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Slo-Mo Rebuild

92K views 497 replies 65 participants last post by  JohnnyJ 
#1 · (Edited)
A few people asked me to do a build thread so here goes. I skipped through some of the details so if you want them just ask.

The XJ joined my life as a clean 72K mile stocker in January 2003.



Quickly made some changes… long arm lift, tires, wheels, gears, lockers, steering, brakes, etc.



Wheeled it for a few years and had a lot of fun, made bumpers, skids, etc.
Then decided to get more serious.

Out came the rockers, in went sliders.



I also spent a long time researching and designing a hybrid cage. I took my plans to JCR and they agreed to build the cage and some rear doors for me.



Then I put some paint on it - Hemi Orange.






I drove it around and wheeled it like this for a while and started to become unhappy with the “performance” of the 4.slow. I was never impressed with the stroker motors for the gain vs. cost and about this same time a friend put a 5.7L Hemi in his JK and another friend put an LS1 in his XJ. I drove them both and was instantly hooked, I HAD to have a V8.

I could not find an LS1 that was reasonably priced and I wasn’t thrilled about putting a scoop on my hood to cover the LS truck motor intake so I looked and read, looked and read and looked and read some more. Finally, I learned that an LSI intake could be mated to the 5.3l and with some accessory rerouting it would stay below my hood line.

Pick this up from a friend at Premier Auto Parts in Cedar Springs. It’s a 2005 5.3L 45K miles and all accessories, PCM, harness, TAC and pedal.



Found an LS1 intake with injectors and fuel rail on ebay and dropped it on top. That’s when I learned the water pump would be an issue too.



I picked up and LS1 water pump and started playing around with accessories rerouting and came up with this. I was never thrilled that the upper hose was captive, but it worked and I was up against the clock to get something done.



One of the things I really wanted to do was keep the Jeep instrument cluster. I spent a great deal of time searching, reading and experimenting but I was unable to make it work. Edit: The details start on post 95.

Ultimately this is what I ended up with and I am pleased with it.



Somewhere around this time I bumped up to 35’s. So, I was enjoying my new V8 and wheeling with a D30/8.25 with stock shafts. Although I never broke anything, the Internet made me think I would every time I went out.

Picked up a D44/9” from a ’75 F100 for 200 bucks and went to work narrowing and building them. OX/Detroit, alloys, 300M joints, 35 spline rear, 5.13’s, high steer, and hydro-assist. I did a write-up on those and you can find it here.
XJ: Narrowed D44/9" Swap - Great Lakes 4x4. The largest offroad forum in the Midwest


Everything was going great, trails were getting harder and harder and I was having a blast when the Internet again made me think my transfer case would never hold up to the abuse I was giving it. I started researching upgrades and decided to build my 231J into an HD version using a 6 planetary gearset and a wide chain. I did a write-up on that and it can be found here. 231J HD Transfer Case Upgrades - Great Lakes 4x4. The largest offroad forum in the Midwest


So, that pretty much brings it up to date. However this week I came across these babies! 38X12.5X15 Super Swamper SX, thanks Daryl.



So, now I know what I will be doing for my winter project this year…
 
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#84 ·
I worked a ton on it this weekend. Finished mounting the front coils and retainers, new shocks and made some bump stops for the front. I pulled the t-case to get the broken speed sensor out which requires pulling the interior for access to the top bolts. While I had the interior pulled apart I ran my battery cable through. I wasn't thrilled about the idea of running the cable along the frame so this gave me a good opportunity to run it inside.

And the good news is it actually started! You never know for sure if the harness is right until you try it and I guess I nailed it. Fired right up and runs good. Hopefully get everything finished up and get it out for a test drive this week.

Still on the short list:
Front sway bar
Rear wheelwells
Rear bump stops
 
#87 ·
On my thread you told me that my d44 will only be good for going to get ice cream in my I6 Xj yet you have a v8xj with d44 in it and tell other people that it's a lot better than people on the interweb claim..
So than what is it?

BTW that cage belongs at sema. I'd be afraid to scratch that thing.
Subscribed!
 
#88 ·
You need to re-read my friend, I'll save you a trip back...


You are going to run 39" tires on a D44. Unless you plan to only take it for ice cream runs, you will likely run into problems.

Weakness of a D44 (especially when you go 38" or bigger):
U-joint strength - you are taking care of this with the RCVs.
Ring gear deflection - you are taking care of this with the ARB (or other full case locker).
Ball joints - this is best taken care of with the Synergy BJs.

Even with all that you still can't drive like a jackass or life for the 44 will be short. I'm not bagging on your build, just making a suggestion :thumb:
It was in reference to your choice of ball joints we were talking about a few posts before. I pointed out that you have taking care of all of the inherent weak links EXCEPT the ball joints and I was suggesting that this could be a problem with that size of tires you have.

I am a proponent of the D44, mine works well for me and I plan to keep it. I know it's not for everyone, there are people that will break axles no matter how big it is. I drove a D30 on stock shafts and 10 year old $15 Advance u-joints and a V8 and 35" tires without breaking. For me it seems a D60 is unessecary, however 39" tires and regular ball joints seem like an issue waiting to happen unless you only plan to take it for ice cream. The point I was making was that when/if the ball joint goes it will most likely destroy the RCV joint and they ain't going to warranty that. Hope that clears it up.
 
#90 ·
Finally got to spend a little time at home and work on the Jeep. I've been working out in Los Angeles most of this year. Although it's a great place to spend a winter, it's tough to work on the Jeep.

Anyway, been going back and forth with my tuner and we almost have it dialed in perfect. It is really running good and the trans is shifting a lot better too.

Finished up my Official NHL bump stops and spring retainers.



Built a battery hold-down for the cargo area.





Picked up a ZJ shift handle to go from this...



To this...

 
#91 ·
Remember this little problem?



I still won't have a great solution until next winter, but I trimmed the wheel openings a little.



This and bump stops will make it through this year. I plan to cut the wheel openings past the inners and put it back together with some tube flares.

I'm a little concerned about making this side look good, but I'll figure it out.

 
#93 ·
I made a shake-down run at the dunes last weekend, so before we went I stretched it out the best I could. The front bumps were fine and I threw some ¼” plate on top of the u-bolt plates in the rear. This was as far as I dared to go on the rear. I can’t wait to open these wheelwells up more.





I only had my kids and I wasn’t carrying my spare so I figured it would be okay. I was mostly right, I only hit a few times and the damage was minimal.



The biggest reason was the crappy bump stops bent on the harder impacts.



I had more time to improve bump stop Version 2.0, these should hold up a little better.





We did get to see the aftermath of an F250 and 6’ of air… ya, that’s the axle out there in front of the bumper.

 
#94 ·
I made a shake-down run at the dunes last weekend, so before we went I stretched it out the best I could. The front bumps were fine and I threw some ¼” plate on top of the u-bolt plates in the rear. This was as far as I dared to go on the rear. I can’t wait to open these wheelwells up more.


I had more time to improve bump stop Version 2.0, these should hold up a little better.

Might I recommend going straight up from the axletube with a piece of square tubing with a cap on the end? Would look a lot cleaner, and wouldn't be introducing strange side stresses into your ubolts/leafsprings.

Like everyone else has said, love the cage. I'm surprised you went that long without seriously trimming fenders. Planning on doing some trimming on the gf's xj when her stock tires wear out...

Jake
 
#96 ·
Finally getting around to adding this…

One of my original goals with my LS swap was to maintain the OEM Jeep instrument cluster to save the appearance of a stock Jeep.

To do this I ran the Jeep PCM in tandem with the Chevy PCM. I spent some money and time plumbing the 5.3L with Jeep sensors and everything should have work, but it didn't. You see, the gauges are fed (I think it starts in '97) by the signals being multiplexed through a buss going from the PCM to the instrument cluster. Even so, my theory was that the proper sensor would feed the Jeep PCM and send the signal to the dash. This wasn't the case. It appeared that the Jeep PCM was going into a sort of auto-shutdown. Countless hours of research (wire diagrams, web searching, interviews with Mopar techs, and seat of the pants troubleshooting) proved that it is not an auto-shutdown. What happened in my case was, when I would go ‘key-run’ all of the Jeep gauges would light up and read accurately. When I would go ‘key-run/start/run’ the gauges would "freeze" wherever they were and would not move up or down until I went ‘key-off/run’ again. The computer dropped communication with the instrument cluster through the start-run cycle. I had spent countless hours over about six months trying to make this work and I couldn’t. At the time I was pretty bummed, because I tried hard and wanted my dash to look factory.

I decided it was time to give up and go another route. I bought a set of AutoMeter Phantom gauges, and a blue, amber, red and two green led lights from Summit and got started.

Original Jeep cluster minus the pointers and electronics behind.



Disassembled.





Gutted the Jeep cluster, and painted black.



Fabbed up the new gauge mounting panel, painted black.

 
#97 ·
Test fit into Jeep cluster.



Test fit gauges into panel.



Fitting bezel around gauges.



LEDs mounted.



Gauges mounted in the dash.





Transmission temp gauge.



The Jeep fuel sender measures 270 ohms down and 20 ohms up. The Autometer gauge is 240/33, so it wouldn’t read accurately. I was able to bend the float arm to the correct position to read 240 at empty. It still reads high on the full side, but I know when it's full :thumb:

Sorry, I only have crappy phone pics for this part.

Original float position.



Float arm bent to show 240 ohms empty.

 
#103 ·
It wasn't in the plan for another couple years until the next upgrade in tire size, but this fell into my lap this week and I couldn't pass it up. It's an 86-88 Ford kingpin HP60 - originally a DRW and it came with the SRW hubs.

The plan is shorten the long side a few inches, convert it to 5x5.5, spool and 35 spline inners/outers with lock-outs. I guess I have a new project now :sonicjay:

Anyone need caliper brackets and/or calipers? I need a spindle if anyone has one they want to sell.

 
#104 ·
I was at Rock Solid Performance last week talking with BJ and he was looking my Jeep over. When we were under the hood I was showing him that my air cleaner was crappy and was sucking in all the hot air off my radiator causing my IAT to always be high and often be in the red. I told him my plans were to use some tubing to bring the air cleaner to the rear away from the radiator, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. He walk back in the shop and handed me a piece of tube he used on his XJ with the V8. I will check the IAT his weekend to see how much better it is. Thanks BJ, you rock!

Before



Air Tube



After

 
#109 ·
Hey John its Ross, Mitch's buddy(from rocks and valleys) and I finally found your "build" thread lol...
I also uploaded those videos i took when we were there and you can watch a couple of em on my youtube channel. Here's the link:
Great build and record keeping :)
-Ross
Thanks Ross! Bummer my day ended there...


I'd still add some shielding to that, maybe fab some kind of airbox. Instead of drawing hot air off the radiator you'll now be getting it off the exhaust manifold, and the hot engine comparment in general.
I plan to make some sort of shield, but it does work a lot better already.
 
#110 ·
I finally got around to doing the Dodge master cylinder upgrade. I actually have had the master lying around since last winter. If I knew how easy it was I would have done it a long time ago. I used a ’99 Dodge 2500/3500 master cylinder. Total time was less than three hours and I think it could be done in close to two hours. The brakes are now nothing short of amazing; pedal feel is stiff and all the way up. It feels like stopping a car even with the heavy 38” SX’s. I am using Chevy ½-3/4 ton calipers front and rear.

Total parts for the upgrade:
Master cylinder from Advance $63.00
Brake fluid $ 7.00
¼ x 20 x 2 ½ bolt $ .30
Total ~$70.00

The Advance part


Jeep XJ master on the bottom, Dodge on the top.



Cut the head off the ¼ x 20 bolt and round it off. Removed the Jeep pedal pushrod bolt and installed my bolt. Made couple quick adjustments to get the length right.




Here’s where the Jeep lines ended up.



A little tweaking and the jeep lines are still usable.




Old vs. new. When the hood is closed it just barely clears the cap on the new master.


 
#114 ·
They are and you won't be sorry you spent the 70 bucks on this upgrade.

Very nice, John. I did the 1500 M/C (mY be the same as yours) upgrade on my LJ, and the braking was excellent. Like you said...very way upgrade, and well worth the time & money.
Thanks Craig

Looks good. Kinda bummed, doesn't look like it will fit with my C/O hoops.
Thanks. I'd be happy to take measurements or pics for you if it helps.
 
#116 ·
Your going to use a yj master cylinder?
Why? Mine just barely moved enough fluid for the zj discs in the back
 
#118 ·
I had a pretty good day out in my shop today. I managed to get the front passenger side frame built and welded in. I am very happy with how it turned out. I still need to do the driver’s side but I need to think about it a little more. I want to move my steering box forward about 2”. I used 3/16’ which some say is overkill, but I want something I can build off in the future.

Pattern I started with - one for each side



Drilled a bunch of holes and squeezed it into shape



Cut the bottom pieces and tacked it together





Filled the holes and stitched the edges



A little paint and it’s done

 
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