Jeep Cheap Cherokee Build

[RockMonkey]

Sweet! Need any help?

If you want. I do have beer.

 

[Herzog]

If you want. I do have beer.

Thanks for the mini-beer.

The cherokee thing looks even more awesome(r) in person... I like it.

 

[Kiel]

Hurry up only 2 more nights! If your like me 2 very late nights

 

[chicky]

Thanks for the mini-beer.

Sorry about that. Should have paid more attention!

 

[Herzog]

Sorry about that. Should have paid more attention!

Actually, it was the perfect size for the moment.

 

[N-Smooth]

Actually, it was the perfect size for the moment.

haha sorry

 

[RockMonkey]

Woohoo! my muffler (finally) came! The cat quieted it down a lot, and hopefully this thing quiets it down any more. I did hold it up to my mouth and yelled at my three year old through it, and it made my voice quite a bit quieter, so I'm hopeful. The thing is tiny as-advertised. Here it is with a size-reference.

:busted:

I also got my cone air filter from Summit Racing, next day again. I wish all online stores were as awesome as Summit Racing.

 

[X1994J]

So were you running a CAT on Sunday when you were driving it around? My old man thought it was running straight piped, after I pulled up and he heard mine he figured you must have been running SOME exhaust? I thought it sounded OK, not annoying loud. I am running a CAT only, exhaust dumps out the side in front of the rear tire. How much lift do you figure you're sitting at? I think mine might be a little taller?? But man, with a 44 and 9 under a Cherokee they just look all around huge. Very cool seeing it going down the road. I'f you're out there tonight maybe i'll stop by and check this thing out!

 

[RockMonkey]

So were you running a CAT on Sunday when you were driving it around? My old man thought it was running straight piped, after I pulled up and he heard mine he figured you must have been running SOME exhaust? I thought it sounded OK, not annoying loud. I am running a CAT only, exhaust dumps out the side in front of the rear tire. How much lift do you figure you're sitting at? I think mine might be a little taller?? But man, with a 44 and 9 under a Cherokee they just look all around huge. Very cool seeing it going down the road. I'f you're out there tonight maybe i'll stop by and check this thing out!

Haha. It had a cat tacked on, but nothing after it. It's 2 inches taller now than it was, so about 5" of lift. I'm hoping the springs sag an inch, because I don't want to lower the coilover top adjuster to the point that I have to run a tender spring. I just went to Auto Zone and picked up a bunch of exhaust stuff so I can see if I can ghetto up myself an exhaust system. :greg:

I'll be out. Stop by!

 

[RockMonkey]

I built a mostly reasonable sounding exhaust (the cat and muffler did both fit under the skid plate), all the junk is out of the interior and the seats are back in it. It has an air filter, all the wires are tucked up and zip tied (including a bunch that I eventually need to connect to something). The front fenders are finally cut into some sort of shape, and reinstalled. The skid plate is back on (with all ten bolts this time). I *think* it's sort of wheelable at this point. I also picked up a nice new set of Maxxis trailer tires for my ol' jalopy trailer. I installed the winch, but it doesn't work. I've verified that all the wires go to the right places, and when I press the buttons on the controller I hear the solenoids clicking, but the winch doesn't move. At this point I'm going to wheel with no winch, and try to deal with it next week. I hope I don't need it.

I better go try to sleep, I've got a meeting in 5 hours...

 

[lewis]

Rig looks good! I had a similar problem with my winch once with the solenoids clicking and it turned out to be the ground.

 

[Greg]

You're a trooper Braden!! I'm really looking forward to seeing this XJ in Moab tomorrow.

 

[RockMonkey]

Rig looks good! I had a similar problem with my winch once with the solenoids clicking and it turned out to be the ground.

I have the ground bolt on the motor connected directly to the negative battery terminal, so that should be fine. There is also a ground on the solenoid box. If I disconnect it from everything the solenoids don't click. If I attach it to the ground bolt on the winch motor, any part of the chassis, or directly to the battery the solenoids click, but nothing makes the motor turn.

 

[RockMonkey]

You're a trooper Braden!! I'm really looking forward to seeing this XJ in Moab tomorrow.

Me too. :greg:

 

[RockMonkey]

We did Rusty Nail on Saturday. It didn't really have much trouble on any of the obstacles. The first big climb I tried to crawl and failed, but a little bump got it right up. I'm really happy with the way the suspension works. It's very balanced and has plenty of flex. I wish I could get the winch to work so I could have a front limiting strap, but it worked very well without it. There is a really nasty noise coming from the front end somewhere. It seems to happen mostly when coasting, so that indicates that I may have effed up the front gear setup. :sick: I did notice though that there are marks on the front crossmember where the drive shaft bolts have been hitting it. There should be plenty of clearance there, so the carrier bearing is allowing way too much movement. This could account for all the symptoms, but I'm going to pull the diff cover and check the gears anyway.

Overall it was a very successful test, I just need to work out the front axle problem. I didn't get any action pics, but maybe someone else did.

 

[RockMonkey]

Well, I found the source of the noise in the front differential...

I cracked the cover open and chunks of metal were falling out with the oil, so I figured I destroyed the gears somehow. Then I pulled the cover off and saw huge nasty bits of metal sitting inside it.

Here's what they look like.

So I start cleaning the oil off them and turning them over in my hand and notice some strange features of the mystery object....

It's a 5" long 1/2" grade 5 bolt!

There's no place inside a Dana 44 for a bolt like this, and I know I didn't put it in there. My 3-year-old loves playing with long bolts like this and seeing where he can put them, so I bet that's how it got there. So, how do the gears look?

Not too bad, really! The pinion gear looks a little bit chewed up, and the carrier is a bit mangled, but I think it might just be usable. I had Carl come look at it and he thinks it's worth trying as-is too. It's probably a good thing I didn't try another trail on Sunday, how long could I possibly run a 5" bolt through the ring and pinion without destroying it?

 

[bobmed]

 

[chicky]

I think I remember our sweet, dear child a long time ago putting that bolt in there and I thought I told you about it... He loves to play with bolts and stick them in things and this is starting to ring a bell. You should listen to your wife honey.

 

[JoeT]

I think I remember our sweet, dear child a long time ago putting that bolt in there and I thought I told you about it... He loves to play with bolts and stick them in things and this is starting to ring a bell. You should listen to your wife honey.

So how long is your son grounded for?

 

[BCGPER]

Now that's funny! I finally got to see this beast in Moab Saturday. All I can say is WOW! You do good work kid, it'll be an awesome rig when you're done. But, I'm still a little miffed your's left the garage before mine did....

Glad to hear that's all it was. From what I can see from the gears, I wouldn't hesitate to run them. Great to see ya Saturday, it's been a while.