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I used to live in NY, the salt ate my nissian pick up truck and my f-250. One good thing about the living in the south is there's less rust to deal with. Hopefully I'll be able to finsh the lights this week amoung other projects and work (wife decided to give the kitchen a make over).

 

Does any one know of a place to find rebuilt/ used winches?

 

If you are on a budjet try harbor freight. They carry a superwinch copy.

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My fleet consists of a '98 ZJ and an '88MJ. Your auto trans is TOUGH! The '98 I had rebuilt after 215,000 HARD miles.Many of them dragging a 22' camping trailer.

My recomendations for your XJ:

1. Relace the expansion tank and all hoses and the serpentine belt. Use name brand hoses and belt, including all vacuum hoses!

2. Front and rear reciever hitches. Sportsman's Guide has the cheapest front hitch I have found.

3. Replace the injectors with Neon injectors (easy junk yard update).

4. Replace the rubber brake hoses and inspect the brake hard lines, replace if rusty.

5. Replace the shocks and steering stabilizer. Monroe shocks and a Moog or TRW stabelizer work for me.

Edited by G O B
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The belts and hoses look pretty good so far. Added a hook to the back end today, bolted it to the hitch frame. Tractor supply on had one is stock at the time. Still looking at mounting methods for a winch.

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Edited by Rusty truck
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I wouldnt trust that hook, especially with grade 5 hardware. I'd pick up a heavy duty hitch (no ball) and a shackle/clevis and use that as the recovery point.

XJ frame rails are thin, no joke!

 

There are a couple different models of front receivers and if i remember correctly, only one of them tucks up nice and high compared to the others. I cant remember what the brand was but a little searching on NAXJA will get you the answer. I'll look at mine too and see if it still has the decal on it.

Some of them mount really low.

 

Also FYI, Detours will sell there setup minus the winch mount, if you wanted it that way.

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the hooks are for draggin stuff when doing yard work and things like that. Hitch is defintly coming out when I leave the pavement. seen a few guys at work have hitches that are just big hooks on the back of thier toyota FJs. My goal for the week is to finish wiring the fog light on my day off

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I really like the Ford 8.8. It is a pretty easy swap and if you get the correct 8.8 you will have a disk brake rearend. That being said that Dana 44 bolts right in. But the 8.8 usually runs around $200.

 

I actually did do an 8.8 with disc brakes because I couldn't find a real Cherokee D44,lol After gears, welding and install the 8.8 was a bit more than $200 though.

 

The 4 row all bronze radiator is a good swap too because I have read the cooling systems in older Cherokees were the sealed type that crap out and leave you stranded.

Edited by SOPMOD
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Many 8.8 Fords have the same gear ratio as the stock Dana 30. I got lucky and found one with the same as the factory. So all I had to do was cut teh brackets off of the factory rearend, weld thm on the 8.8 then got an adpator for the drive shaft. Everything else (brakes) bolted on. Ya the older xj had the renix motor and system in them. THere are alot of articles on how to convert them to a updated cooling system.

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I'm looking at a small lift, maybe 3" but that's down the road. Want to get a winch, finish mounting additional lights and aquiring tools before a lift. I Iive way out in the county and if there's another bad storm like last year I'd like to be able to start clearing downed trees off the road I live on to get things passable again (tornando took out a couple subdivisions next county over and it took the county/state/ fedgov 4 days to fight over who was paying for the clean up, people had started running out of places to pile the debris by the time county started actually doing something). It's mostly sandy/ swampy here so sinking in is more of a concern then getting over things. Biggest thing to get over around around here would be a pine tree that fell over.

 

Finish wiring my fog light and I made a control panel for the switch. Plan to add work lights and off road lights.

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Edited by Rusty truck
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Your best friend right now would be a Hylift jack. If you get stuck you can use it as a come a long to winch yourselft out. It can spread stuff apart. The handle can be used for various trail fixes. You can lift things with it. The uses are limitless.

 

And they are fairly inexpensive.

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I'm on my third Jeep right now. Had a 1995 Jeep Cherokee 4wd that was totaled in 2004 when I got rear-ended by a idiot in a F-350 that was jacked up about 10 feet tall. I was in school then and it wiped out all the money I had in savings at the time for my to buy #2, which was a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4wd. I drove that until 2008 when I finally blew up the motor. My mechanic had put a rebuilt water pump on it that failed (as in literally coming apart) one rainy night when I was 15 miles from home. That Jeep somehow got me back to the house that night but I cracked a head in the motor doing it.

 

Driving a 2005 Grand Cherokee Laredo 4wd now. It's been as solid and dependable as my first two were. Actually I prefer the body style of the 2005 over the more boxy shape they went to from 2006 on.

 

Would not hesitate to buy another Jeep!

Edited by Jpanzer
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Should have put a salvage yard engine in the '99. You would still be running it!

 

Ha! Took it back to the old garage that put the rebuilt water pump on it in the first place, they reground the cylinder head on it and gave it back to me $1500 later. I could tell when they drove it to my house (local garage) that the motor was still shit. Gave it back to them for another week, and it ran a bit better, but since it was my only means of transport I needed something i could rely on and not worry every time i left the house. Sold the old 99 for a grand and put that towards Grand Cherokee Laredo I have now. Glad I did!

 

Also changed mechanics even though that garage had did all our family work 40+ years. And wow, strangely enough, visits to the mechanic are few and far between. Don't know whether it was moving to a newer model or changing mechanics! Think it might be both!tongue.png

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I'm looking at a small lift, maybe 3" but that's down the road. Want to get a winch, finish mounting additional lights and aquiring tools before a lift. I Iive way out in the county and if there's another bad storm like last year I'd like to be able to start clearing downed trees off the road I live on to get things passable again (tornando took out a couple subdivisions next county over and it took the county/state/ fedgov 4 days to fight over who was paying for the clean up, people had started running out of places to pile the debris by the time county started actually doing something). It's mostly sandy/ swampy here so sinking in is more of a concern then getting over things. Biggest thing to get over around around here would be a pine tree that fell over.

 

Finish wiring my fog light and I made a control panel for the switch. Plan to add work lights and off road lights.

One point for fun 4x4 driving....that switch panel looks like a real Knee-Gasher!! that thing can cut you pretty bad on rough terrain! Many times I find myself bouncing around a lot more than it seems, and hitting your knees on that is not a far fetched possibility, or even your hand.

Crazy shit happens when you start having fun 4x4-ing!

Just trying to help you out there. Otherwise, very nice so far.

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hadn't thought about sticking my knee through the dash, I mounted that panel fairly high but crap happens. I pretty much fill up the seat and cab. Think the jack is the next purchase. Any preference on mounting location? I've been thinking of mounting it to the rear bumper.

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I would go rear, if it can work with spare, unless spare goes up on the roof. In my 85 Toyo 4Runner I mounted the Hi-lift inside attached to my roll bar. I am making my own bumpers and sliders, so mine will eventually be mounted externally. Just make sure it is out of the bulk of the "Spray Zone" of road debris.

edit: Hi-lifts are not light, so if it goes on a roof rack, make sure it is not where you can drop it onto the windshield.....oops!

Edited by RobRez
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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm debating what I want to do for a roof rack. I don't have a welder (keep trying to convince my wife to let me buy one) so I can't fab a metal one unless I bolted it together. Considered just making one out preasure treated lumber since I have some wood working tools already. Like to be able to carry a spare, couple fuel cans, and some tools along with mounting lights.

Edited by Rusty truck
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