Never really been off-roading but it has always appealed to me and I've wanted an XJ since the late 90s.  Last week I came across an '01 Limited Sport with a 4.5" lift for a price I couldn't refuse, and wondering if there are any local arfcommers in to this stuff that hit up places like glade top, smorr, or even make the trek out to places like moab.  Also wouldn't hurt to meet some fellow XJ owners because I have a growing list of questions as I work on this thing.  

Attached File

NICE! I'm jealous. I've been on the lookout for a TJ or XJ for the past couple months.

Where did you find it? Craigslist?

FB Market.  That's all I ever use anymore for finding vehicles and most other stuff since it seems like it has become the standard.  I did check CL too, but no hits there.  It was actually pretty difficult to find one that wasn't severely overpriced or beat to hell.  There were a few medium-high mile stock XJs that looked promising, but the prices were a bit high for something I'd want to immediately throw a lift and tires on.

This one was about 3 hours away, well under my desired budget, and just about ready to go apart from the few things he said it needed, and the few things I discovered it needed once it was parked in the garage.  So far I've had it aligned, had the windshield replaced, replaced the water pump/belt/thermostat, replaced front sway bar bushings, tightened a few loose bolts on the lift kit(which was brand new/just installed), about to remove the rear lift shackles he installed on it for some reason(made the rear sit 2" higher than the front, on top of the 4.5" it already had), got an aluminum rad+3fans on the way, new wiper cowl on the way, new passenger mirror on the way, and new 4hole injectors on the way.  I need to run some vacuum system tests because the air direction control doesn't work so the HVAC has defaulted to defrost only, and need to put my angle gauge on the tcase output shaft and the rear end so I know which way I need to shim the rear end to parallel them because he didn't do it and I think it's causing a 30mph+ vibration in the driveline.  Once all the bugs are worked out I'll probably order the front/rear 4.56 gear kits and throw 33s on it.

ETA:  Between the TJ and XJ...I'd do the XJ.  My opinion on that may be a little biased because I've always wanted one and now have one but I definitely prefer the longer wheelbase, more seating/room, lots of rear cargo space, and the wrangler name seems to come at a premium.  Those things hold value like a Toyota and I don't understand why.

Just because it's so rare to find a place to post this one...    

A friend of mine who does rock crawling used to be on Pirate 4x4. I know nothing about the site, but you may find the info you want on there.

https://www.pirate4x4.com/forums/

http://www.ksrockspark.com/

This place is where I went when I had a jeep. It was cool.

Ford truck, Jeep crawler and a Pontiac avatar... OP is diversified!!  Good looking XJ OP.  I don't do any rock crawling, but my cousin does with his heavily modified old Toyota.  He and his buddies have a few private places that they prefer, but when they go to a public area, they prefer Flat Nasty down in southeast MO.  I know at one time he was a member of a crawling club that I think was based out of Central MO.

'09 G8 GT, '05 F350, '01 XJ, and two '66 Cadillacs. My wife barely puts up with it.

OP,

Check out Matt's Offroad Recovery on YouTube. That guy takes his yellow banana XJ into some damn sketchy places to make offroad recoveries.

I stumbled across his youtube channel a couple weeks ago, and 3 days later had an XJ in the driveway.

My 95 XJ has been down with a dead fuel pump for several years sitting in my brother's barn.  I need to get it fixed and back on the road.  

I've already been eyeing XJs around town that have been sitting.  Think once I'm done with mine I might build a second for the wife.

I'm a bit of a Jeep hoarder.

97 TJ currently going through a complete rebuild and upgrade.
1995 XJ that needs a fuel pump and new floor boards.
89 YJ that I have all of the parts to get back on the road, but need the time.  I also want to do a fuel injection conversion on the 4.2L motor.
67 and 75(my first Jeep) CJ5s, that are going to be combined into one working vehicle.  67 has not motor or tranny and the 75's body and frame are shot.  

I had a 2004 Grand Cherokee that I loved, but was a money pit worse than most Jeeps.

I'm currently on the lookout for a KJ or ZJ being parted out.  Wanting to do the rear disc conversion on my XJ.  I really, really hate drum brakes.

Im down in Springfield, My 93 XJ, 91,xxx Currently sitting on 3.5" RE lift, 31's on Pro Comp 10x8, SYE installed with Tom Woods Driveshaft,

That's coming after the 4.56 upgrade.  Going with the kit offered by rustys offroad.

This weekend I'm replacing the unnecessary lift shackles with oem shackles so it sits level, pulling the rad+fans out and installing the new alum rad + triple electric fans that should be delivered tomorrow, replacing the oem injectors with 4hole injectors, determining what size shims I need for the rear end and ordering those, then vacuuum testing sections of the vacuum system starting at the reservoir behind the bumper to figure out why my air direction control isn't working(I think it's the knob/control itself).  Once all the kinks are worked out I'm driving it down to my BIL's shop for ac diagnosis/repair and probably a por15 treatment on the undercarriage since it's still in the early stages of surface rust.  Need to pull the carpet up front to see how the floorpans look, maybe have those treated too.

15-20 years ago I was heavy into the off road world. I had a propane powered CJ, 00 XJ, and a few square body chevys.

My current off road rig is a 98 suzuki sidekick but it doesn't get much love anymore.

In the mid 00s I got into sport bikes and they've been a massive addition.

I do a fair bit of wheeling throughout the midwest. Not a Heep guy at all, but I wheel with my buddy who has an MJ that we're in the process of doing a VW diesel swap in.
Nice looking XJ though. Now you just need to add some scratches and dents!

My rig: 1969 International Harvester Travelall LS1/4L80 swap

Nice looking rigs.
Definitely a fan of the LS swapped IH.

Tried replacing the fuel injectors in the XJ earlier today and went hulk mode on the fuel rail trying to pop it and the injectors out of the intake manifold.  Bent the fuel rail, got another on the way from ebay.

I still run around in a Cj5.

Old picture. Little prettier now.

1983 Cj5. 258 inline 6. T-176 4 speed.  Dana 300 (needing to install the low range kit). Centered dana 44 in the rear with 4:88 gears & a Yukon Grizzly Locker. Dana 30 up front (still need to do the gear swap, I'm being lazy about it). Currently has 4" of lift that's fairly worn out, going with 4.5" or 6" of lift & probably later wrangler springs. Currently rolling on 33's. Will go with 35's or 37's next time, to get a little speed back. Will be swapping the motor out for either a Dauntless 225 v6 or 258 stroker. Got one & a buddy has the block for the other. Not sure what way to go with that yet. Hope to have a new winch come spring.  

I'm more of an off roading guy than crawling.  



Then theres the other 2 jeeps.........

1969 cj5. Wifes project.  1 of them. Yes, that is a factory V6 Cj5 from the 60's


1970 pain in my ass.

My dad used to have a small collection of CJs back in the 90s.  His daily at that time was a 360 swapped CJ7.  It was loud and unpleasant to drive, but still fun.

My propane powered jeep was a late 60s Buick V6 cj5 too. I swapped in a more modern 231 with mild cam, higher comp pistons, and head work. It ran pretty good.

I had a cj6 with the the v6 also, it was kind of a pile and we'll past its prime. I ended up selling it before getting it all sorted out.

Loud & unpleasant to drive....... that's a good way to put it. Not real sure if if you drive it, or it drives you. I really should break down & get a cj7, just to have more transmission options.  Well the room for them anyways, I'd really like a 5 or 6 speed




I think that about the most that these little oddfire v-6's have going for them is torque.  Thanks to that stupidly heavy flywheel.  Fun to tinker with though. Thinking more & more about going with the stroker engine though.

The 231 I built when carb'd had plenty of power, a lot more than the 225 did. I did lose quite a bit going propane but yeah that 87# flywheel kept it going good.

Starting to see everyone posting up threads and photos out on the trail and I'm getting jealous/impatient.  

Been slowly working on the XJ as I've had time and energy for it, day job has been hell lately and burning me out.  Last weekend I replaced the 2" lift shackles with oem shackles, no idea why the previous owner did that because those lift shackles aren't part of this lift kit so I'm thinking he was probably going to add spring spacers on the front to get a 6-6.5" lift but never got around to it.  Yesterday I installed an RC tcase drop spacer kit, that does come with the lift kit but previous owner didn't install it or include it with the XJ for some reason so I had to order and install it myself.  Before the tcase drop my pinion needed to angle down 4 degrees to be parallel and I think that was causing the 30mph+ vibration, but now that the tcase is dropped it looks closer to parallel so I probably won't have to install these shims.  Need to test drive again to check for vibration.

Still need to install the new climate controls once they arrive from ebay, air blows out of defrost only and all my vacuum testing points to the climate control/vent direction control leaking.  New aluminum radiator/triple fan setup is here, but nothing wrong with my oem setup right now so I'll install that later.  Head unit kit is installed but still need to order a single-din radio and new speakers.  Got a Cobra 29 to install on the right side of the center console, and one of those antenna mounts that uses the taillight bolts but need to figure out how to route the coax without causing the hatch door seal to leak.  Pretty sure the upper/lower ball joints are whooped so I'll also be replacing those and the wheel u-joints since I'll already be working in that general area.

Adams SYE kit is on the wishlist, but I don't need it right now so it's on hold.  I definitely need to do something about the tires since it has 31" all seasons on wrangler wheels and that's not going to cut it for trail work.  I could cheat and just get some A/Ts on those wheels, but they'll probably rub.  The goal is some Cragar Soft 8 15x8 wheels w/ 4" backspacing and probably a set of 33" Milestar Patagonia M/Ts since they're cheap and have decent reviews.  That setup will likely require me to cut the fenders, so I'll probably get the flat fender flare kit and do that.