1998 Xj Mild Crawler, Getting Back Into The Jeep Thing

June 2018:

Its been a while but I'm back to doing little things to the XJ. I gathered up some parts over the last few months and am slowly putting them on the Jeep.

2 weeks ago I installed my Tomken fuel tank skid that took way to long to show up. Install went pretty quick/simple. Its not the beefiest skid plate on the market but it is cheap and stronger than a factory skid. As my XJ didn't even have one of those its a major improvement over what I had (or didn't have).


I also got my led flood lights mounted up onto the front bumper. I haven't wired them in yet, but I wanted to get them on so that I could see how they looked where I wanted them.


Then today I finally installed the Tomken sliders that I'd purchased "used" a few month back. I had to modify them a little bit as I have frame stiffeners. I just cut the mounting feet off the ends of the arms and welded them directly to the frame stiffeners. Eventually I plan to add 2 legs closer to the middle with a pinch seam tie-in spread between them both, that should keep them from buckling in the middle. As it is, they are kind of flimsy but were priced right for me.








So that's that, I'm just doing a little bit here and there to keep improving on the mild trail rig. I've got some more parts taking up space in the garage that I'll get installed and then I need to build the tire mount for inside the hatch (it is still just leaned against the back seat and strapped down) and a rear bumper to match the front. I've got a tripped planned to run Chinaman and Holy Cross at the end of July, so I'll be trying to get that stuff done before then.

 

July 2018:

Last week I finally got around to wiring up the LED lights. I used a wiring harness that had come with an LED light bar that I had left over from an ATV. I split the end of that harness and used GM Weatherpacks on the lights so that I could replace them individually as needed. I then drilled a 3/4" hole into the blank from the factory fog light switch to use the small switch that came with the harness. The harness itself includes a relay and gets battery power from positive terminal in front of the under hood fuse/relay panel. Nothing overly impressive or challenging, just a small step in getting the Jeep finished up.

 

July 2018:

Did some work on the Jeep today in preparation for building a rear bumper. I added an upper tube to my “strut brace” that gets the spare tire off of the back seat. I also added the tie down points so I can use my old 3 point tire strap that’s just been collecting dust. Last thing to do is add some mounting points for the hi-lift jack that will attach to the main/lower tube.






I also installed some cut/fold panels I got from the flop shop. To be honest I wish I’d gone with the Rusty’s ones. These try to be too fancy and makes fitment a PIA, even worse is they don’t come with instructions and my emails requesting some went unanswered. Still, they’re on and will work nicely with my bumper plans.










I got the “strut brace” all finished up this morning. It holds the hi-lift up tight and out of the way and keeps the tire off of the seat so I can still fold it down to get to my spares, tools, and recovery gear. It also allows me to see halfway well around the tire in the rear view mirror.

 

July 2018:

I got my bumper mounts made today, so tomorrow I'll be going back to a buddy's house to bend up some tube. I used 3 of the bottom "frame" rail bolts plus 3 of the stock bumper mounting bolts. I didn't use the outside bottom bolt holes because of interference with my shackle when flexing.






August 2018:
I finally got the bumper all welded and painted tonight. Looks great in the dark LOL.

 

August 2018:

After playing around with my new Willy's the last week or so I decided to get back to work on the XJ. I started out yesterday by gutting the interior a prep for installing a roll cage this coming weekend. Part of that included removing the poorly installed AMP and the extra 100ft of RCA cable and speaker wiring courtesy of Car Toys (as per the PO's receipts). I also replace the head unit adapter as it had cracked and soldered the radio adapter harness together now that I am using it for sound output instead of the RCA's. I also ordered Eastwood's 2:1 heat shield and sound deadening coating to try out while the interior is removed. Its similar to Lizard Skin, but you only need the one product and you can use a roller.






Then today I finally did my rear disc brake swap and replaced the rear driveshaft with a new 2"x.120 wall one from Adam's Driveshafts. The splined section is way beefier than the stock front one I've been using. I'll be replacing the front with one as well and then have the two stock fronts as spares. For the disc brakes I'm using ZJ D44 units on my 8.25. I did have to open up the holes in the backing plates to fit over the tube, but my Dremel with a tungsten carbide bit made easy work of it. I then modified the rubber line bracket and welded a small bolt onto my axle as a mounting point. Rather than try to modify and reflare the stock brake line I just bought some assembled hard line from NAPA and bent it to fit. I still need to install my Durango master cylinder and modify my e-brake cables, but at least discs are installed and working. No more drums for this pig.

 

August 2018:

Yesterday I swapped my master cylinder out for a 2000 Durango one that has a slightly larger bore. I haven't driven it far but the brakes seem to hold better in 4 low on my driveway than before the master cylinder swap.






I've also been working on the roll cage the last 2 days. Its now ready for me to add the roof braces and then finish weld. I tweaked the kit a bit that of course resulted in more work for myself. The first thing I did was cut the tops of the b and c pillar tubes because they had them setup to go through the roof. They also only supplied the 4 main floor plates but since I wanted a plate underneath to tie into the frame I had to make a total of 12 plates and drill 48 holes into them for floor and roof plates. It was a lot of extra work but worth it for me. At the very least it made painting a lot easier.






I also rotated the B pillar tubes differently than they had intended. This was to get the bottom part of the tube as far forward as possible to help with getting in and out of the back seat. I could have left it rotated correctly and done that but it but the bent in porting at the top right next to my head. So I spun the tube a bit and let it angle back. It actually works well as a handle/grab bar for getting in and out of the back too.






Working on the c pillar section the only change I made was to cut and notch the supplied diagonal support into a horizontal "harness" bar. Mainly because it would have been in the way of my spare tire the way I have it sitting. Eventually I plan to get another hatch to cut the bottom off of so the spare tire can sit flat on the floor. Until then it will sit on the harness bar like I had it with that mount I'd previously made.




Then it was time to start welding the roof halo back together and get my cross bars and a pillars set. Now its in my garage waiting for me to add in the rest of the roof bars, fully weld it, and paint it.








More progress on the cage today. I added in the center bars and fully welded everything. Now I just need to get the big x onto the roof.

 

Earlier this week:

I will fully admit that I suck at using a tubing notcher for anything other than 90 cuts. I like to think I'm halfway math smart, but somehow I always jack it up. So between that and my dislike of the way they designed the diagonal tubes to NOT meet the center "spine" at the cross bars I decided to grab some scrap 1.5" for slugs and do things the slower way.

Step 1, lay out where you want the tube with tape


Step 2, grab a short piece of tube and place it where you want the notch (adjustable fixtures make this a lot easier)


Step 3, take your notch master and lay out the design of the notch


Step 4, after making the notch pattern onto your tube rough cut it with your cut-off wheel


Step 5, using a flapper wheel (having multiple grinders is real handy btw) clean up the tubing until the pattern is matched


Step 6, test fit and make adjustments as needed


Step 7, place the other tube in place and mark where to cut






Step 8, insert slug and weld into place




Now repeat as necessary. If your tubes are long enough you can just use scrap pieces to design your notches and then measure out your short and long edge distance to transfer them to a fresh piece and forego the slug/splice. My tubes weren't long enough and I don't have access to a bender with a 1.75" die to remake the ones they sent me.

Only 2 more diagonals to go and then I can weld the underside and paint. Once it get mounted back to the jeep I'll weld the a-pillars to my rocker guard and start figuring out where to trim my fenders.

Another night and another tube. 1 more to go and this thing is done. I couldn’t go all the way to the outside corner because of how it drops down. I was worried about hitting the roof. So I went to the stub where the c-pillar attaches.










Last tube is in, tomorrow I can spend my day off painting. Should have it back on the Jeep and start figuring out where to trim my fenders, headliner, and carpet on Saturday.


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And that catches everything up to today, where after going through what felt like 1,000,000 cans of rattle can bed liner the cage is painted and ready to install tomorrow.

 

Very cool! Makes me miss my old ‘98.

 

Enjoyed the read. Looks like your 4x4 is very trail savvy.

 

Very nice. I grew up in BV so it was nice to see some pictures of home!!

 

Thanks for showing us your build, nice to see your son getting involved too.

 

Amazing - very impressive. Lot of time invested too...

 

Today I was able to get the cage bolted back onto the XJ and weld the A-pillars to the sliders. Then with the help of my friend Steve we got the fenders trimmed and reinstalled. The Jeep looks like an XJ again. Now onto the interior. I did manage to get the headliner back in, so tomorrow begins the tedious task of sorting through the coffee can of screws and getting all of the plastic back in.

 

Forgot to show off my new 1/2" dimple die, used it to make small tie-in plates for the A-Pillars to the inner fender/cowl

 

I hate exterior roll cages/exoskeletons typically, but yours looks amazing!!! Fantastic! Great work!

 

Thanks, I wish I could take full credit but it was a kit. I made a few tweaks but its mostly as designed.

 

Looks like a very heavy duty roof rack that’ll provide protection.