 was no rust either. still managed to break all but 1 rear shock bolts. i didnt buy BPE for the rear only the front.
whoever came up with that design deserves to be hit.

looks like the walmart goodyear authority tire

 

[bldeagle10]

have any pix of the XJ? a starting point picture at least
looks like alot of fun, cant wait till im to this point with mine

 

[hankimus]

Been a little busy on the Jeep the past few weeks. The lift is done, tires on, sliders welded in, and roof rack on. The rims I went with are Crager soft 8s. I adapted the stock center caps to the new rims. I painted them with Duplicolor wheel paint, and am super happy with the outcome. Had them on for a few weeks, and in the Chicagoland snow and slop, no chipping. I drilled 3 holes from the rear, and countersunk 3 stainless bolts to hold the caps on

Ive had the bumper on for some time now, but I thought Id through some pics up on it. Its pretty basic, built it out of 3/16 steel, and 1/2 shackle mounts. Bolts through the frame and steering box. I need to sell it to make a new one for the winch i just bought

I needed to finish the TREKS unibody stiffeners before I could finish up the sliders I built. And I needed to finish the sliders, before I could finish the roof rack! As you can tell, I have a bunch of 1/2 finished projects!

The sliders are made of 1 3/4 pipe. Originally for my 4runners roll cage. and 1 inch bars going to the frame.

I used a 1x1 inch square tube to sit against the body, and 9 grade 8, 5/16ths bolts through the pinch seam for strength.

 

[hankimus]

Then for the roof rack! I was pretty stoked at how this turned out.

Believe it or not, I made the rack out of conduit! One of my buddies suggested it to me, and though he was nuts! But I bought a peice of cheap 1" pipe, and bent a bottom bar, and reliezed it was gonna be suuuper heavy. So I went with conduit, and 1/2 flat expanded metal. I have to say I am happy with how it turned out. Its a little tall, but I can live with it.

I knew I was going with gutter mount brackets, but man are they hard to find! I only found 3 companies that would sell just the brackets. I got these from http://www.tallowpot.com/roofrack_brackets.html. Cost me $200 but I think its worth it. The wiring on the lights was a pain in the *****. Ill post some pics on what I did with that tomorrow.

 

[rabies]

stupid pictures

 

[Bobs boot camping]

carefull with the rustys track bar. I had one snap on me.

 

[uber]

you do know this thread is over 3 1/2 years old right?

 

[Bobs boot camping]

yep, diggin up some rusty's bones