I have had this XJ for 4 or 5 years now and have been building it up since then. Current specs on it are:

Drivetrain:
4.0L, AW4, 231 tcase w/ AA SYE and Tom Woods DS

Front Axle: Narrowed HP Dana 44, 5.13 Yukon Gears, ARB, CRANE diff cover, West Texas offroad hydro assist, Dedenbear knuckles, Alloy shafts, CTM joints

Rear Axle: Ford 8.8, CRANE diff cover, 5.13 Yukon Gears, Detroit locker, Dutchman Alloys

Suspension:
4.5 inch RE coils up front
4 inch BOR leaf packs out back
HD Offroad Engineering shackle relocation brackets
Extended lift shackles
Fox 2.0 Reservoir shocks all around
BNS Fab custom 3 link using aluminum BUNK links
Teraflex speedbumps at the corners

Wheels and tires:
35" Goodyear MT/R's
TrailReady 15 inch beadlocks

Armor:
Those Guys hybrid roll cage, tube flares and rocker replacements
Custom lower door guards
THOR rear quarter guards
Assorted skids and braces
Front winch bumper
YJB fab rear bumper

Other stuff:
Master-Pull 5/16ths Superline XD winch rope
Superwinch 9k winch
Vision X rock lights
Cobra CB
Icom race radio
Crow 4pt harnesses and bucket seats
Master-Pull recovery gear
Warrior Products prototyped front tube doors
BUNK power steering cooler


Last year we used this jeep for recovery on the top of backdoor during the LCQ and on Aftershock during the main race. I was doing alright on the trails at the Hammers but wanted to be able to move a little quicker so new shocks and bump stops were ordered up.

Our local fab guy (Jeremy from DBS customs, Cal rocs 35" and under spotter team #426) has been helping me out with the welding that I can't do for a while. In June we put the Fox shocks up front and he built me a kickass rear bumper shortly after.

Finally he had enough time to take care of the rear end of my XJ, here are the fab porn pics:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo001.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo002.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo006.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo007.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo008.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo009.jpg

He is going to start on the front end next week and get the bumps in, we just have to move the hydro assist ram and then everything should be clear to flex it out faster at the Hammers this year.

Heres what the XJ looks like:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/25623_1241151234279_1394261618_30589466_7245209_n. jpg

-Alex

great work what type of rubber boot are you running on your shocks to seal the cab up

great work what type of rubber boot are you running on your shocks to seal the cab up

Looks like a 4" to 2" reducer for PVC poop pipe.

you guys have some nice rigs..

are those the foam filled bumps? How are you liking them?

Thanks, our ZJ and YJ are alot cleaner then my XJ but this gets the job done and is wheel-able without worrying about scratching the paint.

They are foam filled bumps and they are pretty new, Teraflex just brought them out last year for the JK and TJ's but never had a XJ application so we went custom on it. The fronts are done and I took care of some maintenance stuff (water pump, battery, PS pump and cooler) over the weekend. I will post up a few more pics tomorrow and hopefully go testing in the next week before we leave for the lakebed.

In all honesty this XJ is probably over halfway through it's lifespan, it was lifted in the summer of 07, caged in the spring of 08. Since then it has been wheeled pretty hard and is starting to show a few signs of that. We are hoping to get at least another two years out of it before a buggy build starts or just something totally different.

-Alex

Here we go with the fronts:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo12.jpg
What is started out as.

Cutting the old bumps out:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo15.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo14.jpg

Welding in the new cans:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo13.jpg

Final:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo011.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/Bariedo010.jpg

-Alex

Looks like the only support for the rear shock cross member is off of the wheel wells, Those things are thin as all get out and wil start tearing, get some down supports to the floor off it or it will be flopping around really soon, trust me, I know

trust me, I know

Not so much, I guess.. they're mounted to the cage:smokin:

Yup they mount to the cage too.

-Alex

I like your cage, I did an XJ kinda like that before and used the halo as a roof rack. I cant tell from the pics, but did you sandwich the roof or penetrate thru?

It goes straight through then is welded around the roof and sealed up with seam sealer so it doesn't leak.

-Alex

That's what we did.. I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't the same rig.. It was an ex-buddy's.. it lives somewhere else now.

looks good

Yup they mount to the cage too.

-Alex

It would be easy to tie the rear cross bar just inside the shocks to a plate on top of the uniframe. Id be more worried about the cage safety then shocks.
If you dont use the rear cage hood for safety id leave it alone.

Not so much, I guess.. they're mounted to the cage:smokin:

From the looks of the picture, it is only going up to the halo, I do not see anything tieing it in to the floor behind that. If that is the case, the halo being unsupported at that point will not stop it from tearing out of the wheel wells

Their is a D pillar behind it that drops down for the rear of the cage and suspends the halo.

-Alex

okie dokie, you cannot see it in the pics is why I brought it up

Yup I figured that was why.

-Alex

The rest of the XJ is falling apart, but I think the shock mounts will survive.:D

The rest of the XJ is falling apart, but I think the shock mounts will survive.:D

I give you the master fabricator that built those shock mounts and bumpstop brackets.

-Alex

Not so much, I guess.. they're mounted to the cage:smokin:


He was saying that the cage is only tied in to the wheelwells right there, and he had flex.


Alex, did you buy this Jeep from Matt, up in Seattle? Could swear his was a white late model with masterpull all over it.

No, his was a 2dr. I have worked for Master-Pull for 3 years now, and have had this jeep for longer.

-Alex

XJ looks good i like the set up do you have a wright up on your front axle

Nope sorry I don't. Opie (XJ_Ranger -I think) was running it full width for calrocs for a few years and some trail riding too, he decided to build a 609 so we took the 44 and narrowed it down.

-Alex

Today, Jeremy built my double sheer pitman arm:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/DSCN1653.jpg

Double sheer knuckle:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/DSCN1654.jpg

And we added some new paint to freshen up the cage:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/DSCN1655.jpg

-Alex

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/DSCN1659.jpg

Finishing the paint up.

-Alex

How is the front fenders tied in;can you show a close up of those for me?::confused: Thanks in advance.

They are just welded to the rockers and the fenders, they used to be bolted to the front bumper but then I changed bumpers.

-Alex

This thing should mud-bog good now.:smokin::flipoff2:
YouTube - Alex in the mud on Kaner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve3cEF7wLzI)

Who makes those big curved swaybar brackets?

No, his was a 2dr. I have worked for Master-Pull for 3 years now, and have had this jeep for longer.

-Alex

Ah, it even has Auburn Car Repair on it! You must know all the same people that Matt does then :) I lived up there for a year, used to take mine to Auburn Car Repair. The paint job looks great, and love the TR/mtr combo

Who makes those big curved swaybar brackets?

Those are teraflex brackets, they worked great and haven't bent yet.

-Alex

Great work on the XJ thus far Alex, see you again at the Hammers in a couple weeks

Thanks, I'll see you down there, Will. I heard your XJ will be down there too.:)

-Alex

Thanks, I'll see you down there, Will. I heard your XJ will be down there too.:)

-Alex

got that right! fresh new hybrid cage (90% done)..i will have to come by and compare notes, looks like we are going the same direction these days

Here's a cool pic that show's how durable that cage is... Plucked him off the logs/rocks like a damn 6pack

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l75/vixor/IMG_3608.jpg

Nice! :smokin:

If you can't trust your cage to do that, then you probably shouldn't trust it to save your life.

All loaded on the trailer, and headed to KOH in the morning!

-Alex

seriously cool XJ dude
love to come down and wheel some of your guys' trails and check out the gear one of these days

Thanks, the XJ worked pretty well at KOH. We used it to recover rigs on trap door and I took it out a little bit too.

-Alex

did the new shocks make you faster in the whops?

Yes, the shocks, bumps and a better 3 link up front to replace the worn out radius arms were all a huge improvement over last year. It's a 5k lbs XJ so it still isn't fast but it ran alot smoother then it did last year.

-Alex

Here are a few pictures that I pulled from another forum of my XJ at the Elbe Hills rock garden at the top of the Ranier Vista Trail. I think I was the only rig on 35s to make it through there all day, the guy in front of me was running portals and 44s!

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/elbe%20fun%20run%202011/DSC00308.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/elbe%20fun%20run%202011/243019_235007533182958_100000211382404_1143738_661 0374_o.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/elbe%20fun%20run%202011/259387_235007646516280_100000211382404_1143741_632 1366_o.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/elbe%20fun%20run%202011/DSC00310.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/elbe%20fun%20run%202011/256719_235007706516274_100000211382404_1143742_625 0953_o.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/elbe%20fun%20run%202011/256099_235007826516262_100000211382404_1143749_339 8148_o.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/elbe%20fun%20run%202011/242403_235007853182926_100000211382404_1143750_196 4849_o.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/elbe%20fun%20run%202011/257807_235007929849585_100000211382404_1143752_291 5991_o.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/elbe%20fun%20run%202011/259315_235007906516254_100000211382404_1143751_618 0370_o.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd42/alexer03/elbe%20fun%20run%202011/258143_235008046516240_100000211382404_1143755_505 3338_o.jpg

All of the new parts are working great, the speed bumps compress enough in the rocks to still give me the travel I need while maintaining the progressiveness that works well on the trails and at speed.

-Alex

ha cuz you were the only one who tried :flipoff2: i did the second half of it lol jeeps lookin good though nice wheelin with ya alex

Branden

ha cuz you were the only one who tried :flipoff2: i did the second half of it lol jeeps lookin good though nice wheelin with ya alex

Branden

Not my fault you didn't wanna try.:flipoff2:

-Alex