Crazy Kevs 3rd and Hopefully Final XJ build.

Owners Name & City- Kevin Hurricane Ut.


Make, Model & Year of Vehicle- 1996 Jeep Cherokee


Engine- 4.0 straight 6 with cheap warm air intake


Transmission- Automatic


T-Case- 4 speed Atlas with 5:1


Axles-
Rear: Ford 10.5 Sterling 4.88 gears ARB

Front: Ford dana 60. Artec steering and truss with arb 4.88 gears.

Suspension-
Hybrid: Rear IRO 5.5 leafs with 1.5 inch boomerang shackles.
Front is Rock Kralwer 3 link Long arm kit with with 7.5 inch Rubicon coils.



Wheels and Tires-37 Maxxis trepadors stickies with inner air bead locks.



Winch- Warn 8000


Favorite Trails-Hanging tree trail, The Squeeze, Sand Hollow area and Moab area. Any trail with Friends and family having a good time. The harder the better within my rigs ability.


Other- Custom front bumper with below radiator winch mount, custom rear bumper, Armor ect...

My 1994 is on the right and the New build 1996 is on the Left. I took a couple before shots and comparison shots before I started.






 
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RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
Thanks Bart. Yea it was nice. Did it again last weekend also. It is the easy way up. The original route is still probably the hardest obstical on the Maze trail.
I would agree with you. I went up ya gotta be nuts way easier than anyone else in our group went up the normal way. But the fear factor is much less
 

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
So some updates. Dana 50 has broke twice in a row. I guess my daughter is harder on stuff then I am. She was driving both times. I got a leaf sprung dana 60 superduty. I have a Artec truss kit, Arb and 4.88 coming for it. The good thing about the 50 is the outer knuckles are the same so I will rob my high steer knuckles and outer 30 spline chromoly shafts from the 50. And install them on my 60. My Warn hubs will also come off the 50. For the Artec kit you need to cut 2 inches of the cast off the Drivers side. Little nervous doing it with a sazall but did pretty good and only managed to barely cut into the housing in 3 small spots bondeeper then a 16th of an inch. 20200818_210653.jpg20200723_090058.jpg20200818_210758.jpg20200723_114850.jpg20200819_095310.jpg20200819_114337.jpg20200819_112217.jpg
 

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
That's a great upgrade.

Hey, remember that time I tried to talk you out of running a 50? :rofl:

Ryan actually offered him a 60 in trade since all he wanted was from the knuckles out. I'm sure Kevin learned his lesson 🤑
 

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
Ryan actually offered him a 60 in trade since all he wanted was from the knuckles out. I'm sure Kevin learned his lesson 🤑
I don't remember that but I am sure it is true. When you have money invested into something it is hard to give it up. The 50 was given to me when my dana 44 gave up the ghost and was beyond repair so I went with it. Lessons can only be learned through trial and error. Do I wish I had the 60 from the beginning, sure. But oh well. The nice part is that I can rob parts off of this like the hubs, the Artec knuckles with High steer arms and the outer shafts.
 
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kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
Didn't Carl Jantz do machining to fit dana 60 inners into a d50 center in that d50 ttb red desert yj a few years ago?
Seems like maybe 35 spline d60 arb side gears fit the d50 arb.
I think and have heard it is possible to take the guts of a 35 spline and they work in the 50 but parts are still expensive if they are even available. just decided to start over.
 

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
Well I have received all of my parts. Thanks to Davy for the quick arb transaction. I am super impressed so far with the Artec truss. Very well thought out. I have started to tach it in place but will take it somewhere to have a bigger welder burn it in. 20200824_205903.jpg20200824_205919.jpg
 
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