Topic: Cherokee Build

[BigCountry]

Looking to salvage a junkyard xj and turn it into an offroad beast. i'm thinking a gm v8 with an auto trans and some beefier axles. rip out every piece of carpeting, plastic paneling, and headliner as well as the dash and rear seat. i'd put up some metal panels to cover the patchy holes on doors and such, and build a slimmer dash to put up between the roll cage and all. thinking maybe an exo skeleton, tires at a 33" minimum, snorkel, lift kit (probably junkyard lift) and self built bumpers and rockers. i'm not looking for something i can just slap a bunch of parts onto and have it running in a weekend. i want a long project that i can nitpick every detail of and have a beastly offroad only rig. i don't really care much about having it street legal as i'll be towing it to the trails.

What are your opinions and suggestions? and If you were to Do this build, what would be your "perfect" combo of drivetrain, axles, and suspension type? for now it's just vague thought processes until i can hit the yard after christmas and really see what is available, and if i can get a more detailed shopping list based off your thoughts, there's a good chance it'll turn out even better than i was thinking. btw i can't draw to save my life, so i'm not gonna be able to put up scans of my thoughts or diagrams.

[Jesse-James]

For starters I would begin with a vehicle that has a frame. XJ's don't make the best "truggy's"

[Bounty Hunter]

Recent JP mag has a writeup on an XJ with a 502 bigblock v8, required rebuilding the entire front end of the chassis.  I would do no less for any v8 in that light chassis.

There's been a few 4BT diesels swapped into XJ's but those also need a ton of chassis reinforcement.

[dwtaylorpdx]

I'd use a early Isuzu trooper if I was going for this kind of project,
Heavy duty full frame and already has a rear axle that can take the power.

Youd likely need to do a solid front axle conversion byt thats
pretty easy on the early trooper.  Way easier than building a sub frame on a cherokee.
They have lots of room, tough bodies and can be had for almost nothing.

There is one for sale near me running and drivable for 1400 bucks for example.

Dave

[Jeffy]

I have a friend who went extreme with his XJ and in the end he ditched what was left of his XJ.


The reason why he ditched it was that the XJ chassis was limiting him.

[BigCountry]

Recent JP mag has a writeup on an XJ with a 502 bigblock v8, required rebuilding the entire front end of the chassis.  I would do no less for any v8 in that light chassis.

There's been a few 4BT diesels swapped into XJ's but those also need a ton of chassis reinforcement.

Haven't seen that one. actually haven't been able to pick any up cuz the barnes and noble stopped carrying them a few months back. and mundane day to day keeps me from sending in the subscription  i'm not thinking a 502. that's a bit much for even me lol. i'd be fine with a 350, although i'd do a victory dance if i could get my hands on a 572 gm performance big block  and the weight difference between the standard complete 4.0 and the complete 350 is only about 200 pounds. that's like having me sit on the 4.0. i think the extra weight might be negotiable.

[DodgeMudder]

I've looked at doing a build like this w/ a buddy of mine, he started it 3 times with 3 different Jeeps and never ended up finishing it as it just turned into too much of a project for him.  Watching him do this I came up with how I would do a build like this if I was going to do it.  I would start out the other way as I figure it's easier to lighten a vehicle than to beef one up, and start with a pick-up of the breed of choice.  I would run a Dodge but a Chebby sounds more appropriate for you, look for either a half ton if you plan to stay smaller than 38" tires, or go one ton if you want bigger.  Start off dumping the entire body, next set the wheelbase where you want it, then cut off the extra frame, adjust suspension to suit your needs, add a s-10 pickup cab if you want a cab otherwise just tube and sheetmetal the body you want, and wheel the snot out of it, it will be cheaper beefier and work better than trying to take a Jeep and replace the entire drivetrain, stiffen the uni-frame, and make it into a wheeler.


My $0.02

[Jeffy]

You need to find a frame for the XJ and some V8 swap...
It will all start from there and as you go on you'll figure out what is next...

Once you consider a sub-frame, you'll realize it would have been better to either build a buggy from scratch or go with a frame to begin with.  My friend ended up building a competition buggy from scratch the second time and then later sold it and built a stretched TJ.  Eventually sold that.  Now he's building another TJ from pretty basic parts.  He's got a frame and shell.

[BigCountry]

i'm not actually looking to do a buggy type, just a heavily modded suv. abundance of parts both new and used (read salvage) is what gave me the idea to do a jeep, and i really like how the xj looks, so i don't know...i wouldn't want to rig up a wrangler or cj that's just off road, cuz that would be a kick in the nuts looking at it wishing it could be street driven. i saw an awesome looking suburban in the jan 2010 issue of four wheeler, but i don't think that kind of build is in the budget since a main feature of it is 46" mickey thompsons...