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Right when I started shopping for my
Cherokee, ¨Four Wheeler¨ did an article about building a trail rig for
$4500.00. I am trying to see if I can do this, but I spent more on the base
vehicle than I really wanted to and I will also make some other consessions to
the fact that it is my daily driver that I expect will push me over.
Here is a list of what I have spent so far.
I bought this thing when it was ten
years old. I got it for $2500.00, partially because the old owner never cleaned
it inside or out when he owned it. The inside was pretty trashed. But I took
out the center console and got some rug shampoo, you know the stuff for steam
cleaners, and a bucket and a scrub brush AND my shop Vac. After two times over
the seats and carpets it is now very clean inside. I also used Armor All on all
of the plasic inside. If the previous owner had done this, I think the car
could have sold for $3500.00. $1000.00 of value for just over four hours of
work, not bad.
One of the first things I did was
replace all of the fluids. This went well until I got to the transfer case.
I had a hard time getting the drain plug out. All I had was an adjustable wrench
to fit the plug. When it finally did come loose I stopped myself before
removing it and tried to get the fill plug out. No luck, so I tightened the
drain and waited untill I had the proper wrench (1 3/16¨)
to get the plugs out. When I did finally get the plugs out, instead of a nice
flow of fluid out of the drain I got maybe one ounce of black goo! I seems the
previous owner got the drain plug out, but then couldn't get the fill open so he
just shut the thing back up. I have since filled and drained the transfer case
three times to get all of the gook out. So far no unusual noises from there.
I replaced the Radiator with a three
core unit from Radiator.com
for $120.00 including shipping! There is a nice write up on Cherokee America about
replacing your radiator
and I have my little rant about it here as well.
I replaced the factory air box with a
Rusty's Air tube.
I did not notice any performance gains, but that is not why I did it.
I did it to make room for a second battery. Plus I have always liked K&N air filters.
One consession (so far) to this being
my daily driver is the stereo. I put a Sony CD player in the dash and I have an
Alpine amp for my front speakers, Polk's. I will eventually put in a sub and
some rear speakers as well as an amp to drive them. I already pulled the power
and RCA wires for this. I am planning on putting them all in and on the same box
so I can remove them when I go wheeling.
I tinted the
windows myself. I had done this before and had better luck. It is not a bad job,
just not perfect. It was a lot cheaper than paying someone else ($30.00 vs. $180.00)
and it helps with the Colorado sun. More details are in the write up.
I removed the rear anti sway bar.
I also made a set of quick disconnects like the ones on
Cherokee America.
So far this has worked well for me. The tires I have work well when they stay in
contact with the ground, I haven't spun a tire yet. But then again the trails I
have done aren't that serious, yet.
I Finnally put on the
lift parts I had laying around. I was really an easy day as
far as work goes. I did get some help putting the rear Add a Leafs in ( Thanks Mike)
and the front went together preaty easy. It was that after I got it together¸
the rear was 2¨ higher than the front. I got some 1.75¨ spring spacers for
the front. I waited to put them on when I put my new axles in.
I went to the Junkyard and picked up
some axles with 3.73 gears in them. I tried for some
4.10´s but I couldn´t find any. I put some new brakes on the rear and
reused the fronts. The front brakes were fine, I had to transfer the stearing
knuckles to the new (used) axle to keep my brakes because it was from a different
year XJ¸ an 85. That was a bigger pain than I expected it to be.
I didn´t do a brake job on the rear axle I had because I knew I was going to
replace it. It was a good thing too because the new (used) axle was from an 84 and
had different¸ and BIGGER¸ brakes than my existing axle. I also got a
non C Clip axle in the deal so at least if a do brake an axle I won´t have
to chase the wheel down the trail.
I also picked up some used
tires and wheels. I got four used 31 X 10.50´s for a
case of beer. The spare I got from someone else for $15.00¸ almost as much as
the other four.
I picked up five used alloy rims for $100.00. They are exactly the style I was
looking to buy new¸ so I am real happy about that. They went on the day I put
my new axles in. I didn´t want to run the 31´s with the stock gears¸
so I waited until then to put them on.
Since the last time I wrote here, I have
piced up some 33"s. I also trimmed the fenders
to make more room.
I got a rear bumper from
Custom 4X4 fabrications.
The install page is here.
I finally finished building the front
bumper. Here is the write up on doing it. I am now
Done with the $4500.oo trail rig.
This is my car next to my friends stock XJ. | ![]() |
And another view. | ![]() |
Here I am stopped on Spring Creek trail. | ![]() |
My first trail damage. I know it is not much, especially considering what can happen. If you look REAL close you can see the gouge a rock put in the wheel near the center. | ![]() |
As I do more I will add to this page and my tech pages as well.