old_man 's vehicle build thread

[old_man]

I have a long history of doing bodywork/paint/mods on my vehicles, starting with my new 67 Mustang. My wife bought me a Cherokee 22 years ago. It was a bone stock white 4 banger with a carb. It has come a long way over the years. I have modified EVERYTHING on the vehicle. I started with a simple black two tone stripe along the bottom and changed the interior from fungly brown to light grey. That included all the carpet, seats, trim, headliner, and dash. Over the years I have gotten real good at searching for good condition interior parts, rehabbing them and keeping my rig looking virtually new.

Mods for wheeling started small by todays standards but back in the 90's 31" tires were so radical, police stopped me and ticketed me for a unsafe vehicle. I soon found out it was severely underpowered. I updated the 4 banger to throttle body and a Mopar Purple Cam.

Here it is in the early days on Black Bear Pass.

I wheeled every trail I could find in Colorado.

Modifications continued. It got lifted, and locked, along with designing and fabricating all the bumpers, skids, and roof rack.

After years of hard wheeling

and torture, followed by body work and repair,

I drove this home and completely repaired and painted it. I wheeled it several more years. I have forgotten how many fenders I pounded out and repainted. Here it is after the retrofit.

 

[old_man]

After a few more years of punishment, the wife and I were heading back off of a trail called Old Chinaman's when the wife complained it was a lot louder and why was it so breezy inside. As it turned out the spot welds holding the unibody together had started failing and the vehicle started to "taco" (fold in half).

A buddy had a donor vehicle he had stripped and he gave it to me.

She was a fine looking rig and they guys nicknamed it GrannyGold. I started stripping it bare. I completely removed everything including all wiring, glass, interior, engine (with a large hole in it) tranny, axles, trim, bumpers.

I sanded it all down and did a cut/fold job on the fenders. I plated the frame and cut off the front suspension. After doing all the body work, I did a new two tone paint job with a red stripe.

In the pix you will see the full width Dana 44 I built and the Ford radius arm suspension I modified to go under the new rig. I sold the roof rack to help pay for the upgrades.

The front axle was regeared to 4.56, and a used locker installed to match the D44 with Detroit in the rear . I fabricated all the suspension, steering and track bar. In total, buying the axle, gears, shocks, rims, new rotors, brakes, and Rubicon super joints for the long arms took a month. Even with later building hydro assist, I have less than $1200 in the whole axle conversion.

 

[old_man]

While I was at it, I fab'd a new rear bumper. Note: being the obsessive compulsive fabricator, I even made it follow the radius of the rear of the vehicle.

The shackle mounting tabs actually run 20" up inside the frame and are bolted through the frame and gas tank skid.

 

[old_man]

I also trimmed and rolled the fenders before mounting the fender flares.

 

[old_man]

Here is a pix of it as it sits today.

 

[Phessor]

Nice XJ!

 

[JCWages]

That's some serious dedication! Nice work!

 

[old_man]

 

[64Trvlr]

Jeep looks good, nice well thought out work. I think you're going to need a better place for that spare soon. ;))

 

[Billiebob]

Love that colour combination.

 

[fly boy]

I have a long history of doing bodywork/paint/mods on my vehicles, starting with my new 67 Mustang. My wife bought me a Cherokee 22 years ago. It was a bone stock white 4 banger with a carb. It has come a long way over the years. I have modified EVERYTHING on the vehicle. I started with a simple black two tone stripe along the bottom and changed the interior from fungly brown to light grey. That included all the carpet, seats, trim, headliner, and dash. Over the years I have gotten real good at searching for good condition interior parts, rehabbing them and keeping my rig looking virtually new.

Mods for wheeling started small by todays standards but back in the 90's 31" tires were so radical, police stopped me and ticketed me for a unsafe vehicle. I soon found out it was severely underpowered. I updated the 4 banger to throttle body and a Mopar Purple Cam.

Here it is in the early days on Black Bear Pass.

I wheeled every trail I could find in Colorado.

Modifications continued. It got lifted, and locked, along with designing and fabricating all the bumpers, skids, and roof rack.

After years of hard wheeling

and torture, followed by body work and repair,

I drove this home and completely repaired and painted it. I wheeled it several more years. I have forgotten how many fenders I pounded out and repainted. Here it is after the retrofit.

 

[fly boy]

Are you running lockers on your white Cherokee?

 

[old_man]

Are you running lockers on your white Cherokee?

The White Cherokee is now the blue and silver one and yes I run lockers on the Dana 44s both front and rear.

 

[fly boy]

The White Cherokee is now the blue and silver one and yes I run lockers on the Dana 44s both front and rear.

Thanks Tom.

 

[RN J]

Holy cow! That’s incredibly impressive!
BTW - I used to live in Loveland & Berthoud! Totally miss the area!

 

[benmmc]

Man, your thread made me miss my XJ. You put so much work into yours, and everything is just so clean! Way to go, man. Very impressed!

 

[AggieOE]

That really is a great looking XJ! You have me wanting one kitted out just like yours was in the black bear pass picture.

 

[DintDobbs]

@old_man Great work there! A good rig is always worth whatever time and money it costs!