"OJ" XJ

Why thank you sir. I got a few compliments over the CB on my way back from NH, and last thursday I ran completely doorless down Wollaston beach and a runner damn hear ran into a light post staring at me with a confused look on his face. 15 inch lbs you say? I was told it was 85 inch lbs? which is like 8.something foot lbs.

OverlandXJ wrote:15 inch lbs you say? I was told it was 85 inch lbs? which is like 8.something foot lbs.

Oh, I pulled 15 out of my butt as an entirely hyperbolic number, but I remember being amazed at how little pressure it took.

I even split one of the grade 8 replacements before I realized it was inch-pounds (this was in my early days of wrenching, and it had been a *long* day, ha ha)

AH, the early days
Every body has been there.

I wish I was done making bone head mistakes but the one important mistake I made was not getting the correct type of replacement bolt. I got regular 1/4 20 bolts and completely missed the fact that the factory ones are nipple tip. which is why my valve cover didnt seal right in the first place so my replacement bolts were bottoming out when they got almost to the bottom of the hole because they were too big to fit in the very bottom..... Live and learn right. Its part of owning a jeep

You get frustrated working on it so you take it out on the trail and take out your frustration on it, Therapy!

exactly

Well I had a BLAST at Ma Bell, First time I have actually been able to see what the jeep can do. And it surpassed my expectations, and to be honest I have no idea why I doubted it in the first place...
I did get a good idea of one thing I really need to add, and that is a skid for my transfer case. The only reason I didnt try that spot where Andrew got stuck was because I had a good feeling I would have cracked my transfer case in half. I am going to be getting a skid from JCR: http://www.jcroffroad.com/product/XJArmor/XJ-SKD-TC.html
Of all the XJ skids I have looked up I think theirs offeres the best coverage for the price with out becoming a shovel under my jeep. There is a bunch of other stuff I have to do before I can get it though. I currently am running a ZJ242 transfer case which I will be removing to swap back in (I know why did I remove it in the first place?!?) the 231 I have. Since I have the 231 out of the jeep I am taking the oppertunity to rebuild it and add an SYE kit. the case has 200K on it so a rebuild will keep it in good running order. Adding an SYE also means I need new adjustable control arms for the front and greater shims for my rear leafs...... its one huge can of worms.

I'll be interested to see how that JCR skid plate holds up. Danielle has JCR everything on her Jeep and it's been nothing but awesome. I also found a place called Hooligan Offroad that supposedly makes a really mean transfer case skid plate too for the XJ.

In terms of the T-case itself and the SYE, I'd go with advance adapters. Since XJ's have a longer wheelbase than TJ's you won't need a super short SYE like what I have. You're driveshaft will already be about 2.5' with just a normal SYE, so no need to over do it.

Rebuilding a 231 t case is very easy.Chain, bearings, seals and oil pump.
Oh yeah SYE kit too.

I have a few updates since Ma Bell. I finally finished the welding on my home made front hitch. Now I have a place to put the D-Dring receiver that I won at the GTD raffle.



Hopefully I will get around to fabricating the rear hitch some time soon. I also ordered an OEM style Gas tank skid. Found one for cheep so i picked it up. Lastly I finally got my A/C up and running. It was not pretty. lets just say it involved a last minuet trip to Millis Pick-n-pull and lots of cursing.

Great work Chris!

Thanks. Took about 4-5 hours to stick weld the whole thing. Stick welding requires a high level of patience but IMHO it is an good welding skill to have.

((( Still the only Yellow Jeep in the club! )))
Only one allowed per club LOL,
Yeah, had the only White one for a while, not any more.
The hitch looks good, keep up the good work ,

Mark wrote: ((( Still the only Yellow Jeep in the club! )))
Only one allowed per club LOL,
Yeah, had the only White one for a while, not any more.

Lol you know, i dont see as many Yellow TJs on the road as I used to. for the most part I only see Black, blue, and green.

I have had a plan in my head to build a cargo box for almost a year now but i have not had the time to build it. I have this week off of work so i figured now was the time to get a bunch of stuff done. I built the box today, I did not paint it yet i will do that tomorrow if it is cooler. it was way too hot today even in my basement where i built the box it was way too hot. I had a much more complicated plan in mind before consisting of a full width box with multiple drawers, a custom made wood table that slid out of the bottom, a small drawer that had a camp stove mounted to it. After doing the numbers on the materials cost and sourcing some heavy duty drawer tracks it was more expansive than i wanted it to be. so i scaled my plans back for the sake of cost and time. The first plan was going to cost about $250 to build not including the camp stove, this one cost me $50 or so. Also planed for the week, mount up the new skid plate for the gas tank, and a couple other things. 

Looks pretty sweet!

Thank god! Now I've got more room to put my soft top uppers on wheeling trips

I like the new avatar Andrew. I have some extra wood, I could build a rack to hold soft uppers:P. It really is amazing how much stuff packs nicely into a box even this small, after I put everything in I looked at it and said to my self, "thats all I have?" i went looking around the jeep for more stuff to put in it.

Looking good! I'd love to build something similar to that box, now if only my spare didn't take up the whole trunk...

Been there, even a 30" tire takes up way too much space in the trunk. I was lucky enough to score my OE tire carrier to get it out of the trunk. Just out of curiosity, did they keep the removable lower back seat feature in the 97-01 models? I have only had and seen 96 and older.

Not sure what you mean by removable lower back seat, presumably not. The lower seat folds forwards to allow the back of the seat to fold flat, but neither seems to be readily removable.

they made the rear seat bottom removable in the 87-96 models with a quick latch on one side and a pin that slides into the rocker panel on the other 

I just saw your signature. No idea if that's a reference to me, but if it is, props to you brother.

It's my little homage to my square eyed brothers, there are so few if us in the club.