I've been looking around at older Cherokees for a daily driver/light wheeler and came across a killer deal. $300, and all it needs is a fuel pump. And a t-case, and a front drive axle. :rolleyes: Yep, 2wd. Anyway, I once read about how easy these things are to convert. Has anybody here done it? Was there any hangups or problems for you? I'm buying it either way, either to convert and keep it, or to fix and sell it at a profit.

a buddy of mine did it with a D30 from a 97 TJ, he used a NP231, a new auto tranny, he did everything in his driveway with no probs, he used 5.5 tera coils, TJ flares, D44 rear, 37's, Etc.... it is a beast and it was all done with bolt ons, it was as easy as just swaping out the front axle for him, he did all of this in a couple of weeks and now its a daily driver, it is almost like his XJ was meant to be 4x4, check it out here,---->http://home.bellsouth.net/personalpages/scripts/community.dll?ep=16&groupid=23544&ck=&ver=3.0

It's a bolt on deal. Even the floorpan has an indentation where you cut a hole for the t-case shifter.

Don't even waist your time converting it to stock 4wd. If I were to start all over again, here's what I'd do, similar to what your talking about, but a little different: I'd start with a 2wd Comanche pickup. Pull the bed and make a flat bed like all those Toys out there. I'd drop in a 302 if it was 4cyl, leave it if the 4.0. I'd stick in a 700r4 trans, and not sure on tcase, maybe atlas, maybe a NP241, depends. I'd get a front D44 with correct diff location to match the tcase, and install that using ford radius arms with aftermarket weld on 'c' bushings. Now the front is done. Just build the rear with another D44 or 60 or 9", and I'd be set. I wouldn't even bother with the D30, unless you never go over 31s, or 33s and don't use it hard. Sure the D30 can be built strong, but by the time you have all the $ into it, you could have had a D44 for not much more. I'm in the process of building a D44 front and D60 rear for my Cherokee. Won't be done for at least another year, and will be expensive, but worth every penny. You are on the right track, and to me, starting out with a 2wd would be the smartest thing to do.

Happy hunting,
Willis

Originally posted by WillisXJ
Don't even waist your time converting it to stock 4wd. If I were to start all over again, here's what I'd do, similar to what your talking about, but a little different: I'd start with a 2wd Comanche pickup. Pull the bed and make a flat bed like all those Toys out there. I'd drop in a 302 if it was 4cyl, leave it if the 4.0. I'd stick in a 700r4 trans, and not sure on tcase, maybe atlas, maybe a NP241, depends. I'd get a front D44 with correct diff location to match the tcase, and install that using ford radius arms with aftermarket weld on 'c' bushings. Now the front is done. Just build the rear with another D44 or 60 or 9", and I'd be set. I wouldn't even bother with the D30, unless you never go over 31s, or 33s and don't use it hard. Sure the D30 can be built strong, but by the time you have all the $ into it, you could have had a D44 for not much more. I'm in the process of building a D44 front and D60 rear for my Cherokee. Won't be done for at least another year, and will be expensive, but worth every penny. You are on the right track, and to me, starting out with a 2wd would be the smartest thing to do.

Happy hunting,
Willis

I think you missed the part where I said daily driver/light wheeler. I have a CJ for tougher trails. I'll be using this for commuting and trail/snow runs. A stock front axle will be fine!! A stock auto trans and 231 will be fine!! The stock 35 is truly junk, but for now it is fine!! (Besides, I've got a line on a 44 from a Comanche :flipoff2:) The whole idea behind this project is to have an inexpensive daily driver that can hit the dirt once in a while, not to go run Jackhammer. But thanks for your input!

Originally posted by WillisXJ
Don't even waist your time converting it to stock 4wd. If I were to start all over again, here's what I'd do, similar to what your talking about, but a little different: I'd start with a 2wd Comanche pickup. Pull the bed and make a flat bed like all those Toys out there. I'd drop in a 302 if it was 4cyl, leave it if the 4.0. I'd stick in a 700r4 trans, and not sure on tcase, maybe atlas, maybe a NP241, depends. I'd get a front D44 with correct diff location to match the tcase, and install that using ford radius arms with aftermarket weld on 'c' bushings. Now the front is done. Just build the rear with another D44 or 60 or 9", and I'd be set. I wouldn't even bother with the D30, unless you never go over 31s, or 33s and don't use it hard. Sure the D30 can be built strong, but by the time you have all the $ into it, you could have had a D44 for not much more.
Happy hunting,
Willis





:confused: :confused: Why......

I converted my 94 to 4WD, got a smoking deal on a non runner (another story) when i was looking for a body donor to replace a rolled XJ.

What year is this XJ...there are a few minor differences you'll want to be aware of.

I had to swap the AW4 trans to a 4WD model (88) as the output was too long on a 2WD AW4. I'v never heard of anyone swapping the shaft, it may be possible.

Bolted a matching spline 242 to the back. This required using the 2wd speedo gear housing for use with the new trans as i used a non HO era AW4 to an HO era vehicle. The wiring harness to the transfer will need to be lengthened a few inches. Also, if you use a non HO trans to an HO engine (or vice versa) you'll need to swap kickdown cable.

The body's all have the transfer hole in them...2wd models have a cover plate you'll want to remove. All the linkage is the same with exception of the shifter itself. Different detents for 231 vs 242. Bolt the linkage up.

You'll use the same crossmember.

Add front axle,driveshafts and season to taste.

;)

Originally posted by LAME


:confused: :confused: Why......

Why what?? If you're refering to why build an MJ pickup, because I love my XJ, and was just stating that if I were to do it again, this is how I'd do it. I like the extended wheel base the XJs and MJs offer, plus I started out being a non-conformist, but found out there is a huge following for these vehicles, and what I wanted was not so unusual. It's true, I could go CJ-6 or CJ-8 and obtain close to the same wheel base, but I wanted something leaf rear, coil front that I could (at the time) build on a low budget, and not have to do some radical (and expensive) coil conversion on the front of a CJ.

So 'why' you ask? Why not? :flipoff2:

Originally posted by Jeepskickass


I think you missed the part where I said daily driver/light wheeler.
No, I caught that, but didn't know you had a CJ that was your trail rig. Just figured you were going to build this eventually, since most of us start out with a dd, and end up with some radically modified piece of work. Just thought I'd try to save some time and $ in the long run. As for the direct swapability of stock 4x4 components, I'm pretty sure they bolt in, as long as you are swaping trans and tcase as a unit.

Willis