1997 Jeep XJ Country

[Callelle]

Actually when she was asking about what I wanted to buy one for me, I told her to let me know so I could have her contact you. I guess she got it through 4wheeldrivehardware on their Ebay store because she could use "Bill me later" and get no interest for 6 months or something like that.

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[Callelle]

Made a lot of progress today.
Passenger rear frame stiffener welded in.


Got about 1/3 of the floor cut out.


And got the main section of the rear bumper tacked together.


Not shown, I also got the shackle relocation brackets for the most part mocked in and ready for final installation after everything gets washed and painted. Went through my first whole bottle of gas and wire spool for the welder, though 99% of it was from a friend that's teaching me to weld as I go. I'm gonna ask the friend who's letting me borrow it if I could buy it off him since he's already told me he doesn't really use it to begin with. It's just a little 110v Mac but it's working fine for what I'm doing with it and would probably be good for anything I'd need a welder for in the future.

[Callelle]

Got the shack relocation mounts finished and installed, also got the rest of the floor pan cut out but I still have some work to do getting it fitted in right.

[Callelle]

Got the floor pan in. I have a few small patch plates to cut and put in from where I cut too much out, but the main bit of it is done.

[Callelle]

Slowly making progress on this. Got the rear shock mounts cut off can cleaned up to get the new ones ready to weld on. Two holes behind the front floor pan patched. Mostly getting stuff cleaned up and painted, bench is coated in powder coat dust from wire wheeling it off of my long arms and I'm gonna be sand blasting the spots on the front axle where I cant get to it with the wire wheel. Also de-scaled both axles. Got my motor mounts on Wednesday and my Currie steering should be here tomorrow. Got a friend that bought a new set of 4.56 gears and D30 carrier for his XJ but sold it for a JK and he's selling the gears to me for $300, can't pass that up and I hope to pick those up Wednesday this week. A friend of mine is going to be coming over this weekend and we're hoping to get the new motor mounts in and the front axle on so that it can be sitting on all for tires on it's own. Once that happens, all I "should" have to do is get the rear axle shimmed and new drive shafts and brake lines to make it drivable. Probably going to ask Smike to put my rear bumper together since I'd rather make sure it's done right for something that's going to take abuse like that. Slowly but surely it's coming along.

[Callelle]

Gears, master instal kits, and D30 carrier acquired. One thing I don't get is why the box for the 8.25 gears says "Noisy" on it.

[jaysenodell]

Maybe they make a lot of noise?

Sound like you're almost there.

[Callelle]

Good news, it's sitting on all 4 tires again! Still have to set control arm and track bar lengths properly but I just wanted to get it to the point that they're in and I can figure out where I'm gonna need everything to sit. Also got my new motor mounts in and found a drive shaft for the front.

Bad news, 2nd drive shaft I found isn't long enough for the rear and is maxed out at ride height, so I'll be getting a new tom woods one for that. It's sitting a lot taller than I wanted it too, granted there's no weight with the interior gutted, bumper not done, and winch not installed yet. Really hoping it settles down at least 1-2 inches once it gets weight in it.

Either way, I'm happy that it's sitting on it's own again with the lift arms to the side. Next steps are going to be ordering a few minor parts, getting the rear buttoned up, front linkages all set to right lengths and new hard lines for brakes.

[Callelle]

Got a number of things accomplished this weekend. Leaf spring shims in, control arms are set, new hard brake lines all around, steering in, and winch installed.




Things left to do:
Rear axle shock mounts
Instal drive shafts (possibly order new one for rear)
Order rear shocks
Fix driver's seat mount and frame
Clean and bedline interior
Alignment
Bleed brakes
Have rear bumper built
Reinstall interior
Tighten/double check every bolt I've touched in the past 8 months

[Callelle]

First time outside in 8 months.

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[Wingman]

Yea!

[Callelle]

Off to smike's for rear bumper build and shock mount instal.

[Callelle]

Bumper done, shock mounts welded on, and rest of floor patched thanks to Smike. Will post pictures when stuff is all painted and nice.

Current to-do list
Buy and instal rear shocks
Rear drive shaft
Bedline interior
Re-assemble interior
Register, inspect, align, etc...

So close to done, I just can't wait to drive and wheel it. Anxious to see what it can do.

[Callelle]

Bumper done and installed.




Got 3 coats of chassis saver on the floors and should be laying down the monstaliner tomorrow, interior shit the day the day after. Then all that I'll have left is the shocks and bump stops, inspection and all that other bull shit.

[Callelle]

Got this thing out to run up and down the road yesterday. I've never had death wobble and I always see people complain about it, but I got up to 70 with no stabilizer and it not even being close to aligned and it didn't even make a shudder. Had some issues with the floor getting hot and a few bubbles in the bedline popped up, ordered some exhaust wrap to wrap around the muffler and some adhesive heat barrier stuff to hopefully deal with that. Also ordered my rear shocks (Bilstein 5100s), rear BPEs, a cover for the winch, and a license plate bracket for the tire carrier. These "should" be the last few things I need to order, but stupid stuff always pops up.



Here's a quick little picture at how it flexes out from when I was checking bump stops and measuring for shock lengths. I'm really happy with how it is, and can't wait to get it out and on some trails. Current plan is a 4 day weekend at Rausch in August as a little birthday present to myself. There is one thing I'm sort of concerned about, at full compression and on the bump stops, the leaf is ever so slightly going into a negative arch, but only in front of the wheel, behind the left spring perch, it's not even flat and still has arch in it. I thought about moving the shackle back one more spot, but when I rock the Jeep a bit, the shackle still has room to move back. I've never really seen or read anything like that, is that just how a leaf set up is and is nothing to worry about or is it something that I should be concerned with?