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Testaments heap of jeep '95 XJ cherokee


Testament

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My slab of America (although actually designed by a fronchman)

got this heap back in February, figured i would need something to tow the 131 around with/wanted an excuse to buy a 4x4. had been looking for ages considering cruisers/hiluxes/patrols but I felt they were all generally too many dollars for really wasted old things unless you paid blokely mcrugby tax fora newer one, so ended up looking pajeros and jeeps and even a G-Wagen.

After a bit of research I somehow convinced myself that cherokees aren't as bad as people think, in the states they are really just the same as a hilux surf except the 4.0L has a bunch more grunt than all but the quite recent hiluxs - plus it's a bit lighter being unibody. there are a few things that aren't quite as nugget but nothing that bad really esp considering the jeep is much less than half the price you would generally pay for a 1995 hilux.

so upsides

-cheap

-reasonably grunts

-not that heavy

-someone put a 40mm OME lift on it already

-I don't give a crap about it and no one else cares about XJ's either so parts are cheap

-mountain bike fits in the back in one piece

downsides

-uses about 12 million litres of gas (15+L/100km when i was driving it to work and back, 10-12L/100km on the open road)

-handles like a jeep

-creaks and rattles worse than my lancia

-even though its a jap import fancy limited version with leather interior and electric seats its still rather uncomfortable on any drive longer than about an hour

took it out on a trip with my mates supercharged v8 cruiser

went ok for what it is although nothing on 6L of boost with 35" silverstones

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hmmm, don't think these 35" simexs will fit somehow

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So got a bit carried away and bought some 33" silverstones for it, a china brand winch and a lift kit from the states to get it up another 1.5"

Had a go at putting the 33's on before the lift kit arrived

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Fail

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And just now got around to putting the lift kit in today, hopefully get it all on tomorrow

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Will need to cut the guards out a fair bit and re attach the flares higher up or get some different ones

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Will then need to get some steel (scrounged from scrap bit at work if I'm lucky) and make up a bumper for the winch and wire that up.

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full carpet removal will probably happen sooner or later, not sure on the snorkel atm, I have seen one where they somehow put a pod filter in the cowl at the bottom of the windscreen which was quite a neat solution.

My mate used some massive 150mm/200mm wide garden edging on the v8 suzuki but maybe just a bit too rough for something that needs to remain road legal unless I can figure out a neat way of doing it.

Will post up some vids when I get uncapped, although only have a couple of the jeep but quite a few from trips out with the landcruiser and suzuki as I was usually camera/winchman.

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^ V8 frankenzuki with massive garden edging

I don't think I'm going to need to do that though now I got it lifted with the wheels on it looks like the factory flares will juuuuuuust cover the wheels/worst case put some of that 20mm weatherstrip stuff on the edge of the flares if I must.

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still need to re drill the track bar/panhard rod mount on the front diff to get it centered

right side

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left side

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and still need to do some chopping as I can hardly turn the wheel atm

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then once thats done will probably find I have some sweet rear driveshaft vibrations to when I actually drive it now, due to the manked up driveshaft angle

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There is some adjustment in the lower control arm mount on the body (has 4link on the front). may or may not be enough/it handled shitty anyway to begin with so not that worried.

otherwise you can get longer/adjustable aftermarket arms and it makes things nicer, but shipping from the states sucks balls for heavy items like that. would probably be easier/cheaper to make my own arms with HD rose joints/spherical bearings.

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Repco sells 30 or 65mm(check exact sizes) strips that are made to cover big wheels like that

yeah, they be pretty fugly/rip off easily though. had a good look yesterday and pretty sure I will be sweet with modifying the factory flares and mounting them higher up.

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  • 2 weeks later...
can you not use the stock flares and cut them in half and glass a bit in the middle to make it a bit longer so you can turn ya wheels???

nah need to cut out the metal guards. will bolt the flares back on higher up. the flares are plastic so fireglass would be manky. bot bendy enough really either, will crack when you smush it on a bank or a tree.

chop chop chop

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bash bash bash

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and they fit now

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clearance

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few more bits to trim on the front still inside the guards and then flex it to work out how much extra bumpstop length will be neccesary.

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got it from quadratec.com in the states. just coil spacers in the front and longer shackles in the back. got reamed a bit on postage and their service was a bit shit tbh. tried to buy something else off them and they stuffed it up completely so would probably try someone else next time.

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  • 4 weeks later...

flexed it up to figure out how much I need to extend the bumpstops - didn't actually get it to rub on anything but was still 50-60mm off the stops so will extend them about that much

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could have gone a little higher but I had the front driveshaft out at the moment (so no 4wd) and it started doing a skid

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  • 4 weeks later...

Cut and bashed little bit more out of the guards, mounted the flares back on higher up, re drilled the track bar, re centered the steering, painted where i had cut and cracked the paint made a few alloy covers for stuff in the guards as i have ripped the guard liners out and relocated a few things to inside the engine bay.

All just clears now and bashed over/cut out any sharp protrusions so that if it does rub its not going to do too much damage.

Still could do with longer front brake lines or moving the brackets down and re shimming the rear diff - but the vibrations arent too bad and there is no way you can notice them with the silverstones on so it's pretty much ready to take out now although it would be nice to get the winch on too but not 100% mandatory.

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