There have been other companies who have made upper quarter panel armor and seeing them in person I found they looked good on the vehicle, but either very expensive, or the use of thin material and not quite the fit I was looking for.

JCR Off-road had started to make their own version for XJ’s a year or so ago and I waited a while to here some feedback on them.  Hearing some good feedback from fellow XJ owners about them I decided to move on them and ordered me up a set.  For $170 for a set with tail-light protectors plus $30+ shipping they were around $200. They also offer for another $110 full tail-lights as well, but I wanted to keep the electrical and lighting OE and simpler.

They have a couple weeks fabrication delay as they make them on the spot. Two weeks after I ordered them they arrived on my doorstep. Very impressed!

Looking at their pictures on there website they changed the top part of the guard by adding another 1″ of material bent in to match the curve of the XJ body. That is a BIG bonus as working with fabrication in the past this adds structural strength to the guard. Now why they do not update the pictures of their product on the web-page I do not know, because it is an improvement over other brands and a good selling point.

The Good: Reasonably priced for the quality you get. They fit perfect, they were a cinch to align to the vehicle, and they look good! Thick  material unlike others brands use of thin gauge metal.

The Bad: They are heavy and takes two people to install: one to hold the guards, while the other aligns it up and marks the holes. They are too pretty and like a new pair of shoes you cringe when you scratch them up but that is what they are there for. Go figure…….

The Ugly: The bolts JCR supplies are raw metal, If you forget to paint them they will instantly rust in the first week. Nothing to do with the guards, but getting to the bolts on the driver’s side guards is a PITA! Need a long armed person with child like hands to get to them as the gas filler and all the electrical on that side is like sticking your hand in a snake hole filled with glass shards sticking out of the sides. Ouch!

To do that, I had waited to have some challenging terrain of different types to test it out on.

So three months later and five trail runs with this locker I have based it down to my “Good, bad, and the Ugly” categories.

Trails I ran in order since installation;

1. Slaughter House, Colorado
2. Left Hand Canyon (Momma Hill), Colorado
3. Illinois Gulch (MOAB Hill), Colorado
4. Yankee Hill (Lots of snow & Mud), Colorado
5. Spring Creek (3 of 4 obstacles, 4th snowed out), Colorado

The Good:

I ran my Jeep through a foot of snow, snow & mud, sticky wet clay, over loose shell rock , major off camber shelf road, over solid rock obstacles, up steep ascents, and all of the above at one time. Each time I made it no problems as this locker gave me the traction I needed to tackle the rough terrain. No holds barred performance!

I watched guys go up the same obstacle on Spring Creek I just did and saw what they were dealing with having no locker/open differentials, took them 20 minutes, where it took me less than 4 minutes, it was a night and day difference!

No locker pop experience, engagement banging, although I can probably contribute this to having an automatic now and not a stick.

The Bad:

Fish tailing through mud, snow, specifically on ascents and off camber terrain where gravity pulls you to an edge of a 100+ drop off which can cause a little raising of the heartbeat and get you white knuckling it.  Going through some deep snow on parts of the slight off camber trail Yankee Hill, the people behind me said my rear was off to the side slightly as I was driving.

This is a typical full traction locker trait though, not anything to do with this being an Aussie Locker brand, as any full traction auto locker will do this. You have to learn to drive it a little different than when you had open differentials.

The Ugly:

NOISY SON OF A B#&CH!!

Aussie Locker claims in their advertisement to be quieter than other Lunchbox style automatic full traction devices however I beg to differ. My DETROIT locker was no where near this noisy, as it sounds like a ratchet going around every corner, doesn’t matter if slow or fast.

I checked, and I double checked, and everything is 5 by 5 installed.  I have not ran any other automatic full traction locker to compare other than my experience with my DETROIT locker so I can not answer the question whether Lock Rite’s, Powertrax, NO-SLIP, or any other lunchbox style lockers are just as noisy. I would be interested in what Aussie Locker has to say about this?

Final Verdict;

The locker is one of thee most import upgrades to any trail driven vehicle out there. If you have never ran a locker you have no idea what you are missing and the difference it can make.

The Aussie Locker has been very pleasant from the time I opened the box. I am impressed other than the noise and that might be something I will just tune out and forget it even exists in time. The trade off for the ratcheting noise is advantage of having the extra traction and I would do this everytime I had a choice. Aussie Locker does claim to be stronger with materials and slight design changes, but it will take some time to really see the long term advantage over the other brands. Overall there is nothing revolutionary or evolutionary about this locker. Do not get me wrong about this Aussie Locker, I am very impressed with my purchase and what it is. For $250 I just increased my offroad prowess by 5 fold.  The final comment will be this;  If I was offered the Aussie Locker amongst all the other Lunchbox style lockers I would choose the Aussie Locker again.

I got the time and opportunity recently to use Ballistic’s Flex Joint in a set of custom fixed lower control arms I built for a fellow wheeler on a budget and was really impressed with their quality.  Similar to the Rubicon Express Flex Joint but with a machined housing eliminating the snap ring on one side, and $10 cheaper than the Rubicon Flex Joint. (this is a picture of Ballistic’s Heavy Duty Flex Joint I used in that project)

A little jealous after making those, I decided to do something for myself using some Ballistic products. I didn’t really need a new pair of control arms as I already had a nice pair of TOMKEN’s, but what the hey!

I was also going to go green and recycle. As you are now saying to yourself, what?

I am a pack rat and save stuff I probably could throw away, but end up storing it. However I always find a way to use it somehow, as for an example I had my old long arms off my Coil Over setup on my CJ-7 that has been on my garage floor for 2 1/2 years now, and I have been wondering what to do with them.

Perfect opportunity for this new project I say, and cheaper too!  These old arms had a weird poly bushing I could never find a replacement for and the original place I got them from went out of business. The Other end used 3/4″ rod ends and the arm itself was beefy as you can see in the pics below they are 1.5″ DOM .250 wall tube sleeved in 1 3/4″ .100 wall tube.

I was going to be scrapping the poly bushing side and then re-use the other end where the 3/4″ Left Hand Rod Ends were. I was also going to do these comp style were I use a Left and Right Hand joint on each side of the arm to do fine adjustments. You just loosen the jam nuts and turn in either direction to shorten or lengthen. Which is nice to have for the fact that 99% of the after market control arms you can buy you have to remove one end of the control arm entirely from the bracket just to adjust the length.

I had (1) Right Hand Tube insert for the other side so I only needed (1) more of those and then instead of the regular flex Joint I was going to use Ballistics’s Forged Flex Joint! These things are pretty beefy and I can get them with a 3/4″ shank to use in my recycled arms. (Read the specs on their website, the tensile strength listed is 8x the strength of a medium grade rod end, WOW!)

I decided I was going to go with (2) right hand Forged Flex Joints on one end, and then (2) of their new Forged Poly joints on the end. These are similar in many ways to the flex joint, but with a poly bushing to coincide with the flex joint in a control arm combination.

Having to wait a week and a half in anticipation for the parts to show up I was not disappointed when they arrived as I was drooling all over them. You can see the size difference when they are compared to a typical 3/4″ Rod End.

So to get started I first made myself a jig on my work bench to get the proper length. I needed to figure out how much of the actual tube I needed with the joints, jam nuts, and tube ends all put together. I matched the stock control arm length of 15.75″ that is on a XJ/TJ. These arms with the Ballistic Joints can be adjusted outward up to 18″ or more! The shank on these joints are really long compared to a regular Rod End. Once I got my measurement I then cut and drilled holes for the plug welds for the two new tube ends, but before welding them together I pre-assembled to make sure everything was correct.

Once I made sure everything was were it needed to be I welded it all up, then wire brushed, painted, and assembled. Check out the nice beauty shot to the right!

Now it was time to put these bad boys on my XJ! I removed my old TOMKEN Control Arms and you can see there is a little difference in the size of the flex joints. The Ballistic Forged Flex Joint is a little bigger than the Currie Johnny Joint used in the TOMKEN arms.

After I got them installed they definitely look better in my opinion than my TOMKEN arms. I was not particularly fond of the bend in the TOMKEN arms as the primary purpose for that is to help clear the back of the coil/shock bracket when the axle flexes downwards and I had already cut out the back part of my brackets, so I did not need that feature. The straight arm is cleaner looking, and stronger. FYI; yes when you bend tube it stretches one side weakening it in the process. (Go ask an engineer)

Definitely my taste, and I love the Ballistic Fabrication Skull! (Hey I have an obsession with skulls, Skully get it?)

I definitely like Ballistic’s Forged Flex and Poly joints. They are very high quality product in every way. I almost hated using them, they are so pretty. A minor thing I like is they use silver zinc coating, which is not that big a deal, but most products out there use the gold colored stuff, the silver looks a lot better in my opinion.

I have had some drive time on these new arms and I noticed they do not transfer as much of the road noise my TOMKEN control arms did. I think the poly material Ballistic uses in their poly busings is softer than the TOMKEN arms.

The only complaint I have is the position of the grease zerks. They are in a spot that I know will get broken off, but I had no alternatives for if I flip the joints to position the zerks to the topside, I would not be able to get a grease gun in the tight spot. Even if I replaced the zerks with 90 degree versions.

I would have liked to have gone with the overkill of the 1.25″ shank instead of 3/4″, but then that would defeat the purpose of recycling DOM material and also would have cost me more. Example for 2″ .250 wall DOM tube is running $15-$18 a foot, and tube ends for 1.25 are about $17 each. The project as is, recycling my old arms only cost me $150. If I would have went with the 1.25″ stuff; I am not recycling and it would have cost me about $240.

I am not too worried about the strength of the 3/4″ shank. I ran 35″ tires on my CJ-7 with locked axles front and rear for 6+ years with 3/4″ Rod Ends and never had a problem. Time wheeling with these arms will reveal any problems or defects. So look for an update in the future as I will get myself a season of wheeling in and do a 6 month review in the making of Ballistic’s Products!

Until then, Happy Wheeling!

One of the things I had not address yet was my upper control arms which the OE versions are not known for their incredible strength, but now the time had come to address their deficiency.

I had two options; build my own or buy something off the shelf.

Option one; Fabbing up my own would be cheaper, but my problem is this. It is very hard now a days to do any sort of fabbing work on a short time frame simply for the fact with a child under two and the wife half way along with our second child, almost impossible.

Option two; I found myself tied with which to choose, as there are many brands on the market that are all really the same just different style flex joints and if they are adjustable or not. Definitely wanted something adjustable even though “4.5 of lift according to many charts show the upper arms stay the same length as stock.  Then there was the cost, OUCH! (Your kidding right, you want that much for a set?)

I found a perfect moment, Rough Country recently re-designed their controls arms to use a Johny Joints style end instead of their old style which copy Tera Flex’s original design. This was simply 1/2 the arm was  male threaded and screwed into the other 1/2 of the arm that was female threaded. Creating the adjustability and a lot of unrestricted flex.

Now in my personal opinion I really like the idea behind the old style Tera Flex arms simple because you have no restrictions on the twisting of the arm unlike a flex joint’s limited 32-35 degrees. There is a drawback with the design. You have to keep grease packed nice and tight in the arm threads or they will eventually wobble and become loose creating a popping clank sound.

I called Rough Country and since they are a big supporting vendor on NAXJA board they give you a great discount as well. Called the main contact person through the board and asked him since they are releasing the new designed X-flex arms if they have any of the old design laying around and to my joy they did. Got a set shipped to my door for around $115, which is a killer deal! (even cheaper than fabbing my own.)

Took me all of a couple hours to install them and the biggest issue  was while I was replacing the arms I figure I would replace my bushings in the axle end as well. That was a nightmare! Suggestion for anyone planning on doing that just take apart the front axle, coils, trackbar, etc.  Will save you cuss words and a lot of headaches ahead of time.

I did find a quirk that didn’t really effect me in the end though. Screwing the arms down to the recommended length of “15 for the height I found the arms had bottomed out. In other words making the twisting flex useless for one direction. So backing them back out a 1/4 of an inch would fix that but now my upper arms are at “15 1/4 instead of “15.  I really didn’t have a choice in the matter as I would like to use the full potential of the twisting flex the arms were designed to do.

Since installing them three months ago I have managed to get several hundred miles on them and I have noticed that my street ride seemed to improve including responsiveness to turning the wheel as everything felt really tight and smooth. The 1/4 more in length has not affected anything that I can feel.

Now to the wheeling to which I managed to get a couple trips in as well. I have had no issues and now my axle definitely likes to twist and flex but created a minor problem as now I get an increase in noise on the coils as they drop farther down the upper stem and bump stop. I also have lifted a wheel now, as I bottomed out my shock.  I will have to look into  a fix for that and also make sure I follow my monthly routine of packing grease in the arms along with all my other grease able parts.

Overall I am very pleased with them and the fact I got such a killer deal  made it a definite BIG BANG for my buck!

The kit is the first of its kind.  A 2.5″ Budget Boost?  I remember back when BBs were 2″ and really measured 1.75″ of lift.  These pucks are actually 2.5″.

You will gain enough to clear 35″ tire on your JK Wrangler.  1.25″ spacer are needed to complete the steering clearance.  What Jeep and BB has offered that combination in the past.  35 ” tires? great!

The kit comes very complete.

AEV’s ProCal Module is a hand-held powerhouse! This essential tool provides JK owners an easy, low-cost way to make a variety of useful changes not offered by the dealer or any other re-programmer.

The ProCal Module allows the user to reprogram several factory parameters including:
• Tire size
• Gear Ratio
• One Touch Lane Change
• Daytime Running Lamps
• Low Tire Pressure Indicator
• Smart Bar Indicator Disable (after Smart Bar removal)
• Clear Diagnostic Trouble Codes

While the module is plugged into the OBD port, the ProCal Module can also:
• Set a Temporary Extended Idle
• Provide a Dead Center Steering Wheel Indication
• Clear Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) / Turn of the Check Engine Lamp

For AEV HEMI Builders Kit customers, The ProCal Module will:
• Program the Vehicle’s VIN into the new PCM Controller
• Program the Pedal Calibration and Tolerance

Full Info Here

So it sucker punched me when my current winch remote failed on me with such little use. My wonderfully reliable Mile Marker 9500si came with a remote that was made of a soft rubber material and looked like it could be really abused……….WRONG!

Here is what Mile Marker’s Remote looks like. (Excuse the crappy pics, my 7 seven month old Kodak is out for repair, and that is another article.)

In the last three years I have used this Mile Marker in some tough spots and it has worked flawlessly each until the end of the last pull. I was re-spooling the line when it cut out on me for a brief second and I had to press the remote a little harder.

Hmmmmm, that is interesting?

Get home and I yank the line a little and go to double check that little quirk and low and behold I find the winch is not working at all. Pull out the electrical tester and check the power to the remote connection and it is getting power. So I used some wire to the cross the connections at the winch itself and it works perfectly, some more troubleshooting and find the winch remote is not so tough after all. I never abused it, as it was always on top of everything in my recovery bag and I never crushed it, what gives here?

So I look around the net and local stores and I find a nice fancier winch remote from Mile Marker for around $70 but I did see my model winch listed that it will work for. A lot of the newer winches have MOSFET power supplies and electronic control stuff. So I call Mile Marker directly trying to clarify the part numbers of the remotes and what I can get for a replacement only to be told there is only two that will work with my model. A direct replacement of the one that came with it for $45 from them or a few places on the net for $35. Do not really trust that remote anymore and the second was the wireless setup for $100+ which was a little on the high side for me. So what do I do?  I do not want to use a screw driver crossing the connections while on the trail, I need something right?

Then it hit me, the remote is very simple. For the non MOSFET or electronic controlled winches out there which is a lot of them, all I need is momentary directional switch(s) and a box to fit them in. On mine and many others there is three wires. (1) is low voltage power and the other (2) represent the direction of the motor. Give the low voltage to one of the direction wires and it closes the solenoid it is connected to and the winch goes in or out. So I went to the local radio shack for momentary switches and then to home depot for an electrical box. I thought about the 3 way directional switch, but I decided I want (2) single momentary switches, one for each direction. So instead of moving the switch up or down I just push one of the two switches to go in either direction.

Here is what I got; (1) 90 degree LB electrical box $6. (2) single pull momentary switches $3 each, and some misc. connectors and plugs. Essentially after tax $15.00

After cutting off the old remote from the cord and testing to see which of the three wires was the power and which direction the remaining two wires represent I marked them. Them ran them into the LB box and took the low voltage power wire and put a connector on it with a jumper with another connector so I can connect to both switches. Then put connectors on the other (2) wires and attached each of them to a corresponding switch. Drilled out the holes in the LB cover plate, put them together, taped them up and screwed everything down. Total time about thirty minutes to work it all out and wire it up.

Here is what it looks like;

It ended up being about the same size as the factory remote control as you can see in the pick. Plugged it in and tested out. Work flawlessly!

So instead of spending $40-$50 on a new remote I do not exactly trust I saved some pennies!

You could use this same example and mount in-cab controls as well. You could do it two ways; get another remote and sacrifice it for the winch side connector and cord running it to your cab which would be the less time consuming way or take the solenoid apart and find the control wires, splice them in and run standard wire to the switch(s) in your cab. There is several articles on running in-cab controls for your winch on the net. Same principle as I mentioned above.

The only thing I have for concern is the (2) seperate momentary switches I used. I could stall the motor by giving power to both both solenoids at the same time accidentally, but do not know if this would even damage the winch. I will have to be carefull about how I use it.

“The brackets mount in the door hinge and maintain a stock location for the mirrors when the doors are removed. I had a prototype set last year for a little bit before it got cold. The image of my Jeep is with the prototype. The notable difference is the pin design which supports the stock hinge screw bolt for a complete factory look.”

[Info Link] [Retail Link]

So far my experience with the Aussie Locker has been pleasant, everything has been as expected and experienced no issues. This continued with swapping out the carriers as I found a local Denver guy that does Ring & Pinion work out of his garage and comes highly recommended by many. He goes by the online persona 87xjco and you can find him on NAXJA.org or on the colorado4X4.org boards.  He cut me a pretty good deal to reset the Ring Gear as it turned out my luck was with me again. I will explain here soon but first you might ask why didn’t I try it myself? 1.) I do not have the experience or time to learn this and gears setups can go really wrong if not done right. I did not want to take a chance on my daily driver. 2.) to make the job easy on yourself having the special tools is a must, and they are expensive and I am broke.

So here is how it went down; Arrived at 11am at his garage. Break free the lug nuts on the rear wheels and jacked up the back end with blocks in front of the Jeep, putting the transfercase in neutral. Pulled the wheels, then the drums, and then yanked shafts partially out only to free up the carrier. Yanked the cover drained the fluid, once done 87xjco slapped on a case spreader and checked the current setup. Everything was nice and tight and no apparent excessive wear. He pulled the carrier and started to remove the bearings and the Ring Gear.

While he was messing with the Ring Gear I cleaned up my nice Crane Cover and the surface of the axle waiting for him to get everything to go back in. He set the new carrier with my Aussie Locker into the axle and put on the yellow marker paste and ran it through, PERFECT! he said. Which translated into meaning everything lined up beautifully and he did not have to play with it any more.

So he battened down the carrier and the cover while I reassembled the axle shafts, drums, and tires. We finished around 12:30 so it took only 1  hour and 30 minutes and I was expecting 3 hours worth of work. Woohoo!

I had previous experience with a full locker with my old CJ-7 as it had a Detroit Locker in the rear axle. So I am very familiar with all the quirks they have to offer; clanking, clicking and the infamous “Locker pop” which is when you go around a corner and power it out and the rear end makes a loud BANG causing your rear to jerk around. So driving away and putting 60+ miles on it I was surprized in many ways. Aussie Locker claims that with an auto tranny the banging backlash noise and “Locker pop” are not as severe as with a manual tranny and so far this is true as my CJ-7 was a manual and my XJ is an automatic and I have yet to experience any backlash noise or “Locker pop”.  The Aussie Locker from what I have read also claims to be quieter than most full traction lockers, but I definitely hear the Aussie Locker a lot more than with my Detroit Locker. It could be after 8+ years with my CJ-7 I got so use to the noise I tuned it out and don’t remember really hearing it and I have not had a vehicle with a locker in it for over a year now, so this might be the case. Aussie Locker stated there is a break in period of 200 miles then it will quiet down. I will reach that pinnacle soon so we will see. However in the mean time Part 3 will be the most important, but it will be awhile before I can get to it as the sole purpose for buying the Aussie Locker in the first place is for wheeling. So stay tuned in the near future when I can get some trail time in with this locker. (There is an obstacle on a trail that really isn’t that hard but I got hung up last year because my Trac Lok failed to deliver. I want to go back and beat it into submission for the simple fact of retribution.) More to come!

I also wanted something that was very simple. For example in my last Jeep I had a Detroit Locker in the rear and I loved the thing! Awesome offroad, the street driving took a while to get use to, definitely had its quirks but was pretty much indestructible. However a Detroit was even out of my budget range. This leaves me with  “Lunchbox” style lockers, which in general simply replace the spider gears, so they are pretty affordable.  Several brands on the market, pretty much all the same save construction and minor design differences.

I have been reading nothing but good things about Aussie Lockers for a couple years now. They are priced just right  at around $250 to your door straight from the manufacture.  The reviews I have read say they are pretty tough, and people are using them with 33-35 tires with no problems. So I picked one up as my Christmas present ’08, but since I have a factory Trak Loc in my Dana 44, I now needed an open carrier 3.73 down as the Aussie will not install in a factory Trak Loc.  Crawler Tech 4×4 hooked me up with a carrier for a great deal as he has stacks of them from doing gear upgrades. (If you are in the Denver area and you want any custom work done, you cannot go wrong with them!)

So this weekend I decided to play around and install the Aussie into the carrier. From everything I have read lunchbox lockers are really easy to install and with the carrier on the bench 30 minutes tops. Decided to thoroughly read over the instructions first and that was a lot of  reading, very thick instructions. This doesn’t mean it was complicated. Aussie did a wonderful job of having very detailed but easy to understand instructions. I give them props for such detail as it really helped me out putting this thing together and understanding what I was doing.

First I took apart the carrier with the internals and lay out the Aussie Locker ready for install.

Started to assemble everything and the one thing about this Aussie Locker is the manufacture’s emphasis on the tolerance levels between everything. As I was assembling I had to take gap measurements and record them in the registry log at the back of the instruction manual for warranty use. First measurement was the spacers and cross shaft and according to their guide I was very tight at the limit they recommend for it. Apparently this carrier has rarely been used as the opposite too much gap means it is worn out. Second measurement as after you get the pins and springs in you check for gap between the cam gears.

Here it is assembled and ready for gap check and then the right picture cross shaft and roll pin put back;

It took me about 30 minutes overall but I had some double checking breaks just for what I mention above about it being at such tight tolerances and close to Aussie’s recommended numbers. Over all very easy to assemble and I like how simplistic the whole thing is. So more to come in PART 2 as a buddy will help me re-set  the ring gear when I swap out the factory Trak Loc and I get to do the initial tests before driving it on the street. I didn’t really do a huge install tech article as this was more of “Impressions” of the overall Aussie Locker experience. If you want a good installation article, there are plenty out there on the net. The one I found very usefull is this guy’s who put together a very simple and detailed write up with lots-o-pics, check it out;  INSTALLATION ARTICLE

I was search around a few weeks ago for my brother in law.  I was looking for an inexpensive XJ for my Niece.  I came across a great little site.  The site shows eBay auctions for salvage title and other wrecked automobiles.  What a great place to find a new Trail Builder.  I will be searching there if I ever feel the need to build a Trailer Queen

[site link]

If you have the 6 disc/DVD radio from Mopar your now in luck.  I have access to the cable you see below.  No more soldering that left over Christmas video cable.  Just buy this production unit. Connect this cable to the back side of your radio.  PIN 6 and PIN 7 slots allow video to be seen via an LCD. It’s that easy.

SPECS:

• 36 inches in length
• semi flush mounting
• mounting screws

They sell for $49.95 and will be shipped free via USPS.  I will have some in stock after the first of the year.

(The later production units will only have a two prong, flat, radio end.  Current unit has a blank third slot.  Only two of the current prongs are live.)

The bumper came in plain back powder coating.  I was tossing around the idea of coating it in the Jeep’s Red Rock color.  The plan right now is to install it and see how it looks in black.

The other thing I was confused about was the factory fog lamps.  I was not sure what to do with them.  Then I found the picture below.  This guy used some 3″ PVC to make “cans” to hold the factory lights.  Awesome idea!  I sure wish I could find a picture of how he closed off the back of the light.  I will mount my lights a little closer to the front, but I sure love the idea.

EDIT: I found some more links to his build

For owners of any 4 wheel Drive the secret is to get as big of a tire as possible with the amount of lift you can afford. For XJ owners it can be a pain to figure out how to get the big tires under your vehicle as most lift kit makers state for XJ’s 4.5″ of lift you can run 32″ tires. Problem I find that not so accurate. I have 4.5″ of lift with 31′s and still rub in the front and rear.  The front of an XJ you can cut to yours hearts content to give yourself room. The rear of an XJ is a little more complicated being it is a Unibody and the pinch seam and lower quarter panel gets in the way. Even with minor to major cutting most still do some form of Bump stop extensions, this is also to stop from damaging your rear shocks compressing farther than your shocks can. Some refer to bump stops as “axle snubbers”, but for this article I will refer to them as bump stops.

On the market there are several options that are cheap to the expensive. First you can get extended bump stops $20-$30, but you still need to extend out your ubolt plates to catch them. As with the way a XJ rear leaf spring suspension is designed, when you lift it the bump stop originally would hit the axle, but with a lifted XJ flexing one wheel upwards the spring/ubolt plate comes up and side swipes the bump stop not making it very effective. So ubolt plates that you can buy that are extended out are usually designed to be the extension themselves with adding plates or spacers to adjust. These I see run from various manufactures $55 to $100. If you spend that much money just to extend the ubolt plate out to catch the bump stop, why buy longer bump stops?

I wanted to keep this project as inexpensive as possible and figure out the amount of extension needed built in as I really do not need to have all the adjustment ability at this time. (I am keeping this XJ where it is at for awhile.)

So here is what I started with, $20 for a set of used XJ ubolt plates from “Cherokee Parts Source” a local Denver metro guy that finds, buys, and parts out XJ’s and sells the parts to us lazy guys not wanting to go to the pick and pull places. (If you want his contact info give me your email addy and I can send it to you.) Some Scrap steel from the local metal supply house that charges .50 cents a pound. I figured I needed about 2″ of extension to stop before my shocks bottomed out and the tires would catch the inner fender. I cut the vertical pieces 2″ and the extended out 3″ with corners cut to avoid the shocks. After cutting the peices for all of this , I started to assemble and weld them up.

Didn’t take long to put them all together, clean up the welds, and paint them. Once dry I installed them and took measurements to make sure I had everything where I wanted it. If I need further adjustment I can either buy those extended bump stops or cut off the stock ones.

For the future I might take my old ubolt plates that I took off to put these on and do this project again, but not build in the extension and instead use hockey pucks for 1″ adjustments, but that is another time. Overall this project cost me about $25 and about 2 hours of time with installation, not including cooling or painting time. For those naysayers I might still have to add a top side gusset for strength, but I did beat the crap out of them before cleaning and painting with a 3lb sledge while they were clamped down and they seemed pretty strong………time will tell.

Here is what they look like all cleaned up, painted, and installed;

This was kinda tricky. The rear safety bar has a mount for the softop on it. The seat belt roller is also sort of in the way. Here is what I did. Post your questions by clicking “Add Comments” at the bottom of this post.

It’s painted blue in these photos, but comes in Black normally.  I’m digging it.

Any thoughts from you fellas?  Thanks.

pics from [4wd]

Daystar came out with a replacement center dash.  I got one with delivered with a CAI from BIGoffroad.

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If you need anything for your rig call Troy. Great prices and even better service.

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This years design does not offer the extra side posts. I was using those connections for my headlight harness, air compressor, and winch. I guess those will be red-neck on to the main battery terminals now.

So she’s powered up and ready for the Spring and Summer.

I am looking for tech writers & link posters. Topics include anything to do with Jeep, 4×4, Wheeling, new products, camping, etc. If you see a link and want to post it please use this forum area. I’ll do the work and post it on this front blog page.

Once you start posting a few ‘news’ articles I’ll give you a user ID to post your links, tech and news on the front page. Become a Contributor by post some sweet off the wall

links and products. The goal here is to make this a true user based Jeep Site where users decide the daily blog content. The first of it’s kind.

Arggh. I hate it when I spend 90 minutes figuring out how to take something off, then when I replace the new one, I figure out the way I should have taken it off. The reinstall only took 90 seconds.

I picked up the part from Advance Auto Parts, they are on sale this week.

I have a serious dilemma. I really need to increase the reliability of my beads. While on Indy last week I popped 2 beads. I like the look of these steel rims, but they only come in a 4.5″ backspace. I guess without my spacer on the rear I am sitting at about the same in the rear, but the front will stick out another 3/4″. I love the look on my TJ Canyons, heck I even drilled them out to except my hub conversion. Oh well they should bring some decent $$s on eBay.

A few weeks ago the pinon gear got tore up; missing 2 1/2 teeth. I’m not sure how it happened. At first I thought it was the front driveshafts double cardon joint. I had some trouble with that while in Moab back in October. After turning off the hubs I relized it was in the rear. I first went to the thre rear driveshafts double cardon. I has it checked out and re-balanced. It turned out the balance was slightly off, but nothing was worng with the joints.

Advice on NAXJA said to pull the cover. I did and found the teeth missing. I friend of mine has a contact who does a tremendous job putting in gears. After a few phone calls he was nice enough to come up from Colorado Springs to help me out. Last nigh I put the first 15 minutes on the gears, and then let them sit overnight. The installer said that is the best way to break in a new set.

Why he was working on the gears I was busy with my own project, removing the front and rear doors. The guy at FormattFab are hooking up with a set of their tube doors. I really wish I had removed them a long time ago. The felling of cruising doen the highway without doors in ir trulley very “Jeep Like”. I did save the hinges and plan on atl east getting everything all lined up to put them back on if need be.

The next step is to finish the fender trimming and add a cage.

Air System Install: I spent a ton of time getting all the fittings I need, the local ACE Hardware has been very helpful. I even found a pressure regulator with gauge and valve at Walmart! Who would of thought? I drilled two 1 1/4″ holes in my floor board under the storage area in the center console. This hole will let the main air line in and the other is to let the four air lines out to the lockers. I also ran the switch for the relay. I need to find some firewall rubber inserts to seal up the holes I drilled.

Compressor Mounting: I have decided to try and go a cheap route and not have anything built to hold the compressor. I decided to try cutting down the stock air box and attaching a hinged lid to the top of it; then attached the compressor to that lid. I’ll let you know how that works out.

Tranny Temp Gauge: Since my last XJ was parted out due a bad tranny, I want to make sure this tranny is well maintained and watched closely. I decided to add a tranny temp gauge. I used a simple 2″ AutoMeter unit. Bought the fittings from a local race shop and started the install. I loosely used Jason’s write-up on Jeepin.com. I mounted the gauge in the center console just in front of the t-case shifter on the angled piece(97+). I will post some pitchers soon on the LUVMYJP.com site. I am also thinking about pulling the tranny lines off the stock cooler and just using the aftermarket cooler. When the tranny cooler was installed it was installed so that the cool fluid runs throughout the stock cooler them back to the tranny. This could be heating the tranny fluid before sending it to the tranny. It’s running at 200-210 tops.

Tomken Gas Tank Skid: Pretty easy install. My custom exhaust needed some adjustment. I had to remove the tube past the hanger. I then installed the tank and had a new pipe shaped and welded in place.

Before the weekend I plan on running the air lines run, installing the compressor, JKS SuperNerfs, JKS boomerang shackles,

SOLUTION: I ordered a Johnney Joint from Currie with a 3/4″ welded on stud. This will allow me to run the Rubicon Express Heavy Duty Trackbar bracket. I really like using the SkyJacker trackbar because it mounts to the stock stabilizer mount and makes setting up my steering nice and easy. Now I have to wait a few days until the parts get here.

NAXJA Moab ’04 is looming and there is a lot to complete. The XJ must have the rock rails and onboard air system run. Next weekend I have to work so that leaves only two weekends to complete the XJ. For me that is pushing it.

AIR: I have some remote idea how to complete this, but I really need to enlist the help of some others around here to help sine my knowledge level about OBA systems is limited.

ROCK RAILS: The JKS SuperNerfs will ship in the next few days.

SHACKLES: The JKS boomerang shackles will also ship in the next few days. Those should help level out the rear and make the XJ look and ride a little better.